Christmas Canal Cruise

Canal Cruise '08






The annual Senior Christmas Canal Cruise has concluded for 2008. A great time was had by all.

We safely boarded all the cruisers without incident at 1700 hrs. After securing safe seating arrangements and making sure all toileting was current, we shoved off from the dock at 1745 hrs.

The wind was a little brisk, so babushka's were in order for the first part of the voyage. After settling in, some white zin was poured and the shrimp was passed around.



It was a beautiful warm evening and the sunset was great. We hoped to enjoy some of the Christmas light on the way, but they were few and far between, Good thing we brought our own this year


This was a nice way to entertain the kids for a few hours.

I had to do a quick change to my picture since it is almost Christmas and I still have Thanksgiving up there. This was taken last night on our way home from a bike ride. I always try to take my camera with me. I have missed some great shots and this would have been a shame to miss.

We are trying to start our diets before the new year and break out of the pack that starts on the 1'st and quits in 2 weeks. We figure if we don't make it, we will have quit before everyone starts, and we will be ahead or something like that. Actually, it's not a diet, it's a change in eating habits. I am also not going weigh myelf until I at least drop a size. I get so obsessed with that freakin digital thing. on off on off, take a pee on again, etc....up 3 lbs and down 5 in one day, then gain 2 and lose 1, ridiculous..........so I am staying off.

Isn't Christmas coming really early this year??? I don't usually get freaked or stressed about it and really have no reason to this year, but I just don't feel like I have enough time to get everything done that I want to ... We have no company this year, I am only doing the 24th dinner, we are going out to the beach and then to a restaurant Christmas day, so I don't know why I feel so rushed??? Maybe it's because of all the really neat things I wish I could do for Christmas like Martha Freakin Stewart. Or even Paula Dean, they make you feel guilty for not painting your cookies with gold leaf or making a butter/bacon deep fried doughnut casserole for the neighbors.

I did get the tree up yesterday. I also got the outdoor lights out of the storage unit, but they may stay in the box. I have to say, it's ok, what gets done is enough. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me talk to myself. It makes me feel less stressed about all this.

Actually, all that crap is not important at all really, is it? What is important is that I can give something to someonefor Christmas that will reinforce the spirit of Christmas. I have an idea. Maybe that is what I will focus on and the rest will just fall into place. It's all really about priorities and getting them into perspective, right?

REAL MEN FRY TURKEY




WHILE DRINKING BEER

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/deep-fried-turkey-recipe/index.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridadeb/ CLICK TO SEE MORE, EXCITING MAN FRYING TURKEY PHOTOS

AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, THEY REST....................

Natural Beauty - God Made

The Bad girls of Badwater Basin!

We drove out to Death Valley CA. It is about a 3 hr drive from Las Vegas. What an amazing place! This is just a small sample of what we saw that day. There is so much beauty all around you! It is almost too much to take in. I will be uploading some more pictures later.

The white is salt, it comes up from under the ground. It kind of does the same thing ice does when it forms under the soil. (frost heave like)

Man Made Beauty

Las Vegas 2009

I haven't been to Vegas in 30 years. Wow! what an amazing transformation. There is so much to see and photograph.

Here are a few examples of the man made wonder called Las Vegas.

We only skimmed the surface, there is still so much more to see & do.

I had to force myself to stop taking pictures so I could enjoy the archetecture, the lights,& the people watching.

Gelato Anyone?? Bellagio style!

LENIN

The original Mr. Share the WEALTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And that is all I have to say about that....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

We went to the annual hood party last night hosted by Nancy & Harriette.

They are sisters that live here, each in their own house on the same block. They are from Wisconsin and Chicago. Nancy is the one in the middle, she did all the planning and decorating. Nancy was born on the same day as my mother. Harriette is on the right, she was dressed as winter, she even had snowballs on her head, they did a great job. Helen is on the left, she went as the QueenMum.

Me and Bob were bikers, no pictures pleeeease...Ugh, nothing worse than an old fat biker chick!!! Bob looked good though.

Tina and Steve dressed up as me & Bob.

What is with the ears though Steve?

We are off to Las Vegas until next week, then I gotta go to WW!!!

VOTE '08

I never did this before, but I signed up on the McCain website today. This is quite a hot election....it has many people fired up. From my limited political experience, which has for the most part been indifferent, I really have a strong feeling about this election. I have traditionally been an independent, but I have finally jumped into the deep end of the right side.

It is very disheartening to me that some people are being star struck by the opposition and are unable to see through the theatrics. Many of them are my family, but I'll love them no matter who they vote for............we can agree to disagree. There is no sense arguing about it, because at this point our minds are made up.

We have several divides in our family ranging from politics & religion to margarine v.s. butter. It's all part of who we are. God made us all with a free will,sometimes it gets us in trouble. If we didn't have a free will, what kind of world would this be???? So, use your free will with good & moral intentions. I am.

GUSTAV GO AWAY! WE WANT TO PLAY

TROPICAL UPDATE AT 50 PAST THE HOUR!!!

So, now you know what I have been up to lately. But I have a good reason....I am on vacation in Key West. We arrived yesterday. The normally beautiful ride with the aquamarine water on either side of the narrow strip of Rt. 1 was rather grey and cloudy for our ride here yesterday. But we kept going and hoping for a stream of sunlight. We arrived safely and made our way to the Hogs Breath Saloon in the rain last night, had a quick drink or two and walked back to the resort.

Terri and Jim are our gracious hosts ,because they have a time share with points to spare. We are staying at the Galleon resort. It is very nice with a great view of the marina and the Coast Guard Station. We had some squally weather last night with threats of waterspouts and tornadoes. The wind was howling outside for most of the night and the rain was pelting our window next to the bed. I just pulled the covers over my head and went back to sleep. I really am a good sleeper, I probably would have made a great grizzly bear! Hibernator extraordinaire!

So we woke up to sunshine and wind this morning. took the bikes out for a ride around. We went down Whitehead St. to the southernmost point. We stopped at the Hemmingway House for a quick tour on the way. Oh, the most exciting part of the day was that Jimmy won $50 at pool bingo this afternoon. You go Jimmy!!!

We had a great time in CT thanks to our friend Teri and her partner's great house. We helped Teri house sit at this awesome place and had several get togethers with some old friends and family. They have a pizza oven outside and we made about 50 pizzas, and drank some wine, etc... I am waiting to get some of the pictures emailed to me. I didn't bring my camera, just the mother-in-law.

(SHHH don't tell anyone, I just snagged these pictures off my sister's flickr page)

Speaking of the mother-in-law, she is still there for about a month. She almost got me in trouble on the airplane. It is a little known fact that airline pilots need to pee sometimes. So, when they do, the flight attendant secures the area and will not allow anyone to approach. Well, Helen had to pee too, and she wasn't going to take no for an answer, she was warned not to come any closer and to go to the back of the plane, but she decided she didn't want to and wanted to know why??? So she started approaching the flight attendant to ask her why. AAAHHHHH!!!!! I had to get firm with her, and tell her to sit down or go in the back. I got the look...she went to the back. Then she had to pee when we were approaching landing and the seatbelt light went on and we were starting to rock and roll. I told her to wait it would only be about 10 or 15 min. She said ok, I turned my head, and she bolted for the bathroom. AHHHH!

So, this is going to be a nice break this month.

We went to the casino with Teri, Cinda, and Warren while we were in CT. Teri was great, she showed us all her slot secrets, (she read a book). I won $409. in one machine then Bob started to do pretty good too. For being there from 2;30 - 11:30, we did ok. We were up about $150. when we left. I hate to lose, so this was a good thing.


I have been itching to do something creative ever since I got back from the north last week. I painted some wine glasses for Teri as a thank you for having us stay with them while we were up there. I never painted on glass before, it is really easy. You use special paint and bake the glasses in the oven. Teri if your reading this, Surprize! (she never reads this, she always loses the link) .

Everglades Airboat Tour

Did you notice the new picture up there???? We went on a an airboat tour in the Everglades on Tuesday. http://captaindougs.com/



It was raining. Typically when you think of an Everglades tour you think of going across a river of grass in an airboat. This tour went through the mangrove swamps. It would have been great if it was hot and sunny, because we were under a canopy of mangrove trees most of the time. I particularly like this picture, it shows a light at the end of the tunnel. It was hard to see most of the time, because the rain was hitting my face like needles when we went fast. I wore my sunglasses and had a rubber poncho on with a hood. Here is a picture of the pelicans that decided to hitch a ride with us








We also saw some alligators, very cool and large too! They come right up to the boat to check us out. Don't worry, the guide carries a gun..













On the way out of Everglades City we saw these wild boars hanging out at the local Citgo station waiting for handouts from the tourists.




AINT HE PURTY???????????????

I know, I know, it has been awhile. I have many excuses, so before I think up another one, I will just put in a quick update. I have been working a lot. I need the benefits, so I went back full time. I am no longer the princess who gets to leave work at nap time. No more cruising my favorite blogs while contemplating dinner plans. Squeezing in time for a creative endeavor is becoming a challenge. Hard descisions are now the norm, what would you choose, glass of wine or sewing ? I haven't been able to master the quilting along with a couple glass of wine.


I really admire those mom's (my sister Carol )http://workinprogress-wip.blogspot.com/ I don't know how they do it. How can you work full time with small kids? You have to drive them everywhere, feed them, find them socks that match, and find time to cut your toenails, and shave your armpits. Something has to suffer, right? Goldfish, oooops, did anyone feed it this week? Ooops...flush.....

I did find some time to make this new birdbath for my friend Kim. I had to let the housework and laundry go this weekend, so what's a few days on the same bra, who's gonna notice? Besides it's too hot here for underwear anyway.


This is for Kim, by request. She wanted something Key Westie, colorful, and fun. She loves it. I am going to deliver it to her tonight.



Oh and my computer was in the shop too, excuse #43, so thanks to all my wonderful creative friends and all the links and sites I check out, I had to have this machine tuned up. It was getting pretty slow and sluggish like me. It seems to be a little perkier now. Gotta go read about 347 emails and catch up......

Guest Blogger - Heeeeeeer's Bob...............

It was just one of many typical SW Florida days:

1) Fancy orange fishing gloves $17.00
2) Grouper & shark bait $12.50
3) A tornado waterspout racing for your boat trying to kill you $PRICELESS

We went far out in the Gulf Saturday early am, when it got light the fishing exploded. A fish on every drop, hit the Red Grouper limit (one keeper per angler) in 30 minutes. Shark, Snapper, tons of Grouper, everything was awesome until I looked up & saw a tornado waterspout. We yanked the hook & ran for shore, we made it with just a little excitement.

Got back to the house, changed my underwear, filleted the Groupers & had a great dinner that fed a bunch of people.
It was all worth it!



We were 15 miles sw of Sanibel Is. I was with Steve & Jimmy. Jimmy is always with me when I have near death fishing experiences....interesting.....he does have a vowel at the end of his last name...

Leaving for Home

We are in the process of packing up to go home. It has been a wonderful trip. I thought a week would be too long, but we really didn't get to do as much as we thought we would. I guess we can save those things for next time.
I really enjoyed snorkling and taking some great pictures the most. The sailing was great too. Hanging on the deck with Steve and Tina was nice too, what a view!! These pictures are from St. John. We took the car over on the ferry, There is a great National Park where we hung out on the beach and snorkled a little.

This is Bob waiting for the Ferry to take us back to St. Thomas.

St. Thomas

A picture is worth a thousand words.


But, I bet you can't even begin to guess why Steve is wearing snorkle gear in this picture.








Is he...





a. Going to dive off the deck ?


b. Trying out for Sports Illustrated snorkle issue ?


c. Training for the special olympics ?


d. Protecting his eyes from a mother bird ?

e. Waiting for Scotty to beam him up????





Ok, it's d..we have this awful bird here in St. Thomas who has made her nest right in the ceiling beam of this deck. She has terrorized us since we got here. Poor Steve, he is her favorite. She can get him to make moves he hasn't done since Saturday Night Fever and lesiure suits were in style.


After a few martini's, Steve decided enough was enough, he decided to take action. He suited up and showed her who rules this roost. I'll have more pictures when I get a card reader. We have Bob's new computer with us and I never loaded the disc for my camera in it. For now I am using Tina's pictures.

This is the view from our house. I just love the color of the water. I went snorkling yesterday in Caneel Bay , I was very afraid, but I did it. It was awesome, the fish and the coral were amazing. It is so relaxing just floating and looking at the sea life. We saw sea turtles and yellow fish, purple fish, and little fish and big fish. There was this wonderful little cove that we walked up into and it had the perfect blend of sand, water, sea life just perfect. I can't wait to see my pictures when I load them up. We were on a 60 ft sailboat captained by a guy called ' Hollywood', he is quite a character. Bob and Steve got his life story, boy, he should write a book. I'll fill you in later when I have my pictures

The roads here are unfreakinbelievable, so steep and winding with hairpin turns and you have to drive on the wrong side of the road, Steve gave Bob a new name, it's 'Crash Dummy Bob'. After few martini's he thinks he is in the indy 500. We did fine though and Bob got his driving privileges back today. Did you know that drinking and driving is legal here? I think it is because they want you numbed up when you go over the cliff, less screaming I guess.

We are high in the mountains with this awesome view of Mandal Pt. In St. Thomas, we look out over at St. John to the east. Bob keeps trying to pretend we are moving here, he does that all the time when we go on vacation. I think he wants to be Captain Hollywood. When he was a little kid, he would always want to be the tv repairman, if they had the tv fixed, the insurance guy, if they were buying insurance, the tow truck driver, etc. He is still such a little boy that way, but of course he also wanted to move to Florida the last time we vacationed there and look what happened. Oh boy!!!

She's Baaaack

The princess has arrived back in Florida. She brought some important stuff home from school ......
The ride has new brakes and made it all the way from NY State to SW Florida

Hi Ma, gotta get on line, been on the road two days you know. What's for dinner? Did you make me brownies? Where should I put all my stuff?

Stop taking pictures of me!!!!!!

Welcome back Katie!