HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG

Well we are home again safe and sound.  Other than being sick it was a great trip.  Every trip I take I come home with an overall super like of something and an overall super dislike.  This time I came home super liking margaritas!  With salty as heck rims and on the rocks.  Limey and delicious...ohhhh I want one right now!!!!  I could easily be a drunky on those things!

And I came home with an overwhelming dislike of slow vacuous old people.  The cruise this time was overloaded with them, a lot of them with wheels.  Two things I am glad about...my wheelchair/walker broke and I could not join the parade of wheels on the boat, and the fact that I had to spend ten of the of the sixteen days in my room, away from all those creeping people.  The other thing is due to the age group of the majority, pretty much all of them on meds that cause the runs, the bathrooms were always lined up.  And there is nothing slower than an old lady in the loo. 

 I am not there....yet.  I can go into a bathroom and from shut the door to throwing the paper towel I dried my hands on in to the garbage by the door as I exit is approximately 45 seconds.  Some of those wrinklies are up to five minutes.  Or more.

I try not to talk too much about Floppy.  I have actually unfriended people on Facebook who have attained a new pet and you end up getting a million endless pics and antidotes about their new addition.

But let me tell you when we got home that dog went crazy!!!  He actually in his excitement put my hand in his mouth and started to clamp down!  I did an almighty yank!  Out of all my endless line of dogs over the years I have never had a welcome back like that one.  That one was EPIC!!!!!

All the stuff is still in the van.  Monte is sick and in bed.  I can't lift the stuff to bring it in.  If it weren't raining I would start bringing in armfuls of clothes!  The suitcase is pretty much full of all summer stuff, most of it clean and not worn since I did laundry.  I spent most of the trip in pjs.  So those clothes are going straight into storage for next summer.  With my luck we will have a four week hot hot hot spell.  One last kick at summer and all I have are me long johns and heavy sweaters out!!!!

Alrighty I have to get busy.  I need to buy new underwear.  On Amazon.  And I need to make a blistering review about that stupid walker before another wrinkly buys one and gets dumped out.  TFL and TTYL

AN HONEST REVIEW (SORT OF) NOT A COMPLAINT (HONESTLY!)

 Really, I mean it.  I think this will probably be my last cruise (Cookie I will talk to you about this.  Maybe, if you are okay with it, a road trip instead?  I have an exciting idea!). The negative side of cruising is raising its ugly head. There is a main reason that doesn't involve pain!  So I have decided to write honestly about cruising.  I have always been a big fan but now that the end is near I can let 'honesty' surface in my brain and stop hiding the truth just to keep it positive.

There is a huge amount of positive about cruising.  Obviously, or it wouldn't be such a popular form of travel.  I have found that those that love it most are the ones that take shore excursions on every stop, do most of their dining in the formal dining rooms and are very very patient people.  Plus, another thing I have been noticing, cruising was always an older generational form of travel.  In fact one cruise line was referred to as a floating senior home.  Not anymore.  

The average age of the average cruiser is getting younger and younger.  I believe that is partly due to the fact that cruise ships have become dauntingly massive and full of crazy activities like kilometre long water slides, endless blocks of shopping, shows you have to buy tickets in advance to attend or miss out, huge skating rinks, roller coaster rides etc...not any activity you see us elders partaking in. No, my main reason for not cruising anymore isn't about the pain incurred by endless walking, but because there is nowhere to sit.

We seniors tend to gravitate towards the older smaller ships.  They are still huge enough that it can be hard for us old arthritic peeps to get around easily.  What we do is go on the 'lots of at sea days' cruises and even plan to not get off at every port.  Physically our bodies set limits our heads might not like, but thats life.  

The drawback to this is those smaller older ships present certain problems.  For example my number one reason to not cruise any longer is the lack of anywhere to sit.  Lounges, the buffet and the plaza, which is the heart of the ship and the main hub of entertaining activities and the only coffee shop on board, are all over crowded.  People get into these areas early (6:00 am), grab a table and don't move til bedtime.  Yes they use the nearby loo but their table mate, spouse or sweater reserves the table whilst they are gone.  And there is one thing I will not do...I will not eat my lunch or whatever without a table.  There is never anywhere to just sit and eat or drink or watch entertainment or whatever.  

On this trip, sick or not, I spent 90% of the trip in my room.  The thought of going up to the lido or down to the one dining room we could use so daunting I just wouldn't go.  Even the last resort lounge up top became too crowded to use.  So as much pain did limit some of my activity, not finding a seat limited me more.

I am pretty sure I am going to get some push back from people that have no problems physically.  They can walk around endlessly til they find seating.  They have no idea what it's like if you hurt and or have to use wheels.

I much prefer these older smaller ships, as I have already pointed out.  But they do have one problem that happens every single time I am on one.  The turrlet system.  Heaven's to Betsy!!!  This might sound like whining here but I tell ya....I have yet to cruise a complete trip where I can use our toilet the whole time.  Every trip, at some point, we discover that the toilets are not flushing, supposedly only on our floor.  Keep in mind even if it is only one floor that involves hundreds of toilets.

Also keep in mind our general age group on these old tubs.  The majority of us have type two diabetes and we are all on a drug called metformin.  And that drug is a massive cause of...well to put it delicately, explosive you know whats.  And given our age certain muscle groups weaken.  Couple this with turrlets that don't work and you have a big big problem.  I am not talking about being out of commission for an hour or two.  I am talking about them being out of commission for a couple of days or more.  We are now on our third day!  Monte, bless his young body and willingness, does make the huge trek upstairs to the working johns.  I don't. I can't.  Sigh.  (this is where I need a bucket list...I could use a bucket...old school...dump it over the side of the boat)

My last complaint, and this may only be a Princess complaint...I haven't used room service on any other cruise line, Princess room service absolutely sucks.  I had to really use it this time due to being sick for endless freaking days and nowhere to sit up there.  

To begin with it is very limited, and expensive.  There was complimentary stuff and then there was very expensive stuff from the specialty restaurants.  I stuck to the complimentary stuff.  It was awful.  I tried  three of their sandwiches they offer and every one of them the bread was like cardboard.  I could scrape a fork across the untoasted bread and hear it scratch.  The sandwiches were inedible, even the peanut butter and jam one off the kid menu.  The chilli was so chokingly dry beans would roll off my fork.  The quesadilla edges were curled up and cracked like crackers.  

I did get one thing I liked.  A chef's salad.  It was a good size and covered with ham, turkey, bacon and egg.  I got it with thousand islands dressing.  I quite enjoyed it.  I ordered it again last night.  It was a bowl of iceberg lettuce, a tablespoon of some white tasteless cheese, one quarter of an egg and that was it.  No ham.  No bacon.  No turkey.  No other part of the egg. Half the cheese or more was missing.  That was the last straw.  Plus I had ordered the fruit plate...and it didn't come.

I know I sound like an ungrateful whiner.  And I guess I am.  And possibly the fact that I was horribly sick and couldn't taste or smell (maybe both those were a blessing) has coloured my opinion somewhat.  But I am also remembering our trip last September to Alaska and the exact same thing happened.  Nowhere to sit and busted turrlets.   And only one visit to a glacier that was miles away.  So I am calling it quits and I am totally okay with that.

There is still one way to travel that is actually more hands on and enough of the unknown to make it exciting...road trips.  And the first person I am going to talk to about it is Cookie.  She is the most fun person to road trip with!

Well it is now 8:45 am.  I just may try to go upstairs at 11 for breakfast.  It goes to 11:30.  This will be the most chance I have to get a table.  Two hours...I can do it!!!  If there isn't a table I will try again at supper, but there will be no more room service!!!!  TFL...TTYL

MY STRAWBERRY DAQUAIRI I GET ONCE EVERY CRUISE....NOTE THE GENERAL AGE GROUP

THE SET UP FOR THE OBLIGATORY CHAMPAGNE TOWER

SEE THAT LADY IN THE WHITE PANTS?  SHE HAS BEEN THERE SINCE SIX THIS MORNING

BEER (WATER) PONG IN THE PIAZZA , PEOPLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE AND NOT A PLACE TO SIT 

CRUISING IS NOT FOR THE INFIRM..PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY OR HEALTHWISE

 Over the years as I have travelled around the world  many  times with Spod, conversations would arise with various people about travel.  Most had never cruised before.

I remember one lovely evening sitting on my sister's neighbour's deck on the river.  There were four of us out there in the soft evening visiting and sipping.

The subject of travel came up, not by me I might add, but by a very urbane well dressed man in his sixties.  I was asked where in the world had I travelled.  I answered that I was very fortunate to have travelled to many countries and cities over the last few years.  How? I was asked.  So I said my husband and I had done many many cruises.  I went further to say it was my husband's favourite mode of travel as he was much older than me and having to unpack just once was definitely easier for him.

That man...that urbane well turned out man, went on the attack.  He proceeded to say that cruising wasn't really travelling.  He stated that getting on and off a ship for short little visits did not constitute real travel.  I tried to get a decent word in but he wasn't having any of that.

I did finally demand equal time and he did have the grace to shut up for a few minutes, no eye contact though.  I explained that whilst we could we drove all over Britain nine times, Europe three times, Italy and Greece once and a month long driving trip in Portugal, Spain and Morocco.  I felt that all those trips gave me a unique opinion of cruising verses trekking the Himalayas...which he had NOT done!  But he would not let up.  That was when I realized I had a choice.  I could either gracefully get up and go inside and stop the silly conversation or...and this is what I not only wanted to do but I am very very good at...go in for the gnangs and nail the bastard.  It wouldn't even been hard as he had been NOWHERE!!!!!

  But I didn't.  I put a filter in place and quietly said, "It's a shame you have done little to no travelling yourself.  From where you sit you have no real game in this conversation, no knowledge beyond your narrow borders, no validity in your opinions.  So if you will please excuse me I must go and find other  interesting people to visit with.' And I left the deck.

But even with the ease of cruising, having mobility issues really makes it difficult.  Plus a number of couples I have visited with, were with spouses that had dementia and the spouse that didn't have it was exhausted.

In Kahului after getting off the boat we were told it was a short walk to the nearest mall.  There were no taxis right at the ship.  Well we walked and walked and walked, in 90 plus heat, til a number of oldsters were turning around...unable to go that whole distance.  Short is an ambiguous word!  In the end it was basically a kilometre which is a long long way for old people with arthritic hips or other issues.

In cruising you run into these long walks that not everyone can handle.  To go to the back of the boat where all the food is, from the front and back again is over 3,000 steps, and we are on a smaller boat.  Wheelchairs and walkers are great but you can't get down the hallways when the cleaning carts are there.  It really does become awkward, difficult and painful.  If you are going on tours you have to be able to hoist yourself up into buses and out and in and out and in.  Lots of older infirm people just stay on the ship and don't move around much once they are situated for the day.

I guess my take on it is get your travelling in before you can't.  I don't know if I am going to go on another cruise or not.  Whomever I go with I will definitely be slowing them down or leaving them to their own devices a lot.  I think I am still up for driving trips...if sugar cane runs are in the works.  Those of you out there with experience with me will know exactly what I am talking about right there!!

Well I got my taste back in the night.  I still can't smell.  Now Monte has whatever our sickness is.  He isn't feeling well and can't smell or taste.  This trip was definitely a bust.  I think he did have a good time going off by himself.  He tends to be a loner anyway.

So home in five days.  I know I cannot go without coffee that long.  So I am going to go find the closest possible coffee.  TFL.   TTYL

HALEAKALA

THE GAP OVER KAHULUI

HALEAKALA 

HEART RENDING MAUI TODAY

  A bit of a catch up first.  We are docked in Kahului.  It is only 6 am so no-one is off the boat yet.  Monte is still restlessly sleeping so I thought I would hop on here and make a quick report.

We docked in Honolulu, got the old wheels out and exited the boat.  It was hotter than the hubs of hell!  We easily got a cab to the very middle of Waikiki, the International Marketplace.  It is a very high end, three story open air mall with a massive banyan tree right in the middle.  We hadn't eaten yet so we walked to the food court.  Cookie and Monte are burger eaters and when I was there with Cookie we ended up at that burger spot for our meal.  Monte did the same.  And he got himself a pineapple teriyaki burger.  If I could taste I would have got one myself!!!  Instead I got a bowl of vegetarian ramen.  I love slurping noodles, even if I can't taste them!

We then started to do the rounds in that massive place and within ten minutes I went down like a half dead man.  I was sick again, dizzy, puky, just not feeling well.  I sat for a while in rocking chairs provided on the second floor mezzanine whilst Monte went around to the stores he was there to see.

He ended up buying two pairs of vans.  Normally they are in the hundred dollar range and NOT size 17.  This time they were in the fifty dollar range and size 17!!!!  Plus he found a hat store and bought himself a new black hat...bigger brimmed, not quite so Amishy.

  By this time I was street level sitting most uncomfortably in that stupid contraption.  Man! it was hard on the back!  Long story short Monte started to push me and the front left wheel just simply bent right over flat on the ground.  It damned near dumped me out onto the bricks.  We gathered up our stuff, pushed that assy piece of shit out to the street to a garbage can and abandoned it. I am now in contact with the company that made it.  They don't want me making a negative review on Amazon.  They just got on to Amazon with no reviews yet.  Hah!!!!!

Anyway I had to get back to the ship.  I was sick and I should not have attempted leaving the boat.  I was trying to remember the last time I was really sick.  Not even the one time I had covid was it like this.  I think it was way back when we still had Luz with us in the big house and I had walking pneumonia for three months.  All I could do was sit in a chair with my mouth hanging open remembering to breathe. I couldn't smell or taste then either.

Yesterday we were in Nawilliwilli on Kauai.  What a beauty place that is! Monte went off and had the time of his life as usual.  He brought me back a beautiful mug from Starbucks.  It's just the right size too.  I don't like big huge mugs. I put some pics of the view off my balcony.

And that comes to today.  I think we have planned to get a taxi to the dole plantation.  It isn't too too far away and possibly will have the nuts I am looking for.  Plus it is astoundingly beautiful there.  And then a stop on the way back at Costco.  We will see. I associate every single 'where' on this Island with Bill.  I can already feel my heart welling up just looking at Haleakala out there.

I shall post some pics here and do another report in a day or two.  TFL. TTYL

DESSERT AT SABATINIS

NOT SURE WHY THERE WAS A HOLE RIGHT THERE

A VERY VERY SKINNY PIECE OF VEAL MARSALA...NO IDEA WHAT IT TASTED LIKE BUT THE TEXTURES WERE LOVELY

PENNE...DIDN'T FINISH IT...EVEN THOUGH I COULDN'T TASTE I DIDN'T LIKE IT

T

THE VIEW OUT THE WINDOW BY OUR TABLE

WATCHING OUR EXIT FROM KAUAI 

PIECE OF CRAP

RESIGNATION SIGH (SHOVEL LIST)

 Well jumpin' jimmy!!!!!   Monte took a couple hundred of our combined travel money that we saved over the year and has gone off to get a tender into Kona.  If he were any of my other kids I might be a tad worried that all would go well but it's Monte.  There are times when his autism comes in handy.  He just knows things by osmosis.  Ordinary stuff like where the dishwasher soap is?  Forget it.  But figuring out how to get the tender, get into town from the cruise port and then reverse it all at the right time so as not to miss the last tender???...no problem.  I hope he has a good time.

I am feeling a tiny bit better today.  I am still spouting liquid from every head orifice, sneezing obscenely and coughing my lungs up but I think I can get away with going up for lunch today.  I can't smell or taste but I gotta eat something.  I am hungry as hell and my blood sugar is dropping pretty low.  Plus I am desperate for coffee.  I didn't have the heart to ask Monte to go get me one.  I hate being at the front of the boat.  All the food and coffee outlets are at the complete opposite end of the boat.

And whilst I am griping, why oh why are there no coffee pots in our rooms?  This is ridiculous.  Every hotel on the planet offers coffee and tea in their rooms so what makes cruise ships so damned special?  How does a coffee pot pose a fire threat I ask.  Next cruise I am bringing a small kettle and a French press and ground coffee...Kick Ass.  I shall hide them.  They will never know.  I will keep them in the safe away from prying eyes.  And I will bring my Stanley thermos and fill it up first thing in the morning.  The coffee on this tub sucks. But it is coffee.  Better than nothing.  Tomorrow in Waikiki our first stop is going to be Starbucks.

That reminds me of a three week cruise Bill and I did out of Dover, a P&O line.  We had not travelled with them before.  The entire boat down to two people, Bill and I, were British.  Every last one of them.  It was fantastic.  The Brits are almost my fave people to cruise with.  My all time favourite are the Americans...they are friendly, generous and a lot of fun.

On this P&O trip through the Mediterranean was lovely except for one thing...the food.  The food was utterly terrible!  Now Bill and I aren't particularly fussy or hoity toity gourmands.  We will eat pretty much anything and the food has to be really bad for us to even notice that.

Well trust me the food was atrocious and tasteless and badly made.  I don't think you could set out to purposely make shitty food like that!!!  We went through a whole salt shaker trying to infuse a little flavour into it.  The Sunday roast dinner looked fantastic.  Beautiful roast, dark rich gravy, potato mash, Yorkshire puddings, vegetables.  We dished up with great soaring hope that this one time the meal would be good!  One bite in and we were frantically shaking that salt shaker.  How?  how could they ruin a roast beef dinner?  Sacrilege.

I rounded up ketchup, sugar, vinegar, hot sauce, soy sauce, HP sauce, worcheshire sauce, and took our meal and 'fixed it' every time.  hahaha!!!!

The minute we got to our hotel in London after the cruise, we barrelled across the street into an Angus Steak house and ordered steak, veg and baked potato!!!!  It was delicious!!

This room is a mess.  I must rise and clean and organize.  I think I shall hop into the tub.  It's a nice looking one...one of the perks of being in a suite.  Maybe I can soak some of the body aches out.  I gotta get into shape for tomorrow!  Cheesecake Factory!!!  I am going to take a leaf out of Cookie's book and order the Vegetarian lasagna!  Pus we need to find that little outdoor lounge area where we got drinks and a bite to eat...I can't remember the name of the place...Cookie help!!!!!  It was off the lobby of a very elaborate hotel on the beach.  And we are going to shop!!!!!

My next post will have pics and no griping.  Sorry folks but TFL.  TTYL

SO FAR THE ONLY SORT OF SUNSET

THAT IS ABOUT THE CHOPPIEST THE WATER HAS BECOME SO FAR.

WHINE: I AM ROYALLY FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF

 The evening of the 12th I got a wickedly sore throat.  It was the kind where you seriously can't swallow.  About ten I started to cough...the kind that makes people wanna throw up because there is so much endless phlegm.  And then I started to sneeze.  They were harsh endless sneezes.  And then I started to feel really sick.  My eyes were crossed, my head ached, my back was killing me, everything ached and hurt.  I sneezed and coughed all night and the next day and the next day and the next day.  I am still stuck in this freaking room with right shitty television.  And to top it off the room service food is disgraceful.  You have one of three choices...hamburger (which I rarely eat). all beef hot dog or clubhouse sandwich...a really badly put together one..  Monte brings me some food sometimes bless him. I am going to miss going to Kona tomorrow.  Unless I miraculously recover but I can tell right now that aint gonna happen.

So I am not happy, I feel like shit and I am signing off.  You don't need to hear more and I don't have anything to add because NOTHING  IS HAPPENING.

TFL   TTYL

people people everywhere and NOT A PLACE TO SIT

 Holy Doodle!!!  Every time I have cruised on Princess (21 times) there has been maybe two or three walkers and even less wheelchairs.  This trip is insane.  There are probably 100 or more and there are many many scooters and wheelchairs.   The longest line ups to get on the boat this time was the gibbled line.  Thank Ohm I had Monte.  We would just fold up the walker and take the escalator.

Last year when we cruised to Alaska it took almost three hours to embark, to get through from start to sitting on the ship.  This year it was exactly one hour.  Having a walker and the medallion method princess uses is worth its weight in gold.  We went to the dining room for lunch.  It was amazing.  The best of all though were the crusty fresh buns.  Reminded me of the book Heidi.  She saved the rolls from their dinners for some reason or another and the description of them has always completely stuck in my head.  Never mind the filet mignon and avocado shrimp appetizer etc...

We were to set sail at four and we didn't leave until 9:30 pm.  That was tedious.  We had no choice but to drink...many many drinks.  So fun.  It turned out that for whatever reason an inspection was sprung upon them.  Clearly they had to do something to pass.  Anywhooo we were on our way finally.

Our room is really nice.  We got a mini suite this time.  It just gives us a wee bit more room. Monte is sleeping on a pull out couch he claims is very comfortable.  It's certainly bigger than the little not even twin size bed.  He is over a ways in a sectioned off area which is nice.  Our balcony is bigger too.

Well today is the 12th.  I just finished breakfast in bed no less.  Croissant, apricot preserves, yoghurt, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee.  That sounds amazing but....the croissants were tough, the orange juice strange, the apricot jam was thick and gloppy and the yoghurt was vanilla...I asked for plain.  The coffee was okay but not hot...just in case you were thinking how awesome the whole breakfast in bed thing was.

Yesterday though Monte went up to the slop bucket and had a full on plus breakfast.  He brought me down a plate....hashbrowns, eggs, tons of bacon, corned beef hash and sausages.  Now that was an amazing breakfast in bed I tell ya!!!

I just can't bring myself to go to that buffet.  We went the first full night we were here.  Just imagine you are on a boat with three thousand people, 90% of them north of 80 pushing or riding on wheels.  And I used to think that old people weren't usually fat,  Not on this boat!

For the first time ever in all of my cruises there was a line up from the buffet start all the way through the room and out the entrance to the dining room.  I thought it was because it was early in the cruise and people who normally go to the dining rooms wanted to check the buffet food out.  It became evident quite quickly, people pushing wheels, one sort or another, are slow, really really slow and totally responsible for the long long line.

  They put a plate on the seat of the wheeled thing, slowly move along and every time they choose something they have to bend down and pick up their plate, shakily grab the serving spoon and put the slop on their plate.  And they want a little of each thing they look at.  Oh My Ohm!!!!  I super have to resist the urge to kick them in their fat saggy asses.  This cruise is NOT for anyone under seventy years old who can still move and think.  (shovel list!!!!!). 

Given the optics of that first buffet dinner, I now leave my wheeled implement folded up in the corner of the stateroom.  There have been a couple of times I maybe started to regret it, pain in the hip, but then I would be trying to get around a wheeled fat grey head and stop regretting my decision immediately.  

I don't see much of Monte.  He has his headphones on 100% of the time and wanders off for hours.  The medallion app lets us locate each other.  On our phones we go into the app and hit locate so and so and it immediately shows you a map of the deck he/she is on and x marks the spot...exactly where they are.  It is pretty cool.

I was upstairs all afternoon yesterday in a big lounge called Skywalker's.  It has a beautiful view of the ocean out the back of the boat...aft.  It is the only lounge not playing awful musak and no open bar til five.  Consequently it is pretty empty up there.  I love it.  While I was there I went on the app and made reservations at two of the speciality restaurants...you have to pay for them

So last night we went to Sabatini's,,,,,the Italian restaurant.  The food and service was amazing.  Six courses!  Mind you each one is pretty small but I was so stuffed by the end I couldn't finish.  I couldn't help but compare each course with the courses we were served at that super expensive Italian restaurant Bradley, Aryn and I went to in Kitsilano.  As small as each course was last nite, each individual serving was bigger than that restaurant's serving size for three!!!  And the tortellini was lobster, stuffed and bisque surrounding it.    

Tonight I made reservations at a steakhouse called The Crown Grill.  The menu is crazy outstanding!!!  I shall maybe take some pics and put them on the next post.

Well our butler, the sweetest Filipino named Rudolpho, is wanting in to make beds and do a clean up.  I love just sitting in the room here on my laptop, talking to you guys.  I wouldn't leave at all if I had my way!!!

Til next time, I will take pics, TFL...TTYL

'Cruising:  the only vacation where you only unpack one and you get to see the world.'  Unknown

OUR BON VOYAGE DINNER...LOVE BEING WITH MY KIDS

LUNCH IN THE DINING ROOM RIGHT AFTER BOARDING

HAPPY MAN

GREAT 

GREAT WAY TO START ALL THE EATING!!!

BEAUTIFUL SABATINIS

THE REAL START TO THE TRIP...UNDER THE LIONS GATE BRIDGE

MONEY MONEY MOOOONEY!!!

 Well I spent 980 ish bucks yesterday.  Some good some bad and some super annoying.

The good....I help pay for a grandchild's piano lessons.  I figure it's the only legacy I can leave behind!  Except some homemade cookbooks I am trying to get to...but that's a winter project.

The bad....Clint the Plumber, actually Wendell, came, fixed and left with about just under 300 bucks.  This house was built in the early 70's and the turlett and tub are avocado green. What does that tell you?   And apparently the valves and pipes were also fifty years old.  (shovel list).  Well not anymore!!!!

The annoying....I am about ready to take Floppy back to the SPCA.  The only reason I don't is because I love him (g-dammit shovel list).  The SPCA was obviously wanting to get rid of him.

  They did NOT tell us about a whole bunch of EXPENSIVE crap he was going through.  He had just been neutered and wasn't wearing a cone.  So digging at his junk has caused injury.  He has a yeast infection...has had it for a long time...thus the itching and absolutely stinks.  He has allergies so bad I had to pay 77 bucks for a spray medicine for him.  He is now on prednisone and antibiotics.  The bill...just under two hundred bucks.  I have never had one of our shepherds, and we have had lots over the years, cost this.  It would have been a deal breaker if they had been honest about it right up front so I guess hiding the truth paid off for them.

I think I am packed now.  My bag is so heavy I can't lift it with the luggage scale.  I have brought almost all my clothes.  I don't need that many but I like to have choices!  Now if there was flying involved, and thank heaven's there isn't, it would have to be a totally different story.  But there isn't so I don't care.  I brought enough clothes I could change outfits three times, maybe four, per day.  But I know what is going to happen.  I will wear the same thing over and over and come back with basically a suitcase of clean clothes.  And that is okay.  They will go straight into the summer clothes storage bin and put away til next year.

We leave here on Monday and we are staying in the North Van hotel we always use.  The van will be staying there after us and Bradley and Aryn are picking it up on the 17th.  They need it to go to Grand Prairie to clean out their storage unit there.

We are meeting April and Myles for dinner somewhere that evening.  I am going to get hold of Aryn and see if they can meet us as well.  The place April has picked is near the sea bus so Aryn and Bradley can sea bus over.  Then the next morning we are embarking and on our way.  I can't wait!!  I will blog the first night we are on the boat...Sept. 10th with pics!  TFL.  TTYL

***. I just talked to Arnie.  She and Bradley are going to meet us Monday night for dinner at the Greek Mansion on third!!!!  Calamari!!!!!  Humus and pita, olives, spanakopita, gooey lamb....I might sneak a bottle of vicious green jelly into my purse!

'The only time to eat diet food is while you are waiting for the steak to cook.'  Julia Child

GIVES NEW MEANING TO 'MISSED A SPOT'

BILLY BOY IN MAUI

I AM NOT SAYING WHO..BUT I AM RELATED.

A WEE UPDATE

 I was peacefully sound asleep this morning when Ange called me from the bathroom....a flooded bathroom!  The turlett developed a pretty fast leak out of the pipes and valves leading to the tap under neath.  Crap!!!  And that tap was frozen.  I called Monte and even he couldn't get it to turn!  If I knew where the WD40 was I would have used it.

So several soaked towels and a plastic container under the leak later....Monte went downstairs and figured out how to shut the house water off.  (shovel list). I hadn't had coffee yet for heaven's sake.  

Long story short, after a call to my fave plumber, we will be without water until Thursday afternoon.  But Ange and I immediately went into solve mode.  Thank goodness she uses a water cooler downstairs.  And there are four giant refillable at QF right next door water bottles.  So we figured out a flushing system, coffee system and whilst we fill the bottles that are empty I will buy paper plates and cutlery.  

I was going to get all the laundry done today and finish the packing.  So that aint gonna happen.  We have to leave this house on Monday the ninth.  Water in the house will be fixed (I hope) on Thursday afternoon the fifth which will give me two days to launder and pack.  And on that Thursday at 3:30 we have a very necessary rare appointment for the dog who has a terrible skin issue.  I think I will have to stay here and send Ange and Monte to the vet.

GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED????????  I got a text from Clint Eastwood (that is what I call the plumber...he is about my age, gorgeous and looks like Clint, whose name actually is Wendell.). He said that there was no way he would let us go that long without water so he came right over and shut the turlett water off for us!!!!  So I can shower, do laundry and finish packing!!!!!!  He is a true hero.  I think Ange is smitten with him!!!  (I hope she is reading this!  Hahahahaha!!!!)

There is never a dull moment.  Actually there are lots of dull moments so when something happens we get over stimulated.  And that has its own consequences.  Heart palpitations, hot and sweaty, brain addle, which leads to needing several calm down days to recover.  I am not kidding.  Although I was pretty proud of Ange and I and our immediate problem solving.  We swung into solve mode so fast the leak didn't stand a chance!

Gotta bounce.  Got things to do.  TFL TTYL. (my new sign off...TFL....Thanks For Listening

'I think toilets are more important than temples.'  Narendra Modi.  hells bells...in our house the toilet IS Monte's temple.

RANDOM SHOTS OF MY ODD CHILDREN

MONTE LEANING ON  A DEPICTION OF HIS BRAIN

BEST POSE HE EVER DID, OH JUST A MINUTE...MAYBE HE WASN'T POSING

HAPPY WITH HIS HOTDOG

APRIL BEING TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE AS USUAL

NOW AND THEN YOU JUST GOTTA STRAIGHTEN THEM OUT

NO QUESTION...ARYN WAS MY DIRTY CHILD

JENNIFER APRIL AND ARYN'S BACK IN OUR RATTY OLD BELOVED TRAILER IN BAMFIELD...WE LIVED HERE WHILST WE BUILT OUR LOG HOUSE. YOU CAN'T REALLY SEE BUT ARYN IS CARRYING MONTE UPSIDE DOWN.  LOOK AT THAT WALL...THAT WAS ALREADY THERE WHEN WE BOUGHT THIS PLACE.

PACKITY PACK PACK

 Jeez I just saw the pics in the last post.  I have mostly recovered but I still can't lift my right arm.  I have to grab my wrist with my left hand and lift the arm.  I can't even get it up on the arm of my chair without helping it.  Yesterday I made a roast chicken dinner with all the fixins'.  By the time I was done I could not move my arm or my shoulder.  I think this is going to be a long recovery.  My arms aren't so great at the best of times.  (shovel list)

I have banned everyone from using the dining table.  It has become my sort clothing and pack table.  It is hard to decide what to take and what not too and how much.  I tend to pack too much and bring back a suitcase full of stuff I didn't even touch let alone wear.  So I have eschewed my big suitcase and am only taking my medium one.  One plus is there will be no big bulky jeans or heavy clothes.  It will all be summer shorts, shorts and tank tops.  I may roll up a rain coat.  It can be pretty rainy over there.

I did go out once this week and I drove. I probably shouldn't have with a gibbled arm.  It was a bit of a challenge but that car is so easy to drive one handed.  If it had been Gladdy I would not have attempted it.

I went and had my hair permed.  I get it spiral permed once every 12 to 18 months.  But this time I knew there was no way I could spend four hours in the chair.  So I had her do a curly regular perm for 2 hours.  And it is awful.

To begin with I can't lift my arm so I can't put my hair up in my regular poof.  And my hair down is particularly awful no matter the stage and age of the perm.

And I forgot that regular curly perms are fuzzy and ugly.  If I have the courage I will take a pic and post it here.  I hope I don't run into anyone on the boat that I know.  Last time we did this cruise we did run into people.  There are a lot of BC people doing this particular cruise because there is no expensive and annoying flying involved.  There I just took a selfie I will post.  It is not a good selfie.  My arm wasn't cooperating.  

The other day I was staring out my front window from my chair.  I can see houses and the edge of the ravine covered by trees next to it.  Something in the sky caught my attention.  It was a hovering helicopter.

 As it turns out, we heard on the news a man, undoubtedly inebriated, left one of the houses out my front window to walk home.  What he was doing in that dense forest I don't know.  He fell down a fifty foot cliff and died.  The next day search and rescue found him and they had to air lift him out of the impossible to carry him out, location.

Port Alberni seems to be the town of many unusual deaths.  For a town of 35,000 or so we are losing someone in weird ways all the time.  We had a man sit in a tall tree for a period of days and when the police went back again to try to talk him down he had hung himself.  Another one had cut his parts off and ran all bloody and nekkid into the river and drowned.  We had a man have a jacked car fall on him.  Out one of the houses near here a son shot his mother with a rifle.  We have had many many knife killings since we moved here in late 2019.  What we haven't had is killings by animal.  This town is loaded with cougars, bears and nasty minded deer.  Yet we have all managed to avoid being killed or maimed by one!

I have lived in many towns.  Started in Smithers and ended in Port Alberni.  I lived in Kamloops 3 or 4 times.  In the end I have tried to count but I have lived in approximately 7 or 8 townships.  Every one of them had a different feel about them.  Port here has, to me, the most open and recognizable feel if you know what I mean. 

 It is a very varied community.  Seniors, young people, Indigenous peoples, retirees and working people.  A bit sports oriented, very music oriented (I didn't say good music...lol!!), a town where the library is important and used, an amazing museum, and everyone here is very very proud of Port's history.  This is one of very few towns in Canada that was partially destroyed by a tsunami.  We had an Indian Residential School and we rub elbows with the native community that is still reeling from being scooped or raised by a scooped indigenous person.  This town is....personal, for the lack of a different word.  You feel a combination of belonging and pride.  We do hit the news quite often.  Either the hottest spot in Canada that day or maybe two young men went on a killing spree and caused one of the biggest man hunts in Canada.  We were trapped here due to a closed highway for four months.  And most of all?  WE ARE ON THE ROAD TO TOFINO!!!

Okay now I am rambling.  I know why too.  I don't feel like sorting a ton of clothes.  (sigh..another shovel list). So I am going to make myself bounce.  TTYL

'I am a big woman. I need big hair.' Aretha Franklin

I totally agree with her.  I have always felt this way.  Big body - big hair.

NOW I AM GLAD THAT I ASKED APRIL IF I CAN USE HER MAKEUP ARTIST FOR HER WEDDING JUST FOR THE FOUNDATION.  I DON'T LET ANYONE TOUCH MY EYES.  BUT I CAN SEE ALL THE SUN MARKS ETC.... I SURE HAD FUN GETTING THEM THOUGH!!!!