Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All!

Happy Birthday wishes go to musical educator extraordinaire, Sharon Cathey (my son-in-law Joel’s mother)!  Here’s to you Sharon for being such an awesome wife, mother, grandmother, educator and all-around cheerleader for those she loves and serves.  Happy Birthday to fellow member of “The Amazing Class of ’73” at Olympia High School, Frank Hardin!  Here’s to you Frank!  And Happy Birthday to Kristy Wittkopf of Wittkopf Trucking/Landscaping, who turns 62 today.  Kristy and her family run a terrific business that has done so much to benefit our community.  Here’s to you Kristy!

Well, night before last was quite the windstorm and lightening show!  It’s the biggest thunderstorm I think that has ever occurred since I started living in Spokane in 1983.  It is said that we had some 350 lightening strikes in the greater Spokane area.  One of the consequences of such a wide-ranging storm is that we lost our internet, telephone & T.V. service for most of yesterday.  We sat out on the back deck to take the light show in and it was quite a display.  Lots of thunder and huge bolts of lightening crossed the night sky.

Yesterday was the kick off for the “Walk To End Alzheimer’s” which will take place on October 5th, 2019.  Please visit www.alz.org/walk and look for the Spokane WA walk and join our “Team Charlie263”.  All donations are welcome in the fight against the awful disease that is Alzheimer’s and related dementias.  Together we can find a cure for this dreadful scourge.

I’m “back on line” today and ready to share some more about my recent Icelandic adventure…

July 5, 2019

We’ve traveled the impressive highway tunnel back and forth a couple of times from Flateyri to Isafjordur and marvel each time we do it.  Quite an amazing piece of engineering, to say the least!  We’ve ventured to Isafjordur to get gas, purchase some groceries, mail some postcards and get some Icelandic currency (kronos) from the ATM that is located there.  Many of the small outlying villages don’t have many of the conveniences of a larger town.  We drove outside of Isafjordur to a point along the fjord where we could see the National Wildlife Preserve that is located on a peninsula to the north.  While there we noticed a road sign near another highway tunnel that showed a horseback rider with a slash across the sign, denoting that no horseback riding was allowed in the tunnel…too funny!  It was hilarious to see this sign (the only sign before the tunnel entrance) posted.  They must have had some problems with horseback riders trying to navigate that particular tunnel!  It’s the only sign of its kind that we saw posted near tunnel entrances on Iceland!

I’ve been enjoying the chocolate covered licorice balls that I purchased by mistake at a store along the route from Reyjkavik and Isafjordur.  I thought the picture on the bag showed a malted milk ball, but not knowing the Icelandic language, I couldn’t figure out what the front of the bag said so I went with the pictures…wrong move!  The printing on the bag said “Lotto Kulur…lakkris-skumkulur.”  However, after having purchased the bag of chocolate covered licorice balls and trying them out, they tasted pretty good.  The combination of the chocolate with the licorice was actually quite pleasing…how about that!!  It’s not something that is offered in the U.S., that’s for sure!  Although I do think that the candy maker should be brought up on charges for false advertising by showing a malted milk ball on the bag’s cover!

We noticed that a couple of cruise lines came into Isafjordur overnight.  Evidently, there are cruises from Canada and Europe that circumnavigate Iceland during the late spring and summer months.  They were pretty good sized cruise boats!

I just want you all to know that Icelanders know how to economize on their living quarters.  Witness the showers…it’s like entering a phone booth…just big enough to fit a body into.  You don’ spend a lot of extra time in the shower due to the close quarters…you lather up and rinse off as fast as you can to beat a hasty exit before you get claustrophobia.  This Icelandic spirit of economizing extends to their road system…near two lane highways with no passing lanes and no shoulders.  You have to stay focused when driving in Iceland!  Although I must say the paved roads were extremely well maintained…generally in better condition than many roads in the U.S….quite remarkable given the extreme weather conditions for much of the year in Iceland!  Maybe we should get their engineers and road crews to come across the ocean to help us out with our infrastructure needs!

We drove to Dynjandi Falls today and was mighty impressed with this waterfall!  It looks like a skeleton’s hand (a description given of it by Josh or Bobby, one of our grandkids).  Dynjandi Falls is located in the Westfjords of Iceland…the water travels down a unique geologic formation of a tiered outcropping of rock which gives the Falls a distinctive fan look with a thin layer (a veil effect) of water cascading over the rocks.  Truly magnificent…you can stand up close to it and feel a cool mist envelop you!  This is a must see!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention here the fantastic playground in Flateyri….complete with a large trampoline and a zip line…equipment you don’t normally see in playgrounds in the U.S..  The trampoline device was composed of many colors and came out of the ground…powered by an air pump that kept a continuous stream of air in the trampoline.  It was curved so you could slide off the trampoline…a clever way to provide a trampoline experience in a safe manner.  My grandkids loved jumping on it.  The zip line was fun for everyone.  A great time was had by all at the playground in Flateyri!  Here’s to their parks & recreation department!

As we traveled along the road from Dynjandi Falls to the puffin cliffs of Latrabjarg (steep cliffs located at the western most tip of Iceland), I noticed that dandylions were growing all over the place…somethings are the same where ever you go…dandylions, dandylions, dandylions….It was quite a twisty and turny road to get to Latrabjarg.  Our timing to get to the cliffs to see the puffin nests and all of the other seabirds who frequent this special nesting place wasn’t so good, as we got behind a caravan of cars and campers that had just gotten off the ferry that runs from Reyjkavik to the peninsula where the puffin cliffs are located.  Puffins are like rock stars out here!  Everyone wants to come and see them.  One of the biggest tourist attractions in all of Iceland, based on the number of cars that make the journey out to the secluded cliffs to see them!  One of the funniest things I saw on our adventure in Iceland was a camper that looked like an urban assault vehicle.  It really was the “mother of all recreational vehicles (RVs)”…obviously built for all roads and all conditions, truly an “all-terrain” vehicle in the fullest sense of that term.  It was built like a tank, high off the ground with huge tires…everything you need for RVing in Iceland..not to mention that the owner brought out his weight lifting equipment and proceeded to give all of us picnickers in the park nearby a real show!  He liked flexing his muscles for all to see!  Too funny!

It was a gorgeous day for our visit to see the puffins.  The teal & blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean were spectacular just below the cliffs.  There were hundreds of seabirds at the cliffs.  It was really something to see.  I got treated to a puffin flying in at me at eye level as I stood on a cliff where he then proceeded to land just below me at the brow of the cliff where he had built its next.  That alone was worth the price of admission!  These puffins are quite colorful and fun to watch.  I’m told they lay only one egg and burrow out a next at the top of the cliffs with a living room and a specific room for their bathroom.  Quite the puffin “condo complex”!  The puffins sure have cute orange colored web feet. They are fascinating creatures to say the least!  You don’t get to the puffin cliffs by accident…you have to get to them on purpose….lots of gravel & rough road along the way…puffins definitely like to play hard to get!

The journey out to the cliffs went by some fascinating sights…one of which was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen that you couldn’t get to because it was part of a farmer’s field.  The thing that is amazing about Iceland is that there are so many places of beauty that haven’t been developed…many of these places are tucked away in remote fjords.  Lots of little sandy beaches all along the fjords and coastlines…I’m surprised they don’t have any resorts out here.  But maybe that’s because they only have three months of so of somewhat warm weather.  It would be mai tais for three months and then hot chocolate & Irish coffee the rest of the year!  We also drove by a World War II airplane crash site where you can see the remains of a U.S. Navy plane that evidently developed engine trouble on its way to Europe and had to crash land in Iceland in a field along the road to the puffin cliffs.  Lots of unusual sights all along the roadways here!

More on Iceland in my next blog…

Here’s the funny question for the day:

Q:  What do you call a nose without a body?

A:  No one nose.

Here’s the fact for the day:

Researchers from NASA say the perfect nap lasts for 26 minutes.

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“I didn’t have to play rugby that well, and I didn’t have to play cricket that well, because I had this voice.”  “I’ve always liked to dance—I’ve got a natural rhythm.”

—Tom Jones, Welsh singer of “It’s Not Unusual” fame

“I always wanted to be a cowboy and Jedi Knights are basically cowboys in space, right?”

—Liam Neeson, Irish actor of “Star Wars”, “Commuter”, “Taken” & “Rob Roy” movie fame

“My worth is not in what I own; Not in the strength of flesh and bone.

But in the costly wounds of love at the cross.

My worth is not in skill or name; In win or lose, in pride or shame.

But in the blood of Christ that flowed at the cross.

As summer flowers we fade and die; Fame, youth and beauty hurry by.

But life eternal calls to us at the cross.

I will not boast in wealth or might, or human wisdom’s fleeting light.

But I will boast in knowing Christ at the cross.

Two wonders have that I confess:  My worth and my unworthiness.

My value fixed—my ransom paid…at the cross.

I rejoice in my Redeemer—Greatest treasure…Well-spring of my soul.

I will trust in Him, no other; My soul is satisfied in Him alone.”

—Keith & Kristyn Getty and Graham Kendrick, “My Worth Is Not In What I Own” (2014)

Here’s to a great Thursday and lots of love always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)