Happy Thanksgiving

from Guatemala! (Day 8)

Doesn't seem like Thanksgiving. No cooking for me today.

Hoping for lots of turkey and great side dishes for everyone....and fun with family and friends.

I'll be with my best friend today.

And here's what I'm most thankful for today......that we don't have this to look forward to in our White House!

Nicaragua

Day 7

Yellow coconuts, active volcanoes and a confession from Pentti

A pelican in brief....

Costa Rica. Day 6.



Pentti is a photographer. It’s what he does on vacation.
On our trip to Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon he took 4500 photos.
Thank God for digital.

But today he got one amazing ‘catch’

He didn’t even know he’d caught the fish until he zoomed in on the photo after he took it.

If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can even see the look on the fishes [face?].....is that what you call it??

S O S

Rescue at sea.

This morning the captain announced that we would be changing course to help a sailboat with a crew member who was ill.

The sailboat, Illusion was small compared to our ship….















Lowering the rescue boat.


















Taking off for the distressed sailboat.














Linking up with the sailboat to retrieve the ill crew member. There were some pretty heavy swells, so this part of operation took the better part of an hour. Not as easy as it looks in this photograph!














Coming back to the Coral Princess with the rescued man on board.
If you click on the photo you'll see him in the bottom of the boat.














Otherwise it’s another day at sea….hot, humid, but very relaxing.

at sea

Sailed past the coast of Cuba most of the day. It's still cool, but tonight as we near Jamaica, it's getting warm and humid. We are relaxing! napping, reading, walking on deck and I'm doing a bit of gambling.

We'll be traversing the Panama Canal on Sunday.

amenities

they're important to me and that's why I love Marriotts....we're at the Courtyard in Ft. Lauderdale.

I like:

• a complimentary shuttle from the airport
• in-room coffee
• a hairdryer
• free internet access
• comp. shuttle to the cruise port

Pentti likes:

• a big screen TV

touch down in

Fort Lauderdale at 5PM this afternoon.













When they called rows 20-25 for our flight out of White Plains this afternoon...NO ONE lined up. Pentti and I were the only ones in the back of the plane and he was in the rest room with our boarding passes. I've never been on a flight with so many empty seats. We literally had the back of the plane to ourselves.

So....I figured I'm on vacation....relax.















Tomorrow we set sail for the Panama Canal!

Warming Trends?

A trip to Brooklyn to deliver soap and have brunch at Tini with Sarah.
Making a last few batches of soap before our vacation.
And this iris in full bloom in November. I cut it from my garden 2 days ago.

Still have lots of laundry and packing to do.
All kinds of paperwork to finish up before we leave.

So much to do. By the time I leave for vacation, I really need one!

We're off to cruise through the Panama Canal. I'll be blogging from the high seas if I can.

Tagged by the Memes??

Sarah tapped me to do this Seven Random things Meme. What is that anyway? I had to look it up.

But here are a few tidbits....

1. I know I’m a control freak…I just can’t control myself.
Go with the flow, I tell myself.

2. I play favorites with my cats and sometimes I feel guilty about it.

3. Sometimes when I’m alone, I like to repeat words aloud like reconnoiter or cippolini because I like the way they sound.

4. I hate it when someone sends me a forward where you're supposed to make a wish or say a prayer and send it on to 10 people so your prayer will be answered or your wish granted. I always delete those emails. What the h*ll....haven't they figured it out yet, that their wishes aren't granted??

5. In high school, I was in the senior play. That's what we called it then. No musical for my class of 54 students. I had the role of Mrs. Savage whose family was trying to commit her to an asylum.

6. I am fascinated by vampire novels…..I loved Rice’s “Interview with a Vampire”..and just recently I read the young adult novel "Twilight."
It was OK.

7. My secret desire it to sing kareoke to "build me up buttercup" I love that song!

New beginnings...

Finally back after an exciting election week.

This morning I received an email from a friend living in Paris:

" Dear Susan,

I hope all's going well. How refreshing to have this significant change coming with Barack Obama as our President Elect! I would like to be there right now to see the faces and feel the shift of energy on my home turf. However, here in Paris people are also sooo very happy... all over people feel a sigh of relief and the strength of hope."

An as a sign of hope, this appeared in my garden this week....







can you believe it?? its a white iris I had Pentti cut it and bring it in because I'm afraid it will freeze. It is middle of November, after all. We'll see if it opens!

Election Day 2008

Vote early and vote often!

Who said that?? I really thought it was Richard Daly.....

What do you think?


Obama '08

another glorious fall day and the 'good/bad' breakfast

This is the best time of year for the Japanese Maple.
Here it is this morning in all of it's glory!















I made the biscuits from Vanessa's site: What Geeks Eat.
I love her technique for making them in the food processor and then making a tube and cutting the rounds. I add one more thing...I cut them with a piece of quilting thread. Put a 12 inch piece of thread under the tube where you want to make the first cut. Bring it over the top and crisscross the ends. Pull and you've got your first slice without smushing....










then I browned the sausage....yummm...
and made the milk gravy.








and finally and egg on top and Voila! Cholesterol Heaven!

countdown

As we move into the last 3 days I watched this again.

I'm voting for hope. I'm not as subtle as my daughter.