Where Do I Begin?!?

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Tonight's photo I will give a little background for:

Renowned marine life artist Wyland has created several notable orca (killer whale) statues and sculptures. The above is "Orca Dream" (Icy Strait Point, Alaska): A monumental bronze sculpture unveiled in 2021. This life-size piece depicts an orca in mid-motion and is the second installment in his planned 100-piece monumental sculpture series. It is installed at the Alaskan cruise destination where orca pods are known to swim close to the shore. 

This sculpture wqs on the shore at Icy Strait Point where we docked.  We got to view it after our whale watching tour where we did see orcas…backs and dorsal fins of orcas.  

Well, now I have told a little more about the cruise that I hadn't told about previously…now what do I talk about?!?  I have gotten so used to be a tour guide that I don't know if I can figure out how to go back to my hum drum life!  

I guess the weather is a possible subject.  We are in the midst of a heat wave…I hear that a lot in the U.S. are.  A couple of hours ago we got a break in the heat…we went from 90+ down to 70° in just a few minutes late this afternoon…we had a storm blow in and dropped quite a bit of rain on us…the wind picked up…the rain fell and so did the temps…a nice change.  When I checked on the rain gauge, it looked like we were on the way to getting an inch of rain.  I haven’t looked again, but it continues to sprinkle off and on.  

I stayed at home today.  I did my grocery shopping yesterday as I felt like today was going to be crazy with Fourth of July shoppers.  Yesterday was pretty busy, but I don't think anything like it would have been today.  I got the ingredients to make my mother's recipe for Boston Baked Beans.  I decided that I would make them today…so instead of overnight! I soaked the beans for 8 hours and then cooked them on top of the stove for an hour and then put them and the rest of the ingredients in with the beans and popped them in the oven for 6 to eight hours.  I will check them at the end of four hours and see where they are in the cooking.  I think that they should be done before I am ready to sleep for the night,  They are starting to smell good…that is a good sign. My oven is cooking and my dishes are being washed…I have stepped away from the kitchen. 

My other main task for the day was to work on the lesson that I'm teaching in my Sunday School class on Sunday.  I have it at a good place for tonight,  I will finalize it tomorrow and print my notes. 

Tomorrow I am going to Nathan and Kathy's to celebrate two birthdays…our country's and…

I’ll let you know tomorrow!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

Back to Where We Started! The End to an Idyllic Trip

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Here we are heading towards the dock in Seattle.  This was taken from inside my room. I managed to awaken as we were pulling in around 5am so got some photos of the Seattle skyline before sunup.

We had a very smooth disembarkation…in the first group off.  Wade had our luggage whisked off and taken care of and we never saw it again till we got to Nashville.  We took a shuttle to the airport…again in the first shuttle bus that was heading to the airport.  Making it through TSA was super smooth that early in the morning.  We did have quite a long wait but we did a lot of people watching and found out we had to go to another gate, but we had plenty of time to do that.

We had a good lunch…our last vacation meal.  Melany and I had yummy grilled cheese sandwiches. Wade had tomato soup and something else (which leaves my mind at this point a month out from the trip!). 

We flew Alaska Airlines both coming and going.  We got back to Nashville a little before midnight. Alex picked us up.i spent the night at Melany and Wade's and Melany took me home the next morning.  That was the morning of June 11th.  When I write down that date, I just realized that I still haven't been home a month.  

I have enjoyed reliving the trip here on the blog.  I guess it will be back to the same ol', same ol' for the blog…back to the humdrum accounting for my days!  I will continue to post random photos from Alaska…believe me there are still plenty to share! I won't guarantee that I won't post repeats and will in all likelihood not comment on them unless they happen to jog a memory that I forgot to share with you!  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

The Butchart Gardens: Over 100 Years in Bloom

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The last part of our last excursion on our cruise itinerary was The Butchart Gardens.  I will give a little history about the gardens and then let the photos speak for the gardens!  

The Butchart Gardens covers more than 55 acres of a 130 acre estate.  It began from an idea Jennie Butchart had to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry which had supplied her husband Robert!s nearby cement plant.

The gardens through the skillful mixture of rare and exotic shrubs, trees and flowers, often collected by the Butchart during their extensive world travels.  The hospitable Butchart christened their estate "Benvenuto"—Italian for "Welcome." By the 1920s more than 50,0000 people visited each year.

Today The Gardens, still owned by the family, and together with a talented and dedicated staff, continues the horticultural excellence and welcoming traditions of Jennie Butchart.  It is visited by close to a million visitors annually. 

In 2004, The Butchart Gardens, in bloom for over 100 years, was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

O Canada!

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Our last port of call before returning to Seattle to disembark was Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.  This was my first time to step on Canadian soil.  We had entered Canada on our narrow gauge railroad excursion, but we didn't get off the train when we were in Canada.  This trip added two new states and one new country to my places visited in my lifetime = Washington state, Alaska, and Canada.  I will say that it was very cold and windy while we were  near the dock.  We were assured that once we got away from the dock that the wind would die down and that the temperature would rise…which it did.  Our excursion this time was a Butterfly House (very tropically warm in there!  About the only time on this trip that we were hot!) and The Butchart Gardens.  We took a bus that was part of the excursion to get into Victoria.  Our bus driver was an excellent guide and we got a very good tour of Victoria from the bus…very informative bus ride. One of the excursions that we could have chosen was a bus tour of Victoria…which we got added on to our garden tours.  Both garden tours were self-guided with times to be back at the bus.  And, I will say that both gardens were worth visiting.  I wanted to include the butterfly garden on our tour since Melany loves butterflies so much…so when I chose the excursion in Victoria, I chose the one that included the butterflies. I will first share some butterfly house photos and after that I will give a little background about Buchart Gardens.

Note that there are butterfly eggs on the far side of the leaf that the butterfly is on…it looks like that the leaf has been eaten some…maybe some eggs have already hatched and the hungry little guys are busy eating the leaf.  Butterflies like to lay their eggs on the leaves that is the preferred food of the caterpillars.

There are three butterflies in this photo that I spotted. One is not real obvious.

As you can see, it wqs pretty much a tropical paradise with much more than just butterflies.

I have decided that I will stop with the butterfly garden for this evening and continue with our Victoria excursion tomorrow evening.

Melany and Erin came for a visit today.  Melany and I started sharing our photos with each other. Interesting how we took pictures in almost the exact places, but focused on different subjects…or the same subjects in different ways.  Now…granted we have some that are pretty much the same.  And, I’m not sure that I mentioned before or not, but Melany took twice as many pictures as I did!  And, I guess, I just thought that 1800 photos were a lot!  And, I will say that 1800 have been rather overwhelming…I can only imagine 3600!!! Neither of us had looked at every one of our photos…I probably come closer than Melany at having looked at most!  We have decided that we are going to get together again next week and go through our pictures in tandem…looking at our photos day by day of our cruise.nni know today that we both air dropped photos to each other of ones that we took of each other, some that we didn,t get and of course "need" for memories, and ones that the other took that we liked better than what we took of a subject!  I think that we may be hopeless! 

Not long after Melany and Erin left, Nathan stopped by to return something and go check the blueberry bushes and pick some more.  Jo and I did a pretty good job of picking blueberries on Saturday…couldn't even tell we had picked today.  He with a little help from me quickly picked about a half gallon while we visited a little.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Cruisin' Cuisine!

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Breakfasts were yummy…everything from omelets to pastries to Eggs Benedict (pictured above…Melany!s favorite…sorry that I didn't think to snap the picture before I broke the eggs…this looks a little messy…messy but good.  We ate breakfast most mornings in one of the ships complementary dining rooms…good food…good service…good company! 

The first night we ate in one of the speciality dining rooms…Cagney's Steak House.  Above you see our desserts.  Yummy…but by the time we got to dessert we hardly had room!  I will say waaaaaay too much food is served!  By the end of the cruise I had had my fill of 3 course meals…and my body was saying enough is enough…even though good as it was.  It has taken me a while to be very interested in food since I have been back. 

One night we ate at the barbecue restaurant “Q.” I had pulled pork…as you can see the portions were very large.  And, I knew that I wanted to save room for their famous banana pudding served in a canning jar…very good…but it should have been served first so I could have REALLY enjoyed it.  Dessert would have been enough for me for my dinner!  We had entertainment with our meal…a trio from Nashville…so add loudness to that meal, too!

We ate lunch one day at the American Diner…I had delicious loaded nachos!  They made me too full for dinner!  Note the view we had in this restaurant.  Beautiful but quite cool as we were not totally enclosed and our tables were exposed to wind and chill!  The wait staff had on knit hats and jackets!

We were entertained by our cook when we ate at Tepanyaki.  Another delicious meal…I had steak and shrimp…yummy…but too much food! 

Definitely the dining experiences were very good on our cruise.  I will say it is nice to sit down and be treated royally!  The servers were so kind to us and definitely treated us like royalty!  I will say that it was obvious that many of the wait staff grew up in a matriarchal society…I was treated especially nice as a grandmother figure.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

I did get good news today at my oral surgeon appointment.  The place has healed over so no further surgery will be required!  

Sunday Alaska Favorite

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Cruise Views From Deck & Balcony

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Sea Gulls

Jelly fish…lots!

Eagle from my balcony when we were docked in a port.

Zoomed in on the same eagle pictured above.

Eagle at the top of the tree and a juvenile eagle to the right side of the tree…brown…no white yet on the head of the juvenile yet,

Two eagles in this tree…one guarding from on high and the other one in a nest.  Those nests are huge! At the raptor center they had a model of a nest that they let you stand in to see the size.

Then he flew…photo not clear…think of it as an impressionist painting! 😁

Not sure if these are seals or sea lions…

Watching an otter float as we pass by him and some of his friends.