Mother's Day week-long celebration

Last Sunday, my sweet James told me that he was sad his former Primary teacher had been having shoulder problems and was going to have surgery soon. In various occasions she had sent James by mail cards, letters and sometimes simply word puzzles (James's favorite) inside an envelope. James always felt loved then, and now he wanted to return the favor. He and I brainstormed ways we could help her feel better, and James came up with the idea of bringing her dinner, writing her 'get-well' cards, and making dessert for her. So when Monday came rolling in and the kids were done with school, homework, and swimming, James and Gillian wrote their cards, and Jefferson helped with the assembling of the dinner. (Charlton enjoyed participating in our service project by eating a cookie.) His teacher was very grateful for our thoughtfulness and kindness, but what makes me even happier was the fact that my kids are learning to think of others and giving of themselves. I know from personal experience that sincere service brings true happiness to the giver and the receiver. I hope this desire to help others continues throughout their lives.

On Tuesday, we cleaned the whole house, did laundry, went grocery shopping, attended swim practice, participated in chorus (Gillian), visited the library, and ate out. On Tuesdays Elijah serves in the temple till after 10 p.m., so the children and I try to finish as many chores and fun activities as possible, so when Wednesday comes we can spend time with dad. And since he isn't home all day that day, the kids help out with his chores as well. Here is Charlton taking care of watering the garden all by himself (he wouldn't let you even if you wanted to help):

On Wednesday, since it is short day for them at school, the children had a play date for a couple of hours. After that, we each found our own little corner and either napped or read. It was a beautiful day outside so we each fought who would use hammock first. Charlton and I decided to take a nap there. Afterwards, Gillian used it to relax and write in her journal.

After dinner, Elijah and the children spent some time together reading, playing and later watching an episode of Star Trek. My mother and I went out and watched "The Avengers" (one of the best action movies I've seen in a long time), followed by dessert and discussion, a family tradition. I was grateful to Elijah for taking care of the children while I was out. Life is such a beautiful thing when we share it with others. I'm grateful for my husband who so sweetly wants to be with his family at all times, and enjoys being with us. I also know he wanted to spend the evening with me that night, but desiring to make my mother happy he encouraged us to have a good time.

Thursday came full throttle with homework, swim practice, piano, Gillian's friend 's play, and preparations for the next day's trip. Elijah had made plans to take me up to Ashland, Oregon's Shakespeare Festival for a relaxing week-end with him as a Mother's Day gift.

However, adventures awaited us even before we departed for our trip. During the play's intermission, as we were waiting for Gillian's friend's play to continue, I noticed that James's face had begun to swell and burst into a hive. I became frightened, so I asked my friend about it. The more we looked at James the more we became convinced that he had some kind of rash and needed immediate attention. Her husband, who is a doctor, checked him really quickly and stated that it looked like James had strep throat. He prescribed some penicillin, told me James would be okay as long as he took his medicine, and then suggested that I follow my week-end plans without reservations.

I was worried leaving James sick, but my mother promised me she would take good care of him, so the next day, on Friday, Elijah and I headed to Ashland. The scenery toward Oregon was very beautiful with green rolling hills and vast orchard fields. Mount Shasta stood majestic as we left California and entered Oregon.
Ashland itself was a small, quaint town with a nice university and plenty of wonderful things to do. Of course, it is well known all over America and in the world for its first class Shakespearean entertainment. The festival runs year around with shows from Shakespeare and other classics, being played each afternoon and evening. Elijah, as always, had outdone himself - from finding a very relaxing and luxurious hotel room (with its own jacuzzi) to buying the best seats in the theater to making reservation to a fancy French restaurant. I felt not only loved and cared for, but truly spoiled. Thank you, Elijah. You are one in a million.

We watched Romeo and Juliet with a different kind of take from its usual productions. The story was set during the 1840's Alta California and the young couple's families had a feud over land. It was unusual but in a very good way. I had seen this play a few times before, but I really liked this production. Having lived in California for a couple of years now and having studied its history alongside Gillian, the way the play was set out was very refreshing. I enjoyed the acting tremendously, especially Romeo's portrayal. In the past, I had seen him a bit older and more mature than Shakespeare had intended it to be, so when you would hear what he had to say about Rosaline and then Juliet, they all sounded cheesy. But this Romeo was beautifully done. The audience fell in love with his young and naive affections, his playful heart and sweet spirits, and then we all fell tears falling as Romeo cries over his misfortunes and the misunderstood death of his love, following her with his own death. Shakespeare would have been proud of that Romeo.

Beside watching plays, eating good food, and relaxing in the jacuzzi, Elijah and I enjoyed walking about town and taking in the scenery that it had to offer.

When we came back on Sunday, my mother had made a special dinner for us, the kids all were well and excited, and we were rested and refreshed. After dinner, we shared our gifts with them and they gave me their homemade cards and gifts that they had bought with dad a few days before. This had been a wonderful week full of love and kindness. I'm grateful to be a mother and to have the children I have. Without reservation, being a mother has made me a much better person than I could have ever become on my own.

My European Trip - Vienna (Part 2)

Catching up with our summer fun seem to take me forever to do. But I promise myself I'll record as much as I can, hopefully before winter starts so those pictures of summer water parks will not look completely out of place (although for most of you, my friends on the East Coast, winter has already started. Bear with me as I share our summer adventures alongside our daily activities.)

I'm a bit apprehensive about how much to write on these posts about those great cities I visited. The other week when I had posted my first day's experiences of Vienna, Elijah just made me laugh. He kept reading and reading my Vienna post, and when he was done reading it, he said: Wow! That tired me out. I'm ready for a meal!

Our second day of Vienna started with a visit to the Opera House. Its construction started in 1861 and was finished in 1869, completed in a Noe-Renaissance style. At the time of its building, the street on which it was built raised higher than the opera house itself, so the public started calling it the sunken treasure chest. Nevertheless, it is a glorious building with amazing architecture completed with marble columns and gilded gold ceilings and decorations. Right before the end of World War II, the opera house was almost burnt by the American bombardments. The stage and the auditorium were burnt completely, but the ball rooms, the foyer with its gorgeous frescoes, and most of the front section were saved. The reconstruction of the building took a while, but in 1955 the doors of the opera house were opened once more. The auditorium was rebuilt to hold 2100 seats and 567 standing places (each of those seating and standing places were installed with their own individual translation equipment.) The seats and the curtains were patterned after the original ones, but the ceilings' fresco and the interior architecture had a definite 50's feel, which I wasn't too wild about. This opera house is one of the most busiest opera houses in the world with 50-60 different operas performing throughout the year, with about 200 performances averaging a year. With the exception of July and August, you could hear a different opera every day of the week. The love for classical music, and especially that for the opera, was seen as a cultural heritage to the Viennese people, and as such they were willing to allow the government to use their tax money for almost 50% of the expenses that were required to sustain a staff of 1000 people. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed my tour.
I took this picture the night before on our way to our hostel:

The auditorium:

The Foyer and the Ballroom:As we were strolling around Vienna, I happen upon a statue of one of my favorite writers during my younger years, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
As you have probably established by now, I've a lot of favorite authors and artists, but Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a guiding force in molding my young personality. I even had his picture on my wall alongside Shakespeare, Moliere, and Dostoevsky. I've read his poems and his masterpieces, Faust and The Sorrows of Young Werther, many times over. I had a quote book with half of it from Shakespeare's plays and half from Faust. Goethe was a kind of a writer that appealed to my young soul with his impassioned poems and thoughtful emotions. He was born in Germany in the late 1700's and made a mark in the literary circles of that time. He was a great poet, writer, politician, lawyer, scientist, artists, in short a well rounded men. His ideas, along with those of Schiller's made up a literary genre called Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress). The views of this new movement were a mix of the Age of Reason thoughts and those of personal contemplations such as Emerson and Thoreau in America expressed. It became a bridge toward Romanticism of the late 1700's with its free expression of emotion and individual contemplation. I personally enjoyed his passionate, but thoughtful impressions about life, religion, science and love. Here are some poetic sayings from his works:

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.
The man who masters himself is delivered from the force that binds all creatures.
Words are mere sound and smoke, dimming the heavenly light.
Let's plunge ourselves into the roar of time, the whirl of accident; may pain and pleasure, success and failure, shift as they will -- it's only action that can make a man.

"[Words] must flow out from the heart. And, when the soul is touched with passion's flame, We look around and ask - Who burns the same?"

"All that philosophy can teach,
The lore of jurist and of leech, I've mastered, ah!
and sweated through Theology's dead deserts, too,
Yet here, poor fool! for all my lore, I stand no wiser than before."


There was this sad poem I remember reading from his collections of poems that absolutely tore my soul apart. I still get the same feverish feeling when I read it.(My cousin Blerta has this theory about me that because I read so many Greek tragedies, Hans Christian Anderson' s very sad fairy tales, and heart-breaking literature from melancholic authors such as Dostoevsky and Goethe while young, I can't stand nowadays watching anything but happy-ending movies. Reading these kind of masterpieces such as Faust was all worth it and made me who I am today.) The poem titled the Erlkonig, deals with a folkloric character the Erlking, a mean magical creature who lives in the forests and preys on travelers at night. Goethe got the inspiration for writing such a ballad when one evening he was visiting a friend. While talking to each other, they saw through the window a farmer carrying his son in his horse toward the doctor's house. At that time many children were dying as a result of various sicknesses. This was Goethe's deep expressions about those hard felt events. Schubert later on wrote music to it and it has become one of the most heard German Lied. Here is the poem (it's sounds way better in German and in the Albanian translation of it, or maybe that's just my nostalgia speaking):

The Erlking
Who's riding so late through th' endless wild?
The father 't is with his infant child;
He thinks the boy 's well off in his arm,
He grasps him tightly, he keeps him warm.

My son, say why are you hiding your face ?
Oh father, the Erlking 's coming apace,
The Erlking 's here with his train and crown!
My son, the fog moves up and down. -

Be good, my child, come, go with me!
I know nice games, will play them with thee,
And flowers thou 'It find near by where
I live, pretty dress my mother will give."

Dear father, oh father, and do you not hear
What th' Erlking whispers so close to my ear?
Be quiet, do be quiet, my son,
Through leaves the wind is rustling anon.

Do come, my darling, oh come with me!
Good care my daughters will take of thee,
My daughters will dance about thee in a ring,
Will rock thee to sleep and will prettily sing."

Dear father, oh father, and do you not see
The Erlking's daughters so near to me?
My son, my son, no one 's in our way,
The willows are looking unusually gray.

I love thee, thy beauty I covet and choose,
Be willing, my darling, or force I shall use!
"Dear father, oh father, he seizes my arm!
The Erlking, father, has done me harm.

The father shudders, he darts through the wild;
With agony fill him the groans of his child.
He reached his farm with fear and dread;
The infant son in his arms was dead.

Our stroll through Vienna continued and we stopped to observe, read, eat and learn at various highlights of the city.

We were able to find the Sacher Hotel famous for their world class desserts, especially the Sacher Torte, tucked in between old buildings that were renovated to my soul's delight and used now as first class hotels.

We visited several parks and saw several monuments dedicated to the Austrian genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The picture below shows one of my favorite little parks dedicated to his memory. Of course the buildings that were next to each of those parks had something to do with music either as music schools or performance houses.

Next we visited the government district where most of the political life of the city took place.The Viennese people had converted the old and magnificent royal buildings into edifices where governmental and social events took place. Here is the City Hall that with its lacy towers of 325 feet reaching the sky could put to shame any government building of today.

This building was surrounded by an amazing and spacious park and several restaurants at the base. Across the street, politicians could cool off their nerves by attending plays, concerts, and symphonies at the Burgstheater, or the Play House.

To the right of these buildings, the Austrian Parliament Building is found. It was in this building the Hapsburg Empire declared itself collapsed and where the new republic was formed. The architecture is absolutely Greek as you can see from the columns and the many statures adorning the facades. The most obvious one is the statue of Athena in the front of the building, which is said to have been placed there by the architect to declare with its presence the love for freedom and wisdom of the Austrian people as the Greeks of old once did:


In the vicinity of these great buildings, we happen upon the university of Vienna, and in the proximity of that we saw a spacious and interesting park. I loved the monuments placed here and there in the park, but what caught my attention mostly were the folding chairs placed all over the lawn just for people to sit and rest. I love this city!!!
Across the park and next to the University stood this really imposing cathedral that took my breath away with its flawless architecture and lacy towers reaching the sky at 99 meters. The Votivkirsche was built by the brother of the Emperor Franz Joseph I as an expression of thanks to God for saving the Emperor from an assassination. The name 'votiv' stands for 'thank offering.' It was built by the donations from 300000 Austrian, who just like the Emperor's brother, were grateful for their leader's survival.

The most interesting part about this cathedral is the fact that although it looks without a doubt a Medieval building with its dark and powerful presence, including the high towers inside and outside, it is actually built in late 1800's. Its imitations of that period are impeccable and of course are implemented even better with the later information and experiences. My favorite things about this Gothic style cathedral were the bright colors found in the windows as well as in the ceilings. It softened the cosmic presence that everything else reflects in such monumental buildings.


Not wanting Elijah to be starving while reading this long post of mine, I'll conclude my reminiscing of Vienna by sharing my impressions of one of the highlights of this trip, The Palace of Schonbrun. Seen individually each building doesn't strike you as a memorable experience, but taken in its entirety the Palace, the gardens, the sculptures, the fountains, the statues, the Zoo (the oldest Zoo in Europe), and my favorite the Gloriette, a little building on top of the hill, together they make an unforgettable sight and offered me a very relaxing, learning and breath taking adventure.
This palace was used by several Hapsburg royal families as a summer house. Its building started in the 1500's and continued its construction, renovations and addition for several hundred years. Each monarch would better it and add something of his own. The Palace itself has about 1500 rooms decorated mostly in the very flourishing style of Rococo. Its open to the public with the purchase of tour tickets. The Gardens and the grounds however are open to public for their enjoyment, and they of course are created after the Baroque style, with later Rococo flourishes added to it. There is a Zoo, a Puppet Theater in one of the Garden Huts (they are not huts actually, but these gorgeous small rooms built in the Neo-Classical style), a Palm Pavilion with plants form all over the world and a few other green houses, making it one of the biggest Botanical Gardens in the world. And of course there is the spacious garden and ground that encompasses hundreds of acres of land, all accessible to the public. Today, in addition to tours and other entertainment, you can hear and attend during the evening and all day on week-ends world class musicians playing and singing classical music. If I lived in Vienna, it would take me days to explore all that this Palace has to offer, and I would be there every week-end without a doubt. Schonbrun was truly spellbinding!

I was interested to know how the highly impressive Palace of Versailles would score with this profoundly welcoming estate. Stay tuned to find out which one received the higher ranking...

My European trip - Sweden Part 2

Day four in Sweden started very early. We took Luca with us, since he was getting angry with me taking his father places and leaving him alone. The first stop was the largest spherical building in the world, the Ericsson Globe. The story behind it is really cool. The Swedish people throughout their history have been obsessed with planets and the solar system. I noticed stars, moons, and suns in the decorations all over town and in every building. But I wasn't prepared by what I discovered as I read about the Ericsson Globe. The Swedes decided to build their own permanent Solar System, the world's largest scale model of the Solar System, with the Ericsson Globe as the Sun, and the inner planets spread throughout Stockholm. The outer planets are found in the other cities along the Baltic Sea. With the exception of the Globe, all the other planets' representatives are small landmarks. The Globe is in actuality a huge arena where concerts and ice hockey games take place. They offer tours inside and outside; I took the outside one. I got inside a Sky-view gondola and enjoyed the ride all the way to the top of the Globe.

Next, we visit Pippi Longstocking's house. Not really, but since the author who wrote Pippi, Astrid Lindgren, was from Sweden and all of her characters are well known all over Sweden and all over Europe for that matter, the Swedes have built this fun house where the children can ride the train, play games, eat, and have the same fun as all Lindgren's characters. I grew up reading Pippi Longstocking's stories, and I was very excited to relive my childhood by showing my kids through pictures all of the fun stuff I dreamed doing as a little child. I so wanted to be Pippi, free and powerful, and what child doesn't!

Astrid Lindgren's imaginative town
The boat that Pippi's father used for traveling through the seven seas:
Pippi's train that she used in one of her travels

Heading up to her house:Pippi's sleeping arrangement
Luka walking without touching ground, one of Pippi's indoor games:
We are greeted by Nelson, the monkey:
Pippi was kind enough to let us ride on her special horse:
Luka and I trying to look like Pippi:
After checking everything out, we sat down and had a nice Swedish meal of Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.
Next on our itinerary was Skansen Open-Air Museum, the Sweden of yesterday. This resembled the old Williamsburg, but without the guns and fanfare. It was really neat actually. The outdoor museum offered more than 150 buildings from the past that were transported from all over Sweden and gave an amazing picture of the more traditional Sweden wit its shops, silversmiths, glass-blowers, bakers, etc. I got to see the dwellings of some of the native Nordic people, who lived like nomads always following and hunting reindeer. I got to sit and relax amongst beautiful gardens, and I enjoyed celebrations of Swedish festivities.

We tried some fresh cheese, fresh bread and delicious fresh pastries:
We found a spot from where we could see a beautiful view of the Old city of Stockholm:

I was surprised to see reindeer close up, a beautiful peacock, who strutted along unafraid of people coming and going, a very old church around 1200's, a Sami hut ( the indigenous people of Scandinavia), mountain railways, and many more.

I found this red horse everywhere in Stockholm, and I was interested to know the story behind it. It seems this is a very old Swedish tradition that started centuries ago with soldiers carving little horses and other items from scraps of wood that they would find in the homes of the villagers they were staying with. One such soldier, in about 1700, would carve one item and the lady of the house would give him a bowl of soup. He would keep producing more for food and shelter. Later on, he started painting them red, the color being more available at that time produced from the copper mines. Today every Swedish home has one of these tailless, but friendly red horses to represent a tradition of frugality and good will. (Of course they are not as big as the ones in this picture!)
After we saw all we could see at the open-air museum, we joined my mother and sister-in-law for a picnic dinner at a nearby garden located next to a royal palace that belonged to one of the members of royalty of the past.
I love gardens, and this one was no different with its abundant greenery, beautiful sculptures, and its welcoming feeling for any visitor. However, since I have way more places and pictures to share from Sweden, I'll limit myself to only one thing that I really liked in this garden. Yes, you guessed it, it is a sculpture. I couldn't have enough of it. It was tucked in amongst some bushes and it pulled me to it with a magnetic feeling. It was so simple, and yet so powerful. It showed just an embrace, and yet it carried a thousand other feelings. It was just simply beautiful. Maybe it spoke to my heart because I was missing my husband tremendously.
After our picnic, we strolled along to our next destination: Grona Lunds Tivoli, the amusement park.
We first attended a pop concert of a popular Swedish musician, that sounded sweet, friendly, bashful, and confident at the same time. I really enjoyed the music, but I have to admit that my favorite part was observing people of various sizes, shapes and ages letting themselves just go with the music. What a magical power music has on us!
After the music something very interesting happened. As you all know there is only my mother, my brother and me in my family, and of course our own families now as well. But for as long as I can remember there was this very interesting chemistry between all three of us: my mother and brother are very close to each other but in a constant competition, and they both want to protect and help me. So, as we were walking around the amusement park taking the kids here and there, my sister-in-law and I made the comment that we don't like roller coasters and especially the drop tower kinds. My mother full of confidence said she could ride any of them without fear. My brother wanting to defend his wife's honor (we are all in jest now) said that she couldn't do the roller coaster drop off. Feeling challenged, my mother didn't wait for more. Here she is, possibly the oldest one to get on this ride, full of confidence and challenging my brother with a big smirk on her face. My heart is very weak at this point since I don't want my mother to have a heart attack. Despite of the discomfort, I managed to get these awesome pictures:

This looked like a very scary ride, very high and with a twist. When you reached the top, one side titled down, a nightmare. When mother got down, she stuck her tongue out. We couldn't stop laughing partly because we were releived she was alive, and partly because she was hillarious.

Later, as we strolled around the park, I was able to capture two of my favorite pictures from Sweden:

While Aubrey was twirling around with her kids in pretty saucers,

... my brother was trying to convience me to avenge mom by both of us riding the drop tower. I kept telling him I will never ever do such a thing since I'm very scared of heights and I like being in control of my body and life as much as possible. He begged me and asked me to do it for his sake and as a birthday gift to him. Let me tell you this was the scariest thing my heart has endured. I'm shocked I didn't faint. There is fear in my eyes, and I would say in my brother's eyes as well:
Pretending to be brave:
Scared to death, knowing that if I opened my eyes I would absolutely have a heart attack. Medlir kept begging me to open them, and I did, but after we reached the top and the chairs were tilting down, I closed my eyes again and prayed to God I would survive this thing for my kids'sake. When we were dropped I had the wierdiest feeling as if I were in a worm hole with no weight and no body, just my mind. With all honesty, I hated the expereince and it didn't make me feel any braver or confident. As for others, I was amazed at one point to notice some kind of flash coming from the top of the tower. Wow, some people have the nerve to take pictures while on top!

And thus ended the fourth day in Sweden.
Day five was full of activities, but my favorite was spending time with my mother, sister-in-law and my fun nephews, and of course tasting some very delicious pastries. I don't care much about cookies, cakes or candy, but when it comes to pastries I have no resistance.
Day six was spent at home, resting, talking, and celebrating my brother's birthday. My mother cooked a delicious traditional meal of raosted potatoes and roasted chicken with lots of home made side dishes. Being together is what this life is all about.

After enjoying my vacation in Austria and France, I came back to Sweden for a couple more days. Medlir's in-laws were there, and in one of those days, we all took a cruise around the archipelago. It was a rainy day and I was very tired from my travels, but the beauty of the lake and of the islands across the archipelago freshened my senses.


We stopped on one of the islands that the government had kept intact with some very old buildings, homes and pretty gardens.

I truly had a great time in Sweden. I'm grateful that my brother took some time off and accompanied me everywhere. It made the experience even more exciting. Brothers and sisters rarely have this kind of chance to travel abroad by themselves, so I'm also grateful to my sister-in-law, Aubrey, for taking care of the family while Medlir and I philosophied the purpose of life and enjoyed the landmarks of such a pretty and wonderful country as Sweden was to me. Here is one last picture of a Swedish sunset taken from a very dirty airplane window. Good bye, Sweden!