Megan

This cropped photo does a better job of showing Megan at her recital.

Megan's Recital

Our granddaughter, Megan Peterson, attends gymnastics lessons each week. Tonight she performed some of her best work on the stage at a recital. She flipped and cartwheeled her way down the mats with precision and style. Her family (Melanie, Jacob, Mom and Dad, and Grandpa and Grandma) cheered her on.

Her mom, Natalie, thought it might be nice next year to enroll Megan in ballet lessons. Megan says no way! She wants to join the hip-hop and jazz class.

Whatever Megan does, she shows lots of enthusiasm and confidence. We are proud of her and pleased to be her grandparents.

Memories of Christmas

Natalie thought she was too old to sit on Santa's lap as a teenager. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus disagreed! As a small girl, Natalie performed in a dance recital at Christmas time in this costume and with the guitar.

Melanie loved Christmas as a child, and she still loves it today. She gives a lot of thought to the gifts she buys for the family, and she gets as excited as her neices and nephews for Christmas morning.

In our Sandy neighborhood, we lived in a cul-de-sac of five families. All five families had children the same ages. Each year we took turns having the annual Christmas party. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus visited and brought presents for the children.

The neighborhood group grew too large to have the Christmas party for everyone. We still meet as couples for dinner every Christmas to reminisce about the fun we all had together in the neighborhood. It was a great place for kids to grow up!

Madeira, Portugal

Sorry about the upside-down market picture above! What I wanted to show about Madeira was how well everything here grows. The Farmer's Market sold every fruit and vegetable imaginable plus lots of beautiful flowers (some varieties I had not seen before). This market was flourishing in the middle of November!

Madeira is an island owned by Portugal. This is the last place we visited before setting sail across the Atlantic Ocean for home. It is one of our favorite places. The temperature during the entire year does not vary more than 10 degrees, and that includes day and night temperatures. People do not have furnaces for heating or air conditioners for cooling their homes. The temperature when we were in Madeira was around 70 degrees.

We strolled through the Botanical Gardens of Madeira that are beautifully laid out across terraces that climb from 600 to 900 feet in elevation. The island of Madeira almost had a quality of a storybook land. We decided that this would be a great place to live if you didn't mind living on an island and you didn't mind being very far away from family members. We mind both, so it wouldn't work for us!

The Canary Islands

We are in the Canary Islands, which is a part of Spain. Geographically, however, the Canary Islands are off the northeast coast of Africa.

The first island we visited is called Arrecife. The three photos above were taken in a volcanic grotto and lava tube formed when the lava met the Atlantic Ocean. It created an outdoor pool surrounded by subtropical vegetation. This place was so beautiful! The water, along with the lush vegetation, created an incredibly lovely setting.

Other things I remember about the island are driving by field after field of cactuses. They grow well in the climate here, with little rain falling throughout the year. I also remember looking out the windows of the bus and seeing volcanic rock everywhere.

The second island we visited in the Canary Islands was called Tenerife. This island is more heavily populated than Arrecife, especially in the city of Santa Cruz. After driving through the city, we ascended far into the hills so we could stop and get out of the bus to see a panaramic view of it all.

Last on our agenda, we traveled to the Pyramid Park (first photo) on the island. The world-famous adventurer Thor Heyerdahl discovered this pyramid site on one of his voyages .

An interesting sidelight about the Canary Islands is the origin of their name. They are named for dogs, not for songbirds. Romans called the grouping Insulae Canariae (islands of the dogs).

Casa Blanca, Morocco

This picture is one of my favorite photos from the trip. This little old man was at the cash register of a shop where we purchased some souvenirs.

This mosque is the second largest mosque in the world. It is called the Hassan II Mosque.

The Muslim women are visiting the Hassan Mosque. The mosque is open 24 hours a day and can contain up to 8,000 people who come to pray at the the same time.

Here is a building in Casa Blanca that at one time was a private residence. Now it is a building of city offices. We are out in the courtyard where the women of the house could walk outside and get a breath of fresh air. The house had no windows because windows would make it possible for passersby to see inside where the women lived. The windowless home made the women "safer" from prying eyes.

Well, Casa Blanca, Morocco, had to be the most interesting of all the places we visited. It is probably because the culture is so very different from ours. In order for our bus to get into the city, we had to pass through a large gate with guards. When we came into the city, we saw soldiers (with guns) walking the streets. In several cafes, we saw groups of men talking together, but the women who were on the street were going directly to a destination and walked together in groups.

Everything about the city seemed to shout "Stay your distance. You are a foreigner." People were not unfriendly, but they certainly were not relaxed and open with us. It was quite an eye opener to be here. I am very glad I don't live as a women in this cluture. The restrictions of the clothing alone would be awful.

Cadiz, Spain

For some reason I can't remember a lot about Cadiz. I do remember taking the above photo from a high point in the city. I also remember our fascination with the roots of the tree Paul is standing next to.

We visited another beautiful church. My camera doesn't do too well with the insides of the churches, which is too bad, because they are so lovely. The windows at the top of the ceiling of this church let in some natural light for better viewing.

Flamengo dancers II were actually even better than the first group we saw in Barcelona. The incredible energy of these dancers is amazing. For refreshments while watching the show, we tasted tapas. These are kind of like turnovers, except they are filled with a delicious spicy meat.