What is "Time" Anyway?

I honestly intend to write posts monthly so that you can read them in a more easily digestable fashion, but here we are again. My bad.

If you want the short version: House is coming along, we love our city, everyone is happy and healthy. Yes, we've seen Mando and Grogu, no, we haven't watched Maul.

If you want the long version: Just remember, you asked for it.

I'll start with the house. If you remember from my last post (although who remembers three months ago?), the "flood room" (as I adoringly call it) had actually begun to be repaired. I am happy to say now that the painter came. She finished the ceiling and the bare wall and painted everything uniformly white, as per the standard in Danish homes. I'm sure we'll add color again later.

And while we are on the topic of room painting, in the last update, we had done Harrison's and Khloe's, but now Kaden's is finished as well. It looks really nice and light in there. He has one darker accent wall, and he requested a new light fixture, so we got that done, too.

I got ambitious and tried to fish all the treasures left by our predecessors from behind the radiators. Mostly, I found a lot of rocks, but there were some other things, too.

In our attempt to start organizing and finding places for the things that are still in boxes, my first priority was the medicine cabinet and bathroom items. I got bins to organize "the shelf" in the big bathroom, plus a rack to keep all the bottles of shampoo and conditioner off the floor of the shower. It looks way more organized in there already.

When I say "the medicine cabinet", I mean the two grocery bags of Costco over-the-counter meds and first-aid supplies that we used to have built-in drawers and cabinets for but, since moving, do not. They were sitting on the floor at the top of the landing, and since you couldn't find anything in them easily, they were often strewn about and rearranged as we scavenged. No more!

But the outdoor stuff is really where Zac and I have focused most of our time. The weather is nice and we spend basically every free moment doing something out there.

One thing that needed tackled was the algae. High humidity, frequent rains, and mild temperatures = algae on everything. First, I scrubbed it off of the inner railing around the upper terrace. Next, Zac tackled some areas around the outbuildings and the carport. Finally, we hit the big ones: the trampoline, the playhouse, and the coffee terrace. We have a few spots on the side of the house that were overlooked in the first go-round, but overall, there's a lot less neon green out there.

Before (left) + After (right)

Before (bottom) + After (top)

Before (top) + After (bottom)

We've been cultivating as well. If you've know me for any length of time, you know I'm certainly not a gardener. Oh, sure, I have delusions of grandeur sometimes - a pepper plant in a bucket here, a little Mother's Day garden with more zucchini than a family can eat over there - but overall, I've not really followed in the footsteps of my grandmothers. Moving to this house has given me a second chance at this skill.

First, there were garden beds all over the place already. There was also a small greenhouse. Good start, I figured. I spent time cleaning out the dead remnants of the previous season's greenhouse goodies. I drilled some drainage holes in the styrofoam boxes, washed the algae and grime off the windows, and hung up fairy lights. In the garden beds, we added soil, pulled weeds, and raked everything in. Prep: done.

I sat down one weekend, drew up a plan of what I wanted to grow, mapped out space in the greenhouse vs space in the garden beds, bought seeds and plant starts, and got to work. Unfortunately, Zac didn't really want a bunch of seedlings in our dining room, and the basement isn't receiving all that much light, so I just decided to hope for the best in the greenhouse. That was dumb.

Both cucumbers died right away. The two tomato plants barely hung on. My snack pepper plants seemed to do the best, but "the best" still wasn't great. The arugula and the chives looked like they might do OK. My herbs were sad. None of my pepper, squash, or zucchini seeds came up, but then again, it was still getting down to like 4C at night sometimes, the sun was scarce, and I just grabbed soil from some of our random rake piles to fill their little seed cups. In hindsight, I probably should've bought some garden soil for them. And, ya know, watered them every day...

In the outer garden, I planted carrots. I watered a little sporadically. I didn't see them even hint at coming up. I planted poppies in the planter box on the terrace. Nada. Later, I planted two varieties of onions and was better about watering. I saw no sign of life.

On the plus side, the fruiting things I didn't plant were flourishing. The rhubarb was popping up everywhere, strawberries were surprising me all over the property...easy enough when things are already established, huh? There were raspberry, currant, and gooseberry plants as well. Oh, and some apple trees and a pear tree. I cleaned up the raspberries really well and added a couple more plants. I spent a painful day pulling out all the gooseberries because no on likes them and they're really stabby, plus, I wanted the strawberries to grow in better there. We love those! To everything else, I just kept the weeds at bay, watered more regularly, and hoped.

Today, I am happy to say that my greenhouse is doing OK. The tomatoes rallied. I have three plants growing up nice and strong. The snack peppers are still alive and I'm starting to see little bumps that will turn into edible things someday. Though the cucumbers died, my colleague, Alper, brought me one of his healthy starts and it's growing steadily. The arugula is happy, the herbs have rallied, and the kale actually did grow in eventually. The chives are thriving, the mint is strong and tall (OK, I know that one is un-killable, but I'm still calling it a win), and I think I have a hollyhock in the corner somehow?

The outer garden is looking sharp, too. The rhubarb is out of control (more on that later), the strawberries are popping out and turning red, the raspberries look really happy (Zac made them some supports), the currant has a good fruit set, and I had to start thinning apples and pears as they come in. I have a different variety of kale coming up out there, I see at least four carrots, and some of my onions are finally emerging! Also, potatoes everywhere. I didn't plant those, they just decided to come up all over the place anyway.

Anyway, I have a lot of "lessons learned" from my attempts this year. I'm also a little more familiar now with the temperatures and weather patterns in our yard in different places, so that will guide me next year. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again, right?

That's all there is to say about the edible plants, but we've been doing a lot with the flowers, shrubs, and trees, too. In the front of the house, there were a lot of various low trees/bushes kind of all jammed together in one corner. They were choking out a lovely magnolia, so we made the difficult choice to cut them out. It was a lot of work and things look a little sparse up there at the moment, but we raked down a big dirt pile to even the ground a bit, planted some grass, and pulled out a lot of weeds and brambles. The magnolia is much happier now. 

A view from the greenhouse - Zac tearing out the roots of a spreading shrub-tree thing

We pulled out a lot of ivy to keep it from taking over other plants. Zac has been trimming hedges, re-locating rosebushes and other plants that were placed a little inconveniently around the yard, and cleaning up the outbuildings. He laid concrete blocks in the bottom of the tool shed and cut back some overgrown trees. We still have some work to do, and there are still a lot of things we aren't sure what to do with, but we keep at it. It's fun to see it change and take shape, it's fun to see our hard work pay off, and it's fun to have something physical to do outdoors in all kinds of weather.

The trampoline ferns are happier without all the ivy.

She is pleased with our efforts.

* * *

OK, rhubarb. Man, I have had zero experience with this plant, but it started popping up all over the place - the garden bed, below the hedges, in the flower beds...this stuff is crazy. Anyway, when it started getting big, I thought maybe I should think of some things to do with it.

First, I made a mascarpone honey rhubarb tart.

That was different, and pretty good, but I couldn't stop there. I made rhubarb-pear muffins. Rhubarb simple syrup for gin and tonics. Rhubarb compote for spreading on toast. It just keeps coming.

Rhubarb saft. Rhubarb cheesecake. Where will it end?!

Send help.

* * *

Moving on. The boys have been bitten by the building bug. (How was that for alliteration?) I mean, Kaden build his little jeans wall (see the previous post) and stained it, and that made Harrison want to build a shelf. He got to do some woodworking at his after-school program and was feeling pretty confident. He sat his little shelf in his room on the windowsill, but it wasn't enough. Next, he wanted to build a shelf for the playhouse, so while Zac and I toiled in the garden, Harrison sawed and hammered until he had a little one for the playhouse, too.

It's the top one. The other one was already there.

Zac commissioned Kaden to build some replacement shelves for the corner of the kitchen. There were some brackets holding thin pine shelves up when we moved in, and those were super useful, but when we painted the kitchen (white, but just to start with), we took them down and thought maybe Kaden could build something more robust. We were happy with his work!

Kaden also built a stand to hold his catcher's gear so it could air out after baseball practice. (Oh yeah. Kaden is a catcher now. More on that later, too.) The dog wasn't fond of the strange new figure standing in the corner of the room, but we're all glad to have a home that doesn't reek of dirty sports equipment.

Finally, Harrison attempted a bench for his playhouse. He brought in Kaden to advise. It's a little rickety, but it does the job, and Harrison and Elliott were excited to move it into place.

* * *

We're super glad the kids get off screens sometimes to be creative! The boys get lots of exercise biking to and from school. Harrison bikes maybe 12 miles every day round-trip. Kaden bikes about 3 miles round-trip. (Not to brag, but I rode my heavy lady-bike all the way down the coast to work one morning. Only took an hour and 40 minutes. Pshh.)

Kaden plays baseball three times a week though, so he's pretty active. Khloe joined a gym, so they're all doing something to get up and about once in a while.

Harrison enjoys biking to and from school with Elliott. They are also old enough to go to Klubben now! In the Danish school system, there's is a before-and-after school care program for kids called SFO. It's at their school, they have dedicated SFO teachers to guide their enrichment, give them snacks, teach them things, and make sure they get checked in and out each day. As the kids approach 4th grade though, they try to teach the kids to be a little more independent and to make choices for themselves. To that end, they transition from SFO to "The Club". 

The Club is in a building down the street from the school. The kids get themselves there after school. There is no check-in or check-out system. The kids can get themselves home whenever they want to leave or they can be picked up. There are, of course, still adults there who get to know everyone, keep some order, etc., but all decisions are on the kids. They can spend time in the creative workshops making jewelry or art, they can climb on the playground and the rock wall, they can play at the skatepark, and they can laze about in the outdoor hammocks. They can ride little carts or play video games, they can play on computers, they can go wild in "the ball room", play in the ball pit, sit around and socialize, or play instruments in the band room. There are so many insanely cool things the kids can do there!

They have a little debit card so they can go to the snack bar and get after-school refreshments. They serve little pigs-in-a-blanket-type things, slushies, fruit, granola bars, etc. and it's all basically at cost, so it's fairly cheap. Harrison likes deciding how to spend his money and he's learning some budgeting. He loves the skate park, and he recently learned the art of "pant hunting", which is basically strolling around the sidewalks looking for cans and bottles to turn in at the grocery store across the street to get money for cookies.

We signed him up for a summer scooter camp at the multi-park in town. For less than $20, he can go hang out and learn scooter tricks for a whole week of camp. He's pretty excited. He got a new trick scooter for the occasion (he paid half, we paid half).

Even though he gets himself to and from school independently and buys his own treats now, he still needs my help for his homework. I absolutely love doing his homework with him because it helps me learn more about Danish and expand my vocabulary. The word packets are my favorite, or like when there is a little information article to read and answer questions about. The crosswords are OK, but grammar packets are my favorite.

Kaden started catching, as I mentioned earlier, during baseball practices. He enjoyed it so much, they started coaching him in it. He talked us into splitting the cost of some catcher's gear, and when the did the draft picks for the summer Danish Development League (DDL), he was drafted as a catcher. He really likes it and we are very proud of him.

At a recent game, several players had to leave and the pitcher was injured, so he actually got to try pitching, too! He gave up a home run, but he also struck out two players, so his stats are still OK. Haha.

Kaden's school has been going well. He's still in the International Youth Class to learn Danish, but he took his Math and English IGCSE exams at the previous school (NIS) since he was already registered for them. His grades will come in August. He feels good about them though, so we hope his grades in those subjects are sufficient for his trade school, and he should be talking to a teacher from 10th grade at the Youth School soon about whether or not he can go into 10th grade next year with his new friends or not. Fingers crossed!

While he's in the IU class, though, he's getting to do all kinds of good things. He's had beach days, a climbing day, a trip to Louisiana (one of the greatest art museums around), a trip to Nivågaard, which is a huge rhododendron garden and art collection, and I think an escape room day? He's doing all kinds of things.

Khloe also had a couple of beach days with her class. She loves beach volleyball (except for the part where a kid invariably kicks the ball into the ocean and someone has to go try to retrieve it...).

Her class returned from their big class trip to Berlin last week! (She may write her own post about this - TBD.) She got to swim, play beach games, go climbing, and do an escape room. They also visited the Schenhausen concentration camp and the German parliament. She got to room with her friends and run from the chaperones at night and shop at the mall, so all in all, it was a good trip!

Before Berlin was the gala at the school though. There was a lot of dress drama that I'll spare you, but she ended up wearing one she bought in the U.S. in February and had a really nice time.

* * *

Mother's Day in Denmark was on the same day as Mother's Day in the U.S. Zac picked some lovely tulips from the garden. We had a yummy breakfast at home, I spent some time building LEGO with Harrison, and we did a lot of yard work. Khloe made a super cute card.

Father's Day is not on the same day in the U.S. and Denmark. In fact, in Denmark, it's on Constitution Day and is thus a holiday that we get off from work! We had a delicious breakfast, the boys made sweet cards for Zac, and again, we did yard work.

We had planned to go see the Mandalorian and Grogu movie as a family on Father's Day, but there wasn't a showing until late, so we opted for Sunday when it was supposed to be all rainy anyway. The movie was nice and everyone enjoyed something different about it. It was actually my first time in a Danish movie theater! Zac and the kids went once to the small theater in Birkerød when we lived there and I was on a work trip or something, and we've been to the drive-in theater, but this was different.

Our theater in town is really lovely. There is a red carpet leading to the door, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and cozy sitting areas near the big windows with couches and pillows and stuff. We pre-purchased our tickets online, but I told the kids they could get refreshments. There was no line at all. The candy is a choose-your-own system with big bins, so you get a glove and a bag and just weigh out what you get. I ordered a medium menu, which is a medium fountain soda and a medium popcorn. They gave me my cup and that was it. I had seen that we could get our own soda, but I was confused about why I didn't get my popcorn. I asked if I had ordered it and she said yes. I asked how I could get the popcorn and she said the containers were in the cabinet. I was still confused and tried to clarify, but that made her more confused. The confusion is the result of us coming from two totally different worlds. In  this Danish theater, they pre-fill popcorn buckets of various sizes and put them in a little cabinet. You pay, and then you just go to the cabinet and grab whichever one you ordered. Total honor system. I thought it was very nice.

The seats are cozy recliners with little tables and lamps. There is a ton of space between the rows so you can fully recline with your automated foot rest and still have ample aisle space to walk down. There are baskets of blankets at the front so you can cover up if you're chilly. It was a wonderful movie experience. I think there are five cinemas in there. I think it would be very enjoyable to return.

I love the trust aspect of Danish culture. It's perfect for those of us who like to do the right thing all the time. There are lots of other great aspects of Danish culture, too. For example, fællessang. Fællessang is basically communal singing. It's practiced to create a sense of togetherness and there are many occasions for this. My recent experience was at work.

I received a meeting invite for "Morning song" from one of the managers in our building. At 08:45 every Thursday all through spring, we were invited to gather in the foyer. All three floors of people were on the invite. I was very excited.

On the first day, I made sure to be on time. I went downstairs with a couple of colleagues, and Helle, the organizer, handed me a sheet of paper with the lyrics to With a Little Help from My Friends by the Beatles printed on the front. Soon there were about 10 of us standing around and then we all just started singing. As we began, people began thundering down the stairs to join, realizing they were late. As more came, the papers passed to them and we just continued singing. People coming in the front doors to work just saw us, looked around, found someone holding the lyrics, and joined in.

As soon as it was over, we clapped, and then Helle passed out a second sheet with a Danish song on it. Everyone knew the song except me, but I had the lyrics in front of me and a loud singer next to me, so I could follow the tune OK.

I tell you: This experience was totally uplifting and beautiful. It was an awesome way to start the work day, and I now look forward to it every Thursday. Today was "Imagine" by John Lennon and "Kvinde Min" by Kim Larsen.

* * *

I wish we could share our lives here with all of you in a less text-heavy form. We need you all to be here experiencing it with us!! We miss you all.

Don't worry about us, though. We aren't lonely! In fact, this past few months has been full of fun visitors and socializing!

In April, we had an Easter Day outing at the Copenhagen Zoo with the Durgans! Andrew (who Zac and I used to work with in Post Falls) and Jessica and their five kiddos moved to Norway last year, and they decided to spend the long Easter holiday in Copenhagen! I asked Harrison what his favorite thing to do in the city is and he quickly said, "The zoo!"

We met them there and spent the day visiting the animals, trying to catch a glimpse of the new baby giraffe, and generally discussing the life of Americans in the Scandinavia. Khloe made fast friends with one of their little girls, Harrison enjoyed running around the playgrounds with the other kiddos, and I finally had a kid to nerd out over cockroaches with. It was a fun day.

Next, Trena came! She was here for Star Wars Day, but we couldn't really find any activities to do ON May the 4th (and it was a work day anyway). On May 2nd, we were able to score seats to Return of the Jedi at the Planetarium in Copenhagen. Technically, there were no seats left to purchase, but there were four handicap seats that no one had bought yet leading up to the film and I reached out to the planetarium staff to see what would become of them if they didn't sell. She said that since it was already less than two weeks to the event, they were mine if I wanted them. After confirming there would be a chair to sit in, I bought two seats.

We had some popcorn and walked around looking at the great troopers in costume, and then we went to find our seats. The staff had placed two rolling office chairs on the concrete at the end of the aisle and it was super funny. We knew they were ours right away, but we had ample leg room, we could shuffle and twist in our chairs, and the view was perfect.

In mid-May, Zac's sister Katie's in-laws, Tom and Alison came for a short visit to Copenhagen. Tom's sister, Nancy, was along, too. We knew her from Jack and Katie's wedding, so we were happy to get together. Zac and I met them for dinner and ice cream in the city after work one day. Unfortunately, Tom wasn't feeling well, but he came down to say hello when we walked the ladies back to the apartment. It was such a nice meal, and it was fun to see them again!

Are we done? No way.

The general manager of the Post Falls ALK site, Tim, was in town for work and he brought his (adult) daughter with him on her first international trip! I was bummed that she would be on her own each day while he was at work. I think Copenhagen is a phenomenal place for your first international travel and I wanted to make sure she didn't just sit around the hotel and eat at Hard Rock Cafe or something. I took a day off to show her around the city and, after a couple of hiccups, it was a pretty good day.

We went to Christiania, the Round Tower, and the Little Mermaid. We ate lunch at Broens and had drinks at Amager Taphouse. We walked to Amalienborg and watched the changing of the guard, drank good coffee, and picked up a souvenir book from the free shelf.

There was, apparently, a 3.9 magnitude earthquake as we rode the train back to her hotel, but we didn't feel it at all!

We were all supposed to meet Jacob and Christina in Copenhagen the next evening for a concert at Loppen, but Tim and Emily decided not to join, so Zac and I went to hang out with the coolest family in Denmark on our own!

(But first, Zac and I stopped at one of the Gasoline Grill locations because Alvin Cailan was doing a collaboration burger with them and we didn't want to miss it.)

After a bit of a walk, we met up with the Ihlemanns in Christiania and went up to the concert. We saw a little Canadian band called The Boojums. There were maybe 20 of us in the audience and it was a really good time. We had drinks and bought merch and then parted ways at the metro. A lovely evening.

Doesn't the city look good on this guy?

As May came to a close, we got invited to a Memorial Day BBQ! I know what you're thinking: That's an American holiday. And you're right. I mean, it was actually 2nd Pinsedag in Denmark, a different holiday, so we were off work regardless, but I digress. We were invited by a half American, half Danish family that lives in town. Kaden plays baseball with their son, and they'd been living in the U.S. for a really long time before moving back recently, so they were still into the Memorial Day BBQ.

We couldn't go over right away because it was the day of the Royal Run! The Royal Run is a fun run that takes place in five cities around Denmark all at the same time. The towns change up each year. It was started 8 years ago by King Frederik (before he was King) on his 50th birthday. A member of the royal family runs in each of the cities. You can run a 10k, a 5k, or a 1 mile, and the start numbers sell out *really* fast once they go on sale.

This year, one of the cities announced was our own Helsingør! I figured that it would never be easier than that to participate, so I was ready and I scored 1-mile numbers for me and my friend, Ann-Louise (who also lives here). We ran around the castle with sooooo many other people and it was awesome.

We got some ice cream, went home so I could change clothes, and then walked to the BBQ. We got to meet another international family and visit with the one we already knew. We talked Star Wars and gardens, Danish houses and building regulations, and had a perfect evening in the fading Danish sun.

To close out the month of May, Brenda flew in from Poland for a quick trip to watch Kaden play baseball all day! Brenda teaches at an international school in Warsaw so it was an easy flight up here. I picked her up from the airport and then we spent the day at the baseball field. I had to work on the food crew, but there were lots of opportunities for me to sit with her and catch up while we cheered on Kaden.

After baseball, we picked up sushi and she stayed overnight with us before heading back the next morning. It was awesome to see her again!

(Harrison was in bed before we thought about a picture.)

* * *

I know this is a long post already, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much we love this city that we've chosen to call home. Helsingør is just the coolest place (besides Copenhagen), and we like living here a lot.

Besides having one of the greatest castles in Denmark (Kronborg), Helsingør is a charming old port town that dates back 600 years. I know that because we just celebrated the 600th anniversary! It was a really lovely thing to be a part of. There were events all over town aimed at including all ages and building community.

Harrison's class (and the other classes and schools) made big flag banners for the harbor "tents" celebrating the town's seafaring heritage. They rode bikes into town as a class and attended some workshops for play and movement, had a picnic lunch, and then went to the big stage to watch a beat-box pop performance.

Harrison in front of the flag tent he contributed to

To find Harrison's fish flag, count six up from the bottom center ribbon

Zac and Harrison and I rode bikes downtown after work and school to be part of the festivities, too. There was a long table set up all the way down one of the main walking streets. In the morning, they had a community breakfast. When we arrived, they were having BINGO at the table, but throughout the day, there were different little workshops and art opportunities along the different sections of table. In the evening, there was community dinner, where everyone just got food from their favorite local restaurant and brought it out to eat together.

We walked along the harbor and the weather was absolutely perfect. There were little bands playing all over. The one outside Ofelia Bar was playing '80s and '90s covers.

We ended up at the little dunes on the beach. Zac and I watched Harrison playing in the sand for a while and then we walked home.

We heard them fire off the canons at the castle, and then a little later, we stood on the terrace outside our bedroom and watched the fireworks down at the harbor. We could only see the really high ones because of a well-placed tree, but it was really nice.

Going downtown is fun and easy, and we do it a lot. Zac and Khloe and I went down to the north harbor one evening for burgers and drinks.

On Mother's Day, Zac and I took bikes up to a little outlook he found just up from our house over Marienlyst Slot. We enjoyed the quiet looking out over the gardens and the sea, and then we found a great playground with a see-saw (vipper), and it was one of the best dates ever.

There's a big ferry that shuttles people back and forth to Sweden, and it also shuttles semi trucks between the two countries. They come very predictably, and it's always fun to see the giant lines of trucks come up from the harbor.

We walked past this one and at the end of it, our friend, Ann-Louise was waving at us from her car! One of Zac's favorite things about living here is that it's still got small-town vibes and we always see people we know when we are out and about. We don't actually know that many people, so that's really saying something!

Harrison likes to go around town with us and will usually join if we say we're taking a walk or a bike ride. He likes to end up down at the north harbor. There's a great playground there, and for the summer, they have added a giant jumping pad that anyone can just go play on as they like.

The whole family agreed to go downtown for the Wombattles Danish rap battle at the food market. It's hard to understand Danish, and it's even harder when they're rapping super fast, but it was still a lot of fun. I really love that Helsingør has so much free entertainment.

There was also a recent harbor fest with big-name concerts and food trucks and things like that. All the proceeds went to benefit the Danish veterans. We've already spent our concert budget for the year, so we didn't buy tickets, but we did ride our bikes downtown.

We tried to get a table at Ofelia Bar, but they were booked out for the evening, so we sat outside with drinks and listened to the live music.

When the music ended and the crowd broke up, we spied an outdoor table that was about to open up, so we ended up scoring it and eating a very classy evening meal. After dinner, we rode our bikes to the north harbor and listened to the music from the harbor festival concert. We found some ice cream and a bench facing the sailboats while Dizzy Mizz Lizzy played.

Don't be fooled. It may look like he's putting his arm around me but he's just reaching in the bag.

Ann-Louise found us, too! (I mean, I'm sure you guessed that we had a third person around since we couldn't have taken the picture above by ourselves.) We hung out and had a beer while D-A-D played and then we all rode bikes home.

We still have work and stuff like that, but our free time is often spent casually biking and walking around this amazing city.

We also walk to the grocery store, but that's just as beautiful.

And sometimes we walk to the train station, but again...amazing.

Hamlet and Ophelia

* * *

All that to say: We're having the most lovely times of our lives and are very happy with our choice to settle in Helsingør. There are so many charming details, so many beautiful humans, and so many things to see and do. All that's missing is you!!

(Oh, and like a rocky mountain or a basalt column or a Ponderosa Pine or something would be nice once in a while.)