Seaside Rendezvous

Montreux at the edge of Lake Leman stands the Freddie Mercury sculpture.

 Seaside Rendezvous is one of the “Night at the opera” tracks from 1975.

A lake, peaks and a queen

Early morning was just saying hello to Freddie Mercury from the rock band The Queen.
The sculpture stands in the swiss city of Montreux.

The inspiration comes from wonderful “Restlessjo” and her “Monday walk” themes.
A walk in surroundings which could be backdrop of a movie or two.

A kick of happiness is a friend with a boat and the view of Montreux
still early morning and the swiss Alps as a backdrop.

Another kick of happiness is to be the happy owner of a black mountain bike
still a little early morning and the swiss Alps not as background but as reality.
Almost up to the sky above the clouds, but still grip with the feet to the earth.
The fog will lift more and more and the sun is taking over the heights.

Everybody in the morning
Should do a good turn all right
Everybody in the night time
Should have a good time all night
Now we got a movement
Don’t shun it fun it
Can’t you see now you’re moving free?
Get some fun join our dynasty
Can’t you tell when we get it down?
You’re the one you’re the best in town
*part of “Fun it” from The Queen album “Jazz” (1978)“

The queen of the white lane

“Think like a queen – a queen is not afraid to fail.
besides failure is another steppingstone to greatness”
*Oprah Winfrey – american entertainer*

This young woman didn’t fail only admiring the great landscape
while she pondered what attitude she wanted to use downhill
the dancing queen
the powerful queen
the fast queen
the elegant queen
or the red queen.

The choice was the fearless queen.

Step back time

My kind of walk works out best starting with an excellent cup of espresso.

A july walk in the oldest danish city, around the cathedral of the city of Ribe.

My inspiration comes from wonderful “Restlessjo” and her “Monday walk” themes
this area is perfect for an inspiring walking – can’t miss the historical atmosphere.

The cathedral of Ribe, translated from danish the real name is “Notre Dame Maria”
was built from 1110 -1134, earlier there was a wooden church from the 860s.
One of the 3 towers once long ago (1534) crashed down
the citizens couldn’t afford the money for a rebuild of the peak
it’s the reason for the different towers.

Impressive room – perfect for a rest before or after climbed the tons of steps of the tower.

 View from the top of the flat tower of the cathedral.

Not far from the cathedral on the edge of the city of Ribe
where the royal palace “Riberhus” was placed, there isn’t much left of the castle
but lack of castle being counterbalanced by a sculpture of the former Queen Dagmar.
An amazing sculpture in my eyes.
The history of the queen is strongly related to the city of Ribe and she died at the castle
actually the sculpture is looking up toward the cathedral of Ribe.

Majestic illumination

“Queen Victoria” leaving a bit hazy port city of Liverpool in a ocean of light
a cruise ship, a perfect way to travel for them, who have the taste for luxus and “laziness”
QV’s facilities include among many other things also
seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre.

The photo became a little bit darker than reality, please bear with the photographer.

With the inspiration from Ailsa and her absolutly worth visting blog
“Where’s my backpack?“
this is my version of the travel theme this week “Illuminated“

Me and my dog named Poxie

This is not a sentimental post or an attempt to give animals human characteristics at all
as children are allowed to be children – as women are allowed to be women – as men are allowed to be men – then dogs are allowed to be dogs – so it is as good as it can be.
This post written with a twinkle in the eye and actually also a small tear in both eye hook.

My lovely dog, Poxie, died last saturday, exactly 15 years and one month old
It is said that one human year is equivalent to seven dog years, so it was an old lady.

but there is a good story or good stories hidden behind this lovely dog

It was a yorkshire terrier on top of that one with a very long and nice pedigree
with an official name so long and fine that was a queen or princess worthy
that fact wasn’t made the dog snobby at all, but observed in the attitudes one could see
that in one way or another so shone the noble and the aristocratic through
but being snobby, was the dog really very far from – it was a small yorkshire terrier,
with an ego, with courage and with self-confidence as an enormous giant.

 The first meeting was funny, my partner and I had decided to divorce – I was going to keep the house and we decided to bought her a house – there was a house in the town she wanted to buy and I was followed to see if there was some mistake or some missings at the house – the nice elderly couple invited us in to inspect the house – when we come into the kitchen – a small 15 weeks old yorkshire terrier puppy came whistling – directly bypassing the others and straight to me, and called for being lifted up – which I did.

We also found out that the dog only was allowed to be in the kitchen not the rest of the house – but the couple maybe not dare to say anything to the dog was sitting into my arms all the way through the house – they had a house they would have sold 
my ex-wife bought the house and moved in almost immediately
8 days after the elderly couple called her – they were already tired of the puppy
ask if she still would buy the puppy, the answer was yes.

 

When I came up to put our son (who lived with me) of at his mother
so the dog came rushing as if it was the one and only that I came to visit
it jumped into the car as it said “Here we go”.Our son looked after the dog when his mother would be away for a longer time
such as weekends and evenings – so he took the dog home to our house
and it was walking in as if it owned the entire cottage.

 

The dog was very easy to “babysit”
such as ate the dog always the food it was offered
I told some guest I was visiting for dining
that they did not believe – so I had to prove it
so first got the dog served a tiny shrimp cocktail (with all)
so then it got a little piece of entrecote with fried potatoes and a little sauce
finally, a little chocolate cake with orange ice cream
it did not eat but ate.

When the son the day after handed over the dog to his mother – he tell the story
she laughed and claimed that it was the city’s most spoiled dog.

 

If she was driving in her car to bring the dog to my house
so she stopped some distance away and walked the short distance round the bend
for if the dog discovered the house from inside the car
so it was so wildly enthusiastic that it peed on the seat of joy.

Then it took almost a couple of years where the dog came to visit if not daily, so several times during the week – came to visit and sometimes stayed several days too
 so when my ex-wife one day asked if I would take the dog permanently 
so the answer was easy – so then moved Poxie in, with all its “belongings” 
including the fine pedigree,
where we found out that its first name wasn’t “Poxie” but “Topsy” 
it was changed so that it came to be called what we always thought was the dog’s name.

I had a lot of work at home in my home office
this pleased Poxie quite excellent, it was so much at the open terrace door
where from it liked to follow if something was happening in the encircled garden
one day suddenly stiffened Poxie, for less than half a meter from the dog sat a red squirrel watching the dog – it was obvious that the dog wondered what kind of fellow that was
  when the squirrel hopped in and sniffed at the food bowl – enough was enough
the squirrel was chased out and it didn’t happen silently.

 

A special feature of the yorkshire terrier is that they don’t know how small they are
either they believe that they are very large
or maybe believe that the size makes no difference.

 

When Poxie first time should meet the family’s grandparents
It was a memorable meeting
Grandmother and grandson sitting in the back seat
grandfather on the passenger seat and Poxie rushed around and talked to all
so holy mark the one with the grandfather and whined a little
I asked if we should not stop and walk the dog
but the grandfather thought the dog was just happy to see him
Suddenly the dog peed on the grandfather
that was what it had tried telling
however they did not arise because of that
actually loved Poxie always come to visit them
there it was treated as queen of the queens.

 

When we went for a walk – not long trips, Poxie had short legs
if we met a large dog so was the dog alert and barking if necessary
if we met a small dog so it was very gracious
Poxie loved to be out on the walk, but would quickly be worn around
up and sit in the arms and enjoy the view
but we met some children, especially little girls
so would Poxie down on its own feet
because it knew that they would gather around it and stroke it
while they told how sweet and lovely it was
when they were gone, it would up in arms again.

 

 Poxie was a very international dog
with its own passport – an approved vaccination certificate
which made that it was moved with us at the periods of stayed abroad.

Poxie could bark in danish, german, norwegian, english and french
the dogs could easily understand each other
so either have they ear for language or there is an international dog language.

 

 

  

 Countless times, when there was peace and quiet in the house in the late evening hours and I sat at the desk with my laptop and worked – was often the only light from the big screen – then one sat there in own thoughts – suddenly came there a head out from behind the screen – a small head with glowing eyes – there was one who needed a little attention. 

 Yorkshire terrier has generally not any fantastic sight
but an exceptionally impressive hearing, sense of smell and great intuition.

Poxie had no trouble being home alone 3 4 or 5 hours
just not made ​​a big deal out of it was to be alone
just it had a walk before, so the dog slept most of the time
we have a photo sensor that revealed this.

The remarkable thing was that my son while he lived at home
came home at the same time every day
it could be seen on the video that Poxie every day 10 minutes before
woke up and sat down by the door to wait
normally it lay in my bed and slept.

Over the last months Poxie’s sight was substantially attenuated
but compensated with the other senses
However, it would eventually like to have harness and leash on
it would very much like to get rid of before.

It was never wearing collars, the shape of the head and neck didn’t match that.

The last week was very strange without Poxie, it used to be there so really missed it.

The bright side of life

Ballen Havn a small coastal village on the small danish island called Samsø – in summer it’s a very popular marina with many sailing visitors – earlier in the so-called good old days the harbor was a hub for sea transport to and from the island in terms of both passengers and cargo – with ferry services to Odense and Copenhagen – and shipping of the island’s production of vegetables and products which the island’s craftsmen made ​​for use outside the island – and there were some local fishing boats, in fact 22, today there are 2 back.

for landlubbers look like ‘parking’ and maritime traffic in a marina totally chaos

The village have formerly a shipyard which built many fishing boats, it closed many years ago – a single boat in use yet, it fishing lobsters from another Kattegat island called Læsø (a difficult name for non-Danish pronunciation) – the last new building on shipyard is located as an exhibition ship on land – the second last new building is located today inside the shipyard – where there is a restaurant and nightclub every summer (link).

 

The marina has of course the opportunity to offer the sale of disel and gasoline to the Sea visitors not using wind power alone as a propellant – apparently unmanned.

How many seagulls does it take to sell fuel
 the answer should be 4
(1) the one doing the work ..?
(2) the one who keeps an eye on the worker ..?
(3) the one who keeps an eye on the shop ..?
(4) the chief sitting over by the fish dealer and begging for food ..?

The A-club

Many places in Denmark it may be a problem that people meet and drink along in the public sphere – it does not always looked good – the management here has handle about it in an unconventional ways – there is made a little “clubhouse” where you can be member for a small amount – no questions on what the locals are doing in there – but no drinking at the rest of the area – of course no one says anything when 2 sailors have a quiet beer on a bench – that’s not the point or the problem.

This bridge a dangerous one – established 2-3 years ago after a longstanding  desire by the locals – an impending royal visit of the danish queen, got it to happen, the bridge came into the world – ready for royal visit – it was planned that the queen had to dedicate the walkway – but in days leading up to the visit, so refused the people from state police security to let the queen go over the approved walkway, so instead of being called “Queen’s Bridge”among the locals – it is today still called “Dangerous Bridge”.