GRANDMA JAN'S LONG LOST SISTER?

Hello from Malmoe, Sweden. Here this week and next for the "Malmoe Louis Vuitton Acts 6 and 7", or what we used to call "America's Cup racing" or "regattas". For more on the event here, am blogging daily for our team on www.bmworacleracing.com/blog.

George Clyde is roughly my counterpart in Dawn Riley's Cup team K-Challenge. Dawn, by the way, is a Michigan native, I believe having grown up in St Clair Shores.

George is on his third Cup campaign, and we have become quite good friends as well as colleagues in the Cup rules business and on the Challenger Commission. George succeeded me as CC Chairman, and is doing a nice job.

We had another of our bi-monthly or so CC meetings yesterday, and then Louis Vuitton hosted another superb dinner last evening for us -- this time at Malmoe's leading restaurant. The reindeer was superb; so was the lobster that preceded that course. To say nothing of all the Moet that was flowing. Life is tough. ;)

At dinner last evening I sat with George's wife, Sheri. Leslie, Meg and I are particularly fond of Sheri for all the fun we had together in Auckland. And Sheri, like Meg and sister Cristine, is quite an artist.

Anyway, I have always thought Sheri resembled my mother, "Granda Jan".

Well, now we know why -- Sheri, like Grandma Jan, is of direct Norwegian descent. Upon discovering that last night, Sheri and I had a big laugh when I recited the little ditty I remember hearing from Grandpa Fredrickson (some 45 years ago!):

"10,000 Swedes ran through the weeds, chased by one Norwegian."

Sheri, too, had heard that from her Grandfather, but we won't be shouting that out in the streets of Malmoe while we are here!

OK, you be the judge...are my eyes going bad or is Sheri my mother's long lost little sister?


Sheri Clyde at the K-Challenge Base here in Malmoe this morning.

TASTE LIKE PEPPERMINT

Grandpa Tom loves to forward email jokes. From time to time we have posted one or two, but, frankly, most are not family-site material. We liked this one, and hopefully it is sufficiently clean, or subtle, for the EFB....


A rancher goes to the bank to borrow money to buy a bull so he can increase his stock. The transaction is made and the banker who lent the money comes by a week later to see how his investment is doing. The farmer complains that the bull just eats grass and won't even look at he cows. The banker suggests that a veterinarian have a look at the bull.

The next week the banker returns to see if the vet helped. The farmer looks very pleased: "The bull has taken care of all my cows, broke through the fence, and has even serviced all my neighbor's cows!"

"Wow," says the banker, "what did the vet do to that bull?"

"Just gave him some pills," replied the rancher.

"What kind of pills?" asked the banker.

"I don't know, but they sort of taste like peppermint."


And there is no truth to the rumour that Tom Sr is thinking of selling the club and buying a ranch.

Also, a quote sent today by faithful correspondent and friend Peter Huston, which seems somehow apropos:

"The older I get, the better I was."

YIKES...

...today is Kermit the Frog's 50th birthday! How time flies, or hops even, when you are having fun.

VIRTUAL TOUR

OK, so finally here are some pix of the new Casa Ehman in Valencia.




First, coming into the driveway; it's the southwest "hot side" of the house, hence lots of brick (and glass brick) but few windows, then...



Welcome. Typical Spanish door knob, which almost all houses and even apartments ("pisos") have.



Walking through the front door, into la entrada looking into the living room and through to the backyard. The guest bedroom and stairs are to the left; the kitchen and visitors baño to the right.



...then the view from la entrada to the guest room.



En suite guest room, all ready for Grandma Jan and other family and friends keen for some warm Spanish sun.



Walking into the living room (" la sala") from la entrada and looking to the left.



Same perspective as the previous pic (walking into la sala), but looking to the right and into the dining room.



La sala from the dining room ("la comedor").



La comedor, which now includes my desk complete with a towel on the chair since one often goes back and forth between desk and pool. ;)



Other end of the la comedor looking back towards the kitchen ("la cocina").



La cocina from la entrada.



Other end of la cocina, and the door into the dining room.



Upstairs mezzanine from the top of the stairs.



Mezzanine looking back down the stairs.



TV room (upstairs), mostly for Meg and her friends.



Meg's room, also upstairs.



Looking from the pool ("piscina") to the back of the house (barbeque area on the left side).



Close up of the veranduh from the backyard (better plant some flowers before the planter becomes the outdoor cat box!).



Looking from the veranduh to the southeast corner of the backyard (which Euros call "the garden" or "el jardin").



Finally, the east corner of el jardin, with the Med visible in the far background (gap between the trees); most afternoons, the easterly seabreezes from the Med keep the house cool without the need for aircon.


Venga! Hasta pronto.

I WILL HEEL YOU

Yikes, first time in a long time for two blog posts in one day. Am finally getting the new house sorted here in Valencia and finding some time for other things besides the house and work!

Sign of the times found on the internet, and with a 426- phone number it could even be in the Dexter area. Maybe Ruth's boyfriend has a new sideline?

GIGAYACHTS

According to this morning's London Times, here are the five largest privately owned yachts in the world:

Rising Sun (452ft). Built: 2004. Owner: Larry Ellison, Oracle chief executive. Value: £150m

Octopus (414ft). Built: 2003. Owner: Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder. Value: £110m

Savarona (408ft). Built: 1931. Owner: Kahraman Sadikoglu, Turkish businessman. Value: £80m

Pelorus (377ft). Built: 2003. Owner: Roman Abramovich. Value: £72m

Le Grand Bleu (370ft). Built: 2000. Owner: Roman Abramovich. Value: £50m

Here is a recent article on these boats that are now too big to be called "superyachts" or even "megayachts."

Rising Sun will, once again, be the flagship of the BMW ORACLE team when we race in Malmoe at the end of this month. It is on its way to Malmoe, as is USA 76 and the other ACC yachts, support boats and equipment. There is a new post with pix on our team blog at the BMW ORACLE Racing website.


Unusual night photo of Rising Sun, in St. Thomas over
Christmas 2004.