Caribbean Beauty - I thought about Carol at QuiltedFiberArt at every port!

 



Yep, I kept looking around and thinking, Carol would LOVE this view......oh Carol would LOVE these rocks...….Carol would LOVE this water!

We had no problems with air travel this time.  For a change!  Got to Miami when they said we would on a 737 no less.  Not a Max 8 or 9 however.  Miami was gorgeous!

The weather all through the Caribbean was perfect, not too hot, not blazing heat like they have in the summer months.  This is the perfect time to go.  No large crowds, but things are totally open and available. 

We boarded the Norwegian Bliss, a brand new HUGE ship.  4400 capacity passengers and 1500 crew.   But either they had a lot less than capacity passengers or they have designed this ship to spread people out, because we never stood in lines or was crowded like in some other ships.

That is the Bliss on the left.  The ship on the right is the Carnival ship we have been on several times.  BIG difference!

beautifully designed with a race track for go carts, a 3 story water slide, a 3 story out over the water water slide, a bowling alley, an arcade gallery and laser tag on the 21st floor.  Frank got sick on the race cars......just sayin'

















We caught up with our cruising friends Allan and Diane.   Laughed and loved every minute together!











We saw two Broadway shows (Jersey Boys and Havana)and the Fab Four Show.  Did you know the Jersey Boys was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons?  For some reason I didn't!

We kayaked in St Thomas, zip lined in Tortuga and segwayed in Blue Lagoon Nassau.  Well, Frank zip lined through 7 stations across the island, if I were meant to fly though the air I would have been born with wings.

Even the sunsets look like whales!

It is good to be home.  Tomorrow we get the dogs and all will be back to normal......except for a little sand in my suitcase!

The Big Party!

Yesterday was the Big Party Day.

I spent 5 days working on the house.  That schedule taped to my counter helped a lot.  I always knew where it was and could add things as they needed to be done. You always have last minute things you think of like the proverbial:

*%$(OMG! Why didn't I do that 3 DAYS ago?)*&%

It helped, it didn't completely erase those moments!

Diane, Carrie Jason Sawyer

One of which was the Fruit and Veggie Trays.  I ordered them from Albertson's and then I asked Frank to grab them when he went out for the ice on Saturday morning.  He comes back with a cereal bowl full of chopped fruit and a kid sized tray of carrots and broccoli with a tablespoon size of dip between them. 

Gary and Matt

Really?  This looks like a Veggie Tray to you?  So in order to allow my guest to have veggies if they wanted them, 

I resolved to only eat the brownies.  I made sure we had LOTS of brownies!

Matt and Sawyer

Other than that, things went really well.  I sat there thinking that these people will never get together like this again.  Rodney's Alzheimers is getting worse.  Ethan is starting his senior year

Karen, Michelle, Kenny

Gary, Carrie, Andrew

Kenny or my Dad (either way, same face)

Michelle

 in Denver, Matt just finished his Plebe year at the Naval Academy.  My brother's kids are getting scattered - one in Kentucky and one in New Orleans.  

It was a good time we were together, talking about the things we used to do.  Grandma and Aunt Annie and how they watched all of us at one time or another.  

Matt and Sawyer

The young cousins got to meet their youngest Cousin Sawyer and the oldest Rodney got to take charge of my kitchen and do what he loves best:  be the Chief Cook and   Entertainer.  

Ethan and Lucas were off somewhere with video games and the dogs  They are getting two golden retriever pups on Sunday for Jason's workshop.  

I hope the Bassets modeled good dog behavior examples.

I don't know why I don't have a photo of Rodney.  He was really enjoying himself.  He spoke in his Cajun French and flirted with me when I was drying the dishes he was washing.  He was out there working the grill to help Frank with those Amazing Ribs, He had a great day!

And the dogs were perfect.  Well, once you get over the first 15 minutes of :

+*&^%#    OMG PEOPLE ARE HERE 

AND WE ARE SO $%@ HAPPY TO SEE THEM $#%^*

There was even one time when  the front door was wide open and people were leaving and DiNozzo was just standing there waving goodbye to everyone.  He didn't even step out!  

What a good dog I've raised!

What a Great Party I threw.

And despite the fear that I was hiding the number of people I had invited and that 30 people would really show up, Frank survived too.

I asked him, if you thought I was hiding people from you then why did you get such a tiny bowl of fruit?

Interesting Friday

Had some friends over at lunch today.  One noticed my dish washer liquid.  She asked what it was.

I told her it was a new mix I had concocted called the Dawn of Joy.

Actually it was the leftover blue Dawn mixed with the new bottle of yellow Joy.  It does look weird I guess.

We had a great lunch, traveling down to Middendorf's in Akers, LA  for thin friend catfish!  And you know how I feel about that!


Last night we spent in Addis, LA at Jason's momma's house with Jason and "his" Carrie and ALL 5 boys!  They drove from Denver to Panama City Florida, spent the week and then drove over to Baton Rouge.  In a Dodge Durango no less!  I can say they are better parents than me, I would have stopped the vehicle and put somebody out before I got to the Colorado State Line!  And by the time I got to Florida I would have been kidless!

But It was great to see them.  And even better that we had some of the best crawfish ever.  They were HUGE!

The guy in the white hat is Rodney.  He is retired, has a Cajun Music Band that tours the US and Canada, rebuilds old cars and travels the US doing those old car shows.  He wins all kinds of awards.

George was cooking the mudbugs.  He is the one sitting by the big fans.  And of course Carrie and Jason.

Bridge on the way to Addis

I know I miss Jason, but when I see them, I REALLY know how much I miss them!  they are getting together with "my" Carrie and Andrew tomorrow for some cousin bonding.

Bridge looking from Addis on the way home!

I am almost finished with the Cotton Robin piece.  I put off doing the quilting until the last minute because I was afraid to make bad quilting.   But now, fear of failure is FUTILE.

They need to be all mailed by June 30th, so the BIG REVEAL should be soon!  I can't wait!

I still don't quite know what to do with the Triangles.  I didn't intend it to be a baby quilt, so I guess I need to make it larger.  More modern would be with no borders, but I have no desire to do 30 more blocks.  Actually, I guess it would be more like 18 blocks

Stash Report, Design Wall, Jason all in one

I have been on that Houston Shop Hop and did add some fabric to the pile.  Not much, but some.

Stash Report.

used this week	-1.5
used in june	-17.75
added this week	21.25
Add in June	71.25
Used YTD	-92
Added YTD	104.68
Stash reduction	12.68

 

We are in positive territory here for the first time!
Design Wall:  Still quilting Dan's quilt.  But adding some Duffle Bags to the mix.

Then we crossed this bridge to see my cousin Jason and his kids who now live in Denver.  Jason's momma was married to my beloved late cousin Terry.  She has been a wonderful friend over the last 40 years and her son has been like my own son.  I was so close to Terry when we were growing up, and his absence is deafening, as they say.

I dreamed about Terry last week, then Jason called to say he and the boys would be in town and his momma was having a fish fry.  I should have taken pics of the fish, amazing pile of fish caught by Diane's brother and nephews.  Rodney's band played for everyone, they do Cajun music all across the US and will open for the Three Dog Night Concert in Tampa soon.

  Jason is the one without the hat!  His kids look like their momma for sure!  The little one is Lucas and the older one is Ethan.

Boy do I miss them now that they are in Denver.  They boys are doing so well out there, they love snowboarding and excel in school.

We have such a smart family, cousin Karen's kid is super smart as well.  I guess that means Carrie's kids will have their goals set for them!

The space is belongs to Diane and husband Rodney.  Rodney purchased it from the bank as a foreclosure.  The buildings were used to fabricate the stuff for the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans.  There are three huge buildings and he has it full of 57 Chevys he has reconditioned.  All kinds of equipment like front end loaders and bobcats.  It is a wonderland of fun and interest for the likes of me!  And the kids LOVE being there!  They have the run of several dozen acres of pasture and land and the buildings and their grandma!

glen

Two, not without a Third….

I found out last night that my hairdresser (who was thin and ate healthy) died in her sleep the night before.  Everyone was totally shocked  She was 49. 

Irma was the one who made me look beautiful.  She knew just the right combination of ingredients to put that shine on my locks.  And she had class.  She was from Venezuela and had that deep thick accent that made you listen closely to her as she spoke.  I loved to hear her talk about her daughter Tatiana and granddaughter Adriana.  She will be missed terribly by her family and her clients. 

And even more scary, when I got home today from errands and my mom, a dear friend called and left an ominous message to call her, it was about her husband, Ralphie.  I am thinking he died.  He had several problems with his heart, but he was the most laid back non stressed guy you would ever know.  And the funniest.

(Update:  Ralphie had multiple strokes, has had up and down prognosis, and is now in a coma, but with brain activity.  No change from yesterday.  Which is good I guess.  Diane is falling apart about now.)

Diane and I grew up together, sharing those horrible pre-teen years when nothing is beautiful on your body.  She has gorgeous red curly hair, I had limp straight brown (but wanted her hair).  She met Ralphie a year before Frank and I married, and they married the following year.  I stood in her wedding in a huge huge dress with a huge huge hoop skirt!

Ralphie and Frank have been friends from the day they met.  They played softball together, bowled together, drank together.  We shot fireworks every New Year’s Day down on Milne Street in New Orleans.  It was an event for the neighborhood when they tossed out their dead Christmas Trees.  A huge bonfire commenced and they loaded it with thousands of fireworks.  Fireworks went flying everywhere!  You were constantly on the lookout for any coming your way out of the blazing fire in the middle of the street.  Interestingly, 3 of the 5 boys who grew up there playing with the bonfire every year because firemen!  Hmm.

We have so many stories of times together.  There was never a time we didn’t laugh and love being together. 

I fear the news is not good.  And that Diane has lost the love of her life.  I am dreading that return phone call. 

So with Irma and Ralphie I am thinking my stressful life combined with an Italian Cream Cake and fried food diet will keep me going for a long time!

glen:  where’s that candy bar????