Marian Van Halsema Ten Have
Our lovely Aunt Marian Van Halsema Ten Have passed away this morning. She was 85 years old. You would have been hard pressed to find a more vivacious, funnier person than Marian. She was well-loved, widely liked and her wit and charm were enjoyed by all who knew her.
Rest now and be at peace, you've earned it. . .
You'll always have a spot in our hearts.
Love, Steve & Susan
Don and Helen Soper Wedding Anniversary April 6, 1958
It's not everyone who can say they had the pleasure of being at their parent's wedding.
Of course, you can make the argument that Don and Helen were not, as a couple, technically my parents. Don was my dad but Helen Bork Jones was my stepmother, although I never thought of her that way. She was always my mother. Maybe because she always treated me like her son.
Happy 58th anniversary, Mom and Dad!
Of course, you can make the argument that Don and Helen were not, as a couple, technically my parents. Don was my dad but Helen Bork Jones was my stepmother, although I never thought of her that way. She was always my mother. Maybe because she always treated me like her son.
Happy 58th anniversary, Mom and Dad!
 |
| wedding day |
 |
| Mom and Dad with Grandma Bork |
 |
| Grilling out with friends at 510 S. Victor, Champaign |
 |
| Visting the Watts family in Colordao Springs, c. 1963 |
 |
| Christmas and our first dog Sandy |
 |
| 1817 Crescent Drive, Champaign |
 |
| 510 S. Victor, Champaign |
 |
| 315 Westlawn, Decatur |
My last day at Johnson & Wales
Yesterday was my last day of work. At Johnson & Wales University that is. There will always be something to occupy my time, of course, but will it be "work" as such? I'm not even sure what I did for the past 6 years or so could qualify as "work." I enjoyed what I did and I like to think I was fairly good at my job (managing an image library). But we moved to Michigan (nearly eleven months ago) and my days have always been numbered as a result.
It was both a pleasure and an honor to work with several genuinely nice, intelligent, hardworking people. I won't embarrass them by naming them here nor will I humiliate those who were less than pleasant, who were petty, soul-crushing spirits who had no thought of anything but themselves and certainly the last thing on their mind was working together with anyone else. To you I have nothing to say but good riddance.
To those other folks, that handful of men and women -- they know who they are -- who made my stay there just a bit easier, a bit more interesting and often a bit more fun thank you so much from the bottom of my heart (and the top, too).
Safe travels to you and remember, life is short.
It was both a pleasure and an honor to work with several genuinely nice, intelligent, hardworking people. I won't embarrass them by naming them here nor will I humiliate those who were less than pleasant, who were petty, soul-crushing spirits who had no thought of anything but themselves and certainly the last thing on their mind was working together with anyone else. To you I have nothing to say but good riddance.
To those other folks, that handful of men and women -- they know who they are -- who made my stay there just a bit easier, a bit more interesting and often a bit more fun thank you so much from the bottom of my heart (and the top, too).
Safe travels to you and remember, life is short.
Searching for accommodations in Paris -- we found just the right place
If you're in Paris for just a few days you'll probably want to stay in a hotel. But if you're staying longer than a week, or if you're in the market for a more down-to-earth experience, you'll want to rent an apartment (or self-catering flat as they say in the UK). Finding just the right place for the right price becomes a bit more challenging than locating an attractive hotel.
While at first blush the search for an apartment may appear daunting or intimidating it doesn't have to be. If money is no object and if you have very specific ideas about where you want to stay you can stop reading right now. But if you're willing to be a bit more adventurous and aren't terribly choosy about what neighborhood you want to stay in, then read on.
The last time we stayed in Paris (2013) we rented a small apartment (but HUGE bathroom) in the 4th arr. through Paris-sharing.com. We learned of them through acquaintances who had rented from PS in 2010-11 and had a wonderful experience. Dealing with one of the owners, Carsten Sprotte was pleasant and he couldn't have been more helpful to make our move in and move out as smooth as possible.
Naturally, when we began our search for lodging in 2016 we turned first to PS. As we surfed their site looking at the handful of available rentals we quickly found ourselves put off by the erratic prising structure. A small, one-bedroom with minimal facilities -- albeit nice ones -- was listed at "from 103€ a night but for our dates was going to cost us somewhere in the ballpark of 2700€ for 11 days! (I should point out that we had a discussion about pricing with Carsten and the long and short of it is that prices are set by the owners and consequently change with the season.)
We then turned to the popular Air BnB website where we found quite a few choices -- far more than PS offered, many at a more reasonable cost I might add. But Air BnB wanted all the money up front for a booking four months away -- and they kept the money that entire time. Nothing was turned over to the owner until right before the arrival date, as I understand it anyway. No thank you.
I then turned to Rick Steves’ to see what he suggested for apartment rentals. Here's what I learned from that bit of legwork:
Home Service Rental - The website is severely limited by arrondissement with just a handful of apartments available, although the listings appeared to be quite nice. I did note that the site's use of English was a bit stilted. Anyway, you have to send a request to check on pricing and availability — that information is not available directly on the site and that’s a bit clunky I thought.
Fat Tire tours — Sorry, Rick, but I could find no link to or even mention of Fat Tire providing access to accommodation listings, except on their blog. Even there it was more of a discussion along the lines of general advice rather than any specific assistance.
Haven in Paris — The site is very easy to navigate, price are posted right along with the listing shown, which is nice. You can search by a variety of criteria right off the Home page which is also useful. However, these are luxury boutique apartments and priced accordingly.
France Homestyle - Touts itself as “boutique French rentals” whatever that means. Anyway, I found the website less than user-friendly: for example, you cannot search/sort for property by any of the usual criteria (price, no. BRs etc.). However the page for each listing provides just about everything you need to know about that space in a series of easy-to-use tabs. There is also a handy calendar on the right sidebar that notes availability for the time-frame you chose in your original search.
So, no help in finding just the right place, at least not from Rick Steves. Anyway you may find yourself paying a premium, sometimes a pretty stiff one, to use a broker or rental agency.
I decided to return to grass-roots traveling, so to speak, to what we've often done in years past: rent directly from the owner. But how to go about that? Well, you can use FUSAC, of course, but that seemed to entail more work and time than I wanted to spend -- although it would be the number one go-to source if we were going to need an apartment for a few months or longer.
Instead I turned to a copy of France magazine sitting on the table by my bedside and voila! found Alistair Sawday's Special Places. I remember their books in years past, with gorgeous watercolor covers and luscious listings places at all price points for BnBs, inns and apartments. Anyway they have an attractive site, easy to use and navigate with lots of properties in Paris.
Once you see a place you like you simply email the owners to check on availability which is exactly what I did after finding the perfect place near Place Gambetta in the 20th arr. just a stone's throw from Père-Lachaise (how perfect). The apartment is twice as large as most places I looked at for less than half the money! After a handful of emails and one phone call with the owner we sent off our deposit check.
Done.
We have our tickets, our accommodations in Lille, along the Somme and in Paris so now all we have to do is go.
While at first blush the search for an apartment may appear daunting or intimidating it doesn't have to be. If money is no object and if you have very specific ideas about where you want to stay you can stop reading right now. But if you're willing to be a bit more adventurous and aren't terribly choosy about what neighborhood you want to stay in, then read on.
The last time we stayed in Paris (2013) we rented a small apartment (but HUGE bathroom) in the 4th arr. through Paris-sharing.com. We learned of them through acquaintances who had rented from PS in 2010-11 and had a wonderful experience. Dealing with one of the owners, Carsten Sprotte was pleasant and he couldn't have been more helpful to make our move in and move out as smooth as possible.
Naturally, when we began our search for lodging in 2016 we turned first to PS. As we surfed their site looking at the handful of available rentals we quickly found ourselves put off by the erratic prising structure. A small, one-bedroom with minimal facilities -- albeit nice ones -- was listed at "from 103€ a night but for our dates was going to cost us somewhere in the ballpark of 2700€ for 11 days! (I should point out that we had a discussion about pricing with Carsten and the long and short of it is that prices are set by the owners and consequently change with the season.)
We then turned to the popular Air BnB website where we found quite a few choices -- far more than PS offered, many at a more reasonable cost I might add. But Air BnB wanted all the money up front for a booking four months away -- and they kept the money that entire time. Nothing was turned over to the owner until right before the arrival date, as I understand it anyway. No thank you.
I then turned to Rick Steves’ to see what he suggested for apartment rentals. Here's what I learned from that bit of legwork:
Home Service Rental - The website is severely limited by arrondissement with just a handful of apartments available, although the listings appeared to be quite nice. I did note that the site's use of English was a bit stilted. Anyway, you have to send a request to check on pricing and availability — that information is not available directly on the site and that’s a bit clunky I thought.
Fat Tire tours — Sorry, Rick, but I could find no link to or even mention of Fat Tire providing access to accommodation listings, except on their blog. Even there it was more of a discussion along the lines of general advice rather than any specific assistance.
Haven in Paris — The site is very easy to navigate, price are posted right along with the listing shown, which is nice. You can search by a variety of criteria right off the Home page which is also useful. However, these are luxury boutique apartments and priced accordingly.
France Homestyle - Touts itself as “boutique French rentals” whatever that means. Anyway, I found the website less than user-friendly: for example, you cannot search/sort for property by any of the usual criteria (price, no. BRs etc.). However the page for each listing provides just about everything you need to know about that space in a series of easy-to-use tabs. There is also a handy calendar on the right sidebar that notes availability for the time-frame you chose in your original search.
So, no help in finding just the right place, at least not from Rick Steves. Anyway you may find yourself paying a premium, sometimes a pretty stiff one, to use a broker or rental agency.
I decided to return to grass-roots traveling, so to speak, to what we've often done in years past: rent directly from the owner. But how to go about that? Well, you can use FUSAC, of course, but that seemed to entail more work and time than I wanted to spend -- although it would be the number one go-to source if we were going to need an apartment for a few months or longer.
Instead I turned to a copy of France magazine sitting on the table by my bedside and voila! found Alistair Sawday's Special Places. I remember their books in years past, with gorgeous watercolor covers and luscious listings places at all price points for BnBs, inns and apartments. Anyway they have an attractive site, easy to use and navigate with lots of properties in Paris.
Once you see a place you like you simply email the owners to check on availability which is exactly what I did after finding the perfect place near Place Gambetta in the 20th arr. just a stone's throw from Père-Lachaise (how perfect). The apartment is twice as large as most places I looked at for less than half the money! After a handful of emails and one phone call with the owner we sent off our deposit check.
Done.
We have our tickets, our accommodations in Lille, along the Somme and in Paris so now all we have to do is go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Chihuly in the Japanese Garden
We returned to Meijer Gardens recently to finish off our tour of the Chihuly sculptures, this time focusing on the Japanese Garden. new take...
-
The oldest child and oldest boy of Tunis VandenBerg and Bernice Van Halsema, William J VandenBerg 1950-2012. Photo taken in 1955 at 413 Oa... -
Friday 30 January Another leisurely morning in Lisbon and our last full day in Portugal's capital will be spent seeing the city with a l...