AND NOW THEY ARE BACK!
APPARENTLY IF I DO A POST A SAVE IT TO DRAFT BEFORE I PUBLISH, IT DISABLES THE COMMENTS.
THE LESSON IS TO KEEP IT SHORT AND THEN I WON'T NEED TO SAVE TO DRAFT
OI VEY!
WKH
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Comments
I have noticed that I do not have a comments section. I really like comments but apparently I am not alone in this department with blogger. I am now working through all the help groups to figure out why my comment section is disabled. Yes I have checked all my settings. I think that is equivalent to asking if the broken appliance is plugged in. So hopefully this will be fixed so that I can enjoy any comments anyone might have
WKH
WKH
Monday, May 14, 2007
Wanderlust
WANDERLUST: "The irresistible and very strong urge to travel."
My Great Grandparents
As I look at and research my family history, I am in awe of the fact that I am only second generation family from Canada. I have been researching my maternal mother's family. The Krikau's.
My maternal great grandmother and great grandfather lived in Prussia in a town called Warrenburg. My grandma McLaughlin was born their as was four of her six siblings. The Krikau's can be traced back to Wolfenhausen, Vitrunkel county of Germany as far back as the early 1700's. This was the time of Catherine the Great. The times were poor. The peasants were treated badly. There was war. These conditions made the time ripe for recruitment of the Germans to Prussia. As I understand it, some of Catherine The Greats' incentives included free travel, freedom of religion, freedom to build churches and church schools. Temporary freedom from taxes and capital for developing a parcel of land in the Prussian Volga region.
According to my grandmother's nephew (John Krikau) who did all this research, not many of these incentives were realized. However the promise was enough for a few adventurous souls, including one of my great great great grandfathers, to move to their new home along the Volga valley.
As the early 1900's came forth, once again there was political, economic, and religious unrest in Prussia. My grandmother's parents must have felt this and took advantage of yet another offer to resettle in "the land of opportunity", America.
They had letters from a first cousin who was established in Canada as a farmer and would sponsor them.
I obviously have never been through war, or persecutions for my beliefs or for that matter I have never been hungry. On some cerebral level I understand this motivation. But many in Prussia were in the same pickle.
What was it that caused my great grandfather to make the journey? Given the times, I am only assuming that it would have been an unilateral decision. What made my great grandfather actually move his wife and 5 small children away from his family and all that he knew?
I like to surmise that along with these motivating factors, their was a huge proportion of an adventurer and dreamer in him. He must have been a sweet talker to convince my great grandmother to go along with him. Or their must have been great love for her not to stay behind while her husband went ahead and got things settled. I am always the romantic.
They arrived in Ellis Island in New York on October 17th 1911. They traveled by train to Rosthern Saskatchewan on the sponsorship of the first cousin. A few years later my great grandfather moved away from the farm to Winnipeg. There is an unsubstantiated story that great grandfather had saved the soul of a person on the ship ride from Prussia. This fellow was so appreciative that he paid for train transportation for him and his family to go to California. However my great grandfather did not realize that there was a 100 dollar head tax for each member of the family. He couldn't afford it and thus stayed in Winnipeg for a few years.
The family moved on to Illinois in 1924. One exception was my maternal grandmother. She stayed in Winnipeg and was married. As an aside this marriage has remained a big mystery in my genealogy research as she divorced him and remarried and no one talked about him.
So my grandma stayed behind because of love. I understand this. My mother was born in Winnipeg. My maternal grandmother and her first husband moved to Saskatoon. She lived her remaining days there.
My mom and dad met, married and lived in Saskatoon all their married life. I was born in Saskatoon along with my 6 siblings.
Bill and I met and married in Saskatoon. We spent one year of our married life in our home city of Saskatoon. I believe the romantic in me said I would follow him to the ends of the earth just to be with him. And thus began our journey following the money and opportunity trail.
We moved to Regina where Bill got his first engineering job out of university. Regina is where my two daughters were born. We moved to Edmonton and now we live in Calgary. I followed.
Bill and I always called these moves our response to the seven year itch. I thought we were the start of the wanderlust generation. But were we?
We were following the dream of something better and probably bigger. The Alberta advantage took us. The land of opportunity; economic improvement and no provincial tax.
The cycle carries on.
Last week Jackie called me. She was so excited and talking a mile a minute. She has decided to stay in Japan. This decision was not a big surprise to me. Mothers just know. After her contract with Jet is finished at the end of July, she is moving to Tokyo. She has one more year left on her Japan work visa and what a shame to waste it.
Jackie loves big cities and do they come any bigger than Tokyo? Her pragmatic side made her realize that she had greater earning potential in Tokyo than in Canada. Apparently, Tokyo has many opportunities for English speaking persons.
Jackie is already looking for accommodation and has some promising leads. I believe Jackie is motivated to stay for the economic side of her life. She is also pursuing the challenge of another foreign big city. She loves the challenge. She is also looking for a new community to find happiness and love.
Globally the world is very small. The modern conveniences such as computers, messaging, phones, and affordable airfare allow for this. Jackie's generation listlessly travels to a new world for adventure and for the opportunity to improve economically.
My family has many generations of re establishing themselves in foreign and unknown places. Maybe the reason for moving away now are no different from those of 300 years ago.
Economic, opportunity, adventure, and maybe love.
WKH
My Great Grandparents
As I look at and research my family history, I am in awe of the fact that I am only second generation family from Canada. I have been researching my maternal mother's family. The Krikau's.
My maternal great grandmother and great grandfather lived in Prussia in a town called Warrenburg. My grandma McLaughlin was born their as was four of her six siblings. The Krikau's can be traced back to Wolfenhausen, Vitrunkel county of Germany as far back as the early 1700's. This was the time of Catherine the Great. The times were poor. The peasants were treated badly. There was war. These conditions made the time ripe for recruitment of the Germans to Prussia. As I understand it, some of Catherine The Greats' incentives included free travel, freedom of religion, freedom to build churches and church schools. Temporary freedom from taxes and capital for developing a parcel of land in the Prussian Volga region.
According to my grandmother's nephew (John Krikau) who did all this research, not many of these incentives were realized. However the promise was enough for a few adventurous souls, including one of my great great great grandfathers, to move to their new home along the Volga valley.
As the early 1900's came forth, once again there was political, economic, and religious unrest in Prussia. My grandmother's parents must have felt this and took advantage of yet another offer to resettle in "the land of opportunity", America.
They had letters from a first cousin who was established in Canada as a farmer and would sponsor them.
I obviously have never been through war, or persecutions for my beliefs or for that matter I have never been hungry. On some cerebral level I understand this motivation. But many in Prussia were in the same pickle.
What was it that caused my great grandfather to make the journey? Given the times, I am only assuming that it would have been an unilateral decision. What made my great grandfather actually move his wife and 5 small children away from his family and all that he knew?
I like to surmise that along with these motivating factors, their was a huge proportion of an adventurer and dreamer in him. He must have been a sweet talker to convince my great grandmother to go along with him. Or their must have been great love for her not to stay behind while her husband went ahead and got things settled. I am always the romantic.
They arrived in Ellis Island in New York on October 17th 1911. They traveled by train to Rosthern Saskatchewan on the sponsorship of the first cousin. A few years later my great grandfather moved away from the farm to Winnipeg. There is an unsubstantiated story that great grandfather had saved the soul of a person on the ship ride from Prussia. This fellow was so appreciative that he paid for train transportation for him and his family to go to California. However my great grandfather did not realize that there was a 100 dollar head tax for each member of the family. He couldn't afford it and thus stayed in Winnipeg for a few years.
The family moved on to Illinois in 1924. One exception was my maternal grandmother. She stayed in Winnipeg and was married. As an aside this marriage has remained a big mystery in my genealogy research as she divorced him and remarried and no one talked about him.
So my grandma stayed behind because of love. I understand this. My mother was born in Winnipeg. My maternal grandmother and her first husband moved to Saskatoon. She lived her remaining days there.
My mom and dad met, married and lived in Saskatoon all their married life. I was born in Saskatoon along with my 6 siblings.
Bill and I met and married in Saskatoon. We spent one year of our married life in our home city of Saskatoon. I believe the romantic in me said I would follow him to the ends of the earth just to be with him. And thus began our journey following the money and opportunity trail.
We moved to Regina where Bill got his first engineering job out of university. Regina is where my two daughters were born. We moved to Edmonton and now we live in Calgary. I followed.
Bill and I always called these moves our response to the seven year itch. I thought we were the start of the wanderlust generation. But were we?
We were following the dream of something better and probably bigger. The Alberta advantage took us. The land of opportunity; economic improvement and no provincial tax.
The cycle carries on.
Last week Jackie called me. She was so excited and talking a mile a minute. She has decided to stay in Japan. This decision was not a big surprise to me. Mothers just know. After her contract with Jet is finished at the end of July, she is moving to Tokyo. She has one more year left on her Japan work visa and what a shame to waste it.
Jackie loves big cities and do they come any bigger than Tokyo? Her pragmatic side made her realize that she had greater earning potential in Tokyo than in Canada. Apparently, Tokyo has many opportunities for English speaking persons.
Jackie is already looking for accommodation and has some promising leads. I believe Jackie is motivated to stay for the economic side of her life. She is also pursuing the challenge of another foreign big city. She loves the challenge. She is also looking for a new community to find happiness and love.
Globally the world is very small. The modern conveniences such as computers, messaging, phones, and affordable airfare allow for this. Jackie's generation listlessly travels to a new world for adventure and for the opportunity to improve economically.
My family has many generations of re establishing themselves in foreign and unknown places. Maybe the reason for moving away now are no different from those of 300 years ago.
Economic, opportunity, adventure, and maybe love.
WKH
Friday, May 4, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Anniversary
We were married 32 years ago today.
A marvelous bright blue sky dawned that day and the sun shone down upon us. Brides never want a rainy day. It had something to do with bad luck.
I was 21 years, 1 month, and 8 days old. Bill was 20 years, 6 months and 23 days old. We were just babies. I know for certain we didn't think so at the time. After all, I had a full time job nursing. I had money in the bank. And I was in love. Bill had just completed his 3rd year of engineering. And he was in love.
While in Japan, Jackie and I had a discussion about love. The only thing I knew for sure is that "you just Know" when you are in love with that special someone. How do you know, mom?
You never stop thinking about each other. You never want to be separated. It is that unexplainable feeling that nothing else matters as long as you are together.
Only three other times have I ever felt that way. The birth of Jill, Jackie and Alanna. There is a connection that takes you over and you let it take you.
It was this feeling that I walked toward on our wedding day. I was not thinking of where we would be 32 years later. It was only for that moment of letting our friends and family know we were meant to be together forever.
As the anniversaries added up, the time seemed to speed up. It has been a long time since we lived in a basement apartment with concrete block and wooden bookshelves. It has been a long time since Bill would come to pick me up from my evening shift and we would go out for pizza until 2 or 3 a.m.
We have enjoyed life in 4 cities, 1 apartment, 4 houses, and one condo. Location did not matter to our marriage. In fact it strengthened it as we learned to become independent of family.
We have accumulated our material things. It was great. More things did not make us happier. Together and at the same time we realized that life was more than what we owned. We downsized and simplified our life. In this simplified life we have found our lives becoming strengthened as a couple who can enjoy our time together.
We have two daughters, one son in law and our grand daughter. We have been blessed to watch their growth into adulthood and find their own lives. We have been so enriched by our granddaughter. We really should all be grandparents first. It is a much easier ride.
Bill and I do not have the magic answer to marriage. We have magic in our marriage. I live each day with a grateful heart. I have married my best friend for life. And that life so far has been truly magical and full of love.
WKH
A marvelous bright blue sky dawned that day and the sun shone down upon us. Brides never want a rainy day. It had something to do with bad luck.
I was 21 years, 1 month, and 8 days old. Bill was 20 years, 6 months and 23 days old. We were just babies. I know for certain we didn't think so at the time. After all, I had a full time job nursing. I had money in the bank. And I was in love. Bill had just completed his 3rd year of engineering. And he was in love.
While in Japan, Jackie and I had a discussion about love. The only thing I knew for sure is that "you just Know" when you are in love with that special someone. How do you know, mom?
You never stop thinking about each other. You never want to be separated. It is that unexplainable feeling that nothing else matters as long as you are together.
Only three other times have I ever felt that way. The birth of Jill, Jackie and Alanna. There is a connection that takes you over and you let it take you.
It was this feeling that I walked toward on our wedding day. I was not thinking of where we would be 32 years later. It was only for that moment of letting our friends and family know we were meant to be together forever.
As the anniversaries added up, the time seemed to speed up. It has been a long time since we lived in a basement apartment with concrete block and wooden bookshelves. It has been a long time since Bill would come to pick me up from my evening shift and we would go out for pizza until 2 or 3 a.m.
We have enjoyed life in 4 cities, 1 apartment, 4 houses, and one condo. Location did not matter to our marriage. In fact it strengthened it as we learned to become independent of family.
We have accumulated our material things. It was great. More things did not make us happier. Together and at the same time we realized that life was more than what we owned. We downsized and simplified our life. In this simplified life we have found our lives becoming strengthened as a couple who can enjoy our time together.
We have two daughters, one son in law and our grand daughter. We have been blessed to watch their growth into adulthood and find their own lives. We have been so enriched by our granddaughter. We really should all be grandparents first. It is a much easier ride.
Bill and I do not have the magic answer to marriage. We have magic in our marriage. I live each day with a grateful heart. I have married my best friend for life. And that life so far has been truly magical and full of love.
WKH
Saturday, April 28, 2007
My Timing
Jackie emailed me the other day to let me know that she had experienced an earthquake. It was centered off the Island of Shikoku and was according to the news reports a 5.2 on the Richter scale. She said it was over by the time she realized what it was.
My timing seems to be right. I am sure that it would have really freaked me out to be there during an earthquake. That would have been too much excitement to take in.
Besides missing the earthquake, I also show great timing, by leaving before her "creepy crawly buggy" season. A few days after she left, she found a very long centipede on the living room floor. She thinks it was the poisonous kind. (Shudder). The day or so after that she found a 3 inch long spider in the room behind where I slept. (Shake).
I am aware that the lush land of Japan cannot come without it's fair share of bugs and insects. I am just thankful that they showed up after I left.
I have finally looked at all my digital pictures of Japan and love the feeling and memories that they bring. I am just starting to work through Jackie's pictures. In the same manner I have been working on setting up some of my pictures o1n Flick r. So let me set you up with a link. I hope it works.
http://www.flickr.com//photos/turtle_lady/
My timing seems to be right. I am sure that it would have really freaked me out to be there during an earthquake. That would have been too much excitement to take in.
Besides missing the earthquake, I also show great timing, by leaving before her "creepy crawly buggy" season. A few days after she left, she found a very long centipede on the living room floor. She thinks it was the poisonous kind. (Shudder). The day or so after that she found a 3 inch long spider in the room behind where I slept. (Shake).
I am aware that the lush land of Japan cannot come without it's fair share of bugs and insects. I am just thankful that they showed up after I left.
I have finally looked at all my digital pictures of Japan and love the feeling and memories that they bring. I am just starting to work through Jackie's pictures. In the same manner I have been working on setting up some of my pictures o1n Flick r. So let me set you up with a link. I hope it works.
http://www.flickr.com//photos/turtle_lady/
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
A NASTY COLD + JET LAG = A BUMPY REENTRY
Here is a mathematical question for you.
My plane left Kansai Airport in Osaka on Saturday, April 21 at 1530. It was travelling approximately 600 miles per hour. The time difference between Japan and San Francisco is 15 hours. The flight was 9 hours and 37 minutes. I took some "daytime sniffing sneezing, stuffy head fever so you can get rest" cold medication upon take off from Kansai. I can take it every 4 hours. We were to arrive in San Francisco at 0830 hours. Half way through the flight we crossed the international dateline. An hour later I switched my clock to San Francisco time. When could I have my next cold medicine?
Answers:
A) Ask the stranger next to me to feel my forehead to see if I really did have a fever.
B) Work through the math and never really know the answer.
C) Take the medicine because my watch said it was Saturday April 21st and it was only about 5 a.m. and I hadn't taken the first dose yet.
Truly this did go through my fever addled mind on the plane. I took the medicine and went to sleep.
Jet lag is not any ones favorite thing to go through. I had purchased some homeopathic pills called "No Jetlag". I swear they really helped me adjust when I arrived in Japan. This has not been the case this time.
Jackie and I talked about jet lag and a friend of hers thought that ones soul needed time to catch up to your body when going through time zones. I think so. My soul is not into being here just yet.
I have the strangest feeling that I am still in Japan and yet I wake up to being in my own bed. I relate my day in Calgary as what they are doing in Japan at that time. You know the mental gymnastics of adding 16 hours to my time. I look around my condo and can't quite believe that I am home. Did I already go and come back?
I know I have. I have problems with letting go of all the fantastic experiences and people that I met. I feel I should be an ambassador for Japan's tourism bureau.
These new experiences are so exciting to me and yet I can see that there is this general zoning out when I launch into one of my tales from Japan.
Jackie, is this the reverse culture shock that you talked about?
I left Japan on Saturday, April 21 at 1530. Jackie was there to see me safely through to the security door. We hugged each other until my tears flowed. It was such a wonderful time together that neither of us wanted to let go of it.
I arrived in Calgary on Saturday April 21 at 1530 "ish". I left the secured area to the arms of Bill. Alanna was fighting for a close second big hug and the most awesome smile. Jill was able to hug the top half as Alanna hung on to the bottom half. Chris was in the background cheering us all on.
If one is to travel this way where one leaves and arrives at the same time, what better way can it be bookended than in the arms of those you love?
WKH
My plane left Kansai Airport in Osaka on Saturday, April 21 at 1530. It was travelling approximately 600 miles per hour. The time difference between Japan and San Francisco is 15 hours. The flight was 9 hours and 37 minutes. I took some "daytime sniffing sneezing, stuffy head fever so you can get rest" cold medication upon take off from Kansai. I can take it every 4 hours. We were to arrive in San Francisco at 0830 hours. Half way through the flight we crossed the international dateline. An hour later I switched my clock to San Francisco time. When could I have my next cold medicine?
Answers:
A) Ask the stranger next to me to feel my forehead to see if I really did have a fever.
B) Work through the math and never really know the answer.
C) Take the medicine because my watch said it was Saturday April 21st and it was only about 5 a.m. and I hadn't taken the first dose yet.
Truly this did go through my fever addled mind on the plane. I took the medicine and went to sleep.
Jet lag is not any ones favorite thing to go through. I had purchased some homeopathic pills called "No Jetlag". I swear they really helped me adjust when I arrived in Japan. This has not been the case this time.
Jackie and I talked about jet lag and a friend of hers thought that ones soul needed time to catch up to your body when going through time zones. I think so. My soul is not into being here just yet.
I have the strangest feeling that I am still in Japan and yet I wake up to being in my own bed. I relate my day in Calgary as what they are doing in Japan at that time. You know the mental gymnastics of adding 16 hours to my time. I look around my condo and can't quite believe that I am home. Did I already go and come back?
I know I have. I have problems with letting go of all the fantastic experiences and people that I met. I feel I should be an ambassador for Japan's tourism bureau.
These new experiences are so exciting to me and yet I can see that there is this general zoning out when I launch into one of my tales from Japan.
Jackie, is this the reverse culture shock that you talked about?
I left Japan on Saturday, April 21 at 1530. Jackie was there to see me safely through to the security door. We hugged each other until my tears flowed. It was such a wonderful time together that neither of us wanted to let go of it.
I arrived in Calgary on Saturday April 21 at 1530 "ish". I left the secured area to the arms of Bill. Alanna was fighting for a close second big hug and the most awesome smile. Jill was able to hug the top half as Alanna hung on to the bottom half. Chris was in the background cheering us all on.
If one is to travel this way where one leaves and arrives at the same time, what better way can it be bookended than in the arms of those you love?
WKH
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