20 Things That Make Me Smile ...

This one is easy!
(Tagged by Christine)
1-Hugs
2- Yellow roses
3-Chocolate chips and brown sugar in the mail
4-Thunderstorms
5-Toddlers in sun hats
6-A good country song
7-Christmas carols streaming all the way from Colorado Springs
8-Walking hand in hand with my husband
9-Fresh fruit sold on the street corner
10-Flowers blooming on my balcony
11-The clerk who speaks English
12-A frisbee
13-Skype
14-Mexican food
15-A visiting teacher who sends me a message every month all the way to Poland
16-Red sunsets
17-Pictures of my grandchildren
18-Descending numbers on the scale
19-A bargain
20-Recognition of my many blessings
Tag to all who have something to smile about!

The Path of Remembrance

The Path of Remembrance is found in the center of the former Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw. The Ghetto was created to contain the Jews during World War II. From this location, the Nazis deported 300,000 Jews to the death camps.
The design recalls the cattle trucks used for transportation.The monument to the Ghetto heros depicts a procession of Jews
being driven to death camps
under the threat of Nazi bayonets.

This is all that remains of the wall that once enclosed 450,000 people.

Here the Jews lived in appalling condions and they were used as a source of
free labour for the Nazis.
More than 100,000 inhabitans died of starvation and disease.

In 1943, in an act of desperation, the Jewish Fighters Organization instigated an uprising. This monument symbolizes this heroic defiance, which was planned, not as a bid for liberty but as an honourable way to die. The relief depicts men, women and children struglling to flee the burning ghetto as the Germans suppress the uprising and demolish the entire neighbourhood.

A series of granite markers was erected in the late 1980's. Each is dedicated to an event or hero of the Ghetto with inscriptions in
Polish and Hebrew.

This marks the site of the bunker from which
Mordechaj Anielewicz
commanded the Ghetto Uprising. He blew up the bunker, committing suicide.

Janusz Korczak was another hero. He was a doctor who devoted his life to children. As the director of the Jewish orphange in Warsaw he gave his life and went voluntarily to the death camps at Treblinka with those children in his charge. Their names are enscribed on the Umschlagplatz Monument.

Chopin in the Park

I can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than...

sitting among the roses in Royal Lazienki Park...

and listening to the sound of Chopin's polonaises.

It's All About Presentation!

Dinner at the Belvedere

...and these were only the
salads!

We thoroughly enjoyed our
"date night"
with President and Sister Engbjerg,
Bulkley's and Kraczeks.

(The food tasted as good as it looked!)

The Wedding

Two of our favorite people were married yesterday.
In Poland you can only be married by the government or the
Catholic Church,
so the ceremony took place in an office building in front of a government official.
But, back at the chapel we prepared a wedding reception for this sweet couple,
Asia and Richard. It's a Polish tradition to throw rice and money at the couple.
Of course, little ones are always willing to
help pick up the coins.

For two days ahead we worked---
decorating,
cutting fruit,
making sandwiches,
and even a
wedding cake!

They flew to London today to be
sealed in the temple there.
Congratulations and
Best Wishes!

Can't Resist

We couldn't resist another trip to Lazienki Park this past week....and the pictures are so amazing that I couldn't resist sending them on.
Enjoy!

It really is a beautiful fairy land.

Toddlers

I can't help but really miss my
grandchildren
while we're away. So, I'm charmed by the little ones who have come out of their homes this spring. The little girls in their pink hats...

And the young lad who
spends hours feeding
the pidgeons and
the ducks.

Each brings a smile to my face and a bit of
wistfulness
to my heart.