Nothing too much to report this day. We went to Antwerp for District Conference. It was a live broadcast from Salt Lake City. Yep, we came all the way to attend church in Belgium broadcast to us in English! We did get to hear a blessing in Dutch, but that was about it. For those non-English speakers, it was translated for them in the main chapel.
We enjoyed the rest of the day with the Cazier’s. We enjoyed some sandwiches for lunch, some shrimp/pasta/zucchini dish for dinner. Both were very good. They have been good to us. Letting us use their laundry, spare room, and dining room. They drove us to Vianden, Luxembourg, and Antwerp. I do not know how we will ever repay them. We certainly appreciate their hospitality and friendship.
We are planning on heading out for Paris tomorrow. Although that plan may very well change as we hear of a strike with the French railways. We may reverse our trip and head to The Hague tomorrow instead.
We have just returned from a trip to Luxembourg. I really am exhausted and don’t want to take the time to tell a whole lot. So you are only going to get an abbreviated version.
Yesterday we went to visit the Catholic church in Harelbeke, Belgium.
We then went to Kortrijk, Belgium and of course Amanda had to go to the chocolate shop for Belgium chocolate.
We did some window shopping, being tempted by some of the goods in the stores.
The suits were out of my range, as is about everything with the exchange rate with the Euro/Dollar.
We did snap a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.
Afterward, we made our way back to Oostrozebeke and prepared for the trip to Vianden.
We drove through the beautiful Ardennes on the way and into Germany.
There was a storm the entire way so everything was highly misted and especially green.
We drove past Brussels, Liege, and stayed at the Grand Hotel de Vianden.
It was very pretty. Amanda and I went for a late night walk through the city for some photographs.
The bars were full but we enjoyed the sights. Victor Hugo lived in Vianden for a spell.
We saw the house he lived in and the bridge with his name and bust.
Today we arose and went for a tour of the Vianden Castle/Chateau. It was beautiful.
Originally there was a fort on the site in the time of Julius Caesar.
The current castle was built during the 13-14th centuries.
It fell into ruin but was restored in the 1970’s – 1980’s.
Vianden was the last town to be liberated in Luxembourg in 1945.
Afterward, we drove through the beautiful mountains to Luxembourg and went on a tour of many of the cities sights.
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Amanda and Paul Ross at Vianden Chateau
Catherine and James Cazier, Paul and Amanda Ross at Vianden Chateau
We saw the Notre Dame there. It was gorgeous with a huge, high wall.
Who would ever have thought?
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Altar, Notre Dame, Luxembourg
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Amanda and Paul Ross, Notre Dame, Luxembourg
We ate lunch at Pizza Hut of all places. Talk about going for the local cuisine.
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I did have toasted bread with goat cheese on them (at Pizza Hut!) Did you know Luxembourg had a 1,000 year celebration? 963 to 1963. How is that for old?
Paul Ross on the Luxembourg wall
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The downtown market area reminded me much of London or Manchester, but the architecture is different.
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We finished our trip to Luxembourg and came back to Oostrozebeke, Belgium. We will visit Antwerp and Brugge in the next couple of days before we make our way to Paris.
We have arrived in Belgium! What a relief. I cannot tell you.
British countryside flying to Heathrow
We flew out from the Boise airport. We were fortunate to catch a non-stop flight, from Los Angeles!! Boy, if there is anything near torture, try flying through the night in a very cramped space. After 9.5 hours on the plane, we landed at London Heathrow. We found our way through the Underground to Kings Cross Station.
Excited to land and look for a pasty
Amanda went and found Platform 9 & 3/4 at Kings Cross Station of Harry Potter fame and took a few pictures. We waited, checked in for Eurostar at St. Pancras Station, and enjoyed a Cornish Pasty. A first for Amanda, a beloved memory for me.
We climbed aboard the Eurostar which treated us to a trip through the Chunnel. France proved to have beautiful scenery. We got off at Lille, France and switched trains.
Lille, France, walking from one train station to another
We rode to Kortrijk, Belgium. James met us at the station and now we are in our digs at Oostrozebeke, Belgium.
Funny thing, we knew we needed to get to Kortrijk but we forgot to bring James & Catherine’s phone number and address. Meaning, when we arrived, we were totally at their mercy. We couldn’t catch a taxi to their home, and we could not call them. It is sure a good thing James showed up with his Toyota.
We find ourselves babysitting while James & Catherine are off to Branch Council. We put the kids to bed in 15 minutes, took a shower, and crashed ourselves! We are exhausted.
So, in the next few weeks, I am re-posting a series of posts from 2008. Back then, the glorious internet did not easily allow for photos to be included in a blog. Those photos then had to be posted separately as an album. With the updates of technology and wanting to more fully integrate those photos into the original posts from 2008, I am redoing all the posts from our 6 week European trip. This will help me link the photos with the steps of the trip. So, this is the 17 year reunion of this trip with photos integrated into the posts. This will also be fun to reconstruct and give inserts to the trip from 17 years more experience!
I freely edit any and all the posts to correct or update.
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Boy, am I glad June is here! My wife has joined me from Virginia after our long separation due to job and school. What a relief! I don’t have to worry about her stressing herself out or pursued by a much more dashing, intelligent, catch of a man.
We leave this week for what may be the trip of a lifetime. How many times in a lifetime, if ever, does one get to go to Europe for 6 weeks? We will be starting with friends in Belgium, working our way to Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovakia, Germany, The Netherlands, England, Wales, Scotland, and who knows where else we may stumble. We cannot afford it, but why not live with some reckless abandon for a little while? We leave on the 4th to return on the 16th of July.
Amanda packing for Europe
We signed a purchase contract for a home this month. Somewhere around the 22nd of June we will be closing on a humble home in Oklahoma City. Who would ever have thought my first home purchase would be in Oklahoma City? Did I ever think I would move or live in Oklahoma City. Most certainly not.
Amanda and I just hit all three of the Idaho temples this past week. Amanda had never been to any of them. We have now hit all three Idaho and 11 Utah temples. Before year end, we will have three more in those states to hit to make it complete once again. I am very sad I will be in Oklahoma City when the dedication of the Twin Falls Temple takes place. Amanda and I will be helping with the open house in July. I guess that is some solace for missing the dedication. I believe Idaho Falls and Manti are still my favorite temples. The Rexburg Temple has so many beautiful rooms. However, for some reason I still prefer the sessions that are split up into all their sections. Manti and Idaho Falls Temples both have you moving between all the rooms. Manti has the pioneer value and beauty with a live session, but the simplicity of Idaho Falls with its rooms and movement make it a favorite. Salt Lake certainly has the beauty but the place seems more like a zoo than a temple, especially in the summer with all the sealings.
This past week Amanda spent a day with me at work doing bench testing. It was a beautiful day and we spent nearly all of it in Minidoka. The Minidoka Longhorn Cafe and Whitesides Dairy were enjoyable for me. The wastewater we play with is less than beautiful but it is part of life. Whether we like it or not, we all have waste and somebody has to deal with it. I thought Amanda was going to throw up at one point when we were doing some filtration. She kept it down, luckily. The day turned out well. Except for the fact Amanda picked up a tick somewhere. Not only did she pick him up, the tick dug in and started to sup near the middle of her calf. She was not a happy camper when she discovered him. A little polish remover and it backed right out. Hope it got plenty to eat for the long stay in the septic tank.
For the first time in 8 years since Grandma Ross passed away, all my siblings were back together. Becky was coming through Southern Idaho so Scott organized a BBQ. All five of us where there. It was really quite a bit of fun and I enjoyed myself. Vicki, Dad’s first wife, was there. Dad and Jan were there as well. Andra brought Brian and Daniel and little Daniel was certainly a favorite.
I know I have not been writing as much. Despite more people reading the blog than ever before, I just don’t feel like I have much to write. A couple of people want me to write more relevant things that would pertain to them, but how does one write interesting things for everyone? Then, how does anyone write for someone else and keep their voice and soul into it?
Time continues to march forward. It does not care what we think about it. Some want it faster, others want it slower, others want it to stop.
In preparation for Memorial Day, I was trying to think of something that would show that I truly hold in memory those who served in the military and especially those who died in that service. Hopefully here are a few things that show a more human side. I am not aware that I have any ancestor who has died in a war, especially in the service of the United States of America. I guess for that I am lucky and honored. But I have many who have served in the military.
Portrait of David Delos Donaldson after WWI
David Delos Donaldson is my paternal grandmother’s father. I tried to get a copy of his military records many years ago, but they were destroyed in a St. Louis, Missouri, fire long ago. I only know a few things. He worked in California as a pipe fitter/plumber at some point, but I believe that was for WWII. He went through basic training and ended up learning signaling. At some point he was allegedly in France and was exposed to the dreaded mustard gas, which injured his lungs. He smoked to settle his lungs as prescribed by doctors. He ended up dying from complications due to his lungs.
Here are some notes I have from 2006.
“I stumbled upon a registration form for my great grandfather, David Delos Donaldson, and WWI. He was working in Twin Falls, Idaho. The best part is, we never knew he went to Idaho, ever. Not only that, he was working there, and was exempted because he was working to support his younger siblings and mother. He did later enter the war, we don’t know when or how, but went to France in the Argonne and was gassed there. He suffered his whole life and eventually died from the mustard.
“With this information, I went to visit my Uncle Dave Donaldson because my Dad did not know anything. I picked his brain. We know little about my Great Grandfather before he married. Now we know he was working for Ballantyne Plumbing in Twin Falls in roughly April 1917. He served in WWI with two brothers. As mentioned, he was hit with mustard, spent some time in hospital, and he wasn’t getting better, so they sent him home. He married my Great Grandmother in 1919, Berendena Van Leeuwen. They had 5 children. During the great depression he worked down south as a plumber. Dave did not know where, but there was a possibility it was at the Hoover. When they went on a trip to Los Angeles, he insisted on stopping at Boulder City and the dam on the way home. Oh, we do know that before they got married, he worked as a plumber in Phoenix. How long we don’t know, but he could not bear the heat down there. During the depression when he worked down south, the family stayed in Ogden. Dave was young enough that he remembered his father coming home, but not knowing where from. Again during WWII, the whole family moved to Napa, California and Great Grandpa was a plumber at the naval yard there. I do not know if there were any other naval bases down there. Then they moved back. The family must not have stayed down there, or he did not work the entire war, as my Grandpa and Grandma met in 1941-1942 at the Berthana on 24th street Ogden at a dance. They were married in April 1942, shortly before he left for war. Great Grandpa was a plumber by trade. He worked up until the 1950’s when his health failed him. He picked up smoking because it soothed his lungs. It sounds like the mustard burned his lungs the rest of his life. He would smoke to deaden the nerves. Dave told me this increased until he died. Even the last few years of his life, he had oxygen when he went places and when he slept. But he kept smoking. Dad told me of one of the few memories he had of his Grandpa. He went to visit him in Ogden, Grant Ave if I remember right, and he was laying in bed. There were newspapers all over the floor. He got into a coughing fit and coughed a big thing of phlegm up and it went on the floor. It was the combination of the irritation to the lungs from mustard and the smoking. It was what eventually killed him.
David Delos Donaldson (back), John Edmund Donaldson (left), and William George Donaldson
Here are some postcards David sent home to his mother. His father, William Scott Donaldson, died of cancer in 1913.
“Part of Carlin, Nev.”
I am not sure why the writing on the left is crossed out. But you can see Miss W. S. Donaldson 2270 Moffett Ave Ogden Utah. It says Carlin and Delos Donaldson. It might say “Yours” above it. The postmark is dated 1914, but I cannot make out the rest of it.
Retail Business District, Tacoma, Washington 1918
Dated 2 April 1918. “Dear mother got here all ok like it fine Write me as Private David D Donaldson 20th Co., 5th Bn., 166th Dep Brig. Camp Lewis, America Lake, Wn. Mrs. W.S. Donaldson 2270 Moffett Ave Ogden Utah”
Front and back
“Signal Corps It does not look much like me Do you think so. Mother I am at the Signal School here.”
Front and back
Dated 28 June 1918. “Dear Mother just a line to say I am well and fair when I got in New York all for this time your son DDD. Written to Mrs. W. S. Donaldson 2270 Moffett Ave Ogden Utah
Harry Korb Cigars & Tobacco, known location with David standing in front of the store. Other three are unknown.
We might think it, but none of us are truly bullet-proof. This boy’s health was affected for the rest of his life by war. He did live to be 59 years old.
This article was found in Golden Andra’s family history book. I haven’t seen it before. The top of the pages simply say “LDS NAVAL CHAPLAINS” and the next page has “FOR GOD AND COUNTRY” which I expect is probably the name. I couldn’t find one that seemed to quite fit. This article shows on pages 39 and 40.
“One must learn in life to accept personal responsibility and the consequences of the decisions one makes. One LDS marine on Guam did just that, and, by doing so, shored his character. Chaplain A. Gifford Jackson had the following experience.
“During 1944 on Guam, Chaplain Gifford Jackson met Bill Andra, a very devoted Latter-day Saint. During Bill’s spare time, he would go to headquarters and look through the service records of the men of the 3rd Marine Division. He would list the names and units of all those who came from Utah, Idaho, and Arizona. He would then seek them out to find out if they were members of the Church, his purpose being to get all Mormons to the 3rd Marine Division LDS Services.
“One evening, Bill received the assignment to police the mess line. During each meal, enlisted personnel policed the “chow line” to insure that there was no fighting or breaking into line. Usually, there were no problems, but on that particular evening a fight broke out in the line causing a great commotion. Because of the disturbance, Bill’s commanding officer got involved and wanted to see the man who had been assigned to police the line. He learned that Bill Andra had not reported for duty that evening. He proceeded to investigate the matter by calling Bill to his office to get the facts.
“”Bill, why weren’t you on duty policing the “chow line” last night?”
“”I’m sorry sir, I was at headquarters looking through some records and became so involved I didn’t realize the time.”
“”I’m going to have to punish you, Bill, for not reporting to duty. You are going to have to spend some time in the Brig.”
“Bill went to the brig, but while there got a call to report to the commanding general. In the deivision Bill was a barber and he always cut the general’s hair. He reported to the general and as he cut his hair, the general said, “Bill, why didn’t you tell me you were in trouble? I would have helped you.”
“”Well, General, I made a mistake, and a person has to pay for his mistakes. I wasn’t where I ought to have been and for that I was punished. I got exactly what I deserved.
“Bill’s honesty impressed the general so much that he made Bill Andra his orderly, the best assignment in the division.
The page then goes on with a story of Merrill Bickmore: Life after Death. Since it is not complete, I won’t include it as well.
