Live and Let Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 41)

Thirteen Things I Didn't Know About Greenland

Today my friends Gary and Shirley are leaving for Greenland. They drove to Baltimore and are flying direct from there. They have packed their warm clothes, thick socks and fleece jackets. Ironically or coincidentally, however you choose to look at it, the temperature here yesterday was 103...a new record by two degrees for this date...and the heat index was 110. This means that the only things you can do are stay in the air conditioning or float on a raft in the pool. Within three minutes of being outside, your face is shedding sweat in large droplets and, being here in the South, you find yourself with an immediate urge for some sweet tea or a mint julep!!! How did Scarlett O'Hara ever survive a summer in the South with those tight corsets and long dresses? I'm thinking maybe she had some mini-slaves UNDER her skirts fanning her poor legs with palm fronds or something. ANYWAY (yes, there is a point here) I was curious about Greenland, so here are 13 Things I Didn't Know About Greenland:

1. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. I think I assumed it was its own entity as a country.

2. Greenland is part of North America. This was a matter of much debate yesterday amongst the 4 soon-to-be 6th graders I was with.

3. Greenland has no arable land, no forests and no permanent crops.

4. Although it would take more than THREE Texases to match the area of Greenland, its population is only about 60,000 people which is less than the population of Boca Raton, FL...or approximately equal to the number of people at the Boca Town Center Mall on any given Saturday in December.

5. Greenland got its name not because it has lush green fields, but because people were purposely misled to believe it had greenery and would be a good place to grow crops to make a good living. Viking explorers called it Greenland to attract settlers who otherwise might have been scared off by the icy terrain.

6. Its capital is Nuuk...no, not those baby pacifier things, those are Nuk. Nuuk's population is around 15,000 people...which is about the same as the population estimate for Fuquay Varina, NC!!! Or about the same population as the bacteria on a Nuk dropped on the floor of Wal-Mart...just wait, the connection will become apparent in the next item on my list...

7. Fuquay Varina has a Wal-Mart....Greenland does not.

8. The Annual Snow Fest is a big attraction in Nuuk. Just looking at the pictures of some of the entries makes me feel a little better about the 9 holes of golf I'm about to play in this heat:

9. Nullerpoq is apparently the Danish word for "Loading"...I learned this while pulling up the above pictures.

10. You can play golf on metre-thick ice in UUmmannaq. Wow...I guess there are no sand traps!!! Maybe you land in snow traps? Would my sand wedge work? Do they have snow wedges in Greenland?

11. Many Danish words seem to have strange uses for the letter "q"...yet another thing Greenland has in common with Fuquay Varina!

12. There is just one movie theater in all of Greenland...in the city of Katuaq. I'm betting it's currently showing The Simpsons Movie and that one can never get to see independent films at the theater...kind of like Boca! By the way...Fuquay Varina does NOT have a movie theater although there is an old broken down drive-in sign.

13. The world's smallest tree, the dwarf willow, grows to be about 2 inches tall on the tundra of Greenland.

Traveling mercies to Gary and Shirley...and if you could wave a cold front down this way, we'd be ever so grateful!!!

Di

Thursday Thirteen (Vol. 40)

Thirteen Reasons that I Am Not Posting My Thursday Thirteen Until (egad!!!) Thursday!!!

1. Amy starts maniacally checking and rechecking my blog around 5 p.m. on Wednesday to see if I've posted yet and I just felt like driving her crazy this week.

2. Our golf course is closed on Monday, so my golf week starts on Tuesday so it always FEELS like a Monday, so today I really FEEL like it's Wednesday.

3. I played 36 holes on Tuesday which occupied several hours during which I would have been mulling over and composing my Thursday Thirteen.

4. I played 23 holes on Wednesday, the last of which was played with golf cart headlights shining down the fairway so we could see where our balls went. If I hadn't done that, I might have had a few minutes to post on Wednesday...but I really didn't want to anyone (see item 1).

5. So much Sudoku, so little time.

6. I have a to-do list from my husband a mile long that I have to get done before golf each day.

7. While I am trying to get through my (our) to-do list, my husband calls every 5 minutes to ask me critical things like, "How do I warm up my leftover spaghetti from last night?"

8. If he gets my voice mail, my husband is quite certain I didn't MEAN for it to go to voice mail and so he continues to call and call until I answer, thus making me end up losing the call I was on re: our to-do list and have to start all over. But he now knows how to warm up spaghetti.

9. Note to wives everywhere: I am NOT making this up...this is absolutely true. My friend Sharis's husband John stopped me on the golf course (where else?) yesterday and said, "I think Sharis has been a little stressed lately and needs a break. I would like you to get her out tonight and make sure she has a really good time. I'll take care of the kids, dinner, baths, etc." How could I resist??? I couldn't say, "Sorry John, I have to write my Thursday Thirteen so Amy doesn't go off the deep end." (see item 1)

10. We were actually able, with almost no forethought or planning, to get five of us "girls" together, have a few beers and sit around on my friend's porch talking while our kids were with their Dads, at sleepovers, with grandparents, etc. That kind of time is too precious!

11. My son got the same score as I did on the back nine (I know Amy, I haven't told you what that means yet...be patient...I'll get all the golf lingo into you somehow), so I needed to play more so he won't be able to beat me anytime soon.

12. Since I don't have my printer here with me, when I need to print something, I have to e-mail it to my friend's office and have her print it out and fax it to another friend's house. So anything I do that requires printing takes much longer than it should!

13. I talked to my Mom yesterday for almost an hour!!! This is an unheard of phone call duration when my son is around. He ONLY interrupted about 12 times.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:    I didn't want to incorporate this into my TT because it deserves a separate announcement. My Dad won the Super Senior Club Championship at his club this past weekend. This qualifies him to go to the regionals. And then, who knows...maybe the Olympics!!! I'm proud of him...just wish he had taught me how to play when I was younger so learning this game wouldn't be so freakin' hard!!! And I wish I got the gene that has allowed him to get FIVE holes in one in his life!

Here's my favorite picture of my Dad...from when we were in Alaska...I'm kind of surprised he didn't bring a golf club and a ball up on the glacier. Oops...now that I've said that, he's going to want to go back!

Is that a golf hat you are wearing, Dad?

Di