Vacation by Proxy

Vacation by Proxy?  Let me explain.

A couple of places we
didn't get to see in L. A.

Years ago when Erik, Jim and I visited Mike in Los Angeles there were a few places we wanted to see but he apparently did not share our enthusiasm.  I suppose after having countless visitors who all want to see the same tourist attractions he was bored with most of them.  So he said,
 "You don't have to go there.  I've been there a bunch of times and you can see my pictures."
                                                         

Fast forward several years.  Erich and I are in Austria, homeland for him but first visit for me.  I expressed an interest in taking home some souvenirs representative of our trip to Austria.  His reply,
"You know you can get all that stuff on Amazon a lot cheaper."

Mary, walking away from a Salzburg market
 full  of souvenirs with just a bag of grapes.

What is it they don't understand about "the personal experience"??
To be clear, my ribbing is all in fun - both trips were fun, exciting and adventurous thanks to two special hosts - in spite of my moments of "vacation by proxy"!

Happy Birthday, Priscilla!

We celebrated Priscilla's birthday today!  The cake had three candles:  One was for 90 years and the other two were one year each.  You do the math.  We had a nice dinner and some lively conversation.

A toast to 92 years!

Priscilla has always been like a mother to me ~ What a sweetheart.

It looks like Priscilla enjoyed the celebration!

                         

Geocache #4, Chippewa Falls

Chippewa Falls, at Batchawana Bay near Erich's house

The Travel Bug we deposited at the Falls location

Found it!

Kathy and I had the idea to drop off the Travel Bug from our last Geocaching at a site in Canada so she found one online at Chippewa Falls  near Erich's home.  It was a great opportunity for us to try out Erich's new GPS and we found the hide in short order.  The little roller blade now has a temporary new home in Northern Ontario.  The last entry on the log for this hide was June of this year so it could be there a while...

Erich with his GPS

Geocaches Numbers 2&3

Kathy and I finally got back to the Offield Nature Preserve to find the cache that eluded us a few weeks ago.  This time she had her hand held GPS which took us closer to the its location.  The first one was difficult to find unless you're looking up!

Mary retrieved the cache from above

                                                     
Encouraged at finding the first one we decided to look for another cache hidden at the same preserve.  That one contained a "Travel Bug" meant to be taken to another location.  Some of the Travel Bugs can be tracked online and some have a desired destination indicated by the person who hid it.

Kathy with the Travel Bug and her GPS

                                                                   

The Universal Language

We met nine of Erich's hometown friends at a restaurant for a little reunion.  It was nice but difficult at first as only one of them spoke English.  Erich mentioned that George has a good voice so I asked him to sing a song.  After a beautiful rendition of Strangers in the Night I said I'm surprised they weren't singing drinking songs.  They recognized that term and flowed into a list of fun stein-swinging pub songs! 

George, Helmut

 Helmut said it was too bad I couldn't hear them play and sing...I asked if their instruments were in their cars...they needed no more invitation than that!  Soon we were all singing Austrian folk songs, including Yodeling accompanied by guitar and accordian!!  Music is truly the universal language!

Mary, Erich, Bert, Adi

                                       
                                                                           

Language Barrier

We checked into a B&B for the next 10 days and spent part of the afternoon today with Erich's family in Trofaiach, Austria.  They are delightful people!  His sister Hermi is friendly and generous and was so welcoming - she made us a yummy home cooked meal with veggies from the garden even though they had already eaten (they eat their main meal at noon).  Her husband Karl is talkative and showed us all around his amazing yard and garden - SO many beautiful flowers everywhere!  Their daughter Ingrid is lively and warm and understands a little English.  Julia ("Yoolia") is a sweet little girl.  Most of the time I carefully listened trying to pick up a word or two and sometimes I could get what the subject matter was but I had no clue what they saying and was unable to say more than a few words here and there.  This will be a challenge...they call it the "immersion method"!

Geocache Number One

The bottle, painted dark for camouflage and a pile of canisters.

Opening my 196th film canister

                                                                             
I was introduced to geocaching today!  Kathy took me to the Offield Nature Preserve a couple of miles north of here and thanks to the GPS app on her phone we found the first cache in short order.  That was the only thing short about it!  It was a five gallon water bottle containing 200 old film canisters six of which held clues to the next cache and one held the log for us to sign.  Time flew as we opened all 200 canisters and soaked in the warm September sun.  We tromped around in the woods for a while without finding the second one.  The app just wasn't accurate enough, so we have a date to return with "the big guns", a real GPS.  I look forward to it!  These things are all over the world - in more than 100 countries and all seven continents!

International Geocaching Logo

                           

For a basic description of how geocaching works, read it here on Wikipedia.

Batchawana Bald Eagle

The last time I was in Canada we took a little sunset cruise down the shore of Batchawana Bay and were rewarded with a good view of this regal pair of eagles.  

We saw the first one flying above us with a jet in the background

                                                                           

The other one chose a tall tree on the shoreline so he could overlook the whole bay.

There he is, King of Batchawana Bay

I wish I would have had my zoom lens!

                                                                                       

Frost So Soon?

I just heard the weather forecast for tonight.  September 6th and we may have frost tonight! 

 I have to enjoy my garden while I can!

Grape Tomatoes

Day Lily

Fuschia

Garlic Chive Blossoms

Coleus

Real Tomatoes

The worse store tomatoes get the harder I try to grow my own.  Given that my yard is set in the shade of some very tall maple trees and I live closer to the North Pole than to the equator this is a real challenge.  Persistence is the key, and so is cutting down a few trees.  The last 2 or 3 years I've had a little luck but I still need another month in my growing season.  Here you see my first plum tomato (Roma) which I will be having with some basil from my prolific herb garden for dinner tonight.

First Roma of the season.  Uh oh, it's September 5th.