Counting down the days

"Time is of more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." ~ Jim Rohn

When we first booked our round the world cruise last May, we had well over 200 days to wait for our big adventure to begin. Now we've got fewer days to go than we'll spend on board the Pacific Princess. But the counter at the bottom of this blog isn't the only way we're measuring the time until we depart. Here are a few of them:

1. Number of haircuts till we leave: 2 

No, this is not my DH!

This one is from the DH. He figures he'll get his ears set out two more times. I plan to let my hair grow. It'll be easier to pull up into a pony tail and get it off my neck. This is important since we'll be spending some winter months south of the equator (which is their summer!)

2. Number of pedicures till we leave: 2, maybe 3  This one's mine. My mom and I enjoy scheduling our Girls'  Morning Out about every four-five weeks. What color do you think I should I get for my bon voyage pedi?

Available for pre-order

3. Number of first drafts of novels I'll finish: 1  If I'd written this post earlier this year, the number would have been two. I sent my Lexi Eddings A COLDWATER WARM HEARTS CHRISTMAS manuscript to my editor before we left for Alaska in September. I expect revision requests and the copy editor's notes to come back in time for me to turn in the final product before we leave in January. 

My current WIP (Work In Progress) is a Mia Marlowe historical: LORD BREDON & THE BACHELOR'S BIBLE. It's the second book in the House of Lovell  series. The first is pictured above. (You can follow my progress on Book 2 in the little word count widget in the left hand column.) This manuscript isn't due till next May, but I take my contract deadlines seriously. Plus I really don't want to have to write fresh copy at sea. Revisions and noodling around with a finished draft isn't the same as plowing the virgin page. 

4. Number of items checked off from my Makin' a List & Checkin' it Twice post: 7

• Passports- We had to have the DH's reissued to correct the misspelling of his middle name, but it's all good now. Passports must be good for at least 6 months longer than our cruise will last. Ours are valid till 2020, so we're golden.
• Visas- We jumped through all the hoops to get our Indian visas, and passed through the online Australian process with "No worries, mate!" We have decided to let Princess secure our required Jordanian visas. They'll take care of all the paperwork and only charge our shipboard account $25 a piece.
• Vaccinations-
  
  There are no absolutely required vaccinations for this trip, but after spending a little time on the CDC site, we learned there are some strong recommendations. We decided we needed Hep A & Typhoid shots as a precaution. In addition, I got a T-DAP because I was due for a tetanus shot, and after some blood work, the DH discovered he hadn't been inoculated against ruebella, so he had an MMR. We both still need to get our yearly flu shot, but we always do that one. It's just a matter of getting around to it. 
• Travel Insurance- We looked at the insurance Princess offered, but ended up with C&F Travel Insured International, the company our travel agent found for us. I'd heard estimates of 5-10% of the trip cost for a premium and ours falls in that range. It's the sort of thing you hope you never have to use, but you're oh so relieved to have.
• Communications- We have already pre-purchased a block of internet minutes from Princess. I expect we'll need more before we're home again, but it's a start. We considered switching our cell phone service to T-Mobile because they offer free international texts, but here in the Ozarks their service is spotty. We've decided our main way to communicate with loved ones and friends will be email (and this blog!!!)
• Pre-cruise hotel reservations-  Actually, we made two. One for LA, where we board the ship and one for St. Louis, where we board the plane that'll take us to LA & the ship. I like being in place a day a head of time for both those things--especially since weather in the Midwest can be chancy in January.    
• Prescriptions-
  
  With my lung condition, I'm sort of a walking pharmacy. We called our insurance and asked if we could get a three month supply of meds since we'll be out of the country. "Sure," they  replied. "If you pre-pay three months of your premiums." Nuts to that. We asked our doctor to write 90 day scripts for us. Then I went to Blinkhealth.com and GoodRX.com, and using a combination of the two, we bought meds to take with us out of pocket. With the exception of one weirdly esoteric drug I take, it actually worked out better than the co-pays on our insurance. Who knew?

We still have a number of things to do from the original list, and few more that we've thought of since we compiled it. So even though we feel we've accomplished a lot to prepare for our trip, there's still more to do.

Charlie doing his Happy Shake!

But lest you think we're wishing our lives away while we wait for the ship to sail, let me assure you that is not the case. We're enjoying our friends and family. We're active in our church and community. We're playing with our dogs and living our lives. We're grateful for every minute.

We just have this wonderful, shiny thing on our horizon, and every day it dazzles more brightly the nearer it grows.

 ~~~

Now it's YOUR turn. Is there something you're looking forward to? Or would you like to weigh in on what color I should go with for my last land pedicure next January?

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October=Breast Cancer Awareness Month

In 1998, my dad retired after over 40 years as a railroader. He and Mom were looking forward to traveling and had plans to become snowbirds. After Christmas, they intended to head for Arizona to escape the Wyoming winter. 

Then before they left, Mom went for her yearly mammogram. The results that came back were unexpected. Mom had breast cancer. 

They didn't go to Arizona. Instead of heading for sunny skies and fun with newfound friends, Mom faced surgery, and miserable months of radiation and chemotherapy.

So, this year when the reminder that I was due for my yearly mammogram arrived, I did NOT call right away to schedule an appointment. 

Surprised you, huh? Bet you thought I was a good little girl who always does what she's told.

All I could think when I saw the notice was "What if it comes back bad?" 

We'd have to cancel our world cruise, and I've been dreaming of that trip for years. The DH and I are going to have the adventure of a lifetime. I'm going to see Rome, ride in a gondola, feed a koala! If something came back bad on my mammogram, all that would go away. I fretted about it for a couple of weeks, actually. 

But then I realized I was being stupid. If I have breast cancer, it will do no good to wait. Early detection is the key to a cure. If, God forbid, we have to cancel the cruise, well...that's why we bought trip insurance. 

Time spent with my DH is more important than any cruise, even one that goes all the way around the world. And I'm hoping to spend a lot more years with this wonderful guy.

So I had my mammogram and, just as I'd prayed, the results came back perfectly normal. 

Of course, there's another reason I went ahead and had the mammogram. My mom would kill me if she'd found out I had skipped it. You see, her treatment worked! She went through the treatments with grace, courage, and her inimitable style. She beat cancer and in December 1999, we took her and my dad to Disney World to celebrate! 

I'm so thankful to share that she is still with us. Here's a pic of her on her eightieth birthday last February. We surprised her with a party at her favorite Chinese restaurant. You can't make it out very well in the picture, but we got her a tiara to wear. She loved it! Sparklies are her thing.

She's the only woman I know who can truly rock a tiara!

And if she had decided to put off that screening mammogram nearly 20 years ago, my dad and the rest of the family might not be blessed to have her still.  

So, here's the take away. No matter what your plans, they aren't more important than your health. Have your yearly physical. Schedule the screenings your doc advises. If everything comes back great, you can go ahead with your travel plans with a light heart.

And if your results come back not so great, you will still  have a  better chance of going on than if you wait for a problem to grow. 

Sister Act

For my dear sisters, Cindy, Linda  and Jennifer,

keepers of my secrets and my forever friends.

(I’m not too worried about the secrets bit.  I’ve got enough on them to make this a mutually assured destruction pact!)

~ from the dedication page of my novel A Coldwater Warm Hearts Wedding

I'm blessed to have three younger sisters, but because we live in different states, we don't get to see each other that often. This was a banner year. I've been able to see them all. Earlier this spring, the DH and I took my parents to Texas to see Jennifer after her successful surgery. And on this trip I was able to bookend our camping with sisters--Linda in South Dakota on the way out and Cindy in Nebraska on the way back.

With moves and jobs and one thing or another, Cindy and I hadn't been together since our niece's wedding. And our niece is now the mother of two little boys! One thing is for sure. We won't let so many years go by before we see each other again. Time is just too precious.

In so many ways, my sister has not changed. She's still incredibly witty and fun to be with. Not to mention beautiful. Honestly, can you believe that gorgeous face belongs to a grandmother? 

She and her husband have lived in almost as many states as we--Montana, Missouri, Wyoming, Illinois, New York, Ohio. (Guess we do have them beat. Our count is nine!) Since my brother-in-law has retired,  they bought a lovely little farm in western Nebraska. They are country people at heart and love being close to nature.

When we arrived on September 26th, my brother-in- law welcomed us with his signature grilled chicken. I don't know what he does to it, but it's seriously delicious.

Every night (we stayed for 3!) he treated us to a new grilled delight.

Here's his recipe for a terrific & easy crab dip:

Cream Cheese, 8 oz

In a separate bowl:

2  cans crab meat

2 tsp horse radish

Ketchup to taste

Pour mixture over the cheese & break out the crackers!  

They keep a big flock of chickens, including a breed called Whiting Blues, which actually lay light blue eggs.

They're raising a steer they've named Crowbar. He's half Holstein so my brother-in-law says he'll  top out at 1600 pounds.  Crowbar has an inter-species friendship going  with Banjo, their loveable goofball of  a German short-haired pointer. 

Their place has a bit of history to it, as you can see from this sign that marks the confluence of three important trails heading west.

If I half-closed my eyes in the twilight, I could see a long string of Conestoga wagons moving along the trail that follows the curves and oxbows of the Platte River. Or a single courrier, riding hell-for-leather with the precious mail pouch in his saddle bag.

We spent some lovely evenings on their covered deck. My sister and her hubby are wonderful hosts.

Since buying the place, they've made lots of improvements.  My brother-in-law put this sturdy fence in himself.  All their neighbors thank him. It looks wonderful.

Then there are some things that need no improvement. I snapped a pic of this sunrise from a bedroom window. We've seen some majestic, grand sights on this trip. Sometimes, though, I think I underestimate the quiet loveliness of the heartland.

On September 29th, we rose early and pointed our noses east. Our homing  beacon was flashing pretty brightly so we burned through more than 700 miles to sleep in our own bed. All told we drove over 5000 miles, not counting the nautical miles we logged on board the Eurodam. We had a lovely time.

But I am glad to be home for a while. After all, we have so much to do to get ready for our big trip next January!

PS. A quick update on our friends, Joy and Mike. They took a different route going to and coming from Seattle. On the way out, they hit Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and visited friends in Oregon.  On the way home, they saw Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, in La Junta, CO, they had a car accident. Fortunately, only the car got hurt, but it was banged up pretty bad. Mike ended up having to rent a car and drive home by himself because he had to be back, while Joy stayed long enough for their car to be repaired before driving home solo. She says of her trip back that she can trust God, but her GPS's directions must be viewed with suspicion. Anyway, we're thankful they're both home safe and sound, too.

And that they'd go cruising again!

~~~

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A Bittersweet Stop

Some things will never change. Some things will always be the same. Lean down your ear upon the earth and listen.

~ from You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe

On Sept. 23rd, we disembarked from the Eurodam. Since we didn't have a flight to catch, we were in one of the last groups to leave. Holland America has a lovely policy of allowing guests to wait in their staterooms until their group is called. Some other cruise lines require their passengers to crowd into lounges and public areas, clumping around elevators like cattle waiting to be herded into loading chutes.  

In the cruise terminal, we had hoped to say hello to Teresa Skeim, our excellent travel agent at Cruise Specialists, but alas! our schedules did not sync. Better luck next time...

Then we took a cab to my friend Darcy's house to retrieve our truck and camper. God bless her for letting us leave it  there. There is RV parking available for cruise passengers, but I'd have fretted about it if we'd left it in the parking lot near the pier.

Since it was afternoon by the time we headed east, we made it a short driving day, only traveling about 100 miles to Ellensberg, WA. We wanted to tie up early so we could go to the grocery store and stock up our  empty frig for the trip home. The next day we made it to Missoula, MT. 

Our westward trip on I-90 was marred by smoke from wildfires. An early snow had helped get them under control and we could see the mountaintops this time.

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho was lovely.

Sorry about the power lines in the first photo and our truck's antenna in this one. Just goes to show that our eyes edit, the camera doesn't.

Our next stop was Sheridan, WY. This was our bittersweet moment because we used to live about 10 miles south of there near Big Horn, which contrary to its name is a very tiny town indeed. To give you an idea how tiny, #2 Daughter had 17 kids in her graduating class. 

Here's the WYO theater in Sheridan, a beautifully restored art deco structure. In addition to providing a concert venue for traveling music and theater troups, the DH & I sang in the community production of Menotti's Amahl & the Night Visitors one Christmas, as well as the Mozart Requiem & Handel's Messiah with the community choir & orchestra. 

But don't let the high-brow stuff fool you, Sheridan is cowboy country, home to the WYO Rodeo and this fenced elk and bison pasture. It's located about a block from my parents' old house. They used to hear the elk bugling when mating season rolled around.

A couple blocks in the other direction from where my folks used to live is Trail End, otherwise known as the Kendrick Mansion, built early in the 1900's for a cattle baron and his family. It's well worth taking the tour!

We headed out of town to drive by our old place, knowing what we'd find, but knowing we had to see it anyway. We'd Google-Earthed the place from time to time since leaving it and were shocked to learn that our log home was no more. The new owners had torn it down and built a new house in its place, a beige, completely forgettable ranch style that would look nice on any suburban lot, but didn't have the organic, fit-the-site feel that our log home had. They kept the  stable we built, the over-sized garage and garden shed, but had changed the rough cut cedar siding for the same vinyl siding that covers their new house. 

The area seems less wild than I remember it. The lush pasture that had been next to our 5.5 acres is being graded for more construction, so  change marches on.

  

But the Big Horns haven't changed. Clouds still slip their icy fingers over the peaks and down the crevices. The mountains still wrap around the region, and the olive trees that smell so sweet each spring still provide a windbreak. Peacocks still cry from a neighbor's property. A buck and his harem still wander through the lower portion of the property and disappear into the brush along Sackett Creek.

I'm achingly sad but I know there's nothing for it. I could never live here again. The elevation is too high for me to be very active now that I have this lung condition to contend with. I miss the younger, healthier body I had when we lived here. I miss seeing the Milky Way spill across a black sky. I miss the breathlessly beautiful quality of light when dawn breaks and hits the mountain tops first while we sit still in shadow, and watching that golden light slide down the slopes to brighten the foothills, the pastureland, and finally our place.

I can't go back. I'll never live in that home again. But I'll always carry it in my heart.

 ~~~

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Alaska Day 7--Victoria, Canada

Sept. 22, 2017

So long! Farewell! Auf wiedersehen! Goodbye!

~ The Sound of Music

Last day.

Are there any sadder words in a cruiser's vocabulary? We love the Eurodam and all  who sail on her, from our Captain Timmers, who's a seriously funny guy to our cabin stewards, Dewa and Ady. This has been a lovely week. We've been spoiled rotten. We've seen drop-dead gorgeous scenery. We've eaten spectacular dishes (though I'm happy to report I haven't gained a pound!).

But into each trip, that last day must fall. That means packing up to go home, which is bittersweet, because while we've had a wonderful time, we do miss our loved ones and friends when we travel. This trip has been easier though, because we were able to stay in touch via cellphone. Since our  final port--Victoria--is the only international stop, we've been able to call our daughters and my parents on each of the other port days.

We've been looking at our options for our big cruise next January and have decided we need a better way to stay in touch from the far side of the world. We plan to look into T-mobile, which reportedly provides free international texting and 20¢  a minute calls from 140 or so countries. (But that's another blog post!)

So today was our swan song for a number of things--last concert by Atlys, last time for me to have an Asian breakfast (yay for grilled salmon!), and last time for us to relax in the thermal suite. It makes me sad that the Pacific Princess, the ship we'll  board for the world cruise next year, doesn't have one of  those. But then I imagine how much a 94 day pass to the TS would cost and I'm a little relieved. We can definitely use that money for shore excursions instead.

Our actual stop at Victoria was only about three hours, and we arrived after the sun had set. I'm not really big on wandering about in crowds after dark, so we opted to stay on board. Our friends Mike and Joy sallied forth and managed to catch an interesting, albeit bewildering, bit of street theater. It was quite an extravaganza with tons of neon and search lights brightening the Canadian sky. The theme of the play seemed to be that oil and gas are bad, bad, bad and when are we going to wake up and stop stealing the fossils?

Um...maybe when you realize fossils just powered your light show?

Tanker pulled alongside to refuel the Eurodam

Someday, we may harness the wind efficiently (and without killing birds!) and figured out how to build batteries to store solar energy that won't spontaneously combust on occasion, but for now,  those fossils do us all a lot of good. We couldn't have traveled across the US with our camper and we certainly couldn't have cruised to Alaska without fossil fuel. Just my opinion. Feel free to express yours.

However, let me give a plug for this great city. If you go to Victoria, you should definitely visit Butchart Gardens.  When we lived in Seattle,  we drove over to the Kitsap peninsula and caught a ferry across the Sound with my husband's brother & sister-in-law. It's a glorious place on reclaimed mining land.

If it seems odd for us to have stopped in Victoria for such a short time, that's because it is. But it's the law--The Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1866--which prohibits a foreign flagged ship from carrying US citizens from one US port to another without stopping in a foreign port along the way. That's why 14 day Hawaiian cruises end up wasting a day in Ensenada. (Sorry, Ensenada, but who wouldn't prefer another day on Maui?)

The DH's first experiment with the panorama function on his cellphone camera

More soon...

Alaska Day 6--Ketchikan

No matter how  bad it gets, I'm always rich at the dollar store.

~Anonymous

Everything changes. When we cruised to Alaska with my parents ten years ago, I recall Ketchikan as a motley collection of little shops offering end of season bargains. For an essentially seasonal town, it has been built up considerably in the last ten years. 

Admittedly, I’m not much of a shopper. In fact, I despise it utterly. Whip me, beat me, don't make me shop!

However, I am a buyer when I have to be. Today is designated as our "shopping for loved ones day" and Ketchikan seems to be the right place to do it.

Of course, you have to look carefully or you'll end up buying Alaskan souvenirs made in China. But there are bargains to be had. I was very pleased with the fleece lined jacket I bought for only $29.99!    

After spending a while in a gallery that featured native artists--alas! they requested that no pictures be taken!--we headed back to the Eurodam. On the way, we encountered this bewildering sign. 

If it's risky to use, why call it a safety ladder? 

I'm always befuddled when words don't seem to mean what I think they should.

We returned to the ship soon enough to catch a performance of Atlys, a delightful string quartet joined by a fabulous pianist and arranger. They are terrific musicians and we've enjoyed all week. Sometimes, their jazz was a little too boozy in the pitch department for me, but their rendition of Copeland's Appalachian Spring made me weep. 

Entertainment like this is what sets Holland America apart from the other lines in the Carnival family. They understand their guests well enough to offer us some truly outstanding artists. I just wish they'd played in a larger venue because it was always packed.

We have one more day on our journey. A week is scarcely time enough to get unpacked. This trip has made me doubly excited about our 94 day voyage that starts next January. We'll be thinking of the Pacific Princess as our home away from home in no time!

 ~~~

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Alaska Day Five--Sitka

“…that we may dwell in amity and peace forever in this region.” ~ Aleksandr Andreevich Baranov, First Colonial Governor of Russian America

We’re in Sitka today (Sept. 21st)—a new to us port of call. This tiny town is located on an island about equidistant from Seattle and Anchorage. In other words, it’s a long way from anywhere.

Back when Russia owned Alaska, Sitka was known as New Archangel and was the capital of the Russian territory. I’ll bet they’ve regretted selling their interest in Alaska to us many, many times, but I’m sure glad they did. I run out of superlatives pretty quickly when I try to describe its natural beauty, but it’s also so rich in precious metals, in fur and fish, timber and oil deposits. The fact that so much of the state is inaccessible is probably why it’s still so pristine.

Sometimes, the Eurodam is able to pull right up to the main part of our port of call. However today, we had to take a shuttle from our berth in a commercial port in to town. But even the commercial port is interesting. It is, after all, how life on this island works. Since it’s an island, if you don’t bring it with you, it’s not there. Everything has to be shipped in. I didn’t see a smidge of cultivated land. I assumed groceries were pretty spendy and our driver confirmed that a gallon of milk costs $7.00. 

Once we hopped off the bus in the center of town, we followed our map to the St. Michael’s Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church. The original building burned to the ground in the ‘60’s, but the congregation rebuilt an exact replica of the original to replace it. And more importantly, they saved a number of their icons before the first cathedral was destroyed by fire.

Several of the icons have unique stories attached to them. This one of the Archangel Michael was originally lost in a shipwreck about twenty miles from Baranov Island where Sitka is located. About a month after the ship went down, the icon was discovered standing upright in shallow water by a bunch of school children. It was amazingly undamaged by its month bobbing around in the Northern Pacific.

This Madonna and Child is known as the icon “not made by hands.” According to legend, the artist was frustrated with his inability to make the hands of the Virgin and the Christ Child look as he wanted, so to cover his errors, he slapped black paint over the places where the hands should be and went to bed. The next morning, the hands had been finished beautifully.

Sounds a little like the shoemaker and the elves, doesn't it?

Here's a closer look at Madonna's hand:

Across the street from St. Michael’s, there’s a historic Lutheran church as well. Originally it was built to please the Finns the Russians had brought to work on the island. The Russian Orthodox Church funded the building of the Lutheran church and even paid the salary of a Lutheran pastor, on condition that it couldn’t look like a church and there would be no proselytizing. The ELCA church was supposed to be strictly for the Finnish residents of Sitka. Since this church too had been lost to fire once, there wasn’t much to take pictures of inside except for the teeniest pipe organ I’ve ever seen. It had no foot pedals and only one small keyboard an octave or two shorter than a piano’s. When the fire that destroyed the Russian Orthodox and the Lutheran Church broke out, a couple of parishioners managed to haul the little organ out of the burning building. Even so, those Finns must have been more than devout. They had to be seriously ripped to be able to carry out an organ!

When we travel, I’m always drawn to places people have marked as sacred. From the Medicine Wheel on a mountaintop in Wyoming to the glorious St. Paul’s in London, I appreciate the sense of wonder, of reaching up to the divine in these special locations. I enjoy being quiet in them, listening for that still small voice. The whole concept of worship, of connecting with our God, is something that makes us uniquely human.

Now if only that connection would help us all live out the quote at the top of this blog:

“…that we may dwell in amity and peace forever in this region.” 

~ Aleksandr Andreevich Baranov, First Colonial Governor of Russian America