All Things EARTH... part 2

[laurspag]

Oh, that's good!  When we did the pacific coastal cruise, San Francisco was quite cold and windy.  Sometimes. I have to remind myself when we travel that I'm not always going somewhere tropical.  

 

Layers are the best, and scarves are great...they have a dual purpose: fashion and warmth.  

[laurspag]

HI all....

 

Just stopping in while I have a minute!  We have an event to go to on Friday, my grandson's third birthday party on Sunday, then my husband will be out of town for three days, and when he comes back, we have to finish the last minutes stuff before our cruise!  We fly to Galveston on the 8th.

 

So this week isn't too bad, but then it gets busy starting Friday.  

 

It has been very fall like here.  I can see the leaves starting to change at my house, but when we went to the local plaza, you could see quite a bit.  We have two shopping plazas very close by, and they are extremely well landscaped so there are a lot of trees, flowers and shrubs.  The fall vibes are all over, and the temp goes with it.  It is raining lightly off and on today and it is about 60 right now.  Windows are closed, and the heat is turned up, but only kicks on at night.  We really didn't have a choice as it was in the 40s at night a few nights in a row, and the temperature in our house dropped a lot.  I've been cooking cleaning and doing laundry, and all those things warm it up so that it really isn't needed during the day.  (I have a first floor laundry room - the dryer tends to always heat it up nicely)

 

My current plan is to try on all my stuff around mid week.  I just want to be sure I am comfortable with everything I have planned.  I will then probably iron up everything while my husband is out of town for his training, and put them in the spare room.  I'm going to get shoes and odds and ends out during this week as well.  The nice thing about the cooler weather is that I don't have to worry about putting aside something I need to wear now...it's too cool for the cruise clothing.

 

I would get everything out starting right now, but we have an appraiser coming to the house and I wanted it cleaned up,  We offer a fixed rate HELOC so we decided to get one even though we don't need it at the moment.  Fixed rate HELOCs are not common - we are the only lender in the area that offers them.  Our primary mortgage will be paid off in a few years and we liked the idea of having something available.  We don't require minimum draws and all that either.

 

But any way, I wanted the house to be tidy so after Tuesday, putting my cruise stuff on the spare room bed is just fine!  

 

I'm also very much aware  right now that we will be sailing in hurricane season.  Fiona has created a lot of messes and not sailing from Florida is a good thing with Ian approaching that area.  I guess they are watching a few others that are forming as well.  I will really start to pay closer attention when we get closer to sailing.  

 

I am bringing two sets of jewelry to choose from regarding the red jumpsuit I have.  I know that is not something I normally do, but I had an idea for something in the opposite direction as the starfish necklace.  Who knows, when I do my try on before the ironing, I may try the jewelry on too and make a decision.

 

Either way, I'm excited that we have this cruise coming up.  I think there are a lot of trips going on this fall - Anita has her trip, Margaret is sailing very soon as well.  Melody, do you have a fall trip planned?  I recall a cruise you are going on, but couldn't remember when it is.

[awhfy]

Laurie, we’re on Harmony OTS in December with 18 other family members. Hopefully the hurricanes won’t impact your trip on either end

[MJC]

Just a quick hello. Internet is terrible on board 

 

We missed Sydney due to Fiona damage and no further news about our our other ports. QC is beautiful and have walked our feet off today. Will be here 2 more days. 

 

[laurspag]

Looks beautiful!  I hope there are no further impacts to your cruise due to Fiona.  I am sure you are very happy that you did not sail out of Florida.  I feel fortunate that when I leave next week, I will be sailing out of Galveston.

 

Melody, that is what I thought about your cruise.  I remembered it was an extended family trip on RCI.

[MJC]

Went to this yesterday, it was fantastic:

 

https://www.mosaiculture.ca/fr

 

 

 

[laurspag]

Wow, what a gorgeous picture, Margaret.  I would get that printed and framed.  It is wonderful!

[laurspag]

I'm getting the feeling that you made some great outfit choices too, Margaret!

 

For me, today is a big day for preparing for our cruise.  Now that the appraisal is over, I went to the dresser and closet and started dragging everything out to the spare room.   Tomorrow is my grandson's birthday party, and my husband leaves right from the party to drive to Albany for his annual training.  He will be back Wednesday during the day.

 

He is kind of last minute, so I've been asking him some general questions on what he might like to bring.  He's not the kind of guy where I can just pick his clothes and he will wear them.  I am hoping that he will at least confirm some pants and button down shirts, as those are the things that may need to be touched up by an iron and so forth.  He already knows that when he gets home Wednesday, he really needs to choose the rest.  

 

Our flight leaves Saturday morning at 6:00 AM, so you can imagine that Friday night means a shower and early bedtime.  He is off the Friday before, but I am only leaving work a few hours early.  On the other hand, I am off the Monday after our cruise and he is working.  I can do laundry and make a quick trip to the store.

 

Our afternoon in Galveston the day before embarking is really just to rest and relax, get used to the hour time difference, get some food and drink.  We will wander a little, but we usually take advantage of having some downtime.  The hotel looks to have some fabulous views, and I'm taking note of your recommendations, Melody!

 

Is Anita on vacation right now, also?  I get so mixed up sometimes, lol.  I'm not sure if we will have a cruise next year or not - we have been planning for me, my husband, older daughter and grandson to go to Disney, once.  If we go in fall, he will be four so I think it will be a decent age.  I consider it a one time thing, mostly because my daughter doesn't have much, so I will be footing the full bill for all of us.  That isn't a complaint - this was my idea.  I just have to watch my budget, that's all.    Depending on a few factors, it might be sooner than fall but we will see.  I would love to go back to Boston for a few days again too.

 

I am going to take care of my upcoming vacation first though!  I really feel like I need this.  We've had some complex things going on at work, and I have spent the past three weeks putting in a bit of overtime, but the past few days were really, really rough.  Sometimes though, good things come out of bad things - I got to see how much some of the staff cares about others and the bank.  They really rose the occasion to help, and I was overwhelmed by their loyalty.  

 

There are a lot of blessings around, you just have to open your eyes to see them.

[awhfy]

6 hours ago, MJC said:

Went to this yesterday, it was fantastic:

 

https://www.mosaiculture.ca/fr

 

 

 

You both look fabulous!!

[Anita Latte]

Well…the month of September did not go as planned AT. ALL.

 

First, DH tweaked his back doing a weird reaching in the shower. He has dealt with bulging discs around L4, L5, S1 for years and this tweak sent him to the days when he was dealing with serious pain. We were doing everything we could so he could be prepared for our Glacier trip…but the thought of having to endure the plane ride alone, let alone all the activities we had planned…well…

 

Then there were weather advisories for the area. Unhealthy air because of the wildfires. We looked at the live cams around Glacier and you couldn’t even see the mountains because of the smoke and haze. I am considered a sensitive person so it was not feeling like a good idea to go on our trip. 😞 So we didn’t go.

 

Our airfare had been purchased with miles and Delta was awesome…got all our miles back as well as the $21 or so in fees. Got back some other money we had to spend minus some admin fees. The one thing that would have been a total loss was the Outdoorsy van rental. Fortunately, the owner let us reschedule…the only thing is that the owner is moving to Eugene, OR and so our rental will be out of Eugene, OR next year. So that’s what happened there.

 

Mom and Dad had come to see DS during his last week here. He went back to school on 9/7…so they didn’t get their time alone here to play “What would it be like to live in Florida?” They had planned to leave on 9/30 but then Ian was on his way and they decided to wait it out with us and not get caught on the road in the middle of a potential disaster zone, as early on Ian had a wide range landfall including the Florida panhandle…which is their way home along I10.

 

We were well positioned for Ian. The eye of the storm basically went right over us but the eye was wide and most of the storm activity was on the north side and we skirted that outer eye wall a bit. Our yard flooded in the expected areas, and then it flooded in the unsuspected areas…and now we know where all the low parts in the yard are (we got 13.24” of rain)…but thankfully, our home was high and dry. We had no real damage…just a LOT of yard debris. Today most of the puddles are gone except for the actual drainage retention swales across the front of our property…we’re on septic so we don’t have storm drains…our entire neighborhood has those drainage swales along the fronts of all the properties with most properties having a culvert at the beginning of the driveways.

 

And to top it all off, I managed to severely hurt myself with all the hurricane prep. I still don’t know exactly what I did to myself. I ended up in urgent care to get some medicine relief and have a CT scan to look at my neck to see if I had damage there…they said I didn’t…so I still need to figure out what exactly is messed up with my lower neck/upper back, shoulder, arm, and numb thumb. I’m sure I’ve got a nerve entrapment somewhere along the path…looks like the radial and median nerves if my own research into how I’m feeling is accurate, but I’ll get the dr’s opinion Wednesday. The hardest thing is sleep…

 

Anyway…

 

It’s wonderful to read about other trips and trip preparation! DH made me a new vegetable bed yesterday. Our growing season is kicking off into high gear here and I’m just hoping that I’ll be up to the  task soon. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Anita Latte

[slidergirl]

First - good to hear things went OK for your property with Ian.   When i saw that he was swinging right over the Space Coast I thought of you, Sherrie, and my friend who has property in Cocoa Beach.  

 

So, so sorry you had to cancel your Glacier trip.  i hope both you and your DH get everything fixed up on the bodies.  At least you got most of your money back for another time.   Eugene - hmmm.  Have you done a So. OR/No. CA shoreline trip before? Did it once and had a great time.  Added in Crater Lake, too.   And, Redwood National Park and all the beach camping and state parks along the way.

[awhfy]

Oh Anita, so sorry your long awaited trip cancelled. Backs & necks, ugh!  Good that you got your $$ back or transferred to next year. Glad Ian wasn’t such a bad boy to you. Is Mom thinking of moving to FL out of the Arizona dry heat??

 

We were really thinking about a condo in Ft Myers area…think we’ll wait a bit. Our nieces did survive the hurricane, but quite a bit of flood damage. Both have flood insurance so all should be ok. Their condos are built to survive a 4-5 hurricane, just not the storm surge. 

[purduemom1]

Anita, I’m so sorry that you had to cancel your long awaited anniversary trip. Sending good thoughts that  you and DH feel better soon and can hopefully plan another adventure.

Sharon

[purduemom1]

Margaret,

 

Love that picture of you and DH! It’s a keeper for sure!

Sharon

[MJC]

We had a great trip! We got back on Friday and I've been playing catchup all weekend with mail and laundry and shopping. We had no food in the apartment since we spent most of the summer at the lake. Thankfully we have a supermarket that delivers!

 

It took about 45 minutes to get to port, and then from the door of the taxi to our stateroom was another 45 minutes. In spite of all the posts on Cunard boards about the mess that Brooklyn CT is, we found it extremely organized and straightforward. It helped that we knew in advance exactly what was needed and we had our paperwork -- yes actual papers -- very well organized. In fact we arrived way too early for our 1pm boarding time, but we were already in our cabin dropping our bags before 1pm and on our way to lunch. It has us thinking about other cruises from this area just because it is so nice not to have to fly.

 

Our cabin was starboard so we had the city view instead of the Brooklyn view upon boarding. We were on deck 6, forward of center. On QM2 we learned everyone refers to their location by the nearest elevator bank, so we were near the B elevators out of A,B,C and D. After a quick lunch we did our tradition of starting at the top of the ship and visiting each deck.

 

We had absolutely beautiful weather for our departure day. These were taken from our balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MJC]

Our cabin was a Britannia Sheltered Balcony. We chose it because we hoped to use it in all kinds of weather, and in fact we used it almost every day. We had a rainy day where it was too wet, and a very foggy day where it just felt damp and there was nothing to see, and no sunshine to enjoy. Cunard has "deck blankets" so we asked for two and they came in handy.

 

 

 

 

It was nice that a bottle of sparkling wine was waiting for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[awhfy]

Margaret, gorgeous pictures!!  I’d love a cruise I didn’t have to fly (or drive at least 2 days for!!). Looking forward to more pictures. Melody

[MJC]

It was really windy so the only pic of me on deck for sailaway looks like I have Medusa hair.  😀 

 

In addition to my 4 formal dresses, I took these dresses for dinners. The other four nights I wore tops and dress slacks.

 

The purple velvet I had bought for a wedding we didn't get to go to bc I had a load of stitches in my head from that cystectomy in 2019. The blue jjil I got on clearance this summer and have been waiting to wear. The black and tan was a TJ Maxx find and is super soft and comfy. The last one I've had for at least 20 years and can't even count how many times I've worn it, and it's still in great shape. 

 

Here are my shoes (all worn multiple times):

 

I did actually wear my Zumba shoes, I found a secret place and did my class 4 times on different sea days! I also participated in chair aerobics and what they call Fun Fitness, a kind of Zumba lite. Less Latin, low impact.

 

 

Our luggage all set to go:

 

Mark's blue backpack mostly had wine in it, plus he brought his computer case. I also had a small crossbody bag for on shore.

 

Our computers were mostly useless because the wifi was terrible, and the ship intranet called My Voyage was also largely not available. Aside from saving our photos on them, they stayed in their cases. It was actually quite nice to have a tech break. We did check in with family on our phones on port days. 

[awhfy]

Laurie, hope all went well with your cruise!  Hope you enjoyed Galveston. Melody

[MJC]

Here are two of our formal night outfits. We didn't buy pictures of the other two. I wore the long dress on Black and White night, and the short dress on Masquerade night. I look like I'm wearing a headdress with those flowers behind me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MJC]

Roaring 20s night

 

 

I ended up wearing my black flowy dress with red shoes and gold jewelry for Red&Gold night. I just wasn't feeling confident in the red dress I had bought. We didn't keep any photos because between the black dress and the tux, they were just really boring. We did look great though!

 

[MJC]

We figured out how to take full length photos on our balcony, but the lighting wasn't great. But it was a fun thing we did as we were getting ready and having some wine before dinner. Apparently we missed a few nights. I know we didn't take one on the last night, and one night it was raining. This is the first cruise where we have coordinated our outfits by color. It does make for better pictures, I think not to mention looking better IRL. 🙂

 

This dress is the plummy purple velvet:

 

Black cut velvet:

 

 

 

 

 

[MJC]

Our first stop was Boston. We went first to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. I always envy people who are able to live surrounded by great art. Also the central courtyard was stunning.

 

We had a beautiful sunny day that ended up in the mid-70s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by MJC

[MJC]

She was friends with many famous artists and writers of her day. She was very close with John Singer Sargent and his wife. He painted this portrait of her and this large painting. Some of the rooms were a bit dark but this location for this painting just added to the drama.

 

 

 

Many of the other rooms were just chock full of art and other objects she collected. We spent more than two hours there. We had lunch in the small cafe and then grabbed an Uber to downtown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MJC]

Our next stop was the Boston Public Garden. It is also a sort of arboretum with an interesting collection of trees which are all labeled, like this interesting redwood.

 

 

I wondered if there would be any color left, but there was quite a bit blooming still.

 

 

 

 

One of the dresses I forgot above.

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by MJC