Posts Tagged ‘family’
Mornings at Via Ventana
The first morning I woke up in the guest room at Vigen’s and Linda’s house, the sunlight painted a bright sun-window on the wall, like it did at my first visit on October 20th last year. This visual echo brought a sense of delightful continuity to my stay; it was as if the room welcomed me back with the same radiant greeting.
The roomy house, the beautiful view from the windows, the big bed, everything was so comfortable. When Vigen later asked me to give my niece his compliments and remind her that she and her family were welcome to visit – and that I should remind her that it was 1st class accomodations – I could not help smile and felt that this holiday stay, 3 weeks in these surroundings, with the possibility to visit family, and the opportunity to research the nature and history of the San Francisco Peninsula, was the best gift I could ever get.
As I have said, Malte, my son, and I visited Vigen and Linda in October, and back then Vigen complained that we only had one day when he could show us around. Now we had the opportunity to catch up, and we did.
In a different conversation about the visit, Vigen joked, ‘We may have created a monster,’ referring to a visitor who stays too long. However, I never really felt he meant it.
We mostly entered through the garage.
I rented a Dodge Hornet – a “muscle car” and thus the Casco insurance was quite stiff, but alternatively the Avis clerk offered me a Cadillac, even though I had asked for a small car class C.
Long time no see
Here are some – only some – pictures from the 3 weeks in San Fransico. I really would have loved to make a summary as the first posting, but I have been ill and there were lots of other obligations.
Jeg har slet ikke fået gennemset og redigeret alle 500 billeder fra de tre uger i San Francisco.
Her er billeder fra de første par dage + et par billeder fra påsken.
Ask for comments – I will add as soon as I can. Right now I have a pain in my butt from sitting down too long 
I will probably add more captions later.
Januar gik godt
Nytårsaften var ligesom julen en trepersoners ting. De første dage i det nye år havde jeg aftaler med nyreafdelingen, som for 6 år siden sendte mig videre til Hæmatologisk Afdeling og sagde at man godt kunne kurere mig.
Det var det skønneste snevejr.
Den 3. Januar blev jeg så sendt hjem fra Nyreafdelingen med besked om at alt er godt og at nyrefunktionen er blevet bedre – det vidste jeg godt, jeg har lært at læse kreatinin-tallet, men nyreafdelingen har andre målinger, som giver et mere præcist billede. Mens UnderLægen var inde hos OverLægen for at spørge om det var rimeligt at afslutte de halvårlige kontroller og overlade til den almentpraktiserende læge, lavede jeg lidt strækøvelser og tog en selfie.
Efter at jeg havde købt ind i Rema og var kommet hjem, begyndte det igen at sne, meget tynd sne og kraftig blæst, så en af mine havestole væltede. Nogle gange føler jeg at mit hus ikke er så solidt som det burde være – det knager i taget når det blæser. Min barndom i en 1932 etage-ejendom ved Peter Bangsvej var helt anderledes solid.
Men det vigtigste er at helbredet er i orden.
Senere skulle jeg så til konsultation for eventuel hofteoperation, men det er en anden historie.
Den sødeste juletid – i tilbageblik
Se de små solsorte: De var så glade for de nedfaldne æbler. Træet, Ingrid Marie, var fuldt af æbler og jeg plukkede kun de flotteste, det blev til 5 poser med ca. 3 kg. i hver.
Min lille familie består kun af fem personer, og de to var syge – så det blev en jul med min søn, Charlotte og mig. På vej derover tog jeg en flaske god rødvin med som værtsgave, men da jeg ville lægge den i min taske, ramte jeg ved siden af og den faldt på gulvet og gik i stykker. 3/4 liter vin røgu ud over gulvet i bryggerset, som jo heldigvis har afløb. Jeg var i god tid, og ringede og forklarede at jeg blev forsinket. Jeg samlede glasskår op og tørrede op så godt som muligt. Senere, hjemme igen, fejede jeg igen for glasskår, nu var der tørt, så der kom mange flere. Endda dagen efter fangede jeg endnu nogle små stykker ude ved væggen og under opvaskemaskine osv.
Af en eller anden grund synes jeg det var den bedste jul nogensinde.
Når man tager i betragtning at jeg kun skal passe på mig selv og den meget lille tilbageværende familie er det egentlig mærkeligt at jeg ikke har fået skrevet flere historier her, og heller ikke har været så aktiv på andre sociale medier. Jeg tør godt sige at det hænger sammen med at jeg meget let bliver forkølet, immun systemet er ikke, hvad det har været. Julehilsener var vigtigere end bloggposter.
Men når jeg får rigelig med søvn og lidt motion, så har jeg dog 3-4 timer om dagen, hvor jeg fungerer rigtig godt.
De bedste timer går med at øve klaver, husholdning. Resten går til indkøb, helst en times gåtur, og hvad man nu ellers laver. Og nu skal der skrives lidt igen om de store og små ting.
I need to make some permanent content
But for now I have added a bunch of family pictures (for all to see, but mostly for my family) on a page which you can reach here:
https://dax2.wordpress.com/about/linda-vigen-denmark-july-2023
I intend to move this and other references to pages to the “about” page.
BTW my use of WordPress has been a good and stable experience which I would recommend to all who need a website with informations. But You would perhaps do well in saving all your manuscripts and pictures in a backup, USB harddisk or such.
The last 3 legs
The trip from SFO to CPH is really not interesting – the second leg was cancelled and we had to rebook so there was two more flights from Amsterdan to Copenhagen instead of a direct plane. However, it only cost 2 or 3 hours, so we were home and safe in the evening.
The most moody pictures to me are the last picture of the rental car (first in this series:) a Chevrolet Malibu which turned out to be a marvellous comfortable car, bye bye. It was so easy to return the car, just drive into the return-queue and get an OK from the lady there – then walk away! Of course it is because Avis had our credit card and could manage payment later. Which they did, not a problem, fair price, excellent documentation.
The “Air Train” – unmanned metro – took us to the main building of the San Francisco International Airport, SFO, and then we got boarding pass (I don’t remember how) and found the gate — THAT was a long long walk. But even if I had to stop 3 or 4 times I managed. The rest of the story is just sitting and eating in a cramped space on a plane.
All good things come to an end
On the last day of our visit our host took us to visit the Armenian Cross in the middle of San Francisco, it was a steep walk, but worth it.
Then we visited the famous CostCo and some superwine store with all sorts. But the last visit at the Computer Museum of Silicon Valley was thought provoking, suffice to say that the curators were painstakingly aware that the complex development which has led to modern tech is about to disappear if we don’t realize that digital storage has a very limited lifespan.
We drove back through Los Altos Hills, something I really enjoyed, and had 5 o’clock tea in the kitchen – I got the best but unfortunately a bit blurred picture of Malte.
Back home, when Vigen wanted to say something nice he began “All good things must come to an end”, and a thought darted into my mind, we are in the short end of life. So apparently I made a small jerk. Vigen helped me come past that thought – we must live while we are living, sounds selfevident?
However, what Vigen really wanted to say was that it had been a nice time and – actually I think we were good company and became closer friends. And that perhaps it would be a good idea to stay longer. I promised to find a solution – that is, come again.
WordPress har indlæg og artikler
eller postings and pages
Her er et link til en page, som er nogle billeder fra vores besøg hos grand cousin Linda and Vigen, en rundtur i San Francisco og en biltur til min kusine Catherines 75 års fødselsdag i Los Angeles.
Donald & Malte in Los Angeles, Pasadena
In Los Angeles my Cousin Catherine let us have her flat, she “survived” by visiting her son and daughter in law, so we had the flat for ourselves. It is a nice flat and she had stuffed the fridge with everything you could wish for. In the morning she came and made sure we were well, then she had some business with her newly appeared book, so we had the day and our rental car and could see whatever we wanted. Malte suggested we visited the Norton Simon Art Museum, which turned out to be the best experience in Los Angeles.
The Norton Simon Museum’s Hindu section is a must-see for anyone interested in Indian art and culture. It is a place where visitors can learn about the rich history and traditions of Hinduism and experience the beauty of its art.
Of course you can use days in such a big city, but we actually like to go easy, walk where there are no tourist attractions and just see how people live. And the neighborhood of Catherine’s apartment was such a residential area with many beautiful houses in quiet alleys, and the Glendale High, where her children had gone to school.
The trip to Pasadena is very short, and the Museum has a large parking lot, where the car could stay while we visited – and also afterwards when I optimistically tried to find a music-shop in Pasadena.
Vi lånte min kusines lejlighed i Los Angeles. Hun bor i Glendale, et boligområde med flotte villaer og dobbelthuse med lejligheder. Mandag d. 23. Oktober vågnede vi tidligt, som man gør når man sover et fremmed sted, og gik en lille tur inden vi kørte til Pasadena og besøgte Norton Simon kunstmuseet.
Vi fandt en musikforretning på GoogleMaps, Community Records. Jeg tænkte – over-optimistisk! – at jeg nok skulle kunne gå den kilometer, – men desværre blev smerterne i hofter og knæ trætte, efter at vi havde fundet den lille forretning med vinyl – genbrugs-musik. Den var iøvrigt lukket, men vi fik jo så også set på alle de andre sjove forretninger.
Bentøjet blev værre på hjemturen. Broen henover en bred motorvej, måske 200 meter bred, virkede på mig som en uendelig lang bro. Heldigvis var der et par store sten ud for en forretning med dyre biler, som jeg kunne sidde og se på, mens Malte tålmodigt ventede.
—
It is fun to reflect on the experiences from this trip, almost day by day. There’s a heightened sense of awareness when exploring new places, where each encounter becomes something to be remembered, if not for life, then until the next visit.
Los Angeles first day, shopping and birthday
Highlights from our trip makes me smile, especially when seeing the daily life of Americans together with my cousins.
While Catherine in Los Angeles is my closest cousin, Linda, Tom, and Jim, – Dena, and Iren are considered second or grand cousins, but the immense affection they showed us makes me believe that the value of family in Denmark is often underestimated. There’s a special connection when we spend time with individuals with whom we share a history of more than 10 years, isn’t there? I also have cousins in Denmark who have been incredibly supportive of my family. They defended my mother against my father’s actions and empathized with her experience of essentially being a single mother in a country distant from her family.
So perhaps it is the migrations of the Armenians, originally rooted in the Middle East, which holds significant weight when we gather. As my Armenian family, now true Americans, are aware of this history, our meetings across continents take on a celebratory tone, where we set aside any past sufferings.
The pictures are as follows: Row 1-2 visit to shopping center “Americana” in Los Angeles
Row 3-5 the evening same day, when my cousin celebrated her 75 years birthday.
Californien – Anden dag, Triple X
The first evening we were invited to a dinner with an Armenian Group in Palo Alto. What a nice dinner and such nice people. They are a “Chapter” of a movement from the beginning of 1900’s – there were also progromes in the late 1800-s and Armenians began migrating, some to Los Angeles, some to Fresno. After the Turks murdered ca 1½ million Armenians in the Mediterranean area, the genocide of WW-1, the students in America gathered to support each other.
In 1918 the Triple X Fraternity was founded in Fresno, CA by eight high school students of Armenian descent. They were not allowed to join other student clubs because of racial discrimination. The young men hoped to one day have 30 members. Today the Trex Fraternity has 12 chapters in California and one in Nevada. To learn more visit TrexFraternity.com
https://www.pbs.org/video/armenian-trex-fraternity-celebrates-100-years-lxktjf/
The movement spread. It is about helping people, helping each other. One group near Fresno says:
With a proud history of being Armenian by descent, the Triple X Fraternity, Sequoia Trex Chapter was established in 1950 to promote charity, benevolence, and social culture in the local community and worldwide missions.
https://www.sequoiatrex.org/
The next day, Friday 20th, my grand-cousin invited us on a grand tour through San Francisco in all its variation, from the splendid “Botanical Garden”, part of Golden Gate Park, — which is impressive, think of a barren field made into a park in 100 years! — and to a “vista” of the Pacific, the Presidio Park overseeing the Bay, and Golden Gate, and most of the downtown skyline, and much more.
The tour ended with a splendid dinner at a chinese restaurant where we got same service as President Obama!
Søndagstur blev også til et lille møde med den lille familie – vi er tre
Jeg går ikke så godt og sidste uge var det værre end det plejer. Jeg har en idé om at det er et anfald af urinsyregigt, og lægen havde anbefalet dobbelt dosis medicin for en stund. Men søndag var det altså bare sindssygt ømt. Alligevel kan jeg gå, det kan bedst beskrives ved små skridt og meget langsomt, passe på balancen, tage nogle billeder, gå videre … langsomt.
Somme tider tror man at det hjælper at tage store skridt – NEJ. Og heller ikke at gå hurtigere, smerterne bliver så store at man har svært ved at holde balancen. Man == jeg.
Men afsted kom jeg, 1½ time for 3 eller måske 4 km med mange stop undervejs.
På tredie billede kan du se at Malte er ved at komme op ad bakke ved HeatherHill skrænten. Hvis man ser godt efter kan man lige se det øverste af en ny nedstyrtning af skrænten.
Skriv løs 