whale talker

As long as I introduced you to my mom and brother in the last post I thought I may as well have you meet the rest of them. I have no other pictures to share at this time.


This is my dad Ilmar as a young student. He went on to receive his law degree and then WWII came along and he was deported to a labor camp in Siberia. He volunteered to join an Estonian regiment in the Russian Army and he then fought the Germans on The Eastern Front. He survived but upon returning to Estonia found the rest of us escaped to Sweden. The Soviets would not let him visit The U.S. until I was already 35 and I had never met him. He was a very nice man. We got along well.


This is his brother Yuri. Yuri was conscripted by The German Army and was later captured by The Soviets, sent to prison camp and was shot dead attempting an escape. He was supposed to have been one hell of a jazz pianist.


This is my grandfather, Capt. Peeter Mender or “Piepa” as everyone in the family called him. He was deeply loved by all of us and a wonderful role model for me. He was the hero of “The Panay Incident” that occurred in China in 1938. A movie was made about the incident called “The Sand Pebbles” with Steve McQueen but Piepa was not mentioned in it.


This last picture is of Piepa and “Ami” (Adelaide) with their three daughters, from left, Adi, Leida and my mom Erika. Called by all as “The Mendere Kitza”, the three Mender kittens. All gone now. I was incredibly fortunate to be loved by all of them….and there were more!

So what has been going on here? Winter of course but I am still walking around during the day in shorts and no shirt. The Humpbacks are here but I haven’t been out yet to do any IDs because I have to conserve my funding. That’s OK they will be here for some time and I have two benefits coming up in the next month.

I have become addicted to working out and just came in a while ago from running (never thought I would do that again after HS football) and pushups (never thought I would do that again after the fraternity) which pump up the old endorphins and make me feel that I am not 68 at all.

Looking forward to another great dinner and then some reading. Saturday I give my fund raising presentation in San Jose del Cabo. I am going in on Friday (it is about 2 hrs away) to stay at my favorite little hotel, have a dinner out and “chill” before the presentation.

I feel this is the very best power point show I have ever put together, hope someone turns up!