REMEMBERING WHERE WE BEEN

Decorating the Christmas tree is always an exercise in remembrance.  When we go on special vacations, I try to buy something for the tree to remind us of that trip, or that place where we once lived.  Here are a few:

Tucson, Arizona

Scotland

Maine 

This is most certainly the ugliest ornament we have on the tree; a bit of kitsch.  It is a reminder of Gainesville, Florida--where the Gators are the team for The University of Florida.

The Netherlands 

London

Barnegat Light, Long Beach Island, New Jersey

University of Missouri

Disney World

Scotland

Where No Man Has Gone Before--oh wait!  Not yet.

ONE PIECE AT A TIME

We are spending a week at our favorite ocean spot:  Harvey Cedars Bible Conference.

Every afternoon I have saved an ocean animal's life by grabbing a piece of plastic from the sea. Today, Gary says I rescued a fish from de-CAP-i-tation.

TIDYING WITH THE TREE

While we often decorate and set up the Christmas tree over Thanksgiving weekend, alas!  ~~We were in Florida tooling around in kayaks and such.

 

So today is Decoration Day (not to be confused with Memorial Day in May).

I was touched that my son got out AND used the vacuum cleaner at his own initiative, to pave the way. He's a great guy.

IT'S HOT DOWN THERE

I was writing down the new address of my niece and am amused that she is in Apt. L because of what happened to us on our first trip to Britain.  We were booked for an overnight train in car #L, but as we walked along, the cars went A,B,C,D and so on, but:  it skipped L—we couldn’t find it.

 

So we asked a conductor where L was.  He laughed, pointed to the ground, and said “It’s down there.”

It was hours later that we got the joke.  He must have thought, “Those Americans....just can’t take a joke.”

Turns out there were 2 cars that were labeled M.  So we got our ‘ell after all.

DOING THE WORLD

A very kind person from France was worried about me and wanted to see what I've been up to.  That's an incentive to blog, that's for sure!  I haven't been as well as I would like to be, but we had a family adventure a couple of weeks ago that's worth writing about:  we went to Disney World in Orlando, Florida!

We stayed at a beautiful resort patterned after Mardi Gras/New Orleans.  I loved walking to the bus every morning to zippy jazz music.  Our room was on the Rue d'Baga.

We went to celebrate my continuing recovery from cancer treatment.  Here I am with my nemesis and helper, The Incredible Hulk.  (you can read my thoughts about him and cancer treatment here)

Being at Disney can give you experiences about as close to the real thing as I'll probably ever get.  We went on a Mission to Mars as astronauts, test-drove a car, and went on safari:

We visited many countries around the world.  I even met someone from Molepole, Botswana (for those of you who are fans of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency).

We went to China.

Terracotta soldiers (replica) in China

We ate in east India.

We went to Monsters' University, where I saw my good buddies Mike and Sulley.

And we visited the Beast in his castle, where they had set up dining in his ballroom.

My son and his wife drove from their house 2 hours away and joined us for 3 days.  Here we are in the Himalayas.

At times, it was fairly cold, but we managed.

And we saw some serious fans.

SEASIDE CURE

I just got home from a "seaside cure" at Harvey Cedars Bible Conference, on Long Beach Island off the coast of New Jersey.

 

We went there for many years when our children were small, but as the boys gathered more Important Commitments that steered our vacation away to speech tournaments, Great Britain, and Disney World, we sadly put Harvey Cedars on the back burner.  

Last week, I was able to travel there with my friends and spend a week at my favorite of all places: it felt just like coming home, with great joy.

I slept in the old Victorian Hotel

Ate great meals in the cafeteria

Met new friends

Heard fantastic speakers at chapel

Spent the afternoons at the beach (undergoing renovation since the hurricane)

Took a boat trip past Barnegat Light

And got plenty of spiritual, emotional, and physical rest.

ALASKA:  KISSIN' THE MOOSE IN TALKEETNA

 

I tried kissing a moose a couple of times.

I tried BECOMING a moose once.

And I even tried to dance with a bear.

But cousin Adele REALLY kissed a moose antler, and it wasn't pretty.

When we left Anchorage to start our land tour, we boarded the Wilderness Express train to go north.

Our cruise company (Celebrity, owned by Royal Carribbean) had private cars with a restaurant on the lower deck and huge windows on the upper.  It allowed us to walk during the trip, to look for moose and bear, and to learn a lot of info about Alaska from our tour guide.

Tom and his wife Rita

Our first stop was in the small town of Talkeetna.  It's often advertised as being like the town of Cicely in television's Northern Exposure.  Broad streets, quaint buildings, VERY low-profile and quiet.

Although 50 miles from Denali, it is the starting place for climbers, who fly in to Base Camp.  Talkeetna has a small museum that talks about the history of climbing...and also a cemetery that honors some of those who have lost their lives.  At least six men have died on the mountain this year.

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the town, and we were off!  The very very first tourist shop had a cute decorative garden of gravel, flowers, and several moose antlers laying there, and when Adele walked past this lovely decor, she slipped and fell!  FLAT ON HER FACE, wham!  Down!

Of all the impossible things to happen, her face hit a moose antler, and the point of the antler went INSIDE her mouth and punctured the inside of her cheek!

Did you ever hear of such a thing?!

It was large enough to be concerned about, and so a doctor was consulted, but they decided to leave it untouched.  The whole side of her face was bruised for the rest of the trip.

But you have to admit, there's a lot of humor to be found in it too.  Of course we were concerned about her, but it was hard not to laugh as well.  I imagine the doctor did--and went off to add it to the book he's going to write some day, called My Crazy Adventure with Tourists in Alaska.  Meanwhile, Adele got a lot of "ribbing" about moose every day.