Reflexology

The beginning of June during "senior's week" we went to a talk about reflexology.  That's something that always interested me, especially after reading the book, "Stories the Feet can Tell",  but never gave going for treatments too much thought.  I'd had acupuncture before but B doesn't like needles so wouldn't go.  The reflexologist who gave the talk was very knowledgeable and explained things very clearly.

At the senior's center they have a block of time for appointments and the price seemed quite reasonable, so after much debating, we joined the center and went for our first appointment.  It was quite the experience and we've returned several times since. 

I was telling a friend that both B and I were going and he asked me how it went.  I told him that I'd been feeling discombobulated and now I feel like I'm put together properly.  It's like in Star Trek when someone is "beamed up" but they missed a few molecules when they reformed, now with the treatments I feel like all my molecules are together again!! I also feel really relaxed afterwards!!

When we were at one session, B mentioned he had a stiff neck.  She didn't have an appointment after us so she took the time and had him turn toward the pain and she worked on his ear then turn the other way and worked on the other ear....his neck felt better!!!!

Busy Life...but good!!!

Our friend who has the cucumber greenhouses called and said he had lots of cucumbers, did I want some?  Got a bunch and made my usual salads and pickles with them then decided to try using cucumber in the Chocolate-chocolate chip zucchini cake I make.  Thought they might be too moist so put them in a sieve for awhile, but no water came out of them.  Cake turned out beautiful and yummy!!

A neighbour has an abundance of apples on her tree so she brought me a couple of boxes.  Got busy and over 2 days made 2 double batches of Apple Danish and Apple Pudding Cake, plus froze several bags of chunks of apples...also froze most of the cakes...freezer's getting full! 

During all this it was our 52nd wedding anniversary so we decided to go to a local restaurant and have dinner.  B had salmon and I had a delicious steak.  We told our waitress it was our anniversary.  She asked how many years and B said "25 backwards".  Took her awhile to figure out what he was talking about but after dinner she brought us a piece of cheesecake with whipped cream and a sparkler on it and wished us a Happy Anniversary.

Running Begonia

This was such a meager little plant when I got it...but look at it now...it's even doing a whole lot better than the others I got at the same time.  There was a label on the pot saying running begonia...no other info...never heard of it before and even the gal at the cashier didn't know what it meant.  This picture was taken a couple days ago and now it has even more blooms on it!  It is such a pretty little thing...kind of reminds me of the Ugly Duckling!

Fund Raiser

A couple from our church have two young boys but they have started proceedings to adopt a little girl from China.  They want to go to China as a family to get the little girl so they decided to have a fundraiser.  They heard of a local pub that does fundraisers so we bought our tickets and went.  Our ticket entitled us to a beef burger and fries with either a glass of beer or wine.  The burger was delicious!  They also sold "arms lengths" of raffle tickets and had a table full of door prizes.  We ended up winning two prizes!!!  We should be so lucky at the casino or with the lottery!!

One prize was a gift basket of goodies from IGA.  The other is a Himalayan rock salt lamp.  Apparently it naturally purifies and improves surrounding air quality by releasing negative ions.  It is a great source of energized light and the soft glow creates a refreshing, calming, tranquil and meditative atmosphere....the only problem is the coral colour clashes with the colours in my living room and I'm having a hard time figuring out where to put it!!

Saying Goodbye

Yesterday we said "Goodbye" to my brother-in-law.  It was a long sad day, but he wouldn't want us to sit around and mope, so it's on with life...even if our life is emptier now!!  The good thing is we got to connect with the family and support them.

Sad Sunday

We went to church this morning.  As usual it was a great sermon and it was nice to visit with friends after the service.  This weekend is Aldergrove Days so after lunch we were going to go down to the park and see what was there.  Before we got a chance to leave, the phone rang.  It was our niece with some bad news.  Apparently yesterday, her Dad, B's brother, was on his way to meet up with friends to go on a motorcycle ride but he went off the road and was killed.  Before retiring he had always worked a manual job as a welder, loved hunting and fishing and loved riding his bike.  He was also a very positive and jovial sort of person, who could make you laugh!  At least he died doing what he loved!!  Goodbye and rest in peace.

My Garden

At the old house we had a garden...didn't grow that much, but it was especially nice to have lots of zucchini and fresh beans.  Last year at the new house I planted some lettuce and beans in pots, which was totally new to me, but it worked out pretty good.  This year I've got beans, parsley, zucchini, mint, lettuce, tomatoes, mint, chives, lemon balm and some flowers.  They look pretty and we've already used some mint, parsley, chives and zucchini.  The beans have lots of flowers so I'm hoping for a good crop!

Crazy Mixedup Weather

The weather lately has been so crazy and mixed up.  One day is cold, next day is hot, it's raining then sunny....even our star magnolia bush which usually blooms in the early spring can't figure it out...it decided to send out a few blossoms!!!  That's supposed to happen in March not July!!!

Goodyear Blimp

I was outside in the back yard one day and heard what I thought was an airplane.  When I looked up it was the Goodyear blimp.  That night they said on the news that the blimp was flying out of the Abbotsford airport and would be for the next few days.  Apparently they're going to retire this one and build another one.  A day or so later it flying around again so I took several pictures of it.  This was the best one!

Lawnmowers

Just before we left for holidays, our trusty old lawnmower quit.  Our son-in-law tried to fix it but it needed a whole new motor so we weren't sure if it was worth fixing.  Our son had a "beer powered" lawn mower so he lent it to us.  B made out okay with it but it didn't cut the long dandelions and the catcher didn't catch all the grass clippings.

We went to the Co-op for Canada Day celebration and raspberry shortcake.  Afterwards we decided to go see what they had in the way of mowers and found this one. Electric...rechargeable batteries.  It's quiet, runs good and does a good job of cutting the grass.

The Things We Bring Home

Before we left for our cruise I took out this puzzle of Australia that we had and decided to put it together again, but didn't have time to finish it.  When we got back home working on it was a totally different experience, because...we'd been there!!!

We saw several didgeridoos while shopping in Australia, but most of them were over a meter (3 feet) long, then we found this one which is about 63 cm (25 inches).  It was also a lot less expensive and fit in our suitcase, so even though the longer ones are supposed to have better sound we decided to go with this one.  To be truthful, I'm not sure what kind of sound will ever come out of it anyway...and furthermore, we bought it for more of a souvenir than a musical instrument...and after all, it IS hand painted hardwood!!!!   

Several years ago when we were in Dakar, Senegal we went on a tour to this market and when we went inside this hut the fellow watched our eyes and when he saw me look at this guitar thing, he picked it up, kept pushing it into my hands and started bartering with me....only $40.  I kept telling him I didn't want it so he kept lowering the price.  Finally I felt sorry for him and broke down and paid a whole $5 for it!  Hubby told me I'd never get it home without it getting broken...took some creative packing...but I DID get it home completely intact and totally enjoy showing it off and telling the story of how I acquired it!

Food on Board

Usually when we go on a cruise I take all sorts of pictures of the food on board.  In the dining room especially, the food is always presented in the most beautiful way...sometimes it looks too good to eat!  For some reason this cruise I only took a few pictures of the food, but I'll share some of them with you.

On the Lido deck for breakfast you could get a big plate with your bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, pancakes, waffles, crepes or eggs benedict on it but my favorite were these small plates with fruit, the little glass of muesli and a big glass of guava juice. 

 
 At lunch time they had these small plates with salad, cheese and sliced meat or whatever on it.  It was a nice small size and you could try several.  One thing I didn't want to do is go to the salad bar...the salad bowls they had were so huge and the servers did not know the meaning of "just a little bit" you would end up with a salad big enough to serve a family!!




They had a real nice Asian section with an assortment of sushi, soup, vegetable and/or meat stir fries, egg rolls...all that sort of stuff.


Desserts of course were decedent... puddings, cakes, jello, pies, bread pudding with vanilla sauce and of course they always had hard and soft ice cream.


 Of course there was always room service, if you wanted it.  We usually ordered fruit, yogurt, toast or a Danish but you could get bacon and eggs if you wanted it.



 One night in the dining room this was the appetizer I ordered.



Every day at 3 or 4 pm they would have afternoon tea and serve little sandwiches and cookies or cakes.  One day they had an Indonesian tea with Indonesian food and tea.

Back to British Columbia

Docked at Ogden Point in Victoria.  It's a really nice port for tourists.  There is a bank of payphones there, internet is available at one of the gift shops and there's lots of maps and information on things to do in Victoria...we could have used ports like this in our travels!!!  Good job Victoria!!

We were supposed to meet up with one of my cousins here, so I phoned her.  She'd been trying to get hold of me but of course I didn't have phone connection or internet while we were at sea.  Unfortunately she was unable to come see us today, so we chatted for a bit instead, then we decided we'd just go for a walk.  It was a beautiful sunny day and there was a slight, cool breeze blowing....it was heavenly!!!

 Walked to Fishermen's Wharf.  There's also a really nice park/playground nearby.  On the way there we met a very nice man riding his electric unicycle.  He asked all sorts of questions about our trip and cruising in general....think he's wanting to go on a cruise!

 We didn't leave Victoria till about midnight.  It was so beautiful sailing out of the harbour at night with all the lights shining on the water.  We could even pick out the Parliament Buildings because they were lit up.

 Woke up to a sunny morning in Vancouver.  We ordered room service for breakfast and waited in our stateroom until they called our number for disembarking.

A good friend of ours was waiting to drive us home.  We had a very interesting trip and I took over 1000 pictures.  Hope you've enjoyed the smattering I've posted.  Thanks for letting me share and re-live our holiday with you. 

Honolulu, Day 2

It was so nice staying on board at dock last night.  Got up had breakfast then went out exploring.  Being that it was Sunday, a lot of the stores were closed.  Went to see the palace.  We were told that it's the only royal palace on American soil.  Couldn't go into it but saw it from the outside.

The palace is set in beautiful gardens and as we were walking I turned and saw this peeking out between a bunch of vines.  Had to zoom in but I just love the design...no idea what the building is.

 Couldn't go into the church because of a private function, but again we got to see it from the outside.

 If any of you watch Hawaii Five O you'll recognize this statue of King Kamehameha.  Apparently he was the king who united all the tribes of the Hawaiian Islands.

 The sun set so quickly tonight!!

We set sail for our 5 day trip to Victoria, British Columbia about 5:45 pm.

Going to a Luau

We are staying at the dock for the night so we were able to book a tour to go to a Luau.  The bus picked us up at the dock and took us out of town.  We ended up driving through an industrial area and I was beginning to wonder what sort of warehouse they were taking us to, but we did get to a lovely property right on the beach.  Apparently years ago when they started the Luau here, it was all sugar cane fields in the area but now they're not growing sugar cane so it's an industrial area.

This fellow handed us each a lei of seashells and we had our picture taken.

 Once everyone got there and the food was ready this fellow blew the conch shell to signal the beginning of the luau.

We followed the torch bearer to the underground pits where our dinner had been cooking and these fellows scraped the leaves and coals away to remove the meat that had been cooking for several hours.

The meat in the front right is the meat from the ovens.  Left front is some other meat and fish.  The stuff in the beige container on the top left looked like gummy worms, but the bus driver had told us to try it.  He said it would taste like chicken soup without the broth...he was right and it was very tasty!!  Top center and right is a bun, some fruit and some salad.  The little white cup with purplish stuff in it is poi.  Poi is made from the taro root and was a mainstay of the Hawaiian diet for many years.  The bus driver told us it tastes like wallpaper paste...he wasn't far off...it did have an odd mild taste.  Apparently it takes on the flavour of whatever you cook it with, so that's how many people us it today.  They had chocolate cake and the white squares are a firm jello-like dessert made from coconut milk...it was tasty. There was also a little cup with some preserved fish which was diced up really, really tiny and mixed with some tiny diced up vegetables with a very light dressing on it, but it didn't seem to get into the picture.

After dinner there were Polynesian dancers doing their native dances.  They told us Polynesia goes from the Hawaiian islands down into the South Pacific and includes New Zealand.  The dancers from each of these areas were similar but each country had their unique style and unique native costumes.

When we got back to the ship the fuel barge was tied up beside us and loading enough fuel to get us to Victoria and Vancouver. 

Honolulu

We arrived in Honolulu this morning.  We're docked at Pier 10 which is also known as Aloha Towers. The Coast Guard ship was docked across from us. Everyone aboard had to meet with US Customs officers, face to face and get a clearance paper to get off the ship. The procedure took awhile, but after getting clearance it was nice to get off the ship, walk out to the road and go exploring.  

 We found the Wal-Mart and Ross stores, but couldn't find an ABC store.  Last year we were in an area where there was an ABC store on every corner, so it seemed odd not to find one.

 Did find several interesting buildings though.

In one area they'd closed the street and made a nice walking area complete with fountains and plants.

 
In this area there were statues of young girls doing the Hulu dances....they were adorable.