White Travelogue: A California Wedding Story

 Jenny & Dan
August 8, 2009

Lisa, Dan, and Bob

Father & Son

Happy 2nd Anniversary Jen & Dan !

Lisa Explains Brain-Damaged Males

Since we started off with a bird theme at the beginning of this blog, I want to add a few tidbits for local birdwatchers:

These pictures are of peach-faced lovebirds that were nesting a couple months ago in the saguaro at 103rd and Charter Oak.  They are not native to Arizona, coming here from South Africa by way of an aviary owner who set his flock free.  They can be seen all over the neighborhood in the spring, traveling in groups of 15-20.  They squawk as they fly, and when in trees they sing, a distinctive sound once you have heard it.  They survive well in this dry climate, and especially love many of the other plants that have been imported to Arizona.

And another saguaro-nesting non-native species is the European starling.  (Someone brought every bird mentioned in Shakespeare's plays to America.  The starlings seem to love the USA!!)  They have been ingesting hormone tainted earthworms which have caused brain damage to the males.  This has made them more attractive to the females, as the females pick their mates based on the male's song, and the brain-damaged male starlings apparently sing quite an exciting song.  Hum . . . what does that say of male rock stars?  Or are the females also brain-damaged?  

Your neighbor, Lisa

White Family Travelogue: A Swedish Wedding Story

Freja and Lars celebrate their first wedding anniversary today.

Their wedding reception was held in a medieval castle Örebro.  

At the reception, Freja and Lars kissed after people clanked on glasses.  They stood on a chair to kiss, which allowed all the guests to see.  A funny Swedish tradition, if the bride leaves the room, all the females line up and kiss the groom.  If the groom leaves the room, all the guys line up to kiss the bride.  Then one time, for fun (not the tradition) both left the room, and all the girls lined up to kiss the bride's father.   

At one point during the reception, the friends of the groom (in Sweden, neither the bride nor groom have attendants) picked up Lars and cut off the toes of his socks.  This is not tradition, but since Lars is from a small town in the South of Sweden called Klippan, and the Swedes all know English, it sounded like clip, so they cut his socks.

                                     

They had a nice powerpoint slide show/roast of the couple, much like what we had seen at Canadian weddings.  Maybe it is because half of Sweden immigrated to the Great Lakes region in the 19th century.  Many people, including me, representing the American guests, got up to tell a funny story about the couple.

Lisa, Freja, and Bob

It was a very beautiful wedding.

The End

Travelogue: Bob & Lisa in China

The Whites traveled to China the fall of 2008, avoiding the Olympic masses, but enjoying all of the tourist amenities set up for the games.  Below you can get a glimpse of the Great Wall through the polluted air.

The second picture is from the beautiful mountain retreat near the Li River, called Yangshuo.

 The third is Bob, the newest terracotta solder in Xian.

The fourth is us with Pat and Duane Thoms (Bloomfield) at the world's largest McDonald's at the Olympic village in Beijing.  Do they have American takeout in square paper boxes?

The last picture is of Bob on the way to Yangshuo after a tainted meal of Peking Duck.  You cannot see how green his face is, nor hear the special sound effects of his retching.

Travelogue: The Whites in Switzerland !

Scottsdale is a Sister City to Interlaken, Switzerland.  We have had the chance to participate in six student/teacher exchanges in Interlaken, including a Fulbright Exchange in 2003.  With all of the friends there, it is truly a home away from home.  We will spend a week in January 2012 where Bob will ski the Alps.

 Bob's knee as he was hanggliding over Interlaken.

Eiger, Monch, and the Jungfrau from our office window.

Bob & Lisa up on the Rothorn, overlooking the Bernese Alps and Lake Brienz.