June
Journaling
1. We’ve decided to stop our
Bible studies until September. I appreciate the break. I’m busy with plans for
our trip in three weeks.
2. Our deck is getting
replaced after the bbq fire mid April. My daughter is in town from Ottawa for a
concert and so we went downtown to Planta, a vegan restaurant.
3. We were at church for a giftedness conference: it was very helpful. It
confirmed that I was born to learn, teach, and write. Today my husband is 25 years cancer
free. So we bought a
cake and our church family celebrated with us. On June 3rd, 1998 Gary had surgery for osteosarcoma, a bone
cancer in his leg. The years of survival are counted from that day. We’ve
celebrated every five years. There are not many happy stories when you hear a
cancer diagnosis, but this is one. Hanna and Leah were only 6 and 8 at the
time. But he was able to walk Hanna down the aisle and see his grandchildren.
The Apostle Paul almost lost a friend to illness but God spared him, so I feel
this verse is appropriate. “For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God
had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow
upon sorrow.” Phil.2:27
4. Church.
5. Chiro and
errands. Our deck is remade and stained. I need to stop buying clothes!
6. Writing. I should be
finished Deuteronomy before our cruise. Then my podcasts will have Genesis to
Deuteronomy and the book of Job. It only took two and a half years. 😊
7. Prayer meeting. One of the pastors in the
Mandarin language church plant is in ICU with flesh eating disease.
8. Our daughter is coming
home again this weekend. I finally found a pharmacy that will prepare my pills
for travel in blister packs. My usual pharmacy refused since they didn’t supply
all of them, but the other one did. So much easier than trying to bring all my
meds in the original bottles.
9. Today we are meeting our
youngest daughter’s boyfriend, Gary, whom she met at base camp in Nepal. He was
in the same excursion group so they were together for three weeks. He’s an
American from Colorado. I guess they’re seeing if meeting the family is a
deal-breaker. He is vegan too, like my daughter so I’m making mushroom
stroganoff.
10. Driving out to Hamilton
for Gary to meet the rest of the family, including both grandmothers. I am
scrambling to get a lot of work done before we go. I am proof-reading a 20 page
paper for a seminary student and finishing up my podcast of Deuteronomy before
vacation. We leave a week from Sunday.
11. The middle child had a
fever and sore throat. Found out all three kids have strep throat.
12. Pain clinic this morning,
and a few more errands. This evening we will have a meeting at church in
preparation for vacation bible school when we return.
13. Thankfully, I found a
pharmacy that would fill my medications in bubble packs for travel, so there is
less grief at the border. Leah and Gary left for Ottawa two days ago. I’ll post
a picture of them. Our daughter’s boyfriend is very nice and a good fit for our
family. He is currently working in water treatment so he has that in common
with my husband who is in water distribution. And although he already has a
degree in marketing, he is currently enrolled in school to learn web design, so
he had that in common with my son-in-law. He also has the same first name as my
husband, which is funny. Pia and Gary and Leah and Gary. Not confusing at all.
They are serious very quickly, as my husband and I were too.
14. Done my podcast: I have
now completed a paper on each chapter of the Bible books Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Job, as well as introductions and
summaries of each. It only took two-and-a-half years. Can you see why this is
my life’s work?
15. Packing for our cruise.
Had to take my mom for a doctor’s appointment to refill her prescriptions since
she’ll be in London with my aunt while we’re gone.
16. Taking my mom to
Hamilton. My cousin from London will pick her up from there and take her the
rest of the way.
17. It’s father’s day and my
husband’s 60th birthday! I’m married to an old man. But he never
complains about aging because the alternative to growing old is dying young.
Our friends had a bbq so we went for a few hours. They had a cake for him. Then
we went and booked our seats on the plane because we leave in 24 hours!
18. Church, then nap and
heading to the airport to leave for almost three weeks. Going to the land of my
birth, Finland, for the first time since I was 13 (46 years), are you doing the
math? Then to Stockholm, Sweden; four places in Norway; Kiel, Germany;
Copenhagen, Denmark; Tallinn, Estonia; and back to Helsinki, Finland. Also four
sea days. So looking forward to relaxing and having fun with our friends, John
and Esther who have an adjoining balcony stateroom. We have three days in Helsinki
first where we’ll see the sights and my relatives. Soooo excited!
19. The flight was on British
Airways and it was very comfortable. The last part of the journey was on
Finnair which was exciting. They serve blueberry juice, and it was nice to hear
the announcements in Finnish. Arrived at
our hotel, the Aleksanteri Radisson Blu. Went to eat dinner at a great Finnish
restaurant called Kappeli. Surprised by the midnight sun.
20. Found a great restaurant
for breakfast, quite by accident; Eckbert. Then when we did a hop-on-hop-off
bus we found out it was the oldest café in Helsinki, started by an orphan. Then
we walked around and went to the Rock Church. At two p.m. my cousin’s daughter
picked us up and we went to my cousin’s home for a garden pizza party. Some of
my relatives travelled some distance to see me and they kept saying, “I can’t
believe you’re here!” The woman who picked us up is married to an Italian man
she met while in law school in Australia. He’s a chef. So he brought his pizza
oven and made a pizza feast for us. They made us all feel welcome. This was why
we came early; to see family. I’ll post a picture. Then we found a French
restaurant called Le Cou Cou Vert, where we went for drinks, but ended up
eating another meal; it was delicious.
21. Ate breakfast at the
hotel, and then my sister and her husband came to meet us and we took a ferry
over to Suomenlinna, the military base where our father served his mandatory
military service. So excited to be able to go into a submarine they have there.
Then we went on the Finnair skywheel, a giant sightseeing ferris wheel which has
a sauna on one of the cars, of course. Finns put saunas everywhere. Then we went
to the outdoor marketplace and had a lunch of Karelian pies and cinnamon rolls.
Then to the Stockmann department store so we could get some Moomin gifts for
the grandkids. Then we went back to the hotel for a nap and met again for
dinner at a traditional Finnish restaurant for Karelian food. They served
caviar which I don’t think is traditional, but it led me to ask, “Do I have
caviar in my teeth?” This became a saying we used often to get a laugh,
especially with a pretentious British accent.
22. Day one: Embarkation day.
MSC didn’t say which port it was at, there are three. But we got on board
quickly, since they have people boarding at many different ports on the same
itinerary. Our room was ready quickly and our luggage arrived. They are not great
with communicating things like the time and location of the safety drill and
that we need to link our cards to a credit card at a kiosk. They are an Italian
ship so the announcements are in five languages. It’s an older ship so there is
no app but we chose it for the itinerary. The staff are great. Our main waiter
is from Bali and our steward is from Honduras. We have a balcony with a
partially obstructed view. We have an adjoining room with our friends John and
Esther. Esther speaks Italian, Spanish, and English, while John speaks English
and Dutch. I speak Finnish and English, and my husband only English. We had
frog legs as an appetizer; it tastes like chicken wings with a bit of a fishy
aftertaste, but not bad. Then we went to a show that was mostly flamenco
dancing; very good. The sun sets at 11:30 p.m.
23. Day two: In Stockholm,
Sweden. We went to the Abba museum, I’ll post a picture, and also the Vasa Ship
museum. The show was called Italian love songs. We brought flags representing
where we were born; Venezuala, Suriname, Jamaica, and Finland, as well as
Canada. It was a great conversation piece as people tried to guess the flags. I’ll
post a picture.
24. Day three: This was our
first of four sea days; we started a tournament of cards; 500 rummy, Finnish
rules. One word, jatko, means continuation, and when Esther would jatko, she’d
say, “I jatko you!” which sounds like a threat. The show as ‘L’amore (opera,
ballet, concert piano), which isn’t really my taste, even though I have caviar
in my teeth. It was the White Night party, so most wore white and we went to a
dance on the pool deck.
25. Day four: Kiel, Germany. Late
morning, it’s Sunday so everything is closed; so we took a taxi to walk along
the boardwalk and eat bratwurst. The show was called Viva Fantasia, which is a
good-bye show for some who are leaving the next day. We browsed and bought some
costume jewellery rings.
26. Day five: Second sea day;
formal night.
27. Day six: Hate to sleep
because even going into the fjords is something to see from the balcony. We
arrived in Bergen, Norway, but Esther was sick and slept 24 hours because of
the medication. My husband and I went on a hop-on-hop-off bus but most of the
earphone jacks didn’t work; we should have brought our own and linked into the
site. We bought our usual fridge magnets in each town and a few other small
things. We went to a fish market but it was so expensive; 50 euro for a skewer
of four shrimps, scallops, and pieces of salmon. We bought reindeer sausage to
bring home. We shared an order of fish and chips, which were delicious. We didn’t
go to a show since Esther was sick. There aren’t many food options and there
are times when nothing is open, which is unlike most cruise ships. We did like
the charcoal pizza in the buffet.
28. Day seven: Nordfjordeid,
Norway. It means inner northern fjord. We walked ten minutes from the ship to
the Sagastad Viking museum which had an actual replica of a Viking ship. I can’t
imagine the bravery of those people to go out onto the open North Atlantic ocean
with no cover. I’ll post a picture of my book among the props. Then we dipped
our toes in the North Atlantic waters of the fjord, and I can honestly say that
Lake Superior is much colder. Nap, then I fell in the public washroom before
the excursion. Esther was with me. It has happened before. I hit my hip
resulting in a nasty bruise, and I hit my head on the floor and on the doorstop
which is a big pipe instead of a spring with a rubber stopper like we have in
Canada. I didn’t report it, but probably should have. We had to tender over to
the shore. The show that evening was called Rhythm Divine. More cards. Lots of
fun.
29. Day eight: Olden, Norway.
Each stop is more beautiful than the last. We took a ‘train’ tour bus in land
which had amazing scenery. We bought some souvenirs and took silly pictures
with trolls. The show in the evening was called Aziza; with a contortionist who
turned his head 180 degrees as his finale. He was incredible! We had our dinner
in the buffet instead and played cards in the back. The washrooms in our
stateroom stopped working, until they discharged into the ocean once we were
out in international waters.
30. Day nine: Stavanger,
Norway. This is the stop where you can go to pulpit rock, but it’s got three
strikes against it for me; a long, hard hike to get to it, heights, and an edge
with no railing. Nope, nope, and nope. We bought some souvenirs. We did part one
of an on-board excursion which was really interesting; today was the bridge and
engine room. No phones allowed. We didn’t see a show tonight. John and Esther
did the hop-on-hop-off and said they couldn’t see anything. Dinner at the
buffet. The back of the ship was shaking so hard salt and pepper shakers were
falling off the table and breaking.
