Of days, really gone by....

In 1957 we visited Niagara Falls.
That's when Steven saw a lot of "wawa"

The nucleus of my family:
l. to r. Inge, Egbert, Sigurd, Mutter, Irmgard.

The somewhat enlarged family:
l. to r. Hilde (Sigurd's wife) Inge, Mutter, Irmgard,
Alois ( Irmgard's husband) Hugo ( Inge's husband)
and last but not least, my brother Sigurd.

The family just keeps growing:
l. to r. Helmut (Inge's 1st son), Inge, Christa ( Theo's wife)
Alois, Mutter, Hugo, Irmgard.
Lieing on the floor: Theo, (Irmgard's 1st son)
Hermann (in the yellow shirt, Irmgard's 2nd son) Sigurd,
Steven, and Herwig (Inge's 2nd son)

...of days gone by....

Karin could not keep her hands off her brother.
1962
( Yes, Steven, you were that handsome little fella )

At the Muir Park Hotel. Christmas 1966.
I believe the game was called: "Tip it"

Santa Claus was always generous.

Steven and Lianne in front of the Muir Park Hotel.
So that must have been 1966/67

Days gone by - The family -

I'm getting tired publishing snow covered mountains and hoar frost covered trees and people
pretending they're having fun, sliding down mountain sides on two pieces of wood....
So, I dug back into the "family album" and blogged some pictures of "days gone by"
...beautiful days....easy to be remembered...
I've got lots more where they came from....maybe tomorrow I'll blog some more.
..this is "Bertstravels" signing off for today....

Days gone by - The Family -3-

Veronika and Hermann

a good looking pair....

Hugo and Inge

...at home...

...dancing with Irmgard..
...those were the days...

Days gone by -The Family -2-

Main Square in Braunau.
At the far left, Stadtplatz 22, where I grew up.

Hugo, dancing with Christa.

Theo and Christa.
...a most handsome couple...

Lianne !!!

Days gone by - The Family -1-

Hey Lianne ! How old were you then? 10??

Steven graduating from U of Thunderbay.

Steven in Algonquin Park

Lianne spies a present at Christmas.

Skiing in Lower Carinthia...

A view from about half way up the mountain.
A blanket of fog covers the low-land.
Above us is at first beautiful sun shine,
but then some clouds moved in and we felt a bit like
a sandwitch : between low fog and high clouds.

You should see these kids zipping down the slopes
coming back up by tow lift, down again, up again
seemingly without end.

The High Petzen.

The view of the "Four Huts"..
I'm almost tempted to strap some skies on
my old legs and give it a try.
But I hate hospitals and decided not to do
something I haven't done in 60 years.

Atop the "Petzen" or "The Ski bunny"

Christin on skies.
It's hard to believe: This lady is 77 years of age
but she skies like a 27 year old.
She "wedels" down the steep slopes like a youngster.
(well, almost like a youngster. Maybe a trifle slower.)

One quick: "See you at the bottom"...

...and she's off.

...then she came back via the ski-lift
and we had a little lunch
in this warm and comfortable lodge.
Above the fog-line we saw blue skies and the sun
beguiled us with her warm rays.

Disandat from a Sunday drive

Piknik area "Closed for the season !!

Did "Rodin" pass here ??

I say it again: "I'm glad, I'm not a tree."

Hoar Frost in the hills of Lower Carinthia

Just a little way from Bleiburg, in the hills,
snow and hoar frost covers the trees.
My only regret is that these pictures do not do justice
to the real beauty of this country side.

Two fir trees stand guard over a little birch,
richly decorated by a dense layer of hoar frost.

In a clearing, some farm houses defy the cold winds
blowing relentlessly.

Across the valley and on the horizon,
our "house mountain" - The Petzen -

Please do yourself a favour: View these pictures in the Large Format.

VOLLEY BALL in full swing

In the yellow shirts: Bleiburg (Austria)
in the red shirts: Tampere (Finland)

Great athleticism and greater spirit
A narrow (3:2) win for "our guys"

That's "blocking" isn't it?
(look at this image "large"

It's just like in Toronto Hockey:
The team does not list a single native
borne or living in Bleiburg.
However, the games are exciting
and the noise (drums and trumpets)
in the stadium is horrendous.

The Three Magi - Die Heiligen Drei Koenige

Children from the neighbourhood,
dressed as the Three Magi, who came to
visit the "New borne King", come on the 5th/6th January
to sing a song and collect for the underpriviledged children.

Legend has it, that their names were Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar.
Above the entrance to your house they mark in chalk:
20 + K+M+B+10
This sign will, without question, bring you luck.
Wether it does or not, it's a nice old custom.