The
Social Butterfly The Paper • Page 3 • May 28, 2020
anniversary of the end of World War II. For me, the loss at Pearl Harbor has always been so moving and now there is an archive at the Library of Congress capturing the memories of those who survived the war. Here is the link to these stories: http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/exwar-end-wwii-75.html
DAR Members/Guests Placed Flags on Gravesites at V.C. Cemetery -
Evelyn Madison The Social Butterfly Email Evelyn at:
thesocialbutterfly@cox.net
I urge you to think of someone who sacrificed for our freedom. If you don't know someone personally, please take a moment to look up someone else's story and help remember that act of bravery. This year marks the 75th
Center of the Valley Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), practicing safe distancing, placed flags on the gravesites of around 300 veterans at the Valley Center Cemetery, in anticipation of Memorial Day, Monday, May 25th. Twenty one members and their husbands, plus Associate member, Wanda Prosser, from the Santa Margarita Chapter, and her husband, Allen, were proud to honor veterans, three of whom were from the Civil War. Regent, Sharon Healey-Bartholomew had started this practice with the chapter when she found that there was no local commemoration of Memorial Day or Veterans Day at the cemetery. It has now become an annual practice. The chapter also brought the December Wreaths Across America (WAA) ceremony to this cemetery. The DAR is open to any female eighteen years of age or older who is lineally descended from an ancestor who provided aide in some way in the patri-
citizenry, from the cradle to the grave. As a result it is one of the highest taxed countries in the world. Yet it's standard of living is very high as well, second, it is said, only to Norway. It is also a very expensive city for a tourist to enjoy, particularly now while the dollar is down.
block you will find violinists, floutists, a Brazilian Indian group, accordianists, musicians and music of a rich and wonderful degree of difference. Interestingly, you seldom see or hear rock music being played by the street musicians. The speakers of the store speakers do, however. Often, while walking on one of the regular streets a car will pass and you will hear that outstanding Danish singer....Jerry Lee Lewis....or Ray Charles....or Michael Jackson.
Let's Remember the Reason for Memorial Day - Although we have been fighting a different kind of war -one we have not seen in most of our lifetimes -- we want to take this time to honor those who have served and fallen for our country.
Goin’ Home . . . Cont. from Page 2
One of the better buys in the City is the Canal and Harbor Tour. The cost is only 30DNK per person, at this writing, about $4.60. The canal tour lets you see most of the major buildings,the castles, the stock exchange, the churches...and when you enter the harbor you get to see the Royal Yacht, the Naval Base, the ferries to Sweden, and, of course, the Little Mermaid. Later, if you wish, you can go back and see those scenic attractions that interest you, up close and personal.
As for the changing of the guards at Amalienborg Castle, unless the Queen is in residence, don't bother. It's one big bore. When the Queen is in the changing may be worth it. Then they have a band playing. Watching a bunch of soldiers change duty stations while wearing big bearskin hats, in the middle of an afternoon, is roughly as much fun as watching whiskers grow. Boring.
Conversely, you will not want to miss a walking tour of Stroget, the world famous pedestrian shopping mall that is, essentially, simply a street upon which no cars are allowed. Merchants of every style, size and description are featured, though they tend to lean toward the upscale. Almost every
Great Danes, every one.
The public transport system of Denmark has become, justifiably, legendary. The precisions with which it runs is phenomenal. The trains are clean, quick, efficient, well manned, and on time. Something Americans are not used to and what is quite fascinating is the way Denmark arranges to have its trains connect to sailing ships. In less than two minutes a train is loaded on board a ship and the train then rolls forward on tracks into the hold. The passengers are then free to leave the train and go up on the restaurant, cafeteria. or verandah deck. It becomes a relatively simple matter to travel from Copenhagen to the northernmost tip of the country in little more than one day.
Not only is DSB, The Danish State Railway, efficient and clean, it is also considerate. Through our own fault (and the fact we didn't speak Danish thus did not understand the announcement(s)) we stayed on board the ship when our train disembarked and continued its trip on to Vejle (pronounced ViLa [long I, long A]; when we discovered our error we had that horrible empty feeling in our gut, perspiration broke out and we felt all was lost....our
ots fight for independence in the American Revolution. Visit www.nsdar.org and click on Chapters to find a chapter near you.
Local Hero Recognized by Oceanside CIVITAN Club - The Oceanside Chapter of CIVITAN International, a non-profit community service organization, believes that our long-time member and Oceanside resident should be recognized for selflessly helping our community in this time of COVID. Nielsine Archibald, Oceanside resident and member of the Oceanside Civitan charitable organization, recognized in early March that her friends and neighbors needed protection from COVID-19 but they couldn’t find any face masks. That’s when Nielsine decided to act. She immediately gathered the necessary materials so she could make face masks for those in need. Since mid-March, Nielsine has created and distributed more than 450 hand-made face masks to many local folks and even to those as far away as New Jersey. All Nielsine asked was that recipients donate whatever they could reasonably afford to her favorite charity, Oceanside Civitan. In that same vein of giving, she has presented face masks to the Women’s Resource Center and the Senior Housing Center in Oceanside. We thank our local hero for pitching in with face masks!
Opera Star and Movie Puppy Top New History Q&A - Questions about two celebrities -- one a world-famous opera star and one a world-famous animal -- are featured in this week's question-and-answer installment from the Valley Center History Museum. While the museum is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, inquiries
luggage, our passports, my rented laptop computer. The ship's officer understood our predicament, radioed to the train to offload our luggage at Vejle, put us on the next rain (and upgraded us to first class in the process). We had an enjoyable train ride, and, yes, indeed, our luggage was waiting for us when we finally arrived at Vejle. Needless to say, we were most gratified at the courteous treatment we received from DSB. The next day yet another comfortable and scenic trip on board DSB's train from Vejle to Frederickshavn.
Denmark itself looks remarkably like Iowa, Nebraska, portions of Minnesota. It is generally a flat land, with slow and low rolling hills. If you would see Denmark see Iowa...see Nebraska....see southern Minnesota. They are much the same, at least in topography. The housing is somewhat similar, which is probably not too surprising upon examination, since many Danes emigrated to the midwest and built their farms along the architectural lines they knew and brought with them from Denmark. Generally the farm houses are whitewashed brick or a stucco/adobe type appearance with red tile roofs. The outbuildings and barns are right out of an early American painting.
Frederickhavn, where we spent the night before boarding the ferry for Oslo, is also a lovely town. One begins to run out of superlatives when talking about the countryside and the villages of Denmark....even more so when talking of the Danish people. They are, to a fault, kind, generous, helpful, informative, eager and anxious to please. the younger folk will speak English. Some
are being accepted by email and telephone, with responses published in this space. Here in Part 5 are some questions received by the local Historical Society.
We have season tickets to SD Opera and read that soprano Dorothy Kirsten was the first person to sing at the Civic Theater when it opened downtown in 1965. We also heard that she may have lived in this area. True? Answer: Yes. In 1969, the fabled star of grand opera built what was described as a Tuscan villa on Womsi Road in Pauma Valley. Although her name may not hit a high note today, she was famous enough to become the first opera star to appear on the cover of Life magazine. She sang at the Met for 30 consecutive seasons, and appeared in several movies including "The Great Caruso" with Mario Lanza.
Social Butterfly Cont. on Page 9
better than others but all seem to be able to carry on a conversation. The older folk often do not speak English....but one manages nonetheless. During our above mentioned misguided trip to Vejle we fell into the company of an elderly Dane by name of Aksel Olsen. He didn't speak a word of English, we spoke only a few of Danish. But we hit it right off. We saw when he entered our cabin that he was a character right out of a novel, swinging his cane, barking instructions to the conductor, nodding to us and rattling off a stream of Danish (assuming we were fellow countrymen); when we explained we didn't understand Danish he was not distracted, he proceeded to lecture us and tell us jokes, sing us songs, and generally put on a grand show. It was only several stops later when a Danish engineer who spoke excellent English joined our company that we managed to understand one another. But, it mattered not, we had enjoyed the old fella quite well without benefit of understanding the language. He took us under his wing when we changed trains, made sure we caught the right one and when we arrived at Vejle made sure we had a taxi to the right hotel (he picked an expensive one I might add....but, it was a good one). On arriving at our hotel at Vejle we met yet another Dane, Margit Lund, who spoke excellent English. She was the receptionist or desk clerk and once she booked us in and understood we werein the area doing research on family she couldn't have been more helpful. The next morning we hired a cab and chauffeur and found my great grandfa-
Goin’ Home . . . Cont. on Page 5