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!!!!