tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82558938324708774372024-03-23T06:53:53.806-04:00Bayshore WoodsBEAUTY WILL SAVE THE WORLD -
DOSTOYEVESKYGrinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.comBlogger130125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-71211095198152413752018-01-16T20:23:00.000-05:002018-01-16T20:23:31.591-05:00The Heroes of Riviere OuelleI am feeling somewhat guilty about not posting anything since October of last year. It not that I have not been busy with music, just the opposite. In fact, I have been spending all of my spare time working on my opera, Heroes of Riviere Ouelle. The idea for writing an opera is not a new one for me. Since I was a teenager and dreamed about becoming a composer I wanted to compose an opera but the shadow that my grandfather who composed many operas prevented me from doing that. I felt that I could never compose anything as good as he did, so I put the idea aside. In fact, I put composing aside for almost forty years. When most composers are thinking about retiring I started thinking about composing again. Back in the summer of 2017 the idea for writing this opera came to me while my wife and I were visiting Fort George in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I don't exactly remember how the idea came to me and it probably doesn't matter but that is when it happened. At first it was just the idea that I would compose the opera around the story of the Heroes of Riviere Ouelle where a group of farmers beat back the soldiers of William Phips, the governor of Massachusetts. That is over simplifying the story but that is the essence of it.<br />
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I thought I would share some of the highlights of act I which I finished just before the Christmas holidays. I am now working on scene I of act II. I thought I would share the love duet from act I.<br />
The love duet is between the two main characters of the opera, Chloe and Gaston. Chloe is a young woman who has arrived in Riviere Ouelle from France with the intent of finding a husband and Gaston falls in love with Chloe at first sight. The sing the love duet together. Unfortunately, I don't have a soprano and a tenor on hand to sing the love duet so I can only give you the music and piano accompaniment. I have yet to do the orchestration for this aria.<br />
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Here is the video link<br />
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<a href="https://youtu.be/MliFNJcFIBo">https://youtu.be/MliFNJcFIBo</a>Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-81427479225501148072017-10-28T20:52:00.000-04:002017-10-28T20:52:50.925-04:00Simple Waltz for ChloeLast year, I wrote a little duet for my granddaughter and daughter to play together at the Hamilton Suzuki School of Music duet concert. It was a simple piece with my granddaughter playing the same repetitive pattern on the E string, "taka taka ti ti", which was one of the first rhythmic patterns that a student learns in the Suzuki method. On top of that pattern I wrote a melody that my daughter played. Since my daughter is an accomplished violinist I was able to write a more interesting and demanding first violin part. They practised the piece together until it flowed well. at the concert, my granddaughter did here part well and the whole thing went well. Everyone like the performance and the piece. All was good.<br />
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This year, my granddaughter has had an entire year of violin lessons so her proficiency has increased significantly. I have written another piece for her but it is a little more complicated than the piece that I wrote last year. Both compositions are roughly the same length, about one minute, more or less. However, the piece that my granddaughter played last year consisted on one note and one rhythm played over and over again. This piece that I wrote for her this year is a little more complicated.<br />
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The piece that I wrote this year is based on the A major scale which incorporates all of the notes that my granddaughter has learned to play on her violin to date. Essentially, it starts with the open A on the A string, then B, C#, and D. Open E on the E string, then F#, G#, and finally A on the E string. It was an interesting process for me. I started with a version that I thought my be simple enough for my granddaughter to play then I proceeded to simplify through three more versions of the A major scale idea until I arrived at the version that I have now. I believe that it is simple enough for my granddaughter to play. It is repetitive in the since that, starting with the "A" on the "E" string, each note is a quarter note repeated three times in a descending scale. The second violin part, my granddaughter's part, consist of this descending three note pattern played twice. The whole piece takes about one minute to play. I wrote the piece in 3/4 time which is why I call it a Simple Waltz. If my Granddaughter emphasises the first note of each bar then it will have a typical waltz rhythm, a simple waltz rhythm.<br />
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Unfortunately, I do not think that my granddaughter will be able to play this piece this year. This is not a problem. There are other pieces that she has to learn and there is always next year. What I find interesting was the process of refining the idea to its simplest essence. What I have been thinking is to take all of the versions that I have been working on and working them into a set of variations. I would start with the simplest idea as the theme and work them into increasingly interesting and difficult variations. Maybe one day, my granddaughter would play the entire set of variations.<br />
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Link for video on Youtube<a href="https://youtu.be/HayiGu6fLJM">Link for video on Youtube</a>Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-8849859521432567962017-09-22T21:29:00.000-04:002017-09-22T21:29:59.860-04:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<u><b>Study in C</b></u></div>
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Allegedly, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg">Arnold Schoenberg,</a> the father of twelve tone atonalism, once said, "there is still a lot of good music to be written in the key of C", meaning that you can take a key, a group of notes that represent a tonality and create an interesting piece of music. You can create something that has never bee written before. The key of C is the most prosaic of keys so the challenge to make something interesting in the key of C is significant. </div>
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One day, I decided to take up the challenge and see what I could compose in the key of C. I came up with this piano piece that I call a Study in C. To me, the thing that makes the piece interesting is that I feature the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone">tritone</a>, an interval that I was always taught never to use or to use sparingly and only briefly, in passing so that the sound does not linger in the ear. Well, most of what I compose goes against what I was taught, but isn't that always the way? In this piece I use the tritone obsessively. It gives the piece a driving quality, an obsessive quality. It started out as an idea, a whim, something inspired by this aleged utterance by Arnold Schoenberg. I guess that there still is many good things to write in the key of C. Maybe I will see what I can write for the piano in all of the other keys.<br />
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What I like about this piece is the relentless forward motion of the piece. By the end, it has a driving quality that is almost hypnotic. I was very satisfied with the result of this little experiment in the key of C.<br />
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Part of my inspiration for this piece comes from the music of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_C,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Riley">Terry Riley,</a> one of the proponents of minimalism. The other part of the inspiration for this piece comes from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Clavier">Bach's Well Tempered Clavier</a> collection, not any one piece in particular but the ethos of the entire collection.</div>
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<a href="https://youtu.be/rCa8d5oSO2A"><br /></a>
<a href="https://youtu.be/rCa8d5oSO2A">Here is the link for the video on Youtube </a></div>
Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-20570282490930814912017-09-16T15:44:00.000-04:002017-09-16T15:44:36.776-04:00MEMORIES OF BARCELONA - GAUDII have finally finished the last section of Memories of Barcelona. It was inspired by the wonderful, fantastical architecture of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD">Antoni Gaudi</a>. This is the same Gaudi who conceived of the idea of the Sagrada Familia which inspired the second movement of Memories of Barcelona. Needless to say, I was very impressed with Gaudi.<br />
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As I was writing this piece I wanted to emulate the architecture that I saw in Gaudi park. the lines of the buildings and decoration have a certain baroque flowing quality . I wasn't going to try and imitate the Baroque style of composition, that would not be authentic, but I did want to capture the flowing ornamental feeling of Gaudi's work. That is what I tried to do in this composition.<br />
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Other than Bach, I can't think of another compose who I had in mind or listened to more while I was writing this piece. I listened to Bach's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Clavier">Well Tempered Clavier</a> played on the guitar. I did listen to the music of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Brouwer">Leo Brouwer</a>. I don't how his playing and compositions influenced the piece but I did enjoy listening to his music.<br />
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Just as the middle section of Memories of Barcelona was slow and somewhat ponderous, I wanted the third section to be light and quick. I also felt that this feeling of lightness and quickness was more representative of Gaudi. The entire section is five minutes and thirty seconds ling long more or less. Again, I didn't want the section to be too long. I figure that when there is no more to say, a composer should just end the composition, so that is what I did. There is no resolution. There is no satisfying final cadence to let you know that the piece has ended. I just stopped. The funny thing is that I have a sense that the piece is still going on and I can hear in my head that the piece is still playing. That is more in keeping with the sense of the piece than if I had used a more traditional ending. All in all, I am satisfied with the last section of Memories of Barcelona. All I need now is a highly skilled guitarist to play it!<br />
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Here is the link to the video <a href="https://youtu.be/bLGbsBv5LGQ">https://youtu.be/bLGbsBv5LGQ</a></div>
Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-59005907832576457922017-09-09T09:00:00.001-04:002017-09-09T09:03:08.160-04:00Pour DeniseI have interrupted my posts on my composition, Memories of Barcelona. I was working on the third section or movement of the piece which is based on the work or the architect Gaudi, when my oldest sister passed away.<br />
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My oldest sister, Denise, had ovarian cancer for five years. She did her best to deal with the disease but in the end, the disease won and she passed away earlier this month. I flew to Quebec City to attend the funeral. While I was at the funeral in Quebec City the idea for a solo violin piece came to me. I heard the piece in my head, not complete but in pieces that seemed to float in and out of my head. What I felt and thought and experienced at the funeral could not be expressed in words, not even poetry. I, who is always so easy with words, was speechless. The only way I could express myself was with music, with this solo violin piece.<br />
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Almost at the same time that this piece came to me, another piece was playing in my head, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partita_for_Violin_No._2_(Bach)">Bach's Partita II, BWV 1004</a>. It is a darkly, sad and beautiful masterpiece that I have always admired but at this time, the time of my sister's funeral , it was deeply comforting. the Chaconne seemed to speak to me in a way that expressed what I was thinking and feeling.<br />
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After the funeral, I returned to my cousins apartment where I spent some time writing down ideas for my solo violin piece. I wanted to spend time with my cousin before My flight home so I reluctantly set the piece aside, even though the ideas kept going through my head.<br />
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My cousin dropped me off at the airport around 6:00 pm on Friday, August 11th. My flight was at 8:00 pm so I had plenty of time to check-in, have a bite to eat and work on music. I planned to be home around 10:30 pm that night. Not was not how things turned out. There was a flight cancellation then a rescheduled flight followed by endless delays then finally my flight was cancelled and rescheduled for Saturday morning. During all of this time I had nothing to do but work on my violin piece. It also kept me preoccupied so I didn't have to think about all of the incertitude. Finally, I left the airport, found a place to sleep and returned to the airport bright and early on Saturday. While I ate breakfast at the airport I worked on my piece. While I was waiting to get on my flight I worked on the piece. All the way to Toronto on the plane I worked on the piece. The ideas were strong and tried to capture everything that I could.<br />
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Over the following weeks, I continued to work on the piece everyday. I listened to all of <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/shostakovich-string-quartets-1">Shostakovitch's string quartets</a> and <a href="https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/shostakovich-violin-concertos-nos-1-2-0">violin concerto</a>s. there was much there that spoke to me. I listened to all of <a href="http://www.all-about-beethoven.com/stringquartet.html">Beethoven's string quartets </a>and as always I came away with a deeper understanding of composition. <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/116358/bartok-reviewed-should-folk-music-be-kept-out-classical-music-hall">Bartok's string quartets</a> had a particular hold on me. There was a resonance that I tried to capture in my violin piece.<br />
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Finally, I completed the violin piece then edited it heavily. I wanted it to flow in the same way that Bach's Chaconne flows and the way the Shostakovitch's and Bartok's string quartet's resonated in my head. In the end, although I was not totally satisfied with the result I considered this violin piece that I wrote in memory for my oldest sister to be finished. I think at some point in the future I may come back and look at it again but for now it is done.<br />
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I hope that you like it.<br />
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J'ai interrompu mes articles sur ma composition, Memories of Barcelona. Je travaillais sur la troisième section ou le mouvement de la pièce qui est basé sur le travail ou l'architecte Gaudi, lorsque ma sœur aînée est décédée.<br />
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Ma soeur aînée, Denise, a eu un cancer de l'ovaire pendant cinq ans. Elle a fait de son mieux pour faire face à la maladie, mais à la fin, la maladie a gagné et elle est décédée plus tôt ce mois-ci. Je suis allé à Québec pour assister aux funérailles. Pendant que j'étais au funéraire à Québec, l'idée d'une pièce de violon solo est venue à moi. J'ai entendu la pièce dans ma tête, pas complète mais en morceaux qui semblait flotter dans et hors de ma tête. Ce que j'ai ressenti, pensé et expérimenté au funéraire ne pouvait pas être exprimé par des mots, pas même par la poésie. Moi, qui est toujours si facile avec les mots, était sans voix. La seule façon de m'exprimer était la musique, avec cette pièce de violon solo.<br />
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Presque en même temps que cette pièce venait à moi, une autre pièce jouait dans ma tête, Partita II de Bach, BWV 1004. C'est un chef-d'œuvre sombre, triste et magnifique que j'ai toujours admiré, mais à cette époque, l'époque de mon les funérailles de la sœur, c'était très réconfortant. le Chaconne semblait me parler d'une manière qui exprimait ce que je pensais et ressaisais.<br />
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Après les funérailles, je suis retourné dans mon appartement aux cousins où j'ai passé quelque temps à écrire des idées pour mon morceau de violon solo. Je voulais passer du temps avec mon cousin devant My flight home, donc j'ai réticent la pièce, bien que les idées aient continué à traverser ma tête.<br />
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Mon cousin m'a déposé à l'aéroport vers 18 heures le vendredi 11 août. Mon vol était à 20h00, donc j'avais beaucoup de temps pour faire un check-in, mordre et travailler sur la musique. Je prévoyais être à la maison vers 22h30 ce soir-là. Ce n'était pas la façon dont les choses se passaient. Il y a eu une annulation de vol alors un vol rééchelonné suivi par des retards sans fin puis enfin mon vol a été annulé et reprogrammé pour samedi matin. Pendant tout ce temps, je n'ai rien à faire que de travailler sur mon morceau de violon. Cela m'a également préoccupé, donc je n'ai pas eu à penser à toutes les incertitudes. Enfin, j'ai quitté l'aéroport, j'ai trouvé un endroit où dormir et je suis retourné à l'aéroport brillant et tôt le samedi. Pendant que je prenais le petit déjeuner à l'aéroport, j'ai travaillé sur mon morceau. Pendant que j'étais en attente d'aller sur mon vol, j'ai travaillé sur la pièce. Tout le chemin à Toronto dans l'avion, j'ai travaillé sur la pièce. Les idées étaient fortes et essayaient de saisir tout ce que je pouvais.<br />
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Au cours des semaines suivantes, j'ai continué à travailler sur la pièce tous les jours. J'ai écouté tous les quatuors à cordes de Chostakovitch et les concertos pour violon. Il y avait beaucoup de choses qui m'avaient parlé. J'ai écouté tous les quatuors à cordes de Beethoven et, comme toujours, je suis venu avec une compréhension plus profonde de la composition. Les quatuors à cordes de Bartok m'avaient particulièrement retenu. Il y a eu une résonance que j'ai essayé de capturer dans mon morceau de violon.<br />
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Enfin, j'ai complété la pièce de violon puis l'ai fortement édité. Je voulais que cela coule de la même manière que Chaconne de Bach coule et la façon dont le quatuor à cordes de Shostakovitch et Bartok résonne dans ma tête. À la fin, bien que je n'eusse pas totalement satisfait du résultat, j'ai considéré cette pièce de violon que j'ai écrite en mémoire pour que ma soeur aînée soit finie. Je pense que, à un moment ou l'autre, je pourrais revenir et le regarder à nouveau, mais pour l'instant, c'est fait.<br />
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J'espère que tu aimes ça.<br />
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Here is the link for Youtube/Voici le lien pour Youtube <a href="https://youtu.be/0WTdexd-snU">https://youtu.be/0WTdexd-snU</a></div>
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<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-47456484783392130932017-08-08T07:59:00.000-04:002017-08-08T07:59:22.023-04:00<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><u><span lang="EN-US">Memories of
Barcelona – <a href="http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/">Sagrada Familia</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<b><u><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></u></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Sagrada
Familia is the second movement of my memories of Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia,
or the church of the sacred family is truly one of the wonders of Barcelona and
I would say one of the wonder s of the modern world. It is a must see for
everyone who goes to Barcelona. If you see nothing else go to see the Sagrada
Familia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I wanted to
create or recreate the memory of the Sagrada Familia in music, in music played
on a classical guitar. When I started to think about what I wanted to say about
the Sagrada Familia, its grandeur kept coming back to mind. I also wanted to
express that fact that it has been a long time in the making and will probably
continue to take a long time before it is completed. It is definitely a work in
progress, a continuously evolving work of creation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I thought I
would go back and research Spanish medieval church music which I did. I found
several examples or Spanish church music that dated back to the 10th through to
the 14<sup>th</sup> century that spoke to me in a way that seemed to express
the ethos of the Sagrada Familia. In the end, I extracted a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/ground-bass">ground base</a> which
you can see in the first part of the piece. It is played very low and very
slow. It is supposed to evoke the foundation, the roots of the Sagrada Familia
on which the rest of the edifice is built. Structurally, the rest of the piece
is built on this ground base in medieval fashion. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">You could
consider that the rest of the movement is a series of variations on the ground
base that develop slowly but inexorably towards to the peak of the yet to be
finished cathedral. The first iteration of the ground base is slow and
ponderous, as would be the first layers of the foundation of a grand cathedral.
Each iteration or layer of the movement is built up in this fashion. Each layer
is a little higher in pitch. Each layer moves a little faster until the very
end of the movement, the guitarist is playing quickly at the very top of the
range of the guitar. I hope that I reasonably portrayed the sentiment that I
was looking for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">There were
several precedents that I had in mind when I wrote this movement. They are not
classical guitar pieces but piano pieces although I have heard both pieces
played on classical guitar. The two pieces that most clearly influenced me were
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Debussy">Debussy’s</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAVyKDDsM3s">La </a></span><u><span lang="FR-CA"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAVyKDDsM3s">CathedraleEngloutie</a></span></u><span lang="FR-CA"> </span>and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Ravel">Ravel’s</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwL4nSb9am8">Pavane Pour UneEnfante Defunte</a>, two pieces which have always been close to my heart. In La Cathedrale Engloutie, Debussy paints a
wonderful tone poem of a legendary cathedral rising up out of water, sounds of
chanting priests, chiming bells and an organ being played could be heard across
the water. I have no problem visualizing the cathedral rising out of the water as I listen to the music. </div>
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With Ravel’s Pavane Pour Une Enfante Defunte, it is the
ethos and sheer delicate beauty of the piece that I love. It is ancient and
modern, tightly formal yet it gives you the feeling of being broad and
expansive. My desire was to emulate these elements of these immortal pieces,
even to a modest degree. The Pavane was a dance that was performed in the
Spanish courts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I felt that the pace
and rhythm of the Pavane was expressed in the towering edifice of the Sagrada
Familia. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a></div>
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Here is the score for the second movement of Memories of Barcelona - Sagrada Familia.</div>
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Here is the link for the video and music. <a href="https://youtu.be/Mpnd821OIB4">https://youtu.be/Mpnd821OIB4</a><br />
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Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-83315266390511432022017-07-26T21:02:00.001-04:002017-08-06T14:29:26.582-04:00Memories of BarcelonaIt has been some time since I last wrote a post. A good many things have happened in that time. What I want to write about is music.<br />
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Over the last year or so I have renewed my activity in music. I never lost interest in music but I always found a reason to delay it or tell myself that there would always be time for music later. Well, later is now!<br />
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Last year, I gave my piano to a piano student who needed a piano but could not afford to buy one. I can't say that I regretted giving it away but I miss having a piano, especially now that I have started writing music again, after 20 years.<br />
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After the piano was gone I started playing my classical guitar again. I played every day but I was always playing someone else's music. It was fun but not as satisfying as playing my own music. One day I was sorting through some old paper that I was going to throw away and I came across some of my compositions from years ago, 20 years ago when I lived in Michigan. There was a string quartet that I had not finished. I had drafted two movements and left it for some reason. Did I lose interest? Did I not know where to go after the second movement? I could not remember. It was too long ago. I found a guitar piece that I had started. There were only a few bars of music but the melody was nice. I could see why I had written it down but could not remember why I did not develop it. The idea came into my head to finish it. I took the fragment and put it on my music stand and played it over and over to get a sense of where I might take it. Eventually, I began to have images and memories of the trip that my wife and I took to Barcelona, Spain. I decided to call the piece, Memories of Barcelona. The first movement of the piece brings back memories of the street life and night life of Barcelona which was quite lively and varied. I have finished two movements of what I conceived to be a three movement guitar piece.<br />
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About the music. Nominally, the key signature is E minor but I don't strictly follow the E minor scale. In fact, I use a tonality that is more modal in nature. This is what I heard in my head when I wrote the piece. It is more important for me to realize what is in my head than to follow some academic rule that says I have to keep within a specific tonality. In this day and age, almost anything goes regarding tonality. In the last hundred years, we have experienced everything from Serialism where tonality was more or less destroyed by Arnold Schoenberg to Philip Glass' minimalism where tonality is kept to the barest minimum. I feel completely justified in following my own sensibility regarding what tonality I chose to follow in a piece.<br />
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Here is the first movement. I hope you like it! I will give you the second movement next post. It is too bad that I could not attach a midi file to give you an idea of how the piece sounds.<br />
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I have been trying to attach the audio of this piece of music to the post by putting together a video but I could not attach it to the post so I uploaded it to Youtube. I hope this works.</div>
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<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-74115348404871529672015-02-24T20:15:00.001-05:002015-02-24T20:15:51.308-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day 8 - Heading HomeToday is our last day aboard the Norwegian Jewel. We are already docked, in fact we were docking during dinner the night before but the cruise was to last until Saturday. I spent one more day practicing before breakfast. There was only one person beside me in the fitness center, a woman who was using the exercise machines. I was surprised that there were a lot of people in the Garden Cafe when I went in to get our lemon water. I guess some people wanted to get a head start, like us they had a full day of traveling head of them. Our flight to Atlanta was not until noon so we were not in a big hurry to leave. As i was walking down the stairs with our two cups of lemon water, trying not to spill them, I saw groups of people queuing up at the elevators. my wife was already dressed when I got back to our room.<br />
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We went up to the Garden Cafe for breakfast. There were more people there than I had seen during the entire cruise, but then again, it was everyone's last breakfast on board. We had a hearty breakfast of eggs Benedict with salmon that we added to make it eggs Charlotte, home fries, Chelsea buns, fresh fruit and coffee with a lot of hot milk which essentially made it cafe au lait.<br />
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After breakfast we went back to our room to finish packing. we had decided that we would carry our own luggage off the boat, it was simpler and faster. We walked off the boat and directly into the SuperCab that was waiting for us, it could not have been simpler than that. There was an older couple already sitting in the SuperCab. We started talking with then and found that not only did they live near Edmonton, Alberta but they lived in the same town where our son teaches high school,amazing!<br />
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At the airport, we checked in and waited.. We had lots of time before our flight so we sat in the baggage claim area and ate the tuna salad sandwiches that mt wife made on the ship. After eating, we went through security. Both of us refused to go through the radiation scanner so they had to do a body check which was fine with us. After security we had a cup of green tea and waited.<br />
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Our flight from Houston took off without delay, the trip to Altanta was just under two hours. When we landed in Atlanta, we immediately found our connecting flight and made sure our cell phones were on the correct time. We found a place to have dinner called Book Ends. We had crepes filled with artichokes, Spinach and cheese.They were tasty and filling. After dinner we still had hours to wait before our flight so, we walked around B terminal where we had dinner before going to D terminal where our connecting flight was. Since there was nothing else to do we went to D terminal on the train. We went to the gate to make sure it was the right gate. we checked the electronic board to make it was the right gate. We sat at the gate with at least two hours to go. My wife was watching the monitor and saw a notice that there was an art exhibit in terminal T. We had lots of time so off we went to terminal T.<br />
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When we got to terminal T I saw some sculptures that I wanted to see before we went to see the art exhibit, the sculpture was on the same level as the train. the exhibit was sculpture from Zimbabwe. I was called "A Tradition in Stone" <a href="http://www.atlanta-airport.com/passenger/art%20program/permanent_zimbabwe.aspx">zimbabwe</a>. I thought that the sculptures were absolutely amazing! There were original in concept and powerfully expressed, they were simply beautiful.<br />
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We had to tear ourselves away from the sculptures or else we would not have time to see the art exhibit. the art exhibit was also interesting, it was called Flight Patterns: An Exhibition of Fiber Art <a href="http://davismoye.com/flight-patterns-exhibition-now-open-at-hartsfield-jackson-atlanta-international-airport/">flight-patterns-exhibition</a>. The pieces were constructions of different kinds of fiber medium. It was very textural.</div>
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We returned to terminal D because it was getting near the time for departure and we did not want to miss our flight home. At the gate, they started boarding the plane. The agent at the desk called our name. I went up to the counter, I did not want any issue with the flight home. The agent told me that we had been upgraded to first class. I was confused, shocked and pleased. This was a great finish to a great vacation. </div>
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We had lots of leg room in big comfortable seats in first class. My wife had a big glass of red wine. Since I can't drink I had black tea, several cups actually. It was nice, comfortable flight to Toronto. Getting through customs and getting our bags was fairly routine. we caught the shuttle to the Marriott. The difference in temperature was a little bit if a shock on the body, we went from 30 degrees Celsius in the morning to 5 degrees Celsius in less than 12 hours. </div>
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Our hotel room was a nice, large room, clean and comfortable. The thing that interested us the most was to take a shower a get to bed. We were up around 7:30 AM on Sunday. we dressed and checked out. We could have lounged around the hotel for a few hours but we wanted to get home. We stopped at Oceans grocery store <a href="http://www.oceansfood.ca/special.html">oceansfood.ca</a> on the way home because we did not have any food at home. We had the coffee that we bought at the Second Cup next door to Oceans and the Dim Sum that we bought at Oceans for breakfast. We bought a few things that we needed and we were home by 11:00 AM.</div>
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It was a great cruise. I am really that we celebrated my 60th birthday in this way.</div>
Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-73498515896307092622015-02-16T20:56:00.002-05:002015-02-16T20:56:47.742-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day 7 - Last Day at SeaToday is our last day at sea, by tomorrow morning we will be docked at Houston. I was up at 5:30 AM to get my last day of practice in on the ship. I will miss the aerobics room with it vast floor space and mirrors on two walls. today, I feel strong and energetic.<br />
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We had breakfast in the Great Outdoors at the rear of the ship. the early morning was warm and gentle on our face and arms. I am sure that we got a full dose of vitamin D on this cruise! After breakfast we walked the deck but before that we used up the rest of the $100 credit that we received when we booked the trip. I bought two T-shirts. That left $1 of credit left. There was a machine near the atrium where you could make a medallion out of copper. We made a medallion of Dora because we know that our grand daughter likes Dora.<br />
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Getting back to our walk, it was a nice 24 degrees Celsius, partially cloudy but mostly sunny. We started to notice oil rigs off in the distance on either side of the ship. As we walked around the ship we saw more and more oil rigs. I never knew there were so many oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, but then again, I never really thought about it. I took a lot of pictures of the tankers and the oil rigs, I also took pictures of the clouds.<br />
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We went to a demonstration on pastry in the Atrium. It looked more like they were setting up for a demonstration on Black Forest cake. My wife said that if it was not interesting we woulds leave. Well, it was not that interesting. As soon as the chef started talking about how he was going to put the Black Forest cake together, my wife asked me if I wanted to go back out on deck to walk. I said that that would be a great idea, i was not really interested in watching someone put a Black Forest cake together. It was nice outside, warm and breezy. We might as well get as much of this nice weather as possible because tomorrow, we were going to return to the cold.<br />
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We are at another show with David Naster, this one is about bullying. he showed a video that had people who talked about why and how they worked through being bullied and how they eventually rose above being bullied. David Naster is sincere about what he is trying to do, use comedy to improvevpeople's lives.<br />
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We had our last lunch in the Garden Cafe, actually we sat outside in the Great Outdoor on the rear deck. With the breeze it actually felt a little cool so we went back inside for tea and dessert. I guess we were getting far enough north that the ambient air temperature was starting to cool off.<br />
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On the one hand, it is sad that cruise is coming to an end but on the other hand, I am looking forward to getting back to our regular life. I am thinking about home and the life that my wife and I have together. It is funny in a way, vacations make us realize how much we appreciate the life that we have. i miss our house, I miss our bed, I miss the food that my wife makes every day that is both healthful and delicious.<br />
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At 4:00 PM I went for a consultation with acupuncturist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture">Acupuncture</a> who was on board. He asked me a series of questions, he looked at my tongue. His diagnosis was that I was deficient in Yang Qi. I did not have enough heat in my stomach to transform the food into Qi. The fact that food was sticking in my esophagus and coming back up hours after I went to bed was evidence that I was having rebellious Qi. Instead of the food going down which it is supposed to do, it is going up. interestingly enough, his diagnosis and treatment was the same as my regular acupuncturist. I might have had some treatment with him with him but it was our last day on board and I was going to see my own acupuncturist the following week. I have a lot of confidence in my acupuncturist's ability to help me. <br />
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Based on the acupuncturist's recommendations we decided that I should eat some meat for dinner, lamb would be preferable but we would see what was available. I settled for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahi-mahi">Mahi-Mahi</a> which did not cause me any problems at all at dinner, My wife had linguine and calamari. We switched plates half way through dinner so that we could sample both dishes, they were both good.<br />
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Back in our stateroom we started packing, as much as we could so that we could be prepared to leave the ship in the morning. It was 11:00 PM by the time we finished packing so we just went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day of travel.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-62015390812157231262015-02-09T21:17:00.000-05:002015-02-09T21:17:21.170-05:00Day 6 - Day at Sea - Heading Back to Houston<br />
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Although I did not get to bed until 11:00 PM the night before, I was still up at 5:30 AM to go to the fitness center to practice. Since we were at sea for the next two days, there was not hurry to go anywhere early in the morning. i went through quite a bit of Qigong; Yi Jin Jing, Six Healing Sounds, Whole Body Breathing, and Bone healing Qigong. I went through Taijiquan slowly and softly, the sword form, as it is,, twice, then I finished with a hard and fast version of Taijiquan, much more external than internal Qigong.<br />
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After discovering the Great Outdoors, the outdoor restaurant at the rear of the ship we decided that we would have breakfast there, weather permitting. When I was walking back from my practice this morning, the temperature was very nice, I would say about 25 degrees Celsius. It was a bit windy but the wind was warm. It was an easy decision, we ate breakfast at the Great Outdoors. It was nice, there were not a lot of people there and it was warm and sunny. After breakfast, we tried walking on the upper deck but it was so windy up there that we were forced to go back down to the lower deck.<br />
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At 10:30 AM we went to a seminar on fruit and vegetable carving. I stayed with my wife until just before 11:00 AM, then I went to seminar on Modern Masters that was given by park West. I know that objective of all of their talks is to sell art but I still found these seminars entertaining. I learned about several new artists that I did not know before, Romero Britto <a href="http://www.britto.com/">britto.com/</a>,<br />
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<img src="http://www.britto.com/images/gallery/originals/25.jpg" style="display: inline;" /><br />
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Peter Max <a href="http://www.petermax.com/">petermax.com</a>.<br />
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<img src="http://www.parkwestgallery.com/wp-content/uploads/artworks/large/im303242_L.jpg" galleryimg="no" height="640" style="left: -0.76px; top: -0.11px;" width="481" /><br />
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Yaacov Agam, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaacov_Agam">Yaacov_Agam</a><br />
<img alt="integrated rainbow by yaacov agam" src="http://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll860016llgPYfDrCWQFHPKAD/yaacov-agam-integrated-rainbow.jpg" height="313" title="Integrated Rainbow by Yaacov Agam" width="400" /><br />
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and David "Lebo" Le Batard.<br />
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They were all quite modern artists who had very unique styles and who had built successful careers as artists. these are the kind of artists that someone would want to collect with an eye for investment because these are all artists who will increase in value during their lifetime and certainly afterwards. At the end of the lecture everyone received a free work of art, a limited edition print of an original work of art.<br />
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After lunch we went back to the Stardust theater, listening to David Naster talk about the benefits of laughter during difficult points in a person's life. He showed a nine minute video about people who used humor to deal with their lives. David talked for an entire hour. he told true stories about people who he had met and how they used humor in real -life situations; injuries, divorce, death and other stressful situations.<br />
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After dinner we went back to the Stardust theater again to see Le Cirque Bijou <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uHoHXdEkcQ">le cirque bijou</a> <span id="goog_895786125"></span><span id="goog_895786126"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>which featured the Russian couple we saw before plus other acrobats, singers and dancers. I thought that the Russian couple were the most elegant and graceful of all the performers. It was an entertaining show.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-50230788867263275812015-01-28T21:25:00.000-05:002015-01-28T21:25:44.354-05:00DAY 5 - THE BANANA COAST- HONDURAS, TRUJILLO - CONTINUEDAs I said in my last post, there was too much to say about day five in Trujillo, Honduras for one past so I am splitting it into two.<br />
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after returning to the ship we went back to our state room, deposited all our purchases and finds. I found a number of stones and other interesting objects as we walked along the beach. There were a variety of things that I found, a rock that had small deposits of copper on the outside, several pieces of coral and a really interesting piece that looked like it might have been a home for some small sea creature which after closer inspection it seems that it might have been the barrel of an old gun that had become attached to a rock and over time it became encrusted with stones.<br />
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After lunch we walked around the top deck to make up a mile, as if we had not walked ans climbed enough in the morning in Trujillo! Having achieved our mile walk we sat out in the shade in deck chairs and read. I started reading a new book on my Ipad, <u style="font-weight: bold;">Volume I of Essential Chinese Medicine</u> <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Essentials-Chinese-Medicine-Volume-1/dp/1848825897">Essentials-Chinese-Medicine-Volume</a>which is the first volume of a giant three volume compendium of traditional Chinese medicine. As we sat reading the crew started pulling up the boats from the water, the very boats that they had used to tender us to shore. it was an interesting process to watch.<br />
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Afterwards we went to the Stardust theater to see the comic JP <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Comedy-Magic-of-Jean-Pierre/139067842775661">The-Comedy-Magic-of-Jean-Pierre</a>. we had started to watch him on the first night out by the motion of the ship caused my wife to be sea sick so we had to leave his first performance part way through.<br />
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<img alt="The Comedy & Magic of Jean-Pierre's photo." class="_46-i img" height="480" src="https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/p480x480/1174933_954593487889755_3308969391112139934_n.jpg?oh=2fbad7857ba9979b97b0234a5378583f&oe=5561E0FD" style="left: -5px; top: 0px;" width="480" /><br />
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After watching JP we went to the art gallery to see the unveiling of several new works of art. There was also complimentary wine. The first painting that they unveiled was a still life by Peter Max, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Max">Peter_Max</a>.<br />
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It was quite beautiful, bursting with color. I liked it. the next two works of art were etchings by Rembrandt <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt">Rembrandt</a>.<br />
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<img alt="Rembrandt etchings: De Omval" src="http://www.geotypico.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/300x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/r/e/rembrandt_the_omval_b209_2.jpg" title="Rembrandt etchings: De Omval" /><br />
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One was a self portrait completed near the time of his death. The second etching was a scene of his childhood where Rembrandt grew up. The third etching was another self portrait but when he was a young man. As much as I appreciate the technique of etching and Rembrandt's artistry in this medium, I could not see my wife and I hanging a Rembrandt etching on a wall in our house. We are not people who would buy a work of art just because it was by a famous artist, we would have to like it as well. I guess I am just a Philistine when it comes to etchings. the third artist was Itzchak <a href="http://www.parkwestgallery.com/">Tarkay</a>, <a class="irc_mutl" data-ctbtn="2" data-cthref="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Filmondodimaryantony.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F10%2Fitzachak-tarkay-impressionismo.html&ei=k5XJVOzjE6a1sAT-ioK4Dg&bvm=bv.84607526,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNEufnl33vWlmAWdGhjrfbB-zXqbsw&ust=1422583558708016" data-ved="0CAcQjRw" href="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Filmondodimaryantony.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F10%2Fitzachak-tarkay-impressionismo.html&ei=k5XJVOzjE6a1sAT-ioK4Dg&bvm=bv.84607526,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNEufnl33vWlmAWdGhjrfbB-zXqbsw&ust=1422583558708016" jsaction="mousedown:irc.rl;keydown:irc.rlk"><img class="irc_mut" height="263" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcToi5Dskv7RuWDriWs0OMR0ZsA3kV2h5aWE9t3JLgyC5itNwZ_w" style="margin-top: 30px;" width="400" /></a><br />
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an artist from Israel. Most of his work was in acrylics but he painted a dozen or so watercolors of women in various poses. When the paintings were unveiled i was immediately drawn to their beauty. The color and the way that the artist balanced color and composition showed the hand of a master. We were told that these paintings we going for $2500 - 3500 a piece. I would say that that would be a bargain. I would love to own a Tarkay painting but we don't have the wall space, we still have works of art that we have yet to hang in our house.<br />
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<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-87091619163884848762015-01-26T21:27:00.000-05:002015-01-26T21:27:41.981-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day Five - The Banana Cost - Honduras - TrujilloToday, we are going to the Trujillo in Honduras <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trujillo,_Col%C3%B3n">Trujillo</a> , it is also known as the Banana Coast, I am not sure why. Again, we are going to be tendered to shore in small boats from the Norwegian Jewel.<br />
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It is a beautiful morning and we are looking forward to going to a place that has not yet been ruined by tourism. As we move towards the shore, Trujillo looks lovely.<br />
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It was only a short ride to shore, about ten minutes. we landed about 9:00AM. There were local singers and dancers performing at the terminal when we landed.<br />
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There were souvenirs near the terminal but it was disappointing that it was more of the same stuff that we had seen the day before and the day before that. We had a vision of all these souvenirs being churned out in a factory in China then shipped to all of these sights to be bought up by tourists, and there were people buying them.<br />
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Trujillo is a new place for cruise boats to stop, you can see that it has not been developed. The historical area of Trujillo is not very interesting and they want you to pay $3US to look at the ruins of an old fortress. It was hardly worth $3US, I took a few pictures from a distance instead.<br />
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We walked around the town for about an hour, going into some of the local stores to see what they had to offer. We found the local hospital which was interesting.<br />
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There was a church near the town square so we went in to take a look. The church itself was not all that interesting but my wife took the time to light a candle.<br />
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For the rest of our stay in Trujillo we spent our time walking along the beach which we found to be quite satisfying. The feel of the sand on our feet, the sound of the waves, the feel of the water as it caressed our feet was all satisfying and relaxing.<br />
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as we approached 11:00 AM we returned to the terminal. We bought some rum and a local liquor, that I was told, is like vodka. I guess we could use it for making crisp pastry.<br />
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When we got back on the boat to take us back to the ship it was starting rain and the waves were quite active. The ten minutes that it took to get back to the ship were quite interesting. My wife found the ten minutes nerve racking but it was pretty entertaining for me. The little boat was tossed about on the waves, going up and down with each succeeding wave. I think everyone was thankful to get back on the Norwegian Jewel.<br />
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There was a lot more than happened that day but I am going to stop the post here. I will continue the rest of the day in part two of day five.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-9256071021915007782015-01-20T20:25:00.000-05:002015-01-20T20:25:56.495-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day 4 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Belize City, Belize.By 7:55 on Tuesday morning, I had completed my qigong practice, we had eaten breakfast and we were sitting in the Stardust theater waiting to be called to go ashore for our tour to the Mayan ruin in Altun Ha <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altun_Ha">Altun_Ha</a>. we did not wait very long before our group was called.<br />
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Because the Norwegian Jewel could not dock at Belize City <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize_City">Belize_City</a> we were tendered to shore in smaller boats. We went to shore in a small, open-sided boat. On the trip to shore, the air was light and breezy, very pleasant. The boat was rocking and bobbing gently in the water as we waited for people to get on. As we traveled to shore I saw little islands or atolls around us. In the distance I could see buildings on the shore, behind us I saw our ship getting smaller and smaller. It was about a 45 minute trip from the ship to terminal #1 in Belize City. The shuttles run every half hour from the ship to shore. The shore is littered with shops and restaurants.<br />
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It took us about an hour to get to Altun Ha by bus. It was an interesting ride, the guide gave us a running commentary about Belize. At first, we thought that it might not be a bad idea to spend a few months a year in Belize when we retire but by the time we finished our tour we reconsidered that idea.<br />
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The tour in Altun Ha was interesting. As we were walking to the site the tour guide gave us background information on the Mayans and the site. In 1961 Belize City was almost completely destroyed by hurricane Hattie <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hattie">Hurricane_Hattie</a>. People went to the site of Altun Ha to get stones to rebuild the city. It did not take too long before the authorities realized that this was an archaeological site. the government of Belize hired an American archeologist, Dr. David Pendergast <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_M._Pendergast">/David_M._Pendergast</a> who was the Field Director of the Royal Ontario Museum's <a href="http://www.rom.on.ca/en">ROM</a> excavation of Altun Ha. He uncovered several tombs which we saw during our visit. In 1977 he discovered the Kinich Ahaw jade head <a href="http://www.nichbelize.org/mob-hoc-featured-exhibit/jade-head.html">jade head</a>. The tour guide proudly informed us that it is the large jade sculpture to be found in that part of the world.<br />
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<img align="right" alt="alt" src="http://www.nichbelize.org/images/stories/mob_hoc_jade_head.jpg" mce_src="/images/stories/mob_hoc_jade_head.jpg" /><br />
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According to our guide, the jade head is kept in a vault in the bank of Belize and it is only brought once a year for all the Belizians to see. After the talk about Altun Ha, we were allowed to climb one of the main temples. My wife and I climbed to the top and took pictures.<br />
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After looking at the site and taking pictures, we took a walk through the gift and souvenir shops. They were expensive and not all that original, we had seen similar looking souvenirs in Cozumel. we kept seeing the same figures and images over and over again.<br />
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Back in Belize City, we were dropped off at a restaurant called the Smokey Mermaid where they gave us a glass of rum punch which seemed to go down okay and did not bother my stomach. We walked around the area a bit and \i took a few pictures of the Taiwanese embassy <a href="http://www.taiwanembassy.org/BZ/mp.asp?mp=372">taiwanembassy</a> which did not look like any embassy that I had ever seen before.<br />
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Apparently, Taiwan and Belize have very good relation. This probably accounted for the the reason why there were so many Chinese restaurants and businesses in Belize City.<br />
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All in all, it was a good day. we spent the rest if the afternoon on the upper deck of the Norwegian Jewel basking in the lovely Belizian weather. I finished reading the book that I had brought with me on the trip, Super Survivors, by David B. Feldman, Ph.D and Lee Daniel Kravitz <a href="http://www.supersurvivors.com/supersurvivors/">Super Survivors</a>. It was a book about how some people not only survive catastrophes in their lives but actually use the experiences to thrive and achieve great things. It was a good book, and inspiring book! I have to think about how to apply the learnings of this book to my own life.<br />
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We had dinner at Tsar's, a restaurant decorated in the style of a Russian palace. We found that the quality of the food and the service was much better at Tsar's than at Azur. Our order was taken promptly and the server brought our food within a reasonable period of time. The hot dishes were hot and the salads were crisp and fresh. We were finished our entire meal by 5:30 PM, at Azur we would have been still waiting for the entree to arrive. We would have stayed for desert but we wanted to see the show, acrobats from Russia. Instead, we went up to the Garden Cafe for dessert.<br />
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<img alt="Picture Norwegian Jewel Tsar's Palace" src="http://www.beyondships2.com/uploads/8/2/4/5/8245255/3988167_orig.jpg" style="max-width: 1000px; width: 100%;" /><br />
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We watched the Russian act called Deja Vu <a href="http://www.barryball.com/index.php/artists/duo-deja-vu">duo-deja-vu</a>, they were a husband and wife team. Both of them were superb athletes, strong and controlled but able to move with grace and elegance.The performed singly and together for a full 40 minutes. The husband sang a couple of songs as well, they were incredibly entertaining.<br />
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<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-54407591341016296202015-01-06T21:27:00.000-05:002015-01-06T21:27:13.940-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day 3Day 3 - Monday, December 1, 2014.<br />
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I was up at 6:00AM to practice in the fitness center. This morning I found something that I could use as a substitute sword during my practice, there was part of the frame of an easel that had come apart and was laying in a corner of the aerobics room. It was the right length. About ten minutes into my practice an older gentleman came into the room dressed in exercise clothing. He had a yoga mat with him as well as a timer and some other gear. He set himself up in one of the corners of the room and went through a kind of timed yoga routine where he held modified yoga poses for a timed period. I went through my practice, when I got to the sword practice I took the piece of the easel that \i had found. as soon as the piece was in my hand I could do the form again, it was as if part of my that had been missing had been restored to me.<br />
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After breakfast, my wife and I spent the morning in the tourist area of San Miguel, in Cozumel <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cozumel">Cozumel</a>, a island off of the coast of the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.<br />
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The tourist area is a long strip along the waterfront starting at the dock. It isa series of streets with stores and restaurants, all for the benefit of tourists to deposit their American dollars. We were also looking for opportunities to spend some of our cash on souvenirs to take home. Some of the stores did spill off the main street onto the side streets but I did not want my wife to wander to far off the beaten track because I did not know how safe it was. On the main street there were armed police on every street, I imagine to keep order for the tourists.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is a picture of our boat from the terminal in San Miguel, Cozumel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was amazed at how blue the water is</td></tr>
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We wound up buying two maracas for our grand daughter as well as some clothing. We also bought two bottles of tequila to give away when we got back home. We returned to the ship around noon for lunch then we went back out again. When we were returning to the ship, my wife noticed that there were several people with bags of groceries from a store called Mega, we could see the store from the ship. When we returned to the town after lunch, we went to Mega. We bought a bar of soap for $.35 because we were tired of using the liquid soap on the ship. We also bought a bag of ancho chilis that my wife will use for cooking Mexican food, and finally, we bought three palmiers, two plain and one with chocolate. Palmiers are a French pastry from the Langedoc area of France. I would guess that they are one of the traditions that Mexico kept after the French left Mexico in 1866. My wife was happy, she got to shop in an authentic Mexican super store instead of a touristy shop on the waterfront.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">locals dressed up as natives to entertain the tourists</td></tr>
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Back on the ship we had an early dinner so that we could go to an art lecture on Rembrandt, Chagall, Picasso and Dali. It was an interesting talk. The speaker was very enthusiastic and we got to see some original art by these artists. After the talk we to see a comedian, David Naster <a href="http://naster.com/">David Naster</a>, in the theatrer David was very funny.<br />
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I was a long day so we went to bed early. Tomorrow promises to be an equally long and interesting day.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-79294184046112753252015-01-02T21:19:00.000-05:002015-01-02T21:19:39.460-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day 2<div align="center">
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<strong><u>CARIBBEAN CRUISE - DAY 2 - AT SEA</u></strong></div>
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Sunday, November 30th. we went to bed early on Saturday night, Saturday had been a long day and we were still tired from our adventure on Friday, so we slept soundly in our state room on deck six on Saturday night while the night owls and revelers partied the night away on deck seven, two decks above us. we did not hear a thing. I was up at 6:00 AM and made my way to the fitness center on deck twelve. I walked up the seven flights to deck seven as a warm up for my practice. What struck me was the absolute quiet. The only sounds that I heard was the muted sounds of the board as it sailed through the Caribbean. I guess all the party goers were sleeping off the effects of Saturday night. When I got to the fitness club there were already a few people waiting to get in ahead of me, that was a bit of a surprise. I guess not everyone was hanging out at the clubs the night before. As soon as I walked up to fitness center the door opened and we all went in. everyone went for the machines, I went into the aerobic studio and closed the door. I had the entire studio to myself. I went through Yi Jin Jing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yijin_Jing">Yijin Jing</a> as I would on the weekends followed by a slow Taijiquan <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi">Tai Chi</a> practice. Typically, I would also do my sword practice <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taijijian">Taijijian</a> after Taijiquan. As I did not have a sword with me, I did not think that US customs would like the idea of bringing a practice sword on a cruise ship, I thought I would go through my sword practice without a sword, after all, I practice with a sword every day. \i figured that the moves were ingrained in my muscles. I was surprised to find out that after the opening salutation, I could not do it. it seems that the sword is an extension of my hand and arm and when the sword is not there, the memory of the moves is not there.<br />
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After my practice I went to the Garden Cafe to get hot water with lemon for my wife and I, we drink hot water with lemon every morning before breakfast as a cleanse. Wen went to the Garden Cafe for breakfast, they had fresh fruit, baked goods and a lot of other things. There as no lack of things to chose from for breakfast. A breakfast, I saw an elderly Chinese man with a cane that had a dragon's head on the top, now that would make a great substitute for my sword!<br />
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After breakfast, we did a couple of tours around deck 13 for exercise, 2 2/3 around the deck is supposed to equal one mile. It was warm and sunny outside but it was also very windy on deck 13. After out walk we went back to the Garden Cafe for a drink then we went to the theater for a presentation on all the things that you could do in Cozumel, Mexico, mostly they revolved around shopping. After listening to everything that the presenter had say about Cozumel, we decided that there nothing that we were really interested in doing. either the trips were too long, some lasted the entire day or we were just not interested in the tours. We wondered if we didn't go on the tours, could we still go ashore? I had a lot of misgivings about tours with dolphins and stingrays. On the one hand, visiting with dolphins <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin">Dolphin</a> and stingrays <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray">Stingray</a> may be the only chance that they will ever have to come in contact with nature. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of taking wild animals and forcing them to do tricks, especially dolphins who are, apparently, very intelligent animals with highly developed social and linguistic structures. It seems to me that it is insulting and abusive to treat dolphins like carnival animals. As for stingrays, I think that it is insane to treat stingrays as if they are house pets! Stingrays are wild animals that could, without warning, turn on you and deliver a lethal dose of toxins that could kill a person.<br />
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At 10:30AM we went to a cooking demonstration for sushi, my wife was particularly interested in attending this session as she is with everything about cooking and food. The first part of the session about sushi was okay, the presenters gave a simple demonstration on how to make sushi. The bonus was that they had plenty of samples to hand out. The second part of the presentation was about Teppanyaki. It seemed to have more to do with cooks entertaining the crowd with their cooking utensils than it did with actual cooking. We watched the entertainment for a while then we left to go to the next presentation.<br />
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At 11:30AM, we went to a talk about reducing toxins in the fitness center on deck 12. It was a good talk but for us it was preaching to the choir. The speaker was one of the trainers at the health club. He gave the group information about the perils of toxins in a simplified form but still, a lot of the people there simply did not get. I is amazing how little people know about their own bodies and what can happen to their bodies if they do not take proper precautions.<br />
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After lunch we went to an art auction that was presented by Park West. <a href="http://www.parkwestgallery.com/">Park West Gallery</a> The first night on the boat we were invited to attend the art auction. We thought it would be something interesting to see even though we had no intention of buying anything. On the other hand, if we did see something that we absolutely had to have we might have considered putting in a bid. As we walked around, glass of champagne in hand, we looked at all the art that was on display before the auction. Truthfully, we did not see anything that we considered to be a work of art that we absolutely had to have, so we left.<br />
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Since it was such a nice day, we went up to deck 13 and sat in deck chairs but it was so windy that we had to move down to deck 12 where it was sheltered against the wind. After, when we were sitting outside the Garden Cafe drinking lemon water, the drummer from the band that was playing came by and sat with us. He was an interesting guy, originally he was from Guyana but now he works out of New York. He was very interesting to speak with.<br />
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That evening, there was a fair amount of motion from the boat during dinner. after dinner my wife did not feel well. I think that she had a touch of sea sickness so we went to our state room where she laid down for a while. that was the end of out first day at sea.</div>
Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-72259124376325317042015-01-01T16:03:00.000-05:002015-01-01T16:03:47.498-05:00Caribbean Cruise - Day 1<div align="center">
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<strong><u>CARIBBEAN CRUISE - DAY 1</u></strong></div>
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The next day, Saturday, November 29th, we were up at 7:30 AM even though we had gone to bed late, well after midnight. We had a nice breakfast that the hotel provided then we went outside for a walk in the wooded area adjacent to the hotel. My wife was looking for large Texas pine that she had heard about but, unfortunately, we only found the usual variety of small pine cones that we have in Canada. The walk was great, the temperature was a warm 20 degrees Celsius, at least it was for us. The sun felt warm on our bodies, it was nice. Reluctantly, we returned to the hotel to get ready to go back to the hotel get out transportation to the ship. While we were waiting for the shuttle to take us back to airport I sent a text message to our family to let them know that we had arrived in Texas. </div>
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At the airport, we purchased transportation to the cruise terminal and transportation back to the airport from the ship when it returns on December 6th. We could have used Norwegian Cruise Lines to go to the ship <a href="http://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/getting-to-the-pier">Norwegian ship transfers</a> , it would have been a little more convenient because we could have booked it at the same time that we booked the cruise. We decided to wait and see if we could book something at the airport. We found a company, Super Shuttle, that offered transportation to the Bayport terminal in Pasadena, Texas for half the cost that Norwegian was charging. The interesting thing was that the desks of Super Shuttle <a href="http://www.supershuttle.com/Locations/HOUAirportShuttleHouston.aspx">Super Shuttle</a> and the Desk of Norwegian were about twenty feet away. </div>
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It took 45 minutes to drive to the cruise terminal. the cruise terminal in situated amongst the oil refineries, not really an idyllic location for a cruise terminal but there it is. The terminal itself is new and nice looking as you can see in the picture. If you can ignore the stacks of containers all around the terminal it looks all right.</div>
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We went through the process of getting checked in on board which took well over an hour but we got through the process and got on board the Norwegian Jewel, our cruise ship.</div>
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We had dropped off our luggage before we got on board to be delivered to our state room later. The first thing that we did was go to our state room to drop off our carry on bags, put our valuables in the safe in the state room and go to lunch. By this time, we were both hungry so we had a substantial lunch, salad, fresh fruit and bread. It was satisfying. </div>
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After lunch, we explored the boat. I wanted to see the fitness center which is on deck twelve because I planned to use it every day of the trip, so we went there first. The staff gave us a guided tour of the fitness center and the Mandara SPA. The fitness center consisted of a room with exercise equipment that faced out onto the water, a nice view when you are exercising. </div>
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The other part of the fitness center was an aerobics room which was lined with mirrors on two walls. I was to become very familiar with this space over the next week. The tour of the SPA was interesting but expensive as SPAs usually are. They had massage rooms, Rooms for facials, hot tub and hot stone treatments, treatments to rejuvenate your face using Botox injections and an acupuncturist who looked interesting. The idea behind the tour was to make you buy something which would be all right if there was something that had interested us but we really were not interested in any of their services, at least not at that time. Other people seemed to be very interested. I guess that is what some people do on cruises. </div>
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We had dinner on the first night in Azur, one of the complementary dining rooms. </div>
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We had salad and crab cakes for an appetizer which we shared. For the main course, we had Mahi Mahi and a shrimp dish which we also shared. For desert we had pistachio <span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Crème brûlée which we didn't finish because it was overcooked. One of the things that we noticed about Azur on the first night was that the service was very slow. We attributed it the fact that it was the first night and they had not quite gotten themselves organized. Instead of waiting for tea or coffee we went up to deck twelve to the Garden Café which was buffet style dining for drinks. My wife had a cappuccino and I had chamomile tea which I find settles my stomach after a meal. I also had a piece of pecan pie and a piece of red velvet cake. The pecan pie was disappointing, it was mostly sugar. The red velvet cake was good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;">After that we went to the theater where there was a presentation about the entertainment for the week. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525;"> The entertainment was all right, but the combination of the lights and the motion of the boat in the water made my wife nauseous so we left and went to our state room. After a short rest my wife felt better. My wife watched television while I wrote in my journal. That was our first day on the Norwegian Jewel.</span></div>
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Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-88014698687471229072014-12-30T21:47:00.000-05:002014-12-30T21:47:01.928-05:00Caribbean CruiseI have not written a post in some time. It seems that other matters have taken precedence over writing, mainly focusing on health matters. <br />
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My wife and I took a Caribbean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines <a href="http://www.ncl.com/?cid=PS_TSI_CAN_BRA_GOO_N-A_N-_BRANDNORW_XXXXXXXXX_norwegian%20cruise%20lines&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=norwegian_cruise_lines&utm_campaign=G_-_Brand_-_Alone_-_Exact_(Canada_-_B)&gclid=CjwKEAiAt4mlBRDXwt_m9ICU4DcSJAAS_X0Ws5H3HwM-SZ51qEH4OgqUvZDNdDrPZZmWc6-JrhHxyxoCCSHw_wcB">Norwegian Cruise Lines</a>,during the first week of December in 2014. It was to celebrate my 60th birthday which occurred in September of this year. We decided to take the cruise in December of this year because the temperature would be slightly cooler in the Caribbean and we would be past the hurricane season in the Caribbean.<br />
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We left on December 28th so that we could spend the night in Houston, that way we would be certain not to miss our boat in the morning. When we did our cruise of Italy we met a couple who missed their connection and landed late in Amsterdam, too late to get on the boat so they had to make their way to Toulon France as best they could to get on the boat before it left Toulon. We were determined that we would never be in that situation. <br />
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We parked our car at the Marriott <a href="http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/yyzot-toronto-airport-marriott-hotel/">Toronto Marriott Aiport</a> near Toronto airport. They had a deal that allowed you to park for free at their hotel if you stayed at least one night. We asked them to reverse the deal so that we parked for free before our vacation and stayed the night when we returned. They agreed so that is what we did.<br />
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After dropping off our car we took the shuttle to the airport. While we were waiting for the shuttle we net an elderly gentlemen who was from Buffalo. He drove to Toronto to get a flight to Europe. He said that he got better connections through Toronto. It turned out that he owned a company that built industrial and commercial chimneys. At 84 he still worked in his business, constructing chimneys. He had immigrated from Germany after the war and started his company. He had worked in building chimneys all his life.<br />
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At the airport we ate the lunch that we had brought with us and checked in. The wait for our plane to Atlanta was long because everything went much faster than we thought it would. At any rate, we checked in and got on the plane. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful.<br />
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Things started out well at the Atlanta Airport <a href="http://www.atlanta-airport.com/">Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport</a>, but without realizing it, we were derailed by the pilot when we landed in Atlanta. He said that the time was an hour earlier than it actually was so we thought we had an extra hour, which we didn't. So, we took our time because we had two and a half hours before our flight, or so we thought. In reality, we only had an hour and a half. We bought a salad and ate it before going to the gate. When we went to the gate no one was there, we thought that no one had arrived yet. I went to the gate to ask about the flight. I was told that the flight had already left, we had missed our flight. I asked what we could do. The agent but us on standby on the last flight of the day at 9:51PM. <br />
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We passed two tense hours waiting to find out if we were going to get on the last flight of the day to Houston, not know if we would get to Houston that night. If we didn't get to Houston until Saturday, would we miss getting on our ship? We talked about spending the night at the airport because we would still be on the hook for the hotel in Houston. Finally, as the passengers were half way boarded on the plane, the agent called me, and said she had two seats left, they were not together but we got to the two last seats on the plane. My wife sat in the 12th row and I sat in the 26th row, right at the back of the bus. As soon as I sat down I fell asleep. My wife spent the trip speaking with the woman beside her. It was late when we arrived in Houston, 10:30 PM Houston time which would have been 11:30 PM in Toronto. We were relieved and happy to be in Houston.<br />
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When we were in Atlanta waiting to get on the plane my wife was almost in tears more than once. I felt bad, this was no way to start off a vacation. I kept telling her that everything would be fine, we would get on the plane. As it turned out we did get on the plane and we did get to Houston on the same day. Still, this was no way to start a vacation.<br />
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We took the shuttle to the Marriott near the airport .<br />
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<img alt="Exterior" height="180" src="http://cache.marriott.com/propertyimages/i/iahap/phototour/iahap_phototour14_s.jpg" title="Exterior" width="180" /><br />
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It was a little strange, we were the only ones on the shuttle so it did not take long to get to the hotel. The hotel was nestled away in a wooded area, very nice, very secluded, even though it was less than 10 minutes from the airport. we checked in after midnight and went to bed. We were exhausted.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-8022022286601560842013-11-28T08:17:00.000-05:002013-11-28T08:17:51.073-05:00Viking River Boat Cruise - Day Two - KinderdijkThe big difference between an ocean cruise ship and a river boat is that you can hardly tell when the riverboat is moving. We were waiting for the riverboat to leave Amsterdam. Finally I looked out the window and saw that we were moving. That first night and in fact every night during we cruise, we slept fitfully.<br />
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The next morning when I went up to the sundeck to practice Taijiquan I realized that we were already moored at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk">Kinderdijk</a>. It was still dark at 6:30AM and it was foggy so I could see very little beyond the shoreline.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the only building that I could see from the boat early in the morning.</td></tr>
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By the time I finished practicing there was more light but it was still foggy. As I went back down stairs I was wondering, "where are the windmills?".<br />
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Kinderdijk is a tiny village located on a narrow strip of land between the the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lek_%28river%29">Lek </a>and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noord_%28river%29">Noord</a> Rivers. Kinderdijk's claim to fame is that is has the largest collection of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill">windmills </a>in Holland; 19. The windmills date all the way back to the 14th century. Kinderdijk has been named a <a href="http://en.unesco.org/">UNESCO </a>World Heritage Site.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the early morning the windmills was still shrouded in mist.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This map shows the layout of the windmills at Kinderdijk.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a typical home along the canal at Kinderdijk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is our group trudging along the road to the windmills. Notice how flat and low the level of the ground.</td></tr>
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There is something magical about these windmills!<br />
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I couldn't stop taking pictures of them!<br />
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We had the opportunity to visit one of the windmills that was kept as a museum for tourists. People actually live in the other windmills.<br />
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Inside the windmill looks much like any other home of the 14th century. It had a small cozy feel.<br />
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I don't know how the miller squeezed his 11 person family into the windmill. They must have slept two and three to a bed at night!<br />
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This a picture of the gear that turns the mechanism that turns the vanes of the windmill.<br />
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We were given a demonstration of how the miller changes the direction of the windmill to catch the wind. It is a very labour intensive procedure.<br />
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The miller turns the wheel manually using his hands and feet that turns a gear at the top of the windmill which pushes rollers that turn the top of the windmill to whatever position that the miller feels will pick up the most wind.<br />
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We were given a tour of the workshop where parts of the windmill are repaired and replaced. Most of the components of the a traditional windmill are made of wood. Depending on the type of wood required and its function it would be made out of a specific type of wood depending on its hardness, softness or toughness.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A diagram of the inner workings of a windmill</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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This one of the rollers that turns the windmill. You can see that the roller is made out of steel. These rollers have to be tough and durable in order to take the stress of moving all the weight of the windmill.<br />
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Our trip to Kinderdijk was truly fascinating. I had never seen anything like this in my life. My wife and I feel that we wee privileged to have had the opportunity to visit the windmills at Kinderdijk. <br />
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<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-71217510867399863292013-11-20T21:12:00.000-05:002013-11-20T21:12:22.790-05:00Amsterdam - Day Four - VikingDay four in Amsterdam, October 4, 2013, our last day in Amsterdam but the first day of our <a href="http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/?refsrcprg=sem&medium=tsa&gclid=COS7zM_k9LoCFatAMgod9QcAHg&gclsrc=aw.ds">Viking riverboat cruise</a>. We wanted to make the best of our last day in Amsterdam. After getting up early to practice Taijiquan by the school I got into the Hotel Fita just moments before it started to pour rain. The rain was coming down hard while we ate our breakfast. It seemed that we would be stuck in the hotel until it was time to check out. That was a depressing thought. However, after breakfast the rain suddenly stopped as soon as it started. This gave us an opportunity to go out and take a few more pictures and spend a bit more time walking around the museum area before we checked out of the hotel and headed down to the port to our boat,<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I don't know what this building is but I like it so much i had to take this picture and include it in this post</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We managed to get a picture of this sculpture before it was mobbed by tourists</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See what I mean!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A picture of the music conservatory which is at the opposite end of the field from the Rijks Museum. It was also a lovely building.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One last canal picture before we headed back to the hotel to check out.<br />
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We checked out of the hotel by 11:00AM and made our way down to the dock to our Viking boat, the <a href="http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruiseships/europe/viking-atla/shipinfo.aspx">Atla</a>. The Viking brochure told us that the boat would be moored at one of three piers. Fortunately, all three piers were within walking distance on one another. We disembarked from the tram at<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Centraal_railway_station"> Central Station</a> which is almost at the harbour. The problem was that we were not quite sure how to get around Central Station to the water. We stopped and asked a couple of men who worked at the station how to get to the piers. One said go all the way around, the other said walk through the station it was faster. We decided to walk through the station because it was the fastest and shortest route. Once inside the station we realized that to get through the station one should have first purchased a ticket. We took the risk and walked through. No one stopped or questioned us and we were at the dock in just a few minutes. As soon as we crossed the road to the water's edge we say our boat less than 100 meters away. There was a large red pavilion on the dock in front of the gangway to the boat to welcome passengers. </div>
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Once on board, we were relieved of our luggage, checked in and shown to our room, all in less than ten minutes of setting foot on board. We were informed that there would be a lunch was being served from 11:00AM to 3:00PM. Since we had not eaten since breakfast and had exerted not inconsiderable effort getting to ship we thought it would be a nice idea to have some lunch. We made out way up to the lounge where an extensive buffet lunch was being served. As soon as we entered the lounge we were offered champagne which, of course, we accepted. As vegetarians, we are always interested to see what there is for us to eat. We were delightfully surprised. There were at least half a dozen different salads for us to eat and we sampled all of them. </div>
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After lunch, we were informed that there would we a welcome walk around Amsterdam. We were provided with a local English speaking guide who took us around the old area around Amsterdam. When we were first taken to our room we were informed that there were two receivers that were for our use. the receivers were used to tune into the transmitter that our guide was using. In this way, even if the guide was some distance away we could still hear what they were saying, it was a nice system. We used the receivers for the first time on our last day in Amsterdam. Our guide showed us some of the historic sites in the old city and talked about the history and development of Amsterdam. It was all very interesting, especially so after having spent three days in Amsterdam already. At the end of the tour we returned to the boat in time to take part in a lecture given by a local historian.<br />
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The speaker, Ilsa, started her talk with the story about the cat in the cradle. Apparently, at least two different villages claim to be the village where the story came from. IN Holland, dikes were built up from mats of willow that were built up year after year. Workers would dig ditches to direct water away from the swamp. The rivers would flood the reclaimed land every year. The dikes would sink as the rivers rose. These were challenging problems to deal with, Eventually, water boards were established to manage water issues. A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder">Polder</a> is a district with certain water levels. Each Polder had its own chairman, To become a member of the water board you had to drink a liter of water then write a poem. If the poem was good then you would be admitted to the water board.<br />
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In the 17th century the water kept rising in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friesland">Friesland</a> in Holland, the land was wet. Many people left but those who stayed became experts in managing water. Many technical experts in managing water emerged. There are three villages, one has experts in dredging., another has specialists in building floating islands, a third has experts in engineering projects to manage water.<br />
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Finally, Ilsa turned the discussion to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderdijk">Kinderdyk</a>, our first stop after leaving Amsterdam. The Kinderdyk windmills were designed to pump the water from the canals to a basin to keep the level of the water low in the canals during high tide. When the tide was low the windmills would pump the water back into the canals. In this way the windmills helped to manage the water level in the canals. Kinderdyk was the first area in Holland to have electricity. Eventually, steam pumps replaced the windmills.<br />
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Today in Holland, the policy is to have wider and deeper rivers to make the water flow faster. There is also a policy to hold more water in the land. If you take all of the water out of the land then the land starts to sink. Global warming will have a significant affect on Holland in the future as global water levels start to rise. The Dutch government, as are all governments, is dragging its feet in implementing a plan to deal with global warming. </div>
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<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-12957641811473413792013-11-04T22:28:00.000-05:002013-11-04T22:28:48.092-05:00Amsterdam - Day Three - The Van Gogh MuseumDay three in Amsterdam was all about the <a href="http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=101&lang=en">Van Gogh museum</a>. We were up early for breakfast at Hotel Fita then it was off to the Van Gogh museum. <br />
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Actually, the museum is at the other end of the street of the Hotel Fita, maybe a two minute walk. Even though we were at the museum before it opened we were still behind a group of very enthusiastic Japanese tourists. Still, when the doors opened the Japanese tourists went through the door for groups and my wife and I walked into the museum, bought our tickets and we were on our way in less than two minutes.<br />
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Since the art in the Van Gogh museum is arranged chronologically starting on the first floor, it would not make sense to start on the top floor and work our way down so we followed along with the crowd going up floor by floor.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The focus of the show was the artist at work. This is a self portrait of Van Gogh at work.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FO2x_7Y8WzE/Um_yXSI6EyI/AAAAAAAABXU/nZ0vBCO-OL4/s1600/Viking2+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FO2x_7Y8WzE/Um_yXSI6EyI/AAAAAAAABXU/nZ0vBCO-OL4/s320/Viking2+017.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one of my favorite Van Gogh paintings. It is one thing to see it in a book or on line but when you see the actual picture you experience the texture and dimensionality of the painting. You experience the brilliance of the colors that Van Gogh used. It is something that can only be experience when you are in the presence of the actual painting. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G0p5AIU9sHY/Um_ygDG5KHI/AAAAAAAABXc/QqYDIKUDwc4/s1600/Viking2+018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G0p5AIU9sHY/Um_ygDG5KHI/AAAAAAAABXc/QqYDIKUDwc4/s320/Viking2+018.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Van Gogh's early studies of an old pair of boots, not an untypical subject for students. Apparently Van Gogh would buy old shoes and condition them by dragging them through the mud and dirt until they were interesting enough to paint.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-Rb2o-4Cso/Um_yn2Kn3xI/AAAAAAAABXk/w3pNiSNsp_E/s1600/Viking2+025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-H-Rb2o-4Cso/Um_yn2Kn3xI/AAAAAAAABXk/w3pNiSNsp_E/s320/Viking2+025.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This study is called Homeward Bound. It was one of Van Gogh's student paintings.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aBVK9ss2lM0/Um_yucI-mMI/AAAAAAAABXs/rqCtkLUpaMI/s1600/Viking2+020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aBVK9ss2lM0/Um_yucI-mMI/AAAAAAAABXs/rqCtkLUpaMI/s320/Viking2+020.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a chalk drawing called the Discus Thrower.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NyjqC_43q6U/Um_y1vuO9WI/AAAAAAAABX0/ZByyeEmAxhU/s1600/Viking2+022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NyjqC_43q6U/Um_y1vuO9WI/AAAAAAAABX0/ZByyeEmAxhU/s320/Viking2+022.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This painting was from the period when Van Gogh lived with Paul Gaugin in Arles. You start to see the beginnings of Van Gogh's distinctive style emerging,</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v6Cgx1k1fWs/Um_y-suDJmI/AAAAAAAABX8/35x_0qH4IEE/s1600/Viking2+026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v6Cgx1k1fWs/Um_y-suDJmI/AAAAAAAABX8/35x_0qH4IEE/s320/Viking2+026.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are watercolor drawings that Van Gogh did. He felt that he was making headway in his use of color and handling a brush.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BgHOhw98p4o/UnhIRvC5FxI/AAAAAAAABao/USf3dKNIiV4/s1600/Viking2+029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BgHOhw98p4o/UnhIRvC5FxI/AAAAAAAABao/USf3dKNIiV4/s320/Viking2+029.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">As he was learning his craft, Van Gogh made many paintings of peasants working in the field. These studies eventually led him to his painting the Potato Eaters.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wGHCC4m_a8g/Um_zL3oiCbI/AAAAAAAABYM/nlmGqx_6JoA/s1600/Viking2+032.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wGHCC4m_a8g/Um_zL3oiCbI/AAAAAAAABYM/nlmGqx_6JoA/s320/Viking2+032.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Although the Potato Eaters had many technical shortcomings it projected an ethos that Van Gogh liked..</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Nu4Z8GM81w/Um_zTMkPG-I/AAAAAAAABYU/9D6yYi_-5DA/s1600/Viking2+038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2Nu4Z8GM81w/Um_zTMkPG-I/AAAAAAAABYU/9D6yYi_-5DA/s320/Viking2+038.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like this still life because it is a great example of Van Gogh's distinctive brushstroke technique and use of color.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u7TAgMPNK3I/Um_zbJXN1PI/AAAAAAAABYc/uQ0wGBed1pY/s1600/Viking2+039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u7TAgMPNK3I/Um_zbJXN1PI/AAAAAAAABYc/uQ0wGBed1pY/s320/Viking2+039.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a painting of Claude Monet. It is bulb fields and windmills near Rijnsburg in the Netherlands.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This painting by Pissarro is an example of his pointillistic style using unmixed colored dots to create an unified painting. Van Gogh considered Pissarro to be his mentor.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YSzDbNzgCjc/Um_zwy_kjwI/AAAAAAAABYs/-ci-xcVxHKw/s1600/Viking2+043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YSzDbNzgCjc/Um_zwy_kjwI/AAAAAAAABYs/-ci-xcVxHKw/s320/Viking2+043.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A self portrait from 1887</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ojcARL8Q3iw/Um_z5O1oSJI/AAAAAAAABY0/H0O-Wteitto/s1600/Viking2+047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ojcARL8Q3iw/Um_z5O1oSJI/AAAAAAAABY0/H0O-Wteitto/s320/Viking2+047.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Van Gogh's most successful paintings where he uses color effectively creating wonderful harmony of color and hue. No wonder it is one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In 1888 Van Gogh shared this house with Paul Gauguin.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We know that Van Gogh actually painted this piece on the beach because there is sand imbedded in the paint. The way he uses blue and green, and yellow and white created the sense of waves and light reflecting off the waves. You can almost smell the fresh air and hear the waves crashing on the rocks.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Gogh painted these two paintings about a year apart. The second version was painted while Van Gogh was in the asylum so he had to paint it from memory. The differences in coloring are significant.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Gogh considered The Harvest to be the crowning achievement of his time in Arles, France</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This work, Sunset at Montmajour was bought by a Norwegian collector as a Van Gogh then it fell into doubt until it was proven to be an authentic Van Gogh.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Gogh studied Delacroix on how to create and draw figures. This is one of his chalk drawings.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Gogh did this painting while he was at the asylum. When he ran out of canvas he used paper.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Van Gogh did this piece in 1890 using pencil, brush, oil paint and watercolor on paper.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This exhibit was unique in that it displayed many of Van Gogh's drawings and studies from all periods of his development.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is another study from 1885.<br />
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I could go on and on about the Van Gogh exhibit but I think I have made this post too long already. If you are in Amsterdam there are two places you have to see, the Ryjks Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. These are both "must sees".</div>
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We spent most of the morning at the Van Gogh museum. After lunch we headed off to the Albert Cuyp Market which turned out to be a giant open air flea market with some fresh fruit and vegetables. We did buy fresh figs and pomegranates. I did make one intriguing find in an antique store. I found several versions of Chinese porcelain Qing dynasty officials. When I turned the statues over I saw the impression of the artist chop with a reference to the Qing dynasty. They looked genuine enough that I would have bought a pair of the statues except that I did not relish the idea of trucking them through Europe with us so I left them where they were. </div>
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In the evening after dinner, we took the tram down to the Red Light district. Every tourist in Amsterdam has to make at least one visit to the Red Light district. The tram drops you off more or less in the middle of the Red Light district. You have to walk across the square in front of Saint Nicolas' church to the canal. The "coffee shops" where you don't buy coffee and the prostitutes are arranged along the canal. It is easy to find the coffee shops, you just have to follow your nose. As you walk past the coffee shop the smell of marijuana is literally intoxicating. It is not a good idea to linger too long, unless you go in for that sort of thing. The prostitutes are equally easy to find. They are standing behind their windows. Some are on the second floor of buildings but others are on the first floor. We watched a pretty young woman in a florescent bikini trying to entice a group of young men up to her room. We kept walking as they were trying to make up their mind. It was interesting but at the same time there was a sad and seedy desperation about the area. It was worth a visit but we don't think we would visit the area again. </div>
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Since it was our last night in Amsterdam we want to take in as much of the city as possible so instead of taking the tram back to the Hotel Fita we decided to walk back to the hotel. We had a map of the area and we estimated that it would take us less than an hour to walk back to the hotel. The safest route was to follow the tram tracks as the twisted and wound their way along. There were a lot of interesting things to look at, stores and restaurants and people walking, talking, riding their bicycles or sitting alone or in small groups on the street. Eventually, we made our way back to the main shopping area. We saw an McDonalds so we went in to look. They had ice cream on for the equivalent of 0.60 dollars Canadian which was too good to resist so we bought two ice cream cones and continued our walk. We saw a huge souvenir shop and went in to buy porcelain Christmas ornaments. After a time we arrived back at the Hotel Fita. That was enough touring for one day.</div>
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After some Qigong and Taijiquan practice it was time to end day three in Amsterdam.</div>
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Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-89860675520755340832013-10-19T22:16:00.000-04:002013-10-19T22:16:21.377-04:00Amsterdam - Day TwoOur second day in Amsterdam started bright and early. I was up at 7:00AM to practice Taijiquan. I tried practicing in our tiny room the night before but it just didn't work, there was not enough room to move properly, I felt like I was in a street fight, not practicing Taijiquan, so I gave up after the second third of the Yang long form. Since the room was too small I had no choice but to go out into the street by our hotel. The Hotel Fita is adjacent to a school so the cross streets are blocked off to automobile traffic although bicycles had free access to both directions. At 7:00AM in the morning the streets were quite, only a few pedestrians and bicyclists passed by and they all ignored me with a studied deliberation that I found to be reassuring. Feeling refreshed and full of energy after half and hour of Taijiquan I headed back to the hotel.<br />
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We ate breakfast in the basement of the Hotel Fita. The basement was nicely done, it had a cozy intimate feel. There were fresh croissants and pain au chocolate as well as granola and muesli, as well as fresh fruit. They had a very nice coffee machine that made cappuccino or European black coffee with a nice crema on top. The hotel keeper made us Dutch pancakes which were absolutely delicious.<br />
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After breakfast we purchased tickets for the Rijks Museum which was only five minutes from the hotel. We were concerned about standing in a long line for tickets so we bought advanced tickets for a 2 Euro surcharge, it was worth it not to stand in a long line to get into the museum. We arrived at the museum just after it opened at 9:00AM. We walked right in because we had pre-purchased our tickets. The thing was, there was no waiting because there was no long line. We could have saved ourselves a few Euros by buying our tickets at the museum. <br />
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We spent the entire day at the Rijks museum. Taking advise from Rick Steve we started on the top floor of the museum and worked out way down that way we would at least have a chance to look at the upper galleries before the crowds caught up with us.<br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8255893832470877437" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8255893832470877437" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8255893832470877437" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8255893832470877437" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"> </a>The museum itself us a magnificent building. It is a testament to the period when Holland was an economically powerful nation. Most of Holland's wealth came from trade and overseas colonies. These two themes are played out over and over again throughout the architecture and art in the <a href="https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en">Rijks </a>museum.<br />
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This sculpture represents man and the conflict between technology and the natural world.<br />
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This aiplane was designed by<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Koolhoven"> Frits Koolhoven</a>, a Dutch designer who had a great influence on airplane design in the early 20th century.<br />
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The center piece of the second floor of the Rjks museum is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt">Rembrandt</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch">Night watch</a>. It is a truly magnificent painting. You cannot appreciate the scope of the painting until you stand in front of it. I took this picture behind the crowd because there was never a time that there was not a crowd in front of this picture. Just down the hall from the Night Watch there were other great paintings. I spent a lot of time standing in front of some of my favorite paintings by Vermeer.<br />
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On the first floor of the museum I visited the library which is a full service research library for the arts. I spent some time there relaxing and looking at a book of beautiful wood sculptures.<br />
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There were so many wonderful and beautiful things to see and experience at the Rjks. We could have spent days there but one day was all we could allot for the Rjks. I have to share this picture of a wonderful <a href="http://api.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/AK-MAK-84?page=1&lang=en&context_space=&context_id=">Guanyin</a> from the Asian pavilion.<br />
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This Guanyin was carved in the 12th century in Asia. It is a beautiful example of the incredible craftsmanship of that period.<br />
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I cannot do justice to the Rjks museum in this post. The best thing that I can say is that if you find yourself in Amsterdam on business or in transit and you only have one spare day to see the city then you must go to the Rjks museum, you will not regret it.<br />
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We regretfully left the museum around 5PM exhausted and dazzled. On the way back to our hotel we stopped at the underground supermarket that was near the Van Gogh museum to pick up salads for our dinner. The store also carried natural juices that were made from organic fruits. The salads and the juice were delicious. In the evening we went out to look around the city. Back at our room we practiced <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong">qigong </a>and I went outside by the school to practice Taijiquan. It was a long and exciting and exhausting day.<br />
<br />Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0North America53.540307391500221 -85.429687528.018272891500221 -126.7382815 79.062341891500225 -44.1210935tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-45808765259779115312013-10-12T22:08:00.000-04:002013-10-12T22:08:08.503-04:00AmsterdamThe first day of our vacation started September 30th. Our flight did not leave until 9:30PM so we thought it would be nice to stop off in Oakville for dinner. My wife had purchased a Wagjag for a Mexican restaurant near Trafalgar Road in Oakville. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed when we got there. Without a fall back plan we decided just to go to the airport and see what we could find there. We were at the airport just after 7:00PM. We checked in and got through security without much problem. I had decided that we should just go to the <a href="http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelinfo/airport/maplelounges/index.html">Maple Leaf lounge</a>. With all the travel that I did to China and Mexico these last few years I earned access to Air Canada's Maple leaf lounge in terminal 1. Since my wife was traveling with me she was admitted as my guest. We had a nice meal from the buffet that is always available. Adding a glass of wine and desert and coffee we felt satisfied. After eating we relaxed in the comfortable chairs in the lounge. Since there was no reason to hurry we stayed in the Maple Leaf Lounge until it was time to board. <br />
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Having priority status we were one the first people to get on the plane so we could get ourselves settled before everyone else got on the plane. I know it seems elitist but it is one of the only perks that I got for spending all the time that I did away from home and living in hotels in China and Mexico.We took the 9:30PM flight from Toronto to Frankfurt and then on to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam">Amsterdam</a>. We arrived in Amsterdam at 3:00PM( which would have been 9:00AM) on October 1st. We lost six hours by crossing time zones. After getting off the plane, collecting our luggage from baggage claim We took the number 197 bus from the airport to the museum district where our hotel was located, it was four o'clock in the afternoon when we arrived at the hotel. We checked in at the hotel, dropped our baggage off in our small but comfortable room then we went for dinner. Not knowing the area we did not want to wander too far from the hotel. The hotel keeper told us that there were places to eat around the museum area so we walked up the street to the major intersection and past the music conservatory we found a Indonesian restaurant named Djanoko.<br />
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We decided to have the special that was posted outside the restaurant. It was a good meal, tasty and satisfying.<br />
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The Dutch have a great passion for Indonesian food which can be traced back to the period when Holland was a major trading power on the four seas especially in Asia and in particular Indonesia. . After dinner we stopped at <a href="https://foursquare.com/v/renzos-delicatessen/4acb1ca0f964a52042c320e3">Renso's Delicatessen</a> and bought some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfogliatelle">Sfogliatelle </a>(Italian Lobster Claws) a pastry that we ate when we were in Italy a few years ago. we took them back to our hotel room where we ate four of the pastries with <a href="http://www.nespresso.com/ca/en/home">Nesspresso</a>, there was a machine in our room. Also, on the way back to the hotel we saw a sign for a supermarket that was underground at the Museum square. We made a point to visit the supermarket the next day. After having our coffee and pastry we decided that that was enough for our first in Amsterdam.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-66870452716741936002013-01-01T21:47:00.000-05:002013-01-01T21:47:07.751-05:00HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 : A YEAR FOR GOOD HEALTH AND FITNESS!It has been a while since I last wrote a post. In fact, my last post was about the provincial election in Quebec in September of 2012. That seems like a long time ago now. There has been a lot of changes in my life since the summer of 2012, I changed jobs, I stopped traveling to Mexico and China, I am now much more focused on my health and fitness than ever before.<br />
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My wife and I have been aware of good health and fitness for many years. We have been following a healthy diet (at least we thought we were) and we have been exercising on the average five to six days a week using a combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. In the summer of 2012 we became interested in yoga. It started when we visited our daughter and son-in-law in Alexandria, Virginia in the Spring of 2012. Our daughter convinced us to try out yoga with her instructor, Olivia. It was very invigorating. When we returned to Canada we looked into local yoga studios and decided that we would try <a href="http://www.delasolyoga.com/">De la Sol yoga</a> in Hamilton. That was in July of 2012 and we are still going. Yoga adds another dimension to our fitness and well being that addresses our mental health as well as our physical health. Ultimately the two are intertwined and as we are beginning to understand, one influences the other.<br />
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It was through our yoga studio that we attended a seminar about dietary supplements. Initially, I was somewhat skeptical but I approached the concept with an open mind. When my wife and I attended the seminar we learned that the seminar was sponsored by Usana, a manufacturer of dietary supplements. We had never heard of <a href="http://www.usana.com/dotCom/index.jsp">Usana</a>. Their product is expensive compared to the average dietary supplement offered by companies like Centrum. After doing some research on Usana and comparing their product to the average dietary supplement I realized that there was significant difference between the product that Usana offers and the run of the mill dietary supplement. For one thing, Usana's product is of higher quality than most dietary supplements. Also, the percentage of ingredients in each pill is of a higher percentage. Lastly, Usana offers a more comprehensive list of ingredients than most supplement providers. We decided to try the product. It was Friday evening when we first tried it. We took two of the pills after dinner and the first question that we asked one another was, "do you feel different? I don't feel anything yet.". All joking aside we did notice that we were still wide awake and full of energy at 11:30 PM. Something was definitely different! Bigger changes ensued. I have a much higher energy level than before I took supplements. One of the biggest changes for me was that I no longer suffer from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_affective_disorder">S.A.D.</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8255893832470877437"> </a>(seasonally affected disorder). At this time of the year I would have gone through the worst period of S.A.D. This year, it did not bother me at all. This is amazing in itself.<br />
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Supplements are one thing but supplements are not the whole story to good health. In fact, I would say that taking supplements without changing any other part of your life is a mistake and possibly a dangerous thing to do. You cannot take supplements and then go out and eat an unhealthy diet and life a sedentary life and think that the supplements will make up for the rest of your short comings. It doesn't work like that. this brings me to that other changes that we made in our life, perhaps the biggest changes in our life.<br />
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When we attended the seminar at the yoga studio we also learned about a number of books and movies that we could watch about nutrition. We watched all of the movies and we are reading as many books as we have time to read about nutrition. We watched, "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1528734/">FOOD MATTERS</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1227378/">FAT, SICK AND NEARLY DEAD</a>" and other movies of this sort. We also started reading books about nutrition. My wife bought a book called, "<a href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/1558749543/ref=pd_sl_cu3c05pds_e?tag=googcana-20&hvadid=5630998163&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12466315651827741579&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e">NEVER BE SICK AGAIN</a>," by Raymond Francis. I am also reading, "<a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/The-China-Study/9781932100662-item.html?s_campaign=goo-BooksByTitle&gclid=CNKByfHSyLQCFYw-MgoddVoAOQ">THE CHINA STUDY</a>", by T. Colin Campbell.<br />
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The result of watching, "FAT, SICK AND NEARLY DEAD" is that we have started juicing. we drink juice every day and make a new batch every couple of days, Right now we are sticking with the three or four recipes that are used in the documentary but our oldest daughter who got us interested in juicing received a book of juicing recipes for Christmas that contains over 150 recipes.<br />
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The other books that we have been reading are leading us to transition towards a plant based diet. What does that mean? Without going into a lot of detail because this post is always way longer than I had planned it to be, a plant based diet consists of eating vegetables, fruit and whole grains. Essentially, it is a vegan diet without some of the unhealthy things that vegans do eat. There is animal based food or a very low percentage of it, less than ten percent of your diet. There is no dairy and no eggs. Process foods are not good as well as things like cookies, cakes, etc.<br />
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The long and short of it is that we have decided that we would eat a vegan diet for the month of January 2013. In addition we would not eat any what based food and no alcohol.It seems like a strict diet but we have been trying it out during December 2012 and there are a lot of delicious foods that you eat that are plant based and there are a lot of things that can be made with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa">quinoa </a>flour, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millet">millet </a>flour, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat">buckwheat </a>flour and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt">spelt </a>flour. We picked up a book from the library called, "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tartine-Gourmande-Recipes-Inspired-Life/dp/1590307623">LA TARTINE GOURMANDE</a>", by Beatrice Peltre. Beatrice has the most delicious recipes and she does not use wheat flour in any of them.<br />
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It will be an interesting month but I firmly believe that the rewards will far outweigh any possible hardships or difficulties.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-23835949311739410992012-09-05T22:15:00.000-04:002012-09-05T22:15:41.150-04:00THE QUEBEC ELECTIONThe victory of the Parti Quebecois in the Quebec election yesterday really came as not surprise. I had been listening to the Radio-Canada everyone morning while I drove to work over the past several weeks leading up to the election to get the full coverage of all the political parties. It was pretty clear to me that Charest was not going to do well against Pauline Marois. A lot of the rhetoric was amusing, most at the expense of Charest. <br />
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It was too bad that the victory was overshadowed by some crazed gunman who shot two men, killing one of them. There is really no way to explain or excuse such a senseless act. <br />
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Tonight, Charest stepped down as the leader of the Liberal party. I don't think he had a choice, even if he had not lost his seat he had lost credibility as a leader. The party did better than expected. They probably would have won the election if the party had had a stronger leader in place. <br />
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I am not that political. In the end, I believe that one party is not that much different than another. It all depends on the strength and the conviction of the leader of the party. Right now, Pauline Marois is riding high on the support and the enthusiasm of the people of Quebec. Only time will tell how well she will do.Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8255893832470877437.post-63070679210075985392012-08-29T22:01:00.000-04:002012-08-29T22:01:35.926-04:00THE MUSEUM OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN WINNEPEG, MANITOBADuring a recent trip to Winnipeg I stayed at the <a href="http://fortgarryhotel1-px.trvlclick.com/">Fort Garry hotel</a>. The Fort Garry is one of the most elegant hotels that I have stayed at for quite some time. It is located in the heart of Winnipeg. The service is excellent and the serve an amazing breakfast. Even though they are totally different in appearance, I would put the Fort Garry on the same footing as the <a href="http://www.hotels.com/ho122909/eaton-smart-hong-kong-kowloon-hong-kong/?gclid=CL6d8J-gjrICFYY-MgodORYA2A">Eaton Hotel</a> in Hong Kong with regard to elegance, service and the excellence of their food.<br />
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When I checked into my room it was still in the afternoon so I had an excellent view to surrounding area. What caught my eye was this incredible building that was under construction. At first, I thought that the building was an extension of the Railway station but after closer inspection i realized that the building was behind the railway station. I took several pictures of the building because I was completely fascinated with its architecture.<br />
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When I met my companions for dinner just a few short blocks from the hotel I could still the building from the outdoor terrace where we were sitting. I had to ask my companions about the building. They told me that it was going to be <a href="http://humanrightsmuseum.ca/home">The Museum of Human Rights</a>. That was all they could tell me about it. Now I was really interested.<br />
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I went on their website and read all about it. In fact, the website explains the concept and the building much better than I ever could. I would highly recommend that anyone who is interested in this museum click on the link in this blog and read it first hand.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EHD5kWd-m9U/UD7F5WdGJbI/AAAAAAAABOI/dX_wGQ6UR7w/s1600/IMG_2146.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EHD5kWd-m9U/UD7F5WdGJbI/AAAAAAAABOI/dX_wGQ6UR7w/s320/IMG_2146.JPG" width="320" /></a></div> Doesn't it look like the Museum is part of the train station!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u_pCaOtw2u8/UD7F_y1fGKI/AAAAAAAABOQ/nOc6bTAdD6E/s1600/IMG_2147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u_pCaOtw2u8/UD7F_y1fGKI/AAAAAAAABOQ/nOc6bTAdD6E/s320/IMG_2147.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>A close look in the afternoon.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wm6ZA-Vm4X0/UD7GIK4xEWI/AAAAAAAABOY/ENCOuHw1ZF4/s1600/IMG_2151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wm6ZA-Vm4X0/UD7GIK4xEWI/AAAAAAAABOY/ENCOuHw1ZF4/s320/IMG_2151.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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I took this picture after I returned to my room after dinner.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aUp9UosniiA/UD7GP00eSRI/AAAAAAAABOg/A52hYbmTf4A/s1600/IMG_2155.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aUp9UosniiA/UD7GP00eSRI/AAAAAAAABOg/A52hYbmTf4A/s320/IMG_2155.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I couldn't help taking this picture just as the sun was coming up.<br />
Grinling E Gibbonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04764203171523021017noreply@blogger.com0