Back on the trails

After almost 10 months of virtual inactivity due to my second knee operation, I am FINALLY able to climb and hike again. The last time I was 100% fit was 1998, so this has been a "long haul"for us.
On Sunday, 8 October, we drove into the Taunus over towards the Rhine to Bad Schwalbach. From the outskirts of the village, we started a 14 km (around 8,5 miles) hike that took us through magnificent forests and up onto the high meadow lands. Along the way, we saw horses in the pasture and sheep in the fields, as well as a small herd of Scottish cattle with the lovely long auburn hair.
A field of wind turbines reminded me yet again how far advanced Germany and Europe are in conserving resources. The 7 we saw would provide enough energy for two villages in the area, with some left over!

I have become involved with a new group in Frankfurt named "the American Forum". We meet monthly to discuss current events involving America and the rest of the world. Using Chomsky's book Failed States, we had quite a lively discussion last week. Everyone agreed that the current administration had a severe and potentially deadly case of "do what I say, not what I do". Next month we move onto the hot topic of Climate change and will use Al Gore's book An Inconvenient Truth. Should be quite lively. The group is 3/4 German English speakers and 1/4 American. More on this meeting next month.

I was saddened to hear yesterday that a pathologist I worked for at Würzburg US Army hospital was killed in a paragliding accident in New Mexico. He was 46 years old and leaves a wife and 4 children oldest 16, youngest 6. They are a Morman family and surrounded by a community to care for them, but what a hard blow. Life is so short sometimes, but an event such as this just prove swe should live every day to the max........

Retirement continues to be a good life. Jürgen took his annual mountain-top hike from Oberstdorf in the Allgau, to Bozen Italy. While he was gone, sister Rebecca and cousin Marynell and I took a 12 day cruise to Norway, Iceland, Shetland and Faroes Islands. What a gorgeous part of the world this is. The fjords were magnificent and the terrain of Iceland, unforgettable.

We even passed thruough the Arctic Circle as we sailed around the northern Iceland coast.

In mid August, Rebecca and I met in NC to take sister Susie Q to Garden City Beach for 2 weeks. Great fun was had with family and friends coming in for various short stays. Amy and Eliza came without "the guys" and we played on the beach, ate great seafood and just sat around and talked. [I have uploaded 2 pictures but they don't seem to want to appear!] Oh well.

Curry