PRIME TIME

As I sit here, the morning after another one of those 'misfit' dinners, I would love to tell you a story about how outrageous the behaviour, the totally inappropriate dinner conversations, the horrible table manners, the smell of unwashed bodies etc.  But I can't.  I can't even pretend.

I have put on many many dinner parties over the years, starting from my first foray into single living.  Some were small and some were huge, but I cooked happily, set the table and prepared them all by myself, loving every minute.

Yesterday was really no different to start with.  The house was pretty clean and I had bared off the counters in the kitchen in preparation.  I had Monte help me put the table extension in and pick it up and centre it in the room.  That I could not have done by myself.  Peter went around and picked up stuff, including bits and pieces off the floor, and took Wrangler for a walk etc.. I then set the table for twelve.  I will put a picture below.

Then the cooking started.  The preparation.  I peeled ten pounds of russets.  Got out all the proper pots and pans and serving bowls I would use.  I prepped the giant prime rib roast (a two boner only this time).  I had the brilliant idea to roast it in the giant steel wok, my gravy making thingy, that way all the fat would already be in the gravy making pan.  I thawed out the marrow bone fat I had made previously and added that to the gravy making fat.  I also thawed out the beef stock I had made earlier and frozen for just this occasion.  Best gravy I have ever made.  Holy Moly!!!

Any way the meal got made, taters got mashed, vegetables finished, kitchen chain sawed the roast and.....I did something different this time.  Because there was a lot of beef fat, more than I needed for the gravy, I put a teaspoon of fat in 24 muffin tin holes and heated the whole thing up.  Those Yorkshires turned out beautifully.  I wish I had taken a picture!!!

Then Monte went twice and picked up loads of people.  Not one of them drives or owns a car.  And we proceeded to have the best time ever.

  Pat was hilarious as usual.  Misha was such a help mashing spuds etc..and she also played the piano and sang.  She is really really good.  Trinity was very quiet but charming.  Jack, Misha's friend, was so sweet and gentle.  He is a full First Nations and extremely intelligent and so likeable.  Peter sat beside him and they conversed so well.  Ange was her usual chatty and fun self.  James was also conversing well.  He has a bottomless well of knowledge about movies, music and games.  Mike and I shared the red bench at the end of the table.  Mike was so sweet and humble.  It was his turn to pick the next dinner.  He said Possum!  So I said " Road kill it is!!!"  He felt the need to tell me he was just kidding!  I told him I wasn't but he ended up telling me that he wanted chilli (hot), toast and Black Forest cake....all very doable, easy.  I can't wait!!!

And we had a blast.  Mike played the guitar and banjo, several played piano, Pat made us laugh, the girls and Jack were charming...we had the best time.

And sorry for going into such long boring detail about the meal.  I just love making meals and if anyone reading this wants to come for dinner I would be so happy to throw a plate on the table.

TTYL

my homage to my recent birthday

my homage to Halloween

ON OUR WAY TO NANAIMO

ON OUR WAY TO NANAIMO

MY SUPER CLEAN KITCHEN

ACTIVE MORNING

We had a great trip to Nanaimo.  Woodgrove shopping centre was a bust.  We were looking for four things and didn't find even one.  The Winners there should be renamed Losers.  What a sad store that was.  And as usual the Fat Lady store produced incredibly ugly options that no self respecting fat lady should wear.  Big and Tall didn't have even one coat long enough for Monte and Peter couldn't find one shirt that would do.  So we got out of there.

I went across the street to Penningtons (Additionelle was at Woodgrove) and it was equally a bust.  (shovel list)  From there we hit a very very busy, family forward, Costco.  God!  People were just IN MY WAY!!! (shovel list).

I had a pretty comprehensive list and tore through the store and executed.  I think a monthly trip works.  But maybe next time not on a Sunday.  Way too many kids, and some of them just open their mouths and scream.  What the hell is with parents these days that let their frigging kids scream?  If any of you out there reading this have kids, don't let them scream!!!!  All of us out here that either don't have kids or are old school from the days when kids were only allowed to scream if their foot was cut off, are super hating on you and your a-hole brats.

The trip home was quick and easy.  But once again it came to mind the six step process groceries are.  I walked about five thousand steps loading the buggy.  Monte helped me put the crap on the conveyer belt, the nice Costco lady loaded the buggy so I got to skip that step.  The boys loaded the stuff into the van.  I packed the bags, sitting on the back seat.  The boys, mostly Peter, hauled the groceries in and I put it all away.  Sooooooooo much work.  It was exhausting!  We all took a nap after that!

Night before last I was sitting in my chair in the living room around 4 in the morning.  I heard some unusual noise coming from the front window area.  Just Wrangler I figured.  He sleeps behind the couch there sometimes.  Then I heard more, louder and more insistent.  Then I noticed the curtains weren't moving so it couldn't be the dog.

Finally it kind of sounded like someone was breaking into Gladys.  Holy Crap!!!!  So I flew out of my chair and over to the window and there was a bear, a biggun', tossing my extra large garbage container around the front yard!  It has bear locks on the lid and he couldn't get it open....and he was pissed right off!  He flipped it, shook it with his teeth, chewed it, tossed it, sat on it, growled and finally hopped over the fence and strolled off down the street.  Meanwhile my poor garbage can ended up totally upside down on its lid.  So I guess those locks are a good thing, annoying, but a good thing.

I had a true pissed off tempest in a teapot fit yesterday morning.  I mean I literally sat here and stewed and gnashed my teeth and swore.

I had gone out onto the deck with Wrangler fairly early.  As I stood there and smelled the damp smokey fall morning air, I noticed that things were not quite right out there.  I checked around, and it took me a few moments to get it, but my big red coffee table with he wheels, the extra one, was GONE!!!!!  Holy shit!!!  Those alley rat thieving bastards had stolen my coffee table!!!!!!  I was so upset and pissed right off.

I finally went into the house and sat in my chair and stewed and swore and generally had a freak out.  It makes me so mad.  People think its okay to just take your hard earned stuff.  And in this town its pretty rampant.  And Peter wasn't home and Monte was sleeping so I had to wait forever to share my angsty news and get it off my chest.

Finally Peter walked in the door and I immediately hit the poor guy up, told him to go look out the deck window and tell me what is different.  Finally I had to tell him and he goes, "oh!  I took it downstairs to under the deck.  I was using it down there."  And he whips downstairs and hauls it up!  I mean...I was very relieved, but talk about pissed off interuptus!!!!  I was all set to emote and be angry and put a report in the Alberni chatterbox and whine and whimper for a while.  Hahaha!!!!  I was so happy it wasn't stolen, even if it did take away a feel good pouting.

Tonight is the next big dinner.  This time it was Pat's turn to pick the meal.  He picked prime rib.  So I have the roast all ready to go and all the other stuff ready.  Yorkshires, spuds, peas carrots, corn, a whack load of gravy, and apple crisp for dessert. Everyone (11) is arriving at 5:30.  I have put the leaf in the table and am going to set it.  My fave thing next to cooking the meal.  The next meal we are going to have Mike, our fave hermit, decide what the meal should be.  I will be really interested in knowing what he would like.  I can't even imagine.  Well off to the kitchen...TTYL

pissed off bear leavings

Yes Shari, Wrangler barks so much at the kennel he comes home with a very high pitched ridiculous sounding bark.  I shall pass your comment about Monte's pic on to him.  He will be happy so thank you!

Well let's see....I haven't been out of the house but once since getting home.  I also haven't done a whole bunch.  

I did a little cooking.  I did a little unpacking.  I did bring the red chair out of my bedroom to the living room.  I did talk to a very sick April. I watched Peter, with Monte's help, build my dining room benches...and they look lovely!  Peter has been a very motivating positive influence around here.  There was a ton of recycling and he got Monte moving on it and they took it all to the recycling place.  There was a ton of it!

We are planning a trip to Nanaimo tomorrow.  Long and Mcquade for music books, Winners for handled individual pie plates for pot pies, Costco for a jillion things.  Maybe Walmart for clear Rubbermaids that I will use in the back of the truck.  We can fill them up.  We have to take Wrangler so the back seat won't be available.

I didn't post this yesterday.  Its now morning on Sunday.  It seems Monte is sick again.  So he won't be going to Nanaimo.  No sign of Peter yet although he was up at four thirty making himself a cup of coffee.  And its frosty out!!!  The roofs are all covered with frost and so are the vehicles! If we still go I am going to bring my old trusty dusty D90 and get some pics.  It is so beautiful out there with all the colours.  

Well thats it folks.  Another pretty mundane and boring post.  I am pretty sure it will pick up a little with trips out, halloween and the big dinner next week.  TTYL

The Norman Rockwell I purchased

BEAUTIFUL BIG ISLAND

TOO BIG FOR HIS BED

WE TOOK THE LAST SEATS AVAILABLE ON THE BUS AT THE VERY VERY BACK.  ROOMY!  BUT THE WOMAN, SITTING WITH HER HUSBAND RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, TURNED AROUND AND ASKED IF SHE COULD PUT HER HUSBAND BACK WITH ME AS SHE HAD A BAD BACK.  JEEZ!!!  I SAID NO YOU CAN'T, I AM FAT AND IT WOULD BE VERY UNCOMFORTABLE.  SHE WASN'T VERY HAPPY.

BIG ISLAND RAINBOW WATER FALL

AT THE ORCHID FARM

STEAM VENTS AT THE VOLCANO

BEAUTIFUL ROOT SYSTEMS

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG

Home safe and sound, everything dry, nothing stolen on the ferry, no accidents, nothing broken, no traffic, crazy easy drive home.

Wrangler was delirious when he saw us.  He tried barking but he was horse and could hardly make a noise.  He was just soooo happy to see us.  We squeezed him into the back, threw my suitcase into the back of the truck and went on our way.

Peter was here to welcome us home.  It was so nice.  He is going to be here for while, which makes Monte and I very happy.

In early November Aryn and Bradley will be here for a couple of days (yay!!!).  Also Jen (step daughter...so many Jens) will be here for a few days too.  I am loving all the peeps around.

I am going to cut this short and write a little more under pics I am going to start to post.  TTYL

FOOLING AROUND IN THE STATEROOM WITH MIRRORS

SECOND STOP....KAUI

AFTER SHOPPING CATCHING THE TROLLY BACK TO THE SHIP

TENDERING BACK TO THE BOAT IN EXTREME HEAT....FORTY DEGREES OUT IN  MAUI

MAUI...THATS OUR BOAT WAY OUT THERE

NAWILIWILI OF KAUAI  

MORE  NEXT POST

FINAL LEG

My mother did not like me using certain words.  I think she felt they were too strong or just weren’t ‘nice’.  One of them, for example, is the word ‘stink’.  She did not like that word.  Another one was ‘gotten’.  Apparently gotten isn’t even an actual word, its an uneducated or unsophisticated word which can always be spoken or written around and not used.

And another one is the word HATE.  Way too strong a word in her book.  So I have spent the first half of my life really trying hard to not accidentally use it.  But as I have aged, and left her side, it started to slip in there now and again.

I am a pretty forceful person.  My feelings are strong…they go to mock ten instantly.  There seems to be no mock two or three or anything under ten.  I am aware of this and try to tone it down, not very successfully sometimes. (shovel list)

So that being said, I despise, dislike, reject, abhor, detest, loathe, abominate, oh toss it!!!! HATE HATE HATE (sorry mom) my new camera.  I am selling it the minute I get home.  It takes really great pictures, now and then.  There is something wrong with the frigging lighting.  The pictures are too dark, too light, not focussed, and I am pretty sure its me and what I am doing but I don’t want to fuss and fix.  I want to point, shoot and have a fantastic picture.  

And that is my D90, my trusty dusty old heavy camera that has been around the world with me more than once and has been hanging off my hand for years and years.  I think I am going to send it in to Nikon to refurbish and tweek and clean.  I forced myself to not bring it on this trip so I would have to use the new one.  And now all I can think about is all the lovely pics I missed!  This new one is a giant pain in the ass and not for me.

Well I am all packed.  I packed yesterday.  I simply don’t know how we are going to fit everything that needs to go into the cab of the truck into it.  If its raining something will be going into the back and getting wet.  I am looking forward to getting home.

Peter is going to live with us for a while.  I am so happy about this.  He has also become vegetarian which is totally exciting.  I have had a lot of practice over the years cooking that way and I totally look forward to cooking veg.for us.  And I can’t think of a more awesome person to stay with us.  Maybe he will help me get off my ass and get walking.  Wouldn’t that be a miracle?!!!  And Monte and Wrangler are sure going to be happy with him around!

Well time to post my final post.   This has been quite the trip.  But now it’s time to go home and get back into the groove.  I can’t wait!!!  TTYL

I will post pics as soon as I get home and am able to load them onto the lappy.

TIME TO GET OFF THIS TUB

It’s a good thing we will be home on Tuesday morning.  This blog is going to get very repetitive.  There is only so much one can do on a finite amount of space with what really amounts to stupid events to occupy oneself.  Its amazing what the crew comes up with and even more amazing how many people dive in there and participate.  Just encourages more stupidity I say.

Monte and I spend most of our time in our stateroom.  First of all, there is nowhere to sit out there.  Every chair, every nook and cranny is full of people.  All the places with comfy reading chairs are full, all the time.  And couples are circling, on the hunt.  

There is one little amusement I like to partake in.  I tell Monte “Watch this.”  Then I gather up my things, put it all back in my ugly back pack, pretend I am leaving, and ten couples suddenly run and descend on us, asking desperately, “are you leaving?’.  No, I answer, just cleaning up.  They walk away, kind of embarrassed.  When we actually are leaving, there has been heated arguments break out about who got there first.  And that’s supposed to be enjoyable?  Well the teasing one actually is.  Hee hee!!

I have a wee thing to say.  You know how we, kind of smugly, go on about how Americans are fat.  Its sort of a known fact that, especially in the south, people in the states are fat and their restaurant portions are huge.  Well we can stop pointing fingers people.

Only five percent of the people on this boat are American.  The rest are Canadian, mostly from BC, and out of them, mostly from the lower mainland.

And a huge, no pun intended, proportion of them are enormous, hugely fat people.  Most of them are women but there are a lot of fat men too.  I am talking super sized fat.  A great deal of them have walkers or wheel chairs or canes.  Its kind of shocking.

I thought I would mention this as maybe we should stop pointing our fingers to the south and take a look at ourselves.  Its so bad that this trip has encouraged me to rethink my diet when I get home.  And to def get off my ass and either do a walking regime or swimming or something.  Monte has also been effected by being around so many humungous people.  He is rejoining his gym as soon as we get home.

One more thing to mention before signing off.  Last night’s dinner.  We went to Sabatini’s, an Italian restaurant that has been set up on the boat.  Its 25 bucks each and worth every penny.  And they don’t serve you huge portions, just five very small courses, so you don’t come out of there stuffed to the gills.

First course:  incredible olive oil and balsamic and a beautiful piece of dipping bread.  Second course:  Cheese (different kinds) soup, a tiny bowl with a couple of mushrooms and some spices sprinkled on top.  Third course:  I had a salad…roasted red peppers, capers, whole anchovies and olive oil (to die for!) And Monte had a beautiful big round barrette cheese ball on tomatoes with balsamic reduction.  Fourth course:  Mine was three large tortellini with mint flakes in the pasta stuffed with lamb in a sauce and Monte’s was buckwheat pasta with beef (unbelievably delish)  Fifth course:  I had eggplant parmesan and Monte had veal marsala…OMG!.  Actually there were six courses, dessert:  He had tiramisu and I had zabaglione,  both unbelievable.  The dinner was so amazing we are going back Sunday nite.  We didn’t have wine but we toasted Bill, this is his death anniversary, with our water.  He would have loved this dinner.

Now its Saturday.  Its twelve noon.  We put the do not disturb sign on our door, ordered breakfast in (which we haven’t eaten yet) and slept in.   Monte is still sleeping.

The swells are huge and the boat is truly rolling back and forth.  Its hard to walk when its doing this so its just easier to stay in the room, snooze, read, snack, order room service…and now its cold enough outside to leave our balcony door wide open.  We get fresh air, hear the sea and listen to the guys next door bicker with each other.  So cute. 

Sorry for the mundaneness of this post.  There just isn’t a lot to report.  No more cruises like this.  We need more port days.  And we need a boat that has more stuff.  This star princess is a loser boat.  I think we will do Holland next.  They are classier and have more areas for things.  Anywhoo….Monte just woke up and I am going to try the internet again.  Wasn’t working a while ago.  Too many people on it.  TTYL

A ROCKIN' AND A ROLLIN'

This just might be the last time you hear from us.  The captain, THE Captain, came on the blower a few minutes ago to warn everyone that the swells were going to be going up to four metres…like that’s TWELVE feet, almost two stories, and will be up there until we hit the Juan de Fuca Strait.  That’s almost the rest of the trip!

And he went on to tell us they were closing off the outer decks, the pools, hot tubs and warned us to stay off our decks.  In other words they are battening down the hatches.  I have been through this before and it isn’t fun, actually kinda scary.  Monte thinks this is the best thing that ever happened.  Sigh.  (shovel list)

Another very awesome thing that has happened is we have found something, a very important (to us) something.  Last night the pianist on the boat flagged us down as we were passing by.  She was just sitting down at the atrium piano to start playing her next set.  She had seen us on the tour yesterday from another bus and asked how we liked it.  Struck up an animated conversation.

  Near the end of it Monte complimented her amazing piano skills and told her he was missing playing.  And she told us of a hidden beautiful electric grand piano that guests can play!!!!!!!!  Its up in the chapel and guests can play when the chapel isn’t being used!  We thanked her profusely and beetled up there immediately and both took turns playing to our hearts content.  What a find!  Monte has been up again to practice and he is heading up there right now!

Now, about the amazing find the Big Island is!  Bill and I had not been there before but the kids have been.  Monte, April and Andrew flew over from Oahu and did a circle Island tour a few years ago.  They came back raving about it!

And now I get to rave too.  What a beautiful interesting island.  From desert, to lava to jungle, this island has everything.  I simply could not get over how beautiful it was.  In our four hour tour, with a wonderful young lady tour guide/driver, we saw Hilo, turtles, beaches, waterfalls, an amazing lunch, orchid farm, volcano craters and steam vents and hot hot earth mounds and the Moana loa macadamia nut farm.

I know from past research that its cheaper to rent condos on the big island than anywhere else in Hawaii.  I want to find three other groups to go in with my family and rent a four bedroom condo or house for a month.  It ends up cheaper than a week in a hotel by yourself and if everyone plans to rent their own vehicle and basically do as much on their own as they like, it seems to be a real doable option.  Some of us would maybe share a bedroom with a family member or friend and maybe stay a month.  Whatever works!

I really would like to see the Kona side of the island too.  I might make a trip back for a week and scout out the possibilities.

Last night after we got back we decided to go to the dining room again.  I got the Curtis Stone dinner again…this time it was a chicken and leek and tarragon pot pie.  Unbelievable!!!  Aryn if you are reading this I am going to have to describe it to you in detail and we have to give it a try.  It was truly delicious!!!

Well I am feeling the boat begin to pick up. I am sure glad I don’t get seasick.  I do get dizzy and have a propensity to falling every now and then as you know if you read this blog.  So I make sure I am hanging on pretty much all the time.  I don’t want to become one of THOSE people that I blog about.

Now its the next night, formal night and what an afternoon and evening it has been.  I shall tell about it tomorrow!  TTYL

A NEW ISLAND FAVE FAVE FAVE!!!!!

Maui…..not so much, Big Island….utterly amazing.

To be fair we had to tender into Lahaina on Maui and that is always a giant pain in the ass.  You have to wait forever to get off the ship and climb into rocking banging life boats.  It was about 40 degrees out and no air blows into the boat.  We all almost died of heat stroke.  It was unacceptable and ridiculous!  One woman passed out for a couple of minutes.  Stupid.  

And it was just simply too hot to really enjoy the time on Front street.  We did go into Bubba Gumps for lunch but I was too hot to be hungry.  It was about noon and I hadn’t eaten anything yet.  And I could barely get down a small bowl of clam chowder and ate three bites of caesar salad.  Monte wants me to mention his lunch.  A huge extremely full breaded shrimp o’boy loaded with shrimp tomato pickle etc..  Fourteen bucks!  He couldn’t believe it!!!

  We finished walking the street then headed back to the tenders, where, of course, we had to stand forever in the full sun and wait. And wait.  And wait.  On the way back we went up to the top of the boat which wasn’t much better for heat.  Takes the stuffin’ and fun right out of everything.

And once back on the boat a nasty thing happened.  We were waiting with a small crowd of people for the elevator.  A large man with a walker and a lady with a walker were amongst the little crowd.  

Now Monte, due to his size, is very careful about when or even whether he gets on an elevator.  He goes forward and holds his hand on the door til everyone is on, including me, then either gets on, waits for the next one or walks up.

As he went forward to hold the door the fat old asshole man with the walker stops, turns around and tells Monte that he should wait and let her (walker lady) on first.  He told Monte ‘its only polite, a young man like you’ in a mean bossy voice.  Monte told him he was just going to hold the door.  ‘Well  it didn’t look like that to me!!!’  At which point Monte whipped around and said, ‘I’m walking.’ And took off.

Mean while fat ass got himself on the elevator and then everyone else followed and I was last.  And I let the bastard have it.  If Monte had been there I wouldn’t have but he wasn’t.  

So I turned to him and said something like this, “He is the most polite considerate young man you would ever want to meet. (and he interrupted and said again it didn’t look like it).  He steps forward and holds the door and then decides whether there is room or not, and either walks or waits for another elevator.  I can’t believe that you simply jumped to an erroneous conclusion and said what you did.  Its funny, everyone is amazing with Monte, about his height and size…except for little men.  I think their lack of height makes them angry and they lash out.  And you, sir, are not only short, you are so big you have wrecked your body and need a walker and I see you are heading up to the food trough floor for more.’ 

 At which point he was sputtering and said how rude and our room is on the same floor blah blah blah. I interrupted him and said, sarcastically, “ oh, I jumped to an erroneous conclusion did I?  How does that feel?  And I see you managed to get your ass in here first…rules don’t apply to crippled people I guess.”  At which point the elevator doors opened on my floor.  Before I got off  I pointed out to him that I was pretty sure he would see Monte around the ship and he could redeem himself by apologizing to him.  And turned around and walked away.  Asshole. Oh, and I apologized to the other people on the elevator.  And added, ‘sometimes something needs to be said’

We went to the dining room for dinner, not my fave thing to do but I gotta say…it was an amazing dinner!  Every night in the dining room they offer a Curtis Stone designed main.  Last night it was mussels, clams and chilean sea bass in a cream white wine sauce.  Sooo yummy!

Then we went to a comedy vocalist impressionist show who was so so funny and talented.  We had a fantastic time!  Then off to bed.

And today…..oh yes, today was beyond stellar.  I will write about it tomorrow but I now have a new fave island.  And you can rent condos for a month at time cheaper than any other island.  If four people go in on it its cheaper than staying one week in a hotel.  But more about that tomorrow.   TTYL 

I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT!!!!

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  Not the most exciting…Kauai isn’t my fave island.  But it may be the most beautiful though.  It is so green thanks to a lot, and I mean a lot, of rain.

We didn’t get out in Nawilliwilli.  We taxied up to a giant (for Kauai) mall.  We had a few things we were looking for, like Longs drugs, which was there, and a camera shop, which wasn’t.  We stopped at a Starbucks for coffee, wandered around, did Long’s then caught the free shuttle back to the boat.

From there we got another taxi way out to Hilo Hattie’s.  They have really big Hawaiian shirts and we did find three lovely ones, not too expensive, for Monte.  He is feeling so stylin’ and spiffy!  Its been a long time since he looked decent and felt decent.  So we had a good look around the place then caught an absolutely packed crummy back to the ship.  I’d like to say I saw lots of Kauai on the way but I was completely squashed by a very large certain person up against the window in the very back of the bus.  I couldn’t see much I must say!  He is so big he has to sit sideways and even then there isn’t much room for his legs.  He has been asked 26 times so far on how tall he is.  Plus there have been a zillion conversations with people about it.  They always ask if his mom and dad were tall and I always say no we weren’t but the milkman was.  Haha!  Old joke.  They don’t laugh.

We are sort of getting tired of the slops up in the buffet.  Actually I think they are deteriorating.  At first the food had been super good but a couple of the last two nights we ended up having to leave food on our plates…not edible.  The worst is the pasta and cheese sauce.  Gross.  So last night we went to the steakhouse and had an amazing meal.  Monte had filet mignon and I had two, count ‘em, TWO double centre lamb chops, with mint sauce!  Delicious!!!  (thats like four lamb chops and I asked for super blue rare and thats exactly what they were!)

I was awake for at least two hours in the night last night.  And in my head, guess what I was doing..over and over and over?  I was packing the jeep for the trip home.  It was soooo packed on the way here that there simply isn’t room for even one more thing.  And we found out last night that the Rockwell I bought is framed, a big huge frame!  I thought it would be a print that was rolled up into a tube, and even that would hardly be packable into that jeep back seat.  So I went over and over and over how I was going to pack into that back area a framed picture that is at least three feet by two feet.  And I came to the same conclusion over and over and over….shits gotta go into the back, rain or shine, theft or no theft (on the ferry).  Let’s hope she don’t rain and the sun do shine!!! 

I am sitting in bed this morning.  We are anchored just off Lahaina and I am watching the tenders go back and forth, ferrying all our lovely guests (shovel list) over to Front street.  I am super looking forward to doing THE street again.  I am going to look for giant garbage bags (like thats going to happen) to put suitcases or framed pics in to help keep the rain off of ‘em and thieving eyes from knowing whats back there.  I was thinking we could taxi to Cannery Mall.  They have both a Long’s and a Safeway there but that’d be some expensive garbage bags!! 

Well I just got my list from April.  Pineapple shaped dipped cookies and a couple of types of macadamia nuts.  Whatever we get is going to have to be mighty small!  I just asked Emily to take my phone and charger to work with her.  She works at a cemetery in North Van.  HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!  I just remembered we have to pick up Wrangler up by her graveyard.  OMG!!!  I forgot!!!  I can’t believe I forgot him!!!  So all that Tetris packing in my brain in the night was for naught….it didn’t include space for our doggie.  I am such a dolt.  Well that settles it.  Gotta get garbage bags and put stuff in the back of the truck.  Jeez!  What a dolt I am.  Grrrrr….(shovel list)

TTYL

HATS, FLIP FLOPS, GIANT SHOES AND MAI TAIS

That had to be the most fun day we have had yet!!!

We had a taxi drop us off at the International Marketplace and we were off!  Our very first stop was at a store named Chapel…and coming from Canada we knew that meant hats!  Monte has been hunting for just the right hat for some time now, even put money away for one.  And he found it!!!

It’s a jet black fedora, not too wide brimmed and it looks fantastic on him.  He is garnering even more attention now!  Everybody on the boat knows he is a musician and that hat puts him right into that category.  We had so much fun picking it out with help from the prettiest little sales girl who seemed to take a shine to Monte.  He never even noticed, silly goof!!

Our next stop was a store called FlipFlop.  And yes you guessed it, Monte actually found some leather, arch support flip flops IN HIS SIZE!!!!  Hokey Dinah!!!!  The price wasn’t too bad so he purchased a pair.  Not only do they fit, but they look fantastic too.

And then as we walked along we saw a Vans store.  Now Vans is like a miracle to people with size 16 feet.  They not only make them in that size, but they look cool, not something large people experience too often.  I offered to buy him a pair so in we went.  And a pair he found!  All black, good looking and dressy and super on sale!  Man he was a right happy camper by this time and we can now retire his ultra stinky pairs to the deck permanently til we leave!

From there we hit Duke’s Lane!  That is where all the little kiosks from the original International Marketplace were pushed.  We had a good look through there and guess who remembered us Cookie?  She came rushing over and was so excited to see me!!!  I can’t believe she remembered us.

And we ended up not eating at the Cheesecake Factory.  We did end up at that beachside place through that hotel that Cook and I went a couple of times.  It was awesome!!!  They replaced the tuna  poke bowl with a lobster roll on the menu.  Monte and I shared one.  I had a club soda  and Monte had the strongest Mai Tai ever.  I thought I was going to have to wheel him out of there after.  And to top it all off, it was just a beautiful day.  A little hot though.  It was 30 degrees out.

We wandered around for another hour or two then cabbed it back to the boat.  We spent the afternoon in our stateroom just chillin’ and napping and vacationing.  Supper upstairs in the slop trough then back to our room and watched three episodes of Dateline.  The perfect ending to a perfect day. 

This morning, again ridiculously early, kauai appeared.  What a beautiful beautiful Island.  I got some amazing pics!  Now we are going to go off to Hilo Hatties and see if we can find a shirt that will fit Monte.  They have a free shuttle that will run us out there and back.  Yay!!!!

Sadly my gismo that transfers pics from the camera card to my lappy is broken.  So no pics right now.  But we are also going to go to a mall near here later and I am going to try to find another one.  TTYL 

MISS POLLY HAD A DOLLY WHO WAS SICK SICK SICK (NOT US)

We have landed.  I got up at five this morning and sat out on the deck.  Over the next hour and a half the full moon was just to my right and a sunrise happened on the left, a beauty, and Oahu got closer and closer in the front.  Magical!!!  As we got closer and closer I tried to get Monte up to watch us dock but he was too tired.  I am quite disappointed in him.  His first docking and he was ‘tired’.  Hmmmph!

We had another pretty awesome day yesterday, just a couple of glitches, involving stupid frigging people of course.  This trip would be amazing if it weren’t for the people.  Especially this cruise.

I think because of the many at sea days this trip has attracted an extra amount of  the really really fat, the really infirm, the really really old, the really really non speaking foreign (Asian) and I know this isn’t pc but the really really stupid.  All in all everything gets really really aggravating.

I can give you an example.  At lunch the Lido, buffet, upstairs gets super extra busy.  As a result there ends up being quite a long line up.  A veeerrryyy ssslllooowww lineup.

Firstly, out in the line up certain foreign (Asian) people, pretending to be unaware and unknowing, budge into the line.  If it was one or two fine but…one old one will budge in, bobbing her head and smiling and speaking another language, so you let that go.  Then two minutes later another one comes along and joins her, bobbing head and smiling.  And then another and another and another until you think you are in a foreign country.  And you have just inadvertently allowed fifteen people into the line up in front of you.  Friggin’ hell!!

The next most annoying person is the old man.  Oh jeez kill me now!  Yesterday an old old dude in blue shuffled into the first food part.  But about four feet away from the first pan of food (delicious Mac and cheese) he stopped, just simply stopped and stood there.  Everybody had to stop.  And wait .  And wait.  Finally the guy behind him said something and the old dude startled and shuffled forward.  He kept doing that all the way through the whole food line and at the end he had NOTHING on his plate! Grrrrr.

Then there is the fat person who has to slowly and carefully choose the perfect piece of whatever, moving the food around in the pan with the serving spoon until she finds the perfect piece.  Twice.  Takes two from every single pan of food.  Every frigging one.  Yesterday the woman in front of me was Old.  Fat…and on Crutches.  By the time I got my three items I wanted, my food was cold and congealed.  People. (shovel list to the power of infinity plus one)

Yesterday I decided to go with Monte to the next art auction.  Now, the other one he went to, as I mentioned, pics were selling for up to 25,000 bucks.  Yesterday everything was under five hundred.  And what a hoot it was!!!  They made it so much fun!  I won’t go into the deets here but trust me when I say we had the best two hours!

And I kinda might have bought a picture.  Its kind of like the carpet incident in Istanbul Grand Bazaar!!  But I am pretty happy with this one!

Now almost all of my paintings are done by April, and I am more than happy with them.  This is a painting but not an original, it’s a numbered copy, and not something April would ever paint.

It’s a large Norman Rockwell…whom I love and have amazing memories of seeing on the cover of the Saturday Post.  This picture is of an old kindly doctor taking the pulse of a wee doll sitting on a little girl’s knee.  I love it.  And it seems there are more Rockwells to see.

  They are gathering them up for us to view tomorrow night after we get back on the boat from our visit on Kauai.  I will NOT be buying another.  I got an amazing deal on the doll one.  I am going to hang it somewhere that makes sense and put my Auntie Edna’s doll in a cradle I got at the family reunion right near it.

So today is Waikiki!  We are going to take our time having breakfast and getting ready for the day.  I don’t want to get off too early.  The boat doesn’t leave until 11 tonight so it will be a long day.  Cookie and I were here recently enough that I remember the little crooks and crannies that are interesting.  And I think we will make a trip to Cheesecake Factory!

So until tomorrow…..aloha!  TTYL

OLD LADIES VERSUS ASIANS

Well here I sit, out beside the pool in some pretty hot hot weather.  The ocean is as flat as piss on a plate as Spod used to say, the skies are an amazing blue, no fluffy clouds at all and happy people everywhere.

Its still breakfast and there is a plethora of fat people with loaded plates, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, quiche, toast, bagels, fruit, yoghurt, baked beans, grilled tomato, smoked herring, cheeses  etc…..waddling by.  And in the buffet area there are just too many people.  And old men who shuffle (and what’s with that, women do NOT shuffle like a lot of old men do and I can’t figure out why.)

 And old shuffling men budge in line in front of you.  They step right up in front of you just as you are heading into the scrambled egg pit.  Then with shaky hands they start to load eggs, ten little pieces at a time, onto their plate.  And consider yourself lucky if he doesn’t tip the plate and lose it all onto the floor.  I have either held plates or dished up old men more times than I can count.  Where is their keeper for heaven’s sake?  Oh there she is (wife) roaring around getting her own food and finding a table.  No shuffling there.

Yesterday we did something special.  We had lunch in one of the specialty restaurants.  The CrabShack.  OMG!!!  First they served us two massive deep fried prawns each, and two hush puppies with sauces.  Then a lovely bowl of clam chowder.  Next came the Royal boil.  Holy Hannah!!!  Alaskan crab, snow crab, mussels, clams, four more giant prawns cooked to perfection, baby onions, potato, and corn on the cob.  Oh and a vat of clarified butter each.  I couldn’t finish mine!  Seriously there was so much crab I simply couldn’t eat it all.  Thank goodness Monte finished it for me but it was a real push for him too.

Unfortunately it came back to haunt me a little later.  Across the back of the ship, way way up high is a cat walk of sorts.  In there is a nightclub called Skywalkers.  It’s quiet and awesome up there.  We were up there relaxing and I started to feel kinda queasy.  Had nothing to do with the calm seas.  And I started to notice that even though I had thoroughly cleaned my face and hands with towlettes, I smelt like butter.  As the minutes ticked by I got sicker and sicker.  Finally I went down to the room and took a very strong gravol.  Thank god for gravol.  Within ten minutes I felt like a new man.

Last night we went to a magic show.  It was pretty puzzling…we could NOT figure out how he did the tricks he did.  And he was a comedian….very very funny.  Totally enjoyable…except for the fact that we were crammed into a totally full, about five hundred seat theatre.  I hate people.  Just sayin’.  They sneeze all over the place, fart, old deaf men keep saying ‘what did he say?’ Really loud, old ladies shushing their stupid deaf husbands, people dropping their drinks….its pretty endless.

Today we got out of our room pretty late in the morning and went upstairs and miraculously got a table and had breakfast.  We then wandered around looking for a table to sit at, and managed to finally get one in the coffee shop.  Unfortunately an Asian couple came in and managed to get one too then proceeded to run around and haul every vacant chair over to their table.  This seriously pissed a few people off.  I seem to remember a few years ago on a particular cruise I was complaining about exactly the same thing!!

Anyway, this time one old lady actually had the cajones to say something.  She gave that Asian lady shit…hooping at her about now no one can use the other tables blah blah blah.  Asian lady told her to shut up.  Yup!!  Straight up…shut up.  Hahaha!!  And the fight was on.  So funny.  Another big huge younger woman joined in with the old white lady and both of them went after the Asian lady, and now the Asian lady had a few friends with her.  Finally a security person came over and made the Asians put it all back.  I got the heckadoodle out of there!

Anyhoo we are having a great time.  The food is super good which is a little unexpected.  The last Princess boat we were on the food wasn’t that stellar.  I just wish we could kind of eat more and not feel full all the time.

Anyway all for now.  We have one more at sea day then Honolulu.  And that is going to present a possible problem for us on our purchased tour.  We shall see.  TTYL