

© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
The adventures of a cedar canoe
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
March filled my folder of Hummm, today it spilled onto my desk as April Fool’s joke from Mother Nature.
When I texted it to the Hubby who was waiting at another door for my friend. He sent me this!
While walking in Gouda this one appeared from a rooftop.
Then came the snow on April Fool’s Day. One last joke on us before Spring really sets in. Hummm… something is just not right with the world when Mother Nature dumps snow on poor blooming tulips. Hummm… I wonder what the rest of April will bring.
The folder is empty here at The Cedar Journal. Have you seen a Hummm… recently? Share your recent finds in our comment section below.
💙💛☮️
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
For my regular followers you will be happy to see that the Hummm… is still in me and that I can write about it. Maybe it will bring some smiles to those of you who have been too much in front of all the current World events. As I now have a strong following from China I hope that they understand the Hummm files and can see the smiles on all of our faces as we read these strange and unusual sightings. Welcome to my new Chinese followers!
We made a short trip this last week to an undisclosed location here in Europe to enjoy the sun and see some local sights. The weather was unusually warm for this time of the year and it brought the local citizens out in grand European style to enjoy the sun collectively and enjoy a nice cup of coffee with friends. After two years of COVID we are all very happy to get back to normal!
Hummm… normal? What the heck is that? Well, I didn’t think I would be enjoying a cup of coffee and have to worry about nuclear attacks! That is NOT normal!!! So what other not normal things did we see… here is a bit of the sights.
Hummm… how am I doing? Sleep, crappy! Worried…NO! Prepared for whatever crap comes our way…YUP!!!!
I do not fear Putin and as any coward usual does, he is hiding in Moscow while his troops are dying on the battlefield. Hummm… is NATO prepared for him if he crosses the line they have set into place. I can say in the most unofficial terms YES, YES, YES!!!! 💙💛🙏
Will the Hubby and I have to escape via our beautiful Cedar canoe if things get really close? Possible. We were asked to wipe our muddy feet when we get to where we are going to paddle. No problem! 🛶🚴♀️
So for all you out there that worry about us we appreciate your prayers and support here at the Cedar Journal, but please send most of your support to those in Ukraine as they need it more than we do at this moment. 💙💛💙💛🙏🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺
© The Cedar Journal, 2022, all rights reserved.
Hello fellow bloggers and subscribers! It has been a very long time since I was last officially online. I had more adventures than I would like to share this fall durning my travels to the USA.
I finally got to Minnesota after a year and half of COVID restrictions that limited my travel internationally. I did some kayaking, hiking, and spent some downtime with some close friends.
I also have run out of 13GB of storage space on my blog site and have had to make some hard decisions on the future of this site. Making some hard financial decisions is never easy when I have a limited income and things that seem to suck the money out of my wallet. Don’t fear the my blog changes, as my site will continue to be advertisement free and still be my original content of our adventures.
Look for some of the changes in the coming weeks as I get things cleaned up, add some additional items to increase and help with the cost of running this international site. I would be interested in ideas from my readers (many of you have been blogging longer than I have), please shoot me a private message on my contact page if you have something you would like to see on this blog or an idea on how I can finance this site in the future. For now, I have increased my storage to the WP Business level of 200GB. That should help retain access to my older content.
Now that all the rough stuff is out of the way, how was my vacation? More like a nightmare of a trip!
Flying internationally is not fun at all during these times of COVID and being an American citizen has advantages but still the hassle of travel is just that, a hassle!! I will not be traveling to the USA again until things change in requirements of flying!
Here was a small taste of the travel process.
COVID Vaccination 2x in the Spring of 2021. Second shot placed me in bed with the most horrible headache and body aches for two days. Better than hospital with COVID! Plus, I felt so much better once I was vaccinated with being able to move around without the constant fear of catching the virus, maybe passing it to my Hubby or worse giving it to his elderly mother who suffers from dementia and is in a care facility. It was a relief to finally not have to constantly worry. The additional benefit was I was able to start back at my old volunteer job at the Historische Tuin (Historical Garden) in Aalsmeer.
Close to our scheduled vacation (yes, the Hubby planned on traveling with me to the USA and took three weeks of vacation) the USA still was only allowing US citizens or green card holders into the country (the Hubby is neither). We watched both the travel and airline news. I logged into the State Department site daily for weeks prior to travel in hopes that changes would allow the Hubby to fly with me. I purchased my airline ticket and paid the highest price I have ever paid for travel between The Netherlands and Minnesota ever!
Yes, I most likely could have gotten a cheaper flight but at my age I don’t like hopping from airport to airport for more than 24 hours just to fly cheap. Eight hours of travel is enough! I booked a non-stop to MSP with the hopes that the Hubby would still be able to fly and enter the country. As the time got closer, our hopes of a vacation together disappeared.
Then it was the COVID test time. The first test I had taken since the start if this insanity of a virus decided to ascend on our global lives. The rule here for entering the USA was to be tested 72 hours prior to flight. So on the Friday before my Monday flight I was probed with the long cotton swab into the brain tissue just on the other side of my nasal passage. My only thoughts are “why the heck do people get this done weekly for their jobs without going nuts?” “I hope I don’t have anything that would stop me from traveling! That would suck!”
Cost of the test is paid for through the Dutch government, so it was a free test. For those of you living in the USA please remember this fact as I continue on this journey.
I waited 24 hours and received a link to a QR code. That was my secondary ticket to getting on the plane here in The Netherlands. Maybe that should be third ticket as the vaccination also was needed for flight.
I flew on American Labor Day, 6 September. But, I needed two more pieces of paperwork in order to fly. A declaration of health (paper format) so that US Customs had all of us legally if we lied about COVID prior to getting on the plane. I also had to fill out another piece of paperwork for my quarantine requirement upon return to The Netherlands.
I could quarantine for five days and then take a test if it was negative then I could resume normal life, or I could quarantine upon return for 10 days and not take a test. My option after being violated with the Q-Tip was the 10 day option. I only needed to hold onto the last piece of paper, just in case someone asked for it while I was in transit.
The return flight to Amsterdam was even more crazy due to changing requirements and limited test facilities in Northern Minnesota. The fact that most test facilities were overwhelmed with people with an over 3 hour wait even if you have an appointment. It was soon apparently obvious to me that I would not be able to get a rapid test until I got to the Minneapolis airport. The Minneapolis airport has three test facilities (I didn’t know that at the time of scheduling an appointment to be taken during my 5 hour layover). I paid my $200.00 and got the last appointment available for the Sunday afternoon. If I had known about the other test sites I maybe could have gotten an appointment but it was very unclear if the results would be ready prior to my flight.
On the day of my flight out of Duluth, Delta airlines would not let me fly without my COVID test. I explained that I had one scheduled for my layover in Minneapolis and they still wouldn’t let me fly without talking to customer service.
When Delta customer service agent came on the phone he explained that due to Federal Law they could not allow me to fly but I could buy a separate ticket to Minneapolis and then get my test. I purchased an additional ticket if $340.00 plus a $30.00 suitcase charge. To say I was a bit upset at this point would be a huge understatement. Knowing that my Hubby works for an airline I was even more upset as I know there is always a way around the stupid rules without charging a customer double for a ticket. That day was not the day to fight that issue so I paid the money, got on the plane in Duluth and when I got to Minneapolis I went in search of the COVID test site.
I rented a car in Minneapolis as I knew that the testing site was somewhere in the parking garage of the airport. I drove to the test site and soon after I exited the vehicle I saw a sign that told me that if I had an appointment with a certain company for a rapid test then I was at the wrong location.
Now, I was pissed, tired, and even as tough as I am, darn close to tears. It had already been a vacation riddled with medical issues and travel woes this was nearly the last straw.
I took some deep breaths and refocused my efforts to find the test location. Parking level three. Once I found the location it was crowded with people.
At one point during my wait I was approached by a young lady who was escorting a wheelchair bound lady to Paris and had been bumped from three flights due to testing requirements and time limits running out. Could I help, she asked. I listened and told her that if she didn’t receive results in 1/2 hour to go and ask the desk. At this point I got my results and wondered if once I headed to my flight if this lady in distress would be granted her flight.
Once I got to the Delta desk things went smoothly. I was checked in documents checked and boarding pass issued. I was very happy to have my military ID to go through the fast lane but TSA stopped and searched me because my 4 pounds of wild rice set off the detectors.
So I was once again violated by a body search and complete undoing of my carry on luggage that was neatly packed.
It is no wonder that people have lost their minds on flights over the last year. As a well travelled person that is very flexible when it comes to all the changes I was pushed almost to my breaking point.
I was never so glad to be on a plane and headed back to the Hubby.
Safe and sound back at home with the Hubby.
More blogs to follow on my hiking, kayaking adventures in Minnesota in the weeks to come.
Have you ever had a horrible flight during COVID? Share in our comments section.
© The Cedar Journal, 2021, all rights reserved.
I will start with a random act of kindness. Yes, I believe those people still exist in this crazy world.
Thank you universe for this wonderful random act of kindness. I asked people who were close to my bike if they had seen who had placed it there. Nope. Hummm… an ice cream angel. We all could use a few of those.
Hummm… Butterflies and dragonflies landing on me is nothing new. This one in our back garden landed on me several times while I was working. On my arm, my hat several times, then on a ladder with tools. Upon a closer look I noticed it had a damaged wing. Most likely at the end of its short life cycle. I was happy it found our garden as a resting place.
While on vacation we saw plenty of Hummm… although our cameras were not always available to catch the moment. As always clothes that have been dislocated from the person seemed to be a theme in our Hummm… finds.
Then the birds are adding to the already thick June Hummm… digital file.
While at the local strawberry farm… I got surprised when I went for a nice ripe strawberry and a bird popped up in my face.
Disclaimer… we find some things to make us think and ask hummm…. The following pictures may not be appropriate for some of my readers. I thought I should warn you first!
This next photo was taken on a day trip out to IJmuiden to watch ships coming into the Amsterdam canal.
When we started to drive out of the parking area heading on our way home, the Hubby slammed on the brakes! I thought we had forgotten something.
“Did you see that?“ he asked
“What?“ as I scanned the grassy area for some rare bird.
“Look at that building we just passed!”
“OMG! That is a Hummm… for sure!“
So we have come to the end of the June 2021 Hummm file. Once July starts we will be fully vaccinated and will on the road a bit more so I am sure we will collect more of the items that make us wonder hummm…
Stay safe everyone!
© The Cedar Journal, 2021, all rights reserved.