We woke up to another beautiful day in Greece, at a port in Rhodes.
Our balcony on the ship.
Before our trip we had prearranged a 4+ mile hike along the sea with a tour company. They picked us up at the dock and drove us several miles away to the start of a trail along the rocky coast.
Chapels are everywhere. This was St. Agatha chapel located at the beginning of our hike on Rhodes.
We had a wonderful guide, and the views of the sea were stunning.
Look at that water!!! photo by dh
It took several hours, and we enjoyed every minute of it.
Photo by our guide, Marguerite. Apparently this photo was added to her company’s website.
Photo by our guide, Marguerite. Beach in this photo is Agatha Beach.
We stopped at Limni Beach to swim in the cool, refreshing, clear waters.
Swimming in the Mediterranean. photo by dh
Anthony Quinn Bay ~ made famous because of the 1961 movie Guns of Navarone he starred in.
The next day we disembarked on the isle of Crete where we went to a local family organic farm where they grow olive trees and grapes. We tasted the wine and had some cheese and bread and tomatoes while watching traditional Greek dancers performed for us. It was delightful.
We also had a chance to dance with the dancers at the end. It was fun.
photo by gb
The last stop on our cruise was Santorini. We opted to stay onboard because the next day we would fly to Santorini for a four-night stay on our own. It was very pleasant to be on the ship with so many passengers disembarked. We had the hot tub to ourselves and a nice relaxing experience.
photo by gb
The cruise went quickly. We had a lovely dinner on board, on our last night.
A super-sweet flower arrangement tucked away in the corner of the winery.
"And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling." Shanti
Our time in Greece was marvelous. It was divided into three parts. Five nights in Athens, a four-night cruise through the isles, and four nights on the island of Santorini. I couldn’t decide where to begin writing about our adventures. I decided to start with my favorites, instead of chronological order. But then, I couldn’t determine between the four-night cruise or the four-night stay on the island of Santorini…I decided to start with the cruise.
Our ship in the forground.
I love being on the water and was happy to be on the Celestial Discovery, a smaller ship (1200 passenger) cruising the Mediterranean Sea and stopping at a couple of the 1,200 islands in Greece. We had a delightful tour director who took good care of us. We disembarked on a four islands: Mykonos, Patmos, Rhoades, Crete, and also disembarked at a stop in Ephesus, Turkey.
Approaching the island of Mykonos.
Besides seeing the scenic, small, cubical white-washed buildings (some with blue trim and all with no peaked roofs) and the narrow alley ways between houses on the islands and the picturesque scene of these buildings enveloping the hillsides up from the water, each island was unique in its own way.
A road in Ephesus.
Our first stop was not an island, but we sailed to Turkey, to visit Ephesus. The incredible ruins of this town where Apostle Paul, and other Biblical personalities walked the streets, 2,000 years ago, was incredible to see. The ancient city of Ephesus’ excavated remains go back centuries. Ephesus history spans 8,000 years, with beginnings dated to 6,000 BC.
“The Library of Celsus is the most iconic structure in Ephesus — and one of the most beautiful ancient libraries ever built. Completed in the 2nd century A.D., it once held over 12,000 scrolls…” quote off internet
At one time Ephesus was a massive economic and intellectual hub of the Roman Empire, and a center for early Christianity. It amazes me that so many of these ruins are intact today…and that we can meander through them and envision all the activity they represent.
The Temple of Hadrian was built in the 2nd century AD (before 138 AD) to honor Emperor Hadrian’s visits to the city.
The town’s dwellings
Structure attached to the library.
Amazing detail, so well preserved.
Later, that same day , we sailed to Patmos where the apostle John was exiled from Ephesus, and where John had his visions described in the Bible’s book of Revelation. Researchers are confident the cave ~ The Cave of the Apocalypse ~ where we visited, is indeed where John actually received his divine visions. It is said the crack in the rock wall above (we looked up) is believed to be the spot where God’s voice echoed, symbolizing the Holy Trinity (3 fissures in the rock). This site, as is Ephesus, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a landmark or area formally recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as possessing “Outstanding Universal Value”)
The chapel attached to the cave. No pictures were allowed inside.
It was meaningful to me to be there in this cave on Patmos. Our guide told wonderful stories. The one I remember is that after the ruler who sent John to exile at Patmos died, John returned to Ephesus as an old man. In church, when the congregation asked him for a word, he would simply say “Love one another.”
When his disciples grew weary of hearing the same phrase and asked why he always repeated it, John replied: “Because it is the Lord’s command, and if this only is done, it is enough.” Amen. I enjoyed hearing that story.
Back on the ship, we sailed during the night, to Rhodes…(to be continued.)
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
We had a wonderful time in California visiting our son and his family. I understand why people love the weather there. We flew back to a “turtle-paced” spring in Minnesota, and it has been difficult to readjust to the cold.
The harbor at Santa Barbara.
During our flight to Santa Barbara, I was captivated by the cloud formations outside the plane windows. I wanted to jump out of the plane and fall into their puffy softness.
Fluffy clouds outside the window of the plane.
On our first day, there were some lingering, beautiful clouds at sunset, but they eventually blew away and we had sunshine and blue skies for the rest of our trip. So much for more cloud pictures.
Beautiful cloud art over the Pacific Ocean.
Our days were full of activity, and our evenings were relaxing. Some evenings we sat around the firepit gazing at the stars,
A lovely place to sit and relax.
and other evenings we walked along the ocean to watch the harbor light up. The reflections of the boat lights on the still, calm water were truly enchanting. I enjoyed taking pictures of the harbor.
Walking towards the Santa Barbara harbor at dusk.
Boats and lights reflecting on the calm water at dusk.
Calm and serene.
A lighted palm tree. It looks really awesome in person…not so much in the picture.
One day we went on a whale-watching excursion hoping to see, and take pictures of, migrating Gray and Humpback whales, but alas – we did not see any.
Much to our surprise, Condor Express gave us a “whale-check” coupon for a future excursion. We will plan to use it the next time we’re in Santa Barbara.
Out on the side deck.
Although we didn’t see any whales, we really enjoyed our three-hour cruise on the water.
Looking towards the coast from our boat.
We enjoyed seeing flowers blooming everywhere, but I didn’t focus on taking pictures of them. The fun, diving pelicans and iconic seagulls were everywhere too, but I only took these three bird pictures below:
A Sandpiper on the shore.
A Bird-of-Paradise. HAHA 😉
Cormorants with California sea lions.
The week flew by while we soaked up the sunshine and enjoyed quality time with family amidst the delightful charm of Santa Barbara.
Several years ago, a new beach opened up to the public near Silver Bay, Minnesota. It’s called Black Beach.
Black Beach on Lake Superior.
It’s along the shores of Lake Superior and it’s made up of small black pebbles…so it looks like a black sand beach, thus the name. This is unusual for this area of Lake Superior. We’re used to seeing rocky shores and colored rocks, so this is a fun addition.
The icy shoreline of Black Beach.
We’ve never spent a lot of time on Black Beach…we just stop by on our way up the north shore. There is parking lot with vault toilets, the path leading to the beach and some picnic tables set back from the water. It is pretty, so it’s a fun stop.
Ice boulders.
So, when we were staying up at a cabin near Two Harbors recently, we took a drive one morning, up Scenic Hwy. 61 and decided to stop at Black Beach to see if there was any white snow left on the black beach.
This shows perspective on the size of these ice drifts.
Wow! Were we surprised! There were humungous ice drifts settled on the beach.
A path through the ice formations.
As we walked out closer to the lake, we realized how large these ice drifts… ice chunks… ice boulders were.
Are we still in Minnesota? This is another view of the path through the ice formations
It was fun and amazing to walk up to the ice formations, and walk through a row of them. I can only imagine what it was like earlier this winter. This is March and they were melting in the 38* weather…icicles were forming on the bottoms of the masses, dripping water back into the lake.
The icicles forming as they drip back into the lake.
In a small way, it reminded me of the sea caves we walked to several years ago near Bayfield, Wisconsin, when the DNR created a path on the frozen Lake Superior so folks could walk out to see the sea caves, usually only seen by kayakers on the open water.
Gary walking towards the lake. The photo is deceiving. There is a big drop off to the beach at the edge of the ice, with ice packs below, lining the shore.
We are continually amazed at the variety of adventures we find on our trips to the north shore of Lake Superior…my happy place!
When we moved from our house of 30 years into a one-level (no basement) twin home we had to downsize. It was a good exercise, but it’s hard to do unless you are actually going to move. You need to ask yourself about everything you own, “Do I really want to move this item?” When we came to our old sled we decided “Yes, we would take it with us. We do use it occasionally, for sledding with the grandkids, or pulling our winter picnic supplies.”
When our grandkids came down a couple weeks ago, we decided it would be a great day to go sledding. We went to out to the garage to get our sled, but couldn’t find it. “It must be hidden behind storage boxes on the high shelf in the garage.”
Since we were all excited to take on this sledding adventure, I was happy I remembered seeing a Little Free Sled Library at the hill where we were going to go. The sled library works like Little Free (book) Libraries. You borrow one or two sleds and put them back when you are done using them, for the next person who may need a sled.
We bundled up and crawled into the car and went to check out the Little Free Sled Library in hopes there were some sleds available. I was grateful when I saw there were three of them in the box for us to use. An added benefit was we had the hill to ourselves. We had a lot of fun sledding down the hill…even this old grandma went down a few times (the hardest part is getting back up the hill!)
I’m delighted the Little Free Sled Library has been set up here in Northfield…Isn’t this what community is all about? Sharing our resources? I’m so happy others shared their sleds for us to use this day so we could create memories with our grandchildren.
My heritage is Norwegian, and I’m proud of it. 😉 I have relatives in Norway that I know personally. We’ve been together multiple times over the years, either us in Norway or them in Minnesota. We enjoy each other, and our common ancestry.
The train passes through a section of the gingerbread village.
That said, I have never been to the Norway House, a Norwegian cultural center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was remodeled in 2014. At that time they started a tradition that has its roots in Bergen, Norway; a beautiful Gingerbread Wonderland.
A large gingerbread barn with nice detail.
Using shredded wheat for the horses feed and hay bales was a clever idea.
I heard about Gingerbread Wonderland for the first time this Christmas season, 2025, so we went to the Norway House to check it out. There were creations of all kinds on display and open to the public, for a small entrance fee. We hesitantly paid and entered. Was it worth it?
A Victorian house.
Clever snowshoes, syrup buckets, campfires and a camper.
Another clever camp chair design.
It felt like we were entering a fairyland. Some constructions were elaborate, and others not so much, but all were fun and amazing to see!
A torvtak, which translates to “turf roof” or “sod roof” hut.
It was interesting to see all the food items people thought up to use for the creations. My understanding is that all things gingerbread has to be edible.
A McDonalds??? Not too Norwegian!
At the beginning of the line they handed out a Treasure Hunt game, a sheet listing individual items to look for among the vast exhibit. It was a clever way to get people to look more closely at each design.
I like “the sweet tooth express train that stops at candy stores and grandma’s house.”
In the end you were rewarded with a candy cane if you found all the items. We did (with one hint).
Putting together the gingerbread manger scene in 2023.
I have always enjoyed creating gingerbread houses with our kids when they were little. We made gingerbread houses, and a gingerbread manger scene, usually every year when they were growing up. We were able to make houses and a manger with our grandchildren once or twice, and loved doing it. But, I never knew this gingerbread decorating was in my “genes”. HA
Our own creation, 2022.
My second cousin’s wife, in Norway, has sent me photos of gingerbread creations she and her daughter have made…
Eiffel Tower made by Kari and her daughter, in 2020.
Their creations are not your ordinary, simple gingerbread houses. They are works of art.
Arc De Triomphe (France) made by Kari and her daughter Lisa, in 2024.
Both the Norway House and the designs of my cousin are wonderful pieces of art.
A carousel.
One of my favorites; a stone house.
The two model trains were a fun size.
There were two model trains running on tracks throughout the village. That added a special touch. It was fun to watch them wind around, in and out of tunnels.
Bird houses.
Twelve Days of Christmas Castle.
An arctic bar.
It was a delightful display enjoyed by both children and adults. And definitely worth the entrance fee.
Home sweet home, with a red truck in the driveway.
*Forgive me if this comes to your email twice. I tried publishing this at 6:30 am but it hasn’t gone through so I recreated the post and am trying it again.*
Continuing a photo journal of our adventures from week two, visiting family, in Arlington, Virginia (showing one to three…photos a day).
The impressive nave and chancel of the National Cathedral. It filled up for the advent service.
Sunday, November 30, was the first Sunday of Advent, and it was a special one. We went to an advent service in the Washington National Cathedral.
Heavenly voice and Bible readings filled the spectacular cathedral, and made for a memorable event.
Zoey and I made banana bread on Sunday.
Gary and I decided to take an overnight trip up to Pennsylvania to visit Gary’s family. His hometown is only about three hours away from where we were staying in Virginia, so we got up early Monday morning and drove to Pennsylvania for an over night visit.
One perspective of the farm where Gary grew up, in Pennsylvania.
We stopped at his younger sister’s farm for a visit. Then, we drove to the farm where Gary grew up. The friendly Mennonite folks who live there invited us in for a chat. They are lovely people.
Another perspective of the farm…this is the field where one of my favorite pictures was taken of our two young boys running in the field.
Later that evening, a lot of family members joined us for a dinner out, even though it was last minute.
An impromptu family gathering.
We decided to drive back Tuesday morning, forgoing another farm visit to Gary’s other sister’s farm, simply because it was snowing and slick driving conditions. But we were grateful to be able to take this time to reconnect…our short stay was very enjoyable.
On Wednesday we ran errands and did some laundry and just hung out. Zoey and I made enchiladas for dinner.
We were ready again on Thursday to take the Metro into the city. The Metro is such a great system. We stopped at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial, honoring the 34th U.S. President, on our way to the United States Botanic Garden.
The Lincoln Memorial model made of plant parts.
There was plenty to see indoors with special December exhibits: models of DC landmarks made from plant parts, and thousands of poinsettias were placed in groups all around the gardens.
A lovely display of pink/white poinsettias…I don’t think I’ve seen this sweet color of poinsettias before.
Next, we walked to the White House to check out the new ballroom construction, but we couldn’t see a thing.
The closest we got to the White House.
After school the kids helped us count the miscellaneous coins the family had accumulated over the year. The bank said the coins had to be counted and put in wrappers. It turned out to be a fun project…and profitable.
Fun looking at and counting all the coins, and finding several foreign coins in the mix.
We went up to the rooftop to observe December’s full moon, Thursday December 4.
December 4, 2025
Lunch on Friday was in DuPont Circle. We met friends who were former neighbors in Northfield for many years. They moved to the DC area a few years ago.
We had a lovely lunch with our friends from Minnesota.
We arranged to meet at a restaurant along the Metro line so both parties could just hop on the Metro. We had a great time. As we walked back to the Metro station we stopped at a pop-up Christmas Market which was fun to peruse. There was leftover dusting of snow on trees and roses… it felt “Christmassy.”
Still swinging on the playground. The previous dusting of snow melted.
Zoey had Portuguese lessons again on Saturday. We went on another pleasurable walk with Ezra. Mid-afternoon we walked to a park near their apartment. The kids still enjoy play grounds. We stopped for an ice cream cone on the way home. It’s never too cold for ice cream.
We left Northfield a week before Thanksgiving to go visit our son and his family in Arlington, Virginia. On our way to the airport I realized I still had my slippers on! Fortunately, we were close enough to home so we had time to turn around and get my shoes! (I won’t mention the full cup of coffee I spilled all over my backpack at the airport.)
I guess I was excited. We were going to spend time with our son and his family. They are moving to India. We were happy to have some quality time to create more memories before they leave… and it was fun to take the grandchildren on adventures while mom and dad stayed home to work and pack! 😉
The nice apartment building where our son’s family has lived since January 2025.
This blog post will be a diary: a photo essay, with one, or maybe two, pictures per day to capture our first week. It was challenging to select the photos out of the hundreds I took!
A walk in the woods with Ezra. Still a touch of fall in the air.
Our first full day we dropped Zoey off for Portuguese lessons and Gary and I went for a long walk with Ezra. This is the day we made chocolate chip cookies which I blogged about a couple weeks ago.
We also “packed” Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes online. This is an outreach project by Samaritan’s Purse that delivers gift-filled shoeboxes to children in need worldwide.
Two cooks in the kitchen.
For breakfast on Sunday morning our granddaughter, who especially likes to cook and bake, made waffles. Her brother made blueberry syrup.
Ezra had a play date scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Zoey and I made a mosaic candle holder from a craft kit.
On Monday, we walked the kids to school. We did so each morning, and we also picked them every afternoon. It’s a .8 mile round-trip walk.
…a beautiful building made with marble from Italy.
On our first Monday while Tim & Andrea worked/packed, Gary and I took the Metro to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Performing Arts. We walked down the Hall of Nations (flags from all countries) and the Hall of States (flags from all states). Minnesota’s new flag was on display. The Kennedy Center is a beautiful building, made of marble from Italy, with chandeliers from Sweden. We had a fantastic tour guide…all to ourselves.
A hall inside the Kennedy Arts Center, with beautiful crystal chandliers.
Tuesday morning Gary and I went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This is a somber, yet incredible, must-see museum.
Pictures of shoe piles and pictures of hair piles (from the victims) left a lasting impression. We also went through a special exhibit designed just for kids, which was very well done.
Tuesday afternoon, Zoey taught grandma how to make Flan!
The kids Thanksgiving break started on Wednesday. We took the grandkids to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center which is a Smithsonian Museum near Dulles airport (not to be confused with its companion museum, The National Air and Space Museum).
SR-71 Blackbird
The Udvar-Hazy Center displays hundreds of air and space craft, including the SpaceShuttle Discovery, a Concorde, and a Blackbird SR-71 (fastest manned jet).
The space shuttle Discovery!
The space shuttle Discovery was a sight to see. There were so many interesting aircraft in this museum. It was impressive, and a lot of fun.
We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner together. The kids and I made apple crisp to go along with the pumpkin pie.
Of course the kids were off school on Friday too, so Gary and I and the kids hopped on the Metro …
The Metro system is so easy to use and a great way to get around DC.
and took it to the National Gallery of Art.
The National Gallery of Art.
I really liked this place.
I was immediately drawn to the first painting I saw in the museum. I envisioned myself in the painting…looking out over Lake Superior.
One really needs multiple visits to do justice to this art museum (I could say that of all of the museums), but this first time for me in the National Art Gallery was a lot of fun. We each chose an animal, color, and object to look for in the art works.
In the courtyard of the apartment building.
On Saturday, we walked through the Farmer’s Market near the apartment, took a short drive along the Potomac River, the kids showed off their skills on their hover boards, and we all went out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant.
*****
Night falls over Washington DC…
6:49 pm on November 24, 2025. Views of the capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Performing Arts building (the large building with white lights on left side of photo) to name a few…
We are spending a few weeks with our grandchildren in Virginia. One of the activities we like to do together is bake. We found the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies in the cupboards so we decided to make a batch.
It’s a team effort…the three of us… our oldest granddaughter, her brother and myself. We don aprons, wash our hands, and always take turns measuring the different ingredients, adding them to the mixer, stirring them all together and rolling the cookie dough into balls to drop on the cookie sheet.
Into the oven they went…one cookie sheet at a time. We checked them after nine minutes, the lowest time of the suggested 9-11 minute time check. As we opened the oven door, all three of us were there to inspect. And what we saw was not what we expected. Hmmm…
They don’t look like they normally do…what did we do wrong?
Let’s go over the ingredient list...
Sugar – check Flour – check Baking soda – check Salt – check Butter – check
Wait...oops...the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter. Oh, Oh...we only added one stick of butter when it called for one cup, which is two sticks.
Darn! I’m sorry kiddos, I told us the wrong amount of butter to use.
“It’s OK grandma…they’ll probably still taste good.” (They’re so sweet!)
And, surprisingly the cookies were tasty! We finished baking all the cookie dough and ate them all up over the next two days. In fact, I may use only one stick of butter the next time I use this recipe…they were that good!
It reminded me of a Thomas Edison quote: “I have not failed. I have successfully discovered twelve hundred ideas that don’t work”
