Friday, May 13, 2022
Letter "S" -- Friday's Weekend Roundup 08 / Reflections and-or Street Captures
The "S" Week's prompts: Starts with "S"; A Favorite; Tom's choice, "Silhouette"; and Reflections and/or Street Captures.
_ _ _ _
What to do in January? Go to St. John in the Virgin Islands
Starts with "S": St. John's Island starts with "S". I'll tell and show you a little of our 2009 visit there.
First, turn the volume up I'll tell and show you a little of our 2009 visit therr. and you can hear the little waves. What you see is 'Beach Bum Jim' of Jim1Jim1 walking the beach in front of the Westin Hotel. Then he picks up the camera and pans up and down the beach.
Not much excitement but you can see and hear the action at the Westin Hotel Beach. (link to Jim1Jim1 YouTube) .
St. John's Island is mainly a tourist place. For the geography buffs, more than half of the island is a park. (link) With an area of 19.61 sq mi, it is smaller than our Galveston Island here in Texas. The population is only 4,197 permanent residents.
(Click on any picture for larger size)
The beach was nice, the water was warm, and we wished we had our swim suits.
Views are to the east on the left, to the west on the right.
Not much excitement but you can see and hear the action at the Westin Hotel Beach. (link to Jim1Jim1 YouTube) .
St. John's Island is mainly a tourist place. For the geography buffs, more than half of the island is a park. (link) With an area of 19.61 sq mi, it is smaller than our Galveston Island here in Texas. The population is only 4,197 permanent residents.
(Click on any picture for larger size)
.
We took this taxi to the Red Island Ferry. The views were nice, it rained on us a little all the way so the pictures weren't so hot.
The Red Island Ferry ride was uneventful except that we got to ride free.
We took this taxi to the Red Island Ferry. The views were nice, it rained on us a little all the way so the pictures weren't so hot.
The Red Island Ferry ride was uneventful except that we got to ride free.
We didn't know the beaches. Two other couples said they were going to the Westin Hotel Beach and that it was free. So we did that. On the left is the Westin stuff we had to walk through to get to the beach.
Their pool was very inviting but we were headed for the beach. Besides we didn't bring our bathing suits.
Where to sit, where to sit. "First walk around."
"No, lets get us our chairs first." As if they might run out.
The beach was nice, the water was warm, and we wished we had our swim suits.
Views are to the east on the left, to the west on the right.
Reflections and/or Street Captures: We didn't have much time to look around before catching our ferry back. We rode one that got us to the port this time. Red Island Ferry which we took first was on the other side and end of the island. It was cheaper and somehow we rode for free.
We did ride the second one for half price at the senior rate. They only wanted to give that rate to the locals but we said we were U.S. citizens too. And that we sure didn't discriminate like that in Texas. The young lady got tired of fooling with us and the ferry was waiting for us, the last passengers. So she let us ride as seniors. Our fare was $five and change each.
Silhouette: Note the outlines of the Balconies. They were all inside the hull and were called "bulkhead balconies".
This time since the ride was short, our 'r.ctaxi' fare was $2.00 each Here is a view down a side street.
We were happy to be at our ship almost an hour early. Three people were running late and the ship waited for them. Wasn't it nice that Queen Mary 2 would do that for them!
We decided to stop at the Internet cafe across the street to catch our e-mail and peek at my blog. This was all day for $4.00 or $1.50 an hour. We had used all of our package on the ship and were now paying 75¢ a minute.
A Favorite: We headed back to our cabin to change for our meal. The view is from our deck, the "bulkhead balcony." The seemingly window is actually the balcony door. Ladies don't miss much with their phones, Mrs. Jim discovered that our cell phone worked here at the St. Thomas port. She had missed a whole day of being on the phone except for this half hour or so.
_ _ _ _ _
NOTE: The above was copied from my February, 16, 2009 post (link). A rundown on our self guided excusion while we were cruising the Eastern Caribbean Sea with the Queen Mary II and were docked at St. Thomas.
Lagniappe # 2: The Countries I've visited that start with the Letter "S". (I've been to at least 76 countries):
Where First Times
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Seychelles
Slovakia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
- Click Here for all countries I've visited.
_ _ _ _
The Fine print stuff:
- [Click on any picture for larger, click it again for extra large]
- I am linked with Tom of "Backwoods Travel" (Link here to click for Tom's Weekend Reviews)
- I am also linking again this week with James of "Weekend Reflections/Street Photos" (click here for his Street Folk and Reflections Photos).
- The pictures mostly are all mine and rights are reserved to me under Copyright Law.
- - - -
Monday, February 16, 2009
Aboard the Queen Mary 2 -- What to do in January? Go to St. John in the Virgin Islands -- Our holiday, or vacation from retirement life, Part Five
[This is a part of a work in progress, more will follow (I hope). Click here to read what else I have posted about our Holiday at Sea.]
This was a nice thing to do. Our ship was to be in the port at St. Thomas for about six hours. Follow me:
First, turn the volume up and you can hear the little waves. What you see is 'Beach Bum Jim' of Jim1Jim1 walking the beach in front of the Westin Hotel. Then he picks up the camera and pans up and down the beach.
Not much excitement but you can see and hear the action at the Westin Hotel Beach. (link to Jim1Jim1 YouTube) .
St. John's Island is mainly a tourist place. For the geography buffs, more than half of the island is a park. (link) With an area of 19.61 sq mi, it is smaller than our Galveston Island here in Texas. The population is only 4,197 permanent residents.
This was a nice thing to do. Our ship was to be in the port at St. Thomas for about six hours. Follow me:
First, turn the volume up and you can hear the little waves. What you see is 'Beach Bum Jim' of Jim1Jim1 walking the beach in front of the Westin Hotel. Then he picks up the camera and pans up and down the beach.
Not much excitement but you can see and hear the action at the Westin Hotel Beach. (link to Jim1Jim1 YouTube) .
St. John's Island is mainly a tourist place. For the geography buffs, more than half of the island is a park. (link) With an area of 19.61 sq mi, it is smaller than our Galveston Island here in Texas. The population is only 4,197 permanent residents.
.
(Click on any picture for larger size)
(Click on any picture for larger size)
.
We took this taxi to the Red Island Ferry. The views were nice, it rained on us a little all the way so the pictures weren't so hot.
The Red Island Ferry ride was uneventful except that we got to ride free.
We took this taxi to the Red Island Ferry. The views were nice, it rained on us a little all the way so the pictures weren't so hot.
The Red Island Ferry ride was uneventful except that we got to ride free.
.
We didn't know the beaches. Two other couples said they were going to the Westin Hotel Beach and that it was free. So we did that. On the left is the Westin stuff we had to walk through to get to the beach.
Their pool was very inviting but we were headed for the beach. Besides we didn't bring our bathing suits.
Where to sit, where to sit. "First walk around."
"No, lets get us our chairs first." As if they might run out.
The beach was nice, the water was warm, and we wished we had our swim suits.
Views are to the east on the left, to the west on the right.
We didn't have much time to look around before catching our ferry back. We rode one that got us to the port this time. Red Island Ferry which we took first was on the other side and end of the island. It was cheaper and somehow we rode for free.
We did ride the second one for half price at the senior rate. They only wanted to give that rate to the locals but we said we were U.S. citizens too. And that we sure didn't discriminate like that in Texas. The young lady got tired of fooling with us and the ferry was waiting for us, the last passengers. So she let us ride as seniors. Our fare was $five and change each.
This time since the ride was short, our 'taxi' fare was $2.00 each Here is a view down a side street.
We were happy to be at our ship almost an hour early. Three people were running late and the ship waited for them. Wasn't it nice that Queen Mary 2 would do that for them!
We decided to stop at the Internet cafe across the street to catch our e-mail and peek at my blog. This was all day for $4.00 or $1.50 an hour. We had used all of our package on the ship and were now paying 75¢ a minute.
We headed back to our cabin to change for our meal. The view is from our deck. Ladies don't miss much with their phones, Mrs. Jim discovered that our cell phone worked here at the St. Thomas port. She had missed a whole day of being on the phone except for this half hour or so.
We didn't know the beaches. Two other couples said they were going to the Westin Hotel Beach and that it was free. So we did that. On the left is the Westin stuff we had to walk through to get to the beach.
Their pool was very inviting but we were headed for the beach. Besides we didn't bring our bathing suits.
Where to sit, where to sit. "First walk around."
"No, lets get us our chairs first." As if they might run out.
The beach was nice, the water was warm, and we wished we had our swim suits.
Views are to the east on the left, to the west on the right.
We didn't have much time to look around before catching our ferry back. We rode one that got us to the port this time. Red Island Ferry which we took first was on the other side and end of the island. It was cheaper and somehow we rode for free.
We did ride the second one for half price at the senior rate. They only wanted to give that rate to the locals but we said we were U.S. citizens too. And that we sure didn't discriminate like that in Texas. The young lady got tired of fooling with us and the ferry was waiting for us, the last passengers. So she let us ride as seniors. Our fare was $five and change each.
This time since the ride was short, our 'taxi' fare was $2.00 each Here is a view down a side street.
We were happy to be at our ship almost an hour early. Three people were running late and the ship waited for them. Wasn't it nice that Queen Mary 2 would do that for them!
We decided to stop at the Internet cafe across the street to catch our e-mail and peek at my blog. This was all day for $4.00 or $1.50 an hour. We had used all of our package on the ship and were now paying 75¢ a minute.
We headed back to our cabin to change for our meal. The view is from our deck. Ladies don't miss much with their phones, Mrs. Jim discovered that our cell phone worked here at the St. Thomas port. She had missed a whole day of being on the phone except for this half hour or so.
Labels: Holiday Posts, Jim Does, Places, Queen Mary 2, Travel
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
(Tuesday) Morning Post / MidWeek Blues
.
No, this isn't San Francisco. Nor is it Kokomo or Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahama, Key Largo, or Montego either.
For my Midweek Blues I picked this picture I took of Grenada back in 2009 as we pulled into port. [Queen Mary 2 Cruise posts]
Now the news, sad in a way as we will miss this fellow:
Scott McKenzie, singer and song writer: Died Saturday, August 18, 2010 (born January 10, 1939) at the age of 73. His most famous song was "San Francisco (Be sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" [sung by Scott link][lyrics link]
Wikipedia link (picture courtesy of Wikipedia [link] from the same article]
Do you remember --
Scott McKenzie's 'Kokomo'
Sung by the Beach Boys in 1988?
Hear it sung (here)
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beach+boys/kokomo_20013920.html ]
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Jamaica off the Florida Keys
There's a place called Kokomo
That's where you wanna go to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
We'll be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
To Martinique, that Monserrat mystique
We'll put out to sea
And we'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight
cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye
Give me a tropical contact high
Way down in Kokomo
.
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Port Au Prince I wanna catch a glimpse
Everybody knows
A little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast and then we'll take
it slow That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Excerpted from Jim's Little Blog, Monday, February 16, 2009 (link):
No, this isn't San Francisco. Nor is it Kokomo or Aruba, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahama, Key Largo, or Montego either.
For my Midweek Blues I picked this picture I took of Grenada back in 2009 as we pulled into port. [Queen Mary 2 Cruise posts]
Rebecca runs the MidWeek Blues meme over here (click) .
This week my blue item is the Blue Caribbean Sea here ahead of the town.http://thedustycellar.blogspot.com/search/label/Midweek%20Blues
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This week my blue item is the Blue Caribbean Sea here ahead of the town.http://thedustycellar.blogspot.com/search/label/Midweek%20Blues
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Now the news, sad in a way as we will miss this fellow:
Scott McKenzie, singer and song writer: Died Saturday, August 18, 2010 (born January 10, 1939) at the age of 73. His most famous song was "San Francisco (Be sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" [sung by Scott link][lyrics link]
Wikipedia link (picture courtesy of Wikipedia [link] from the same article]
Do you remember --
Scott McKenzie's 'Kokomo'
Sung by the Beach Boys in 1988?
Hear it sung (here)
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/beach+boys/kokomo_20013920.html ]
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya
Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Jamaica off the Florida Keys
There's a place called Kokomo
That's where you wanna go to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand
Tropical drink melting in your hand
We'll be falling in love
To the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
To Martinique, that Monserrat mystique
We'll put out to sea
And we'll perfect our chemistry
By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity
Afternoon delight
cocktails and moonlit nights
That dreamy look in your eye
Give me a tropical contact high
Way down in Kokomo
.
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Port Au Prince I wanna catch a glimpse
Everybody knows
A little place like Kokomo
Now if you wanna go
And get away from it all
Go down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast
And then we'll take it slow
That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you
To Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why don't we go
Down to Kokomo
We'll get there fast and then we'll take
it slow That's where we wanna go
Way down to Kokomo
Excerpted from Jim's Little Blog, Monday, February 16, 2009 (link):
[This is a part of a work in progress, more will follow (I hope). Click here to read what else I have posted about our Holiday at Sea.]
This was a nice thing to do. Our ship was to be in the port at St. Thomas for about six hours. Follow me:
This was a nice thing to do. Our ship was to be in the port at St. Thomas for about six hours. Follow me:
First, turn the volume up and you can hear the little waves. What you see is 'Beach Bum Jim' of Jim1Jim1 walking the beach in front of the Westin Hotel, St. Johns Island. Then he picks up the camera and pans up and down the beach. Not much excitement but you can see and hear the action at the Westin Hotel Beach. (link to Jim1Jim1 YouTube) .
St. John's Island is mainly a tourist place. For the geography buffs, more than half of the island is a park. (link) With an area of 19.61 sq mi, it is smaller than our Galveston Island here in Texas. The population is only 4,197 permanent residents.
Labels: Midweek-Blues, Music, Queen Mary 2, Songs, YouTube
Thursday, February 07, 2013
— My Alphabe-Thursday (2nd), the letter "L" / Thursday Two Questions —
n.
Bonus Question: What is your favorite "L" word?
. .
==> My post is for Amanda at her Thursday Two Questions blog, Self Sagacity.
New Zealand and Australia; more of our most recent cruise pictures
Here we have some pictures to honor Alphabe-Thursday letter "L"
Here we have some pictures to honor Alphabe-Thursday letter "L"
"L" is for Laugh. Today I have some pictures from our recent stay in Sydney that may make you laugh. At the least, I do hope they will make you SMILE.
We stayed in Sydney three and a half days and three nights after our New Zealand Australia cruise on the Diamond Princess.
We stayed in Sydney three and a half days and three nights after our New Zealand Australia cruise on the Diamond Princess.
This giant rubber duckie made me laugh a little, Mrs. Jim is smiling. Sitting in Sydney Harbor, it is a piece of art commissioned for the Sydney Festival. It was created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman [Zap2it Blog for more]. We enjoyed the Festival activities all over town. Saturday night we went to a concert in the park.
On Sunday we walked down to the Market City (link) on Hay Street. It has Haymarket and Chinatown, both to add to the sense of being in a large city market.
Here is Mrs. Jim on the draw bridge when we walked back from the Nautical Museum. The fellow in the background wearing a yellow vest is a part of the Park Guide force. I had asked him a question about the yellow duck anchored below.
Nothing to exciting about the lollipop tree but I smiled. It was a part of the souvenir shops located on the bank row of shops along the Harbor. We did buy a plush kangaroo.
We had a pleasant ferry ride (Sidney Ferries) around the Harbor on the Inner Harbour Ferry. It left the Circular Quay and sailed over to the Australian National Maritime Museum. I liked going under the Harbour Bridge. You can see the Sydney Opera House in the background.
We rode the train over and back across the bridge, we took took the ferry to Manly Beach for a morning, we rode the tram to the Harbor Fish Market, and took the bus to Bondi Beach for our major rides. There were many more as Sydney has a wonderful public transportation system. Since Mrs. Jim and I were seniors our all day tickets to all modes were $2.50 AUS each day.
Riding with the pedaling fellow in this bike mobile looks like it would be fun but he didn't have many takers. Mrs. Jim and I did ride in one of these in China and the ride was not fun.
The street painter was going to donate his painting to a local Salvation Army unit. There were a lot of people in his painting but I couldn't figure out what he meant it to be.
These two pictures I took at Manly Beach. Kids, perhaps a very small adult, could enter an OZBOBBLE to jump and roll around. It didn't look like fun to me. It cost $10 but I don't know how long a person could stay for that ten.
We didn't see a Water Dragon at the beach. Thank goodness, it could bite. They are Australia's largest lizard, the females grow to be a couple of feet long while the males grow to three feet long.
When was the last time you saw a Woolworth's Store? We haven't had them in the U.S. for years and years. This one had merchandise similar to what our Target Super Store would carry.
The plate? That is my last breakfast aboard the Diamond Princess. The porters had taken our luggage and all we could do was to wait for our turn to disembark. This was a good breakfast I got in the buffet. It had English and American bacon, one egg broken yolk over hard, one small pancake (under the egg), sausage links, a pineapple wedge, and some canned peaches.
That breakfast held me until after our Sydney Opera House tour that started at 1:30 p.m. We had already checked into our hotel and then caught the free shopping bus back down to the Harbor.
==> You can see other
"L" letter posts by visiting Jenny's blog
post,
Alphabe- Thursday. My letter "L"
portion of this post will be critiqued by Head Mistress Jenny. I always hope for
a good grade.
-
- - - - -
Now for my
Thursday Two
Questions.
My last post last week was about a "K" word, Kangaroo.
My last post last week was about a "K" word, Kangaroo.
My
Two Questions for this week (you can answer just
one if you wish):.
1. Do you ever laugh at things that make you smile? What was the last thing you smiled about or laughed at?
2. What does your community have for mass public transportation?.
I wish the Houston Metropolitan had decent public transportation. If yours does you should feel lucky.
Bonus Question: What is your favorite "L" word?
. .
==> My post is for Amanda at her Thursday Two Questions blog, Self Sagacity.
Labels: Alphabe-Thursday, Aus-NZ, Thursday-Two-Questions, Travel
Saturday, August 13, 2011
All dressed up and ... — Six Word Saturday — My knee today — Adi still watches after me
.My knee report and picture of my guard dog, Adi are at the bottom here.
[click on a picture for larger size] .. . . . . . .
What to
do on
Saturday
Morning?
do on
Saturday
Morning?
This looks like a simple question with a simple answer. (Hint: go to the beach)
Go to the beach it will be. KP has her twin buckets and is decked in a cool beach cover-up, matching Minnie Mouse Flip Flops, and a nice shade making sun hat. Mrs. Jim said she did have her bathing suit on as well.
There is one problem. The beach is at Galveston, Texas, over a hundred miles to the south and KP doesn't have a car. Nor does she drive on streets yet if she did have have a car.
Note: KP was here a week ago plus a little visiting us from LONDON, U.K. Also visiting were her Dad, Billy (pictured), her Mom, Karen (our daughter), and big sister, BP.
Or, KP can play drums:
KP plays a mean pot and wooden spoon drum. In fact she can play two drums at the same time. You can imagine how much noise all this makes!
Billy and Karen pulled off a good trade. The gave KP two bright pails, one orange and one blue, with two matching shovels. Those pretty pails don't give off nearly as much noise as do the pots. In fact we all can stand her playing them even in the house.
I am sorry that I didn't take her picture playing with the pails and shovels. But someplace, I have an old video of her playing the pots and spoons.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Describe your life (or something) in a phrase using just six words for Six Word Saturday. Click the box at right to visit Cate's blog with Mr. Linky showing all the other blogs participating this week. Cate is the boss at Six Word Saturday. She would like for you to participate
.
.
.
My knee is progressing pretty good. Today is three and a half weeks after surgery (total left knee joint replacement). I go in to therapy three days a week (MWF) for an hour each day. I have just started riding the bicycle. Today in five minutes I rode 0.32 miles.
Except for the bicycle I can do all of the exercises at home now just fine. But going there keeps me motivated. Plus they check to see that I'm doing things right. Home health stopped with their PT help and their nurse. Mrs. Jim appreciated their changing my bandages but other than that there wasn't much for the nurses to do.
Some have been wanting to check on Adi and her aging situation. She still watches after me and not much gets by her even if she can't hear.
Labels: Adi, KP, My Operation 2011, Six Word Saturday
Thursday, November 14, 2013
A Random Five post [022] — Venice to Athens via the Black Sea [Bulgaria] — Feline Friday
.
One: This, cat, a Hawaiian band member is the drummer. One of the chefs on our 2013-Venice-to-Athens-via-the-Black-Sea cruise made this cat from a pineapple.
You can see all of the band members, two of the chefs, and my Hawaiian shrimp salad here.
Below I will show pictures from our cruise that I took while we were stopped in Bulgaria.
On Sunday after church we did see more cousins, Dorothy who moved from Houston and SOME of the others.
One gave us this flower from her bush. She calls it a Confederate Rose. Mary took some blooms and also a couple of cuttings.
You may know more about Confederate Roses than they do. I don't think they are real roses. (Wikipedia says, "Hibiscus mutabilis, also known as the Confederate rose or the cotton rosemallow, is a plant noted for its flowers."
Three: Eating is good in our family. Mrs. Jim loves the fancy food on our cruises. One of her, and my, favorites is the Princess Coffee Club. We make one card last a whole cruise or more because with the card the special brews are "free". That sure beats the machine stuff.
Next is KP frosting the cupcakes she and Mrs. Jim had made. The whole family loves chocolate.
Finally is the "Special" board in one of the British pubs we had visited. I had a baked fish pie which was not on the menu. Sorry, no picture.
Four: I read this yesterday: "Upwards of 30,000 (African) elephants were slaughtered by poachers in 2012 — the largest number in decades. Despite a 1989 global ban on commercial ivory trading, the last five years have seen a dramatic surge in poaching that threatens to wipe out the roughly 500,000 elephants still living in Africa, experts say." (Read more here)
Five: Our Bulgaria stop on the cruise. First on our list was to go to the beach in Bulgaria.
The beach is on the Black Sea. Neither Mrs. Jim nor I had been on the Black Sea before, let alone putting our feet in. You will see below that I only put my finger in.
KP was leading the way. We rode over to the beach and back in this little train.
For this port we had to tender. That meant for us that we must ride back and forth to the ship in the life boats. That is kind of fun every now and then.
My Five things for happenings update, the cat and more cruise pictures
One: This, cat, a Hawaiian band member is the drummer. One of the chefs on our 2013-Venice-to-Athens-via-the-Black-Sea cruise made this cat from a pineapple.
You can see all of the band members, two of the chefs, and my Hawaiian shrimp salad here.
Below I will show pictures from our cruise that I took while we were stopped in Bulgaria.
Two: Visiting with the cousins ~~ Saturday, October 19, we had planned to visit my cousins (link) in Nebraska for a couple of days and then visit my sister in Iowa during the week. But we didn't go (link to my prior blog post about that).
But the next weekend we did visit Mrs. Jim's cousins in Louisiana. Above is Mrs. Jim with her 93-year-old cousin, Mary. Mary still drives and she teaches her ladies' Sunday school class every Sunday.
On Sunday after church we did see more cousins, Dorothy who moved from Houston and SOME of the others.One gave us this flower from her bush. She calls it a Confederate Rose. Mary took some blooms and also a couple of cuttings.
You may know more about Confederate Roses than they do. I don't think they are real roses. (Wikipedia says, "Hibiscus mutabilis, also known as the Confederate rose or the cotton rosemallow, is a plant noted for its flowers."
Three: Eating is good in our family. Mrs. Jim loves the fancy food on our cruises. One of her, and my, favorites is the Princess Coffee Club. We make one card last a whole cruise or more because with the card the special brews are "free". That sure beats the machine stuff.Next is KP frosting the cupcakes she and Mrs. Jim had made. The whole family loves chocolate.
Finally is the "Special" board in one of the British pubs we had visited. I had a baked fish pie which was not on the menu. Sorry, no picture.
Four: I read this yesterday: "Upwards of 30,000 (African) elephants were slaughtered by poachers in 2012 — the largest number in decades. Despite a 1989 global ban on commercial ivory trading, the last five years have seen a dramatic surge in poaching that threatens to wipe out the roughly 500,000 elephants still living in Africa, experts say." (Read more here)
Five: Our Bulgaria stop on the cruise. First on our list was to go to the beach in Bulgaria.The beach is on the Black Sea. Neither Mrs. Jim nor I had been on the Black Sea before, let alone putting our feet in. You will see below that I only put my finger in.
KP was leading the way. We rode over to the beach and back in this little train.
For this port we had to tender. That meant for us that we must ride back and forth to the ship in the life boats. That is kind of fun every now and then.
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Fine print stuff:
==> I am linked up today with Nancy at A Rural Journal. She conducts her "A Random Five" blog hop there. Click that link to read other "A Random Five" posts or to join in with your own.
==> For more Feline Friday cat pictures, you can to Sandee's blog here. Or go to Steve's at http://burntfooddude.us/ as he is the author of this meme.
==> Click on any picture for a larger size and a better view.
==> Click on any picture for a larger size and a better view.
Labels: 2013-Venice-to-Athens-via-the-Black-Sea, A-Random-Five, Family, Feline-Friday, Flowers-buds-plants, Friends, Travel
