 
I enjoy learning right along with my daughters. Because I homeschool them, I study topics I most likely would have bypassed if I wasn’t teaching. For the past few years, we’ve studied an historical era in-depth. We’ve covered ancient Egypt, Greece/ Rome, medieval/ Renaissance, and this year we’re taking on the Viking era.
At the end of our studies, I’ve taken the children to museums or faires to make the history come alive. After learning about Greece, we visited the Getty Center in Los Angeles and enjoyed seeing a special exhibit about children of Greece and their toys. At the end of our Renaissance unit study last year, we visited the Southern California Pleasure Faire, a Renaissance re-enactment. It was fun watching the artisans create drip candles, hair decorations, glass ornaments, signs, more. We didn’t get to the Rosicrucian Museum as planned to see Egyptian artifacts, but I have taken the girls to The Museum of Man in San Diego to see Egyptian and Peruvian mummies.
Today we studied something interesting—Viking Picture Stones or Image Stones from Gotland, an island in the Baltic sea off the southeast coast of Sweden in Scandinavia. The Ekeby Stone found in Gotland is a piece of art. Craftsman from about AD 1000 etched pictures into the stone. The remaining is actually a remnant of the original carving. It was recarved into a tomb chest.
The Vikings, like other ancient cultures, loved storytelling. The Icelandic Sagas were passed down by oral tradition for many centuries before they were written down. Some of the supernatural and fantastical tales were depicted in the Image Stones. Very few exist today because, through time, the etchings weathered. Other images from the stones were cut and placed in churches or homes. Most of the best remaining Picture Stones are in museums.
I’d like to read some of the translated Icelandic Sagas so I can learn more of the Viking mythology and thinking. I’d love to view many of the Image Stones and learn more about them. To see these, I’d have to travel to Sweden to The Historical Museum of Gotland; the National Museum of Antiquities in Stockholm; or the museum at Bunge, northern Gotland.
Wouldn’t you like to travel to Sweden to see the Gotland Picture Stones? I sure would!
http://www.gotmus.i.se/1engelska/bildstenar/engelska/picture_stones.htm |
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  Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA, courtesy of Wikipedia My photo: Palace of Fine Arts. c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen While in San Francisco recently, I decided to make time to see The Palace of Fine Arts. It’s an amazing assemblage of pillared buildings, resembling something from ancient Greece, or Italy. Since I’ve never traveled to Europe, this is the closest I come to seeing buildings with some real substance and beauty, like the Parthenon or Coliseum. Someday, I’d love to tour Europe.
Architect Bernard Maybeck designed the Palace of Fine Arts to be a "valentine for San Francisco." It was created as a part of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), a gigantic world’s fair, rivaling in beauty our world’s fairs today. It took place February 20th until December 4th, 1915.
The PPIE was constructed on a 635 acre site in San Francisco, part of the Presidio now known as the Marina. It took 3 years to complete. It was a celebration of the recovery of San Francisco after the devastating 1906 earthquake, the completion of the Panama Canal, and the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Pacific Ocean by explorer, Vasco Nunez de Balboa.
An amazing building was constructed especially for the exposition. I wish it was still in existence. The Tower of Jewels would attract a huge crowd today, don’t you think:
The Tower stood over 40 stories tall, and was covered with 102,000 pieces of Austrian crystal or cut glass weighing almost 20,000 lbs. Every crystal hung from a hook and had a small mirror hanging behind it. Each was one of five colors; canary, white, ruby, emerald, or aquamarine and would swing in the breeze, reflecting sunlight during the day, and illuminated with spotlights at night. See this weblink
The Tower of Jewels. The Fountain of Energy is in the foreground (water not running) and underneath the arch you can see the Column of Progress in the background.
Photo taken from Frank Morton Todd, The Story Of The Exposition; Being The Official History Of The International Celebration Held At San Francisco In 1915 To Commemorate The Discovery Of The Pacific Ocean And The Construction Of The Panama Canal. (New York & London: Published for the Panama-Pacific international exposition company by G.P. Putnam's sons, 1921) Volume 2, page 263. Most of the buildings at the PPIE were not constructed to last more than a year, or so, as they were built with a wood base covered with a flimsy, plaster/ burlap-like material, called “staff.” Fortunately, The Palace of Fine Arts was not taken down by the fair’s end. In 1963, it was completely reconstructed. More than 50,000 cubit yards of rich, Sacramento soil was applied atop the sandy soil on the Exposition site, so that more than 30,000 plants could grow. You’ll have to read this complete article for yourself to see what incredible planning went into designing the PPIE. Some snippets from the article: GE designed the overall illumination scheme, which involved thousands of carefully hidden colored spotlights, giving the buildings a magical glowing look in the evenings.
Another lighting strategy used at this fair was the "Scintillator" -- a barge that floated out in the San Francisco Bay, packed with 48 beaming searchlights, that projected seven colors of light up into sky. This backdrop was made even more amazing by a locomotive positioned on a platform on the Bay, generating steam for the lights to reflect from. Every state in the Union had a building representing them at the exposition. Some states designed traditional conservative buildings, while some tried to use more of a flair for the original by designing buildings that conveyed a sense of what their state represented. For example, Oregon's state building was a replica of the Parthenon -- but instead of Greek marble pillars, they substituted 48 huge redwood trunks, one representing each state in the Union.
These other buildings and displays were beautiful, too. Click-on the links to see them: Image Gallery (fine display of black/ white images) Sculptures Fountain of Energy Palace of Machinery The Ohio Building Attractions and exhibits at “The Zone”—Mexican musicians, a dwarf couple, hula dancers, Cowgirl Dorothy It’s so fascinating to read what visitors saw at the Palace of Varied Industries. Here’s a short list of exhibits: The actual Liberty Bell, on loan from Philadelphia The daily news typed on a giant Underwood typewriter A paper-making exhibit included a display of the material used, with a miniature beating machine, press, and dryer. A Singer sewing machine creating reproductions of images like Old Faithful geyser; and Venice, Italy. The sewing machine also demonstrated newfangled techniques for the day like “blind stitching, another operating four needles at once for stitching toe caps on shoes, a canvas-sewing machine that could make about 500 stitches a minute, a straw-braid machine that ran seven times as fast, and a sack-sewing equipment capable of almost human performance.”I would like to return to The Palace of Fine Arts and take time to look inside the rotunda. I missed going in the dome and to another area in front; thus, missing some amazing classical-style murals. I’ve only been to one World’s Fair in Vancouver, Canada, 1986. Have you ever been to a world’s fair? |
Family portrait—enjoying the blasting wind as our tender to Belize flew through the waves. Picture of my husband and I and 3 daughters.--Photo by a employee on the tender, Belize, 2005
I home-educate three daughters, teaching grades 4, 6, and 7. Today we joined a couple other homeschooling families on a geology hike in Tepusquet Canyon, near Santa Maria, California.
It took about a half hour to reach Carmen’s home in the canyon. Our area of the central coast is known for many agricultural products. We saw fields of strawberries, head lettuce, and vineyards. Sometimes I had to pass tractors and other loaded-down trucks going pretty slow. The wine grapes are being harvested about now. I stopped to take a photo of a row of luscious dark grapes, the leaves already turning russet, gold, and light brown. Fall colors—ah! I love this time of year, as the air is crisp. Even the clouds look brighter set against the hillsides; the shadows the clouds cast on the hills are a photographer’s delight.
As we headed toward Tepusquet Canyon, we noticed a few wineries, some offering free wine tasting and tours. I’d like to take a wine cave tour sometime. I guess some of the hillsides are carved into and the wine stored subterraneously.
The road narrowed as we headed into the gap. We finally got to a wood post listing about ten addresses. Carmen told me to climb that one-lane road to the top. It was scary! We had zilch clearance along the road. It was the road and the cliff edge, and that’s all she wrote! One false move and we’d find ourselves airborne down the mountain. My girls got a little bit of the “heebie-jeebies” seeing the precipitous drop below.
Once at Carmen’s, we enjoyed a tour of her 10 acre spread. She has ducks, goats, bantam roosters, fruit trees (apples, avocados, lemons), grapes, and an herb/ vegetable garden. Carmen graciously took about an hour to teach me much about her garden. She orders heirloom-variety seeds. Her heirloom cauliflower was so beautiful—not just a standard white head, but multi-colored. She gave me a sample of some of her sage, rosemary, and a geranium. I also took home 8 beautiful lemons.
The other homeschool family arrived and we began the geology hike. Carmen is pretty knowledgable about rocks. She showed us some rock layers (mostly limestone and iron ore), rocks with crystalline formations, more greenish-toned rocks. I took home quite a few samples. My oldest daughter, Shivan, almost stepped on a baby rattlesnake in the road. She stepped over it, realized it was a snake, turned around, and sure enough it was. We all kept some distance from the snake. It looked dead, but it wasn’t. Carmen threw some dirt on it, but it didn’t move. She said it was probably playing dead.
I enjoyed talking to Carmen. She told me stories about the many mountain lions in the area. She saw two deer run in opposite directions from a mountain lion once. She said they’re not nocturnal, but come out day or night. She shared a story about a man she knew who saw three mountain lions at one and one went into someone’s mobile home. The domestic cat about flipped-out and ran out of the mobile home when the mountain lion entered. The two dogs just stay put and stared at it. I guess no human was at home.
We enjoyed lunch together. Carmen peeled an avocado from one of her three trees (each a different kind of avocado, I think). She gave her children some potato salad and avocado halves. She showed me her sauerkraut maker and ladled some out for me to try. It was delicious. She is very health-conscious and showed me her nutritional books, including one that showed how the Western diet has ruined the health of many native tribes. The teeth of the African tribe, for example, were beautiful, white, no cavities. After introducing white flour and sugars, the teeth deteriorated over time, many missing and decayed teeth. It was an eye-opener for sure.
Carmen gave me some nutritional tips, thinking I should add coconut oil to my diet. I noticed she takes flax seed oil. Someday I’ll talk to her about her diet, as she does look like she has glowing health. I am pretty healthy, but do want to change my diet and hopefully, cure my diabetes, if possible. Also, I want to healthfully lose weight. The Chinese soup diet I’ve been on has really helped, but I could use other helpful tips.
So, all in all, I enjoyed the time with my homeschool friends today. It was a lovely Fall day, great to be outdoors and rockhound, see all the vegetation, and feel the perfectly-warm California air.
Have you been enjoying Fall? Doing anything special?
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Anyway, back to Danielle Steel. She is one writer who's made it big. I read she's sold more than 520 million copies of her novels worldwide. She's written more than 70 books.Her home overlooks the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz and the Presidio. She lives not far from others who’ve made it big as actors, politicians, corporate bigwigs, musicians, and the like: Don Johnson (star of the popular 80's t.v. series, Miami Vice), Senator Dianne Feinstein (democratic U.S. senator from California), Paul S. Otellini (Intel Corporation's fifth Chief Executive Officer and is a director for Google), Donald G. Fisher (founder of The Gap clothing store), and more. Her home is also near the home made famous in the movie, Mrs. Doubtfire (1993).Haven't
you ever drove through a wealthy neighborhood and wondered who lived in
the homes and how they acquired the wealth? I learned quite a bit by
taking the bus tour and seeing whose home belonged to whom. One can
take such tours in Hollywood, too, and see where celebrities live. I must admit I’ve never read a Danielle Steel book all the way through. After seeing her home and reading critiques of her books and learning more about her life, I’d like to check-out a few books and analyze why they’re so successful. The romance novel genre isn’t one I’ve invested time. I like classic American novels by Ray Bradbury, Jack London, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ann Morrow Lindbergh, Willa Cather, more.
Do you read romance novels? What kind of novels do you like? |
U.S. Transplant Games, 2005 Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen On Saturday, we'll attend a special party near Los Angeles. Athletes and family members of Team USA- Southern California will enjoy a happy afternoon re-meeting one another, enjoying some appetizers, and seeing photos and slideshows of the time at the U.S. Transplant Games in Louisville, Kentucky last summer. We'll meet at the historic Valley Inn in Sherman Oaks , California. The restaurant displays many photos of celebrities who've eaten there through the years. The owners cater the food for our team. Celebrities (comedian) George and Ann Lopez sponsored our team. I hope we can meet them personally, as we only saw Ann in passing at the transplant games. Two of our girls, Shivan, 12; Lindsea, 9, received gold and silver medals at the games. Shivan earned a gold and silver medal in swimming. Lindsea came home with two silvers-- swimming and bowling. After nearly dying while awaiting heart transplants, it's such a boost for the girls to feel healthy and participate in such athletic games. They've attended the U.S. Transplant Games last year and the World Transplant Games in London, Ontario, Canada in 2004. We hope to raise enough funds for the girls to attend the World Transplant Games in Bangkok, Thailand in 2007. I pray that in years to come researchers will make more headway into finding means to keep transplanted hearts healthier longer. A bigger hope is that with all the stem cell technology and genetic science studies, transplants can perhaps be averted altogether. It's amazing that our girls received a donated organ and are doing so well. Many die waiting for transplants because there aren't enough organs to go around. What do you think about organ donation? Would you ever consider being an organ donor? Find out how to become an organ and tissue donor Donate Life website |
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Photo of Alcatraz prison medical regulations I saw this photo while touring Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary near San Francisco. It tells all the do's and don't's inmates paid heed to concerning their medications. Well, today, my husband heard from a cardiologist what he can and can't do in regards to his health. For Ken, it must feel like a whammy, as he's been a serious coffee drinker for decades. He was told to ELIMINATE COFFEE from his diet. That, and he CAN'T have chocolate or caffeinated sodas. Ken learned to drink loads of coffee while in the military for 26 years. The guys practically guzzled-down coffee day or night while on various shifts, and smoked cigarettes. Ken stopped smoking on his 40th birthday, but kept drinking lots of coffee, even after military retirement. It's just a habit to drink the brew throughout the day. He's halved his coffee ration since leaving the Air Force, but still drinks a "healthy" 10-20 cups a day. The doc said to cut coffee out altogether. I went to the cardiology appointment with Ken today, as I was quite concerned about the possibility of him receiving a defibrillator. When the doctor heard me ask the question about coffee, it was like a lightbulb went on. He wondered why he hadn't questioned Ken about his coffee intake before, as he usually does ask patients about caffeine use. He said that too much coffee can cause caffeine toxicity. It will take about 2 weeks to convince the body that no more caffeine is present once he stops drinking it. It's a good thing I mentioned the coffee, as the doc was going to add another medication, but he decided to see how coffee withdrawal will affect his heart. Isn't it something how our diet can affect our body-- positively or adversely? When I started making a Chinese spinach soup, my blood glucose dropped considerably, enough so that the doc said not to come in for a diabetic check until near Christmas. I need to get back on the diet and exercise program that made me feel so good. I hope that Ken feels a whole lot better after detoxifiying his body from caffeine. I'm sure he'll get a terrible headache from withdrawal. It looks like we'll have to start drinking chamomile tea or green tea around here now. We've never been much to frequent Starbuck's, but it will alter our morning routine to just have an alternate beverage. The nice smell of coffee won't fill the air. I can still fix coffee, but will probably wait to have my cup or two until after Ken leaves for work. That would be Chinese torture to indulge in the typical morning ration while Ken must go without. Have you ever had to give up something you enjoyed drinking or eating?  |
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Photo of my son, Glenn, displaying his "Celebrating 21" artwork. Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen
Much joy and laughter left the house when Glenn left home. He brings much happiness to others as he has a great sense of humor and charismatic personality. His name, Glenn Isaac, means valley/ laughter. I even named our homeschool after him, "Valley of Laughter School." I home-educated Glenn in 5th and some of 6th. My three daughters wanted to keep the same homeschool name. Glenn is a college student at Cal State Long Beach, my alma mater. He's majoring in Japanese and International Business. Glenn wants to someday work either in Japan or in California with Japanese businessmen. His fiancee is half-Japanese and a wonderful lady, majoring in child psychology. Let me tell you a little bit about Glenn growing up. First, he made a grand entrance into the world-- weighing 10-1/2 pounds and stretching-out at two feet tall. He grew up into a strapping 6'4". He was a football captain and played both defensive and offensive lineman. He also received a letter in swimming and was a pretty good butterfly stroker. His high school class voted him in as junior class president at the Catholic school he attended (he was Protestant). Later on, the administration impeached him and his best friend (long story there, but it wasn't deserved). In high school, Glenn and friends formed a band, Tin Teardrop (click-on that link to hear some of the music). The music was a combo of various sounds-- rock, jazz fusion, and alternative. I miss hearing the guys jamming in Glenn's bedroom--the nice guitar sounds filtering through the walls as I worked on the computer. Sometimes they toned-down the music, so neighbors weren't disturbed, and they'd play until late at night. When Glenn was young, he loved Lego's. My husband designed a drop-down platform over his bed, so he wouldn't lose his creations and could keep working on them, but have no little Lego pieces all over the floor. I hold an earlier memory of Glenn sitting on a trail in Alaska, refusing to walk any more. He didn't like the long trail where we observed musk oxen. Now flash-forward 10 years. Glenn became a boy scout and almost made Eagle, but football and all the other extracurricular events took-up his time. Plus, his troop had disbanded and he didn't want to start-up with a new troop elsewhere. My daughter, Alaina, now has Glenn's old room. She hasn't taken down the wall with hundreds of photos Glenn glued on. It brings back old memories of Glenn whenver I go past Alaina's room. Glenn is super-busy nowadays trying to combine work with school. We don't see him or hear from him much, as he is swamped. He has an interesting job working with attorneys, finding witnesses for trials. I thought I would end with the way Glenn parts from his friends. It reminds me of the 60's all over again, but he doesn't give the peace sign. He just says, "Peace." |
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The Friesen girls My three daughters are budding conservationists. They recently joined 4-H and are learning how to compost and create a worm bin. We'll work together to create a community garden, sell some of the worm compost at a farmer's market, and work with horses (even the horse manure will be put to good use in composting). So far we've met some wonderful people in the 4-H group, mostly composed of fellow homeschoolers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today's happenings: I finally got the grit off my body. Today Ken and I took two loads to the dump. I helped lift lots of asphalt shingles and roofing material to the pick-up truck. Lots of black grit and sand flew off the stuff when we threw it off the truck, lots landing in my head. My eyes watered with the stuff bypassing my glasses and getting into my eyes.
We had a free dump day coupon, so could deposit as many dump-loads in one day as we wanted. Because of all the work to load and off-load the material, we only got two loads in. It was a heck of a lot of work. Our hide-a-bed couch and recliner were ready for the dump.
The girls came with us the second time. Kids aren’t allowed to get out of the vehicle for safety reasons. I did tell one daughter to stick her head out the window and take a look at what some man just dumped. Two beautifully upholstered chairs stood amongst the junk. They looked like something that would sell for a hefty price in some boutique. I asked Ken if we could take one home for our middle daughter, as she’s always been partial to pink. Ken said we couldn’t, as that would be scavaging and against waste management rules. Sure enough, some workers stood at some fence, watching everyone dumping stuff, looking for violators. Not long after I made the comment about the chair, a huge Caterpillar rolled up. In its maw, it grabbed the pink chairs, a couch, and lawn clippings and heaved them into a huge pit.
At the dump, we also saw a perfectly fine exercise bicycle, regular bicycles, more couches, and children’s toys. I think people just don’t want the hassle of holding a garage sale, or advertising to sell or give-away things, so just take them to the dump. I would rather give my old stuff to a thrift store, where at least the profits go to helping the retarded citizens.
We put in an order for some new furniture this afternoon. After getting rid of the couch and recliner, our living room feels bare. We purchased some black leather furniture—a couch, loveseat, and recliner. It looks easy to clean and sure is comfortable. Trying it out, I sunk into one of the seats and felt like napping right there. My girls liked testing the furniture for comfort, too.
Tonight we headed to a meeting with the swim team. A coach from the Olympics came to speak to our team. Only about 40 swim clubs across the nation receive a visit from a representative from the Olympics. We watched a Powerpoint presentation about how to boost a swimmer’s self-esteem, skills, fitness, and motivation. Most of the photos showed Olympic or top swimmers in fine form. Some photos also showed swimmers not doing a stroke properly. The coach shared how just employing different techniques can cut many seconds off one’s time in competition. I have three daughters on a swim team now. Swimming is a great sport for all-around toning. The girls are making good friendships with others on the team, too. If they keep it up and stay motivated, one or all of them could have a good chance of getting on a college team someday. A scholarship would sure be nice, too.
Well, the day is waning. I look forward to hearing from you all.
I enjoy swimming, but mostly in the ocean. I want to get back into swimming laps early in the city pool. Also, I have a fitness club membership and need to start walking on the treadmill again. Gold’s Gym has a nice cardio cinema. Treadmill exercisers watch current movies on a big screen. I think that’s great, as time passes and I exercise and have fun at the same time.
Do you enjoy swimming? Where do you like to swim?
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Photo: c. 2006 Susan L. Friesen I took this photo of the Russian nesting dolls or matryoshkas on the Ms Oosterdam cruiseship in Alaska. They're also known by these names: stacking dolls or Babushka dolls.I purchased three of them and they're arranged on my piano. Look at some of these other nesting dolls: Japanese Russian 1 Russian 2 Russian 3 Matryoshkas are amazing workmanship-- dolls within a doll. Usually four progressively smaller nesting dolls are contained in the larger one. Have you ever held a nesting doll before and pulled it apart? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I enjoyed creating some crafts today. I joined other homeschoolers at California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo. We met in the University Union's craft center. We learned to use a pottery wheel and create some pots. I made some egg holders and a small dish to hold my cockatiel's seed. We'll return in a couple days after our pots are fired in the kiln. Then we can apply glaze. |
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