Welcome Visitors

Welcome to my personal blog. I have another blog, Herbert's Place, but that one limits me to what I sometimes want to publish, because it is mainly used to promote my books. As it says in the header, I want to use this blog to write about things that have nothing to do with my books. There is no real theme here. I'll be writing about anything that causes me to either be happy or somethings that concerns me. It could be political, travel, a hobby, or anything else. So come and visit me sometimes.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Richard Grosshans got his PhD



We are very proud parents right now. Our son Richard finally got his PhD after years of hard work and studying. Richard has a PhD in Biosystems Engineering and Biological Sciences. He also is a Master of Science in Wetland Ecology and a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences.

Obviously, there is much more involved here than what I know. He is the Senior Research Scientist with iisd, which stands for: International Institute of Sustainable Developments. He’s been with that company for years now. His job requires him to go to conferences all over the world. Once he was at a conference in Denmark where Arnold Schwarzenegger was the key speaker. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also involved in environmental issues. Richard even got a copy of Arnold’s book; unfortunately, it was in Danish, but he treasures it anyway.

Anyone interest in reading more about Richard’s work, here is the link to his page at iisd: http://www.iisd.org/about/staffbio.aspx?bno=703
And here is the link to the company iisd: http://www.iisd.org

Congratulations, Son. We are very proud of what you have achieved.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

#Blackbird

It must be Spring, even though we still have three feet of snow in the backyard.  Yesterday I saw the first Blackbird in our bird feeder. Apparently, some people spotted geese already. I haven't. Don't these birds know any better than coming back so soon? Unless they know more than our weather forecasters. Perhaps Spring is already just around the corner. The calender says it is Spring, but looking outside it doesn't look that way.

Now it is time to think gardening. Yesterday I seeded 96 containers with pepper seeds. That 's right: 96 containers. We love peppers. Last year I started with my peppers in February, but by the time the garden was ready (I'm talking weather here and warm temperatures), the plants were tall and spindly. It is not really a big problem, because you can plant the stem deep, just like tomato plants. The part of the stem that is below ground will develop roots.

I saved seeds from my own peppers, but I also bought a few packages. I will still buy plants from the garden centers. The problem with saving seeds is that the different types of peppers will cross-pollinate and the resulting fruit won't be the original pepper. Last year I had quite a few Hungarian Hot Peppers which weren't hot. I suspect they cross-pollinated with the Sweet Banana Peppers growing next to them. That's why I still buy pepper plants.

I won't seed my own tomatoes this year and just buy what I need. Every year I promise myself not to plant so many tomatoes, and every year I plant too many. I just can't throw out the plants I grew myself, so this year only bought tomato plants. That way I can control it better. We had so many tomatoes last year, nobody wanted any when I offered them to friends and even family. Everybody had lots of tomatoes last year. I took a couple of huge pails full of beautiful tomatoes to the Soup Kitchen in Selkirk. They were happy.

Friday, March 21, 2014

#Mercure Playa De Oro, Varadero, Cuba

This place is also called #Coralia Club Playa de Oro, Varadero, Cuba.

We just came back from a two-week holiday at Mercure Playa de Oro in Varadero. We stayed there from March 4 to 18, 2014. Room 2119. This was our fifth time in Cuba. Every time we come back from Cuba we say: Never again! But Cuba is still the most economical place to go to, so we keep on going back.

Overall our stay was good. The beach, of course, is one of the best. They have lots of palapas and lounge chairs, but they did run out of lounge chairs a few times and we saw guests sitting in the sand. To get a good spot it is wise to get up early. The beach attendants were helpful and they work very hard to accommodate everyone. A tip goes a long way and they deserve it. The resort is planning to add a row of palapas, which will make it better. The lounges are hard and it helps to have a cushion. A blow-up mattress is also wonderful to have to make it more comfortable.

Here is a list of the positive things we found:
The beach restaurant is great to have near the beach. They serve barbequed food, mainly chicken and ribs. We did have shrimp four times in the two weeks we were there and they keep filling the pans. Dinner is taken in the main dining room and the selection of food items is good. Mainly pork and beef. We did get lettuce quite a few times in both restaurants, but only oil and vinegar for dressing. The pasta station is very good. Soup was good.
When you arrive there are eight large bottles of water in the room. Once they are used up, they can be refilled at the bars.
There are three elevators in the building we were in and they work.
Woollen blankets are supplied in the rooms to use at night for sleeping.
Mattresses were not bad. We always slept well.
The entertainment was fine, especially the water ballet.
They do come and fix problems quickly. (Our safe didn’t work at first. It was fixed within the hour).

Negative points:
The music in the lobby is too loud. You can’t spend an evening sitting in the lobby or near the bar relaxing, unless one enjoys ear-busting noise.
No ironing board in room.
Air conditioning in room cannot be controlled. Our room was always freezing cold. Not comfortable. We shut off the breaker and then the humidity was so high everything was covered with a film of dew. When we opened the patio door to bring in warmth, mosquitoes came into the room. One night we killed a dozen mosquitoes, and we still woke up with mosquito bites.
My wife and I both got a bad cold from the continued cold air blowing across the room. We did hear other guests coughing also.
No king or queen size bed. The two beds we had were too narrow for two people to sleep on. The mattresses were covered with a plastic sleeve, which made them noisy and cold to sleep on. We put towels under the sheet.
The shower leaked water all over the bathroom floor.
One day the maid forgot to put a pillow case over one of the pillows. Another time we didn’t get any towels. (Even we did leave a tip every day!)
No bathroom by the beach restaurant.
Main restaurant has bad acoustics and it is noisy. No air conditioning. It is hot and stifling inside.
Long line-ups at the pasta station and if a person wants to have fish or meat fried on the grill. Also long line-ups by the pool bar to get a drink and a hamburger, same goes for the beach restaurant. The last Sunday evening we had to wait ½ hour to get a table in the buffet restaurant, and that was at 8 o’clock. Supper starts at 6:45.
They also ran out of plates and cutlery most of the time.

It is a family oriented resort and there were many children. Some were well behaved and a few weren’t. We had a small group of kids running and chasing each other in the lobby in the evening, which we found annoying. One boy was swinging a tennis racket around, nearly hitting someone when the racket flew out of his hand. Some people may not be bothered by this, some will be. The resort cannot be blamed for that. It is the parents of these children who don’t seem to care about other guests.

We went to the International à la carte restaurant twice. We ate the shrimp dish, which was very good. The first evening a woman played beautiful music on the piano, but after an hour she quit and a guy sang on the stage. It was a bit loud and not as relaxing as listening to classical songs played on the piano.

We never went to the other two à la carte restaurants. One served only pizza and the other one was the beach restaurant, which was not closed in and they served meat grilled on a stick. We talked to other guests and they said it wasn’t good.

I got sick from the food I ate the last evening with a bad case of diarrhea. I believe it was one of the fish dishes. I thought those white pieces were scallops, because they looked kind of shiny, but it seems they were just pieces of slimy fish. That was the only time I got sick. A sleepless night and four Imodium pills fixed it. The next day, our day of departure, I ate only dry bread and drank water. What a bummer!

The weather was great the whole time we were there, but on our return flight it rained. We are very disappointed with the way our luggage was treated at the Varadero airport. They did not use tarps to cover the luggage, and when we got home, our clothing in both suitcases was soaking wet, ruining some of our things. Also, one of our suitcases was damaged. The handle can’t be pulled out anymore because of the bent rail it runs in. Now we have to buy a new piece of luggage. We contacted Sunwing and complained. Hopefully, they will reimburse some of the money it will cost for a new suitcase.

It was not a bad holiday for us, because the food was okay, the weather was warm with lots of sunshine, the water was warm. The room was not luxurious, but had it not been for the cold, it would have been fine, because we don’t spend much time in the room anyway. We don’t even know if the TV worked. We never turned it on. Besides, we didn’t find a remote anywhere, but that didn’t bother us. The beach was great, the people working at the resort were friendly and working hard to make us feel comfortable. Would we go back to this resort? Probably not, unless we’d get a super price. Maybe next time we'll try Cayo Coco again. A bit more expensive but possibly a bit nicer.

We booked and flew with Sunwing. We flew over Thunderbay, but we won’t do that again. Coming home, we sat for over one hour in the plane for it to be de-iced. The flight is too long that way. We didn’t care much for the sandwich we got on the airplane, either. I had to wait probably twenty minutes for my drink after I got my sandwich, because the pilot was demanding his supper. By then I was parched.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

We are back

It's been a while since I posted. There is a reason. We had enough of the snow and the cold and escaped for a couple of weeks. We went to Varadero, Cuba. Just came back a couple of days ago. We were lucky with the weather. Only one thunderstorm one night, the rest was sunshine and warm. The only downer was when we went home it rained. Unfortunately, those baggage handlers on the Varadero airport don't  seem to give a crap about the luggage of travelers. They left it out in the rain. Our clothing inside the suitcases was soaking wet. A bit disappointing. You'd think they have more respect for other people's property. After all,we travelers make their job a reality. The money we bring into the country pays their wages.

All in all, we had a nice holiday. We soaked up the sunshine, swam in the ocean, even got a little brown, and froze in our room, because the AC was running continuously. I'll be writing  a more detailed review later when I have more time.

As nice it is to get away, it is always nice to come back home, snow and everything. I am always grateful to live in a country like Canada where all things are possible. We have comfortable homes, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We have our nice yards and gardens, even mosquitoes, and we are able to buy almost anything we want, be it clothing or food. Or medicines. We take it for granted, but most of these things are not available in so many countries. Okay, we have to work for everything, nothing is really free (for some people it is, but I won't go there), but we have the opportunity to earn a descent living. I consider myself lucky to be here.

Here are some pictures just so you know what it looks like without snow:

Playa de Oro, Varadero, Cuba

The pool

The beach early morning

Enjoying a drink