Christmas 2014

Hi Everyone !!!

Being 'frugal' (or tight / cheap / whatever -- you can fill in the blank)

this year the Christmas letter will again be carried by the 'cyberspace creature' instead of the 'snail'.

And the fact that you are not getting this until January 2015 does not mean the internet 'snail' delivery was slow but that I was slow, having too many 'irons in the fire'. The good intentions to get this to you on time got waylaid. Sigh

So, since I realllllly still want to wish all of you a belated Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year --here it is :

Merry Christmas 2014

And

Happy New Year 2015

As I said before --The annual Christmas letter is when everyone tells what all their kids and grandkids and great grand kids and etc. did. And, yes, they all made Honor Rolls, married well, graduated summa cum from the most outstanding post graduate school in the world, won the lottery, or whatever. Mine, of course, did none of that.

So what did happen in 2014 in the ‘nooga household? Welllll ---

January was verrrrry cold -- like this year (2015) so far -- and a lot of dripping of water faucets was required to avoid broken pipes. Yay and hooray -- the drips worked and the pipes survived.

February was not much more exciting -- more cold -- including that big snow event in Atlanta that you probably saw on TV with all the traffic problems. Well, we had that snow event here but since I didn't have to emerge, it was more or less a 'non-event'.

March was also very uneventful -- I mainly went to Ham Club meetings of various kinds and to Atlanta to celebrate Sally's Birthday (she is wife of my nephew, Harry).

April consisted mainly of more Ham Club meetings and activities and was not very eventful until the end of the month when I put the DISH satellite service on PAUSE.

Why did I do that? Wellllll, because May, June, and July were going to be very eventful and, since I would not be in town, there was no need to pay the big monthly DISH bills.

So, what was going to happen in May, June, and July? you ask.

Wellllll…. it was time for another big 'Trip of a Lifetime' event as some of my friends call my / our adventures --

Lawson (brother), Carole (his wife) and I left for another BIG vacation. I could go on and on about it -- but the highlights are:

We left Atlanta on May 2 to drive to Florida where on Sunday May 4 we boarded the Cruise Ship Independence of the Seas for a TransAtlantic crossing -- it went from Florida, via several Islands in the Caribbean (San Juan, St Thomas, Saint Martin), and after 16 days arrived in SouthHampton, England. This ship was soooooo big that it even had an ice skating rink (I kid you not) --Here's a picture for 'proof'.

And no, I did not ice skate -- preferring not to get a broken bone but the professionals in the ice skating shows were remarkable. It was like watching skating at the Olympics.

After a very eventful series of train rides from the West Coast (SouthHampton) to the East Coast (Harwich) of England, (eventful because there was a suicide event on one of the trains which caused much backup and delay in travel making our 4 hour trip extend to almost 8 -- with many train changes in which we had to lug our luggage up and down many many steps -- good thing we travel light but this was still toooooo much up and downs) --- anyway we eventually arrived at Harwich, England where we stayed in a wonderful little hotel while awaiting our next 'water adventure' --

This time it was an English Channel Crossing on the Stena Steamship Line to Hook of Holland where we took a train to Rotterdam.

From Rotterdam, where we had overnighted, we took a train to Berlin, Germany.

We were in Berlin for several days and saw everything I had ever wanted to see but had missed on previous trips to Germany. Yes, we saw CheckPoint Charlie, remnants of the 'wall', The Pergamon Museum, Brandenberg Gate, etc etc etc.

It was truly wonderful. The only problem was that my left arm and hand became numb and essentially useless for many days beginning in Germany and lasting for about 3 weeks. Why? Well, apparently all that lugging of suitcases and changing of trains and etc while doing that England travel had pinched a few cervical nerves. But, Lawson and Carole came to my rescue and helped with the luggage on subsequent days. They really took care of "Miss Daisy" -- And fortunately it was my left arm and hand so I was still able to eat (very important thing to do when cruising). : )

Anyway, back to the trip --

After the Berlin visit, we returned by train to Rotterdam where we boarded the Holland America Rotterdam for a 28 day Baltic and Midnight Sun 28 day Cruise (yes, you read that correctly -- 28 days on a cruise ship.) I loved it.

Perhaps the highlight of that 28 days was the fact that we went far above the Arctic Circle (only North Pole was farther North). Wow. I never dreamed I would do that -- it was truly a 'bucket list' item.

Other locations visited on this 28 day cruise included: Copenhagen, Denmark; Warnemunde, Germany; Tallinn,Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; the Stockholm Archipelago; Arhus, Denmark; Flam, Norway; cruising of the Sognefijord; Alesund, Norway; Trondheim, Norway, cruising of the Trondheimsfjord;

Tromso, Norway; Honningsvag, Norway (this is where the top Northmost point of the cruise enabled us to be wayyyyy above the Arctic Circle at the North Cape);

Molde, Norway; Geiranger, Norway and the Gerirangerfjord; Bergen, Norway, and finally back to Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

After returning to Rotterdam by train, we had several days before the next Cruise so we took the overnight Stena Line Ferry again back to Harwich England - and then - deciding to forgo the train, we hired a Cab service to take us back to SouthHampton, England. Much better idea and no pinched nerves !!!

Interestingly, both Harwich and SouthHampton are very important in American History.

The Captain of the Mayflower lived in Harwich (we saw the house in which he had lived) and we also saw a stack of logs and wood that is (so they say) going to be built into a replica of the Mayflower. So far it is still a stack of wood.

In SouthHampton, there is also a lot of Mayflower stuff in the very quaint old town --since SouthHampton is the port from which the Mayflower sailed to America. There is even an outline of the mayflower (to show its size) on one of the streets. It is stunningly SMALL. How that many folks could cross the Atlantic in a ship that was not much larger than a couple of staterooms on a cruise ship is beyond belief. But they did it! Wow.

Ok, 'nuff of the history -- it is time to board another Cruise ship, this time the Queen Mary 2 to sail back to New York in another TransAtlantic crossing.

The Queen Mary 2 is awesome -- sooooo elegant and wonderful. I was afraid it would be so elegant that I would be locked in the stateroom and fed through the keyhole since 3 of the 5 nights were 'formal' but somehow L, C, and I fitted in : ) and it was a wonderful experience.

The QM2 even had a Planetarium (I kid you not) with several very interesting shows during the crossing.

Finally, we arrived in New York, early in the morning, sailed by the Statue of Liberty and the famous skyline as the day broke ---

and after breakfast we disembarked and went to the Penn Station where we took the Amtrack train (overnight) to Atlanta, arriving in the early morning of July 2. Whew! What a trip.

I then stayed in Atl over the holiday of the 4th, and like last year, watched the the Peachtree Road Race. No, I didn’t run, but Harry, Sally, Philip, and Cyndi did while Lawson and I watched and listened on the radio to the hams working the event.

Finally, on July 6, I returned to 'nooga and a Humongous Stack of Mail (that I am still going through) !! Travel is fun but the things you have to do before and after you leave, as many of you well know, are 'un-fun'.

The rest of July was rather uneventful -- with ham club meetings and picnic, and, yes, going through the stack of mail.

August -- consisted mainly of Ham Club Activities -- the most exciting of which was that several Ham friends (including Lawson) helped erect my HF Dipole in the backyard so I can now 'work' (talk to) hams all around the world. Being shy, I mainly listen but have made a few contacts. Very exciting.

September -- Many more Ham Events including working several events including the Iron Man Triathalon. Wow. Folks how participate in that really are "Iron Men".

October -- The main event this month was another trip to Oklahoma to visit Christopher (who is now 5 years old) and his family. Just like last year we had a wonderful time. Elizabeth is now in a Christian School, George is still homeschooling but very active in various Plays. Christopher is in pre-kindergarden. But even with all those activities, we still had a lot of fun playing Wii games including (my favorite) Wii Bowling.

As before, during the trip to and from Oklahoma, we dropped in on the Little Rockers and had fun but brief visits with many of the relatives there. Fun Fun Fun.

Next, in November, was the annual trip to celebrate Thanksgiving with my friend, Janice, and her mother (who is now 96 and is my ‘other mother’). We had, as usual, a GREAT time.

After Thanksgiving, I scurried back to 'nooga because it was time for the annual RSNA meeting which I used to attend in person in Chicago (brrrrrr, cold, and expensive) but now can to do this for the 4th year in a row by attending ‘virtually’ via the internet. How wonderful to sit in front of a computer in comfy clothes, taking notes, drinking coffee, and eating a sandwich or other snacks while earning 38 hours of Cat. I Credit. WOW. This Internet age is wonderful.

December - much of this month was spent in Atlanta -- because 2 nephews were graduating with Master's degrees (Philip from Georgia Tech and Harry from Georgia State), and, of course, the old aunt with the grey hair wanted to be there.

Those events were followed, of course, by Christmas and New Year's.

Actually, the reason you are getting this letter (tome) so late is because I was in Atlanta so long and having so much fun doing so many things, that I honestly just didn't get around to it.

Other thoughts before ending:

Katie, the poodle, is still a Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. One never knows which she will be. She continues to go for weeks, sometimes a month or two, being the most wonderful dog in the world. Then when I least expecting it she becomes an attack dog (with me being the target). Sigh.

And, finally (don't you love that word) Last, but certainly not least, is the main activity (yes, even more so than the Amateur Radio things) that keeps me busy. What is that? you ask?

Why, of course, it is the ‘Daily Interesting Things’ website. If you have not visited it, the link to it is http://biblestudiesnet.blogspot.com

Well, there you have it, a brief review of some of the highlights of 2014.

Looking forward to another exciting year in 2015 --

and wishing for all of you a belated verrrrry Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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