Holland aka Netherlands don't speak Hollandaise!

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE especially the pictures with flowers! Holland is the Netherlands and they speak Dutch- go figure! But I guess that if you can read street signs like the one below you should have no problem in the Netherlands. What an interesting country. They are like the ultimate Bio-Glogal Warming conscious country but they don't want people to put up new windmills for energy!









They ride their bikes everywhere for three reasons- one: they did not build the cities in the 1800's with parking spaces, two: the land is totally flat, as far as the eye can see the only rise in the land is a water dike, so you can get anywhere you can without breaking a sweat, and three: (this is what one funny guy told me at the "football game") there are laws against drinking and driving a car but not against drinking and riding your bike!!! I got a really cute shot of mothers riding through the streets with a cart in front of their bike with 4 young kids in the cart!

We have had the awesome experience of staying with a Dutch family (can't quite figure where the term Dutch comes from when they are from the Netherlands/Holland). We have been driven around for 3 days which is really a good thing because if you can not say the street names you for sure can not find them! Below is a picture of Urie, Sven, Babette (the mom) and Yentel they daughter. We went with them to a party to watch the Holland v Italy "football" game. That was SO much fun!

Holland is totally flat, not at all like the rolling hills of England , but similar in that everything is green and every spare inch is cultivated. Most of the homes in the country have honest to goodness thatched roofs, the homes in the cities now have brick roofs. The Dutch are pretty particular about yard care, EVERY house is immaculate in it's front yard, with trees, flowers and perfect grass. I have included a picture of a front yard garden (the top picture) and the view down a row of city homes.

Holland is a very old country and when we were traveling round we came upon an 13th century country castle complete with mote and draw bridge. The setting and style of this castle reminds me so much of the story of Rupensel with her long hair hanging out the window down to the mote water below!

One more funny not about Holland - they can grow 5 marijuana plants in their garden! So the family that we visited for the Football party proudly displayed for us their plants, then they told us that there son was on tv a few months back for having grown the largest marijuana plant in all of the Netherlands!!!!!!!!!!!

Old age and Death

Hello all,
Since we are all spread out and separated by many waters and lands I know everyone will get to see this so its easier writing here than telling the story multiple times.

On Monday I had a big day. My first 2 patients, one was one year old and the other was 92. The sad thing is they were functioning at about the same level. The old man was as stubborn and old-school as they come. Instead of going for newer smaller hearing aids he wanted to keep his 2 body-worn aids that he keeps in his front pocket with cords leading up to his ears (basically constantly wearing earphones with custom ear molds for his huge ears). He had microphones dangling out his pockets, cords to connect directly into audio systems and of course the wires going up to each ear. All together he had more wires around his body than behind moms computer it seemed like. He came on a bus from Mesa and during the middle of the testing whipped out his city map and was tracking the bus route to get back to the retirement home. Of course to exacerbate the complexity, had an electric wheelchair that he never left. It was jerry-rigged with every contraption you can think of, including a American flag on a pole flying in back, and a stick to hold his top hat. He couldn't hold still if his life depended on it and had to have instructions repeated many times before he understood, at which time he said "affirmative Doc". It goes without saying that the appointment went well over my lunch break but he was very nice about it. All I can say is that when I am 92 I hope I am that cool.

After clinic I had my night counseling class. The topic of the day was death and how different people view death. After a lot of discussion at the end of the class the teacher asked 5 of us to come up in front of the class. When we were there she asked us to each talk about our cultures view of death. I went 4th of 5. Before me was an African American, a Jewish girl and a Native American girl. They all gave complex descriptions of the practical issues surrounding the funeral and traditions that surround the burial. When it was my turn I took a different approach, I took a step back and explained how in order to understand how my culture views death you need to understand how we believe that we lived before we came here and will continue to live after, and this mortal existence is such a short period of time in relation to our eternal existence. I basically gave the class a missionary discussion talking about the premortal existence, the resurection, eternal progression, eternal families and eternal equality for those who die in infancy, have mental/physical disabilities and less opportunity in this life. At the end I briefly mentioned how a funeral would be a simple religious service that is a time of celebration for the individual and minimal grieving. The spirit was very strong in the room and I spoke with authority, confidence and truth which was very different from the other speakers. It was a great experience and helped me realize that I came to Arizona to have opportunities like this, because I am the most comfortable when I am able to express my individuality in terms of my faith. The Catholic that spoke after me looked pretty dumb and unsure of herself too.

Saturday in London: A Smashing Time

Kenton and I had one day to cover all of London, which really is impossible but we did our best. CLICK ON PHOTO IF YOU WANT A BETTER PICTURE! Here is a collection of photo's we took. We loved London, and suggest that everyone go to see this amazing city but you cannot do London justice in any less than a weeks long visit. We took the Big Red Bus, you know those double decker buses that you see pictures of. You can jump on and off as you like and that is exactly what we did. The painted glass picture to the left was inside Londons oldest church. It shows the oldest part of London with the old castle, the tower, and several churches in the back.
This picture of Kenton by the "Fools Paradise" sign was taken outside of an antique dealer with the last name of Oakes!

The weather in London on this day was cold and threatening rain so we stopped to get a Hot Chocolate from a street cafe. We had to take a photo of it because it was so tasty but THICK! the spoon would not even drop to the bottom of the cup.

Two Castle pictures taken below are of the original castle built in London called "The Tower" which was built in 1078 by Wm the Conqueror to whom shows up on our geneolgy chart.









We took a boat to the Greenwich area of London. Here we saw these actual phone booths, yes they are still like this in London. This big row of phone booths was at the antique place we went to the day before going to London.This is an actual picture of me and an Official Queens guard. It is not infront of Buckingham Palace, you can not evern get close to those guys for pictures but it is less that 2 football fields away at St. James Palace, I do not know who was inside the Palace at the time. Everyother picture taker stood about 4 feet away from these guys, but not me!
This plaque is on the wall at Westminster Abbey, you know the place where Dianna was married, and it turns out to be the place where Grandpa Oakes English progenitors where baptized! This Big Clock Tower is Big Ben!






And here is one last photo "Lillywhites" that Dad wanted me to take for his sons! I am not sure but there must be some inside story to this!!! ;-)

Friday: Leed's Castle

Kenton and I took a large step back in time as we visited one of the most beautiful of all the castles I personally have visited. Yes, I have visited castles before, one in Krakow Poland and one in Prague in the Chez Republic. But the exterior beauty of the Leed’s Castle was stunning as you can see by the pictures below. The Castle includes a bridge over the moat, a large moat, and grounds covering nearly a square mile or more. It was spectacular! Click on the pictures - they are fantastic.

Draw Bridge and real Mote protect this castle which sits on beautiful grass acreage surrounded by gardens and thousands of Oak, Ash, and Walnut Trees! Peacocks roam freely. There are Christian Crosses Carved in windows but that is too hard to tell from this photo.

King Henry VIII owned this place and a wife lived here! I don't remember which one for sure.

We have many more photos of this spot but we have had much trouble with the internet here in London. Sorry - we will post them later.

Thursday: Flushed With Pride

For centuries the ground all around the northern central part of England was infertile and the only real commodities that could be produced had to be done with clay and water – aka Pottery. Stoke on Trent and the surrounding cities are the home of 22 of the Worlds most renowned china factories including Wedgewood, Royal Dalton, and Leeds. While most of these factories have moved to foreign counties now, Kenton and I did get to tour Wedgewood and Gladstone. Here are some pictures from those visits. (Sorry only on would upload!)

Gladstone housed an exhibition of Thrones – in other words Toilets. Complete with a 6 room history of the development of the “pot”, it truly lifted the lid on the role that potters played in the WC’s development. So odd it was to walk into the first room to the sights, sounds and smells of the 16th century Victorian slum!!!!

Can't Get There from Here!

I've always thought that saying "You can't get there from here" was pretty funny, I mean certainly if you could see your destination you could reach it - but NO. Our Hotel is by a HUGE national soccer stadium, you can see the thing from the Express Way, but with these round-abouts and streets that dead end, it took us 15 minutes to get to the hotel less than 3 football fields away!
Here are only two of the funny street sings we have seen! We believe that one of these signs is a Yield but the second sign, "Elderly", did they want us to slow down, yield, or way it just informational in case we needed a future home for our parents! We did not see any Elderly around at the time so thankfully we couldn't the wrong thing. We also saw a sigh warning "Slow Lorries" -now what the heck does that mean?

"Cherrio" of Chap

Well.... we are off on our whirl wind adventure and I have to say that everything has lived up to the our expectation of the experience.

Right Brain verse Left side of the Road. Talk about crazy, of all the things that have raised the blood pressure it has been trying to drive on the left side of the road WHILE using a stick shift with the LEFT HAND!!! Try to imagine turning right and being sure you are in the left lane so you don't get hit! So far no accidents but we have side swiped a few trees on my side (the passenger side). The next crazy thing is that the many streets are only big enough for two cars, one on either side, but for some odd reason these people think they can park on either side regardless of if there is space or not. SO you will be driving down one of these roads and have to come to a dead stop because there is a parked car in your lane- facing you!!!
This happened one particular time and Kenton was going a wee-bit
fast for the street so he just drove up onto the sidewalk! Thankfully no one was there at that moment.
And one more thing about driving. The traffic lights do the craziest thing, they go from Green -> Yellow -> Red just like at home but then they change back to Yellow before they turn green!

The Best Thing about Englishmen So Far: They are more than willing to give driving directions - if you can understand "mumble mumble right, mumble mumble left, mumble mumble plain as the nose on your face". Really they are helpful but we have learned not too expect too much from their directions.

Also - it is easier to find a Pub than a Hair brush! I forgot my brush at home and it has taken 2 days to find place to get one! yes, we went into stores.

Funny Food Info- We had a "traditional lunch" today. Fish and Chips with vinegar AND "MUSHY PEAS". The fish and Chips w/vinegar was the best I have ever tasted in my life, but the peas only reminded me of baby food.
Interesting thing: we have spent more time on wrong roads than on right ones BUT the serendipity of it has paid off. Yesterday we were trying to find Derby (they say Darby) and got off on a road (the wrong road) that lead us down to a cool 19th century family cemetery. Here are a few picture from that side trip




Another serendipitious trip that we found ourselves on was in search for a man named Les Oakes, the owner of the largest anitque warehouse in all of the UK. Turns out that while he may not actually be family he did pull out a pedigree chart to top all pedigree charts. Here is a picture of this Oakes fellows chart with Kenton laying by it!