Our Little Corner of the World...Part 2!!!

First, it's time to put on those fashionable scrubs...

So Gene and his son Nick are scrubbed up...but the surgeon had to show off his KISS t-shirt!!!

 

 Once inside it's all business...

...teamwork is the name of the game...

The surgeons get to work...

 

...but take time out for a photo!!!

I have to be honest here...it was never this dark in the O.R.!!!

Quite the opposite...it was as light as a bright sunny day...

but when I zoomed in on the surgeons hands in the spotlight...

something magical happened in my camera's sensor!!!

Why mess with a good thing???

Oh...and did I mention?  The surgeons like to have fun!!!

 

Don't drop Executive Director Marchelle!!!

Doctors Dean Anselmo, David Kulber, (Gene Simmons),
Andre Panossian, McCoy Moretz, Cathy Shin!!!

And if you're wondering...I didn't hear any KISS in the O.R.'s!!!

And in that hallway just between Pre-op and the O.R.'s...

 It's picture time!!!!

 

That tall, dark, and handsome young man in the back???

Gene Simmons son Nick!!!

 

Ever feel like knocking some heads together?!

 

 One little girl brought her stuffed turtle into O.R. with her...

One of the kids was born with basically no ear...

...and it just so happens that one of the surgeons who works with 

MKI is world renowned for crafting an ear form that he then surgically implants...

It was a fascinating process.  A much longer surgery as compared to many of the others...

Looking good!!!

This young man came from Ethiopia about a year ago and has already undergone
about 8 surgeries on both of his hands since he's been here.
Initially, when he first came to the states, he had a ten pound tumor on each hand...
can you imagine that?
The subsequent surgeries have been to normalize the hands and clean out any
calcifications that could turn into a tumor again.

 During the surgery they worked on both hands at the same time.

Talk about fascinating!

 #I Am Mending Kids!!!
BTW...that's Dorothy Lucey on the left...
(past co-anchor of KTTV's morning show Good Day LA)

 

Will Gibson, President of the Board of Directors for MKI with two surgeons!!!

...and of course...TheChief!!!

And this is what it's all about...
surgery is done...time to go home...
with a huge smile on your face!!!

Mending Kids International

...a more than worthwhile cause...

and a fun volunteer opportunity!!!

Click here if you're interested in finding out more about Mending Kids,

their Hometown Missions,

their overseas missions...

volunteer opportunities....

and gifting opportunities!!!

And remember....this is an international organization....
so there are volunteer opportunities internationally as well!!!





Click on the image below to visit more corners of the world...

Sailing Down the River...Visiting Other Corners of the World!!!

And the first stop is Kinderdijk!!!

Yes...we're still in the Netherlands...

Kinderdijk is a small village in South Holland...

and is the site of at least 19 windmills that were built around 1740...

Kinderdijk is Dutch for Children dike...

According to Wikipedia...

"In 1421, during the Saint Elizabeth flood...the Grote Hollandse Waard flooded..."

and as the flood waters receded, a cat was seen in a cradle floating down the river.

he cat was balancing the cradle by jumping back and forth, keeping the sides above the water

so no water could get in it.  When the cradle came close enough to shore for a bystander to 

pull it out of the water, he found a baby quietly sleeping in the cradle.  

This became a folktale legend and has been published as the 

"The Cat and the Cradle" in Englishl

 

Here in California we think of windmills in connection to the supply of electricity.

In Holland, these old windmills were originally built as a system for getting rid of excess water

in the polders (...a low lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes...)

 In today's high tech world, most of the windmills are now primarily tourist attractions, 

with the water level moderation tasks taken up by current technology.

This area in Kinderdijk is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

These windmills are so much cooler than the ugly ones outside of Mojave in California!!!

Of course...these old windmills required that someone live in and work them...

some with families!

 

It's kind of a romantic notion to think of someone living in one of these

charming old relics...

It's quite peaceful along the dike...I can imagine enjoying a quiet life,
raising a family...in a windmill!!!
Well...not really...those windmill accommodations were pretty tiny!!!

But how pretty!!!

...and in case you missed the part about the windmills being a tourist attraction...
these giant wooden shoes were there for anybody to step in, shoes and all...
and click!!!



Click on the image below for more visits to scenic parts of the world...

Day two in Amsterdam

If you're ever in Amsterdam...

...you just might come across the tulip museum!
The tulip museum is across the street and down from the Anne Frank house...

and if the line's too long for the Anne Frank house and you didn't make reservations on line...
...you just might be inclined to learn a bit more about tulips!

For instance...
Did you know that in 1637 the price of tulips skyrocketed off the charts?
Futures were traded...some bulbs changed hands 10 times in a day.
Not literally...in much the same as today, futures were sold...
basing the prices on what was estimated the bulb could bring in when the season began.
By 1636 tulips became the fourth leading export of the Netherlands, after gin, herring and cheese.
The prices of tulips crashed when apparently no one showed up
at the bulb auctions in Haarlem...ostensibly because the Bubonic plague had reached
it's height in the area.

Enlarge the chart to see where the price of gold was in 1636 as compared to
the price of tulip bulbs!!!

One thing you'll notice when wandering the streets and canals of Amsterdam...
...there is a plethora of bicycles!!!
Apparently, bicycling is the primary mode of transportation!
Everywhere you go there are multitudes of bicycles chained to railings,
and if you're not careful walking, you just might get run over by a cyclist!!!

 

It makes you wonder though...

when you see one that obviously hasn't been ridden in awhile!!!

As you can see, tulips aren't the only flowers we saw!!! 

One of the "must sees" for me was Rembrandt at the Rijks Museum...
...and I couldn't pass up the pink hair!!!

TheChief, on the other hand, had other things in mind...
...apparently one of the guys we were meeting on the ship for our river cruise
went online before we got there and had found the oldest cigar shop in Amsterdam!!!

Since our friend wasn't arriving until the day we boarded the ship,
TheChief promised to search it out and pick up a few for the trip!!!
The Millers were game and we walked a fair amount looking for it!!!

One of the things you'll see walking through Amsterdam are the
shop signs above the doors...well...they're not really signs...
but they do tell you what kind of store is below!!!
If I remember correctly, this interesting gentleman was above a pharmacy!!!

Whew!!!
It's so nice to stop for a cup of coffee at one of the little sidewalk cafes
for a little pick-me-up!!!

Some store windows tell you what's in the store...
...and then...sometimes...you'll find words of wisdom!!!






For more scenic spots around the world...click on the image below!!!

First stop...Amsterdam!!!

Ever see a Viking River Cruise commercial and wonder what they're like???

Come along with me and I'll give you a glimpse!!!

Amsterdam to Budapest...

along the Rhine, the Maine, and the Danube....

Fabulous!!!

We arrived in Amsterdam in late May...

Still a bit gloomy...

I had to test my settings on my camera so took this one out the window of the hotel.

We extended a few days in Amsterdam before the cruise...

First things first...and prepping us for the actual river cruise...

we took a boat tour through the canals of Amsterdam!

Our boat was an open air boat...

The buildings of Amsterdam are amazing...

the houses are narrow and deep because of the tax structure...

Some lean forward...a sort of bragging right...

or in more practical terms to assist in pulling up goods...

The facades can be described as a bell shape, steps, a neck...

And soooo many bridges!!!

...and along the sides of the canals...houseboats!!!

of all shapes and sizes!!! 

Notice the hook?  

That's to pull goods up to the windows...

(and yes...we're talking hundreds of years ago)

Even the birds have houseboats!!!

Some of the houses have settled (a bit crooked) over time...

 

This was originally a warehouse...see the windows in the center of the building?

They were access to the warehouse...using that hook at the apex of the building...

It's so peaceful and lovely to cruise through the canals...

It's Independence Day!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

We Americans may disagree on political issues and 

political leaders...

but we are still one nation united...

May the red, white, and blue wave long and strong!!!