FC3InspirationalSpeaker

July 16, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 90; London The flowers are so beautiful everywhere, but come with a cost. I spent another day pretty miserable. I had hotel room coffee this morning. And I had a pot of tea twice, while we were out.They have something called white tea, which is mellower and not processed as much. I loved it. We got into full boat voyage shopping mode today. Flea London Vintage and Makers Market was not much of a flea market. It was kind of lame. Then we hit the Truman Brewery Market. It was more of what we need, although I haven’t been able to replace the sports coat I threw away during the trip. The world serves too much food…at least for us. No matter how little we order, they bring us more than we can eat. For lunch we got too much Thai food. It was delicious. The soup was Thai Dristan. When we got back to our apartment, I took some Roz elixirs and zonked for several hours. I feel somewhat better. Let’s see if I can sleep tonight and recover even more by the morning. Cheers! Frank July 17, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 91; London I feel a whole lot better today, and I almost feel like I’m home. People here say excuse me and don’t walk aggressively, doing that shoulder swerve move at the last second. It’s refreshing. Hey, I’m not judging. It’s just what I like. Roz learned a lesson that I knew, but didn’t intercede, because it was in a grey area. Don’t go to “theme” restaurants when you are overseas. . You can go into any foreign restaurant in another land and know what you are getting. Vietnamese, shawarma, Chinese, Turkish. etc., etc. They have those people making their kind of food and it is often quite good. Theme restaurants say things like, “Authentic LA Street Food,” “New Orleans Style,” or, in this case, “Mexican.” With theme restaurants, you need to look around and ask questions before ordering. Now, it could have been a real Mexican restaurant run by real Mexicans, but it wasn’t. It was a theme restaurant run by people who didn’t speak Spanish and didn’t really speak English. And we didn’t find out until it was too late. We stopped there because they had a sign that said “Margaritas.” There was a frozen margarita on the menu and Roz ordered it. She sent it back because it wasn’t slushy. The waitress returned with one in a bigger glass, Still not slushy. Her English was poor. She didn’t understand what we were saying. So, Roz traded it in for a beer. I should have gone in first and looked at their margarita machine. They don’t have one. When we reread the menu, it turns out that it is actually a “frozen fruit margarita.” So we moved on from there and went to a pub, where I got to do some “beer research.” I had East London cellar chilled ale. It was fun, but I like other beers more. You always hear that they drink their beer warm. It wasn’t. It is whatever temperature the cellar of the pub is. This was chilled; just right for this ale. Their ales are relatively weak; 4% more or less. I like a dog with a little more bite. The reason they make it so weak is because it is taxed by percentage of alcohol. We solved that taxation thing with them in the late 18th century. That was over tea. Maybe they should make their revolution over beer. Roz got something called a watermelon sugar. It was a two-for-one special and they brought both at once. They were delicious and strong. Needless to say, I had to “help” her back to the bus. But we got safely back to the hotel. We got some more shopping done for the cruise. I got a pair of black slacks that will do as my dress pants, but will be thrown away before anyone who knows me sees me with them. I also got a blazer and some shirts. We grabbed fast food, started checking in tor the cruise and crashed. Cheers! July 18, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 92; London We took a day off from each other today. We do that every once in a while. It’s healthy. Back home we don’t spend a lot of time together. We kind of live our daily lives in separate parts of the house, but we eat most meals together and they usually take a while, because of my eating challenges. Now we are together almost always. It isn’t fun. I don’t even like to be around me all the time. I started out to walk to Big Ben by noon and record it ding donging for my grandson Arlo, who is obsessed with clocks, but it didn’t sound. It is undergoing repairs. It’s been kind of cool with blistering hot days spread in; today was one of them. It was supposed to go to 100 degrees and I think it almost made it. I had to walk at a brisk pace to make it on time. By the time I got there I was parched and hadn’t had time to stop for coffee or tea either. After, I bought Street churros and set out in search of a pot of tea and a bottle of sparkling water. I couldn’t find any so I settled for a weak IPA and sat and had brunch on the Thames in a beer garden. There are a ton of rude walkers in the tourist areas, even though the paths are usually pretty wide. In our neighborhood it doesn’t happen, but next to the river, people are very aggressive walkers. The cyclists here are a little less aggressive here than in Europe, but still think they always have the right-of-way. They just slow down before charging forward. I passed the Globe on my way home. We are seeing Lear there this Sunday. I am going because I love Shakespeare, Roz because she loves me. It will be three hours and forty minutes on wooden benches like they had in the early 17th Century. They give tours of the theater, but she may throw me in the river if I add that to Sunday, so I did that today. The Globe is a semi-outdoor venue. It was hot and I only understood about 20% of what the guide said. One reason is because this is tech week for Midsummer Night’s Dream, which replaces Lear next week. They do their final practices onstage and work out the technical bugs. Photography was strictly prohibited, but I managed to capture some interesting videos before they made us put our phones away. I finally had tea and mineral water at 3:30. The pub I was in was nicely air conditioned, it was still pretty early and they music was good, so I had a pint of London Pride Bitter, which is a cask aged 4.2% ABV ale. It is actually delicious, and the low alcohol was good too because I had to hike a mile back to the hotel. The first beer I ever made was a bitter. My girlfriend Judy bought me a plastic beer kit and the bitter ingredients came with it. I don’t remember exactly when I made it, but I know I was in the 92nd district, because I took some to work, and Captain McMenamin wasn’t happy. I figured he would be cool. After all, he had goat medicine delivered to the district. And he was cool in a lot of ways, just not “Hey let’s have a round of bitters at work” cool. I had Captain Joe twice in my career, once in the 17th, and once in the 92nd. He was an awesome guy. He may have been the captain when another squad (I was in 1 squad) threw a last-out party in his office and inadvertently left polaroid pictures of a naked woman dancing on his desk, that he found when he got to work the next day. Maybe he didn’t wan’t the 92nd to devolve into that…anyway I digress. Making that gallon of bitters started a hobby I still do. If you like beer and I like you, I will certainly turn you on to some of my home brew. I’m not a fanatic. I make “kit” beers, but they are delicious. I grabbed some street food, which was very spicy, and then turned in. Tomorrow is moving day. We are moving pretty close to here for the next week, then on to Southampton for three days. On the 29th we set sail for NYC. Cheers! July 19, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 93; London Today was, once again moving day. A very, very hot moving day. It was only a 15 minute walk to the new hotel. I would have hoofed it over in two trips, just ‘cause I can, but temperatures reached 40 degrees C (103 F) today and I decided to ride over in a cab instead. The new place is even smaller than the last place, but right behind the Tower of London and we have a killer view. We got there three hours before checkin, so we left our bags, had some lunch and then headed to the Tower of London. It was interesting. I thought it is one tower. It’s actually a complex with a bunch of towers. They have the crown jewels on display. You know, most of the good things in the USA were brought from England. Things like the Magna Carta and English common law. But, there is a reason we broke with them. Maybe we are too much like what we broke away from. Maybe we have decided to have crown jewels. As I toured it, I thought more about Washington than London. The fight for freedom is never over. I’m glad we visited it. We went to a German restaurant for dinner. I had weinerschnitzel and it was delicious. As I write this a front is moving through. I am on the rooftop lounge looking West. The rain is starting. Our room is tiny and has very little room for two humans to coexist. The inside areas are filled with loud, inane, hotel Musac; So, I am going to say good night…and Cheers! July 20, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 94; London Today was haircut day for me. I hope this is the last one on the trip. When we get home I will do it myself, out just let it grow back in. This one cost more than $65.00. He did a good job, but I still look like me. For that kind of money I should look like Brad Pitt now. We did the Tate Modern after that. There was some good stuff and some really bizarre stuff mixed in. It was a lot of fun. Way better than the Guggenheim. It’s a giant building. I think it was a power generation station in a previous life. There were tons of school kids in uniforms playing loudly on class trips. It was a festive air, even though, listening to those kids talk reminded me that all in all I’m just another brick in the wall. I am still not 100% and was dragging all day, so we came back to the hotel and I took a nap. Then we headed out to get some supplies and get a bite. Markets here are scarcer and have less than in Europe and Morocco. We had to go to four and still need two more items. For dinner, I decided to recreate a USA under-the-weather comfort food meal, a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, which was the soup of the day. I ordered the baked camembert, which came with toast. In my mind I saw toast with cheese melted on it. What I got was an entire wheel of baked cheese. It had chunks of garlic embedded into it and it was delicious. Cheers! July 21, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 95; London I felt really good this morning, so I went for a run across the Tower bridge and along the Thames. It felt so good to run here again. I didn’t get to run in Paris, so this post wasn’t done last month. In early April 2001 I proposed to Roz. We decided to get married the same date in 2002 and go to Biarritz France for our honeymoon. By July my mom passed away and then my dad got sick. Christmas was approaching and we didn’t know how much longer he would be with us, so we decided to get married on New Years Day 2002, so he could attend. We asked Suzanne Walters, the mayor of Stone Harbor, and a good friend of my dad, to officiate. By the end of the year he went into the hospital and eventually slipped into a coma. Before the coma, we were going to have the ceremony in his room, but opted for the 88th Street Pavilion, around the corner from our house instead. We had already started booking things for our honeymoon, so we still planned on April. I found out the London Marathon was the weekend after our honeymoon and I begged Roz to add three days to the trip and let meta do it. She said okay and I applied. After months I had not heard anything from them. I called the chartered accountant house in London running the application process, and some snarky accountant said, “Well I guess you didn’t make it in, mate. I don’t see your name here.” I was pissed, but found another race. The Paris Marathon was the week before, so we could add a weekend in Paris before heading to Biarritz. Roz was skeptical about how much fun she would have on a honeymoon with a man limping around all week because he did a marathon. So, I said the magic words, “It’s April in Paris, they wrote a song about that.” She said okay and I applied and was immediately entered. Well, guess what happened the very next day? You’re right. I got my race packet from London. So, I broke the “good” news to Roz. You are going to both London and Paris on your honeymoon. And she also let me rent a board and go surfing for a couple hours in Biarritz. She still reminds m,e of all this stuff every once in a while. As I crossed the Tower Bridge this morning, I remembered something that happened there 20 years ago. I had met John Bingham, the Penguin who wrote for Runners World, at a marathon in Corning, NY. I ran a 4/2 Galloway with him and several other runners. That’s run four minutes and walk two. He did this whole chant thing where he would say “oley” and we would say “oy.” It was fun. Later, I did several races at that pace and had some success. In fact I ran Paris at that pace and had a decent time. With just a week of rest (tourist rest - waking around all day) before London, I had some kind of crazy plan. I don’t even remember what it was, but I remember my ass was dragging as I reached the Tower Bridge. And then I started hearing people chanting, “Oley, oley, oley, oy, oy, oy!!!” Could it be? Yes, it was the Penguin and very large his running pace group. I joined them and finished the last few miles of the race. The London Marathon is so different than Paris. Paris is serious, London is festive. Paris starts on the Champs Elysee (where Jonas Vingegaard will probably finish in yellow on Sunday), but went out into industrial areas for several miles. London starts at the Greenwich Observatory and stays around the Thames, going past lots of pubs with bands on the roofs. There were tons of spectators at both. They were serious in Paris, shouting “Allez, Allez, Allez!!!” In London many of the runners were in costume and the spectators laughed at them and showered them with money, because it’s a charity event. Most of the costumed runners carried homer buckets to catch the money in. If John Bingham helped me finish the race, there was an 80 year old man wearing a Queen Elizabeth mask and what looked like a speedo, but when he pulled up on it, a Union Jack appeared, who helped get me through the first half. People would bow and say, “Oh yer Majesty!” He would come over with a fake scepter and anoint them. He was more than 20 years older than me and putting on a show, and we were going the same pace, but it was all good. I used to say, I was seeing the world 26.2 miles at a time. And I had run Paris just a week before. At some point he actually pulled away from me. That time we were only here a long weekend. This time we are filling in what we didn’t do before. So today we did Buckingham Palace, The London Eye and Big Ben. The tourist area of London is jam packed. The pictures and videos tell the story better than I can. We had lunch at Shakespeare’s Place, which had very little to do with the Bard, and the food was mediocre and expensive. Later we went past a place called Sherlock Holmes, but fool me once… We had some Thai soup in the hotel restaurant and called it a night. Sorry I wrote more about old memories today than new ones, but it was what I needed to do. Cheers! July 22, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 96; London Long day of visiting the National Gallery, shopping, editing photos, getting ready for some big things this weekend, and trying to tie up some loose ends as this trip winds down. I will let this amazing art speak for itself. Maybe I’ll put my emotions into words when I get some time. Enjoy! Cheers! July 23, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 97; Stratford-upon-Avon I took a pilgrimage to Stratford-upon-Avon today to see Richard III at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. I caught the Tube right outside the hotel to Marleybone Station, where I caught two regional lines to the home of the bard. It is a three hour trip each way. I tried to book the round trip tickets last night and this morning and luckily the website’s payment processing system was down. They wanted over $90. I booked at the station for $41! Pilgrimages are never as easy as you think they are going to be. The route I found said to make a connection in Dorridge. The lady in the ticket office confirmed that, but of course the ticket said “Valid only via Banbury.” The train had crappy Wi-Fi, so I used some data to go on the rail line website and confirm the train was running, and stayed on past Banbury to Dorridge. I got to the town two hours before the curtain went up. I sat in a park along the Avon and had a pint and baguette sandwich. I stopped in the RSC Store before the play for a few souvenirs and a program. The other day Roz bought a couple shirts with French cuffs but we have no cuff links here. The store has a set for sale. One says “To be” and the other says “not to be.” Hehehaha. Now she has links. The play was really good. It’s not one I am that familiar with. I’ve never seen it performed before and haven’t read it. What a great job they did. The real Richard was a hunchback, limped and had a deformed arm. The actor usually hunches over a bit and limps. The lead today, Arthur Hughes, has a deformed hand. It worked well. There are many times Richard and others mention his deformity, and you could see it hanging out of his sleeve. I splurged and got a front row seat. It was totally worth it. They were right there. I had to rush to get the first train, or I would have wound up getting to the hotel after 10:00. Roz said Tina was sad. She has had a lot of bad things happen to her. She got in late too, so we went out for a quick bite and then crashed. Cheers! July 24, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 98; Shakespeare’s London We saw Lear at the Globe today. What a different experience than yesterday. First, Roz went. I think she would have liked yesterday better, The RSC is a modern, totally enclosed theater (a building with artificial lighting). The Globe is an authentic, enclosed but open air theater. Everyone who went into the RSC sat in a comfortable seat and walked out after the play. In the Globe, people sat on benches, almost none with backs. And before intermission, two of the “groundlings” standing in the “yard” (the closest spots in the venue are standing room only) passed out and were escorted out in wheelchairs. The acoustics at the RSC are state of the art and those at the Globe are “rough.” In fact, being at the Globe feels like being part of some sort of medieval reenactment. It was a lot of fun…for me…Roz went back to the hotel after intermission. The play was great. Kathryn Hunter played Lear. Her performance was inspiring and intriguing. If I had a problem it is that her voice didn’t fill the theater, but that’s just my opinion. She was playing an elder statesman slipping into lunacy or maybe dementia. It’s an interesting play in that it was written during a time when Queen Elizabeth had recently died, King James was brought in from Scotland to succeed her, there was a plot to overthrow his government (the gunpowder plot - which I recently read), and there was a devastating plague raging through London. There are many interesting insights on life to chew on in this King Lear. I got up and ran this morning; over the Tower Bridge and back across London Bridge. Fun stuff. Time to get back into running every day. My allergies are almost cleared up and I feel better every say. We had brunch at the Globe and takeaway in the room for dinner. One more day here and then on to the next step, another one leading us back home. Cheers! July 25, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 99; London I went jogging to the “beach” this morning. As a beach it leaves a lot to be desired, but we aren’t here to sunbathe or go for a muddy swim in the Thames. Today was our next to last maintenance day. We did wash. Because we are in the middle of the tourist area, the closest laundromat was a bus ride to our old neighborhood. I hadn’t had tea yet and there were several pastry shops with very interesting things in the windows, so I stopped at one and had tea and a plate full of super sugary goodness. I tried to find out where the guys are from and what kind of pastries they make, but their English is very limited. As I sat there, they kept bringing me new stuff and going “Try, try…Good? Good?” It’s an Arab neighborhood, but these guys looked Pakistani. Oh well, I don’t know what they are, but they sure taste good, good. We also got our COVID-19 testes for the ship. It looks like they want us to self-test and then we are on the honors system. We also mailed 3 boxes and an envelop from the Post Office. It cost close to $130 and I think in total se’ve spent around @1,000. We were there for a while packing the boxes, filling out the customs forms and dealing with the employees. We overheard many conversations. One between an elderly customer and a clerk was telling. The clerk asked the man if his procedure had been scheduled and he said he is scheduled to meet with his “super-specialist” in two months, and then he will go on a waiting list for the actual procedure. They commiserated about how long everything takes, how it is getting worse, and that eventually they fear that only paying customers will be able to to have anything done. I had a similar case at the IRS, where I had to allow an 80 year old taxpayer living in Spain to buy private health insurance, even though they have “free” healthcare, because she needed a hip replacement and they put her on a three year waiting list. I felt sorry for this old man, and thankful for what we have back home. On the way home we grabbed Pret a Manger and ate in the room. This evening I rented a car in the US to drive us home. We dock at Brooklyn Terminal. We will take a shuttle to Newark Airport, pick up the rental car and then head south. Can’t believe that will be happening next Friday. We did most of our packing and then crashed. Cheers!

July 8, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 82; Amsterdam, the Netherlands I lied to Roz. I told her she would only have to take one short flight during this adventure; from Rome to Barcelona. Well we flew from EuroAirport Basel to Amsterdam Schiphol very early this morning. She got through it like a champ for three reasons: 1. The prayers prayed over her yesterday afternoon in Germany by some evangelical Christians we met who were doing a local outreach. 2. Her determination to complete this journey. And 3. Xanax. We heard horror stories about air travel in general and Schiphol in particular. The EasyJet area bag drop and departure terminal were both crowded, but we were processed in an orderly fashion. Roz’s bag was over, but they averaged the weight out, and didn’t make us move clothing around. We could only guess before, but we are now traveling with 100 pounds of stuff. Everything said masks were required on the plane but no one had them on. No one bothered you about it. Everyone was coughing and sneezing. I think we’ll all survive. They did say to remove your mask before putting your oxygen mask on…I think if you need that warning, you may be as stupid as the person who is making the flight attendants say it. We had eggs for brunch. They came with the most delicious bread. I should have saved a piece for this evening because we soon came across a coffee shop and I had an edible. So I apologize in advance for any mental lapses, vague passages, or egregious spellcheck fails in this blog. I have an excuse. And remember. I wasn’t the most drugged up member of the family today. And only one weird thing happened after I ate it. When we were leaving the coffee shop, a low flying pigeon glanced off the brim of my hat. I asked Roz, “Did that just happen? Did a pigeon just hit me in the head. Stay tuned. I’ll tell you her answer tomorrow… tot morgen July 9, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 83; Amsterdam We set out do the hop on bus this chilly morning. There were a hole bunch of people at the stop and a bus didn’t come for 45 minutes. It was soon filled. We couldn’t get on the next one either, so we walked to where we wanted to go., which is a flee market. It was fun. We got delicious Vietnamese spring rolls.from a stand. I got a hat and a shirt. We finally hopped on the bus at 3:30 and rode it around to our stop, grabbed street food and came back to the hotel. It’s pretty cold and windy out and we’re exhausted. Going to stay close to home this evening. Roz is feeling better, but isn’t 100% yet, so I night of rest will be good for her. tot morgen July 10, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 84; Amsterdam Roz is getting a little better each day. Hopefully she will be 100% by the day before her birthday, which is July 14th; our last day here. We did wash again. This time it was easy-peasy. 11 euros a load for them to do it. We had two loads. It usually costs us at least that much to do it ourselves. I got a run in. I went the opposite way of the tourist stuff and it was fairly uncrowded and there weren’t a lot of bikes. It’s more of a commercial office area. That’s okay. I prefer not much scenery and also less traffic to the opposite. We went to an open air concert down the street that I found while jogging. It turned out it was a rock concert for kids and by kids. The music would have been really good, if it was one of our children in it. Since we didn’t, it wasn’t, so we headed for parts unknown. We wound up running into a pho place Roz found when we did wash. We had linner there. Vietnamese coffee is amazing. I asked for hot, and got it cold, but that was a blessing in disguise. It’s the best coffee I’ve had on the trip. It made me homesick for my cold roast. It was good because it reminded me of home. It reminded me of coffee I already make. We spent some of this morning booking tickets in Amsterdam and trying to find accommodations in England. I should have researched the Anne Frank house. No tickets available for weeks out. We’re bummed. Prices are still skyrocketing and we aren’t finding suitable places in London in desirable areas. We are thinking outside the box and we’ll see how it goes. Maybe go off the beaten path. Hopefully we will have a home, however temporary, for the next couple weeks. tot morgen July 11, 2022: No Captain’s Log July 12, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 86; Amsterdam We visited the Rembrandt House today. It was a very interesting place. It doesn’t have much in the way of his paintings, but it has a lot of etchings by him, and by those who were influenced. Who knew? He had a whole etching studio, with a printmaking machine. This is the second time I’ve run into Rembrandt on this trip. The first time was in Madrid at the Prado Museum. There, a single Rembrandt outshone all the masters in the entire museum, and that was a lot! This time it was the etchings. So intricate. So, our plan is to go to a popular, touristy museum and then wander around until we discover not on our bucket list. But could be cool. Today we found the Red Light Secrets Museum of Prostitution. It was different. Informative…I’m a libertarian - so I think it should be legal everywhere - but prostitution is always a horrible career choice; even here. I’m not a big fan of prostitution as a business model, but also as a social issue. I’ve always believed it is unfair to women…but not the ones on the pole. I’m talking about the mom at home trying to make ends meet, while her husband is blowing his paycheck on go-go girls and prostitutes. I’ve known some guys like that. Plus, they make it seem like everything is so safe in Amsterdam, but I bet it isn’t. I’m sure people have horror stories. They also try to act like they are in the vanguard of the fight to end sex trafficking. I bet people involved in the business here are still plugged into the global network, no matter how much they virtue signal. Roz is getting better each day, but now I’m starting to lose my voice and felt a little out of sorts today, so we just went back to the hotel room, got a little room service and crashed. tot morgen July 13, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 87; Amsterdam Roz is almost back to normal, but now our seasonal allergies have kicked in, so we both are miserable. We’ve had occasional small bouts with them during this trip, but this is like a double barrel pollen shotgun going off in your face. The flowers are beautiful, but pollen is the downside. We visited the Van Gogh Museum today. What an amazing collection. We learned so much more about Vincent than we knew already, and he is up there as one of our favorites. He was influenced by Japanese art, it influenced some of his work, and he also tried his hand at some of the traditional stuff and nailed it! He also had some soul searching paintings, like a Pieta. There was a time, while in the looney bin, that he made his own versions of famous works of those who came before him. The struggle comes out in every one of them. After the museum we headed to the hood to look for black hair care products and a curling iron…for the birthday girl, not for me. She got everything she sought, but still wasn’t happy. Maybe some day I’ll understand, but I seriously doubt it. We celebrated Roz’s birthday this evening, just like 16 years ago today, when we celebrated another big birthday in Paris on the eve of July 14th. We ate at Nomad Restaurant. It’s across the street from the hotel. We saw crowds queueing up there each night, so we knew the food is good. It was a five course meal. Every one from a different part of the world. You had to guess where. Its was a great place, great food, great chef and great staff. tot morgen July 14, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 88; Amsterdam Happy real birthday Rosalind D Clark. We visited the Moco Museum this morning. It is a contemporary art museum. The big attraction is Banksy, who I’m only slightly familiar with. Roz is a big fan. One theme I noticed throughout the museum is a one world order, over the top political commentary bent in their messaging. I’d rather the art tell me to be an activist for some cause than the curators of a museum. I wouldn’t listen to the art either. But at least the artist has some talent; the back room folks don’t. We are both still reeling from seasonal allergies, so we did some wash and a little souvenir shopping, and then retired to our room to pack and rest up for the long journey tomorrow…and then we decided to do a comedy club. Why not? Don’t have to get up until 4:15 to catch a train…I guess I’ll be sleeping on that train. tot morgen Frank July 15, 2022: No Captain’s Log; star-date 89

July 26, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 100; Southampton, England We had a driver take us to Southampton this morning. It was only a two hour trip, but half of that was spent getting through London Traffic. When we got here we walked to the water and then had lunch at a Turkish restaurant. One thing that I will not miss when we get home is the pumped-in music everywhere we go. From the time we set foot on the ship in Fort Lauderdale we have been blasted with techno, dance, and modern pop music. The Turkish restaurant today even had it. Isn’t there Turkish music? Why couldn’t we hear that? You can’t sit in the hotel lobby and work on something, because the music is ever-present. It’s not the soundtrack of my life, so I don’t want to hear it. It’s like when you go to the doctor and there is a TV playing in the waiting room. During this trip we have not had the TV on once. I’m proud of that. It allows you to hear other things, like since Amsterdam, seagulls have become more present every day, calling us to the sea and eventually our home. Now that is a soundtrack I want to listen to. We grabbed Chinese street food, went back to the room, ate and crashed. Cheers! July 27, 2023: Captain’s log: star-date 101; Southampton, England I jogged over to the port this morning to try and find out where we are leaving from on Friday and to see if there is a Cunard office that can answer our questions about COVID-19 testing and printing out luggage tags (which we can’t do online) . We are leaving from Gate 10 Mayflower. How cool is that? Not only did Henry V sail from here before the Battle of Agincourt, but so did the Mayflower, on its way to Plymouth Rock. The Titanic also sailed from here, but we are going to memory hole that… I wasn’t allowed to jog all the way to the terminal. The guard told me there is no office there anyway. When I returned from the run I went on Google Maps and found the corporate offices of Carnival UK/Cunard. We walked over there with our list of questions and concerns. The employees were very helpful. Self-testing for COVID-19 is on the honors system and they will print luggage tags for us when we get to the terminal. With all the “COVID is back” rhetoric in the air these days, we wanted to make sure there will be no glitches on Friday, when we reach the boat. We got our assurances. After that, we went shopping for the last of our boat things in very chilly Southampton. This has been a trip with temperature pendulum swings; sometimes very hot, but mostly chilly. Roz can’t wait to get back to 90+ degree JAX Beach, but I’m relishing the chill… We may do one more tourist trip tomorrow, It’s a couple hours away. Epic place, but we are starting to wind this thing down. Don’t want to kill ourselves getting to the finish line. Cheers! July 28, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 102; Southampton, England I went for a short hike this morning, because I just didn’t have a run in my engine. That’s a shame because it’s great running weather here; chilly and usually overcast. We took our pre cruise COVID-19 tests today and tested negative. We were going to go to Stonehenge today, but decided to do more second hand clothes shopping so we aren’t washing out many things on the boat. That meant having to do one last laundry run and then iron everything. No problem. This has been the trip of a lifetime and it is going to be capped off by the boat ride of a lifetime, so I would rather be well prepared for the boat than to have seen Stonehenge. Between buying stuff at flea markets, vintage stores, second hand shops and regular mall stores, I now have two blazers, two dress pants, seven dress shirts, five ties and four casual shirts. I have also collected seven Jeff caps. That is my new go to hat. This blog will change over the next seven days. On the boat I will be reflecting back more and narrating less. When we get to New York, it will be go, go, go. And then, when we reach JAX Beach, it will morph into something else completely. But more about that later. Cheers!

THE STORY OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. If this story blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

DESCRIPTIONS FOR YOUTUBE VIDEOS THE STORY OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. If this story blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

July 1, 2022: Frank Clark: The Story of my Life Oops. Forgot this part…Captain’s log: star-date 75; Bern, Switzerland We left Paris on a train for Bern, Switzerland. As we flew past fields of sunflowers, I was reminded that today is the start of the Tour de France. I love watching them glide through the bright yellow fields on their way to the Champs Elysee. In less than an hour, we started to see less deciduous trees and more conifers as we slowly climbed up the foothills. Then we came through a tunnel and voila - Switzerland! In Geneva we had 13 minutes to make our connection and they had announced the wrong track, so we almost missed our train. Now we not only have Euros and Dollars, but also Swiss Francs to separate. Switzerland doesn’t look like I pictured it so far. No towering white capped mountains. We are probably in the “low country” where all the people live. Bern is beautiful though. It’s cold here. Going down into the 40’s tonight. They had fireworks. We watched from the balcony of our very expensive, but pretty spacious hotel room. Roz is in heaven. They have soft pretzels here. Giant soft pretzels. You can never go wrong asking for a local beer. I had some in France, and that continued into Switzerland. Not so much in Spain. bis morgen July 2, 2022: No captain’s log July 3, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 77; Bern, Switzerland Today turned into a maintenance day, for the most part. I walked to the train station in the morning and got pretzels for breakfast and tickets for tomorrow’s great adventure. We needed to do wash and I do what I always do; type “laundromat near me” in Google Maps. It often takes us to a sketchy area, and today’s was just that. We wound up in the Lorraine Neighborhood, a ten minute walk from our hotel, but in a different world. There was graffiti on homes, which I find rude. I like graffiti in public areas and on buildings that welcome it, but this was in your face, I’m defacing your home because you can’t stop me. In the laundromat you couldn’t use cards and there were no change machines. I took a twenty franc note from Roz and said I would go to the cafe down the street and get coffee and bring back change for the wash. The owner told me the laundromat is part of a co-op and he provides change for them. I took the change back to Roz and went back and had my coffee. The neighborhood had a lot of political posters, no war (I’ve been anti war since Vietnam0 - rainbow banners (I don’t care if you are gay), but also some pro war/revolution posters. I wonder is it two sides; pro-war and anti-war? If it is, that’s good. Or is it one side with two faces? If that is the case, it is very, very bad. Before the Second World War, peaceniks Hemingway and Orwell both got involved in the Spanish Civil War. It doesn’t make sense. There were a lot of counterculture types strolling about, and I’m cool with that. A couple of the people in the laundromat were very angry. They banged on the machines and yelled things in German. I’m not cool with that. The clothes took forever to dry, so I went back to the cafe to grab a beer snd soda. I asked the guy about the neighborhood, and he said, “Here we have no boss. We do what we want to do. There is no capitalism here and the authorities leave us alone.” I noticed a socialist newspaper for sale on the counter. It turns out we were in the Bern version of CHAS. The tables and chairs in front of the cafes were all chained down. The entire area was dirty. And no, the nice young man at the cafe was wrong. Capitalism is still here at the laundromat. bis morgen Sorry folks- it copied all my notes into the post. July 4, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 78; Bern, Switzerland We set out for the Montreux Jazz Festival this morning, despite the fact that rain was forecast in the late morning and mid-afternoon. All the big acts happen in the evening, and been sold out for months, but we were told there would be plenty of music both in the venue and around it. We had a five minute connection in Luzanne, and miraculously we found it and made it. The trains run smoothly here. I hope they aren’t taking a page from the former leader of their neighbor to the south.When we got into town we bought a sandwich and beverages for lunch. The sandwich was some kind of salami with eggplant and a spicy sauce, on ciabatta. It was great. We had our lunch on a bench next to the lake and also in front of a McDonald’s. A family of five started walking past, all in matching Mickey Mouse t-shirts. The kids were young. As soon as they saw McDonald’s they freaked and soon the parents were cajoled into taking them in. There are McDonald’s everywhere in Spain, Morocco and Switzerland. And Europe is swarming with Mickey Mouse t-shirts. After lunch there was about a half hour downpour, but the rest of the day was rain free. The venue opened at noon and by 4:30 we had heard no jazz. There was a PA system that played a loop of disco songs, a guitarist and snare drummer who were doing a Dylan song when we passed, and a rock band playing on one of the stages. I guess the rain fouled things up for the afternoon. I’m sure it is cooking there as I’m writing this tonight. We heard no jazz but we bought three t-shirts for 150 Swiss Francs. And no, they aren’t made of gold. We each got a new hat, and we got to wander around beautiful Montreux on Lake Lausanne. By the time we got home we were exhausted and decided to grab takeout and eat it in our room. There is a KFC at the train station so we went in. I ordered a wrap and Roz ordered a six piece spicy chicken wing dinner. The total came to $42!!!!! When you pay with a card over here, it asks you if you want to pay in dollars or the local currency. Soon they will have a third option. “Do you want to apply for a home equity loan?” bis morgen Captain’s log: star-date 79; Bern, Switzerland I ran this morning! First time in a while. I went down to the river on the town side and ran along a path that probably goes as far as the river does. It was beautiful and I feel like I am back. I feel so much better during the day when I start with a nice little run. Roz is sick again and we have been trying to find a substitute for Alkaseltzer Plus. At the end of my run I searched a couple of pharmacies for it but I came up empty. For breakfast I had a pretzel baguette sandwich, which had a layer each of cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickle. This may be the best bread I’ve had on this trip. Bread in Spain and France are all about the crust and crust is wonderful. The problem is the throat cancer made keeping teeth in my mouth a challenge. I lost a composite filling at an Italian restaurant on our last night in Rome a few years ago, and another one soon after our ship sailed on this one. The pretzel bread has crust like a Philly soft pretzel. It is also as delicious as one. I am definitely making these when I get home. It’s funny; I didn’t expect to find my favorite bread in Switzerland…. Roz stayed at the hotel today and I went out and did the self guided City Walking Tour. It took me to parts of the city I hadn’t been to before. It was supposed to be easy (they always say that in Europe), but I soon got off the city tour path and onto the Paul Klee path. It was all good and I got to explore some new, beautiful parts of the city. For lunch I had a skinny, multigrain baguette sandwich of roasted vegetables. I never quite know what I’m getting when I order something, but I’m, seldom disappointed with what I get. Then I had a salami sandwich on a pretzel for dinner. I am a happy boy. I’m as pretzel happy as I was when we lived in Cape May Court House, New Jersey. When we first moved there, there was a Wawa at Route 47 and Hand Avenue. We often got soft pretzels there. Then it closed and we were bummed…until a guy named Raj opened up a convenience store in its place. He and his wife were the nicest people. And they started selling soft pretzels that were better than Wawa. My favorite was the onion pretzel and Roz’s was the everything pretzel. There is food we miss from where we grew up in Philly and food we miss from Miami, but probably the only food we miss from South Jersey is the pretzels at Raj’s store. Hope Roz feels better by tomorrow. bis morgen Captain’s log: star-date 80; Bern, Switzerland I went out and did the wash this morning and lat Roz sleep in and recover. It was another three hour ordeal, and some clothes were still a little damp. I went jogging while the clothes “dried.” The plan is to continue running every day for the rest of the trip. Roz started feeling a little better and got cabin fever, so we walked a section of the old city we hadn’t been to before and then went to the Albert Einstein House. I had forgotten that Bern was where he worked as a patent clerk and did some of his most earth-shattering work. It was interesting. We packed tonight. When this trip started, we couldn’t see the end of the journey, but after tomorrow, we will only visit two more countries - Holland and England. Then we get on the boat to head back to the US. I miss home. This trip has been awesome, but Dorothy was correct… We have learned so much on this adventure. Most of it about ourselves and about Europeans and people in general. And, oh yeah…the food. I will be taking back a lot of food culture from the places we have visited. bis morgen July 7, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 81; Saint-Louis France I went for a short run this morning based on what I was doing and where I was going, which was to pick up breakfast at the train station. Roz had a pretzel and I had pretzel sandwiches. She sounded awful this morning, but we had to press on. I stopped for coffee at a bakery on the way back to the hotel. They made my coffee from a self-serve coffee machine! It’s funny. I’ve had no problems communicating in Switzerland, even though I s[peak absolutely no German. That wasn’t so in Spain and France, where I have some knowledge of the languages. Maybe it’s because we were in the tourist area of Bern. And maybe it’s because in France and Spain, the locals wanted to make me work for it. I don’t know. We had a My Daytrip driver take us to Saint-Louis, France today. He was an interesting guy who has worked all over the world. He told me many facts about his home country. One is that they send you to a psychiatrist after your second speeding ticketing over a one month period. Another is they routinely deport people who are convicted of even minors crimes. And it is very hard to own a gun. I thought they all had them. Our hotel is really cool. We won’t have much time to check it out though. Our shuttle picks us up at 4:15 AM. We got here fairly early, so we walked to a footbridge over the Rhein and set foot in Germany. The woman at the hotel desk to me there is a market there. It was a mall! Not much else there, but we made it to another country…and I stopped for a beer. It was delicious. Long live the reinheitsgebot! We stopped at a local tavern for dinner. I got a tarte flambé, which is an Alsacean thin crust pizza. It was yummy good. Roz ordered a burger, got a fried chicken sandwich and didn’t like it. Off to bed… jusqu'à demain

June 27, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 71; Monday, Paris We walked to Sacre Coeur this morning. The view from in front of the church is spectacular. It’s one of several places we didn’t visit that we want to get to this trip. Montmartre is another, but we didn’t make it there. Then we walked down the front way and got Shwarma. A little over 20 years ago we stopped and got a baguette sandwich and split it on a park bench. I took a picture of Roz sitting there. It hung on our wall in at least a couple houses. Today I recreated the picture, this time with shwarma. She had braided hair in the original, and still looks beautiful now. This turned into the Nightmare on Rue de Poissonniers. The toilet seat was hanging off, so sitting on it was a lot like driving a zamboni. The owner kept asking for pictures to show what needed to be fixed. There was no heat and it was pretty cool last night. But worst of all, there was no hot water. They told us it is a common water heater for the entire building and to let it run for a while. We ran it for a half hour and still freezing. We checked with the neighbors and they had no problem. Just us. I took a Creation/Costa Rica shower this morning! Brrrrrr!!!! When we looked at our confirmation from Air BnB, the people who had the place just before us left a review saying they had the same problems. We contacted the manager and were given vague promises, but nothing was fixed, so we canceled the rest of our stay and after taking an $85+ Uber ride, moved to the Hotel Virginia. Definite upgrade. Tiny room, expensive; but everything here is sky high, so it is what it is. We went from the high north and now we are all the way in the extreme south. Way different vibe here. Haven’t explored much because we just had time to grab some street food and shop for a few supplies before turning in for the night; well not really turn in, because we battled with Regions Bank for over an hour about why they keep putting fraud blocks on our purchases. Pretty embarrassing. For the third time since we got to France, they are telling us it is straightened out. We shall see. jusqu'à demain June 28. 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 72; Tuesday, Paris I am falling in love with croissants. The one I had at breakfast this morning literally melted in my mouth. It is one of those things that I say I will start making when we get home, but I could never make them this good. Maybe I can find a French bakery. The plan today was to visit Montmartre, the Dali and the Musée de Montmartre. We set off on the 68 bus, which was supposed to take us within a ten minute walk to our first destination. At some point, the driver told us the bus would not go any further and we all had to get off. He directed us to where we could catch the next bus and said it would be there in five minutes. 15 minutes later a 68 bus showed up and we all got on. It took us two stops and the driver said it was the end of the line. It turns out the line had been shortened. We walked up, up, up to Montmartre; it took a half hour. We stopped for a bite. My bite was a croque monsieur, something I’ve always wanted to try since we started watching Beat Bobby Flay. It was very good. Then we did the Dali Museum. I never realized he was a great sculptor. I also never realized the depth of his work. Looks like he really struggled with Christianity and God. He was flippant about it, but you can see him fighting God in a lot of his works. Reminds me a lot of Jacob wrestling with God. Hopefully he lost the match. He also was really into don Quixote. I think, behind the “I’m so great! I’m a genius” facade, he was the man of la Mancha being defeated by the windmills he imagined to be villains. I saw a lot of sadness in his work. A lot of greatness too. Then we went to the Musée de Montmartre. It was all about the painters who lived there, not the writers or musicians. That was cool, but I would have loved to see things about Hemingway et al. Great place, though. We had challenges finding the 68 bus back home. It took a couple hours to get here. We had Thai food for dinner, and then went back to the hotel and spent another hour+ on the phone with Regions, trying to set up our accounts too ransactions are not declined. Once again they said not to worry. Famous last words… jusqu'à demain June 29, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 73; Paris We did the Palace of Versaille today. As Judy Jones Beatty said, it is overwhelming. It was also very crowded. There were a lot of groups of kids and many of the adults were on guided tours, which clogged things up. Yiou needed patience to get through and see everything. I can say two things about Louis the 14th: 1. He loved him some Louis the 14th, and 2. He was into gold. We got home at a reasonable time today and actually had dinner around 6:00, which is our time back home. I had a croque madame and Roz had bacon and eggs, which came with a salad. I think Forrest Gump was right that life is like a box of chocolates over here. We spent the night trying to find places to stays and ways to get to them during this time of extreme inflation. We nailed down Amsterdam for July 8 to 15, so Roz will be spending her birthday there. Sweet. Tomorrow is going to be a work day. Wash, shipping more treasures home and booking the rest of the trip. jusqu'à demain Frank June 30, 2022: Oops forgot this…Captain’s log: star-date 74; Paris We spent a cold, rainy last day in Paris doing laundry, shipping things home, buying new belts (they sell a lot of cheap stuff here) and booking most of the rest of the trip. Shipping was so much easier here than in Madrid. There, with the boxes already taped and addressed it took an hour and a half for three boxes. Here it was a half hour to get boxes, build them, fill them, fill out the label and customs form and ship them. Speaking of Madrid, I’m glad we got out of there before the clown car known as the G7 Summit rolled into town and shut everything down. We were thinking of staying another week, but everything in our price range was booked. Now we know why. I figured I would use this down day to reflect on Paris then and now. Then was 2002 and 2006. In 2002 we were here twice; once on our way to Biarritz and once for the marathon. I studied French for six months for the trip, but was barely conversant. We stayed in the heart of the city both times, I think in the Latin Quarter. We enjoyed it, but didn’t have much time to explore. In 2006 we celebrated Roz’s birthday here. I studied French for another six months and got to where I could hold a conversation with a patient person. Her birthday is July 14, so we figured we would not be able to afford anything near the action. We started looking for a hotel in December. At first we were priced out, but then riots broke out all over the city and there were cars being burned on the Place de la Concorde, and prices for hotels wound up dropping. We lucked out and booked at the bottom and wound up staying at the Westin Paris Vendome. I think it was called the the Intercontinental back then. We went to a downtown firehouse on the night of July 13th for the drunken revelry and then got to walk to the parade the next day. It’s an interesting parade with soldiers on horses and military jets leaving bleu, blanc et rouge contrails in the sky overhead. We got to do the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Musee d’Orsay. Orsay was my favorite by far. We also got to go out a little from the center, but not much. There was so much we hadn’t experienced. Well 2022 has been a completely different experience. We lived in two neighborhoods this time, because stuff is really expensive here and people are yearning to travel. One neighborhood was in the extreme north and the other was in the extreme south. The north one was filled with Senegalese and Moroccan immigrants. The southern one is a mixture of all types of French people. We got to visit my two Paris bucket list places this time; Montmartre and Sacre´ Coeur. Roz got to visit the Palace of Versaille, although she didn’t seem impressed. This trip was completely different than the others. We ate shwarma and dealt with people who don’t speak English. No one bent over backwards for us because we are tourists. We weren’t in that kind of Paris. Well our hotel did, but that’s it. Which do I prefer? They both showed me a different part of what makes Paris Paris. It’s almost a draw. I am a romantic, so I liked the romantic a little better. Now we go off to new worlds; parts of the world we’ve never been to. I don’t speak German or dutch, so it will be challenging in a different way than Spain, Morocco and France have been. Wish me luck… jusqu'à demain

THE STORY OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. If this story blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

June 24, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 68; Friday, La Rochelle, France We took a cab to the bus station this morning. This is the second time this happened to me in Spain; I said, “¿Habla Inglais?” And they hung up on me. I called back and used my pigeon Spanish to try to order a cab and they said, in Spanish, they couldn’t do it. Do they learn this stuff at cab dispatcher school? It’s like Danny Devito on steroids. This time I had a savior: a lifeline; Javier, our Air BnB host. I woke him up, and in our mixture of languages, he understood what we needed and go us the cab. The bus ride was a hoot. We had a student driver with a coach for the first third of the trip. He stalled the bus (it was a stick) in a tunnel, but for the most part drove really well. I couldn’t do it. He went into little garages and up narrow streets, with cars parked too far from the curb. I would have made that bus look like the car in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The real driver spoke Spanish, French and English. In Spain he did the announcements in Spanish and English. In France, he did them in French and English. When he drove he talked on the phone 75% of the time. Our first stop was in San Sebastián, a place we drove to for as day on our honeymoon. Fond memories. We crossed the frontier easily: no showing passports or COVID-19 cards. They just waved the bus through. In Spain you have to wear a mask on the bus. In France you don’t have to. How refreshing! We stopped in Biarritz, Where Roz and I actually spent most of our honeymoon. We went past the Biarritz airport, which is famous in Clark family history. It was the first place that Roz ran away from home to. The bus we got on in Bilbao was headed to Nanne, which I believe is Nantes in French. We were at the Biarritz Bus Stop. An English lady approached the trainee driver, who only spoke Spanish, and asked where the bus is going. He said, “Nan-tes,” She said, “Greenwich?” He said, “No. Na-tes.” She said, “That’s what I said, Greenwich! How could this bus be going to Greenwich?” He went looking for the trainer driver and when they both returned, the lady had stormed off someplace else. Can’t make this stuff up. Speaking of awkward language encounters, I am back to stumbling in French, instead of stumbling in Spanish. I switched over to studying Pimsleur French while we were riding. We stopped in Bordeaux. There was mayhem; people running from green bus to green bus as they came in. It’s all about getting to the station with minimal time and hopping on your bus at the last second. It’s like mass transit in general and Blixbus in particular want you to be confused. In Morocco it was better. Better organized. Also, it was adults on the bus - here it’s kids backpacking. It’s a small sample size of a few places in one day, but things seem really expensive here. We had fried chicken from a fast food place, had a drink at the Curious Bar and then turned in. jusqu'à demain June 25, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 69; Saturday, La Rochelle, France My jogging has fallen to the wayside. You can’t order dinner here (or in Spain) until at least 8:00 PM. Then you go to bed late. And I don’t want to wake Roz when the alarm goes off at 6:00, so I keep it off. By the time I wake up there are too many people in the streets. Plus, we’ve been in mountainous places since the Blue City in Morocco. But now we are on flat land again. When we get to Paris, hopefully I can get back in the swing of things. We are getting plenty of exercise, but I get grumpy when I don’t go jogging. It’s hard to get breakfast here too. Places that say they serve breakfast sometimes don’t. And we have often sat down to eat, been told they aren’t making food, so we ordered coffee or something, and then someone else sits down and food shows up at their table. An easy fix is to eat sandwiches, which we already did to some extent. The bread here is wonderful. Sandwich shops are always selling food. We grab our beverages at Carrefour and go back to our place. Restaurant food is getting more expensive as this trip progresses, so it is helping with our budget too. We went to the local aquarium today. They have a great selection of fish; the best I ever remember seeing at an aquarium. There is also an exhibit about what happens when you go underwater. It is interactive and covers changing colors, changing light, microorganisms clouding the water, pressure, etc. It is really well done and has it’s purpose, if it motivates people to really take the plongee. Then we visited the Musee du Nouveaux Munde. I expected a bunch of futuristic virtue signaling b*llshit. It wasn’t like that at all. It was about France in the Americas. There was an extensive part about slavery. It had things aboutHaitian independence. There was a room dedicated to us. It had the Declaration of Independence in French. There was some stuff on Benjamin Franklin, who was quite a party animal while he was here. The rest of the day we had crepes, Roz made a lady cry - but in a good way - we found the train station we need to get to early in the morning, we had a some dim sum and packed. Life is good! jusqu'à demain June 26, 2022: No captain’s log

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. This one has music. If this song blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m reading through the entire Bible for my grandchildren. If these readings bless you, please feel free to watch them and share them with others who may also be blessed. I am reading from The NET Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright 1996 to 2009, Version 9r 0701, by BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. The NET Bible is the Pinnacle of Biblical scholarship. The translation was made by a large team of scholars and is continuously BETA tested as new evidence becomes available. Enjoy!

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. This one has music. If this song blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

STORY-TIME WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording these classic fables, tales, myths, folklore and other wisdom stories for my grandchildren. If they have blessed you, please feel free to play them for your little ones and share them with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. This one has music. If this song blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

STORY-TIME WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording these classic fables, tales, myths, folklore and other wisdom stories for my grandchildren. If they have blessed you, please feel free to play them for your little ones and share them with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. This one has music. If this song blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m reading through the entire Bible for my grandchildren. If these readings bless you, please feel free to watch them and share them with others who may also be blessed. I am reading from The NET Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright 1996 to 2009, Version 9r 0701, by BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. The NET Bible is the Pinnacle of Biblical scholarship. The translation was made by a large team of scholars and is continuously BETA tested as new evidence becomes available. Enjoy!

STORY-TIME WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording these classic fables, tales, myths, folklore and other wisdom stories for my grandchildren. If they have blessed you, please feel free to play them for your little ones and share them with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m reading through the entire Bible for my grandchildren. If these readings bless you, please feel free to watch them and share them with others who may also be blessed. I am reading from The NET Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright 1996 to 2009, Version 9r 0701, by BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. The NET Bible is the Pinnacle of Biblical scholarship. The translation was made by a large team of scholars and is continuously BETA tested as new evidence becomes available. Enjoy!

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. This one has music. If this song blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording stories from my life in my words for my grandchildren, because you never know how much time you have left. This one has music. If this song blessed you, please feel free to share it with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

STORY-TIME WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m recording these classic fables, tales, myths, folklore and other wisdom stories for my grandchildren. If they have blessed you, please feel free to play them for your little ones and share them with others who may also be blessed. Enjoy!

THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH GRAND-POP Hi, I’m Frank Clark and I’m reading through the entire Bible for my grandchildren. If these readings bless you, please feel free to watch them and share them with others who may also be blessed. I am reading from The NET Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright 1996 to 2009, Version 9r 0701, by BIBLICAL STUDIES PRESS, L.L.C. The NET Bible is the Pinnacle of Biblical scholarship. The translation was made by a large team of scholars and is continuously BETA tested as new evidence becomes available. Enjoy!