Ancient History & Mystery & Standing Stones

A day of discovery in the Outer Hebrides

     We are currently staying on the group of islands off the Scottish coast known as the Hebrides (pronounced Heb-rid-ease) and there is a tremendous amount of history, going way back.  Like the day Fiona was born here ... hey, just kidding!

      Actually more like 5,000 years back - to the days of druids and other ancient peoples - who built many landmarks that still stand to this day.   The stone arrangements above known as the Callanish Stones are a bit like Stonehenge. 

     And they are filled with mystery and with a lot of ancient mythology, such as - how did they build these things?  How did they transport the rocks here from somewhere far away?  And what is the design supposed to represent?

The Standing Stones of Callanish

     These pictures show the magnificent stones on the West coast of the island on a bluff above the sea.  They are sort of a timeless reminder that we have some ancient ancestors who were pretty clever.  
     This setting has been described as spectacular and even magical.

A retro black & white photo yesterday of Alison, Lewis, and Ruby

     
     It's kind of an amazing feeling to view these up close and absorb the atmosphere and hear the distant thunder ... hey, that really happened!   There was a huge thunderstorm with lightning and heavy rain and the whole bit yesterday when we were touring. 

The Tower at Carloway

     This was another amazing structure of immense size, built a long time ago by people who knew how to make things last.  You need to use your imagination, because at this point just the base is left, but just think the size it must have been.  Look hard and you can see some children sitting on the far side of the structure. 

    And there were internal stairways built of stone, with cool views.

 

The Black House Village

     People used to live in these houses and it wasn't so long ago - in fact there a few folks who still do.  This particular spot has been preserved and restored to show how life was a couple hundred years ago.  Things were tough. 

     It was basically a stone wall with a thatched roof.  It was a hardy building that could withstand the rugged weather and climate conditions.  It's windy on the island much of the time.  And the winter nights are cold and long.  
     We have the good fortune of being here at the height of summer, and the days are long ... see below.

Sunset over Stornoway (almost)

     I wanted to get a sunset picture here, and you have to wait up pretty late for that.  Last week was the longest day of the year, and that means that it never really gets dark here on the Island of Lewis.
     It's not quite the land of the midnight sun, but this is the far North Atlantic, and the sun sets at almost 11:00 pm, then sunrise is around 4:00 am, meaning it just gets kind of twilight at the darkest.
    So below is my best attempt at capturing the end of the day.  Got lucky when the clouds parted (did I mention the weather is iffy?) and the sun appeared for a brief time. 

Scotland the Brave - A Story - You call this golf?

We arrived in Scotland to find blustery, rainy weather, just like we expected

     Moving along from fun time in Holland, it was a quick flight from Amsterdam to Stornoway, Scotland on the Isle of Lewis.  This is where Fiona was born and raised.  Our son is named after this island.  
     We are here for a family visit for a week or so, but the main event is the Wedding of the Century on Friday between cousin Anne-Marie and Sean, who hails from nearby Ireland.

When the ball lands, it tends to sink at this golf course, and this was on the green.  Imagine trying to putt this?

     

Epic Golf Outing!  

     
     We went and played golf yesterday, with the realization that it was going to be wet and challenging.  The ladies were at a wedding function, something like an afternoon tea, which gave us a perfect opportunity to get away for a round of golf - or so we thought. 

The Ladies dressed up and heading out for afternoon tea and wedding pleasantries - do you have your raised pinky ready?  Lewis with a photo bomb in the background.  

     
     It had rained hard in the morning, and from what we were told, it's been raining and unpleasant here for some time, so we anticipated difficult conditions on the course.
     But in reality, to say we were unprepared would be a misuse of the English language.  The only thing we had was a positive attitude, which quickly faded under the battle-like elements we faced. 
     We were completely without any of the normal accouterments of golf - we had no clubs, no balls, no tees, no cart, no gloves, no nothing - and worst of all we had no shoes. 
     If you're going to play golf in bad conditions, you at least need some good shoes.  Instead, I played in my running shoes and Lewis played in my Teva rafter sandals, which were pretty close to playing in flip flops.
     However, the intrepid staff (it was actually one lovely chap) was very accommodating and he did his level best to equip us with rental clubs and such.  This turned out to be a challenge because he couldn't find the key to the storage locker and then all the clubs were left handed, and we managed to tackle the course with one shared grab bag of miscellaneous clubs of dubious quality.
     Lewis started out with socks on, but that lasted about ten feet, when he walked through standing water off the first tee.  So he had to play the rest of the day with bare feet in sandals.  He had to roll up his pants so they wouldn't get wet, and you can imagine how that looked. 

     
     It was hillbilly golf from the start.  We didn't know the course, so we had to hack and whack our way through the heather and peat.  
     It was super wet and soggy, and we were slipping and sliding many times, occasionally during the back swing, which gave us a good excuse for our rather poor performance.  
     But we were having a good time and earned some local street cred for taking on this challenge under nearly impossible odds.  In fact, there were very few fellow golfers out there.  Apparently the regulars had enough sense to head to the pub. 
     At any rate, we managed to make our way around the front nine only losing three balls, which is a miracle of the highest magnitude and I would be willing to loan this miracle to the current pope if he needs one for sainthood.
      There were a bunch of trees and sand and a whole lot of water.  Unfortunately the water was not in a lake or typical water hazard, but right on the surface.   And the terrain was Scottish in every way, sponge-like turf with uneven surface, moss, rocks, hills, - in fact I expected to see Braveheart pop out from behind a tree, with an arrow in his arse!
     Believe it or not, Lewis began to score and got a couple of pars and a birdie.  He is a pretty good golfer, and I'm ... not.  But I got off a good shot or two, which managed to find the fairway.  We agreed in advance, in order to preserve our sanity, that we wouldn't keep score.  Our excuse was that we didn't have a pencil ...
     We had a lot of good laughs, and were amazed at the view from the top, you could see all the way to the mainland some 40 miles away.  The course was actually pretty creative, and with some resources, could have been pretty decent.  It was definitely unique. 

     We realized that we were running out of time (it took way longer to play than "normal" golf) and we had to wrap things up and go pick up the girls from the afternoon tea.  
     So we abbreviated our play and cut short to head to the clubhouse, and were surprised to see the girls there waiting for us.  They had been given a lift by cousin Lorraine, along with her two lovely girls, Sarah and Isla.  
     They were astonished when they saw us walking up the course, and averted their eyes.  I heard the words "ridiculous" "morons" and "embarrassing" come from their direction, along with the very appropriate "hillbilly".
     And to add one more indignity, there was no way off the course from there - other than to climb the stone wall lining the nearby fairway.  So we threw the clubs over the wall and scaled it and emerged triumphant from the wildest round of golf I have ever played. 

     We turned the clubs back in and the bloke asked up how we did.  I answered "well, maybe not my best day golfing!"
     And he said:
     Welcome to Scotland!

Van Gogh Was a Weird Dude - Goodbye Holland - Hello Scotland

Van Gogh was a weird dude, but a great painter

     We've become somewhat familiar with the work of Vincent Van Gogh, one of Holland's greatest artists.  He is celebrated here with a couple of different museums, and several key locations and noteworthy milestones.  

     He led a troubled life, but the result of his internal emotional struggle was some brilliant artwork, some of the world's most popular and well known paintings. 

     I try to avoid taking pictures of paintings in art galleries, it just seems so uncouth, but I couldn't resist this shot of his famous cypress tree with two women.  The guy was a true genius, but quite strange.

There are some unusual street scenes in Holland

     This place is an amazingly open minded country with a lot of tolerance for a lot of things.  For example, Oregon just voted to allow legalized marijuana, but the Netherlands has accepted this for about the last thirty years (and is probably no worse for the wear).

     And you see things that might seem surprising, such as the head shot below of a place that makes "homemade" cosmetics and tinctures and elixirs and other such creative remedies.  Not sure why the guy's mouth is open, but he's been around for over 150 years ...

     And they can convert a town square from a market - to a soccer field - to an international volleyball tournament - in no time.  

     First the soccer (which the rest of the world calls "football").  

     Notice the Nike logo in the background.

     Then there was the huge international volleyball tournament in downtown Amsterdam.  The place was rockin' although I'm not sure of the significance of the competition.  Notice the historic churches in the scene, many of which date back to the 1600's.

     And of course, there is the Saturday Market in Haarlem, which was incredibly vibrant and lively, and came out of nowhere, only to vanish by the next day - and be replaced by a football tournament!  

And one last picture - 

Why do they call this place the Netherlands?

     We went to the seashore this afternoon, and spent some time by the North Sea.  Only, well, the shore didn't used to be here, it was further inland, until the Dutch decided to build dikes and pump the water out with windmills and reclaim the sea.  

     Actually they didn't "reclaim" the sea, they just claimed it and added more land to their country.  Netherlands means "lowlands" or "below" as in below the sea, and Holland has done a good job of capturing this and making it productive.  In fact, at one point during our visit here, I used my altimeter to indicate the elevation of Haarlem, and it said minus 2 feet - two feet below sea level!

     In the picture below (pardon the pun), you can see the massive dike on the left, covered in grass and holding back the ocean from the farmland beyond - which is ... the Netherlands ... below sea level. 

 

Tomorrow - Scotland ! 

     It's gonna be a grand time.  We are going to Scotland for a big family wedding, and we will be there in some numbers, representing the American side of the family.

     I hope I can do justice to this big event.  More to follow!

Wait! You mean this Bridge Moves?

We Set Out Today for Amsterdam

     

     Believe it or not, we've been in Holland for a week and have not yet been to Amsterdam ... until today.  There is just a lot to do, and we've been a lot of other places, but today we made the train trip to the capital of the Netherlands.  (remember, Holland = Dutch = Netherlands - it's all the same)
     We set out from our apartment here in Haarlem and didn't get very far before we came to the bottom of the street where there is a bridge over the canal.  There were some arms that came down like crossing arms at a railroad track.  We were somewhat surprised, and had to stop and wait, as did everyone else on both sides of the bridge. 
     The bridge started moving, pivoting in the middle, and swinging to the side.  They were letting boats pass through and rather than go up like a drawbridge, it swung from one side to the other.  It was cool. 
     Low and behold, some boats passed through and then along came a kayak!  It was awesome!  The moved the bridge to let a kayak through!  Ha Ha Ha!  
     Well, it wasn't really just for the kayak ... but it made an impression - hey, these people have their priorities right!  (see bike picture down below)

So we took the train to Amsterdam

     It's a small country Holland, and we walked to the local train station in Haarlem, where you can then travel by train in 15 minutes to downtown Amsterdam.  
     They have great public transportation here - we could learn something from the Dutch. 

     
     What a great city.  It's one of those places where spectacular scenery meets amazing history meets vibrant activities.  The place is so alive!
     Water and canals are everywhere.  Way more canals than Venice, Italy, but of course, it's not a competition ...

     And Bikes???  Are you kidding me?  This place is the most bike friendly place in the world.  We arrived at the train station and there was this enormous bike "garage" that contained over ... (and I'm not making this up) ... 25,000 bikes!   
     Look at this double decker bike parking lot below, wow! 
     I can picture the girls below trying to locate their bikes, among thousands of look-alikes - "I know I left it here somewhere ..." 
     "We'll find it, it's the one with two wheels ..."

     And among many other amusing and entertaining things, we went on a canal tour by boat, and viewed a lot of the historical buildings that Amsterdam is famous for.  This picture below shows a vantage point of houses (probably three hundred years old) that eventually began to lean into each other.

     It might be hard to tell from this picture, but they are pretty crooked.  And of course, see the warning sign in the bottom right corner about bicycles. 

     And we can't complain about the weather, especially compared to what Oregon is experiencing right now - it's been really good, mild, warm, and sunny for the most part with an occasional rain spell.  This place is really green!

The Biggest Building in the World - is Filled with ... Flowers

Touring through Holland - The Flower Market

     We had to make an early start, because the flower market is busy early - you better get there by 6:30 am or you will miss the high point of the day.

     Most people (at least us) don't realize that the Netherlands is the largest producer and seller of flowers by far!  In fact, they are bigger than the rest of the world put together.  We know this because they told us this and many other facts - and we saw it with our own eyes.

     So just how big is this place?  It's over 240 acres under one roof, with several thousand people working there, and a bee hive of activity.  There are guys running around on these little forklift things at a very high rate of speed, filling orders and moving flowers around by the millions.

     And they are not just flowers from Holland, they come from all over. We saw flowers from Kenya, Turkey, Colombia, Ecuador, and every corner of the globe.

     They fly them in and auction them off to buyers on a massive scale.  These guys pictured above are bidding on all the different varieties of fresh flowers that flow through here everyday.  

     They call this a Dutch Auction.  Isn't every auction in Holland automatically a dutch auction?  But what this means is that they start high and work their way down to an acceptable price.  It seems to work, they were conducting a transaction like every three seconds!

      Pretty Amazing

  

Windmills Everywhere

     Of course, this being Holland you would expect to see Windmills and wooden shoes and all the other typical Dutch things. 

     We went to a village and saw some amazing sites.

      And these are working mills, used for pumping water or cutting wood or grinding flower or many other things.

One of the best Windmills is right in the middle of Haarlem. 

 

     We were sitting there having lunch when a wedding broke out right next to us.  It was pretty fun to watch and they had even had Champagne!

     The scenery in Holland is often very serene and beautiful and peaceful.  

     It's a very enjoyable place.

     

We know about Jesus and wine, but what about beer?

Scene from a retro shop in Haarlem, a bunch of old Converse Chuck Taylors 

 

Currently in Amsterdam and nearby towns, visiting Holland

     
     There are a lot of bikes in Holland.  In fact this society is a bicycle riding country, everyone rides bikes, everywhere. 
     We have heard that there are more bikes than people in Holland. 
     After spending some time here, we believe it.  There is an incredible bicycle culture here, with bike lanes and bike traffic signals and millions of bikes.  
     Frankly, it seems like a really good thing.  Fresh air, exercise, fitness, low carbon emissions, and best of all - you don't have to drive, which is really a hassle here because the roads are small and tight and there is no parking.  

     

There were a variety of things that we saw and did today

  
     We visited the old church in the central square in Haarlem.  
It rises above the town with a huge steeple, and can be seen towering above all other structures.

     It has a spectacular organ, one of the biggest I've ever seen, several hundred feet high inside the church.  Amazing.  They started playing it today when we were there, right at noon.  The music was loud but ... not really uplifting.  It was kind of somber like Phantom of the Opera music, but still very impressive.   The whole building shook when they hit the low notes. 

     
     And there were a bunch of graves of people buried under the floor of the church.  This used to be a common thing for several hundred years, but they don't do it anymore.  
     This emblem below shows how they marked one grave - Yikes!  Was this guy a pirate?

 

... but one thing was unique ... it was a first for me

     We visited a church that has been converted to a brewery and brew pub restaurant.   It's a huge church building that was a few hundred years old, and had been abandoned.  Rather than tear it down, a company bought it and remodeled into a brewery. 

     The design of the place was spectacular, with a great atmosphere.  They make all their own beers there, and have a terrific restaurant, and the vibe was really lively and cool.  We enjoyed it there.

     Hey, as I've said before, I'm not here to pass judgment on anyone or anything.  To be honest, it is not a shame to re-purpose a building into something more modern and productive for the world we live in today.  They've been making this beer since 1407.

     And it's still a church building.  At least that's how they describe it.  It is very popular, and is a great draw for tourists.  
     Truth be known, the brewery has been around longer than the church.  Hey, I'm just sayin' ... 

Amsterdam, Holland ... Do you know where YOUR Tulips are?

So We're Back on the Road, or friendly skies ... Arrived today in Holland

     It's the start of a nineteen day swing through the Netherlands and Scotland, and we all arrived from different destinations within a couple hours.  

     Fiona came from Senegal Africa, where she has spent the last ten days.  Lewis and his wife Ruby arrived from Washington DC, where they attended a Peace Corps reunion.  And I myself flew direct from Portland to Amsterdam (nice!) on Delta Airlines. 

     We made our way to Haarlem where we are staying.  This is the original Haarlem, the one in New York is named after this place, but they spell it different.  And at one time, New York was known as New Amsterdam.  

     In fact, the Dutch were responsible for a lot of the things that we are familiar with in today's world.  Things like Tulips, Windmills, Cheese, and Dutch Bros coffee.  

     You know, someone might ask, why is the country called Holland, or Netherlands, and the people are known as Dutch?  Heck, I don't know, the language is also known as Dutch, although almost everyone here also speaks English.  

     The influence of this country is disproportionate to its size.  And it's a small country that would be much smaller with out the land they recaptured from the sea.  

     How did they reclaim (or claim) land from the sea?  They built huge massive dikes out into the ocean, they call them Polders, and put up windmills to pump the water out.  These people are clever, half the country is below sea level. 

     So we got our rental car and drove from the airport to Haarlem, and checked in to our AirBNB accommodations, which are very nice and close to the city center.   We laid in some groceries and promptly took a nap. 

     We went for a walk this afternoon, down to the historic church and town square.  Everything is super old here compared to America.  The city hall was build in 1630.

A local Cheese Shoppe

     We shared a nice dinner and headed back to the flat.  We'll hit the pillow probably pretty early tonight, as we all flew overnight last night to get here. 

     A couple of stories about my plane flight.  

     Once we settled in for the journey, the Asian lady in front of me with a couple kids, was trying to turn on the overhead seat light.       

     She couldn't figure it out and was turning the air flow knob back and forth and getting frustrated.

     I stepped in: "It's on the screen in front of you, the one on the seat back"

     Her: "What seat back? What screen?"

     Me: "The one right there" I pointed to the video screen.

     Her: "What?"

     Me: "Right here," I leaned over and touched the screen and the light came on.  She was amazed.

     Her: "You ... are ... technology!"

     

     I was surrounded by children on this plane trip, usually everyone's worst nightmare.  But it didn't bother me that much, I'm kind of used to it, shoot, I had my two young grandkids by myself all week.

     But there were some other who were really getting on edge with the noise and crying.  There must have been like ten kids within two or three rows.

     At one point it got pretty extreme and one little boy around two was really hollering and crying and busting out some serious volume.  It was probably one of the loudest screaming fits I have ever heard.      The father turned to me (I was sitting next to them!) and apologized.  I told him "Hey, I'm alright ... they're kids, what are you going to do?"

     But the other passengers kept turning around and glaring and staring at them and finally one lady had enough.  She raised her voice "Will you quiet that kid down!  Make him stop!!"

     That approach rarely works, especially with parents who are worn out and haven't slept.  That kind of thing is generally not advisable.  

     So the dad fires back "Why don't you mind your own business?!?!  I can't make him stop!  Why don't you stop?!?!"

     The arguing escalates and someone hits the call button for the flight attendant.  They are sympathetic toward the parents of the wayward child.  They calm down the agitated passenger and offer her another seat somewhere, but she declines.  

     I'm thinking "happy father's day, dude!"

     Off to a good start, with lots more to come.  

     This is a beautiful place.  Check out the scene below, with a water-born nursery selling flowers and plants on the canal.

     

     And of course, there is always the interesting sign:

     We're planning to be nice ...

Back On The Road Again - the Return of the Travel Blog

Been Home Long Enough!

We arrived home on April 15th from our long trip around the world, and that seems like a long time ago, in travel years.  Now it's time to hit the road and get on out there and see something new ... or something far away.

A common response from friends and colleagues, when they hear about this trip, is "Good grief, you're going off again?!?!  I guess you didn't get this out of your system on the big trip?" 

Fiona has already started, she has been in Senegal Africa for over a week, working on projects for our Andando Foundation.  Things are busy and going well in the village where we work, Keur Soce (pronounced Kur So Suh).  

I leave tomorrow for Amsterdam Holland, and Fiona will meet me there.  We travel to the Netherlands regularly and really enjoy the country.  My last name is of Dutch ancestry and I feel an attachment there, and beyond that, we just like the place.  It is interesting and very pleasant with a lot of history and stuff to do. 

Our son Lewis and his wife Ruby are going to join us there, following their current trip to Washington DC, where they are attending a Peace Corps reunion with the team they were part of in Swaziland, Africa. 

Once we all arrive simultaneously in Amsterdam and spend a week there, we depart for Scotland, where we will all attend a big family wedding.  We will also be joined there by our daughter Alison, who is coming for the wedding.  

This whole thing sounds complicated, and it is.  In fact, once the wedding is over and our visit to Scotland is complete, most of us head home, but Lewis and Ruby will continue on from that point to Senegal, where they will carry on with the work for Andando. 

Are we clear on all that?

My Intent is to Post Regularly on this Blog, on this trip and others to follow ...

We have other travel plans this year.  There is a wedding in Toronto, and a domestic trip to the Redwoods with our grandsons (always a well spring of amusing anecdotes!).

Then later a trip to ... and after that ... well, just stay tuned and I promise to do my best to provide hopefully interesting and entertaining commentary on the world around us, both near and far.  

Little Boy Heaven In Oregon

Sometimes for a little guy, a day can be a lot of fun

     So today was a day that started out very early in Portland, and ended up with a couple of pretty exhausted young men in Jefferson. 

     Fiona is in Senegal Africa, and my daughter Alison and her husband Brandon are now in Hawaii, so guess who gets to watch the little ones?  You guessed it ... me.

     We drove down from Gresham early in the morning and arrived in time for a seriously large load of gravel to be dropped off behind our house, shown in the picture below.   

     On the way there, we stopped by the saw mill where there are some big logs that were recently "harvested" and grabbed a picture of Sam on top of a bunch of timber. 

     

     I am working on a trail behind our house and need the gravel to make a path amongst the large trees and vegetation.  The talented truck driver was able to place the load exactly where needed. 

      Following that maneuver, the boys climbed on top of the pile where I captured this picture, it was a bigger pile than it looks from this angle. 

     At this point we had to head down the the farm in Jefferson where we observed the recent ongoing construction improvements to the cabin on the farmstead, with new siding in progress - it's looking good! 

     After that brief discovery, we then make a trek to the rear of the farm where a large pile of wood is waiting for "processing" into firewood.   At this point, the boys decided to make a game of climbing and jumping from one round to the next.  

     It was an intense competition.  Anything can become a game if you put your mind to it, and you remain young at heart.

     Finally, back at home and the last picture I have - is that a pile of gravel can become a sled ride or even a toboggan for two, if you just let yourself go ... 

      Beyond that, we went to potluck gathering in the evening and the boys played with others until around 9:00 at night.  I was exhausted.  And they were too.