details later.... for now photos...
Friday, December 27, 2013
Friday, November 29, 2013
on Tukey, poop and friday
for a while i was looking forward to Mattanchuk crawling, for home to become funcationable and now that he is its awesome. there are scary moments when he goes up the stairs and will crash without me to stop him, but its amazing to see him discovering new things. we finally have a new game, hide and seek, he started going around the corner and peeking, see us and go around the corner again. he even did it to himself, by peeking in the mirror from the side, so adorable. Now i go around the island and "spot" him, then go to the other side and repeat, he loves it.
but there are bad sides to crawling, he doesn't like to sit still during diaper change. one time (at band camp) i was changing a usual poo and he turned around quickly and certain materials landed on my arm. without many options i keep going, since a diaper less baby is a danger to furniture and carpets everywhere and then i go to clean my arm and, surprise, it is not there!, i have seen poop fly, but never walk, where did it go, i do a proper search on mattan the the change table and my clothes, but nothing., the poop mystery continues.
I probably spent more time with movies then with higher education along the years, i refer to my self as movie educated on several issues. one experience I've seen but never felt was thanks giving. despite this being my 6th year here.
i did eat Turkey before on thanks giving, but it wasn't the movie experience.
the classics as i see it involves- going out of town, home feeling away from home, turkey meal with all the trimmings, playing games (usually football, wowowoooooo football) in the back yard. when i was invited to go to thanks giving with a friends family, i was really looking forward to it. we left at 10 am , planning to return that evening, therefore we packed for 3 days, placed Mattan in the car seat and left town (and state) to Eire, Pennsylvania.
Cleveland is not what you might call the desired cities of America, the snow has much to do with it, but Erie is even smaller and much more snowy and we hoped the car wouldn't slide as we drove on the back roads without even seeing them. lucky the GPS knew what it was talking about and we reached the house. P.T, actually i don't know what his name is , so i will assume P.T is Papa Travis, comes out to help with a very warm demeanor and we feel right at home, already double check on the classic list. His wife Sharon is also very welcoming and even Mattan feels it and tries to grab P.Ts beard. they have a very large property, all knee deep in snow and the forest behind has almost no leaves. Travis and his wife Pam arrive withe their daughter heleina arrived shortly after. soon after its turkey time. my problem is the trimmings, i didn't even know what trimmings are! i knew you're suppose to eat Turkey with cranberry (sounds bad), and stuffing which sounds suspicious for a picky eater. the Turkey is nice and moist and goes well with the cranberries- its kind of a cranberry jam, the mash potatoes and the gravy are also done well, with a side of my non traditional chilly and sparkling grapefruit, great meal. some things are advanced for me, like broccoli. my list of edible foods increased lately with blood oranges. as a kid i tried a blood something- grapefruit or pomela and didn't like it, and have not tried since, ill now and its survivable, but broccoli, way to advanced. i avoided some roll with something, bread i like, but i tried not to over do it. for deserts they served some melted chocolates with pecans which i cant resits and pecan pie (my favorite pie) and pumpkin pie which i am not a big fan and didn't try. the meal came with pleasant conversation, and we really felt at home, 3rd check on the list.
football is a problem, we didn't watch nor play, how have the movies deceived me! but instead we took a walk in the wood taking turns holding Mattan. the snow was deep at parts, and deer track are all around, and the dog was running back and forth trying to catch snow balls that break on impact. later we saw photos of a hibernating bear in the area we just walked a few years before.
once in a while we heard gun shots as near by hunter get ready for deer season. i found that carrying mattan and hiking is a tiring work, i need to get a carrier if i want to enjoy the trails this winter. time flew by real quick and soon it was getting dark and we didn't want to be on those roads at night and returned home, with an invite to return next year. I like that idea.
to complete an Americanized holiday, it was time for black Friday. as with thanks giving, i never went black Friday shopping. strange since i am both cheap and an impulsive shopper. the images of people trampled was enough of a deterrent. i spent some times in the last few days researching what to buy and found that i don't really need anything, which is good, but they have such good deals on items that are hard to resist. but i can get stuff for Mattnsuh. this morning i went exploring in an area of several adjacent big stores, the 1st target was target where i tried to find toys that will help make Mattan an engineers, and was surprised to find the store with the usual crowds and none of the cahos, but this stories is by itself, the other stores on the other side of the roads were much crowded and full of Amish shoppers. i got some shirts for me and mattan and few more toys and then i had an idea based on an article i saw recently to make a home gymbory. i got a big box and a bunch of those balls they they have in a gimbory and , mattan likes it so much. i am now resting from my difficult shopping day before batch #2, this time taking him with me to toys are us, probably a mistake, but he might like something i will not be able to resist to get.
happy Hanuka , thanks giving, black Friday and ciber Monday everyone
some photos are in the link
Sunday, October 20, 2013
on pumpkins and wrong food choices
last weekend we took a break from studying and took a trip to Amish country. There is an extensive Amish community around here. one farm was having a fall festival. we went we a few Israeli families from work, all with kids. it was a grand fall morning , blue skies and warm. as we entered the farm, an Amish person was handing out pamphlets and saying they have a fall festival, this was at the entrance and i don't see a reason to tell us that there is a festival! but no big deal, it took quite a long time to get in with the car, it seems each person at the line had some kind of delay while paying, finally it was out turn and the person asked us if we wanted to get in only or so the ride, we chose enter only and then paid with a check and caused the line to delay a bit more. and then we were inside passed the welcome sign made of pumpkins and pass the huge floor sign saying FARM , also made of pumpkins. this was about 20X 10 meters , so they do have quite a lot of pumpkins. we tried some chicken and roasted corn, then walked around the farm. if you like this farm on Facebook you get 1$ worth of food for the animals, we didn't but we got the big basket any way, so as we walk the farm we enjoy feeding geese, goats and sheep. they have this strange geese with a humped beak, horses, ponies, donkeys, and i think some sort of pony donkey. Amish kids are driving around in pony dragged cart. most Amish families we see are dressed the same, though each family is different, this is a festival for other Amish as well. the goats we feed fight each other for the food actually ramming each other. they make apple butter, never heard of this before and after we try a little sample , we get a small jar of this apple jam (this jar is now empty), we watch cows being milked and get to feed the calves. we watch a poor goat being sheered out of the wool, this species of goat was freaky, they had 4 horns! each- they do look like a devil, didn't know Amish were devil worshipers.
no festival is complete without something adrenalinish. they had pumping launchers, you get a pumpkin put it on this giant rubber band tied to two big posts and pull, when you let go it flies of to the small lake where a bigger pumpkin stands on a barrel as the target. I've made 5 attempts and was very close to the far target but no direct hit, lots of fun tough. after 3-4 hours we took the car for a ride in the little safari they have there. in a large area they have animals you will not expect to see on a farm. many types of deer, wild boars, some sort or strange cow with huge horns that point sideways, buffalo, bulls, ostriches, zebras, giraffes. we use the same food for the goats and feed the rest of the animals. a big cow pushes a huge head into the car to feed from the box and i couldn't push it away, lucky for windows, feeding a big ostrich is scary, it seems they want to take revenge for all the chickens you ever ate. after an hours in this fun unexpected safari we left the farm. this area is very busy in October with many farms and activities for the fall, and after 30 minutes in a huge traffic jam, we turned around to try to find another road. and stumbled on an Amish restaurant with a large fully packed parking lot. it was evening ad we were hungry, but this place had the longest line i ever seen at a restaurant. this place, Der Dutchman also has a little shop that has carry out, lucky. i ordered simple noodles over mash potatoes and it was sooo good, mash potatoes in restaurants here is reasonable at best, but this was very good. we returned home after a very enjoyable day.
today Mattanush discovered new functions and abilities. for a while, he could sit when we sat it and lay backwards to a kind of side seating, but today it happened, he sat all by himself, so sweet. the day of discovery continues when he took the downward dog yoga position, that was not new, but he actually leaped once, usually he does one thing one day and then repeats in the next few days, so we may expects more leaps and bounds. the best new feature so far is eating related. they have food in a bag form, drinkable, these bags have fruits or vegetable. till now we took the semi solid liquid out of the bag, put it on a spoon and fed him, but now he learned to drink from the bag, such a great feature, i can't wait for him to actually hold the bottle, we are approaching that day. now that he is more mobile and more alert, though not crawling yet, he has a knack to enter small spaces, like a cat. today he decided to go into the closet, this is not something a father wants his son to be, so i got him out of the closet.
he is also very mobile now when we put his diaper on, making it a challenge to put on right. and when its not right, poop has a technique of reaching everywhere!!! on the last one today it was all over the place and when i took his clothes off and tried to de-poop him, i saw his was messier then usual and got his hands dirty as well, and i wasn't fast enough. I really dislike the baby food, but i can only imagine how horrible that tasted. quickly washed his mouth off, but he only cried for a second.
cant wait for the new features to continue
enjoy Amish Photos and baby ones
https://plus.google.com/photos/104769303678729727539/albums/5937001288371734225?authkey=CN-24JKRsL6DvwE
Friday, October 4, 2013
on hot dogs good byes and standing
SHay left early in the morning, took the air port shuttle. i work up in regular early time, and went to get the car from its location in the city since the roads were blockes the previous night, check out, good bye breakfast with amit, he ate i didnt and then i had to go. on the way to the airport i stopped at the gas station for a good by hot dog and some gas, i also purchased some hot dogs to go... i finished my book on the flight in so i purchased a book and after Iceland was below me. will I ever return? tough question...so many more places to see- but country #54 was well worth the trip.
for now enjoy photos of day 8-9
p.s- today is Mattan 6 months birthday and he stod for the 1st time!!! well with some assitance he can stand by himself for a second or two, but when he is holding something , he actualt stod ofr over a minute... what a great birthday
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Monday, September 30, 2013
on culture, tied up guys and towels
i woke up extremely early on day 9, and left the room for the shower, sec later realising i forgot something other then my room key... i came back, too late, this places uses key fobs - since it was way early i didn't want to wake everyone up, next to the room in the hallway was a little alcove- a strange leisure corner with a heater on the other side, so i took an early morning nap. i took Shay's blanket as mine was sulphur stinky from the volcano. mean while shay woke up and waited for me in the room, then got upset and took Amit's towel , missing me sleeping right next to the door like a bum.
after this fine morning nap and the shower we went for a hostel breakfast, lucky i had some great granola with me that completed this mediocre breakfast.
from here we begun exploring this cute little city. the main drag has many shops, spent a bunch of time at the souvenir shop with no real luck, from there we walked to the botanical gardens, seeing many beautiful flowers and continued to the best ice cream place in Iceland. morning and ice cream is an unusual combination even for me, but were here only once, this is a soft serve place locally made, so i try the chocolate and... well its not real good :( i don't even finish. not sure why this place is known, we keep walking the city and visit several cute shops, we pass by large troll statues and take photos, the trolls don't really mind, a nice building sized wall mural catches my eye, a move my camera that was when a truck driver passes by and shouts that it is OK for us to take his picture, funny guy, but i do take his photo.
outside a sub way, there is a guy tied to a wall post, we are not sure if he is demonstrating or what but we keep our distance. a few minute later a van passes and some guys come out, free the guy and make him sing to strangers at the subway. this is some sort of game for the guys marriage- i wish i knew what else he was made to do.
we leave the town shortly after and begin the long drive to Reykjavik. it takes 5-6 hours including many view points stops, and other more utilitarian stops, including a hot dog stop, at this point the rest try the hot dog i keep talking about the whole trip (none have tried so far) and they love it...told them so
on the way, we see swans, ducks, lots of green hills, farms , valleys and fjords, we passed a long tunnel and some areas with fog the prevent us from doing little hiking.
we reach a chaotic capital. little did we know that this was culture day. in culture day all Icelandic artist have street display, people open their homes and all Icelanders walk the street and have fun, the problem is that the roads are all closed, we barely find a place to park and walk for a while till the hotel. we then hit the town. its a bit late
most activities are over but we do visit a few shops, enjoy a meal and walk around with thousands of Icelanders all having fun. live music is everywhere, the central stage is packed , and there are a bunch of smaller stages and dance areas all full of music. its raining, but these people don't care, culture day is only one a year.
at one point we say goodbye as mom and moti depart for the airport and we continue to enjoy the night life which ends in a firework display.
a few minutes later our day 9 ends, last night for us as well here,
Sunday, September 29, 2013
on Mushrooms, Grass and Unexpected outcomes
waking up very early on day eight, leaving out love tent for 3 and stepping out to the duck poop filled grass field. the lake right in front of us looks pretty and the weather seems treacherous , but not raining so far, the strong wind the knocked off the other tent didn't seem to know off any other tent in the camp and this wind has subsided by now. we packed up and drove east a bit then went on a dirt road. this road follows the same river we traversed yesterday, by now that massive river has joined up with 2 other rivers to form Europe's most powerful waterfall, we were heading there next. a short 20 minute hike leads to a huge waterfall, the spray spreads far and wide and the drop looks impressive, we took some fall photos and walked around a bit to the upper falls, slightly up river, smaller in scale but also nice looking, after an hour or so with this hike we kept driving on this dirt road passing greener views from the nearby river. an hour later we reached a place called an island in the grass, Asbyrgi. Asbyrgi is a large canyon that used to be a part of the massive river, but the river moved nearby leaving a tiny trickle here as the only water source, but this protected area with its cliff created a haven for grass with spectacular views. its place has a tent side and a golf course, this can be a nominee for the prettiest golf course in the world. we walked on the grass and headed for one of the sides of the cliff and went up the not high cliff. at this point Shay who held the car keys for the 1st time this trip, said he forgot to lock the car and that the keys were in the car... so we took a little grass nap while shay goes back, spends too much time only to realise that the keys were in his pocket!!! so we kept going along the cliff edges enjoying views from the valleys below. the road passes in low bush land and once in a while we see some mushrooms as the only non plant life, this area has the arctic fox, but they are not visible. at one point we see the perfect mushroom, this island has some large mushrooms, but this one was storybook perfect, large , red and round, i am expecting to see a caterpillar smoking a pipe on it, but i think story book caterpillars only come out at night.
we keep walking and reach the end, this is a horseshoe shaped canyon overlooking the valley of grass below, this valley is strange, perhaps by earthquake a part of this hill was separated and in front of us 2k or so away lies the other side and it looks like an island in the grass, really pretty, we sit on the edge of the cliff on the last real hike of this trip, enjoying the moment.
we head back the way we came, passing by the huge mushroom and no elves in sight. at some point the road splits, we can keep hiking along the cliff edge or uses ropes and ladders to climb down the cliff. this cliff is not high, perhaps 30 meters high, enough to be care full of falling, we descend with the ropes down and walk back in the grass lands. after this amazing 10 k hike we get to the nearby grocery store where no hot dogs are found, this place has a small local wool shop but the expensive stuff are also shedding. not sure why people like it, it sheds like crazy.
at this point we split, moti and mom went back to pack out their hotel and we took the other road along the coast to the fishing town of husavik. the weather became perfect at this point, strong sun and clear blue sky, we found a place advertised as the coolest place in ... i ordered the kids meal. usually kids meal is a burger, plain pasta, chicken strips, but in this place its fresh fish!!! lucky kids, a very tasty dish, we walked the small town a bit enjoying the sunshine and stopping in the occasional souvenir shop. there is something generally wrong with souvenirs, they lost their local appeal. it seems that one factory makes them and with no real appeal i cant find anything i want to buy. we drive on, along the northern Fjords and mountainous areas, night arrives as we reach the 2nd largest city in island, akureyri , 18000 people. the hostel here is right on the main drab , we check in and then head out to select a place for dinner. we choose a recommended sea food place which is kind of fancy. I liked my sea food chowder and my main dish of some fish i never tried before, this place offers seven or eight types of sauces over several kinds of fish. we also enjoy desert. at the end the waiter comes by and tells us that since we are the 1000nd customer, our meal is free!! waves of excitement and shock pas over us for a minute till we realised the moti snuck away and paid the waiter up front and the waiter played along. a nice treat for the almost end of a lovely trip.
the hostel gives one free beer per person, so i passed mine to amit, drank my hot chocolate before going to sleep... thus ends day 8
Friday, September 27, 2013
on Peaches, the queen and the moon
about 2-3 weeks ago we began mattanchuk with semi solid foods, today it was the turn of the peach. in the beginning he didn't know what we wanted of him with the new form of feeding but now he is an expert, he sees the spoon and opens wide. but for the peach, he devoured the little box, true he had half on the bib, another half on his face, and another half on the chair. after that he looked at the cap and looked for more peach, so cute. because i gave him yummy food he decided to give me other things.
not sure how he managed to get poop on his stomach!!! he rarely exploded and gets some on his back, but on his stomach, that's new, so i give him a bath, soap him up, dry him and get ready with a new diaper. so he lifts his legs up, i see him planning something but not fast enough to react to stop the stream, back to the sink... wash up, dry and now here comes the spit, gulp of spit, the some of 4th half that went inside... well back to the sink... while i dress him up again, he sneezes, but lucky not enough to justify a sink.
next time he gets pears, peach it too exciting
mean while on day 6...
we had a tour bus at 8 , so we work up early, checked out got some day snack and hopped the bus to the Icelandic desert. this is the highlands, high (well higher) and very dry, this is a desert in the Shadow of the glacier. the tour has very corrective guide. say things like "the next time i speak i am going to tell you about this or that" and soon she does, very organized and precise. we pass next to a half open old volcano that looks like an amphitheatre and the guide says that it was used for that in recent block buster movie, the tom cruise one i think, have not seen it yet, but i can see how it would be a perfect place for that, soon we see a tale mountain, this is the queen of Icelandic mountain and a recent #1 pick by the locals as Iceland favorite mountain, we have good view of this mountain that is usually covered with clouds. we stop by a small waterfall for photo opportunity and a chance to fill our water bottles in pure stream water, cold and fresh. yesterday in myva- they use thermal energy for heat, so the hot water smell like sulphur, you can almost taste it, but they say its safe. safe perhaps, but yuck, this fresh water is so cold and so good.
we get back the bus, this bus like the previous one 4 days ago is very bumpy, the view is arid and after another hour we get to unique lava views and the guys tels about the various types of lava - the types depends on the levels of minerals and they have Hawaiian names - poahoehoe and A'a - one heavy with minerals and is more rugged and spiky and the other is more flowy and looks like very dark ice cream. soon we begin fording some rivers and the bus seems careless by some massive rivers. we stop at a ranger station by a stream in the middle of nowhere and hear a tail of some Icelandic outlaw who lived up here the whole winter for the crime of stealing a sheep (big deal then) he hid in hole and used a horses skin (stealing horses is not a big offense apparently) as cover for his hole, for the entire winter, eating some roots. we ate lunch in this strange oasis. soon we went on the bumpy bus and moved more inland, another hour passed and we reached the edge of a huge volcano, we soon departed and started the hike. this volcano is 55km in circumference, we just walk in the middle and the mountain edges are all around, the inner mountain is tar black with patches of red and snow. its cold today and as we keep going it gets colder and windier, the wind is knocking lava dust in the air that gets in to the eyes and makes breathing hard. not sure what's the deal with wind and volcano, but its 2 days in a row that we suffer from this combination. after 30 minutes we reach another caldera, in the middle of this huge volcano there are 2 things, one is a pretty lake, and the other is another small volcano, actually there was a smaller eruption in the 60s creating another baby volcano. rain water filled it, making a kind of milky white pool. we knew upfront that there is a possibility of taking a swim in this pond and the guide on the bus says its not always possible weather depending and if you do , it is traditional to do so in the nude! since the minerals will make the clothes stink.
the wind on the way was not promising, but it relaxed a bit when we finally got to the lake, the problem was the way down. this pool was at the bottom of the baby volcano and we were at the top and the angle was super steep, nobody went down and i was debating what to do, i hadn't done anything stupid in a long time and i need my crazy fix at least once a year, i don't recall the last one.
a couple began descending and i quickly followed, this was the steep descent, i went on my butt to not fall and a few minutes later i was down. i must admit it is strange to strip in public, lucky the rest were way up there, but i wasn't alone, a few other people from the bus stripped down and soon we were in the water. this is rain water, but there are warm bubble from the ground, if you stand too long in a spot you might get burned, the result is a timid pond, not slimy at all like i assumed a sulphur pool would be, it feels so liberating, what i forgot is the power of zoom, my friends did not see me come down but they did catch on at some point and used a good zoom to take some naughty photos. nothing like a volcano moon. just before stripping, i saw a sock fly in the breeze and disappeared in the milky water, i couldn't find it and prepared to spend the way with one sock, lucky the missing sock was someone else's. after some delightful time we got dressed and i begun the climb up. this was not that high- perhaps 50 meters of elevation but so steep, i barely made it and we begun the walk back to the bus, taking lots of volcano photos and enjoying the hike, this time with no wind.
i love doing stupid things, highly recommended.
the next 3-4 hours were spent driving back the way we came , learning more about Icelandic life from the guide, learning that how stupid trolls are and that every boulder is a petrified troll, they get that in the sun, so when you encounter a troll, keep it waiting till dawn , they you can escape, if not, you will be eaten. Icelandic history like all of Scandinavia is full of trolls and also elves. remember do what elves tell you, to guarantee a good life, except one thing... i forget what it was. kidding, don't follow a female elf when they sing, kind of like the Greek sirens.
we returned to town and we chose, to do tents this night, right by the lake where ducks poop everywhere! went back to the restaurant by the rock garden for some nice asparagus soup- yes asparagus soup was my 2nd stupid thing of the day, but it was good- a new soup to the menu and a burger i think. we had great views of the sunset over the lake. it was late but the night was no over, we returned for a very late dip in the thermal lagoon. it was close to midnight when we returned to the camp site to find Amit's tent broken!
its really fun to discover a broken tent after midnight with duck poop everywhere, lucky it was not my turn to be in that tent.. and amit/shay wrestled with the tent to pack it and were interrupted by a suspicious camp guard wondering if they skip payment of this glorious poop filled camp site. somehow they convinced him and we had little choice but to cramp in my tent, all 3 of us in a brockback mountain tent for 2. lucky that we are all friends.
thus sometimes after midnight in a poop filled camp site, cramped in a tent, day 6 ends.
p.s doing stupid things is good for your health!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
on lagoons, wind and cows-Iceland day 6
no, i didn't forget... semester has begun...
well, Day 6..
we woke up early and left the best hostel of the trip and drove up to find a nice view point over the Fjord. there was no sign, but we found the path and took the tiny car off road, this car is low but it was doing just fine till we reached a steeper part and the car refused to climb it. so we assumed the end is close and the view points is just around the corner, and we walked on for a few minutes, till Shay spotted it, a rein deer. after trying a rein deer burger the night before, we now saw it in the flesh so to speak. it was a bull deer and it ran so fast of the rocks, we were moving slowly and it was moving like a cheetah.
after a few minutes we realised the end was too far, since we had a schedule to keep so we left this point with only a rein deer and no view point.
we drove up the pass for some nice none fjordic views, and arrived late to meet the rest of the gang, from here it was a couple of hours driving up the barren highlands, with hardly any village but with a water fall on occasion. the views became more desert like and after a while mountains became colourful, slightly yellow and reddish with smoke coming out of a couple places. we've reach lake Myva, the center of lots of hiking attractions. after trying to settle in (room is not ready) we spent time figuring out our next hike, it wasn't a long one, but we could put a car on the other side for the ride back, after few missed attempts we found the end, parked a car, went to the starting point and started walking. this hike is a climb to a large volcano. after a K or so on a service road where the ground all around is completely black we reached a placed with hot water emerging from the ground, this used to be a bath house but now its too hot. it started raining and again we were under dressed, but we kept going, actually back and forth till we found someone who knows where the trail continues. at this part the trail passes in some kind of rock garden, rocks in all sorts of weird shapes, and soon we reach the volcano itself, and it climbed up steeply, the rain picks up and so is the wind, my absorbent jacket is collecting water instead of repelling it. the higher we climbed the strongest the wind got, it was pushing us back. at the top we could see in the the caldera, this huge black circular hill , but the wind was making it impossible to talk or take photos. i suggested taking the long path around the hill, but was easily convinced not too, every step was a battle , you would assume that the round top of a volcano is the same height, but no, the other side was higher, very tough climb. on the other side the trail went down very steeply, as soon as we took 5 steep steps down the wind stopped, full protection from the mountain. we went down the on this black sand and in no time we were on flat ground where the rain hit us occasionally, but i was fully soaked and didn't care much.
the rock garden continued and the rock shape were impressive, some were shaped like arches, some like huge pillars, some like well, i cant even describe. later we would learn that random pillars are petrified trolls per Icelandic mythology.
we walked for an hour or so in this rock garden till we reached Dimmuborgir where Moti was waiting for us. Moti and libi went up the volcano but slow pace and the wind/ rain combo made them go down and walk around, they actually hiked longer, but avoided the mayhem of the volcano.
we went to get our rooms, the room is actually our sleeping bag on a bunk bed, followed by dinner at the cow shed. this place has actual cows in the restaurant, separated by windows. they make fresh cheeses and other things from the fresh dairy. I think i had a burger, since most food here had evil ingredients like mushrooms , but the rest liked this place. eating with cows was interresting, do they know i ate a burger?
the day was not over, and we headed for the hot springs. this is the 2nd largest hot spring resort in Iceland and the local favorite (the big one is touristy they say), so we hopped there as tourists, paid too much, got inside and took a shower next to the human sized size that instructs you of all the "critical" areas to wash. then we entered the blue warm lagoon. this pool is fed by hot springs, and you have colder areas and some really hot, mostly its nice and oily from the minerals. we soaked for an hour and a half relaxing weary muscles. we returned to the bunk bed room for a much needed sleep.
thus ends day 6
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Mattan day to day
some videos of mattan doing nothing special but discovering how to kind of walk and play
also photos of his amazing smiles for his 5 month birthday (from 4 days ago)
Saturday, September 7, 2013
on Fjords, hot choclate and fjords - Iceland day 5
We left Hofn the next morning after meeting the breakfast cop. in this hostel you pay in advance and get some note. in breakfast, the employee watches over us like a hawk in case we don't steal the cereal or the milk. we were asked 3 times if we had paid for breakfast, there is a sign not to make sandwiches to go. after this irregular Icelandic experience we started going north along the eastern coast of Iceland and its fjords.
I have seen fjords in new Zealand and Norway an was looking forward, but here they were no as impressive, the hills next to them are not as high or as green as Norway's fjords but the big problem is the water, they are boring grey. i blame the clouds!!! all bodies of water in Iceland are grayish, shame. we drove along the fjords, stopping in several small towns.
in one place we stopped at this artist home, the giants bones of a fish were a good indication of an interesting place. the guy makes statues out of fish bone, honestly, most of the work is not great in my opinion, but he tells us stories of the purpose of the hill above (where they would wait for the fisherman to return) and the current state of ocean pollution (bad, very bad...). i felt i need to buy something, so i got a bird made of fish bone, a small one, unfortunately i forgot it in the car.....
the best thing about this store (that was situated next to the small watching hill, was a cute sheep dog (there are no sheep here, only ship), that asks you right away to play ball with him and he leads you slowly up the hill, very bored and friendly dog.
this town (Djúpivogur) has egg statues, many of various sizes, so i took a few shots with them but they didn't hatch.
the 1st part of the day continued in driving through lush vallies till we hit the hiking part of the day. we stopped at a little hotel in Hallormsstadaskoli and split 3 ways. Moti and Amit went to a peak, i went with my mom to a forest hike and shay was resting. out hike went up and down the forest with some nice flowers and occasional views of the lake below. this lake similar to Loch ness has a mystery beast leaving in it. the local says that if the child misbehaves , the take them to the lake and make them spell the name of this monster!! (Lagarfljótsormurinn) scary.
we did a 5.5 k hike while Amit/moti did a slightly shorter hike, but up the hill, per the guide book, our hike is faster, when we came back to the start hotel, they were there for a while after spending 10 minutes looking for the starting point, they hike at a fast pace. this hotel had a cafe with a very welcome hot chocolate. it was not yet 5 so we went to another hike, this one to the 3rd tallest water fall in Iceland (Litlanesfoss). again we hiked a steep trail along the edge of the canyon. this trail was also misleading, we reached a pretty water fall only to find out that the real one is further away. both falls look in similar height to me and both had those hexagon rocks all around. at the very end part of the trail is really on the edge of a small cliff and i took great care walking that part, we crossed the river and reached the end, but on the cross back, i nearly dropped the camera in to the water (yes, i still owe you some photos). this hike was also around 5k , so not a bad hiking day.
after passing a beautiful rainbow , emerging from the lake, we stopped at Fljótsdalshérað and randomly chose for dinner a place that looked like a restaurant. it was kind of a fast food place. some had burgers, ice cream, I had my hot dog. it was late, and we had a different place for dinner, we drove east towards Seydisfjordur, a small town by a fjord, we passed a snow patchy mountain pass that was very pretty in the dusk and reached the town well after dark. we had less then 12 hours , too bad , this was the nicest hostel of the trip (post hostel, they have 2 there), we took a little nightly tour of the town, this is a fishing village built by Norwegian , and many of the original houses remain, colourful wooden houses. we went to a local bar, and i ordered a hot chocolate. the bar guy took a milk chocolate from a card box box that you get in the super market,and warned it up, i was too shocked to complain!
we enjoyed a normal shower, actually one of the best I ever seen, wide room with all sort of nicknacks and 2 very wide shower head in the shower. after a long day of driving hiking and hot dogging, sleep came quickly, thus ends day 5.
Monday, September 2, 2013
On Maria,Langustine and hocking - iceland day 4
I woke up very early on day 4 with everything sore, we folded the tents and went once more to that awesome breakfast place with the yummy hot dogs, we left Skaftafel national park and kept heading east along route 1. the road goes by the mountain that surround the huge glacier, largest in Europe! and follows the ocean, the road changes, some strange circle rocks covered in pretty green moss and on other areas the ground is pitch black with lava sand, today supposes to rain but for now the skies are clear. we are heading for a glacier lagoon but stop on the way in another smaller glacier lagoon, a glacier lagoon is an area where the big glacier melts and begins flowing to sea, huge chunks of white or bluish icebergs in various sizes float slowly away on their way to meet the titanic. we leave this smaller less known lagoon and head for the main tourist attraction, which is like the place we just been to, just slightly bigger with more tourists. This is probably the busiest place we encountered on our travels. we took a short stroll along the lagoon, taking photos of the icebergs and watching ducks enjoy these almost frozen water, I held a small iceberg and tried a fresh taste of the glacier, yuck, salty... we headed next to where this glacier channel meets the ocean, and on the black sand the glaciers are melting away and some are taken by the power of the waves, in this very windy day, the glacier melt slowly. i saw a big bird and assume it was a Merlin, a Merlin is the local version of the falcon, but it was just a seagull looking bird in the end, disappointing, I must have gotten over my seagull fetish from Norway, we charged up with some hot chocolate and the usual doughnut for Shay and kept heading east towards hofn. My mom was already there from the night before and went to some natural hot pool, and from what they said, there is this not hot dirty pool followed by a cold shower and you have to pay for this pleasure, so they and so did we skip this place and reached Hofn. (side note from yesterday, the national park person recommended us these timid hot tubs, and also told us that the other hikes other than the mountain we did the previous day were boring and she did it in the most bored out of her mind way, how can someone in a national park can be this un enthusiastic?
Hofn is a fishing village; we reached the village and stopped at my mom's hotel, and heard the Story of Maria. The previous night where my mom. Moti came in after the long hike, they were too tired to carry their heavy luggage to the 3rd floor and Maria, a tiny woman so they say, took it up, one luggage in each hand while they barely dragged themselves.
We took a little walk in the town with a top at the information center to learn of local hikes, waived on the expensive lunch place and had hot dogs for lunch, then we drove for the daily hike. we are still not sure if we went indeed to the right place, our hike began in a chicken coop. this coop was a stone building with a high pointed roof, just like any other winter building, only this one is for chickens. the hike goes slowly up and follows a hill range with valley and a higher mountain range on the other side. the path is narrow and it is easy to lose the path. as we started walking we saw other hikers coming out with deer horns, they said it it allowed to take the horns , so the entire hike i am risking my ankles and looking all around but no luck. we do see moss, lots of sheep, and low bushes. We hike up 1 hour then hike back, we return to Hofn check in to the hostel and them we go splurging.
We went back to the expensive lunch place , which was now full with dinner guests, we waited for close to an hour till we were seated. This place is known for its Langoustine. Never heard about it before, it is something between shrimp and lobster. I order langoustine soup, it's a cream soup with the mystery lobster inside, very tasty and for the main course a meal of Langoustine in some garlic butter sauce, so good… full with sea food, sleep came quickly. Thus ends day 4
This weekend, we visited hocking hills. We passed by a place that has 24 flavors of soft server ice-cream, 24! Usually these place have 3, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. So many flavors to choose from so I choose Chocolate and Alla choose Vanilla. W.e continue to Old man's cave. This is a small state park and the trail leads up to a very wide but not so deep cave in the middle of a small canyon. The rocks are mossy and the green forest above creates very nice scenery, we keep going along the canyon and reach a waterfall at the end. After the massive waterfalls of Iceland, this is nothing but a trickle, but it still is nice looking, we hike back on the rim above the canyon and finish this 10 k hike after 2.5 hours. It's too early for our place so we return for the ice cream place for a quick lunch, then drive to our inn. After being in tents and hostels. Coming to a fancy inn is quite a change, the entire area is wooded or grassy. We get a little cottage/cabin secluded in the woods, there are other cabins not far but from each cabin you don't see the rest. The cabin has a bed room and living room and you can see from one room to another, there is a big window in the middle and a see through fire place, the fake kind. Scottish music is playing; this is a Scottish in and a hot tub on the veranda. After the hike, the hot tub is great, we relax for a long while, than dress for dinner. This is a vacation, and in vacation I am not supposed to dress up, that is what is for, but this is a formal sort of place. We had for dinner in the main house and go to happy hour. I feel obligated to drink something. Alla order bud light and while I don't like beer, I know you don't drink bud light, so she orders some Belgian beer, then when I am asked what I want, I say I don't drink, the bar dwellers laugh. But I do order vodka pineapple which is too strong for me, but is much better after heavy addition of water. The bar has some nice dill cheese. Afterwards the call for dinner comes and all the guests take their places, the waiters read us some Scottish poetry! Then the food comes, this place has a preset meal, you can choose one of 2 main courses, the rest are fixed and change on a daily basis by a local chef.
The 1st course is yellow fin tuna on some seaweed. I never like tuna, quite hated the smell of a tuna can, so I was very hesitating and very unorthodox for me and took a bite. While I wouldn't say I can add tuna (fresh only, not from a can) to my menu, I can say it was edible. Didn't try the saba weeds or whatever this sea weed was called.
Next we have mushroom bisque. I was brave enough tonight, but mushroom are beyond my will, lucky they have alternative soups for problematic clients such as myself, a cantaloupe apple soup!! Have you ever heard about it, I have not. Cold soup, how strange, but it is very good. The experiments continues with some salad where I peal of the feta cheese and leave the rest of the stuff untouched. Peach sorbet follows, and while I like peach, this sorbet is not that good.
Main course comes with duck, it's been years since I had duck, I forgot I didn't like it, too fatty, and I replaced the rice pilaf with good simple potatoes. Alla is enjoying every minute of this meal and every flavor, the strange candle that doesn't melt, white table cloths and our names printed on the dinner menu add to the environment. The goblets are interesting, they are made of some metal and look ancient, though they are not, but they are chilled. You put ice in them and they remain cold the whole evening.
For desert we get a lemon tart with blueberry puree and whip cream, very good. At the end the chef comes out and asks us how the meal was, the check later showed how much you pay for a meal with a chef that comes out to speak with you.
We had back to the cottage, put a movie on and fall a sleep before the copyright warning end.
We wake up 12! Hours later, get up and rush for breakfast. The breakfast too has no menu. We have an option to choose from Belgian waffles or Scottish eggs with hollandaise sauce. I ask the waitress what are Scottish eggs, and she tells me that they are Scottish eggs with hollandaise sauce, with my newfound knowledge I order Scottish eggs.
Before that warm oatmeal with cinnamon comes, also something I eat once every 10 years, but it was good. The eggs arrive and it looked like a big ball of falafel. It's a hard boil egg inside a ball of meat inside some kind of bread crumbs cover with some interesting spices and yes there is hollandaise sauce around it. Mmmmm. The hot chocolate was good as well. Walking back to the cottage we found Nessie, it is not in loch ness, but here in the Scottish inn, you will have to see the photos… which are way over due at this point.
We reached the cottage and got ready for a couples massage (Alla went all out this vacation…next time back to tents), we snuck in a quick jump to the hot tub before we had to sadly check out. Our next stop was a zip line park. We spend the next 3 hours going on all kind of rope over the ground, strange obstacles and zipping between tree to tree. After initial supervision by the guide, we kind of get to be on our own and keep going through the obstacles. Thunder begin and lightning, there is a thunderstorm warning today, and our tour is stopped for a while till we get the ok to continue. After 3 hours heavy rain begins and we choose to leave the course close to the finish but not completed, we will have to come back for the other activities here and all the hikes we didn't get to go to. On the drive back we make a stop in Columbus, to a place at the German village. Since we didn't have any food this trip at all!, we need some healthy sausage and German cream puffs. Now we are almost back home and we can see Mattanchuk in about 20 minutes.
Good night
Sunday, September 1, 2013
on up up up and up some more- iceland day 3
What an awful breakfast, well its not truly awful, only in comparison.
I woke up on day 3 at 6:30 am , I was in the one person tent while shai/Amit were sharing the 2 men tent. It's nice to wake up early in a sleeping camp, birds chirping, the air is fresh , blue skies with the glacier and the mountains nearby, people snoring… not me this time since I am now awake. I still cant use the showers since the store is closed so I do the alternative sink shower and wait for them to wake up, when they finally wake up we go to breakfast, this time we opt for the hotel restaurant , the other side from the gas station, now we really tried all the food place this area has to offer.
What a breakfast… it's not grandiose, simply healthy. Today we woke up at an American hotel chain on the way to a state park, hocking hills and this is a decent chain, holiday in express and you simply cannot compare. Well I'll try any way
Cheerios cereal with mil vs granola and yogurt. Scrambled oily eggbeaters eggs vs baked eggs with vegetables inside. Oily fatty sausages, v.s steamed hot dogs. Creamed mystery meat v.s fresh herring.
While I don't like all the food Iceland has to offer, I do recognize the healthiness of it, so much better. It turned out, that for me this is the best breakfast of the trip. These hot dogs are so good and a machine that served good hot chocolate (v.s. yucky orange juice). We stock up on sandwiches and other questionable snacks and begin hiking up the mountain. Since we have a mixed group we don't really know how far to push, perhaps we will split later on with some of us reaching the peak and others not, this is a high mountain, at over 1200 meters with the base starting at 100 meters, it's quite a hike. The lower parts are in a low forested area. The trail is narrow and partially steep at parts. We see some more flowers and cross narrow streams and every so often the view opens up overlooking the glacier, so we take many photos and continue heading up. After an hour or so we reached the 1st formal view point and rest a bit, at this point trails converge and this is the 1st point where we can chose to circle the low end of the mountain instead of climbing higher. All the gang chooses to go. The weather gets somewhat colder, but I am still not dressed, but also windier. While the rest are in hiking boots, I go with sneakers since the boots hurt my feet. But sneakers is not the best choice for a muddy trail which is wet at parts, waters starts to creep in and after a while I give up and just walk full on in the stream, realizing this will be a long wet day, at least I have wool socks on. The trail passes now on the side of the mountain where the glacier is right next to us, but there is little vegetation, mostly low moss, every now and again we hear this strange chirp and fail to identify the source. Finally we do, its some small walking bird, not sure if flightless or not, it chirps once, its friend answers on the other side of us, and they keep calling each other and run forward and approach us with every chirp, it crossed the path about 10 meters in front of me and kept chirping on the other side. We were heading for the 2nd trail breaking point after another hour and something of walking with frequent rest stops. The next 2 parts will be harder, much much steeper. The weather continues to get colder and I give up and put on a jacket. They said it wouldn't rain today and all I can think of Is that they were right when hail begins! And I am in short pants, well hail is not rain. All of us are somewhat intelligent folks, but all of us idiots didn't bring good rain gear!!!, lucky the hail doesn't get us wet, just snaps my face because of the winds, but soon rain does come and my light goose feather (well some kind of feather anyway) seems to invite the rain to go through. We reach the 2nd deciding point and now fog covers the peak and we decided it's not fun to hike up in the cold only to see no views and chose to hike to the other side of the mountain. This mountain has 2 main paths to the peak, each from a different sides and a trail connects them that goes just below the secondary peak of summit. Wet and fogged out, we took the trail to the other side of the mountain, forcing us to go up another 100 meters of elevation. But it was worth it, instead of going back the route we came from, the other side was much prettier, isn't it always is?. While the original side had glacier views, it was mostly barren, but this side had green meadows and lots of wild flowers, but also the fog caught us and for a while it was walking in the cloud, if you ever wondered what the cloud is, I can tell you first hand. From the other high point we finally began mostly descending along a wide path occasionally getting my feet wet some more, Moti and Amit started walking much faster leaving us alone to take more view photos and the various plant life, when we finally reached them after some time, they had been waiting for over 30 minutes for us turtles. From there we detoured to see water falls over basalt shaped like hexagons. Israel has a similar place, the hexagon pool. But it is still impressive to see all these massive hexagon rocks, 45 minutes later we finally returned to camp under purring rain and went for a much needed meal after 6 hours of walking an 18k total. I devoured a basic pizza while the rest had bears with whatever they ate. We drove back to camp where I finally obtained a shower card, used it right away crawled in the tent and was asleep way before 10 pm…
Good night
p.s yes i know i owe you some photos
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Iceland day 2- lucky at laki
early morning on day two we woke at six am by mistake which turned out to be good. the previous night we discussed going again to the rock formation beach, but decided to sleep in, since my phone was somehow stuck on Dublin time,, 7 am turned out to be six, so we went to the beach and followed a path up the hill to a view point overlooking a rock in the ocean with a huge hole which creates some sort of arch, several birds are seen and nice ocean views over the black sandy (lava sand) beaches. we drove back to Vik, got breakfast and drove an hour to a town with too long a name (Kirkjubæjarklaustur) , try saying that 3 times in a row, we called it kirku for short).
we got on a bus to the laki crater. with a name like laki, many jokes today are luck related. we head inland and stop by a river ravine, actually next to it and hike up the hill for some interesting river views of the step ravine and strange rock formations. i get off the bus with my usual summer clothes of short pants and a shirt, while the rest are overdressed and some lady calls me viking, strange, i have no beard at that time, no axe and i don't speak Norwegian but still her comments gets laughs from my other over dressed travels.
this hike is not long, but has interesting views of the river, we finish it and return to the bus which begins the long route on the F road. F roads in Iceland are those that need 4X4 wheel drive. the roads itself is bumpy but can be traversed even with a regular car but the problem is the many river crossings. this is a special bus, very high with larger wheels, but the ride is slow and bumpy.
it takes well over 2 hours to traverse 38 k. the views are of low green hills with many sheep and we hear in the recording over PA about how the sheep here are left alone the entire summer (all 3 months...) and collected in the fall for the long winter. we cross several rivers and eventually with a Strong urge to pee for some of us, we reach laki crater. the recording says that if we are lucky to get a rainy day, the moss will be shiny green and if we are lucky to get a sunny day, the moss will be grey. so far its a sunny day and the moss is green so we cant really trust the recording on the bus.
laki is a series of volcanoes along a fissure, each erupted in its own time, but they are on the same line, quite impressive. we begin to hike up, up and up some more on a steep trail and reach the peak of the tallest crater and see the rest, some look like classic volcanoes, some like pyramid hills and some semi collapsed craters, we also see green hills and taller mountains in the horizon and take many photos.
we descend from the hill and return to the bus after 2 hours and drive next to the craters some more. at the next stop, we go inside a big crater with a pond inside, a colourful one and keep going through what appears to be a flood river ravine inside the lava, there is no magma now of course, but we walked where it not recently did. we walk inside another volcano and see lots of tiny flowers. after an hours or so we return to the bus and begin the long bumpy ride back, we only stop for a nature break at a site of a big waterfall and reach kirku city shortly after six.
after a tasty hot dog quick dinner we begin the drive towards skaftafel national park, at the one of only two places to it there, a place at the gas station and the hotel on the other side of the tiny highway, we choose the cheaper option. i Split a pizza with shay and other people eat other things (they should write their own blogs)... the meat lovers pizza is good. we drive to the camp ground and reach after the closure of the reception, which means we cant buy the card for the showers:(.... so partially Stinky , we set up the tents and go to sleep.. thus ends day 2
photos will come your way soon...
Saturday, August 24, 2013
end of day 1
where was I, oh yes, Vini Jones.
we stopped at the set, its on the beach at after dusk and this guy comes to intercept us and tells us that Vini is not here, for 3 days and there is no one to see, this is some Russian movie production, too bad, so we leave the set without Hollywood photos and continue east.
just before Vik, we stop at this beach with rock formations, its after 10 pm, but still there is enough dim light to take some wonderful photos.
we reached Vik at total darkness, and spent the night at the puffin hostel.
day 1 ends... got to go...
Iceland - day 0 to almost end of day 1...
on a previous Thursday, i headed for the airport after kissing Alla and Mattanchuk goodbye for 10 days in Iceland.
1st flight from Cleveland to Philadelphia, i get the last row seat next to the bathroom, fun, i realized i forgot the book seats, but then i get a smoker next to me, while they cant smoke on the plane, the smoke smell remains, so stuck between nicotine and poop, i prefer the poop, lucky its a short flight.
next leg, to Boston, i get a middle seat and isle and window are a couple, so i get an upgrade to a window seat, perfect, this couple is also heading for Iceland.
leg 3, to Iceland, middle seat again, idiot me for not booking seats. this flight is on Icelandic Air and when boarding the plane, you get a bottle of Icelandic water and somehow the trip feels like it has already begun.
Landed 30 minutes early after 11 PM, so no views from the plane and waited for the rest. my luggage did not arrive, so has the bags of the other couple, bad connection. lucky i had most of the stuff in the carry on, after filling the forms, Shay arrived with his gigantic bag that can and perhaps does fit a corpse inside.My mom and Moti arrived a few minutes later, i passed through the red pass in customs for the 1st time ever, needed to declare that my missing bag contains nothing that shouldn't be there , got our car and headed out in short pants and a tee shirt to the Iceland night. not so bad I said, then 20 seconds later begun to shiver, till we reached the car. Shay the 'AppMan' found an offline map app and we reached our hostel an hour later where Amit was already waiting.
we set two clocks for wake up, both failed, no juice. Moti called from his hotel and had the hostel person give us a wake up knock on the door, probably a first in hostel history. we headed for their hotel to meet a son of their friend who works here, he arranged Sim cards for us and gave us a few tips and now it was time to head for the road.
before that, we stopped at a gas station for a quick breakfast. the gas stations are quite decent here and server as a tiny shop, like 7-11 but more fresh and very friendly. i tried a hot dog- and wow- i don't know what they do with the hot dogs here to make them so good, i got another one...
we headed north and east and I was pleasantly surprised by the hills, very black hill covered with green, the contrast was impressive and the drive fantastic. we reached our 1st national park at pingliver and parked 170 meters from the information center. we decided to go on a short hike, and now had to go back 170 meters to the car , get properly dressed, then go back 170 to the starting point. for an antsy guy like me, these delays drive me crazy, but eventually we began walking.
this park is on the connection of the tectonic plates, this is the line the crosses the Atlantic ocean and makes the continents drift and its the only place where you can see it, except the bottom of the ocean. Lava rocks all around and a nice green valley in between. this valley one day will grow and split Iceland in two, but for now it is still one island. the ocean reaches these parts and you can take a snorkel or dive just above the tectonic plates, we missed this tour, but you can still see the plates very clearly every where you look. we hike for a couple of hours , passed by an ancient farm, this terrain is hard to walk on and i have no idea what they grew here. pretty moss is everywhere. we reached a waterfall, one of many we will encounter in this land of water and headed back up the trail to the information center + 170 meters to the car. a nice hike to begin the day. after wards we drove to an explosion crater. this crater is former when a lava chamber underneath is emptied after an eruption and the mountain collapses inside, leaving a bowl like hole, called caldera.we hike around it, enjoying the pretty blue of the water in this crater pond and the many colors of the volcano itself. after hiking around the crater we hiked down and circled the pond then continued on our way for dinner. we stopped at a place called earth cooking where they use the natural steam for cooking without using electricity or natural gas. all but me tried the soups and like them and we had earth cooked fish which the rest like, and i found this cod fish a bit blend. we stoked up on groceries and headed east towards Vik. on the way we stopped at an impressive water fall. the track here leads behind the fall where you get a fun and refreshing fall spray in the face. this was close to sundown and we had some interesting photos. it was getting darker slowly and we passed by a movie production site where one traveler told us the tall guy from snatch is the star. assuming its Vini Jones, we stopped. my friends can recite this movie almost word for word.
ok. time to enjoy the last day... to be continued
Friday, August 9, 2013
on obstacles and other birds
woho, i almost forgot how to do this...
finally the semester is over, well not truly over, now its the nervous time of waiting for results, checking the results sites several time a minute.. I over did it this time and took 3 summer courses, usually i have 2 ever semester and now 3 and 2 of them larger than all previous ones, so far 2 are A and waiting on the last one. all this school with work and the little bundle of poop made for a very hectic few months. finally rest...
well, a lot of catching up on the important events of the past few months.
one afternoon i was watching outside the window and spotted a new bird under my bird feeder, new birds in my garden are not common any more, it was sitting on the bench with its back to me, excited I took my bird guide and searched all over and couldn't find it. this was a small robin sized bird with a blue back, but it wasn't a classic blue bird- perhaps it as a juvenile, those have different colors schemes then adult birds in general. without a find, i took a photo of the bird which was well mannered and didn't fly away. a few hours later i stepped outside and the bird was still there, unfortunately on the floor. so i was excited about a dead bird that perhaps died out of hunger just below the feeder, perhaps the squirrels killed her, would that make the other birds angry? well, this unknown bird got a quick bird burial in our trash bin. that week, a real blue bird made its debut appearance in my garden, so now i have a blue bird, red cardinal, yellow finch, black and white chickadee to make a color full display.
one time (at band camp) I was changing the little one and he started with a hungry cry, having just changed it i just zipped up his buttons without a diaper and set him on my lap for a feeding. when he feed , he relaxes, that when trouble comes. few minutes during the process i begin to feel warm liquid, well to late now, i keep feeding while my pants absorb the stuff, a minute passes and now its worse, a big bunch of #2 directly on me, and he keeps eating, well nothing to do now but keep feeding, and another minute and pee again this time with a nice spray on the carpet. nothing but fun and excitement.
note to self, staple dipaer to baby but! always.
last week i had to take a few hours to my self and do something i shouldn't do in my current couch potato shape (no need to pardon the pun) and went of a 6.5 obstacle course. about 150 people came for this Charity run, not sure what was the charity for. i quickly noticed that all of them were at least 2 of the following 3 younger/slimmer/ better shape than yours truly. after not running for over 6 months, i shouldn't have given my self a goal at all, but simply not pass out on the race, but i tried and found 1 guy bigger then me, there was 1, so my goal was not to finish last. they launched us in pairs , 10 seconds apart and the guy next to me is already 10 meter in front after about 5 seconds, i jog away slowly and try to maintain breath. the 1st obstacle is in a track field, jump over hurdles, i stop, walk over, till the next one, then run (walk) in tires crawl under a long net and jump (walk) over a bench, i continue running and already surprise myself for not stopping, i keep at it and reach obstacle #2, this one was fun, they had two cars front to front and i got to slide over the hood, action movie style, then run inside a bus. well the bus part was boring, they could have made it really serious obstacles if we would run in a real downtown city bus, some neighbourhoods are a true obstacle. then down the stairs and under a big bridge, the bridge has a lower level and we run on that level which is kind of unique but not a true obstacle, i stop half way up the bridge and begin walking, not bad stopping after 3 k, better then expected, the next obstacle on the other side was to climb a truck, well you climb over wooden planks, go over the truck and use a big rope net to get down the other side, then back up the bridge, up the stairs, in the silly empty bus and once again over the cars, and they didn't have a camera at that point!!! from this point race volunteers keep telling me i am almost at the finish, they must see my face and racers who pass me, keep saying good ob as they run faster then me, must be some new race etiquette, from the bridge onward i manage to run all the way back and really impress myself- running over 5 of the 6.5 K. well the obstacles could have been better, well , need to be better, but it was fun to do something different for a change. and my result- 53 minutes, not terrible, finished 1 before last in my age group and passed 6 people total, lets ignore the guy in front of me being 14 minutes!!! faster
about 3 weeks ago we went to blossom to see Simon and Garfunkel with the Cleveland orchestra (world renown as they like to say, though i must admit i never heard of them before). this wasn't really Simon and Garfunkel (i believe Garfunkel has lost his voice due too some illness) but these 2 guys doing a cover with the philharmonic , but still i like their songs and enjoyed singing along, till the little one decided to begin a philharmonic of his own and wouldn't calm down.
few months ago, i spent a few hours and re-did the vegetable garden, bought some seeds, and let nature take its course, well now we have some beans, tomatoes (not sure what is the purpose of those) and what appears to be a mango sized pumpkin, will see how large it gets in months to come.
well, those were the highlights, but now the 2 weeks of no schools, exciting things will happen, hope to resume regular pace
cheers
Thursday, July 25, 2013
turn around, shriek and bath videos for 111 days birthday
the link has some photos of vidoes of Matta's experiances on his 111 birthday
nothing special, just very very very cute
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
just flipping around
i don't know why he was so happy, you should have seen that grin, what did I do? he was changing my underpants and i decided to lay on my side, so what if that was the 1st time i did that? you know, since that day way in the past 2 days ago, i did it a few times more earning more smiles, i guess i will do it more often, i also turned from my stomach to my back a few times, that is hard work, they torture me by placing me on my stomach and watch me squirm, i push with one hand, push with the other and they just sit there and do nothing, i push harder to one side, but the other arm is blocking, why want these arms listen?
now that i started to turn, they call mu functional, i ways way functional before, isn't pooping a function?
i discovered something interesting, i can fit my whole hand in my mouth, next i will try to push my elbow, i wonder what it taste like.
i smile a lot now, all you have to do is say my name, and do it in a cute voice and i will smile back at you. i also talk now, but they still don't understand what i say, will that ever change? since i heard familiar telling paparazzi that she cant understand what he says.
i sleep in my own room now, finally, some people don't leave their caretakers house, i left their room at 3 months!, did you know i am 96 days old today! a big boy now, i now wear size 3 diaper, what is your diaper size?
i started grabbing things, but i don't do it often.
i am losing all my hair, i was born with lots of it, now i have a bold patch, will it keep falling off? will my hands also fall off? can someone explain this to me.
recently i was taken to somewhere new for a while, how exciting, first they put me in a big tube for a very long time and i was on familiar all the time so it was OK, i slept most of it. we left the big dark tube and there was lipstick, i didn't see her in a while and someone new was lifting me up , there we went to some other place where all these new people were looking at me, talking to me, do i know them? this place is strange and hot, every day i go out with familiar and lipstick , they put me in the stroller and off we go. they even took me to the biggest sink i ever seen, but they didn't wash me in it, i guess they didn't find a big enough soup, that sink was so big, even familiar went inside and left me in the stroller. because it was hot, they finally let me be without my clothes, just the diaper, whuuuuuuu, but after a few days we went into the big tube again and now i sleep in my bed, i get a strange feeling someone is watching me when i sleep.
well that is all for now, i will tell you more when i become more functional...
i hear videos of me are being uploaded to YouTube...
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
on stool sample and other crap
I crapped my pants! no , i am not shamed to admit it. in the beginning they they dressed me up in big under wear, some full body suit and over that another bigger body suit. not they have me in the big underwear, the smaller body suit and pants, they say i am a big boy, so now i crap my pants. did you know i grew another underwear size? life is exciting. but nothing is enough for them, i smile on occasion and they want me to smile more, i look at some cloth painting and they want me to start grabbing things, is nothing enough?
they took me to the bad place again, they got me naked once more and scaled me, then they rook a huge flash light and poked in my ear, without even saying anything, i cant hear light!. theyn they gave me few owwees , they shot me in my leg and my butt. wawaaawhy?
for some reason they are very interested in my poop, color , consistency, texture, why is poop exciting, is this why they collect it from me and store in special bags?
they say i am too fussy and i am allergic to some formula, so now they changed my food source to something paparazzi says stinks, i don't know what he means ,i don't smell it. if it stinks, why would you feed it to me?
everyone is confusing me, they talk to me in so many languages its hard to understand what they want, and none talk to me in my languages, can you tell them to decided?
they started doing ab works for me, they place me on my stomach and look at me while i try to roll around, almost made it once, perhaps paparazzi should do it with me, he needs it more than I.
i began to move on the floor, not crawling yet, just moving a bit.
did you know i got my passport, and a few days later paparazzi got his. we are going on a trip, is this a good thing or a bad thing? will i have my crib there?
I got a new baby sitter, never had one, will she be sitting on me? why would she do that?
well i passed my 2 months birthday, told you I was a big boy, sorry for not reporting earlier- something is wrong with my baby2blog app.
its been a while so here are some photos of me
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Stam yom shel tom (a furry tale)
I started writing this blog entry over a year ago, it was in my draft list since then since the situation changed at the time.
Tom was left at our door step about 12 years ago when he was no larger than a fist. we got Jerry (a white furry kitten) a month before and named it Jerry, so Tom was the natural and only name possible. as a baby (kitten) i took him to the nearby garden on my shoulder and even then when he saw a dog he would use his claws (on my shoulder..ouch).
Tom grew up and quickly became the master of the house over his rival (well not really) Jerry and the huge guard dog Honey (the same one that hides when thieves come). using his new found power to sleep on my pillow when I am in bed or not, walking on all the kitchen counters and mewing mewing to get someone to open the door outside.
i stopped writing this entry at the time since Tom got better, he had cancer and we decided to let him live, he was on the verge but fought on and lived, during the last 2 years he had several episode of partial blindness (related to sugar levels) and a few other unpleasant sicknesses. the question always came on whether to continue or not, we did.
Tom used to walk by me when i was taking the dog for a walk, he was scared at first, since the garden had some big dogs, but slowly he would venture further and further and would walk by me like a dog (till a real dog came, and he would climb a tree for safety)
tom was the kind of the hood, literally , he would fight with other cats and win, other cats moved away when he passed and some dogs were scared as well. i recall one time he was trying to hunt a raven. he climbed on the tree where the raven was sitting on the very edge of the smallest limb and tom would get close, then the raven would fly to another limb on the other edge of the tree , tom does not give up and runs to the other limb, but the raven is a tough prey and jumps to other edges of the tree (but does not fly to another tree), that was so funny, i wish i had a video camera at the time, he was chasing that raven across the tree with no luck. but he did have luck else where, with a few small but unlucky birds and mice, he would place them on the carpet for us to see like other cats do (well , the other cat didn't).
sometime, during repeat battles with other big cats there was a period of quiet, rest from a previous battle and Too and the other cat would pass each other on the street, each looking the other way- you don't see me and i don't see you kind of things, so cute.
Tom knew how to make international calls! he would go to the back and climb the window and trip the alarm, and the security company would call my mom where ever she is. imagine her in some other country getting a call about the cat wanting to get into the house.
few years ago we lost Jerry who died from smelling flowers, literally. but tom hung in there, sitting on his top perch in the front of the house surveying his kingdom. he remained king almost to the very end. in the last few months he began to weaken and suddenly our mighty battle dog began to take 1st pick at choice food.
on my previous visit a few months ago after not seeing him for 2 years , he recognized me right away and went straight for my lap mewing a lot and complaining on my absence.
with only 2 weeks to my next visit, i knew he wasn't well but hoped he would wait. his latest illness was related to warms, not pretty and a broken tooth, he got a shot and was supposed to be better but unfortunately he passed away , a proud aging lion king, liking the neighborhood Tom less.
enjoy Kitty heaven
May you always find a fresh open can of food
Friday, May 17, 2013
My Fellow Americans
a small chapter was closed today.
we went early this morning downtown , heading for the district court. the note said to be there at 8 and we left a bit late. i got into the court house 2 minutes late and the hall was already almost full. they explained the proceeding then they called us by name. I misheard the 1st name and ended up jumping the line, this part was just to hand in the application form. then an hour of wait wile the read of the rest of the names. then the judge came and try to find out where in the world we come from (none from Antarctica) and our ages and gave a nice little speech. the swore in came right after, the judge read the oath while we all held our right hand up, with an option to say or not to say i do. so after i married the constitution , they read the names once more to hand out the certificates, since i jumped the line before, they read my name right away, shook hands with the judge, signed up for vote, got a government cookie and that's it, a brand new citizen.
does Canada welcome new immigrants?
p.s- in the ceremony we met our neighbour, he and his wife becoming citizens too, on the same day, small world.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
on bills and smiles
baby report
what surprises came in the mail for me? i got my 1st letter, how exciting, guess what it was? yes, a bill. I don't have money but some how i owe money? what the pacifier is going on?. the next day something else came in. my birth certificate. now i am officially born, till now i was just an unknown. my social security came on the very same day. does this card provide me and security? no, does it speak, no, so its not social. i don't get this card, all it has is a number.
the caretakers took me to the library and didn't get me any reading book! well can't read yet anyway, but they did request for a passport book for me, I am taking a trip, not sure where, I hope they have food there, i get hungry often.
yesterday, they say i smiled for the 1st time, give me food when i want to and i will smile more!
today they intorduced me to a baby, tiny thing only 4 weeks old, not a mature 5.5 weeks like me, but i am not interested in girls, yuk.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
on a world record and voices
paparazzi perspective:
Mattan needed a diaper change, not a rare occasion these days, so i took him to the changing pad. the pad usually has some protective layer against mysterious spills. those shield was missing for a while after a prior "incident", and today it was returned to its former clean self. i placed the baby on the edge of the mat, while most of the protective shield was towards the bottom (pun intended). i snapped off some buttons, removed his legs from his leggings, removed the buttons on the shirt, took the diaper off, cleaned up, and then without any warning signs, without announcing whats about to come in audio or gas way. a stream of poo shot out, flying across the protective barrier , landing a foot away from the launch zone, this must be a world record. I was laughing so hard. then went back to cleaning.
Baby perspective:
i was napping, bothering no one, when i was taken against my will upstairs, placed a white material, then they opened the buttons, and its cold! what do you do when its cold, you can warm your self like I do, but they took my poop keeper too fast and instead of warming me, it flew away. why are they laughing at me, i am cold...wa wa wa.
they invented a new form of torture, they take this tube and put in in my mouth, bah, it taste like medicine, and now they do it 4 times a day, what is that yucky thing?
they decided to celebrate my 1 month birth day by taking me to the place with aliens. they got me naked again, put me on the scale, then gave me some food and teased me by putting me on the scales again, they don't have trustworthy devices? why twice?
more on the songs they sing to me- translation
"cake, cake, cake, in a circle we turn around. we will go around all day, till we find a spot. to sit, to stand up, to sit to stand up, to sit to stand up"
well i don't eat cake yet, so why be a tease? and why tell me about 3 of them? and decided , will you turn around till you find a spot, or all day? and you know i can;t stand up yet, or sit, whats the point?
you know i am getting fatter? I gained 2 pounds, what are they feeding me?
can you get the gas out of my food. after i eat this gas thing is inside my tummy, i have to work hard to get it out, not sure why it goes at different times from different places.
I am now 32 days old.
p.s
that paparazzi sings to me in a horrible voice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OMxDfTrXhE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgOfFy1NCL8
Sunday, April 28, 2013
on sleeping like a baby and poo water
I really don't understand my caretakers, they worked hard to give me a name, had a Rabi call it out loud, invited people to witness and now they keep calling me by other names, its very difficult to figure when they are trying to talk to me. they call me kushkush, mattanchuck, mattanush, pashosh, pashoson, package, a package with a package, full of shit, poopy, cutey and many others , you see how a baby can be confused!
they don't think i am clear enough and they decided to give me a bath. they covered me in clothes, then poor some yellow substance on my hair , and rinsed it off, what the point of putting something on me if you are going to take it off? then they amerced me in water and put this substance on me and right away took it off. the water felt like the womb, are they planning to send me back?
at first i was concerned about this water so in an attempt to delay this treatment, i pooped in the water. Familiar just replaced the water, late i peed in this pool, and again they replaced the water. my powers are useless against this tub. but I didn't cry, i am saving those for later while they sleep.
another song i want to translate.
our car is big and green, our car travels far, leaves in the morning, returns in the evening, delivers eggs and milk to the dairy farm.
well, our car is red, its not big at all, it doesn't travel by itself like the green car in the song, is that a magic car? and why would it deliver eggs and milk to the dairy farm, it should bring it FROM this place. and how do you get enough milk for a whole car, and a big car like this one?,is there a pumping matching for the entire city?
what does it mean- sleeping like a baby? does it mean waking out every 3 hours and not finding food right away? they are now taking me to loud places, a restaurant, a party and all i do there is sleep, they seemed to like it. not sure why these people dont eat from the bottle, they should try it.
i am now 24 days old
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