Mt. Hood, a volcanic mountain in Oregon, has a scary beauty to it. It reminds one of the power of Mother Nature that seems to be lurking below. In the winter her power is exhibited by the 300 inches of annual snowfall, that at least for now results in a glacier that can be skied year round. High up the slope of Mt. Hood stands the gorgeous Timberline Lodge, a depression era New Deal work creation project. We also spent time in fascinating Portland while dropping Julian off at Reed College.

In October 2016 Fred traveled to Iceland and spent a week with Nature Photographer Dave Morrow. It was an incredible experience, as these photos hopefully show. Dave is a superb teacher and knows all the ins and outs of finding the best spots for the mission. check out www.davemorrowphotography.com

They grow fast when you water and feed them!

In 2009 it became clear to us that our enormous home on Hingham Road was too big and too expensive, so even though it was the only home the children had known, we decided to pull up our tent posts and move. We were lucky to find a property that had not even entered the market that was just perfect- thanks to our friend Bill Locke for keeping his eyes and ears open and finding it for us. We purchased the property on 10 Sherman Circle, in our own neighborhood, just a mile up the hill with an incredible view over the city of Utica and the Mohawk Valley. We like to think of it as "down-sizing, but up-grading". We love the house and location and consider ourselves very lucky. Of course, we could not stay completely quiet in regards to fix-ups, and we have embarked on some exciting and ambitious projects over the years. Probably the most remarkable things about the house is the view to the North over the Mohawk Valley. Most of the weather in the area sweeps in from the West and we get to watch all kinds of incredible natural wonders play our in front of us. 

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Suspendisse vulputate aliquam dui. Nulla elementum dui ut augue. Aliquam vehicula mi at mauris. Maecenas placerat, nisl at consequat rhoncus, sem nunc gravida justo, quis eleifend arcu velit quis lacus. Morbi magna magna, tincidunt a, mattis non, imperdiet vitae, tellus. Sed odio est, auctor ac, sollicitudin in, consequat vitae, orci. Fusce id felis. Vivamus sollicitudin metus eget eros.

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All images used with permission from Rut Sigurdardottir.

Morgan and Fred visited Denmark in the summer of 2013 and Morgan was a wonderful co-navigator through Fred's trip down memory lane. We started at the Hamburg Airport and headed north to the Emil Nolde Museum in the border zone between northwest Germany and southwest Denmark. It was fabulous, as Fred remembers it from a previous visit 41 years earlier. We also took in the city of Ribe and the college Fred attended, Rødding Højskole, while learning Danish in 1971. The trip then brought us through Gundesbøl where the Steenfats lived, and from where Vibeke hailed- the wonderful Danish lady who secured Fred's green card (by volunteering to get married!), and future in medicine. Next we went to the upper most northwestern corner of Denmark, to the beautiful island of Mors, and re-united with Mie and Andreas Jensen. Last time Fred saw them was when he lived with them and their wonderful family on their farm while learning Danish the natural way- by living it! 

Our next stop as in Helgenæs to visit and old friend and collaborator, Bo Bendixen. Bo was the brains behind the design of Underground Ice Cream, Fred's Danish venture into the world of ice cream production and the creation of ice cream cafés across the country, originally in Aarhus, while attending Aarhus University Medical School. It was great seeing Bo still going strong!

Of course we visited Aarhus University and it is as beautiful as it was back in 1974-83 during Fred's med school years. And Digevej 4, Vibeke and Fred's home during the med school years.

Our next stop was in Kolding, home of Lise, Torben, Ellen and Svend, like Vibeke, extremely important people in Fred's life. There we saw what had become of a family home overlooking Kolding Fjord. It had been transformed into the incredible art Museum Trapholt

Finally the children are old enough to travel to foreign cities and not make the parents crazy with protestations over museum and restaurant visits, long walks and all of the other challenges of being tourists. They had done well since they were ity-bity with airplane travel and visits to Boston, New York and other domestic destinations, but it was time to put them to the test of a major foreign vacation. So, naturally, our first destination was Paris in July 2011. It was absolutely fantastic. We all loved it and cannot wait to go back. Morgan was so taken in by Versailles, she wanted to volunteer the next summer to work at their horse stable! I wish that everyone could experience this incredible city at least once in their lives.

​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. Praesent mauris ante, elementum et, bibendum at, posuere sit amet, nibh. Duis tincidunt lectus quis dui viverra vestibulum.

Suspendisse vulputate aliquam dui. Nulla elementum dui ut augue. Aliquam vehicula mi at mauris. Maecenas placerat, nisl at consequat rhoncus, sem nunc gravida justo, quis eleifend arcu velit quis lacus. Morbi magna magna, tincidunt a, mattis non, imperdiet vitae, tellus. Sed odio est, auctor ac, sollicitudin in, consequat vitae, orci. Fusce id felis. Vivamus sollicitudin metus eget eros.

​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. 

All images used with permission from Rut Sigurdardottir.

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​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. Praesent mauris ante, elementum et, bibendum at, posuere sit amet, nibh. Duis tincidunt lectus quis dui viverra vestibulum.

Suspendisse vulputate aliquam dui. Nulla elementum dui ut augue. Aliquam vehicula mi at mauris. Maecenas placerat, nisl at consequat rhoncus, sem nunc gravida justo, quis eleifend arcu velit quis lacus. Morbi magna magna, tincidunt a, mattis non, imperdiet vitae, tellus. Sed odio est, auctor ac, sollicitudin in, consequat vitae, orci. Fusce id felis. Vivamus sollicitudin metus eget eros.

All images used with permission from ​​​Julia Lindemalm.

​​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. Praesent mauris ante, elementum et, bibendum at, posuere sit amet, nibh. Duis tincidunt lectus quis dui viverra vestibulum.

Suspendisse vulputate aliquam dui. Nulla elementum dui ut augue. Aliquam vehicula mi at mauris. Maecenas placerat, nisl at consequat rhoncus, sem nunc gravida justo, quis eleifend arcu velit quis lacus. Morbi magna magna, tincidunt a, mattis non, imperdiet vitae, tellus. Sed odio est, auctor ac, sollicitudin in, consequat vitae, orci. Fusce id felis. Vivamus sollicitudin metus eget eros.

All images used with permission from Linn Bergbrandt.

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orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. Praesent mauris ante, elementum et, bibendum at, posuere sit amet, nibh. Duis tincidunt lectus quis dui viverra vestibulum.

orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. 

All images used with permission from Rut Sigurdardottir.

From February 16-22, 2016 the fam was together for a wonderful vacation in the British Virgin Islands on a beautiful Oyster 56 sailboat, Amanzi (www.yachtamanzi.com), exceptionally well crewed by Captain Guy Dodwell and 1st Mate Roseanna Asher-Relf. The boat was awesome and one could easily imagine retiring on such a boat and heading out into the world to whichever port attracted one's attention. The crew was fabulous. We were so pampered it was like living on a floating Downton Abbey! The Virgin Islands are absolutely gorgeous- just like in the pirate movies (and of course we watched Johnny Depp et al in action In Pirates of the Caribbean one evening in the comfort of Amanzi's saloon- not a bar but nauti-speak for large, comfortable, below decks "living room"). The food and drink was fabulous- fresh and healthy. We did not eat out once all week and did not feel the need, although we did frequent a few rum bars when anchored in several choice locations. Another highlight of the week was diving . We did five dives with the help of the good people JP and Steve from We Be Divin', Tortola, BVI, and Lynn passed her Open Water Diver test, so she is now a PADI-certified diver. Our dive experienced culminated with diving around and even through the Wreck of the Rhone. All in all it was a wonderful vacation and competed very favorably with our normal February activity- skiing. Hopefully this will become an annual tradition until we are in a position financially and time-wise to embark upon our own boat.

orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam cursus. Morbi ut mi. Nullam enim leo, egestas id, condimentum at, laoreet mattis, massa. Sed eleifend nonummy diam. Praesent mauris ante, elementum et, bibendum at, posuere sit amet, nibh. Duis tincidunt lectus quis dui viverra vestibulum.

All images used with permission from Rut Sigurdardottir.