Our Days

There isn't too much big news of late. Just little bits and peices that make up life. I have been pretty bad at posting for real pictures of our life in the past couple of months. It is not for lack of pictures being taken, though! So here are a couple.

A very common scene...

Also fairly common, but they are great at keeping the roads clean...

Boat houses along the canal...

And a couple more...


Ice floating on the canal...


By the park...



Still can't figure out this dog...

Cross-country skiing with a couple in the congregation. It was sooo much fun! I am ready to go out and buy some gear...


Downtown side walk...



I took this one for Mom... :)

This was on our 3rd Anniversary...

And that's just about all for now....

It's all in the Milk

It seems like milk comes in slightly different packaging from country to country. Very interesting. They are all pretty cool and seem to have good reasons for being a particular way in their respective countries.

In the US, large refrigerators abound, thus the most common...gallon of milk.

In the UK the fridges are often half the size of their American counter parts...thus the one, two, four, and six pint containers.

In Canada, the bags of milk prevail. No bulky plastic container, just pitch the bag and you are good to go.

And in Australia, the paper carton wins the day.

First Installment - The Bus Years

The bus years. Ah yes, fond memories. At the time we wondered. At the time we might not have appreciated. At the time….we had no idea what impact it would have on the rest of our lives. Yes, the bus years.


In 1996, Dad and Mom bought an old tour bus to replace the 1970 something motor home we had been using to tow our baskets to craft shows for years. Truth be told, the back end of the motor home was about to crack off from the extra weight of the weathervanes we had begun to sell; thus the need for a big rig.


The bus was a 1979 101 Eagle. It was better than all the other buses cause it had torsion suspension…and it looked cool. A vision in white. Dad searched around until he found this one from Texas. It has been used to cart desperate people back and forth from the casinos in Biloxi, MS. There were 48 seats, two by two all the way down the bus to the back. And of course there was the bathroom.


The man delivered our bus to the airport in Little Rock. His flight left within minutes of his arrival. He showed dad where the on switch was, where the break was, where the fuel tank was, and waved good-bye. We were all so proud. It was so big. We were going somewhere, quite literally. No more stopping to have your ‘knickers’ welded back on. Just open roads.


Dad hopped in the driver seat and away we went. Mom and we girls road in the blue Chevy behind him, amazed how he could just pop in and drive a 40 foot bus. Not 10 miles out of Little Rock, a puff of black smoke went up from the back of the bus. It started slowing down and finally pulled off the road. Plan b. Some ‘driver thingy’ had blown and we had to leave it sitting all by its lonely self by the side of the road until new parts arrived.


Eventually we made it home with the bus. Dad ripped all the seats out except for the first two sets. He added a sink and a two burner stove top next to the bathroom. The water tank was a large RubberMaid storage container with a pump attached at the bottom and a hose that led to the faucet. The drain under the sink ended with a cut off pipe and a five-gallon bucket. One side of the overhead shelves were taken out. The other side was portioned off into ‘bathroom’, ‘bedroom’, ‘kitchen’, and ‘miscellaneous’ areas. Each of us received a giant oval basket minus the handle to be placed in the bedroom area of the shelf. That was our ‘drawer’. A bar was installed to hang our clothing on. We threw in a table, some folding chairs, an ice chest, a mattress for good measure, some Candy Land carpet and we were ready to roll.



To be continued...

????

Is is possible for two people to eat 30 pounds of potatoes before they can watch us eat them so to speak?

Supper time

Sometimes the strangest things come to mind.

Last night, I had a flash back of Dad making supper for us kids. It didn't happen very often. Actually this one time, is the only time I can remember. And this is what happened.

We were at a craft show in the middle of Missouri/Kansas. It had to be one of the first years that Mom and Dad started crafting because for some reason, I distinctly remember the old pickup camper. It was supper time and the show was not yet finished for the night. Why dad, I can't remember, but he took all three of us kids out to 'find' supper.

We may have gone to the camper first I am not sure, but I remember we ended up at a gas station. Obviously that made an impression. It was the 1980's, and the selection of heat lamp meals were severely limited. We suspiciously followed dad down the short isles 'looking' for our supper. At last he seemed quite please with his find. A can of chicken noodle soup and a loaf of bread.

It was all very strange. We headed back to the camper. It had a small gas stove top where Dad heated the soup. The three of us would have been lined up at the table/turn bed watching him. Surly something was going to happen. But no. The soup made it to the table. Then he showed us the fine art of dunking the bread in the soup. Suspicions confirmed. He had no idea what he was doing.

But it was so good. Net couldn't have been more than four, which would put Aaron and I at seven and eight. I think we all still love chicken noodle soup with soggy bread. It is kind of interesting that sometimes it is the small things in life that you love and remember the most.

Hmmm...

Last week we went to Ottawa to pick up some bookcases for the study. We hit the jackpot at IKEA, yeah!

On the way to Ottawa, we had taken a round about route visiting some friends. On the way back though we thought we should take the short route home. We just were not sure which one that was.

I had commented to Bert that at least I did know how to get home from the airport, which we knew was not far away....but not exactly sure where. So we stopped at a gas station to take a quick peek at a map. A nice man spotted us standing over the maps and asked where we were going. Bert said the airport, cause he thought that would have been the easiest way. That man was like, “That's dead easy, just.....” I was still poring over the maps at this point cause it wasn't sounding 'dead easy'.

As he was headed out the door, the directions man asked Bert where he was from. Bert just said Australia. :) What do you do?!? How do you tell a person you are looking for Home? He was just trying to place his accent, so give him the answer he was looking for right?

What will it be...?

Dogs look up to you....

Cats look down on you....

Pigs consider you their equal...

What kind of pet would you pick?

The Boy and the Bonsai

Bert has loved bonsaiing for years. Exactly when the urge to snip trees started growing on him, remains a mystery. There is the story of a young George Washington chopping the cherry tree, so I assume the idea has lived in the hearts of many 'wee' boys since the beginning of boys.

Bert has had many bonsais. His favorite little one has been his Morton Bay Fig, planted around his 21st birthday. He lovingly nurtured it from a seed he harvested from the botanical gardens in Adelaide. Morton Bays are meant to be massive trees. I didn't know anything about bonsaiing before I met Bert, but he assured me that you can 'bonsai' just about any tree. Just snip, snip and they always stay quite small.

Net gave Bert a bonsaiing book just before we left for Canada. It supplied advice on lighting, temperature, soil, etc. for growing hundreds of varieties of trees.

Enter 'Ficus Religiosa'

Apparently the name had nothing to do with the selection. The seeds are now on their way though, so we'll see how this bonsai likes it up north.

Pepper

I like pepper. It has been this way for a long time now. Clearly it has become an addiction. Bert looked at my plate of 'goolosh' at dinner today and said something about 'volcanic ash'.

Might be time to cut back.

Wow, that was a while!

Thanks for sticking in there and checking even though we have been off the map for a bit! That was getting pretty sad.

Anyway, we are settled in Smiths Falls, Ontario. Today, marks two weeks that we have been here. We drove up in our little Penske van towing the car on Monday night and by tuesday this time we driving the empty truck back to the return center.

It was dark when we rolled into Smiths Falls the first time. There had been snow on the side of the road off and on since we left Grand Rapids than morning. On the way into SF, there was a dump truck going past us. I commented to Bert that there was so much snow on top of his load it looded as if he were hualing just snow. Not five minutes later, we saw dump trucks lined up in the Wal-Mart parking lot waiting for the backhoe to fill them up with yes, snow! We didn't know it yet, but the had a storm the day before we came bringing them almost as much snow in one dump, as what they had last year total.

Most of the boxes are unpacked now...life is good.

This little machine ate all the snow along the street in front of our house.

You can just see our car out of our kitchen window.

Our sweet little neighbor lady brought over coffee and dounuts yesterday. Very nice!

Blast from the past

The summer of 2000. Yes that was the time. One car, two tents, four cameras, five people and lots fun. I am not sure why I was thinking about it today, but the scrapbook was dusted off and here are the results.

We left at 2:30 am. with Dad at the helm of the Mercedes. We kids layered ourselves over each other in the back seat and slept till we were well into Texas. The above photo captured a desperate game of 500 (the 'wee' cards were complememts of a 'gum ball' machine.
Dad will have to help out with the location of this one. It was by a waterfall....

Matching his socks with his sandles... :)

Somewhere along Hwy. 1 in California.

Dad found us a little cabin in Lucia. It was perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Dad has a knack for finding the coolest cabins. Oh yes he does.

Go Green

Bert's green card was approved! Yeah!!!!!

Why am I such a worrier??? God always takes perfect care of us. And yet every time...

On they way to the interview, I was milling through what options we would have if the green card wasn't approved. Bert could live in AU, and come visit me...I could live in the US and go visit him.... That was about all I could come up with. But no, all is well and for that we are truly thankful.

Now, I must see about those boxes.

What is the world coming to?

I was doing laundry today and in the process decided that I need to iron my pajama bottoms. It was then I decided that if I had enough time to iron my pj bottoms, then by all means, I had time to post on the blog. And that's the truth.

How about some real pictures next post?

The Low Down Here

Bert and I headed off to Fort Smith this morning to check in on the processing of his Greencard. It looks as if everything is going well. He has his last interview November 13 and all being well, the Greencard would arrive two weeks following that.

We kinda went there today to see if they could move the interview forward.....like everybody else in the Greencard 'line' no doubt hopes. It was a far stretch. You feel like a four year old begging for an extra piece of candy. Alas, barring an emergency, nobody gets special treatment. I totally understand, but it was worth a try!

Fort Smith is 3 1/2 hours away (the Greencard office doesn't take phone calls) but the awesome thing is, Grandpa and Grandma Altena live out that direction. We popped by there today to take a couple of pictures and then they took Bert and I out to Pizza for Bert's birthday. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!!!

The 'truth' of it all...

So why do pirates always, always have a patch over one eye?

My sweet hubby said it was not because they had their eye poked out in some mad skirmish with inocent people (which I always believed), but simply that it was done for lighting purposes.

Above deck was bright and sunny most of the time and below deck was dark and dirty. To avoid all the time it would take for their eyes to adjust, they would just switch the patch from the eye that was used to the light, to eye that was used to the dark.

Makes sense kinda...or he might be talking rubbish.

What's next, no Tooth Fairy?

Never try to think like a dog

This morning Mom and I started out doing a little good old fashion house cleaning. The deep cleaning kind that happens once a year.

In the process we found the 'shoe goop' for Mom's sandals. You know, the type that is good to use on them every six-eight weeks but you are lucky of you remember once a year.

Well we found it and Mom thought she would fix up her Birks quick a minute. "Will Oscar take off with these if I let them dry on the back step?" "Nah, we won't leave them out long."

Enter Oscar....

I'm a good puppy...

Running, not chewing for me....

A little bit later we were seaching the yard for a lost sandal. I deffinatly have to take some blame for this!

The Newest Member of the Pohl Fleet

And here we go. After a couple of weeks of tormenting Dad and Bert with all the car facts each time I left the computer, we found a keeper. Yeah! My other sweet wheels are up for sale now. So if you know of anyone interested in a '93 BMW.... :)

P962 VVK

I feel a little sad. Our good and faithful little Fiesta was towed away to the land where all happy Fiestas go. A little scrap heap where he will no doubt be taken to bits piece by piece. His little headlights will be the first to go. Then a door, a seat, a shock. You would never guess that he was once loved. That he actually could have driven to the dump if it was not for a little red tape here and there.

Yep, that is our little car. He didn't pass his last MOT right before we left Scotland in April. The MOT is the yearly test all cars in the UK have to take to make sure they are road worthy. Usually it isn't a problem, but this year was right at the point where it would cost more to fix Little Red Fiesta, than the he could be sold for in the end.

Last week Bert called a man that would tow it away for free. Bert asked them to pick it up on Wednesday. They said great. Then on Tuesday afternoon, the lady who was looking after it for us called cause our car had disappeared while she was at work. It wouldn't have been a problem but two of our boxes were still in the car. She was going to take them out that night. Ahhh! I have no idea what was in the boxes, but Bert called them up as soon as he could the next day and they said they would take them out and bring them back to the ladies house. Good for us. :) No word yet on the arrival though.

Oh so handsome...

They actually fit inside...honest...

See how much I can carry?

Taxi for Mom and Dad...

Just a little tap...

Still running....

Ok maybe a little tight...

New brakes...

All fixed and sadly not too long for the world...


Sniff, sniff.

(This was posted back in August but we had a few technical difficulties.)