Big Wave Bay

Big Wave Bay
Not just another beach!

Friday, July 27, 2012

Mountains, Prairie, and Great People

Dear Superb Ones,
I had an excellent week travelling and visiting great people.  I headed to Kimberley BC last Friday morning to participate in the annual soccer tournament there with my old team from Red Deer:  Parkland United.  After a lengthy six hour drive, which included  a stop at wonderful Wasa Lake, I arrived just in time to experience a massive little storm that shock the camper I was visiting in.  The storm was so intense it blew out the power for a day in Kimberley.  Nevertheless the weather was grand after that and I slept well in my tent.  Being with my old teammates was fun, camping again was fun, playing golf was fun, the soccer however, was not as fun.  Playing three one hour games on Saturday without any breaks was a little rough on my 51 year old body.  By Sunday afternoon after playing yet another game, my legs were so stiff and sore that I could barely move them.  If someone had offered me a walker I probably would have taken them up on it.  Yet it was great to be with the team and in the mountains camping again.  I also experienced some cold in the evenings.  That was rather odd.


Parkland United.  We were short players, only 9 when we should have had at least 11, and one was an old man and another was a girl, who actually did ok against the men.  




Camping.  A Canadian cultural institution.  Great way to recover from the stresses of life.  


After the soccer tournament was over I made my way to the Crowsnest Pass and visited my great friends Tim and Sheila Juhlin.  We have known each other for over 25 years and it was awesome to spend a few hours with them.  They feted me with steak and some of Tim's homemade wine.  Later I gingerly moved my aching soccer legs on a wonderful walk and talk with Tim.  After that grand visit I motored on out of the mountains on to the prairie and headed for Lethbridge to visit my friends Brent and Xing-je Kirchner where I got spoiled once again.  I am so fortunate!

Tim and Sheila Juhlin.  Great friends, great hosts.  


Brent and Xing-je Kirchner.  Great friends, great hosts.  



Big sky, big prairie, lonely road, how sweet is that?


I spent the night at Brent's and then the next day we headed to Montana and got over the border no problem.  I claimed to be from Red Deer, but had the border inspector checked my passport a little more and looked at all my China visas he might have questioned this comment, but you know I kinda of am a resident of Red Deer.  Nevertheless we slipped through and headed to Glacier Park and the famous Going To The Sun Road.  This road goes up and over a mountain pass called Logan's Pass.  It is rather scary since for a good chunk of the trip there is a severe drop off of a few thousand feet.  The so called guard rails are rocks cemented together from the 30's.  And the road is narrow since it was built in the Depression for Model T Fords.  Great.
Originally we wanted to go for a walk to Hidden Lake, which is located near the apex and middle point of the Pass, but alas the parking lot was full and we had to carry on.  We went to plan B, which was a walk through a cedar forest to Avalanche Lake.  It was great there. There were 9 waterfalls thundering away in the mountains that surrounded the lake.  Everyone, including us, sat on the beach of the lake in quiet amazement listening and watching this spectacle in awe.


Making a stop on the Going To The Sun Road.




Glacier Park.  The little island is called. "Wild Goose Island."


Along the Going To The Sun Road.  The "Weeping Wall."


Avalanche lake.  Awesome.


After we hiked back to Brent's vehicle from Avalanche Lake we noticed that the back left tire was rather low.  We headed to a gas station and Brent pulled out a five inch nail and the tire went very flat.  Thankfully there was a travelling automotive fix up guy in the vicinity and he fixed the tire within 45 minutes.  It was a small miracle to get that tire fixed without too much stress and we were both grateful.
After spending the night in Kallispell Brent and I headed to Hidden Lake early and got a parking spot.  It was cold however and I was way underdressed.  Still it was a nice hike and it was kind of fun to see and touch snow again after a 2 year hiatus.


Hidden Lake.  Wonderful.




Snow!   Wonderful.  I felt like skiing!


Throughout my trip with Brent we observed some wildlife which made the trip even more interesting.

Mountain goat on the Going To The Sun Road.


A Marmot.



A V8 Hog.

Travelling with Brent was excellent and after another good rest at his home I headed back to Calgary to spend time with O and O and Nicholas, Justine, and Colin.  Eli dropped by later and we spent some time at a pool.  Later we compared feet.  Note the distinct genetic quirk we all share.  Thanks Oma!

 The "Heuer" feet.

Finally on Thursday after two long years I spent time with my little men Zak and Anthony.  Since they were really small I have taken them swimming or a playground, once a week for a few hours, so their mom, Krystal, can have a break and go to Bible study or just collapse.  The little men remembered all the routines we established.  Getting out of the car through the window, getting hurled by me in the water, and always a snack afterwards.  It was a sweet time.  


Great people.  Zak, Krystal, and Anthony.


Well my dear friends I had a great week.  I am so grateful.  This summer has been wunderbar and once again thank you for your love and prayers.  I wish you all the best, may God bless you everyone.

Love adios and peng on!

Dirk

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Excellent People

Hello Most Excellent Ones,
I have had a wonderful and happy week reconnecting with many excellent people.   I am so grateful to God!  Below are some of the excellent ones I visited.  Due to simply forgetting to take their picture I have not included all.  Sorry, but know you are greatly appreciated.

 
With my beautiful daughter Emily.  She is almost finished her nursing degree.  We had a nice walk talk and it was great to see her again.

  Scottie (left) and Stan at Potters.  Scottie is the unofficial usher/bouncer at my home church Potters Hands in Red Deer.   Stan is the preacher/worship leader jack of all trades man at Potters.  Had a great time sharing and spending time at Potts.  What a great place.  God's love is always at Potters.


Willem Myburgh at the train trestle in Red Deer.  Willem is practising carrying a heavy backpack for his major hike at the end of July.  Staying with Willem and his wife Marie has been like staying at a five star hotel.  Totally awesome and greatly appreciated. 




My brother in law Richard,  and nephews Colin, and Nicholas.  Their only fault is they cheer for the Oakland Raiders.  Sad really.  Denver Broncos would be a much better choice.  Still had a nice visit with them.


My sister Karen with son Justin.  Ein nettes Bild.  A nice picture.


Bryan and Lindsay with three of their four boys.  The youngest was sleeping.  Lots of action at the Vanboom household.


I am pretty sure most of the ice cream cone went into Issac.


Going on a bike ride with Bryan and a bunch of boys from the neighbourhood.  I got them to do the Asian thing, peace sign for almost every picture, maybe it will catch on in Canada.


At the colony.  Ernie got real excited seeing me and made the sign for tall teacher and reading.  So I read a Sears catalog with him.  


Eileen and her brother Calvin.  It was very fun seeing them.  Eileen is 15 and out of school, Calvin hurled himself into my arms when he saw me.  Later I had to eat lunch with everyone in the mess hall.  It was nice to feel so welcome and at home again.


This weekend I am off to Kimberley for a soccer tournament with my old team and off to see Kirchner and do a Logan's run with him in the States.  Stay tuned and thanks for your prayers and love.

Love adios and peng on!

Dirk

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Calgary

Hey Great People,
I landed in Calgary after once again experiencing a four departure delay in Frankfurt.   What is up with that?  Germany used to be on time.  Still once I finally got  to Calgary it was great to be welcomed back by my parents Alf and Helga.   My kids sometimes call them O and O, short for Oma and Opa.  Yeah why waste time saying those long German words when you can abbreviate.

It was also great to be welcomed back by Eli who I had not seen in two years.  That was very special.  While in Calgary I basically ate, slept, visited, biked, and read.  It was nice to relax.  I did find some time in my "tight schedule" to watch a football game with Ward who I have known since he was two.  And he is 48 now.  Thats a pretty long time.

I also spent some time at the Calgary Stampede with Eli.  The Stampede started out as a  country fair/rodeo event exactly 100 years ago and it is a uniquely western Canadian, western USA thing.  This ten day event also has rides,(that make you sick) music shows;  stupid, expensive games where you can win stuffed toys made in China;  the world's biggest rodeo,(really the world cup of rodeo) and interesting things to look at, like farm equipment ( oh wow a combine!).  Yet the most interesting thing at the Stampede for me are the people and the food.  Since taking pictures of oddly dressed people is rather intrusive I took some shots of what you can eat at the Stampede.  Kind of weird and yes very fattening.

Next up will be a trip to Red Deer, Edmonton, Kimberly and Lethbridge.  Stay tuned.

God bless you all.  Love adios and peng on!

Dirk  


O and O


Three generations.  Alf, Dirk, Eli.  Grandfather, Father, son


Eli and Oma


Me and Ward.  We are great friends and great long suffering fans of the Flames and Stampeders.


Calgary's skyline in the morning.  Compared to Hong Kong it seems small and the city itself seems quiet and sedate compared to HK.  Quiet and sedate is good once in a while.


At the Calgary Stampede.  Time to fatten up on Wiggle chips.  


Or how about a steak sandwich?


Or how about that all Canadian food staple: poutine?  Gravy over french fries.  Yum.


PIZZA!




How about Elephant Ears or Funnel Cakes?  What a strange and crazy land Canada is.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Great Relatives Great Germany

Hello Great Ones,
I love Germany because of friends, family, food, weather and culture.  I am also always on holidays when I go to Germany and that helps too.  The weather on my blitz visit was rain mixed with sun and cloud.  However, it was nice to be in a climate where you did not have to turn on the air conditioning.  After some stops and starts I got my German going again and for the most part I was understood.  I also managed to make my German family laugh at times, although they may have been laughing in sympathy or just at me.  Nevertheless I was treated like a king, German service is five star, it does not get better than that so I feel very happy and grateful.  My plan is to come back in two years and stay a little longer and ride on the amazing bike trails a little longer too.  So without further ado here is what for me makes Germany great.


Dorte und Hermann (far left and right) housed me, feed me, and were great tour guides.  In between them are Ingrid and Willibald.  Ingrid is my godmother and every Christmas she sends me Marzipan.  Awesome.  This picture is in Ingrid's house in their extensive library.  Who needs google when you got a million books.  Awesome.


Uncle Bernd in front of an old sail boat in the Hamburg harbour.  Bernd and Enidette fed me well and Bernd gave me an awesome tour of a ship he used to sail on.


Uncle Volker and Gerriet are in the front.  Cousin Torsten, aunts Frauke and Ingrid are in the back.  Strawberry Torte, tea and good conversation.  Awesome.


Beer, schnitzel, wurst, and relatives.  Awesome.  From left to right.  Uncle Harry, Uncle Volker, cousin Dorte, cousin Birgit, Hannes, (boyfriend of Birgit,) aunts Burga and Frauke.


At the Holocaust Museum in Berlin.  Torsten, his wife Antje, Dorte, Hannes, Birgit, me.  The museum was very sobering.  It was put there so WE would never forget what terror MAN is capable of doing.  Hopefully something so awful will never happen again.

Little Dirk.  Unreal.  Hannes is 6 10.  I am only 6 6.  So weird to be looking up to a guy all the time.  Hannes is great.

In the woods near WaldOma's house.  Looking for mushrooms with a few Dachhunds and a mess of relatives is a great tradition.  I actually found three mushrooms.  Pretty good.

Birgit und Burga mit ein paar Pfferlinge.

Hamburg on the Alster.

The new Hamburg opera house.

In front of the Brandenburger tour.  A once very serious place it is now fun, full of kitchy gags and happy tourists like me.

Just like out of a Brother's Grimm story.  Bebenhausen.  It was fun to bike to it with Birgit.


Tubbingen.  100 years ago…I mean about 50, a starving student named Alfred Budwill did his doctor's degree at the University here.  Awesome old place.  Excellent.

German Abendbrot.  Excellent.

Germany without Strawberry Torte is not Germany.  Love it.

Well dear family and friends thank you for your prayers, love, and generosity to me.  I am very grateful.  God bless you all and my next report will be from Canada.  Awesome.

Love adios and peng on!

Dirk