Denmark or Not?

North of LA a few miles, is a Danish Village called Solvang. I don’t know how many Danish villages there are in the US, but we are camping near this one. It’s also a fun tourist destination. When the cruise ships are docked in LA, there are busloads of folks in town enjoying Danish food and hospitality. 

It’s a cute village that feels like a little bit of Denmark. It even has a Little Mermaid.

Can you figure out where this Little Mermaid is located?

 

A Blanket for Debbie

One more teddy bear blanket has been created. This one is for Debbie. She bought a blue chair and asked for a cream blanket...so here’s the cream blanket. I have no idea how many teddy bear blankets I’ve made since 2003, when I was given the pattern by my department secretary, but it might be as many as 150. This is my “go to” pattern. I enjoy making it and 

I enjoy giving it away even more. 

To that end, finishing a blanket is a great way to wrap up the year.  Happy New Year, 2019. 

Santa is Coming

I have the news — Santa will have a team of helpers tonight. So many local homes have been destroyed that Santa has sent a special team here. If you see Santa’s helper in a red hot rod give him the right of way. He needs to deliver gifts of joy and hope to everyone, even to people without a chimney.

 Merry Christmas everyone.

 

A Blanket for my Auntie

I finished this blanket for my 98 year old auntie this evening...just in time to give it to her at our Christmas gathering tomorrow. I hope she will like it.

I’m also gifting my Bride Doll to Debbie. This doll was made for me about 25 years ago, and I’ve always loved her. But then, I loved my Aunt Ethel who made her for me. Aunt Ethel was a master crocheter.—I’ve never figured out how she crocheted the pearls into the dress. My friend Debbie loves hand-made items, and dolls and I think now is the time to share my Bride Doll with another person who will love her as much as I do. 

Celtic Woman

On Thursday night we went to a concert. We actually had a “date” which is weird. We saw Celtic Woman of PBS fame at our local university. While I am not a huge fan of Celtic Woman, the other DrC is — so I bought tickets as a Christmas present for him.  The program was delightful. I might have to change my mind about the troupe. Our local venue was small, and while it lacked the polish of a television/PBS production, it had heart and good music. I walked out of the concert with a smile, the program was great! The group were staying at a local hotel. They discovered that all of the residents at the hotel were survivors of the Camp Fire, so they gave their concert at the hotel first. That act of kindness goes a long way in our burned and “bruised” community right now. Survivors of that horrendous fire need hope and 2 hours of Christmas music calms the soul.  Celtic Woman is touring the US this spring. If they get to your community, you might want to see them. 

One More Blanket

When we were on the Coral Princess last month, I made a teddy bear blanket for a fellow passenger. She was on the 79 day cruise (we were on the 30 day adventure) and she came home today and sent me a picture of the blanket with her teddy bears on it. 

Chocolate, Paulie and Cookie are enjoying their new blanket. 

(It helps to have a sense of whimsey when dealing with folks who are owned by teddy bears!)

 

Sunset

It’s been “colonoscopy” week. In fact, it was my second colonoscopy this year. Need I say more. The test is done and the results were what I wanted to hear. I received a “pass!” 

Starting today I can thoroughly enjoy a beautiful sunset.

Hope

The fire came and burned 153,000 acres. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed in fourteen days of hell. Hundreds of First Responders fought the blaze, saved thousands of lives, yet they could not quell the fire as quickly as the rain. At first, the rains were a blessed relief, but then the rain became flash flooding. A few homes that survived the inferno, were sliding down the hillsides from the massive torrents of water. Could our small area get any good luck? It seemed the answer was NO.  Then came the sun. The lovely, warm, welcoming sun and a little miracle happened. Soft green shoots of grass started to pop up from the blackened soil.

Overnight, the ebony landscape is becoming verdant. It’s a sign of hope! It just possible that the houses will be rebuilt. Lives will get better. It’s going to take time...a lot of time...but maybe, the healing can start now.

   

Autumn Leaves

Our area has survived the horrendous Camp Fire; it is enduring flash flood warnings as well as the overwhelming aftermath of the fire and yet there is a small ray of hope on the horizon. The autumn leaves are spectacular. The surviving towns are dotted with trees turning out the best fall color I’ve seen in years. 

A brilliant red tree lurks amidst some pines 

Orange trees decorate the streets

Yellow, orange and gold enhance the landscape. 

The miracle of autumn is illusive and fleeting. While it’s here, we all are enjoying it. 

The color makes the daunting task of recovery a tiny bit easier.

Stuff

It’s a month before Christmas, which means it’s time to put up our little tree. We also put up a couple of sparkly garlands, but more is needed. We will spend Christmas in the RV this year.    

 

While we are getting ready for Christmas, the autumn leaves are just starting to fall. The piles of red, orange, yellow and brown leaves are beautiful...and there are so many piles of leaves. Have you noticed that only Mother Nature can arrange a pile of leaves to look this good!

Lastly, I saw this 1969 Bug in town with a mosaic paint job. 

If you can, stretch these 2 pictures and you can see that each picture is a mosiac painted to look like it is made of teeny-tiny tiles. It’s the most amazing paint job I’ve ever seen. The person who created this masterpiece has a great talent that might be wasted on Volkswagens. Were this my car, I’d never sell it.

 

Four Generations

Four generations and a teddy bear blanket. 

Great grandma, baby, mom and grandma. 

I think this is great!

One more thing to be thankful for!

 

Thanksgiving

When I taught elementary school I had my students respond to this prompt: On Thanksgiving, I am thankful for ...” Over the years, I had answers like “my baby brother” or “mom and dad” or “my puppy”...this year my answer is “my house, which is still standing.” I’m also thankful for my family and friends who have been with me physically and mentally thru the ordeal of the Camp Fire. It’s a good Thanksgiving indeed! My you have a Happy Thanksgiving too!

Home

We are home — it was a good cruise. We went to a new country for us—the Philippines, and we visited a old home—Guam. We returned to Vietnam, China, Japan and Hawaii. We had 2 long periods of sea days—one 7 and the other 5 days. It was a trip of neat places and great relaxation. 

  Now we are home, and it’s a bittersweet homecoming. There’s been a huge fire in our neck of the woods. Our house survived, but the grasslands burned. The air is smoky beyond smoky. The house smells like smoke. The furniture smells like smoke. The clothes in the closet smell like smoke. 

We don’t know what happens next. Watch this space.

Honolulu

 

We are finally on dry land...first time in 7 days. During those 7 sea days, I crocheted a teddy bear blanket for one of the people on the ship. (Silky is giving it the “teddy bear stamp of authenticity.”) I also made some Christmas ornaments and a lot of red poppies for Veteran’s Day, the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.

The water on the passage between Guam and Hawaii was rough at times. (You would never know that now, as the seas are calm, and it’s sunny (and believe it or not) relatively dry in Oahu. By dry I mean the humidity is low...it’s a perfect day.) Along with the rocky water, we had rocky emotions due to the “Camp Fire” that’s raging in Northern California.  That fire has been a rapidly spreading disaster that leveled the town of Paradise in less than a day...and then it went to the surrounding areas. We were afraid the fire would turn in the direction of our house and burn it down too. This morning I found out that our property was burned, but the house was spared thanks to 2 fire trucks worth of firefighters. THANK YOU — THANK YOU — THANK YOU!  Right now we are very happy campers. The grasses on the land will grow back. We wish everyone could have had the same happy ending. Recovery and rebuilding is going to be difficult and I wish everyone God’s speed and good luck. I  want to thank all the folks who were worried along with us. We are safe and sound and all is good.

 

So, landing in Oahu gave us good news and calm seas. We have a home to go home to when we disembark the ship next Sunday. 

Sea Days

Every cruise has a few sea days...days where the pax stay on the ship. This cruise has more sea days than most as there are 7 sea days between Guam and Hawaii and 5 days between Hawaii and the US mainland. Then there were a few sea days between Shanghai and Okinawa and between Vietnam and the Philippines...but those were short. Right now we are in the Guam to Hawaii stretch and the sea days are getting long for a lot of folks...especially the folks who are on  the 79 day cruise. 

 

This cruise was divided into different segments. Folks could sign up for a 79 day cruise, a 60 day cruise or one of two 30 day cruises. The LONG cruise starts in LA and ends in Fort Lauderdale (FLL), having sailed to Alaska, Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Guam and Hawaii...then back to LA and thru the Panama Canal to FLL. The 60 day cruise does not go thru the Panama Canal. The first 30 day cruise ended in Shanghai and the cruise we are on,  started in Shanghai. 

 

Today I talked to a number of folks on the 60 day portion and many are ready to go home...but of course there’s no getting off the ship in the middle of the big empty Pacific Ocean. It takes a special person to sail endless days.

 

There needs to be a lot of entertainment on a long long cruise. The Coral Princess is doing a pretty good job — but for those who have been on it a long time, the entertainment is running thin. Us “30 day” folks have not seen all the “stuff” that is being offered, so we are still  having a good time. 

 

I was prepared for the sea day experience. I brought a lot of crochet projects. I almost finished one Teddy Bear blanket (I ran out of yarn, so I’ll finish it at home) and now I’m working on a second blanket. I’ve also made some Christmas ornaments. Before the cruise started I loaded my iPad with books and I’ve read 7 so far. The other DrC is on his 10th book! We also use the internet.

Now for the surprise — I like sea days. They are relaxing and enjoyable. I can take my time to read a book without feeling guilty that I’m not doing something more productive (as I might feel at home). I can crochet all day long if I want. I can walk the Promenade or not. I can sleep late and/or go to bed early. There are no cares in the world on sea days...all I have to do is show up, which is just perfect. After a cruise with a few sea days, I come back home ready to take on the stuff that I did not do while on the cruise. 

Guam

After 3 sea days, the Coral Princess landed on Guam. To disembark we needed to go through Customs and Passport Control. We had been given forms to fill out beforehand, all we had to do was get in the line at our required time, and get off the ship. We had been warned that folks on the cruise did not follow the directions well, so we got in the line at 7 AM. At our suggested time (9:15-9:30) the procedure started. We were “inspected” and allowed to leave the shp.

Once on the island, we were met by a friend and we drove to her home in Yigo (that’s pronounced Gee-Go). We stopped along the way in Hagatna, the capital, to go to the new CHamuro Museum. The next stop was at Shirley’s for take out. Shirley’s is a Guam institution famous for Spam Fried Rice and other island delicacies. 

I bought the other DrC an order of fried rice with fine dine (Fin-E-Den-E) sauce. 

 

He was in Guam Heaven...he had not had anything like it in years. Once at Dottie’s home, we talked the afternoon away. A wonderful day with an old friend. All too soon the clock on the wall said 4:30 and it was time to go back to the ship. A wonderful day on our old island home. 

 

Scenes of Manila

The following collages are scenes of Manila. If you can, stretch each collage and look at the individual pictures. You will see a lot of “stuff” in a few pictures. I hope you enjoy Manila.

Manila

 

Today we visited Manila, The Philippines...which makes the 120th country we have visited in our traveling years. (I think this is accurate...I use Century Traveler as my country list, as it turns out there are many ways to count countries.)

 

It has been difficult for us to get to the Philippines as not many cruises visit this port of call. When I saw the itinerary for this cruise and discovered it went to both Guam and the Philippines, I knew we were going to take it. The first part of the cruise covered countries and/or cities we have visited before, but right in the middle of the cruise were two gems...a new country and an old home. Could it get better?

 

 

 

We did not have a long visit in this massive place...did you know that there are enough islands in the Philippines that you can visit ten a day for a year and still have more islands to visit! We had a few hours and chose to see some of Manila. 

 

 

 

Manila has it all...fancy’s homes and malls and dirt poor slums, and everything in between.  We saw a huge construction project and discovered it’s being built by just one family to deal with their various business enterprises. 

 

 

 

At the Ayala Museum we learned about the cultural history of the islands through a series of dioramas (they were exquisite btw). Like Costa Rica, we saw some of their huge collection of ancient gold.

 

 

 

At the US World War II Memorial Cemetery we saw row after row of nameless headstones to the thousands of young men and women who lost their lives in the Philippines. Our guide asked how I was liking the tour and I said the tour was great, but the Memorial Cemetery was immensely sad. So much potential gone in a flash... and for what? Why are people still fighting? When will we learn that battles kill and never completely settle an issue. 

 

 

All too quickly our time came to an end and we boarded the Coral Princess in time to celebrate Halloween on board. It’s going to be a spooky night! Most of the crew are dressed in costume and having a grand time. It’s time for a bit of fun.

 

 

 

Halloween on the South China Sea

 

The ship is decorated for Halloween. There are orange and black balloons hanging everywhere...as well as cobwebs filled with spiders and their creepy crawlies. We are going to have a party tonight.

Spooky!

Yutu

There’s a bit of a fly in the ointment ... a typhoon called Yutu has reared up his head. It’s supposed to make landfall in the Philippines before we land there in 2 days. Right now we are dealing with the vagaries of the storm with medium seas and a little bit of swaying. Princess has changed our course so we are not in the brunt of the storm and they are doing a good job. Do some research on Typhoon Yutu to find out more. I’m doing the same research but my internet connection is not as good as yours. If you find anything send it to me in a text message. I’ll get it in due measure. The weather is an issue but we are still enjoying our time on the ship...don’t worry about us. 

Hong Kong

 

The view from our balcony

 

We just docked in Hong Kong. A city a lot of folks have been waiting to see...the problem is you can’t see it right now. The skies are gray and somewhat drippy and a mist is covering the city. You can see the first row of skyscrapers, but thereafter it’s like looking thru an impressionist painting. No it’s worse than that...an impressionist painting has color and form, this has gray on gray and while there is some form, it’s misted over. I’m glad I’ve been here many times as I’m not disappointed. For the first timer, this is not the welcome to the city they were expecting. BTW it’s warm and there’s not a breeze in the miasma...it’s just gray and dull.

Same location as before...still the gray

When I teach photography I tell my students, you get the day you get, not the day you want. My lemonade out of the lemons. Today we have to make some lemonade!

 

 

Drummers

 

We were drummed out of Okinawa and it was a real treat. After a “hard” day we were resting when we heard a thump...only it was not the thump of an American drum, it was deeper and harder. Then we heard another and I said “I think there are some Japanese drummers outside.” We went to our balcony and listened to tribal Japan. The best part was a tiny drummer who was carried to the dance floor. He was placed at his spot, and proceeded to drum and dance with the rest of them. 

 

A great way to end our stay in Okinawa.