Merry Christmas!

Enjoy Mexico everyone. We'll miss you.

A Few Things I've Been Working On...

Here are a couple of photos of the teensy tiny house I am building. I am cutting the rafters, and making the dormers on the ground, and then will assemble them once the walls are framed.

 

 

 

I have also been working on a musical performance that I think the Ison clan will appreciate. It is not perfected yet, but here it goes. You have to listen very carefully.

Dinner was late tonight because I got so distracted by this new instrument....

 

Our first Texas ride

We had nice weather on Saturday.  About 70 and sunny most of the day.  Tui and I took our first bike ride.  They have a great trail system in Plano with miles of bike/walking paths.  All very flat so a very easy ride when no wind.  The Chisholm trail goes along a stream and we saw a family of nutrias (a large water rodent that looks sort of like a beaver.) The Blue Bonnet trail goes 13 miles underneath power lines you see below.  Not overly beautiful countryside but a nice ride.

Christmas Celebrations in Seattle

Ben's concert was very enjoyable, reminiscent of the old days.  His band played very well and he looked fantastic.

 

Last night we had the family Christmas with dinner at Anthony's on the bay, beautiful site.  Today we are busy getting ready for the annual Christmas music party. 

Last day was a big success

Our last stop was the northernmost city in Europe (they claim) - Hammerfest.  It had a beautiful church - very plain and simple design.  This whole area of northern Norway was built in the 1950's after the Germans burned most of the previous buildings when they retreated from the Russians.  Then our last night on the boat was our most successful northern lights watching.  For a couple of hours they were continually changing shape and brightness.  Our camera doesn't capture it very we'll.

Our morning in Kirkeness

Mid-day at 10:30 am. Sun sets at 12:45.

Lots of outdoor sculpture in Norway.  This is in front of a museum with an exhibit of living conditions during WWII.  I learned a lot.

This town has more snow and less ice than the last one.  Much easier walking.  We still see the push sleds but also cross-country skiis.

Our New Company

Nearly all set up in Texas.  The site is taking shape in Plano.  We have a network and Email addresses.  Our internet site should be up in a week or so.  Much colder here than in San Diego with often a strong wind.  I will need to get all of my sweaters out of storage.  Our site borders on a small pond.  Lots of great birds always present and prior to the cold spell, the turtles would come up onto the logs by the bank  Twice I have seen a bob cat stroll by the window.

 My office.

 The front of our building

 Our shrine to Texas

At 3 PM we are in pitch darkness -- we are in the Arctic Circle!

Hi guys -- We left Tromso yesterday afternoon (also in darkness) and are now making our way north and east across the north cape of Norway.  The ship is the Kong Harald (King Harold) and it is a combination passenger/goods ship along the west coast into the Barents Sea. It stops at little towns along the way and we got off for lunch in the town: the streets and sidewalks were covered in ice and the people we saw were getting along on personal sleds (with one foot on one ski, pushing along with the other foot, with a connection of the two skis connected with a basket for shopping bags), or pushing their children on little sleds with handles. Last night it was clear and we saw some examples of the Northern Lights -- not as spectacular as they are in professional photos, but pretty good when Mom figured out to increase the exposure times.  The temperature in Tromso where we stayed overnight before catching the boat was about the same as it is in Rochester, because of the gulf stream, but in the Barents sea it is very cold and we walked around a little town of Honnigsvag with the temperature at about 20deg F, and a ferocious wind. More or less new expensive cars with  extra fog lights were parked or slowly driving through the slippery streets: either the fishing or the oil industry if doing well in the North Cape.
Love to all
GPaJim

Sights, Music, and food

In five days here we've enjoyed 2 evensong services in Wells,  a Sunday choral service at St Brides, and 2 chamber music concerts in London.  The Rembrandt exhibit was exceptional as were the British Museum exhibits, one on the history of Germany and another on what they now know about the lives of 7 Egyptians (the earliest was 3000bc) whose remains have been preserved, mostly in mummies.  Last night we had a wonderful pre-concert meal at a Michelin starred Peruvian restaurant.  Glastonbury was interesting with a walk/hike up the tor and then a visit to the largest of the Abbeys destroyed by Henry VIII.

Birds from Avatar

Lots of great birds here.  Many look like they are movie creations.  Below is what I call the Australian sparrow and the elusive Cassowary.  We saw two Cassowaries together in our walk through the Daintree rain forest.  Also a picture of the cassowary from the zoo along with a strange owl.

Mom and Dad in Seattle

We had a really good visit with M&D in Seattle this past weekend. The highlights included brunch at the Space Needle, and a visit to the Nordic Heritage Museum, a neighborhood gem here in Ballard.

 Liam pointing to the reflected Space Needle. He is in front of the Rock and Roll museum called the EMP designed by Frank Gehry. I have heard the building described as a giant wad of chewing gum. I think that apply sums it up! Very cool.

 You can see the golden elevator beginning its journey up the side.

 Fit and trim.

 A newly discovered pocket park just North of the city.

Chris Birthday Dinner

Happy Birthday Chris

Hope your day is full of fun.

Hiking in Volcano National Park

Eating with chop sticks at M Street cafe

Bearded girls.

It's still summer in San Diego

Nathan caught a dorado the day before we arrived and we have been feasting ever since.

Great meal in the cool of evening after a hot day at the beach

Test of new blogger Apple app

Turtles lounging on the rocks. 

Celebrating Bob's Birthday at Mirror Lake

Bob turned 53 a couple of weeks ago. We celebrated with a hike to Mirror Lake. What a fabulous day! There has been recent rain after the drought of summer, and the mushrooms/fungi were everywhere, hundreds of different varieties. The hike is an easy mile in through forest and meadow. Just lovely.

 Eating lunch and celebratory HoHos.

 Generally happy in middle age.

 Can you find Liam?

 The lake.