volcanoes

soap and other kinds...

this lovely volcano that we saw in Nicaragua last week is nothing compared to the one I created in my workshop yesterday. Did I forget how to make soap after a 10 day respite??

I've been making coffee soap since the beginning of my soapmaking career....12 years ago.

I always use cold coffee. I was in a hurry and didn't cool the coffee. Bottom line you can't put lye into a hot liquid. Well, you can...but what you get is a volcano.

Seriously, this is a dangerous thing to do. And luckily I wasn't hurt. But hot lye/coffee water gushed up from the bucket and went all over the counter and floor.

1st I check to make sure that I'm OK...then the clean up begins. This is the WORST part..... the liquid is caustic and a pain to clean up. Everything is slippery from the lye.

About an hour later....it was back to the drawing board and chilling a new batch of coffee with ice!!

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