There's just a lot going on right now in the Olson household. It's "the Quarter" (1st quarter financial reports due for client this week) and Bart is working away, music recitals are coming up, Rachel started softball, friends/Bart's lead partner on the job are leaving at the end of the month, travel, anticipating the arrival of good friends in a couple weeks, Dr.'s appointments and various other meetings/school activities.
So many things. And a volcano. Which we think is probably the cause of the haze today. Has a different look than our 'normal' haze. Swiss Airports are still closed through 10pm tonight but may start some flights tomorrow morning. We have friends who are hoping their flight out to CA won't be cancelled tomorrow morning. Bart is hoping this won't disrupt business travel plans for next weekend to the States. Other friends/acquaintances are trickling in from the UK (business travelers) via the train. They are all going through Paris - I can't imagine the main Paris transfer station right now. It must be absolutely crazy.
A reminder that we are not in control. A time for patience and understanding. Still, it's a bit surreal that we've not heard/seen any airplanes today as we normally would - half the time, air traffic is routed 'around' Lake Zurich and even if you don't hear it, you see the planes.
Had good news from the Dr. this week. The MRI on my knee showed that the ACL (partially torn from skiing 15 yrs ago) is still intact, the meniscus is intact and there is just a bit of irregularity on a portion of the patella - a small lesion. Whew! And no osteo-arthritis evident which is great considering having prior surgery and age. No cure - just have to step up the muscle training (getting older so he said it will take more training than it used to - Ugh!) and take the Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplements for the cartilage health. So happy to have a non-surgical diagnosis but the recommended bicycling - where we live, not so "easy" to cycle. So it will take some effort to find out where I'm comfortable going. Too many narrow roads that cars and bikes share for me - or too hilly.
Well, the girls are after me to make Strawberry Smoothies. The stores are selling them by the flatload for cheap! right now. Cheap for Switzerland anyway. So we are 'strawberry loading' right now. Then off to start the weed pulling for Spring. And get ready for a good-bye dinner :(.
Hoping all is well in the part of the world you're reading this from. A favorite quote of the day:
Britain to Iceland: NO, we said "Send us your CASH."
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tenerife Jungle Park - Ricardo
Hola! My name is Ricardo:
Hola, American Lady.....
Do you have any little tidbit of fresh meat or legumes for me?
Are you suuuurrrrrrreeeee? Por Favor?
I fell in love with Ricardo and fortunately, Bart is not the jealous type. We parted amicably and Ricardo will live on in my photo memories.Crazy, crazy week - I even forgot to get Rachel to Quartet practice on Wednesday. Spring Break was long and we returned to a changed and very full schedule. More postings later.
Adios!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Tenerife - Spring Break 2010
Hola! In our effort to escape the cold winter we decided on the Canary Islands - specifically the Island of Tenerife - for Spring Break this year. It was certainly warmer than Zurich but overcast/hazy quite a bit. Nonetheless, we got some fun pictures and had a relaxing family vacation.
Tenerife (largest island of the Canarias) is part of Spain and located in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, just West of West Sahara & Morocco. The islands are volcanic and Tenerife boasts the 3rd largest volcano in the world from it's base, El Teide at 3,718 m (almost 13,000 ft above sea level). So, for the family who loves to spend their Hawaiian time in Kona (on the Big Island - home to Mauna Kea (tallest at approx. 4200m) & Mauna Loa (next at about 4080m)), it was great. It was interesting (at least to me) that much of the "volcanic vocabulary" from Hawaii has been adopted in other volcanic regions - they use the Hawaiian language for various lava flows and formations in Tenerife as well.
Another piece of trivia you may or may not care about - Tenerife's name is derived from the words for mountain & snow/white and Mauna Kea also means "white mountain." Did you also know that Mauna Kea is also considered the "tallest mountain in the world" when measured from it's base? It's taller than Mt. Everest (8840 m)! Think about how deep the ocean floor is there - over half the mountain is under water. This is how my brain works - lot's of sporadic info. that I will spill upon unsuspecting individuals in a dry and lecture-type fashion - a curse.
OK - enough of the geography lessons. The girls took plenty of pictures themselves:
El Teide seen from the Northern tip of the island - we stayed in the South. From the road we were on in the picture below, you would turn one corner and see one side of the island, turn the next corner and see the otherside - pretty awesome (and narrow - one lane - but very well maintained mountain road with solid barriers :) !).
View from the mountain road above Santa Cruz de Tenerife:
Playa las Teresitas:
This beach was made by importing approx. 4 million bags of sand in from the Sahara Desert. Needless to say, it was very fine and soft and the girls LOVED it. Most of Tenerife's beaches are a bit rougher - pebbles, black sand - the southern beaches are softer/lighter. We went along the black sand beach in El Medano as well - lots of crabs and stranded jellyfish to interest us on a cold, windy day.
Tenerife (largest island of the Canarias) is part of Spain and located in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, just West of West Sahara & Morocco. The islands are volcanic and Tenerife boasts the 3rd largest volcano in the world from it's base, El Teide at 3,718 m (almost 13,000 ft above sea level). So, for the family who loves to spend their Hawaiian time in Kona (on the Big Island - home to Mauna Kea (tallest at approx. 4200m) & Mauna Loa (next at about 4080m)), it was great. It was interesting (at least to me) that much of the "volcanic vocabulary" from Hawaii has been adopted in other volcanic regions - they use the Hawaiian language for various lava flows and formations in Tenerife as well.
Another piece of trivia you may or may not care about - Tenerife's name is derived from the words for mountain & snow/white and Mauna Kea also means "white mountain." Did you also know that Mauna Kea is also considered the "tallest mountain in the world" when measured from it's base? It's taller than Mt. Everest (8840 m)! Think about how deep the ocean floor is there - over half the mountain is under water. This is how my brain works - lot's of sporadic info. that I will spill upon unsuspecting individuals in a dry and lecture-type fashion - a curse.
OK - enough of the geography lessons. The girls took plenty of pictures themselves:
El Teide - you can drive around the entire mountain but we opted for half :).
The mountain cliff range known as Los Gigantes:
El Teide seen from the Northern tip of the island - we stayed in the South. From the road we were on in the picture below, you would turn one corner and see one side of the island, turn the next corner and see the otherside - pretty awesome (and narrow - one lane - but very well maintained mountain road with solid barriers :) !).
View from the mountain road above Santa Cruz de Tenerife:
Playa las Teresitas:
This beach was made by importing approx. 4 million bags of sand in from the Sahara Desert. Needless to say, it was very fine and soft and the girls LOVED it. Most of Tenerife's beaches are a bit rougher - pebbles, black sand - the southern beaches are softer/lighter. We went along the black sand beach in El Medano as well - lots of crabs and stranded jellyfish to interest us on a cold, windy day.But Playa las Teresitas was huge - a mostly sunny day - and warm. And very southern European.......
Plenty of time to play in the pool at the hotel as well:
And have fun at the nearby waterpark, AcquaLand:
The food was OK - not the same as some of our other trips when we can't get enough. We did enjoy this restaurant in Playa las Americas/Los Cristianos: girls loved the bolognese and Bart & I enjoyed paella.
On a superficial note: I'm glad the wind is blowing my hair above. It was humid there and my hair was a puffball all week unless I managed to tame it into a ponytail - yes, sometimes even a ponytail can be unmanageable. I got ready for church Sunday morning on our return and was so pleased to see my hair return to normal. Because I like looking "normal" in pictures - is that possible on vacations?
Plenty of time to play in the pool at the hotel as well:
And have fun at the nearby waterpark, AcquaLand:
The food was OK - not the same as some of our other trips when we can't get enough. We did enjoy this restaurant in Playa las Americas/Los Cristianos: girls loved the bolognese and Bart & I enjoyed paella.
On a superficial note: I'm glad the wind is blowing my hair above. It was humid there and my hair was a puffball all week unless I managed to tame it into a ponytail - yes, sometimes even a ponytail can be unmanageable. I got ready for church Sunday morning on our return and was so pleased to see my hair return to normal. Because I like looking "normal" in pictures - is that possible on vacations?More later - have some fun pic's from the Jungle Park and more of the Volcano. Adios!
Friday, April 02, 2010
We're Off....
Off for a week of family bonding and some warmth.....Ski rentals have been returned, ski clothes put away....definitely Spring Break in spite of our dusting of snow on April 1.
Happy Easter to all! Jesus is the Risen Christ and seated at the right hand of His Father in Heaven! What a relief that my imperfect efforts have nothing to do with my salvation - Believe. have Faith. the price has been Paid.
Bis bald!!!
Happy Easter to all! Jesus is the Risen Christ and seated at the right hand of His Father in Heaven! What a relief that my imperfect efforts have nothing to do with my salvation - Believe. have Faith. the price has been Paid.
Bis bald!!!
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Easter Bunnies - 2010
Although our household celebrates the true meaning of Easter - the resurrection of Jesus Christ - it seems that bunnies do invade.
They are in the house:
On the train:
Outside:
Everywhere you look:
The Lindt Goldhase (golden bunny) is everywhere. And very, very tasty.
I have a favorite chocolate this time of year - it's an Alpenmilch egg (milk chocolate) that is seasonal and quite delicious. We decided to color our own Eggs this year instead of buying them - guess I'd better get the water boiling............
SomeBunny loves you!
They are in the house:
On the train:
Outside:
Everywhere you look:
The Lindt Goldhase (golden bunny) is everywhere. And very, very tasty.
I have a favorite chocolate this time of year - it's an Alpenmilch egg (milk chocolate) that is seasonal and quite delicious. We decided to color our own Eggs this year instead of buying them - guess I'd better get the water boiling............ 
SomeBunny loves you!
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