Update - 13 years later

[GQBlues]

Awesome pics. You should be a photographer.

[tfcrew]

Awesome pics. You should be a photographer.

                                                                         

[northkape]

Greetings from Norway

Next month will be nine years since I sent the first letter to Tanya,,
Yes, she was intrigued by that lure in my "Ukraine-Wife-Trap" :-))
taking in all of the "hook, line, and sinker"
And the rest of it, is in the story here,,,

We are still doing great, actually better than ever,,
My lovely wife will be 41 in a couple of months, (me 68*)
but as all women I had relationships with, she is taking good care of herself.
Looking almost the same in this random snapshot from a few days ago,
as she did when I first met with her so many years ago.




 

[Lily]

She is beautiful!

[northkape]

Thanks Lily
And I do remember your comment from 2014 also:
"What a beauty! There is something romantic in her looks."

8 year wedding anniversary today, and still some years to go.
Almost 9 years, since I dropped by her place to say hello,
before going to the airport, for my flight home.

Romance, this warming sunshine
revitalizing my mind and body
as Phoenix rising from the ashes
old sorrows buried in optimism
with new challenges in the wings
and grandiose plans in front
arrows of hope, towards the sky

Life is what
If not a dream come through
in the thinking mind

A sliver of light in space
with endless opportunities

rockstar, billionaire, hermit
the universe is yours
to play your game
In the spotlight or not
No One cares

The life to live, before it burns out
Out of nothing a sparkle,,,, then nothing
The passing glimmer, of a shooting star

Summer flashback,,,

[ML]

North . . . interesting words.

Was that picture taken at Cappadocia in Turkey ?

[krimster2]

wife in bathing suit photo?
check...
most of the photos I can't share, cuz she likes nude sun bathing, and YES, I DO rub sun screen ALL OVER her!

it's a MAN'S life here in Texas, not meant for those who play video games and watch porn all day
cuz, first thing ya gotta do with a little filly like this, is to "break her in"

then after that, she will do whatever YOU WANT...

PS, no easy task, a Ukrainian village girl with a hardbody to match
and 6' 1" tall, same height and build as Gal Godot A.K.A "Wonder Woman"

PS
I'm not sure, but I have possibly been to this spot, about 15 years ago...
is there a nearby pool of water, that has submerged Roman Columns, also covered in the deposited crystals?
right now, Istanbul and Marmaris has a BIG bunch of Russian ex-pats living there
young Russians are EVERYWHERE now,
Tel Aviv is packed with them, every 4th person you pass on the street is speaking Russian
and NONE of them are tourists

Far East of Turkey, Gol Tepi, is too dangerous now...
otherwise, another wild place to explore

if 'ole Trench goes to kitchenev, it'll be interesting to note the number of young female Ukrainian refugees sharing the space and competing for men with the local Moldovan women, who are themselves of two distinct types; village dwellers and city dwellers

[northkape]

Greetings from Norway



One more year,,,,

And "wide reaching" changes ahead,,,
Reorganizing memorabilia of the past,
to recapture some of the paths, through my life

Life is what,
If not a map to explore,,
(In the thinking mind)

Once upon a time-----
 
YOU,, at map point zero,
oblivious to the trek ahead,
the one and only passage
towards your final death,

a million possible paths

From wide and safe with a destiny ahead;
the straight line drawn through the map.
To daring steps up slippery slopes
with unknown rewards, for the adventurous to reap

Your path through the map of your life
comes from playing or not, the cards you are dealt

Still,,, the secret of life, is enjoying the trek
Not feeling satisfied now, because of future goals,
is like celebrating your final destiny; death

Then,,,,
A pleasant phone call some weeks ago,,

He called me,
asked if I was still going strong,
if I could remember 25 years ago,
a young unemployed 15 year old,
worked couple years for me,
with computers and software.
Had borrowed $100 from me, at that time
and wanted to repay his debt now.
And to say thanks, for all he had learned from me.
Then telling me he is now a software millionaire,,

Most of those who worked for me, during my life,,,
were in some ways encouraged to provoke their own comfort zone 
stretching their ambitions beyond what they believed being possible
Starting their own business, or a career unimaginable for them

To the adventurous ones
An incredible "love story" that had part of it roots,
in a movie that rocked me at age 15
Iconic EasyRider from 1969



A year later I had built my own "chopper"
Doing all of it myself, all machining (longer fork legs, foot rests +++),
welding, painting (candy red with silver flakes), stitching the saddle, ++++



A younger friend of mine bought it a year later.
Then dreaming about building choppers for a living.
Many years later when we were going to California,,
he had decided not to return.
So inside the 3 month visa period,,
he had to find a woman with a double garage and marry her.
To be able to stay legally in USA, and start building choppers.
Hopefully in her double garage :-)

I agreed with most others that it was really impossible,
and especially with only $2000 in his pocket.
A slippery slope yes,, still, I thought it was worth a shot.

California proved to be, too expensive,
but there was young man from home, attending flight school in Kansas.
He had an apartment with a room to spare.
Frank found his woman, and married her.
With a double garage and within 3 months.
Great woman,, they are still happily married, with children.
The business was a long and hard journey before succeeding.
30 years later he showed up in a Norwegian TV series,
about entrepreneurs who became millionaires from nothing in USA.

I came to think about this incredible story when Frank dropped by my office
for a long, long, conversation about past and present a couple of weeks ago.

From his first webpage in the nineties.......



Among other memorabilia,
I found this enlarged photo.
"Memories of another life"
(Golden Gate, San Fransisco 1977)
Many decades ago, it covered the wall of our living room.
Me 22, the young girl 16
Driving around for a month with a rental Mustang.
In THE USA, that for me, was:
"the promised land of milk and honey"



At that time she was serving coffee and cleaning in a hardware shop.
When we split 10 years later, she was,
CEO of large company, a well known local politician,
and European TopFuel drag race record holder.
Many years later, voted "Business Woman of the Year" in Norway

To be continued..........

[ML]

Jan, great stories and pictures. Thanks for sharing.
I'll respond to your PM later.
ML

[2tallbill]

Just wondering how would topic starter felt about his wife if she sat somewhere on some Russian –married-US  forum and tell the whole world about every American/Indian/German/Italian she met and what they did and didn’t , posted their pics, so on…


He must be bored to death living in his memories….

Or you could mind your own business unless you find a photo of yourself somewhere.

[ML]

Just wondering how would topic starter felt about his wife if she sat somewhere on some Russian –married-US  forum and tell the whole world about every American/Indian/German/Italian she met and what they did and didn’t , posted their pics, so on…

- - - - - - -

Two gals talking about men in their lives:

Gal one:  I had sex with a Brazilian.

Gal two:  OMG . . . how many is that exactly?

[northkape]

My quest for finding an RW,
starting 25 years ago,,
has rewarded me with another great year.

Don't wait for wonders to happen
Create them
What is life,,,
If not, what you make of it ----

Even though my life, at times,
is filled with a chaos similar to cascading water,,
(click for larger photos)



There are single moments of eternal silence



And daringly dangerous stimulation,
for vibrating your senses.



(yes, being underneath a melting glacier is crazy)
 
Yet,, life goes on



However good looking,
Tanya is frustrated with the present turns in our life.
Because we are moving permanently to Sweden.

For several different reasons,
I bought a commercial property in southern Sweden a year ago.
So within a few months we will start a new life there.
And we will both start new businesses,
within new and more exiting fields / professions.

Even though we are saying goodbye to all customers and friends,
which is much more painful for her than me.
It's a good time for doing so.
My boys and her daughter are all at their universities creating new lives.
And they will probably never return to our hometown.
 
After meeting with me,,
Tanya first had to learn good English,,
Then almost perfect Norwegian.
And now she has to start with Swedish.
For me no problem, as I have close to perfect Swedish.

Nice weekend with beautiful weather coming up,,
Me and Tanya are going to a wedding in Poland today.
One of the young polish men,
that have been working hard with restoring a house,
on our Swedish property, is getting married.
And invited me and Tanya for their wedding.

To be continued,,,

[ML]

North, thanks for the update and great pics.
My wife and I both have painful legs from renovation work, so neither of us can jump in the air like that. :-(
Are you sure this move to Sweden is not going to put a serious strain on your marriage ?
And what is so appealing regarding Sweden vs Norway ?

[2tallbill]

And what is so appealing regarding Sweden vs Norway ?

Less Gingers?

[northkape]

Putting a serious strain on our marriage??
Absolutely not, a few days ago, Tanya looked into a fortune tellers crystal ball,,,
and got a thumbs up,, - the future is waiting for her -
Slightly exaggerated, but most RW has some beliefs in the destiny of fate.
She is halfway in her life, and once again standing at the crossroads,,,
Being a little frustrated and scared, about leaving her present life,,
and at the same time exited about what the future might bring.

Actually,, our relationship feels stronger than ever before.

Norway vs. Sweden
Like sort of a shifting tide- (and not possible to explain with just a few words)

Norway:
Fat and lazy from too much oil, which has made it super rich.
Including:
An obese welfare sector, that pays 20 percent of the workforce for not working.
Lowest production efficiency in the western world.
Highest total taxes, both private and corporate in the western world,
with large tax increases on unrealized gains in the last two years.
+ much more

Resulting in:
A crippled currency that has lost 35+% of its value vs. USD in the last two years.
A large percentage of those suffering from the negative economic impacts are leaving Norway.
10% of the richest 400 have already left, and many more are in the planning stage.

Sweden:
Agile and ready for changes,,
And they have learned from their failures with a taxing idiocracy 25 years ago.
Still a rich welfare country with strong state finances, but on their knees economically now.
They have to build their economy on productive work, and technical innovation.
Which they have been good at throughout their history.
They just can't afford to have as incompetent politicians as Norway.

For me and Tanya, it cuts total cost of living, including taxes and doing business, by 75%.
And price of the property we bought is less than half of what it would have been in Norway.

From the wedding in a tiny village in Poland a few days ago,,,
In an incredible 350 year old church, with one of the worlds largest painted ceilings.



Tanya coming out of the church, ready for the large wedding party.



To be continued,,,,,,

[2tallbill]

To be continued,,,,,,

Welcome back!

[ML]

North, thanks for your interesting comments.

I don't know much about the business situation in either Norway nor Sweden, so good to get the scoop from an 'insider.'

I thought Sweden had gone down the rabbit hole of socialism just as much as Norway.

But maybe they have to try to change course since they didn't get the huge oil revenues that Norway did.

Just in tidbits here and there we often hear that several European countries are in trouble with their extensive safety nets . . . or whatever they should be called.