Sunday, October 26, 2008
Barack Obama made a presidential campaign swing through Indianapolis last Thursday. Janet volunteered to help with crowd control. It was an impressive showing that I'm sure will garner many Hoosier votes.
Posted @ 08:16 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Oct 1st to Oct 9th, 2008: Peru, South America & South Beach, Miami
We set off with our good friends, Arthur and Sharon to Peru, South America. We flew from Indy to Miami to hook up with our Gate 1 Travel excursion (something Sharon had researched). Our Lan flight left at 2 am and landed in Lima at 7 am. We headed due south out of Miami. Lima is on Chicago time so we gained one hour. This first day was just to shake the cobwebs out of our heads and get a taste of this Capital city of 8 million people. We enjoyed a special lunch -- really more like an event, at La Mar. This was a highly recommended restaurant for seafood and, boy did it ever live up to its recommendation. I think we spent from 2 pm to 5 pm taking in all the sights, tastes and smells. We enjoyed several Pisco Sours, the local drink specialty, that helped raise our spirits.
On Thursday, we had to catch an early morning 45 minute flight to Cuzco. Cuzco was the center of the Incan Empire and today has a population of 700,000. But more important, it is 11,000 feet above sea level so Roceo, our tour leader, recommended a day of leisure, rest and relaxation. An couple of people from the group were not able to make the adjustment. One even ended up in the hospital before cutting her stay short and catching a flight back to Lima. Fortunately, the four of us were able to adjust with little side effects other than a slight headache and shortness of breath. In the afternoon we took a bus tour of Cuzco. We stopped at an Incan ruin named Sacsayhuaman. When pronounced, this sounded like "Sexy Woman" so it got my attention. Huge boulders had been transported several miles and the Incas didn't even have the wheel.
The main reason for this whole adventure was to get to see Machu Picchu. We got on an early morning train in Cuzco and set out northward. It was a 3 1/2 hour journey through the Andes. It was easy to see why this was voted one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Fortunately, the Spanish conquistadors failed to find this Inca city in the 1500's and it was only rediscovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham. We enjoyed good weather, but we were not prepared for the biting gnats--Arthur had a name for them. Sharon really got hit on her forearms. And our bug spray offered no protection. We wish we could have spent an entire day there to really experience what the Incas had created. But another 3 1/2 hour train journey awaited and the altitude took its toll on our stamina.
Saturday was filled with a bus tour of many sites outside of Cuzco. We were visiting the sacred valley of the Incas when I saw two messages on my Blackberry -- one from my sister Sally and the other from Charles. Given that, I was not surprised to finally learn that my father had passed away in the afternoon. We made arrangements to have his funeral upon our return the following Friday.
Sunday, we caught another morning flight back to Lima. We learned that the 45 minute flight takes roughly 20 hours by car or bus. We had a city tour by bus.Monday, Arthur and I voted for a "free day" of no organized tours while Janet and Sharon took a tour of some more museums. We caught a cab ride to downtown for twelve soles ($4) and enjoyed the changing of the guard. Arthur wasn't feeling well so we headed back to the hotel after noon. Janet and Sharon had to do a little gift shopping in the afternoon and there was a farewell dinner in the evening.
Tuesday was our flight back to Miami and the end of our Gate 1 Travel experience. I think we all agreed that it was a very good value for the money.
On Wednesday we saw a little of Miami including Viscaya, downtown and South Beach. We had lunch at a very nice restaurant that Arthur had remembered and recommended.
Wednesday Photos 1
Wednesday Photos 2
Wednesday Photos 3
Janet's Wednesday Photos
Arthur's Wednesday Photos
Thursday Photos 1
Thursday Photos 2
Thursday Photos 3
Thursday Photos 4
Janet's Thursday Photos
Arthur's Thursday Photos
Friday Photos 1
Friday Photos 2
Friday Photos 3
Friday Photos 4
Friday Photos 5
Janet's Friday Photos 1
Janet's Friday Photos 2
Arthur's Friday Photos 1
Arthur's Friday Photos 2
Saturday Photos 1
Saturday Photos 2
Saturday Photos 3
Saturday Photos 4
Saturday Photos 5
Saturday Photos 6
Saturday Photos 7
Saturday Photos 8
Janet's Saturday Photos 1
Arthur's Saturday Photos 1
Arthur's Saturday Photos 2
Sunday Photos 1
Sunday Photos 2
Sunday Photos 3
Janet's Sunday Photos 1
Arthur's Sunday Photos 1
Monday Photos 1
Monday Photos 2
Janet's Monday Photos 1
Janet's Monday Photos 2
Arthur's Monday Photos 1
Wednesday Photos 1
Wednesday Photos 2
Wednesday Photos 3
Wednesday Photos 4
Wednesday Photos 5
Wednesday Photos 6
Arthur's Wednesday Photos 1
Thursday Photos 1
Posted @ 09:23 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Saturday, October 11, 2008
My Father passed away on October 4th, 2008 while we were touring Inca ruins in Peru, South America. This was not a particularly unexpected event as his health had been generally in decline for the past couple of years. We celebrated his funeral upon our return on Friday October 10th. Although it is always sad to say good-bye to a loved one in life, I'm comforted by the exemplary life he led and that he is once again is by my mother's side.
Ron sent me a very nice quotation by Thick Nhat Hanh from The Heart of Understanding --
A wave on the ocean has a beginning and an end, a birth and a death. But the wave is empty. The wave is full of water, but is empty of a separate self. A wave is a form which has been made possible thanks to the existence of wind and water. If a wave only sees its form, with its beginning and end, it will be afraid of birth and beath. But if the wave sees that it is water, identifies itself with the water, then it will be emanicipated from birth and death. Each wave is born and is going to die, but the water is free from birth and death.
So please continue to look back and you will see that you have always been here. Let us look together and penetrate into the life of the wave, to realize our own nature as water and be free from our fear. If we look very deeply, we will transend birth and death.
Tomorrow, I will continue to be, but you will have to be very attentive to see me. I will be a flower or a leaf. I will be in these forms and I will say hello to you. If you are attentive enough, you will recognize me, and you may greet me. I will be very happy.
Posted @ 08:01 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Sunday, September 28, 2008
SEPTEMBER 27th, 2008: We had a party to celebrate my sister Joyce's 60th birthday. Mary, Stephanie and Will were in charge of organizing and they did a great job. And, for once, the weather cooperated. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and evening of good food and company.
Posted @ 10:45 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Sunday, September 21, 2008
September 19th & 20th, 2008; Friday & Saturday: We celebrated Karl "Distinguished", Don "Outstanding" & Diana "Outstanding" receiving the College of Architecture's prestigious alumni awards. As far as organizing a party to celebrate, Johnso got the ball rolling by contacting all our classmates and organizing a spur of the moment class reunion for 75/76. We opened up our house to the whole gang by hosting a pitch-in party Saturday night. And wouldn't you know it, right around 4 p.m. the skies opened up with just about everything mother nature could throw at us -- wind, rain, lightning and thunder. It literally poured buckets. We made a mad dash for the garage with the tables and chairs. But all-in-all I think everyone still had a really good time. I had put together a photo / music show of our school days, which I think everyone really enjoyed ... good for quite a few laughs. It was great seeing everyone again and getting caught up on kids in general as well as dealing with aging parents. We were able to spend most of Sunday with Steve and Andy, before Steve had to fly back to Dallas, while Andy drove back to Muncie for a little quality time with her family. What a special weekend it truly was.
Andy's Photos 1
Andy's Photos 2
Andy's Photos 3Chris' Photos 1
Chris' Photos 2Here is the link to the class cards that were part of the show. Rosenman had given these back to me for safe keeping in 2002.
And for those of you interested in seeing what we all looked like at the 10 year Reunion, here goes.
Finally, here are the photos (and more) that were used in the show.
Class of 76 photos 01
Class of 76 photos 02
Class of 76 photos 03
Class of 76 photos 04
Class of 76 photos 05
Class of 76 photos 06
Class of 76 photos 07
Class of 76 photos 08
Posted @ 03:36 PM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
AUGUST 27, 2008: Jane sent me several old pictures and letters that she had been keeping of the Creel family. This is a treasure trove of information on my mother's side of the family.
Be sure and read Lorenzo's autobiography, my Great Grandfather's brother.
Posted @ 05:00 PM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
MONDAY; AUGUST 25, 2008: We hosted a Couples Night Out Dinner at our house. It was dubbed the official "No theme" party. Guys can't remember themes anyway. However, I think everyone still had a good time. Janet H. brought a great salsa and guacamole, Julie had a terrific 7 layer salad to go along with Janet's pork bar-b-que sandwiches and corn on the cob.
We then drove downtown to take in a performance of "Meet the Rock" at the Fringe Festival. Here we got to learn about Norman Rockwell and his paintings.
Then we had a tailgate dessert party in my office parking lot. Sharon had made a wonderful blueberry bread pudding with lemon sauce. And Arthur even asked Norman Rockwell and the other cast members to stop by which they did.
Posted @ 07:00 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Monday, August 25, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008: We attended Tina's (Chris') and Dale's daughter's wedding in Highland, Indiana. Shannon and Rob had a beautiful ceremony complete with a very touching song sung by Dale (pre-recorded: said he could not have performed it live) and the reception/dinner following was absolutely terrific. It was a wonderful day that I'm sure will hold many fond memories. We wish Shannon and Rob all the best. We also got to hold Grace (the first grand-daughter!). She was born the day before Charles' and Tessa's wedding last spring. Grace is Matthew and Emily's daughter and she is simply adorable.
Speaking of memories, on Sunday morning, Janet wanted to take the opportunity to revisit some of the places of her childhood, so we took a drive down Broadway from the I-94 and made several stops of interest. We saw St. Joseph's where we were married, her old school, father's and grandfather's places of business, first homes and the homes of her childhood friends. Much of the commercial area was boarded up and weed overgrown, but still held fond memories.
The nice photos of the farm structures at the end of the photo page are actually the new Gift shop and Demonstration building of the Fair Oaks Dairy complex located on I-69 north of Remington, mile marker exit 220. They make many award winning cheeses and is worth a look.
Posted @ 05:35 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Friday, August 15, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008: The City of Indianapolis said "Good-bye" to Sgt. Gary Henry, a National Guardsman killed in Iraq. He was also a member of the Indianapolis Fire Department and so they gave him quite a send-off. The route took the procession right by my office so I got to witness the events first hand.
Posted @ 11:02 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Sunday, August 10, 2008
August 9, 2008: My niece, Jennifer & Chris got married at the Chapel on IU Campus. Yes, another "Chris" (No. 4) has been welcomed to the family. It was a wonderful day and beautiful ceremony. The chapel was very small, 60 people max seating, but I'm sure it held fond memories for both Jennifer & Chris. And, I think the ceremony lasted about 7 minutes -- but it got the job done! There was a reception / dinner / dance held at the Union next door, so we could walk to that event. What fun!
Saturday - Photos 1
Saturday - Photos 2
Saturday - Photos 3And if you really have the band width, you can download the entire 8 minute service by right-clicking on the following link and saving it to your own hard drive. Warning: This will probably take a couple of hours to download.
* Jen & Chris Wedding Movie* 1.09 GB
Charles & Tessa invited Janet, Jane and I to stay at their new house that they had just moved into last weekend. Of course there were a few boxes still to unpack, but they had both been hard at work making their house into a home. We could tell they were both very happy to finally have a place of their own. Tessa starts teaching next week. She should be able to walk to work which is a huge plus. They have already met several of their neighbors at a neighborhood party. It doesn't get much better than that.
Posted @ 03:31 PM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
July 17th to July 22, 2008: BOYZ NIGHT OUT -- COLORADO. Arthur, Ron, Jim and I spent a wonderful few days in Southwestern Colorado. This was an area, Jim was already familiar with so he was able to point us to the highlights and hotspots. We stayed in Ouray, pronounced "U-ray," located in a box canyon of the San Juan Mountains. We spent our first full day at Mesa Verde National Park seeing several Anasazi Indian ruin sites and generally taking in the beautiful landscape. This mesa is prone to lightning strikes which have resulted in numerous forest fires in recent years. On Saturday we drove north to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This was another one of the National Park System's under utilized or otherwise unknown natural wonders. There were a few visitors like us, but it was far from crowded. It's a true gem of the National Parks. What was especially nice about this canyon was that you could drive down to the bottom, which we did, to get a different perspective. Day three took us back to Durango for an all day train trip to Silverton and back on the famous Durango & Silverton Norrow Gauge Railroad. Jim had gotten us the best seats on the train and I took several hundred pictures along the way. For some reason, it seems like we always end up meeting some nice girls out on a GNO trip -- Ron and Arthur spent time learning all about the dumb things people ask about the train from Amy - the Brakeman, then Arthur spent the return trip chatting with Emily from Tempe, AZ and Pattie from Lakewood, CO. He couldn't help commenting that the return trip went much faster and was much more enjoyable. We had a "free" day on Monday with no particular planned activities. So Jim showed us the best thing to see in Ouray which was the Box Canyon waterfall at the City park via a short hike. We spent several evenings at Orvis Hot Springs in Ridgway seeing some of the natural wonders of the Hot Springs, sorry no pictures allowed. Cards rounded out the remainder of a great trip with great friends. The only "Downer" was we had gotten an unrepairable flat tire and had to buy a new tire ($150) in Durango at the only store open on a Sunday -- Wallmart. Then the rental car company "Advantage" wouldn't pay for the tire when we returned the car on Tuesday. Now how rotten was that? I hope they come to their senses as Arthur pursues this matter, with our assistance as need be.
Friday - Photos 1
Friday - Photos 2
Friday - Photos 3
Friday - Photos 4
Friday - Photos 5
Saturday - Photos 1
Saturday - Photos 2
Saturday - Photos 3
Saturday - Photos 4
Sunday - Photos 1
Sunday - Photos 2
Sunday - Photos 3
Sunday - Photos 4
Sunday - Photos 5
Sunday - Photos 6
Sunday - Photos 7
Sunday - Photos 8
Sunday - Photos 9
Sunday - Photos 10
Monday - Photos 1
Monday - Photos 2
Tuesday - Photos
Orvis Hot Springs Photos from website
Arthur's Photos 1
Arthur's Photos 2
Arthur's Photos 3
Arthur's Photos 4
Arthur's Photos 5
Posted @ 05:40 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Saturday, July 5, 2008
FRIDAY; July 4th, 2008: Ron and Julie hosted a CNO dinner at Ron's garden next to Grassy Creek School. There was a nice shelter and a place to have a wood fire. We roasted hot dogs and had great sides including baked beans and potato salad. Arthur and Sharon made shiskabobs which were very tasty. Janet provided the biggest strawberries I've ever seen and brownies. Jim had brought some fireworks so we shot those off afterwards accompanied by many ohhs and ahhs. On Saturday morning, I talked the fellas into a bike ride on the Monon trail. I think everyone enjoyed.
Posted @ 05:10 PM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Monday, June 23, 2008
SUNDAY; JUNE 22, 2008: We celebrated our extended family second annual reunion over the weekend. I think Grandma and Grandpa would be proud and happy. Janet and I hosted this event at our home and even though we had a short period of afternoon thundershowers, I hope everyone had a good time crowding into the garage and house, getting reacquainted and reconnected. We were blessed to have the last two remaining members of the 2nd generation in attendance ... my father and aunt. And as a group, we are well into the fifth generation ... all the kids are such great fun. Their energy is boundless. The 3rd generation is realizing we are quickly following in the steps of our parents and staying connected and honoring our heritage seems to be more important. We hope this event can be a springboard for even greater gatherings by making this an every other year occurrence. We appreciate everyone's willingness to travel even at $4 per gallon gas. We hope that more can plan on attending in the future. So we'll set our sights on having the next reunion sometime during the summer of 2010. Hope to see everyone then.
Group Photos, Family Tree & Misc. Photos from slide show
I know we missed a couple of families for the group picture, sorry . . . but the storm was comin'.
Reunion Photos 01
Reunion Photos 02
Reunion Photos 03For anyone interested in having a printable (high res) version of the Family Tree, please right click on the following link and do a "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" download file to your own computer. This file uses the free Adobe Reader program to view and print. You should then be able to print it out at any size depending on your particular printer format. Good luck and enjoy!
Family Tree in .pdf format 1.1 MB
Rosenstiel descendants in .pdf format 145 KB
Posted @ 05:29 AM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
Monday, June 16, 2008
June 15, 2008: Celebrated Father's Day with our family by attending a brunch at Loon Lake Lodge. Very nice spread. Summer seems to be flying by.
Posted @ 12:11 PM PDT [Link] [No Comments]
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