The entire island of Komodo, Indonesia is a national park, and the main attraction of the park is its wildlife. The ground in the park is very dry and dusty, and the vegetation cannot be described as “verdant.” The island receives an average of four inches of rain per year. Given all this, how can it be so humid?

The picture below is a typical view in the park.

The solitary tree in the photo below (a type of palm) grows only once, meaning that it sprouts, matures, produces fruit, and dies. Its life cycle is about 35 years. This tree is in the fruit stage.

One kind of tree has thorns along one edge of its branches.

In this picture, you can see the stone-bordered path that we were required to stay on.

Komodo is an island, so there are beaches. One of today’s excursions was a visit to the pink coral beach, but Ted and I chose to go to the national park.

We saw a variety of the park’s famous wildlife. Beginning with the least dangerous and working up to the most dangerous, we saw a large beehive (the dark splotch on the tree trunk). The bees provide honey for the animals.

Look carefully in the shade of the trees just to the right of center in this picture and you’ll see a Timor deer lying on the sand. Komodo is in the Timor Sea.

The park rangers call this path the “animal highway.” It is a main route to the largest watering hole in the park. The dark object in the middle of the highway (left photo) is a sitting wild boar facing us. We stayed quiet, the boar got “boar-ed” (insert groan here), and you can see it walking away from us in the right photo.

The biggest wildlife attraction in the park is the Komodo dragon, which exists only on four Indonesian Islands, including Komodo. The dragons are a combination of snake and crocodile and are very dangerous. They can grow to 8-10 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds. One of the large ones in the photos below is about 35 years old.

Komodo dragons can take down animals as large as a water buffalo and can move very quickly for short distances. Their teeth have the ability to re-grow if they are broken from hunting or eating. The saliva of the Komodo dragon contains fourteen kinds of poisonous bacteria, and they kill by attacking with their teeth, injecting their prey with saliva. It can take as long as two weeks for the bacteria to take down a large animal.

Because the dragons are so dangerous, a tour guide wasn’t enough; two experienced park rangers were with us to keep us safe from the wildlife. When the rangers spotted some dragons (they camouflage themselves very well and look like logs), one ranger took a stick and drew a circle around them about twenty feet from where they lay in the dirt. We were warned not to cross that line because the dragons have a keen sense of smell and would attack us if they felt threatened.

There are five dragons in this picture. They are arranged in a triangle (not deliberately, but for my descriptive purpose). Three are piled on each other (like puppies?) at the upper left of the triangle, one is on the left of the large center tree trunk, and one is at the front corner of the triangle. The long brown splotch to the right of the tree trunk is a tree root. From a distance, you can’t be sure: tree root or Komodo dragon?

There are also five dragons in this picture: two piled together in the front, one behind them beside the tree, and two more snuggled together off to the right.

Naturally, as we left the park, the path took us through the market, aka gift shop. The vendors are very aggressive as they try to sell their wares. I thought we were safe after getting through this tent, but the path zigzagged back twice more and we had to go through two more markets.

It was hot in Komodo. Eighty-eight degrees and 300% humidity (or so it seemed). We were in the shade throughout the park, but in our 45-minute walk through the park, Ted and I drank four bottles of water and didn’t have to pee. We were fortunate. One man collapsed from the heat and was carried out on a stretcher and immediately transported back to our ship. Two other people in our group left the park in wheelchairs because of heat exhaustion. I believe there were seven or eight groups of people who chose to participate in this excursion, and I assume people in other groups had some heat issues as well.

Waiting for the tender was worse. With only our umbrellas to provide shade, we stood in line on a concrete pier for about 30 minutes before we could board the tender to return to our ship. Some people farther ahead in the line waited nearly an hour as the blazing sun was reflected off the concrete and water. Everyone we’ve spoken with about this excursion enjoyed it, but everyone admits they’ve never been so hot and have never sweated so much in their lives. My suggestion: group us by tender-loads on shore in the shade of the trees. When the tender arrives, send us out onto the fiery pier a group at a time.

The day ended beautifully on our stateroom balcony. Ted thought the sunset was so pretty, he took a picture. Then it got better, so he took another one. We both think it’s the most beautiful sunset we’ve ever seen.

Today’s first thunderstorm hit as we returned from our excursion to Mataram. We had a break for a few hours and then the storms started up again. We’ve sailed past some of them, but they are continuing south of us.

We met two very nice couples at dinner and talked for over two hours with each other until the restaurant closed for the evening. After that, Ted and I sat on our balcony for awhile, watching the lightning and listening to the distant thunder. I took a few pictures of the lightning.

The storms are making the sea a little rough and our ship is rocking slowly back and forth. I’m hoping it will rock me into a good night’s sleep–just like a baby in a moving car.

Today we explored Lombok’s (Indonesia) capital city, Mataram and the surrounding countryside. We visited a temple, a pearl shop, a market, and a museum. As usual, it was hot and humid, but still interesting and fun.

Unlike Bali, which is predominantly Hindu, Lombok is mostly Muslim. Our guide said there are so many Muslims that there is a mosque nearly every 100 feet. That was a bit of hyberbole, but not much–there were always 2-4 mosques within sight as we drove from place to place. We drove by the largest mosque in Lombok, but didn’t stop, so it was hard to get a good photo of it.

The temple we visited is an important temple complex on the island because it is a place where four religions worship and pray together on special occasions–Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. In the center of the complex is a fountain containing fish that are believed to appear only when a person’s wish is going to be granted. Several of our group members threw coins into the fountain and made wishes, and a fish leaped out of the water after one of the wishes. The temple, built in 1714, hosted a major festival yesterday, so many of the festive decorations were still visible as the clean-up crews worked to pick up litter from the festival.

Black and white cultured pearls are grown in a number of places around the world, but only Lombok grows gold cultured pearls.

At the market, we were welcomed with a stick fight dance performance. While men beat on drums, two boys try to hit each other as hard as they can with rattan sticks. A referee (the third boy in the courtyard) determines who scores points. The boys have shields to protect themselves, but when their opponents find an opening around the shield, the fighters can be injured and bleeding. This dance is done only on special holidays. After the performance, we entered the market, which was arranged in a quadrangle and was very colorful.

Our guide told us not to pay the asking price for anything in the market. I didn’t plan to buy anything, but I saw a pretty little basket that Ted and I thought would be a nice souvenir of Indonesia. I told Ted I wouldn’t pay more than $5 for it and we agreed it would probably be $4.95 at Target in the U.S. The seller wanted $20 USD, so I just said no. He asked how much I wanted to pay and I told him not more than $5. He came down to $10, then $7, but I just turned away to leave. I was probably supposed to meet him in the middle on price, but I really didn’t think the basket was worth more than $5 and I could live without it. As I was leaving, he called out that he would accept $5. Then his boss (I assume) came over and asked if he could help. I asked if he’d take a credit card or USD and he said he’d take USD for the $20. So I had to do the same negotiating thing with him. He asked the vendor if it was true that the vendor had agreed to sell it for $5, the vendor affirmed his decision, Ted handed over a $5 bill, and we left with the basket.

At the museum, we were welcomed with a variety of traditional Lombok cakes that were delicious. It was a nice place to visit, because it was cooler inside. We saw many interesting things from Lombok’s history–fabrics, musical instruments, weapons, farming tools, household items, etc. Like the First Ladies’ dresses in the Smithsonian, my favorite display was the formal wear of past royalty in the country.

The most unusual exhibit I saw was these horses.

They look like children’s toys, but reading the description on the sign presented a very different story. There is a little bench/step on each side of each horse. Young boys would sit on these horses with their feet on the steps, holding on to the horses while the boys were held in place by men during their circumcision. The horses were described as “comforting” to the boys. Yikes!

In the city, we saw lots of scooters (just like in Bali) and a different kind of taxi, pulled by a horse. Our guide joked that these taxis have a one-horsepower engine with enough power for a half day. (The taxi drivers have two horses, and use each for a half day.)

Lumber strong enough for building is scarce in Lombok, but bamboo is plentiful and very strong. We saw a lot of building construction that was framed with bamboo, and a number of lumber vendors with cut lengths of bamboo instead of pine 2x4s like in the U.S. Lombok is planting forests of harder wood, but it will take many years to grow enough wood to use it for housing. Meanwhile, much housing is framed with bamboo and sided with corrugated metal. Concrete is another popular construction material.

Housing in Lombok is nearly always enclosed by a wall with a split gate. Compared to U.S. houses, the homes are small (10 m x 10 m is considered roomy) and often shelter multiple families.

The city sidewalks are very decorative, and not only in a few areas–they were decorated with a variety of patterns everywhere we saw a sidewalk. The black and white curb indicates good (white) and evil (black), and the pattern reminds people that everything in life must always be in balance.

We saw pretty scenery wherever we went, but this is equatorial country and it’s literally a jungle, so it was hard to take landscape scenes without trees in my way.

As we neared the ship on our return, the skies darkened. The wind became fierce (Ted thinks a least 50 mph), and it started raining just as our bus parked at the dock. Ted and I had travel umbrellas in our bags and debated if we should use them or run for it. Since the wind would most likely either (1) turn our umbrellas inside out, or (2) blow the rain sideways against us, we opted to run for it. We just cleared the ship’s doorway when a cloudburst-type downpour started and thunder boomed. (We were on a metal gangplank oceanside. Not good with lightning.) The people behind us got drenched. Those still on returning buses were told to stay onboard while the ship’s crew members brought them umbrellas and plastic raincoats. At lunch after everyone dried off, we all agreed the morning ended with an adventure. Here’s what the rain looked like from our stateroom when we got inside.

Our guides in Bali and Lombok both told us that life is good here. Crime is minimal (someone might steal your chicken); road rage doesn’t exist (horns are used to indicate a desire to pass or to take the right-of-way and drivers yield with a smile and a wave to each other); kindness to others and caring for family and community members are deeply ingrained in the culture; and people of all religions get along well with each other and often have communal worship services. Not everything is perfect, of course, but the United States could become a kinder, gentler nation (cf George H. W. Bush) by practicing these values.

Tomorrow: the Indonesian Island of Komodo.

Batik artistry is a fabric dying tradition in Bali. Today we visited a small batik production in Tohpati Village. (I saw three artists.) Batik can be done in several ways: (1) drawing freehand; (2) stamping; or (3) adding and removing layers of wax to allow specific areas of the fabric to accept the dye. The lady in the photo below measures the distance from her previously stamped designs to determine where to place her next stamp.

There were many beautiful pieces of batik work available for sale.

Our next stop was the 17th century Taman Ayun Temple in Mengwi, Bali. Everyone in shorts (most of us–it’s hot and humid) had to put on a sari to enter the temple grounds. We entered the outer courtyard first and saw this representation of a cockfight. Cockfights are popular fund-raisers and the roosters are eventually used as food, so nothing is wasted. The cockfights are sometimes held in auditoriums that seat 3,000 people. At the equivalent of $3 per person per ticket, that’s a pretty decent fund-raiser.

We then moved on to the inner courtyard, where religious rites take place. I wish I could remember more of what our guide told us about the Hindu religious practices. The buildings were interesting. The thatched roofs are made of palm fibers and last about 25 years.

Balinese Hindus eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A GMO variety of rice that ripens in only three months is making it possible for Bali to become self-sufficient in growing enough rice to feed its population. Because rice is so important, the people give thanks to the rice goddess, represented by this sculpture at the temple.

We had traditional Balinese foods for lunch. The only thing that was familiar to me was the Sprite I drank, but the six or seven things I sampled on my plate were all delicious.

Then it was time to go to the 16th century Tanah Lot temple, also called the Sunset Temple. As we approached the temple, we walked through a colorful shopping district and then entered the temple grounds through a split gate. All Hindu temples and many houses have split gates at the entrance. The right side indicates good and the left side represents evil. Together, they bring balance to life.

The towers of the Tanah Lot temple are made of black lava and are dramatically built on a narrow rocky promontory that juts into the Indian Ocean. The tide was low while we were there. At high tide, the temple is surrounded by water. It is the most photographed site in Bali. Just beyond the temple is a cove with a striking rock formation.

Now, Ted and I have seen the Indian Ocean. Cool! Not only that, but we also saw a tiny gecko. Life is fun.

Our tour bus dropped us off at the ship and our cruise begins tomorrow. Internet on the ship will be spotty at sea or slow, so I might not be able to keep up with daily entries of Ted’s and my adventures. Our stateroom has a balcony and a bathroom with a heated floor (we don’t need that in this heat and humidity!), but it’s smaller than a Best Western hotel room. After living onboard for 30 days, our house is going to seem huge!

One of our choices of activities today was a tour of the city of Denpasar, Bali (where we’re staying) from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. After 40 hours of travel from leaving our house to arriving at our hotel yesterday, Ted and I voted “no” for an early morning start and a ten-hour tour. We chose to get some sleep and to spend our day relaxing. It was awesome!

First, we had brunch in an open-air restaurant. I’ve never seen so many brunch choices–a huge room with ten large stations of different types of food. Everything we chose to eat was delicious.

Our brunch was included with our room, but we checked out some of the other restaurants. Take a look at these prices. “IDR” is “Indonesian rupiah,” the local currency. One thousand rupiahs equal approximately seven cents. It’s easy to be a millionaire in Bali.

After brunch, we took a walk to check out the area. We were told that we are safe within the resort section of the city (there are six resorts in a row where we’re staying), but it is not safe to go beyond the resorts. We didn’t. I think we walked about four miles and were repeatedly offered taxi rides or scooter rides. We always replied, “No, thank you. We’re just walking.” The puzzled looks we got made us think walking was an unfamiliar idea.

All that walking in an equatorial country made us hot, so we went to the pool. There is a lagoon that wends its way around the resort, and it’s possible to swim anywhere in the lagoon. That’s Ted in the chair on the left. My chair is on the right. The water was probably around 88 degrees, so we were surprised when we got out and the breeze made us feel quite cool. Since it was a hot day, we were glad to be cool. No problem.

Next on our lazy day agenda was a walk around the resort to check it out. The landscaping is so lush, it looks as thick as a jungle in some places. One wing of hotel rooms is set on the lagoon. Just climb down the pool ladder from your terrace and you’re in the lagoon and ready to swim like the guy doing laps in the photo below.

The last stop on our tour was the open air hotel lobby. When guests arrive and enter the hotel, the man in the first photo below strikes the gong. Then you go up the stairs behind him and the two girls in beautiful dresses greet you. On your way to the check-in desk, you hear the music a young man plays on a xylophone-like instrument made of bamboo sticks. Orchids are everywhere in the resort. I wouldn’t be surprised if they grow wild here.

Our tour featured Christmas decorations too and I was surprised to see that they are just like those in the U.S. There’s a jar of pine cones on the check-in desk and a big (artificial) Christmas pine tree with presents beneath it in the lobby. I’d be shocked to find out pine trees grow in Bali. (Yeah, right beside the palm trees.) There are also numerous Santa figures. The one in the picture below is set against a backdrop of orchids–yes, Santa in his cold-weather suit with hot-weather flowers behind him. Contradictory, right? I assumed tropical places would have more location-specific ways to decorate for the holiday. I’ll be sure to let you know how they decorate in Brisbane, Australia, where we’ll be for Christmas.

After all this activity, we needed a snack, so we went to a deli and had a piece of dessert.

Every Tuesday evening, there is a short fire dance performance at the resort. It’s Tuesday today, so we went.

Then it was time for dinner. We had a buffet that cost over one million rupias. Apparently, we are millionaires in Bali.

We ended our day walking back to our room under a full Bali moon.

I said there are six things I’m looking forward to on this trip.

#1: We crossed the equator yesterday and today I filled the bathroom sink with water and watched it swirl counterclockwise as it went down the drain.

Check! Five to go.

It takes a long time to go nearly halfway (10 time zones) around the globe. Our three flights were uneventful (always good news) with only a minor delay taking off at Hong Kong. We had an eight-hour layover at LAX, so there was plenty of time to walk around the airport, read, get something to eat, etc. This was a pretty piece of digital art at LAX. It spanned several stories of airport floors and was always in downward motion (water falling slowly in a variety of patterns). Very eye-catching and mesmerizing.

We left LAX at midnight and made a toast to upcoming good times. Ted had champagne; I had o.j. The main cabin passengers were in the boarding process. Business class is really nice.

The guy across the aisle from me got comfy before he even took his seat. He pulled off his shirt and shoes and settled in for the duration. The guy across from me when we went to Europe stripped down to his boxer shorts at bedtime, so this was pretty tame.

The girl behind this guy might have been the same one who sat across from me on our flight to Europe too. She stowed her luggage, got out the bedding, and buried herself with only a little of the top hair on her head showing. (It would have been too weird to take a picture of her while she was asleep.) She apparently slept the entire 15+ hours from LAX to HKG because she didn’t re-surface until we landed. Ted and I slept about 7.5 hours. It was a long flight. After arriving at HKG, we went to our gate to depart for Bali. It turned out that 190 of the passengers on that flight were heading for the same cruise as we are.

It was an interesting drive from the airport to our hotel in Denpasar, Bali. The architecture is heavily Asian/Hindu-influenced. There’s a huge bridge network across a large body of water that even includes cloverleaf intersections as it takes you across the water. Since I’m traveling with a meteorologist, we had to note that, since it was late afternoon, thunderstorms were developing.

The first thing we noticed when we landed was that the air was warm (85 degrees) and humid. We were each given a lei as we entered the airport, and Viking (our cruise company) had staff ready to walk us through the airport in small groups, speed us through customs, load our baggage to be delivered to the hotel, give us our hotel room assignments and keys, and put us on our shuttle bus. The air-conditioned shuttle to the hotel was appreciated by all of us, and the most frequently heard comment among our fellow travelers from the U.S. was “I just want a shower, some clean clothes, and some sleep!” Our (air conditioned) hotel is lovely.

The room has a feature that is romantic (in a way), but weird (in more ways). There’s a large window above the double jet-spa bathtub that overlooks the bedroom and provides a view of the outdoors. On the other hand, the window is directly in line with the toilet, the tub/shower, and the exterior window, providing a clear view from outside the bathroom of everything that happens inside the bathroom. We closed the blinds on that window.

This morning, we enjoyed the view from our balcony. We heard unfamiliar bird songs and saw lots of miniature squirrels playing in the trees.

*For those who have not seen “South Pacific,” Bali Ha’i is a mystical island, visible on the horizon, but unreachable. Romantic. Bali, on the other hand, is a real island and we’re on it. Also romantic.

Lots of people traveled last weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday and don’t need to go anywhere this weekend. That made checking in for our flight(s) to Bali easy. We were first in line at the international check-in counter, first in line for the TSA security check, and first in line at the runway for takeoff. Even more amazing, there was no line at Starbuck’s, so Ted had a cup of coffee and I had some hot chocolate while we waited to board our flight.

This is a rarely seen view of how Starbucks looks without a line. You can actually see the interior of the restaurant.
There were no planes on the concourse beside ours, so I guess there weren’t a lot of flights on the schedule either.

We’re off to a good start. That’s a good omen for lots of fun coming up.

The more we travel, the better and quicker Ted and I can pack. Not only that, but our luggage keeps getting lighter. As measured by our luggage scale, our suitcases have dropped from 47 pounds to 42 pounds to 39 pounds on our last three overseas trips. Personally, I’d like to get down to 35 pounds. We’re getting better at not packing “just in case” items, and that helps a lot. This time, we both have empty spaces inside our suitcases. That might mean objects may shift during flight.

Our flight schedule says that, with no delays, we will spend 35 hours going from airport to airport–not including the time on each end to arrive at the airport early, and to go through customs, pick up our baggage, and check in at our hotel when we land. We flew business class to Europe in June and I actually slept seven hours on the plane. Compare that to the hour-and-a-half I slept on our previous overseas flight. We’re flying business class again and will have 16 hours in the air between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, so I’m hoping to arrive well rested.

I wonder how hard it will be to adjust to jet lag after crossing the international dateline. That mysterious geographic marker makes our schedule look like we will arrive in Bali two days after leaving home, but will be home two hours after leaving Sydney. Weird!

Things I’m looking forward to on this trip include: (1) crossing the equator and watching water go down the drain the other way; (2) seeing the Southern Cross in the night sky; (3) summer in December; (4) seeing the Great Barrier Reef; (5) taking an off-road trip to Mt. Tamborine near Brisbane; and (6) hearing someone say “G’day, mate.” We have lots of activities planned, so it will be interesting at the end of our trip to see what our favorite memories are.

Question: If we go “Down Under” from the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, do those folks travel “Up Over” when they visit the U.S.? I’ll ponder that for a moment or two, but for now, g’day mates.

Ted and I will be celebrating Christmas near Brisbane, Australia this year so we had to finish our holiday preparations early. We have gifts purchased, wrapped, and ready to ship. The shopping bags will be hand-delivered to Kari’s house.

We hung a few holiday lights outside so the house will look “lived in” while we’re away. Kari will unplug them after New Year’s for us. That should really make it look like someone’s home, right? Note: It took me about 30 minutes to unpack, unravel, and hang these lights. Whew!

The Christmas cards and letters are ready to mail just before we leave town.

And the indoor decorating is finished. We weren’t planning to do any indoor decorating because we’ll only be able to enjoy it for a few days, and the Christmas look will be totally out of season by the time we return. However, . . . I found a cute Lego minifigure holiday set and couldn’t resist it. After I bought it, I had to build it. After I built it, I wanted to set it out and enjoy it. So . . . we have some indoor holiday decorations after all. Isn’t it cute?

Now, to give some perspective to the five minutes I spent decorating with Lego, here’s an overview of our holiday decorating this year. Can you see Santa and his sign in front of the TV?

Merry Christmas to all–wherever you celebrate.

Like much of the U.S., we had some bad weather yesterday. We were under a tornado watch and a wind advisory. Weather radar indicated circulation in the atmosphere near us, but Ted and I didn’t hear about any tornadoes, so I don’t think the circulation got beyond funnel clouds. That’s good news. The peak wind gust, measured at the airport 10 miles from us, was 64 mph. That caused some minor damage at our house.

We had a few fallen twigs in our yard, . . .

. . . and one of our lawn chairs was blown out of place.

Later in the afternoon, the wind changed direction, and set the lawn chair on its feet again.

Now we’re waiting for the wind to push it back in place against the house.

Jeff also had 60+ mph winds in northwest Montana last night, but his damage was a bit worse than ours. One tree was blown over and managed to take two more with it, blocking Jeff’s driveway. In addition, their area was without electric power for six hours–and Jeff’s house has electric heat.

As I write this, all is well for Jeff, his family, and their Thanksgiving guests. The lights are on again, the heat is running, and they managed to clear the trees that were blocking the driveway, using hand saws and their Honda CR-V.

Oh . . . all is good in our yard too.

I found this in a box of miscellaneous things. Friends and flowers may never fade, but this refrigerator magnet certainly did.

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” starring Tom Hanks, is coming out in two days. Did you know that Tom Hanks is descended from Nancy Hanks Lincoln? (Third cousin, four times removed.) He is also a sixth cousin of Fred Rogers.

Really. Not just publicity.

My wedding dress has been stored in the basement (and other storage places) since Ted and I were married. The dress is 50 years old, and I never had the dry cleaners do whatever they do to preserve wedding dresses, so it has yellowed with age. My mom and I designed and made my dress. I sewed on all that lace trim and all those lace appliqués by hand! Mom and I were both pleased with the results.

As I walked down the church aisle, I heard my Grandma make a little “aaahh” sound (she told me later I looked that beautiful), and that made every stitch worthwhile. Ted, on the other hand, didn’t even glance at me while I came down the aisle. He said he thought he wasn’t supposed to see me until I got to the altar.

About ten years ago, my friend Liz’s daughter was getting married, and Liz wanted to make a handkerchief for Janelle to carry on her wedding day. The plan was to use some of the lace appliqués from Liz’s wedding dress to decorate the handkerchief. Liz wanted my help because she doesn’t know how to sew. Working with Liz’s wedding dress prompted me to get mine out so we could admire both of them. We had a wonderful and memorable evening, talking about our wedding memories while we worked on the handkerchief for Janelle.

Cutting into Liz’s dress was a little emotional, but she said she can’t wear it again unless she puts a big panel down the back to make it wider. We had a good laugh over that and decided neither of us wants to wear our wedding dresses again, whether they fit or not. We agreed that if either of us ever marries again, we’re going to get a new dress for the event. After being married to Ted for 50 years, I think it’s safe to say we’re going to stick together.

When I came across my wedding dress and veil as we were cleaning out our storage room, I told Ted I’m ready to pitch the dress. I remember my mom telling me when she decided to do the same. She burned hers in a small wood-burning stove she had for warmth in her basement. Lacking that, I stuffed mine into the trash bag we were filling as we cleaned. I had no qualms about getting rid of the dress, but I asked Ted to take some final pictures of it, just for the memories.

While we were cleaning the basement storage room shelves, we found some interesting things. For years, I’ve put “special” greeting cards in boxes because they were important to me. I discovered six boxes of “special” cards! I think my definition of special broadened considerably over the years. I went through all six boxes and saved less than one boxful according to my revised, narrower definition of special. One of the things I found with the cards was an old Erma Bombeck column from the newspaper. Anyone with three or more children will appreciate Erma’s accuracy. Thom and Kari, the proof is in your baby books.

Our storage room shelves in the basement are full. We made a step toward getting rid of things last Christmas when we went through all of our Christmas decorations and kept only our favorites. Then we cleaned out some more stuff before the kids and grandkids arrived for our 50th anniversary party last June. Major discards at that time were toys for young children, pictures and wall hangings we’ll never put on our walls again, and surplus luggage.

This week, we got serious and went through the room shelf by shelf. When we finished, the trash can was overflowing, with four more days to wait until the trash pick-up. There was a recycle bin and another box of paper plus a box of cardboard for the recycle center. Better quality items went to Goodwill in two overflowing boxes. Ted said we don’t need two large ice chests, and I said I don’t need to keep my canning jars any longer, so they left our house too.

There’s space on the storage shelves now, and it feels good to have this job checked off the list–until next time. Still to be faced: three four-drawer file cabinets.

In December 1998, Ted set two personal records for his last lawn mowing of the season: (1) He did it in December instead of the usual November; and (2) it was so warm, he wore shorts to do the job.

Today, Ted set another record for the last lawn mowing of the season. He had to mow through snow in the shady areas for the first time ever. Even more noteworthy, the snow has been on the ground for six days in spite of sunshine and above-freezing temperatures all week.

The number of editing errors that occur in published books and elsewhere continues to amaze me. Here are some of my recent finds.

Spelling

How to change the meaning of a sentence with a misspelling.

Know your cars

Ford didn’t build the Cutlass; Oldsmobile did.

Acrobatic dog

Read carefully, then put this picture in your head. Amazing dog, or editing error? You be the judge.

It’s November, and that means the winter concert season has arrived. Ted and I attended Teddy’s concert tonight and, as always, enjoyed it. As usual, it was a full house. The bleachers were filled, and people were sitting on folding chairs and on the floor along the other three walls of the gym. Or in the case of one man in the photos below, standing in the doorway.

The middle school concert includes the fifth grade (on the right) and the sixth grade (on the left) orchestras.
Our shining star is Teddy, indicated by the green arrow. He plays the viola in the sixth grade orchestra.

At the end of the concert, the director invited us to the spring concert and told us the students will be playing the same selections, so we will be able to tell how much they’ve improved. It’s true: each year, there is a very noticeable improvement after six more months of practice. On the other hand, Ted and I have been attending these concerts since Sky joined the orchestra when he was in the fifth grade, and the songs have always been the same. As a grandparent, I don’t really mind, since I only hear the music twice annually, but aren’t the music teachers bored to death, teaching the same songs every day, all year, every year?

Whatever. Ted and I plan to attend the spring concert and will enjoy hearing how much the performers have improved.

When Ted and I biked on Sunday, the high temperature was 67 degrees. When we biked past the National Weather Service on the MO Research Park of the Busch Greenway, Ted wanted to stop in to see some of his previous co-workers. While we were chatting, one of the forecasters told us they were preparing to issue a winter weather advisory for Monday. And so they did–just a short while after we left to continue our bike ride.

Those NWS forecasters were spot on, including the flash freeze–except we had more snow than expected. Compare our Sunday (high 67) and Monday (13 degrees) temperatures. I took the Monday picture when we went to bed. Overnight, the temperature dropped some more, down to 8 degrees at our house. The official low temperature (at the airport) was 11 degrees–one degree lower than the previous record of 12 degrees set in 1911–108 years ago!

After biking in 67-degree sunshine Sunday, we woke up Monday to falling snow that continued until late afternoon. The previous record for snowfall on November 11 was one inch in 1991; the airport had an official 1.5 inches yesterday, and we had 2 inches at our house. The average date for a St. Louis snowfall of at least one inch is December 21–more than a month later than this.

After the snow stopped, the skies cleared, the moon appeared, the temperature dropped some more, and a meteor streaked across the sky just before 9:00 p.m. Within minutes, people were posting security camera videos of the event.

According to NASA, the meteor was a basketball-size piece of rock that broke off from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before entering Earth’s atmosphere. It passed near St. Louis just 59 miles above the ground and continued for about 70 miles before breaking into pieces when it was about 12 miles above the ground. The meteor traveled at 33,500 mph, creating a sonic boom that was heard for miles.

Ted and I didn’t see the meteor first-hand because we weren’t outside in the cold for the few seconds it streaked through the sky, but videos show a bright flash as the meteor streaked by. If we had been outside and seen the flash, we’d have probably looked at each other and asked, “What was that?” and the meteor would already have been out of sight.

The temperature didn’t go up much today, As a result, we also set another 100+ year record for the lowest maximum temperature for today. We made it up to 21 degrees. The previous record low maximum was 22 degrees, also set in 1911. The normal high for today is 58 degrees.

What a day, with record low temperatures, record snowfall, and a falling meteor, all within less than 24 hours.

The weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday was beautiful–sunny with high temperatures in the upper 60s. Monday’s forecast included nasty language: cold and snow. Ted and I decided to take our bikes out over the weekend for what could be the last time before spring. We chose two of our favorite routes: The Dardenne Creek Greenway on Saturday and the Busch Greenway / Katy Trail on Sunday.

With such good weekend weather, we met a lot of like-minded people on the usually sparsely populated greenways and trails. All of the trail access parking lots were crowded with cars that brought families of bicyclists, walkers, and hikers.

Sometimes, the fallen leaves made it difficult to see the path.

The field of Queen Anne’s lace on the Dardenne Greenway now flaunts more seasonal grasses.

The summer green lake views have changed to their official fall colors.

The bridges and creek views are always scenic. Someone hit this bridge rail hard!

Sunday was such a beautiful day and we were enjoying ourselves so much that we biked farther than usual on the Katy Trail. This meant we saw some new sights.

We crossed the Femme Osage Creek, which has an awesome old railroad bridge.

Farther on, we stopped at the Weldon Spring bike stop and discovered it has parking, bike racks, benches, trail information, and rest rooms. It was only three more miles to the Defiance bike stop, so we kept pedaling. There we found a restaurant and lots of happy people enjoying the outdoor patio and rooftop seating.

When we loaded our bikes back onto our bike carrier, we had pedaled 15 miles on Saturday and 27 miles on Sunday. Whew! What a great way and a great weekend to (probably) finish the biking season.

Since we bought our e-bikes on August 28, my odometer says I’ve pedaled more than 400 miles. Good job, Diane.

In my recent reading, I came across photos of an unusual and captivating pedestrian bridge. It is near Da Nang, Vietnam and is called the Golden Bridge. The nearly 500-foot golden walkway rises above the trees, and seems to be held in two giant concrete hands called the “hands of gods.” The bridge loops nearly back on itself and creates a feeling of being guided along by a giant stone god.

I closed my Facebook account about a year ago and don’t miss it. Ted still uses Facebook and, every now and then, he shows me some cute posts. These were fun.

I have my mother’s 1940 high school yearbook. That was the year she graduated, so there’s a short (and interesting) paragraph beside her picture. As I read her friends’ notations in the yearbook, I couldn’t help noticing two things. (1) Mom must have been as social as Kari and seems to have known nearly everyone. There were 387 graduates in her class, and it looks like most of them signed her yearbook. (2) I lost count of how many of Mom’s friends used the word “swell,” as in “we had a swell time” or “you are a swell girl.” That must have been the most popular slang word of the day because I also noticed it in the letters my mom wrote to a friend in the early 1940s.

Mom is Violet Lorenzen, the second photo from the top in the right column.

I also have my dad’s Distinguished Flying Cross, which he was awarded in 1945 as a Lieutenant during World War II. Dad was a B-25 pilot and was engaged in intense enemy aircraft fire that damaged his plane. In spite of the damage, he was able to keep his plane on course so that his bombardier could release the plane’s bombs and devastate a vital enemy railroad, contributing to a successful mission.

The DFC is on the left; the photo shows my dad in uniform as a lieutenant; the small name badge / pin was my mother’s ID when she worked for the War Department in 1944 making shells for the U.S. Army; the rose pin was awarded to my mother for serving as president of the local American Legion Auxiliary chapter.

In the 1980s, I embroidered a crewel family tree as a gift for my mom and dad. It documented our immediate family, from Mom and Dad’s marriage through their grandchildren at that time. I included extra yarn so Mom could update the information as needed. The family tree hung on the dining room wall until after Mom died in 1995. At some point after that, it was returned to me. My brother Russ said he always admired it and would like to have it. I made another family tree for myself showing Ted’s and my families, so I don’t need the one I gave to my mom. I sent it to Russ (with the extra yarn for updates), and I hope he’ll enjoy it for many years.

My brother Denny died in 1977. When my sister-in-law remarried, Mom cleverly added a branch in the lower left corner of the picture to include Bev, her second husband, Steve, and their daughter Heather.

A unique Hard Rock Hotel recently opened in Hollywood, FL. It is shaped like an acoustic guitar and can be seen from the air when taking off or landing at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. The door handles in the hotel are shaped like–what else?–electric guitars. The Oasis wing of the hotel includes swim-up suites.

The Noah’s Ark restaurant and hotel, a former St. Charles, MO landmark, was similarly unique. It was shaped like an ark with a white-haired “Noah” and animals on the ship’s deck / roof, and elephant-head doorknobs with the trunk forming the handle. Noah’s Ark was modest compared to what Hard Rock has done, but maybe Hard Rock got the idea from Noah’s Ark.

I think Ted is beginning to understand why I enjoy having a “birthday season” each year. Earlier this week, he suggested that we go to Bentley’s at the Lake of the Ozarks for his traditional birthday dinner on Friday night. Since this was seven weeks ahead of his December 20 birthday, he seemed to feel he had to justify it. (Why? I don’t justify my birthday season–I revel in it!) He pointed out that the trees are turning color; the weather forecast for Friday was for clear, sunny skies; we’d be out of the country on his birthday; and Bentley’s closes for the month of January–meaning he’d have to wait almost until my March birthday dinner at Bentley’s to have his December birthday dinner.

I didn’t need convincing, so we drove to the Lake in the sunshine, admired the colorful trees along the way, and had a delicious dinner. Happy birthday, Ted–and may you have as happy a birthday season as I always do.

Our window-side table view of the sunset over the Lake of the Ozarks.

Ted and I stopped at a Hy-Vee grocery store recently. Hy-Vee stores feature a world-wide selection of cheeses and we like cheese, so we checked out the display. We were: (1) pleasantly surprised to see cheese from Henning’s Cheese Factory (just outside of Ted’s hometown of Kiel, WI); and (2) shocked at the size of this Henning’s cheese on display. We estimated it at about 20 pounds–probably more. There was no price on it, so we thought it might just be part of the display and will later be cut into smaller pieces for sale. Whatever . . . it provided an exciting moment at a grocery store.

We should have put something beside the cheese to show the scale. Believe me, it was huge!

Today we had our first hard freeze of the fall season and our first snowfall. We didn’t get much snow, but just 15 miles north of us, Troy had about an inch of it. It was definitely cold and blustery today with a low temperature of 30 degrees and a high of 37. The wind chill was in the low 20s. Tomorrow’s forecast: 53 degrees and sunny. Much better.

The only places our snow was visible was on the cold lawn furniture. You can even see a little bit of snow on the table top.

The fireplace end of our family room is dark because the eight-foot window wall is at the opposite end of the room, beside the kitchen. As a result, our family portrait tends to be shadowed, especially in the evening. Today, we had an art light installed in the family room to highlight the portrait of our wonderful family so we can enjoy it when we sit in the family room.

Before (in daylight):

After (in the evening) :

It’s fall, so once again, I’m enjoying some little traditions in the neighborhood.

Our sugar maple tree becomes a colorful lawn ornament.
Our neighbor’s maple tree does its three-stage process. First the top turns color. When the upper leaves begin to fall (they’re doing it now), the middle band turns color. When they fall, the lower third turns color (it’s still greenish at the bottom). When the bottom leaves fall, the tree is ready for winter.
Every fall, Kari and Ted wax her car together. They just finished, and the van’s paint is protected for the winter.

Ted and I want to take a St. Louis-themed hostess gift to our Australian friends when we visit them in January 2020. Of course, the iconic symbol of St. Louis is the Gateway Arch, and the Gateway Arch gift shop has the best selection of model arches, so we spent the afternoon exploring the new visitors’ center.

The Gateway Arch underwent a five-year makeover from 2013-2018 at a cost of $380 million. The tram and parts of the visitors’ center were open during construction and could be accessed by temporary paths bordered by plywood walls. The entire facility re-opened on July 3, 2018. Over 100 acres of the grounds were updated and now include more access paths to the Arch; a viewing platform overlooking the Arch grounds and the Mississippi River was added; and a land bridge was built over I-44 to provide safer pedestrian access to the Arch from the downtown area. The makeover also added 46,000 additional square feet of space for the visitors’ center, including a major expansion and update of the Arch museum. The Gateway Arch was upgraded from a National Memorial to a National Park in 2018. Woo-ee! Ted and I have not been to the Arch since the work was completed, so we explored it today.

We approached the Arch from the north, which gave us the opportunity to check out the Arch and the river from the new viewing platform.
From the viewing platform, we could see the Eads Bridge, a National Historic Landmark.* We could also see how unusually high the Mississippi River is for this time of year. There’s a parking lot beside the visible street all along the downtown riverfront, but it’s entirely under water now.

*The Eads Bridge was a construction marvel when it opened in 1874. It was the first bridge to cross the Mississippi River south of the Missouri River; its central arch was the longest rigid span ever built (520 feet); it had the deepest underwater foundations of any bridge in the world (100 feet below the water surface); and it was the first large-scale application of steel as a structural material.

All of the park grounds had a makeover. It’s a pretty park with lots of shade for the summer.
From the viewing platform, we approached the visitors’ center from behind. It’s underneath the Arch (not visible here) beneath the grassy hill in the photo foreground.
Here’s the visitors’ center from the front. Seating is abundant–maybe not for the summer crowds, but there’s lots of grass to sit on when the benches are full. There’s also a walkway that goes around and over the visitor’s center, with nice views of the river and the city skyline. Check out that good-looking guy on the bench.
Getting into the Arch is now just like passing through airport security except we could keep our shoes on–no belts or jackets, empty pockets, all electronics in the bin, etc. It’s not the heavy tourist season, but we had to weave back and forth six times to get through the line. Our goal is the far background of the photo.
The inside view from the lobby windows nicely frames the Old Courthouse–the site of the Dred Scott decision in 1857.
The terrazzo floor of the mezzanine is covered with a map of the United States, showing major rivers (blue lines) and the westward exploration trails (dotted lines) that began in St. Louis (yellow circle) and literally made the city the “Gateway to the West.” The map is the mezzanine floor so, yes, you can walk on it.
Before leaving, I took a picture of the Poplar Street Bridge, which has a flood gauge (white painted rectangle) on one of its piles. The bottom of the white rectangle is flood level. Notice how close the river is to flood level this year, when it’s usually very low in fall and winter.
I found this picture of the Arch visitors’ center online. Isn’t it pretty from above?

It was fun to spend a sunny fall day exploring the “new” Gateway Arch, and yes, we found a model Arch to take to our Australian friends.

Kari and I have talked about taking some bike rides together. I’d like to ride around her neighborhood for a change of scene, and she wants to try some of the new greenways closer to our house. Today was the day. I think we biked every loop along the Dardenne Creek Greenway and put on about ten miles before it was time for Kari to leave for home. Ted and I had some more time to bike, so we went a little farther in the other direction along the connected Cottleville trail before going home. I learned from a sign along the trail that Cottleville was named for Captain Lorenzo Cottle, an early settler and a veteran of the Black Hawk War and the Seminole Wars.

As always, it’s wonderful to bike on the greenways where there is no automobile traffic.

One member of our biking trio had to take the picture, but you can see my bike. I (kiddingly) asked Kari if she was embarrassed to be seen biking with her Mom and Dad and she (kiddingly) said no, none of her friends could see her on the greenway. When I’m out with her, we almost always meet one of her friends, but she was right–none of her friends was on this trail today.
Someone arranged a pretty fall display along the Cottleville trail.

It was a dark and rainy night. . . . Ted and I went out for dinner and this is what we saw at the table beside ours.

Who would have an umbrella like this? Why, a lady with flowered pink pants and a pink band on her hat, of course.

The flamingo turned around. I think it’s hungry and ready to eat.

I needed some spices from the Spice Shop on Historic Main Street in St. Charles. What a pleasant surprise to find the street and stores decorated for the Legends and Lanterns Hallowe’en celebrations this month. Every weekend in October features Hallowe’en-themed entertainment and activities.

After walking down the street and enjoying the decorations, we stopped at Kilwin’s and bought some chocolate. Yum!

About two weeks ago, Ted and I went biking on the Busch Greenway through the Busch Wildlife area and the Missouri Research Park (past the National Weather Service Office), then continued along the Katy Trail* for several miles. It was another beautiful ride.

*The Katy Trail State Park follows the railroad bed of the M-K-T Railroad for 240 miles across Missouri. It is the longest recreational rail trail in the United States.

Ted and I weren’t the only ones biking on a Monday afternoon. We’ve learned that bicyclists love to chat about the trails and their bikes. That’s Ted talking with the man who parked beside our car.
The Busch Greenway has an underpass so we can ride beneath MO Hwy 94.
Along the MO Research Park stretch of the Busch Greenway, there’s a path around a small lake.
The hills and curves through the MO Research Park were interesting and pretty as they took us to the Katy Trail.
What I don’t like about the Katy Trail: Flat all the way and too many stretches hemmed in by trees.
What I do like about the Katy Trail: Bluffs above the Missouri River.
River views along the Katy are beautiful, but too often hidden by trees. The water is unusually high for this time of year due to all the rainfall here and north on the Missouri River.
Near the NWS office, there’s a trail rest area with information about the NWS, its Doppler radar, and severe weather. Here’s our weatherman checking it out.

We biked 22 miles on these trails and I want to go again soon.

This boggles my mind. Why would I want strawberry-flavored cranberries? Logically, I’d choose either strawberries or cranberries, wouldn’t I?