River Cruising

Three weeks ago we left for our first river cruise, this one on the Danube as you know now.

We chose Vantage Travel for our cruise and can highly recommend them after using them. We saw one other Nordic cruise line and those people seemed to be happy too.

I sleep really well on a ship. Of course the five I have slept on were usually on calm waters and I know I wouldn't be sleeping in a storm. That would be like me trying to sleep on a jet airplane 6 miles high going 5-600 MPH. That is what I call an out of body experience.

Sleeping on a ship on calm water is like sleeping on a giant comfy bed on top of giant waterbed. I don't wake up in the middle of the night like I often do on land.

Our bed was two small beds put together and each had its own fluffy comforter but looked like a queen sized bed.

I mention sleep because we spend 1/3 of our lives in bed and without good rest the day is pretty well shot.

Vantage really knows what it is doing. Everything is top notch and service is better than anything else you will see. You have to work together on a 5 day to two week deal or the customer isn't going to be satisfied. They do it and the customer is very satisfied.

The routine is great for me. Wake up, shower, eat, walk, read, study, eat, walk, see, experience, eat, have some entertainment and go to bed. After three days I am totally relaxed like a leaf on a tree, just blowing in the breeze.

Our ship was 170 guests, mainly couples, and 42 staff so the chef cooked 640 or so meals a day for us and crew. The kitchen was very high tech and very efficient. Every worker was at the top of his game in that kitchen to the dining room.

We got to eating on the higher deck of the Compass Dining room with the kitchen underneath us. There we met Emil, the best waiter I ever had and his able assistants Milai and Atilla. They soon knew our habits and we became friends on our short journey.

You can take one of these vacations for about $3000 each, U.S. After adding tips for crew and whatever you buy off the ship, you are probably still under $10,0000. It is well worth it to me and compares to every kind of vacation we have taken in the last ten years. It is different though as you are really being waited on and the herds are not as big as the big cruise ships. That makes it very personal and special.

The guests are all in our age group and education level. That makes for good relations and discussions at dinner. The hard part for me was seeing where I will be in 10 years as we were that much younger than most of the cruisers.

It was good to see older folks still out learning culture and seeing sights. They take their bumps and bruises from age in stride. One old german from New Jersey was 89 and his wife right behind and he was still doing his thing in retirement. Hip and knee replacements are common among passengers.

It really was a good experience and I would sure do it again.

Holland in bloom, the Christmas markets and new countries are still out there for us.

Ed

Wheat Grew Overnight

This is the most unusual thing I ever saw but yesterday's rain made the wheat grow overnight.

It has been so dry the wheat and barley barely came up. With a nice 1-2 inches of rain on it it grew overnight.

Usually it is so damp in fall the cereal crops come closer to drowning than lacking from water but this year's La Nina event is quite something different. The grain prices are so volatile because of high demand and questionable supply that the rumor of drought in South America has the markets queezy.

We are about 12 inches behind an average year's rainfall. We had one inch of rain June 12, another one Sept 17 and more than that yesterday. That's almost a half a year with 3 one inch rains, very unusual around here.

They said it was the coolest October on record in Europe but then turned record warm while we were there.

The yard greened up a little but not like most places we have been to where it is lush green. I really need to re-seed the whole thing now.

It sure has been a different year weather wise!

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. It is amazing how affordable a home cooked meal still is.

"While the average cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal rose by 56 cents, the price of feeding a gathering of 10 is still less than it was in 2008, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table.

The average price tag for a holiday meal for 10 with all the trimmings rang up at $43.47, up from $42.91 in 2009 but down by $1.14 from the 2008 average. The rise was in spite of a significantly lower average price for the centerpiece 16-pound turkey, which was down by 99 cents.

“Turkey prices are down some this year despite the fact that, according to United States Agriculture Department estimates, turkey production has been slightly lower in 2010 than in 2009 and supplies of turkey in cold storage are below last year’s level,” said American Farm Bureau Federation Economist John Anderson, who said this indicates retailers are being aggressive in featuring turkeys in special sales and promotions.

“Overall, the change in the price of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner is basically in line with the modest changes that we’ve seen in the overall price level this year. At $4.35 per person, our traditional Thanksgiving feast is still a better deal than most fast-food value meals, plus it’s a wholesome, home-cooked meal.”

The survey involved shoppers from 34 states (including one from Georgia) collecting price data on turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10.

The cost of a 16-pound turkey, at $17.66 or roughly $1.10 per pound, reflects a decrease of 44 cents compared to the prices from the 2009 survey. A 38-cent rise in the price of a gallon of milk and a 72-cent increase for miscellaneous ingredients (coffee, onions, eggs, sugar, flour, evaporated milk and butter) offset the decrease in the price of turkey. The price for a pound of green peas also declined, by an average of 14 cents, while the cost of 12 ounces of fresh cranberries was the same as in 2009."

I am sure most of us spent more than that but food is still affordable.

Those little wheat plants won't make a dent in the cost of producing the pumpkin pie shell it could make.


Ed

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Turkey Day to you all. Turkey Day is a common slang term in the US for Happy Thanksgiving.

I am very thankful this year. So many good things happened. I had the most acres and gross and net revenue I ever had in my life. Best of all we have a new crop, our eighth grandchild.

Like the Pilgrims, we will give thanks today with a special meal. Our turkey day will be Saturday with the kids and grandkids during the Buckeye's battle with Michigan. Celebrating on an off day like this has worked well for our blended family.

I want to thank Ralph for writing while I was gone. I think a writer like him adds interest and broadens the view of a blog like mine. I have three good "ghost writers" now. Budde from the Lazy Farmer, LuAnn, and now Ralph.

It takes about 24 hours to fly from here to Europe with the layovers in Economy mode. We are rich to be able to travel but if we were really rich we could take a non stop flight pretty close to any major city.

The best deal on this trip was drive to Cleveland and use Continental to Newark, Frankfurt and to the smaller cities of Budapest and Prague. We were on the ground as much as in the air. The main leg is around 7 hours and the smaller legs are 1-2 hours each.

We saw all the commotion about security in Germany and body scans in the US. Thankfully that never bothered our trip one bit. The flight back home was roomy and many people slept across 3 seats. Me, I can't sleep in a jet going 5-600 MPH so I just watch movies and radio and think and write.

The big picture of the trip was the age of Europe compared to us. We are still an infant country and society compared to the world. The Roman Empire greatly impacted the future of man and the faith of those people.

The Christmas markets were just beginning to open and Advent is King in Europe like it used to be here. It wasn't so commercialized in advertizing like it is here but you can see the impact we have on the world.

The really neat thing we saw was at the cristkindl market we visited in Vienna, the event was social, not just for buying. Young and old visited together and they had pony and other rides for the kids so three generations could visit together. It felt very homey to us.

We walked 8-10 miles from Old Prague to Charles Bridge, across the river, up to the largest castle in Europe and back to the hotel. We still have tired bodies we jet lag but we will be fine, just need some time.

We woke up two hours early this morning so we need to keep working on getting back on schedule. We struggled to stay awake past 9 PM local the last two nights but it is working.

Happy Turkey Day to all and I hope you had a good year like we did.

Ed Winkle

Thankful For Multitude Of Ever-Ready Volunteers

Day before yesterday I talked about the Sugartree Ministry and their care of so many homeless and poor families that are left in the wake of losing 10,000+ jobs when the major employer, DHL, closed their distribution Center. Sixty Minutes came in first to report on the situation followed by Rachel Ray who came in and did a wonderful renovation of the dining room and kitchen for Sugartree But what makes our community really great are the many, many volunteers who give of themselves to serve their fellow men and women to help make their lives a little more comfortable.

Today is one our church’s two days that we fix and serve the hot meal at Sugartree. We served 655 people with the help of two different girl scout troops and a fraternity and sorority group from the Wilmington College. Keep in mind that dinner at the Sugartree Ministry is not a food line that people fill up their plates and then find a table – Everyone who comes to Sugartree is treated like a rich person. They are seated at tables and served their food on china and given stainless utensils and a drink by smiling volunteers. The dishes are then picked up and the tables cleaned off getting ready for the second seating. That is what happened today but during 4 turnovers! That is the most people I have seen eat at Sugartree! While pretty scary that there are that many people who need to find free food somewhere – it is also heart-warming to see so many people willing to donate many hours of their time for others.

We have a Homeless Shelter in Wilmington who helps people that have been evicted from their homes with up to 6 weeks of temporary housing and food. I deliver pastry products to the shelter on Saturday and Sunday. One recent Saturday I was told by the shelter manager to come see the new house that will join the original 2 once renovation is completed. I was amazed to find two prominent surgeons in jeans and work shoes tearing done the wall board in the new house getting ready to completely renovate this Home. One is an orthopedic surgeon who contributes 20-30 hours a week on top of a very ambitious surgery schedule and practice. His companion is a cardiology surgeon who also was wielding a crowbar.

Can you imagine? People who earn several hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars of funds in their careers doing the volunteer hour they do each week. They want no publicity – they feel good donating their time and efforts for those not as fortunate as they are. Humbling to say the least!

Here is wishing you and yours a great Thanksgiving tomorrow! My heart is filled with the warmth generated by the many volunteers we have here in Southwestern Ohio.

Ralph Taylor
Blogging for Ed Winkle

Zimbabwe Orphanage Mission Project

Good Pre-Thanksgiving Tuesday to each of you Hymark Blog Followers!

There are not many chemists in the world who are fortunate enough to get as deeply involved in world missions as I am. Coming right on the heels of the Ukraine Church Partnership Mission I talked about on Nov 13th was another mission opportunity creating Orphanages In Zimbabwe.

While a Presbyterian now - our church denomination in the 80's and 90's, Church of Christ/Christian Church, consists of lots of independent church entities tied only loosely together through an association of churches. All congregations function independent of others. This feature makes large mission projects more difficult to launch because no one church congregation has the resources to fund them alone. That is where I came into the mission field – as a project leader and fundraiser.

I was approached by our Pastor, the same one as the one who spearheaded the Ukrainian Church Partnership Project. He wanted to know if I’d like to help develop an orphanage for homeless children whose parents and extended families have died of HIV/Aids. There were 78,000 such children walking the streets of Zimbabwe then - many more today. He briefed me on the Missionary family already living in Bulawayo who has a concept for creating a non-institutional orphanage.

My assignment, if I chose to accept it was to scope out the project, research the technical and financial resources that would be needed to fund such a project. All if that in a span of 4 weeks vacation from P&G!

The first step was visit with the Missionary family in Zimbabwe to see what their image of this orphanage was. We went to visit a half dozen institutions – classical orphanages where the children all slept in bunks – many in a room, boys in one wing and the girls in another. The non-institutional model was based on family units. We ended up with an orphanage with 100 homes – each having 6 bedrooms, 2 boys or 2 girls in each room on bunks. The concept they had was much more robust than other orphanages we visited. The orphanage we were developing would be essentially a village of 1000 children with elementary, middle and senior high school with emphasis on developing agricultural commodities and crafts to earn money to provide for the expenses of running the orphanage.

The ultimate objective is that these orphanages would be run by Zimbabweans for Zimbabwean orphans. Our job would be completed when it was turned over to the Zimbabwean Manager.

We next needed to meet with potential local resources (architects, builders, hydrologists, agricultural specialists, Educational consultants, and many others.
This was one of the most exciting projects that I ever worked on. I even got to meet with Robert Mugabe, the current Zimbabwean Dictator who is ruining the entire nation of Zimbabwe for personal gain. When I met with him in 1996 – he was President of the country. Really interested in our orphanage project because it helped the people of his nation. He was very down to earth and congenial. Within 2years of my return it was clear that he was more interested in keeping up his lifestyle than helping his fellow Zimbabweans. He sent the war veterans in to run off the white farmers and kill them if necessary to give the veterans some farmland and keep his prestigious position. Today the runaway inflation there is so bad that it causes the prices of things to double every 4 days. It takes more than a million Zimbabwean Dollars to buy a loaf of bread.

Needless to say – this project was put on hold, at least in Zimbabwe given the political unrest there. While the concept is robust, it may have to be developed in neighboring Mozambique, Botswana or other African nation.

Ralph Taylor
Blogger Subbing For Ed Winkle Who will Be Back In This Spot Soon!

Sugartree Ministries “Feed The Hungry” Program

Good Monday Morning Hymark fans! This is Ralph Taylor Blogging for the vacationing Ed Winkle who will, in the next couple of days, be getting ready to board plane heading back home. He will have a lot to tell you about his trip beyond the two columns he published from Central Europe yesterday and last week.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday of this week - I wanted to share with you one of my favorite organizations - Sugartree Ministries. I and hundreds of others volunteer time to support this charity located in Wilmington, Ohio. Thirty Four churches and local businesses prepare and serve 150 to 200 people hot meals 6 days a week in their ministry facilities. Also once a week, at noon on Thursdays, they open their doors to the public to take home frozen meats, fresh produce and canned/packaged foods to the 400-500 who line-up each week.

The Kroger Company, a major food marketer here in Southwestern Ohio, donates between 3000 – 4000 pounds of food to this organization each month. I and 2 other people use their SUVs and or truck to haul this food to the shelter. See a short video about that effort by copying and pasting this url into the http address bar of your browser:

http://pcwilmington.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=273&Itemid=181

Life in Clinton County, Ohio got a little more difficult when DHL, a major employer in Wilmington closed their facility in 2008. There are several videos available that you can review that gives lots of background on what has happened in the Wilmington area as presented by a couple of 60 Minutes and s couple of Rachel Ray’s Shows You’ll find them at:

http://pcwilmington.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=225&Itemid=163

For those who watch the Rachel Ray Show – Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, she will be showing an interview that her crew taped last week. She has another surprise that will be announced on the show this Thursday. Here is when you will be able to hear this program in your area:

http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show-info/showtimes/

Glenn Beck has picked up on this and is coming to our county seat of government next Month in Wilmington.

http://www.google.com/search?q=glenn+beck+on+wilmington&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7

Be sure to keep this ministry in your prayers this week and every week as the services it provides are vital to the people living in this area.

Ralph Taylor

Prague

Editorial Note: The following is a report directly from Ed & LuAnn's vacation time in Central Europe

This has been a very insightful trip and sabbatical for me. LuAnn has gotten to see what I first saw 18 years ago.

I have this deep feeling every American should seek out where their ancestors came from. Why did they venture from their homeland to America?

I am very thankful Heinrich Winkle came to Virginia in the 1700's. His offspring surely had their trials and tribulations but our family missed lots of the peril in Europe.

What these peoples have been through over 2000 years is inexpicable. I have seen the Great Wall of China, Dachau and now the parade grounds where Hitler started his regime in the 30's. Words will never match what the people of those times went through and what really happened.

Grandpa George was left to raise his family and feed the war effort. So was dad. So was I.

America really needs to study their world history and try to avoid what happened to those who didn't leave their homeland for our new homeland. We are bound for some real trials and tribulations ourselves if we don't.

In church this morning it hit me why God put LuAnn and I together. It was so we and our chidlren's families could flourish. They have. I don't want our grandchildren to suffer in the future but we all must learn from mistakes of the past. Somehow we have to get that through to them in our short few years left.

We prayed with some of the most simple and humble people you ever saw today. One grandma made the sign of the cross on her grandchildren's foreheads when they entered the church.

We toured the old Jewish community in Prague that was destroyed after the Nazi Regime by a plan of a Paris archetect chosen to rebuild the encampment. On the walls of the synagogue was the names of the tens of thousands of people who had been killed during that regime. One was a Winkler family. I never knew there were any Jewish in the 2000 year or older Winckel family which became Winkle, Winkel, Winkler, Winklemann, Van Winkle and so many derivations.

There were over 10,000 Jewish people buried in the very small cemetary only a hectare or two in size. They were literally buried them ten deep on top of each other over the 700 year period they lived in this part of Prague.

The astronomical clock I remembered after I saw it. Little wooden figures come out on the hour and a trumpeteer blows the bugle at the top of the clock. Certain buildings and the river and the Charles bridge came back to life in my memory. We have to climb to the old church on the hill on the other side of the river yet. I remember that distinctly from my first trip here.

The Czech people are very simple, hard working people like most of Europe and our ancestors. I wonder if professor Jorge is still alive here in Prague? He was a world renoun scientist on heavy metals, sludge, and environment when I met him 18 years ago. I doubt I can find him.

I found me again though and it has been remarkable.

I am glad I am curious enough to travel, think and study.

Ed