Breakin' Up is Not Hard to Do!

Break-up is in full swing and it makes me extremely excited!  I am literally outside every day monitoring the progress of the snow melt.  I feel like I understand so much more fully the thaw that happens in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe!

This is the first ground that has appeared all on it's own!

 I would still like to hasten the ground reveal, so I took the wood ashes from the wood stove and liberally spread them out among my landscape!  It can't hurt...

 In the excitement of warmer weather, we have even begun some painting projects!  Clearly we can't accomplish this task in the out-of-doors, though we are consistently reaching the 40's, so we have taken over the floor of the shop as a staging area.  It works pretty well!

 Our snow melt is revealing some of our hidden items like one of my flower supports!  Super fun!  Oh, and the front deck that was completely full of snow has been carved back out and is on its way to melt-hood.  We (or I) will celebrate with much fervor when the last part of the deck has been freed from the icy grip of winter.

 Along our path is a small patch of grass that is slowly opening up!  Every time I walk by my pulse quickens with anticipation!

 Could you guess what was above?  Yes!  It is the literal break-up of our driveway, with a little bit of Pat's help with his maul and spade!  We will prevail!

 Rowdy is undeterred by the visual deterrent, and seems to be at a perfect weight to stay a top the snow!

And finally, the deeper shading way out there is the lake!!  If you look at it long enough you can see it.  It's subtle, but the color change is there.  Really.

Random Stuff

 Rowdy missed us while we were gone.
Actually, that's probably a lie.  He was taken very good care of in our absence.
I think Pat missed Rowdy though.  They've had some nice cuddle time since we've been home.

 One thing I had forgotten to post, pre-cruise that is, was our fun with the equinox!  We were so amazed at the broom standing up, we had to try it with our kitchen stool, and it worked!!

 Pat had spent the last year, more off than on, coordinating the work for this recognition wall for our local food bank.  We were finally able to get it installed and now are only waiting on the glass that goes in front to protect it.  Pat did a LOT of work on this project and we are glad it's almost completed.

 We also have been back on task to spruce things up to sell the house.  I am hopeful once again.  Surely third time will be the charm?!  We have had fun redoing the bathroom a little.  I had wanted to redo the floor and tub area, but we weren't sure we wanted to invest that much in time or money.

Yes, after I cleaned the house today, I have the feeling of really liking this house.  I just wish it was about 3800 miles south-east from here.  Since it is not, I will have no problem whatsoever in handing the keys to another owner.  Until then, I'll just have to suffer in a beautiful home in a gorgeous setting while my husband works at his well-paying job and we hang out with great friends.

Epic Trip! Finale!

 I promise this will be the last time I show pictures of our cruise!!  It was just so much fun to be out in the sun and warmth!  I don't usually show so much of myself, but I had to showcase some of my most favorite jewelry; my shell necklace!  My nephew and niece made it for me a while ago, and it goes with everything!  I love it!

 We spent some time in the hot tubs, but less than I thought we would.  It was already warm, but the jets felt pretty good on our worked out muscles!!  Relaxing is hard work!  It was interesting to see the movement in the tub/pools from our ship.  In fact, it was surprising to me to feel the movement as much as we did.  There was definitely some rocking and rolling, and even felt like swimming upstream in the pool!  Our swim suits were worn more in the last week than in the last 7 years combined!

 We had our last stop in Nassau, Bahamas.  We didn't book any excursions, and just found a beach to relax.  It was less than we hoped for.  The beach was crowded, a bit dirty, full of spring-breakers, and the water was cold!  But, the air was a little cooler and the sun felt perfect!

 Pat tried a tropical snack, but the milk was less than delicious and the coconut was gelatinous.  Not very appetizing! The sand where it wasn't punctuated with coral, was very soft and cool.

 On our walk in town, we came across this fascinating place of business.  I don't think I'd hire this firm...

 We ended up walking to a historical site called the "Queens Staircase."  It is a large staircase carved in the end of the hand-carved canyon.  The canyon was created by an English Lord, or rather his slaves, to create an invisible escape from the island in case of pirates.  It was an interesting place to visit and learn about, as the stairs were added later as a memorial to Queen Victoria for emancipating the slaves here.  It was a beautiful canyon!

 It was sad to watch the evening come, as we knew we would be disembarking first thing in the morning with an immediate bus ride to the airport.  Nassau wasn't our favorite port, but we really couldn't complain too much about our trip to paradise!  We were sunned, warmed, and pampered throughout, mostly by Maria, our room steward!  She was amazing, even after we scared her with our towel-man!

One of the things we discovered as we traveled in luxury, was that there were a lot of people involved in our comfort.  We tried very hard to show them that we appreciated them and took time to visit and hopefully convey that we believed they were important too.  We felt the pull of entitlement, but instead chose to look for opportunities to be gracious.

We loved our trip and would recommend it to anyone who thinks they may enjoy this sort of thing!

Epic Trip, Part 2...

 Blue Man Group was another of the shows that was offered on the ship.  We sat in pretty close seats in this auditorium as well, but it was still a surprise when one of the guys walked over us.  Literally - he stepped on Pat's shoulder as he steadied himself on our heads.  We were pretty affected afterward:

 The funny thing that night was that Pat left his own "towel creature" for our gal, and he happened to have a blue face, too!  I thought that was extremely clever, but it seems that just happened to be one of our beach towels and it was blue...still, pretty cool.  We liked the penguin!

 Oh, yes we did!  No pictures beyond this point, of course!!

 Coming back we were again in awe of the shear sizes of the ships.  They are really impressive!

 Our room is forward port side.  You can see the flying bridge that went over our room.  It was strange that our ship was the only one that backed into all the ports.  Kinda strange, but we didn't ask questions!    The large windows there in the back is where the nicer dining room is located.  That is where we ate most of the time.  The large windows are behind the stage where we did a little dancing after dinner!

Can you see that tan?!!   Nightlife was abundant, but honestly, we didn't participate much.  We took the evenings to relax and plan our next days, but we did take time to go out and enjoy the warm evening air and look at the stars! (Remember it's too cold in the dark winter to enjoy much stargazing, and by the time it warms up a little, there is no more dark!)  Seriously loved to see what animals would be greeting us as we came "home."

 Mornings were very relaxed.  We did go ahead and close the curtains to be able to sleep in, but we rarely slept too late.  We were always excited to begin another day!  Especially when they started out on our sunny balcony!  Have I mentioned that we enjoyed our balcony?

 Even when we stopped in port and had these gorgeous views, it was fun to look at the TV channel that showed the view from the bridge!  Plus it felt like another real window!

 St. Thomas was gorgeous when we landed, but instead of heading out to the tourist traps, we stayed on board for a few hours to take advantage of the sport deck.  Pat shot a while and then played HORSE with another guy before they set up the batting cage/net.

 After hitting a bunch of balls, and discovering his ability is much stronger left-handed, we headed out to our snorkeling excursion.  Unfortunately, the afternoon brought with it a lot of clouds and rain.  We headed out and got to our snorkeling destination just as the rain began to pour.  It was cold!  We quickly donned our gear and slipped into the much warmer waters!  The water was pretty choppy, and our snorkel gear had tons of rain-water drips in it, so it wasn't the best.  The water seemed cloudy, but I wasn't honestly sure if it was the goggles or the stirred-up water.  Despite the poor conditions, I had a great time!  It was a bizarre feeling to be in warm water with cold rain pelting your back!  There were sea turtles rising up right beside us, and some colorful fish in the reef.  As we were climbing back into the catamaran to head back in, the clouds began to break and the day ended up sunny again!  My floppy hat didn't fare too well through the rain, however.

 As we were leaving St. Thomas, we decided to dress up again and head out to one of the impersonation shows.  It was a lovely evening, and we had a great time watching Steven Tyler, Madonna, and Elvis sing and dance!

I mentioned how lovely our dinners were, right?  We always had a table for two, often at a window, and had impeccable service.  Needless to say, I did not loose any weight on this trip!!