Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Christmas Day Party 2011 Part 2 Food at the Party!
Food Arrives to the 12 foot Kitchen Island
As the guests arrived we had a magnificent array of food on the island. The Food Arrives to the 12 foot Island We had appetizers that included marinated asparagus, my personal specialty, French cheeses, including a baked brie, and a firm white cheeze, sweet pickled peppers (say that 5 times quickly), rolled pretzels dipped in white peppermint, a new recipe that I downloaded,refrigerated cauliflower pickles, black olives, several kinds of crackers and salmon dip, and samosas from Reza's mom. I know I have forgotten a few members on the appetizer spread so please forgive me. As always you could pretty much live off the first course. This is a family that loves to cook and bring so we celebrate that too on this day! The dinner menu included corned beef and cabbage, white sauce enchiladas, mac and cheese with tomatoes, and ham by the master ham maker, Robert. Kelly had a couple of requests for her red oriented jello, and mom brought the green salad. Mikie brought a delightful fruit salad and someone brought some beautiful roasted purple potatoes and broccoli. A wonderful chicken and rice casserole showed up on the counter as well as many special Iranian dishes. We had quite a spread. If you couldn't find some that you could eat on that spread, then you just were not into eating that day.
We all found spaces at the tables and we had great conversations. Suzy had a chance to get out her little Christmas dessert plates and people had a chance to visit the food table and the people next to them for a nice period of time.
The Lovely Lemon Throw Down Begins
The cry went out for the lemon throw down competition to begin. The table was cleared and Linzi summoned the four neighbor judges. Each entry was given a number and four portions each of the eight entries were lined up on the table. There was super lemon cake, and lemon ginger cookie sandwiches. There also was lemon bars, and lemon bunt cakes. We had lemon cupcakes with penuche frosting and lemon cornmeal cookies. Someone brought lemon rosemary cookies and lemon marsh mellow whipped cream wedges. The judges had some tough decisions. We watched them as they poured over the entries. They seemed to delight in their task... but it was difficult. One judge asked if the batters had to be homemade. Comments were made on the judging cards and the judges were able and happy to scoop up their portions and take them with them back to their Christmas celebrations next door.
A bit of panic spread among the contestants. Some of them had forgotten the number that was assigned to their masterpieces. A quick run down with the judges provided content to the numbers that they were judging,
Wanda Brown Wins!
A The winner of the contest was my mom. She won with her lemon bar recipe that used Meyer's lemons and was both delicate and textural in its lemon interpretation. Some people were a little disappointed because they were sure that theirs would win. In the end we all won as there was plenty of lemon dessert for Christmas dinner. Some were made in a team effort. Some were a solo concept piece. All of the contestants which represented all of the major families, had a new conversational piece. How was yours made? Compliments were handed out to people that do not usually do any baking in their family but rose to the occasion with an entry.
Kelly felt her entry was vindicated even though it didn't win, because Suzy spent 10 minutes attacking her cake with a spoon and loving every bite. Overall the contest was a great successs!
At the end of the contest there was rumblings about what the contest would be next year. Would it be chocolate or maybe coconut? Or will it change to a general category like side dishes? Some people in our family have nut allergies so that should be figured into planning next year. I really think that there is a next year with this idea.
Love and Peace to your all! : ) Pat
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas Party December 25th 2011 Part One
Chair and Table Placement for the Event
My sister thinks that this tale should be told in about three entries. Optimistically I start with the first.
We remodeled our home a few years ago. We added a new kitchen and this allow for a breakout area with an island between the dinning room area and the kitchen. For most of the year this area is under used. The island itself has a drop down shelf that allows for two chairs to set and eat facing each other. A third chair may be added in the pass through area so that a third person could sit with us and have dinner. Originally it was thought that it would serve as a spot that Sue could sit and help prep veggies for dinner and not have to stand up through the process. It is covered as is all the kitchen counter surfaces with porcelain tile. Hot plates may be set anywhere on the counter with heat immunity.
Site Prep
The first order of business besides planning this event was to clear off the island and put the items that were piled on the island to there natural.
Suzy my wife started out by decorating the dining room table from one end to the other with red plaid table cloths and candles run by tiny batteries. Our new kitten, Oliver, thought that was great fun to rumple up the table cloth and skid from one end to the other, leaving in his wake a wave of place cards and silverware!.
We also started counting the number of spots that would be occupied by the family. The count turned to 15.
Lindsay, the youngest daughter, suggested that we should work to the idea that everyone should have a seat at the table. Last year, she and her husband ate their Christmas dinner on the kitchen couch because there were not enough spots at the table for them. So to remedy that, I bought in the long table that was being used for canning in the summer. It had spent the summer and the fall getting dirty in the backyard. I scrubbed and cleaned off all of the black mold that had accumulated and a dust and dirt that had blown on to the table.
Sue had anticipated using the table so a matching plaid tablecloth was available for its use. We resolved that issue as to whether the table would be positioned at the T formation of parallel. The T formation with complete sides was agreed upon and decorated accordingly. We needed to use the head spot on the table to accommodate our numbers but we did not need them parallel as it would lead to difficulty in accessing the island as a buffet surface.
Invitations were sent to each family. I had some watercolor based cards that I could quickly make a Christmas tree with my watercolors. We figured the time schedule, knowing that it would be adapted for the company that was to come. Our listed target time was 11:30 on Christmas day. Breakfast materials and brunchy stuff would be out there for those arriving early. At noon we were to have enough of the starters so that people could nosh until the main courses could be heated and ready to hit the table at 1-1:30. Then we would start the special interest groups. As it worked out we were only a half an hour behind schedule. Good work family. Most of the participants had to travel 2 hours or more to get to our house.
Our family has a unique gathering activity post dinner. In the past we have tried a number of things. The family is pretty artistic and small craft projects have often been utilized. We have made Santa beards one Christmas. We have made tiny acrylic painting to set on tiny easels in another year. We have played games that were designed by some very creative game masters.
The Lovely Lemon Throw Down
This year we added a new wrinkle to the activities that interacted with the meal. After seeing some of the Bobby Flay throw downs on TV, I though that we should should see if we could put one together for all of the great cooks and bakers in our family.
In the TV throw downs, Bobby Flay goes out to a restaurant and challenges the cook to a contest to see if he could make an item as good or better than the one that the restaurant had built a reputation. Ours would have a different set of parameters. The group would be challenged if they decided to participate, in making one lemon dessert that would be judged against lemon desserts that other people would bring. The main idea was that it had to be a lemon dessert and it had to be made by the participant.
I put up a 50 dollar gift certificate to a fancy cooking store in the Bay Area as the winner's prize.
This year there was great participation. There were 8 diverse entries into this contest. A lot of buzz was generated in the family about "secret" entries. Some people were not keen about sharing their plans until the day of the contest, after the dinner was completed. I had asked one of the neighbors to come over and judge the contest. Lindsay thought that it would be great to have a few more than one judge. She knocked on the other neighbor's house and rounded up three more people to judge the contest. There were a total of 4 judges for this contest.
The judges were asked to put in order the top three entries. Three of the judges left copious notes as to what they were tasting and what they liked.
A winner was determined by the ranking of the top three. The winner did not win by unanimous decision but the winner was easily determined by the relative strength of the rankings. To find out who won.. check in with part two.
: ) Pat
My sister thinks that this tale should be told in about three entries. Optimistically I start with the first.
We remodeled our home a few years ago. We added a new kitchen and this allow for a breakout area with an island between the dinning room area and the kitchen. For most of the year this area is under used. The island itself has a drop down shelf that allows for two chairs to set and eat facing each other. A third chair may be added in the pass through area so that a third person could sit with us and have dinner. Originally it was thought that it would serve as a spot that Sue could sit and help prep veggies for dinner and not have to stand up through the process. It is covered as is all the kitchen counter surfaces with porcelain tile. Hot plates may be set anywhere on the counter with heat immunity.
Site Prep
The first order of business besides planning this event was to clear off the island and put the items that were piled on the island to there natural.
Suzy my wife started out by decorating the dining room table from one end to the other with red plaid table cloths and candles run by tiny batteries. Our new kitten, Oliver, thought that was great fun to rumple up the table cloth and skid from one end to the other, leaving in his wake a wave of place cards and silverware!.
We also started counting the number of spots that would be occupied by the family. The count turned to 15.
Lindsay, the youngest daughter, suggested that we should work to the idea that everyone should have a seat at the table. Last year, she and her husband ate their Christmas dinner on the kitchen couch because there were not enough spots at the table for them. So to remedy that, I bought in the long table that was being used for canning in the summer. It had spent the summer and the fall getting dirty in the backyard. I scrubbed and cleaned off all of the black mold that had accumulated and a dust and dirt that had blown on to the table.
Sue had anticipated using the table so a matching plaid tablecloth was available for its use. We resolved that issue as to whether the table would be positioned at the T formation of parallel. The T formation with complete sides was agreed upon and decorated accordingly. We needed to use the head spot on the table to accommodate our numbers but we did not need them parallel as it would lead to difficulty in accessing the island as a buffet surface.
Invitations were sent to each family. I had some watercolor based cards that I could quickly make a Christmas tree with my watercolors. We figured the time schedule, knowing that it would be adapted for the company that was to come. Our listed target time was 11:30 on Christmas day. Breakfast materials and brunchy stuff would be out there for those arriving early. At noon we were to have enough of the starters so that people could nosh until the main courses could be heated and ready to hit the table at 1-1:30. Then we would start the special interest groups. As it worked out we were only a half an hour behind schedule. Good work family. Most of the participants had to travel 2 hours or more to get to our house.
Our family has a unique gathering activity post dinner. In the past we have tried a number of things. The family is pretty artistic and small craft projects have often been utilized. We have made Santa beards one Christmas. We have made tiny acrylic painting to set on tiny easels in another year. We have played games that were designed by some very creative game masters.
The Lovely Lemon Throw Down
This year we added a new wrinkle to the activities that interacted with the meal. After seeing some of the Bobby Flay throw downs on TV, I though that we should should see if we could put one together for all of the great cooks and bakers in our family.
In the TV throw downs, Bobby Flay goes out to a restaurant and challenges the cook to a contest to see if he could make an item as good or better than the one that the restaurant had built a reputation. Ours would have a different set of parameters. The group would be challenged if they decided to participate, in making one lemon dessert that would be judged against lemon desserts that other people would bring. The main idea was that it had to be a lemon dessert and it had to be made by the participant.
I put up a 50 dollar gift certificate to a fancy cooking store in the Bay Area as the winner's prize.
This year there was great participation. There were 8 diverse entries into this contest. A lot of buzz was generated in the family about "secret" entries. Some people were not keen about sharing their plans until the day of the contest, after the dinner was completed. I had asked one of the neighbors to come over and judge the contest. Lindsay thought that it would be great to have a few more than one judge. She knocked on the other neighbor's house and rounded up three more people to judge the contest. There were a total of 4 judges for this contest.
The judges were asked to put in order the top three entries. Three of the judges left copious notes as to what they were tasting and what they liked.
A winner was determined by the ranking of the top three. The winner did not win by unanimous decision but the winner was easily determined by the relative strength of the rankings. To find out who won.. check in with part two.
: ) Pat
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Copper Spray on Dormant Peaches
Here are the directions for Liqui Cop, a Copper Based spray to prevent leaf curl in Peaches and Apricots
MIXING AND SPRAYING DIRECTIONS
Fill spray tank half full of water. Add recommended amount of LIQUI-COP. Add balance of water.
Using either a hose-end or pressurized hand sprayer, apply at the rate of one gallon mixed
spray solution to 200 sq. ft. of garden area or up to two gallons mixed spray solution to a
large tree. Thoroughly wet foliage to the point of runoff, taking care to cover all plant surfaces.
Agitate the container of mixed spray solution regularly during application to maintain an
adequate suspension.
3-4 Tablespoons per gallon.
In the past I have been negligent in getting the peaches sprayed. It is kind of disheartening to arrive in the Spring when the leaves should come out and many of the leaves are severely distorted and buckled and then they dry out and are useless to the tree.
So.. this year they are getting the copper!
An old nurseryman said that your should spray to prevent leaf curl at every holiday.. it spaces it out about 2 weeks apart and enough spray gets on. I have already missed the Thanksgiving spray. This bottle says 2 sprays should be enough.. We will see.
: ) Pat
MIXING AND SPRAYING DIRECTIONS
Fill spray tank half full of water. Add recommended amount of LIQUI-COP. Add balance of water.
Using either a hose-end or pressurized hand sprayer, apply at the rate of one gallon mixed
spray solution to 200 sq. ft. of garden area or up to two gallons mixed spray solution to a
large tree. Thoroughly wet foliage to the point of runoff, taking care to cover all plant surfaces.
Agitate the container of mixed spray solution regularly during application to maintain an
adequate suspension.
3-4 Tablespoons per gallon.
In the past I have been negligent in getting the peaches sprayed. It is kind of disheartening to arrive in the Spring when the leaves should come out and many of the leaves are severely distorted and buckled and then they dry out and are useless to the tree.
So.. this year they are getting the copper!
An old nurseryman said that your should spray to prevent leaf curl at every holiday.. it spaces it out about 2 weeks apart and enough spray gets on. I have already missed the Thanksgiving spray. This bottle says 2 sprays should be enough.. We will see.
: ) Pat
Monday, December 19, 2011
Going to Colorado for Christmas
One year we left the cheery confines of Northern California to venture East to experience Colorado Christmas in Palisade.
Gandma and Grandpa owned and lived on a 40 acre peach orchard farm. Formed from rocky sandy soil of a bench plateau from flooded ancient years of the Colorado River, this farm despite its rocks, was perfect soil for raising peaches.
In the winter the peaches slept in somber hibernated states. Gathering up the required hours of cold to allow for a perfect bloom season.
After school was out in California, our parents gathered us up. The us was a 4 year old sister and myself a post kindergarten 7 year old.
My sister screamed and cried when the giant passenger train released its breaks to slide into position in Oakland.
We had taken the ferry across the bay to board the California Zepher. it was known for its "vista dome." A huge upstairs addition to the cars, allowed the passengers the ability to"sight see" with its huge window and broad chairs. A version of it may be seen as part of the California Adventure entryway in Anaheim.
As a 7 year old this was as close to nirvana as it gets. There were steep steps to climb, there as a slight chance of some unsupervised freedom. There was a water dispenser with paper cone cups and a chance to see the landscape as the train moved along. These seats did not belong to any given passenger, They were"extra" seats.
Mom and dad were mostly staying in the home base seats on the ground level. My sister and I were amazed at the African American porters that serviced the rail cars. They cleaned and tidied up the living area. A conductor had a a little table in the back that he managed the ticket part of the journey. People would get off and on at various stops along the way. He marshaled the almighty hand punch that verified that the ticket was indeed used. He also made sure where the people that had stops along the way were seated. In the commission of job he had time to stop and converse with the passengers. Other passengers in a much more relaxed era than now could also converse with each other. Some people brought bags of snacks on the train.
Dinner reservations were obtained from the porters. A reservation was made for dinning car spots. They were all "make a table" arrangements which meant that you never knew whom you would be sitting with. The reservations for the earlier times, also came with menu choices that were less expensive. A favorite of mine was salsbury steak.
Salsbury steak is a thick hamburger/meatloaf entree that is covered with gravy and served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable.
The dinning car, which was usually in the middle of the train had seats that faced each other in a both arrangement. To get there, all passengers had to move from train car to train car through the noisy transition covers. These were particularly scary to a 7 year old. The transitional plates slid back and forth as you made your way from car to car. I was sure that my legs would be sliced off if I missed the plate as we stepped from car to car in this exciting transition. In the mean time the train was always sliding back and forth and the sound of the train being pulled down the track form the outside was imminently engaging.
The Western Pacific was the train route. It moved through the valley to Sacramento and then headed up the feather river route to cross the Sierras in a pass that was mainly for the train and not a heavily used car route. The Western Pacific railroad would take us all the way to Salt Lake City. At that point the Rio Grande railroad would hitch its locomotives to the Zephyr and head it East through Utah and into Colorado.
I remember the route as being full of pine trees. I was up in the vista dome when somewhere in the foothills we made a huge circle around and could see both ends of the train at once.
We rolled out of the Sierras at Pyramid lake. It is an ancient desolate lake. It connected us with the outskirts of Sparks Nevada where it was clearly dark and we were headed through the dessert into our middle of the night arrival in icy Salt Lake City.
Snow was on the ground most of the way from Sparks to Salt Lake City. Snow is not a regular visitor in South San Francico.. so this was an amazing thing to see for me.
More on the trip to Colorado in later installments: Pat
Gandma and Grandpa owned and lived on a 40 acre peach orchard farm. Formed from rocky sandy soil of a bench plateau from flooded ancient years of the Colorado River, this farm despite its rocks, was perfect soil for raising peaches.
In the winter the peaches slept in somber hibernated states. Gathering up the required hours of cold to allow for a perfect bloom season.
After school was out in California, our parents gathered us up. The us was a 4 year old sister and myself a post kindergarten 7 year old.
My sister screamed and cried when the giant passenger train released its breaks to slide into position in Oakland.
We had taken the ferry across the bay to board the California Zepher. it was known for its "vista dome." A huge upstairs addition to the cars, allowed the passengers the ability to"sight see" with its huge window and broad chairs. A version of it may be seen as part of the California Adventure entryway in Anaheim.
As a 7 year old this was as close to nirvana as it gets. There were steep steps to climb, there as a slight chance of some unsupervised freedom. There was a water dispenser with paper cone cups and a chance to see the landscape as the train moved along. These seats did not belong to any given passenger, They were"extra" seats.
Mom and dad were mostly staying in the home base seats on the ground level. My sister and I were amazed at the African American porters that serviced the rail cars. They cleaned and tidied up the living area. A conductor had a a little table in the back that he managed the ticket part of the journey. People would get off and on at various stops along the way. He marshaled the almighty hand punch that verified that the ticket was indeed used. He also made sure where the people that had stops along the way were seated. In the commission of job he had time to stop and converse with the passengers. Other passengers in a much more relaxed era than now could also converse with each other. Some people brought bags of snacks on the train.
Dinner reservations were obtained from the porters. A reservation was made for dinning car spots. They were all "make a table" arrangements which meant that you never knew whom you would be sitting with. The reservations for the earlier times, also came with menu choices that were less expensive. A favorite of mine was salsbury steak.
Salsbury steak is a thick hamburger/meatloaf entree that is covered with gravy and served with mashed potatoes and a vegetable.
The dinning car, which was usually in the middle of the train had seats that faced each other in a both arrangement. To get there, all passengers had to move from train car to train car through the noisy transition covers. These were particularly scary to a 7 year old. The transitional plates slid back and forth as you made your way from car to car. I was sure that my legs would be sliced off if I missed the plate as we stepped from car to car in this exciting transition. In the mean time the train was always sliding back and forth and the sound of the train being pulled down the track form the outside was imminently engaging.
The Western Pacific was the train route. It moved through the valley to Sacramento and then headed up the feather river route to cross the Sierras in a pass that was mainly for the train and not a heavily used car route. The Western Pacific railroad would take us all the way to Salt Lake City. At that point the Rio Grande railroad would hitch its locomotives to the Zephyr and head it East through Utah and into Colorado.
I remember the route as being full of pine trees. I was up in the vista dome when somewhere in the foothills we made a huge circle around and could see both ends of the train at once.
We rolled out of the Sierras at Pyramid lake. It is an ancient desolate lake. It connected us with the outskirts of Sparks Nevada where it was clearly dark and we were headed through the dessert into our middle of the night arrival in icy Salt Lake City.
Snow was on the ground most of the way from Sparks to Salt Lake City. Snow is not a regular visitor in South San Francico.. so this was an amazing thing to see for me.
More on the trip to Colorado in later installments: Pat
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Dungeness Cab
Growing up this was a family tradition,
When Grandma and Grandpa came out to spend Christmas with us they arrived about this time in December. They had packed their belongings and a steamer trunk full of apples and scooted on the California Zephyr. The trip took them out of down town Grand Junction in the rail yard. It was often snowy and icy most of the way to California.
They traveled by train because it was considerably less expensive than air travel. Just 24 hours later and a ton of snow upon the tracks they arrived at Jack London Square in Oakland ready to make the journey across the bay by ferry to the station at 4th and Townsend. This is a foggy unpredictable time in Northern California. It is not, however snowy. Which is another reason that the Grandparents would arrive to spend at least two weeks with us.
We were always excited to pick them up because it meant that school as out and our family events could occur. One of these events included a gigantic crab feed. We would go down to fisherman's wharf and Dad and Grandpa Bayard, known to his compatriots as BW, would pick out about 3 of the juiciest crabs they could find. If it wasn't busy, we would ask the man in charge of the pots to crack them up for us. A couple of fast cracks with a little wooden mallet and a quick wrap in butcher paper would have is headed back to the dinner. Mom would have a big pot of minestrone soup warming up on the stove and San Francisco sourdough french bread would be broken and consumed along with the picking through of the meat from the crabs and the steaming soup.
It was winter in the city and it was pretty nice. I think that one of my sister's didn't think that eating crab was proper. Mom and Dad had the perfect answer for this... all the more for the rest of us. The crab from the bay area when it is freshly cooked and right out of the cooking pots is very hard to beat. There as some in my family that prefer it to lobster... nope.. I won't tell you who.
Another memorable crab feed happened one time when we were visiting Kelly, my younger sister. She was living in Sebastopol. Every year the local grocery store has a knock down the doors special on fresh crab that comes from just over the hill in the sea based towns surrounding Jenner by the Sea. As a family we were gathered to support Heather as she was attending Santa Rosa JC nearbay. The call had come out from the grocery store adds that that weekend was the indeed the special dungeness crab special. Kelly got down there and nosed out a couple of people to bring back 4 wonderful crabs. We spread some newspaper on her dinning room table and we went to it. There was crab and crab shell all over everywhere until the last claw was investigated for remaining meat and we had completely had our fill of dungeness crab.
So tonight I bought a couple of fresh crabs (not frozen)from Costo. I was thinking of these events as I was smashing claws and ferreting out joint meat on two specimens. Happy dungeness crab days.. its still a family tradition!
: ) Pat
When Grandma and Grandpa came out to spend Christmas with us they arrived about this time in December. They had packed their belongings and a steamer trunk full of apples and scooted on the California Zephyr. The trip took them out of down town Grand Junction in the rail yard. It was often snowy and icy most of the way to California.
They traveled by train because it was considerably less expensive than air travel. Just 24 hours later and a ton of snow upon the tracks they arrived at Jack London Square in Oakland ready to make the journey across the bay by ferry to the station at 4th and Townsend. This is a foggy unpredictable time in Northern California. It is not, however snowy. Which is another reason that the Grandparents would arrive to spend at least two weeks with us.
We were always excited to pick them up because it meant that school as out and our family events could occur. One of these events included a gigantic crab feed. We would go down to fisherman's wharf and Dad and Grandpa Bayard, known to his compatriots as BW, would pick out about 3 of the juiciest crabs they could find. If it wasn't busy, we would ask the man in charge of the pots to crack them up for us. A couple of fast cracks with a little wooden mallet and a quick wrap in butcher paper would have is headed back to the dinner. Mom would have a big pot of minestrone soup warming up on the stove and San Francisco sourdough french bread would be broken and consumed along with the picking through of the meat from the crabs and the steaming soup.
It was winter in the city and it was pretty nice. I think that one of my sister's didn't think that eating crab was proper. Mom and Dad had the perfect answer for this... all the more for the rest of us. The crab from the bay area when it is freshly cooked and right out of the cooking pots is very hard to beat. There as some in my family that prefer it to lobster... nope.. I won't tell you who.
Another memorable crab feed happened one time when we were visiting Kelly, my younger sister. She was living in Sebastopol. Every year the local grocery store has a knock down the doors special on fresh crab that comes from just over the hill in the sea based towns surrounding Jenner by the Sea. As a family we were gathered to support Heather as she was attending Santa Rosa JC nearbay. The call had come out from the grocery store adds that that weekend was the indeed the special dungeness crab special. Kelly got down there and nosed out a couple of people to bring back 4 wonderful crabs. We spread some newspaper on her dinning room table and we went to it. There was crab and crab shell all over everywhere until the last claw was investigated for remaining meat and we had completely had our fill of dungeness crab.
So tonight I bought a couple of fresh crabs (not frozen)from Costo. I was thinking of these events as I was smashing claws and ferreting out joint meat on two specimens. Happy dungeness crab days.. its still a family tradition!
: ) Pat
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Kindle Fire
Sometimes you just have to make a move.
It should be consistent with who you are and what you like.
This household is a book reading outfit.
Linzi, our daughter, has been encouraging mom to get a kindle to do some of her book reading.
For me it is an extension of the tech stuff. So it didn't make sense to buy a Kindle that was out of date with the current technology. We have Wi Fi at home and didn't really want a bunch of advertisements to compete with the "reader" usefulness. I surprised Sue with a Kindle Fire.
General comments about it
1) The color is great on this device
2) Its a little heavier than you would expect for something like this.. but is significantly less cumbersome than a hard cover book or a large paperback book with pages falling out of their binding. It should and must compete in this arena to be of value to the "reader".
3) Its another Facebook reader..it will tap right into your existing account if you have a wifi set up at home with your dsl.
4) It cannot do two things at once.. like Iphones and Ipads. It cannot download 2 magazines in the background while you merrily read your book.
5) It has snappy performance when hooked up to its base wi fi network. If not, its a nice reader for travel. Do not expect it to "Facebook" or do other functions while traveling down the road.
6)It takes a lot more charging than the ordinary kindle.. but significantly less than an IPhone.
7) It will download your subscribed magazines using your subscription codes on the cover of your delivered magazines. We have subscriptions to both Time and People. People with its picture rich content will take about 30 minutes to download to your kindle.. but there it is .. in full color. Its pretty cool. I love the Time app. A subscriber may download as many as 5 previous issues for convenience of reading them anywhere in the house without trying to hunt down the physical magazine. Expect 20 minutes to download it to the Kindle Fire.
8) Amazon seems to always have a good deal in promo books to download to your Kindle. These are done fairly easily with one click on your computer. Then they show up magically on your Kindle ready for you to read.
9) I think that when I read in an article about the Kindle that it took 209 dollars for it to be made and that they were selling it for 199, it seemed like a great buy. We could decide where and when to get new books and products and have them effortlessly downloaded. Its sort of like the old Polaroid business model. Get them to buy the camera for cost or a little less than cost.. then make the money on the media. I have no problem with that since I can choose the media.. books. It was also a great place to add value to our current subscriptions. It is a great place to see photos that we have in Flickr.. like new paintings.
____________
History
I have read one book on it so far. "Little Blog on the Prairie" and it has worked out will for me. Sue is using it for Facebook and Huffington post especially when her Iphone is out of power. I think that she will warm up to the literary possibilities down the road.
I bought it early because I noticed that Best buy and the other chains were starting to run through their supplies for Christmas. They are all being sold for the same price.. so I bought it from Amazon and it arrived within 3 days without any extra shipping surcharges. Linzi happened to be here when it arrived. She was a little baffled with it because it was so different in form from her kindle.
Overall its been a great "shared" Christmas present. Of course she is headed for a few other surprises from me for Christmas.
It should be consistent with who you are and what you like.
This household is a book reading outfit.
Linzi, our daughter, has been encouraging mom to get a kindle to do some of her book reading.
For me it is an extension of the tech stuff. So it didn't make sense to buy a Kindle that was out of date with the current technology. We have Wi Fi at home and didn't really want a bunch of advertisements to compete with the "reader" usefulness. I surprised Sue with a Kindle Fire.
General comments about it
1) The color is great on this device
2) Its a little heavier than you would expect for something like this.. but is significantly less cumbersome than a hard cover book or a large paperback book with pages falling out of their binding. It should and must compete in this arena to be of value to the "reader".
3) Its another Facebook reader..it will tap right into your existing account if you have a wifi set up at home with your dsl.
4) It cannot do two things at once.. like Iphones and Ipads. It cannot download 2 magazines in the background while you merrily read your book.
5) It has snappy performance when hooked up to its base wi fi network. If not, its a nice reader for travel. Do not expect it to "Facebook" or do other functions while traveling down the road.
6)It takes a lot more charging than the ordinary kindle.. but significantly less than an IPhone.
7) It will download your subscribed magazines using your subscription codes on the cover of your delivered magazines. We have subscriptions to both Time and People. People with its picture rich content will take about 30 minutes to download to your kindle.. but there it is .. in full color. Its pretty cool. I love the Time app. A subscriber may download as many as 5 previous issues for convenience of reading them anywhere in the house without trying to hunt down the physical magazine. Expect 20 minutes to download it to the Kindle Fire.
8) Amazon seems to always have a good deal in promo books to download to your Kindle. These are done fairly easily with one click on your computer. Then they show up magically on your Kindle ready for you to read.
9) I think that when I read in an article about the Kindle that it took 209 dollars for it to be made and that they were selling it for 199, it seemed like a great buy. We could decide where and when to get new books and products and have them effortlessly downloaded. Its sort of like the old Polaroid business model. Get them to buy the camera for cost or a little less than cost.. then make the money on the media. I have no problem with that since I can choose the media.. books. It was also a great place to add value to our current subscriptions. It is a great place to see photos that we have in Flickr.. like new paintings.
____________
History
I have read one book on it so far. "Little Blog on the Prairie" and it has worked out will for me. Sue is using it for Facebook and Huffington post especially when her Iphone is out of power. I think that she will warm up to the literary possibilities down the road.
I bought it early because I noticed that Best buy and the other chains were starting to run through their supplies for Christmas. They are all being sold for the same price.. so I bought it from Amazon and it arrived within 3 days without any extra shipping surcharges. Linzi happened to be here when it arrived. She was a little baffled with it because it was so different in form from her kindle.
Overall its been a great "shared" Christmas present. Of course she is headed for a few other surprises from me for Christmas.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tomato Mac n Cheese
The family gatherings are often about creating taste memories that can be relied upon through the years.
A modern throw back to an earlier year has us scrambling for plebeian food that started off as customary table mates on weeknights.
Growing up we often had mashed potatoes on the table to accompany the vegetable side dish to the meat entree. Often it was from a box, as it was "just easier."
And who could ever forget the ubiquitous blue box with the red stripe that mean Kraft brand mac and cheese?
Well, it ain't your mom's convenience food tastes that are powering the revival of such notables as the cup cake rebellion or the return to a home made version of mashed potatoes and mac n cheese on the celebratory tables around the country.
Here is the recepie from the "Best Country Recipes" (a subdivision of the America's Test Kitchen) that was very successful at the family Thanksgiving. By the way, don't expect to taste a large amount of tomato flavor in this. My daughters thought that I had thrown in red pepper instead of tomatoes. The heat comes from a very tiny amount of cayenne pepper.. and its not overpowering.
1tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of salt
1 pound of elbow macaronni
1 28 oz or 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
4 Cups half and half
1 Cup low sodium chicken stock
4 Cups of mild cheddar cheese (I used Costco's sharp)
2 Cups of shredded sharp cheese (I used a half of a block of Dubliners Irish Cheddar)
1 teaspoon of pepper
(My addition, on the advice of Uncle Bob) 1/2 package of Progresso Panko
1) Adjust the oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in one tablespoon of salt and cook until just al dente.. about 6 minutes. (I think that it might be good to cook it a little less than serving style al dente). Drain pasta and return to the pot. Pour diced tomatoes and their canned juices over the pasta and stir to cook. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally and until most of the liquid is absorbed in the pasta.
2) Meanwhile, melt butter in a at least a 3 quart sauce pan over medium heat. Heat until frothy. Stir in flour and cayenne and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in half and half and broth until smooth . Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the cheeses, one teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper until the cheeses melt. Pour sauce over macaroni mixture and stir to combine.
3)Scrape mixture into a 13x9 inch baking sheet. (Sprinkle the top with the panko) and bake until top begins to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Let sit 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
The last time I made this I added the cayenne to the half and half. This may have allowed to it to survive the cooking over the heat process a little more. I think that it worked out well.
__________________________________
As you can see it is not a 25 minutes and we will have a quick dinner sort of recipe. But it will make a large dish.. the recipe says will feed 8-10. For cooking for 2 this may mean mac and cheese for the rest of your life...::::Laughing:::::.
A modern throw back to an earlier year has us scrambling for plebeian food that started off as customary table mates on weeknights.
Growing up we often had mashed potatoes on the table to accompany the vegetable side dish to the meat entree. Often it was from a box, as it was "just easier."
And who could ever forget the ubiquitous blue box with the red stripe that mean Kraft brand mac and cheese?
Well, it ain't your mom's convenience food tastes that are powering the revival of such notables as the cup cake rebellion or the return to a home made version of mashed potatoes and mac n cheese on the celebratory tables around the country.
Here is the recepie from the "Best Country Recipes" (a subdivision of the America's Test Kitchen) that was very successful at the family Thanksgiving. By the way, don't expect to taste a large amount of tomato flavor in this. My daughters thought that I had thrown in red pepper instead of tomatoes. The heat comes from a very tiny amount of cayenne pepper.. and its not overpowering.
1tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of salt
1 pound of elbow macaronni
1 28 oz or 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
4 Cups half and half
1 Cup low sodium chicken stock
4 Cups of mild cheddar cheese (I used Costco's sharp)
2 Cups of shredded sharp cheese (I used a half of a block of Dubliners Irish Cheddar)
1 teaspoon of pepper
(My addition, on the advice of Uncle Bob) 1/2 package of Progresso Panko
1) Adjust the oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large Dutch oven over high heat. Stir in one tablespoon of salt and cook until just al dente.. about 6 minutes. (I think that it might be good to cook it a little less than serving style al dente). Drain pasta and return to the pot. Pour diced tomatoes and their canned juices over the pasta and stir to cook. Cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally and until most of the liquid is absorbed in the pasta.
2) Meanwhile, melt butter in a at least a 3 quart sauce pan over medium heat. Heat until frothy. Stir in flour and cayenne and cook until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in half and half and broth until smooth . Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened, about 15 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in the cheeses, one teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper until the cheeses melt. Pour sauce over macaroni mixture and stir to combine.
3)Scrape mixture into a 13x9 inch baking sheet. (Sprinkle the top with the panko) and bake until top begins to brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Let sit 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
The last time I made this I added the cayenne to the half and half. This may have allowed to it to survive the cooking over the heat process a little more. I think that it worked out well.
__________________________________
As you can see it is not a 25 minutes and we will have a quick dinner sort of recipe. But it will make a large dish.. the recipe says will feed 8-10. For cooking for 2 this may mean mac and cheese for the rest of your life...::::Laughing:::::.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Closing the Ring- Movie
My Netflix delivered a great romantic movie last week.
The movie is Closing the Ring. It stars Shirley McLaine and Christopher Plummer. It was produced in 2007. Its a Richard Attenborough movie. Setting splits its time between 15 years ago modern Dublin and Michigan, and pre World War II.
There is love shared by three guys and their girl. Only one gets to marry her. He dies with a promise from the others that will marry her if something should happen to the one that married her. The girl had only one true love and it was the one that was killed even though she married long after the first one's death, the friend.
Shirley McLaine puts on a great performance as the non grieving widow that has to face the discovery of the ring that is discovered by a young boy in war torn modern day Belfast.
The cinematography is great. Despite my description of it above, its pretty easy to follow.
I know that I am such a sucker for a good romantic movie. The recent crop of movies are pretty shallow compared to this one. There are some pieces of this movie that are not well developed and come across as somewhat ironic pieces instead of adding much to the matrix of the movie.
If you have a chance to see this one, it is a pretty good movie.
The movie is Closing the Ring. It stars Shirley McLaine and Christopher Plummer. It was produced in 2007. Its a Richard Attenborough movie. Setting splits its time between 15 years ago modern Dublin and Michigan, and pre World War II.
There is love shared by three guys and their girl. Only one gets to marry her. He dies with a promise from the others that will marry her if something should happen to the one that married her. The girl had only one true love and it was the one that was killed even though she married long after the first one's death, the friend.
Shirley McLaine puts on a great performance as the non grieving widow that has to face the discovery of the ring that is discovered by a young boy in war torn modern day Belfast.
The cinematography is great. Despite my description of it above, its pretty easy to follow.
I know that I am such a sucker for a good romantic movie. The recent crop of movies are pretty shallow compared to this one. There are some pieces of this movie that are not well developed and come across as somewhat ironic pieces instead of adding much to the matrix of the movie.
If you have a chance to see this one, it is a pretty good movie.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
New Painting Suzy at the Botanical Gardens
When we visited Hilo on Halloween this year, Sue, my wife and I took the ship excursion to the Hawaiian Botanical Gardens. You may be able to get a little more on this trip by backing this blog up to the Hilo day on the Hawaiian trip.
We took a group of photos that show a nice representation of the gardens.
My sister thought that photo that I took would make an interesting watercolor. The photo has Suzy lifting her arm above her head to get a photo. This is a common move with the small digital cameras that many people take on vacation. Suzy is wearing a big brown sun hat and is shooting from her wheelchair.
I started this painting in earnest about a week ago. Its a vertical which in many landscape circles is less preferred. I am doing it on a watercolor canvas instead of a piece of paper which is also less standard.
This subject is a good solid member of a series that I am making in watercolor canvases of people using their digital cameras to capture the photo. What adds to the interest is that the viewer of the painting also sees what the photographer is shooting.
My first one in the series was a painting I call the Puerto Vallarta Photographer. The painting captures a balding man photographing his wife/girl friend between two Mexican Dancers on the Malacon of Puerto Vallarta. Its a high tone number and just like this one, it has lots of elements to paint and to integrate.
Some of the issues that this painting entails include, is the painting about the photographer or the plants? The reference photo had her shooting a picture of a banana tree. We have banana trees in Merced. So the facts and the background around this photo and a painting coming from the photo would have made this subject not so interesting. I decided to change the subject that she was painting to a group of plants that looked like red spiders.
My art instructor thought that the Puerto Vallarta one would have been stronger if the images over lapped. They are in this one!
Another issue with this painting was the simplification issue. Watercolors by their design simplify the image and allow the viewer to participate in the collection of the "washes" into a more emotional charged design that captures the feeling rather than the detail that a photgraph allows.
Values and contrast manipulate the viewers eyes to move through the watercolor. This is easier to do in watercolors since the elements have been simplified by the artist first.The movement of values and contrasts has specific trends. An "s " shape movement is common as is a cross. High, medium and low horizons need to be considered. Since Suzy's arm rolls the eye up in an "S" shape, as long as the contrasts with the backgroud are appropriate, the eye will roll through the figure to the spider plants. The spider plants being red and contrasting to the green and grey background cements the eyes on to the background. So the painting will be more about the plants than the figure.
If you check out my flickr acount on the left you can see where I am in making this painting, I still have more areas to consider. Sue needs a dress top. I also need to define the wheelchair a little more so that the wheelchair does not look like the bottom part of her dress. More toning needs to be done with the spider plants and a darker green needs to be introduced to give the plants a little more room for contrast and definition.
So far this painting has been fun to do do. In the large scheme of things that what it is all about!
: ) Pat
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Hawaiian Cruise in a "Do Over"
On the next Hawaiian Cruise I think that I would use the knowledge of the last one and apply it to the new cruise. What would a do over be like?
Rent Some Cars
Knowing the lay of the land.. or sort of around each of these ports, its seems like the next cruise would increase the circle some more. While some of the ship's excursions are a neat package and there is a degree of safety with the arranged tours, this is not totally necessary for travel in the states... and Hawaii is certainly one of our states. You can rent a car just like you were getting one in Denver or Seattle. Freeways seem to be only an issue in Honolulu. Most of the rental agencies are hooked up to the airports. The airports are not far away (as in taxi) in every port except Maui. We did not see nay planes flying in or out of any area close to our tender spot in the bay of Lahaina, Maui.
Getting on the road with a rental car would seem to be the next step in the progression of the Hawaii tour. It might also get us up and out of the ship a little earlier with a little more time devoted to sight seeing. Rental cars in Hawaii this time of the year (October November) are very reasonable. Sure gas is more expensive there and time factors enter in. You would not see some of the things you would see if you stayed in one place for a week rather then 9 to 12 hours.
With a wheelchair person, a car rental would allow us to go do something else if the attraction was too crowded at the time... we heard that there were 2 hour waits at the Pearl Harbor memorial. When we talking to the actual passengers from the ship they said that they walked right on without a line. The price differential is substantial for gate vs, escorted excursions. The botanical gardens cost 15 dollars plus 5 for the golf carts. Our excursion which got us the 8 miles our there and picked us up and returned us to the ship was 65 dollars each.. the cheapest excursion at Hilo. The more able members of a cruise could use the public transportation to get to and from the ship with a short walk. I saw no public transportation in Kaui or Maui but the other islands had pubic transportation that is great and could save a bundle. If it looked like you were getting a little close to shove off time on the ship, you could call and use a taxi or one from the street. A rental car could eliminate these fears. The only drawback would be getting to the rental spot. There were vans that picked up passengers and took them to the rental counters from the ship. Noteworthy were the budget and enterprise rentals.
Pick the Season
The Christmas season is high season for the islands. All those people are trying to run and hide from the bitter cold in other parts of the world during this time. Our cruise was certainly in the transition period. It wasn't winter yet in Merced. We did miss some windy cool weather especially the second week we were gone. Our yucky weather is usually after the first of the year. We gave up a week of the best weather of the year in Merced.
Since I have been home, I have talked to others that have gone to Hawaii in February and March. They love to see the whales "dance" across the water when they are in Hawaii. That would have been cool to take a whale watching voyage.
Its really great to visit another part of the country without having to speak or translate to another language like we have to do in the Mexican cruises.
Pack Fewer Clothes
Every time I admonish us for bringing so many clothes. In Hawaii everyone is wearing Hawaii shirts all the time. I will certainly bring rain great next time. Mostly its shorts in islands. Long pants feel great the two days going and the two days coming back.
There is plenty of time to do laundry on the ship. Although the laundry mats are steep in cost.. They keep you from having pack 14 of this and 14 of that.
Do Some of the Hawaiian Immersion Events on the Ship
The passengers that have been on this ship before, know that there is a crowd for the lei making and the ukulele lessons. They got there early and claimed the spots. Some active scheming needs to be done to be a part of this part of the ship's programming.
Less Buffet more formal Dinning Room
My daughters learned this early in their voyages. The difference in the meals in the dining room vs the buffet are large. Using a shared table, you get more involved with others that are traveling which in turn make you travel more interesting. Its tempting to go have a snack at the sandwich bar which takes you out of a good meal just a little later that day. You have to be in control of your appetite budget. There are somethings that truly taste better than others. There is no limit on what you can order in the dinning room. Its pretty amazing seeing what is out there. I love Italian antipasti with its great selection of dried hams and salamis with marinated veggies. These are always in abundance on the buffet and a little harder to choose or be selective in the dinning room. Sue is always after the hard rolls.. and cut fruit. The bakeries on these ships are wonderful. They make the hard rolls three times a day and a couple times in the middle of the night. The danish are always great.
No more Full Contact Massage
I always get Sue a deep tissue message on the ship. She had a great one on the Carnival ship. Everyone since that time has either been not enough or as in this case, too much. It took Sue a full day to recover from the one she got on this ship. We should have listened to our daughter Linzi who has taken some instructions in doing it. Sue is just too fragile with too many fibromyalgia issues to take on a ship board massage.
________________________________
Just some thoughts! :) Pat
Rent Some Cars
Knowing the lay of the land.. or sort of around each of these ports, its seems like the next cruise would increase the circle some more. While some of the ship's excursions are a neat package and there is a degree of safety with the arranged tours, this is not totally necessary for travel in the states... and Hawaii is certainly one of our states. You can rent a car just like you were getting one in Denver or Seattle. Freeways seem to be only an issue in Honolulu. Most of the rental agencies are hooked up to the airports. The airports are not far away (as in taxi) in every port except Maui. We did not see nay planes flying in or out of any area close to our tender spot in the bay of Lahaina, Maui.
Getting on the road with a rental car would seem to be the next step in the progression of the Hawaii tour. It might also get us up and out of the ship a little earlier with a little more time devoted to sight seeing. Rental cars in Hawaii this time of the year (October November) are very reasonable. Sure gas is more expensive there and time factors enter in. You would not see some of the things you would see if you stayed in one place for a week rather then 9 to 12 hours.
With a wheelchair person, a car rental would allow us to go do something else if the attraction was too crowded at the time... we heard that there were 2 hour waits at the Pearl Harbor memorial. When we talking to the actual passengers from the ship they said that they walked right on without a line. The price differential is substantial for gate vs, escorted excursions. The botanical gardens cost 15 dollars plus 5 for the golf carts. Our excursion which got us the 8 miles our there and picked us up and returned us to the ship was 65 dollars each.. the cheapest excursion at Hilo. The more able members of a cruise could use the public transportation to get to and from the ship with a short walk. I saw no public transportation in Kaui or Maui but the other islands had pubic transportation that is great and could save a bundle. If it looked like you were getting a little close to shove off time on the ship, you could call and use a taxi or one from the street. A rental car could eliminate these fears. The only drawback would be getting to the rental spot. There were vans that picked up passengers and took them to the rental counters from the ship. Noteworthy were the budget and enterprise rentals.
Pick the Season
The Christmas season is high season for the islands. All those people are trying to run and hide from the bitter cold in other parts of the world during this time. Our cruise was certainly in the transition period. It wasn't winter yet in Merced. We did miss some windy cool weather especially the second week we were gone. Our yucky weather is usually after the first of the year. We gave up a week of the best weather of the year in Merced.
Since I have been home, I have talked to others that have gone to Hawaii in February and March. They love to see the whales "dance" across the water when they are in Hawaii. That would have been cool to take a whale watching voyage.
Its really great to visit another part of the country without having to speak or translate to another language like we have to do in the Mexican cruises.
Pack Fewer Clothes
Every time I admonish us for bringing so many clothes. In Hawaii everyone is wearing Hawaii shirts all the time. I will certainly bring rain great next time. Mostly its shorts in islands. Long pants feel great the two days going and the two days coming back.
There is plenty of time to do laundry on the ship. Although the laundry mats are steep in cost.. They keep you from having pack 14 of this and 14 of that.
Do Some of the Hawaiian Immersion Events on the Ship
The passengers that have been on this ship before, know that there is a crowd for the lei making and the ukulele lessons. They got there early and claimed the spots. Some active scheming needs to be done to be a part of this part of the ship's programming.
Less Buffet more formal Dinning Room
My daughters learned this early in their voyages. The difference in the meals in the dining room vs the buffet are large. Using a shared table, you get more involved with others that are traveling which in turn make you travel more interesting. Its tempting to go have a snack at the sandwich bar which takes you out of a good meal just a little later that day. You have to be in control of your appetite budget. There are somethings that truly taste better than others. There is no limit on what you can order in the dinning room. Its pretty amazing seeing what is out there. I love Italian antipasti with its great selection of dried hams and salamis with marinated veggies. These are always in abundance on the buffet and a little harder to choose or be selective in the dinning room. Sue is always after the hard rolls.. and cut fruit. The bakeries on these ships are wonderful. They make the hard rolls three times a day and a couple times in the middle of the night. The danish are always great.
No more Full Contact Massage
I always get Sue a deep tissue message on the ship. She had a great one on the Carnival ship. Everyone since that time has either been not enough or as in this case, too much. It took Sue a full day to recover from the one she got on this ship. We should have listened to our daughter Linzi who has taken some instructions in doing it. Sue is just too fragile with too many fibromyalgia issues to take on a ship board massage.
________________________________
Just some thoughts! :) Pat
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Hawaiian Cruise points of interest
Hawaiian Cruise Wrap up Points of Interest and Observations
1. Princess is the best cruise lines in its category for food and service.
2. 14 days is not too long a cruise.
3. Hawaii is a valid cruise destination even if you do not spend your money on a lot of excursions
4. Each Hawaiian island is very different from the others
5. The Hawaiian people we met were friendly and accomadating
6. People in Hawaii wear Hawaiian shirts and clothing all the time
7. There is more that we need to see, but it was so different than my expectations.
8. Fall may not be the best time to go since we missed the whale migration from Alaska
9. Fall is a great time to go as it seemed we had Hawaii to ourselves and our ship mates
10. The free Walmart express was an quick way to get the lay of the land. It was not reliable for meeting an excursion schedule
11. Expect to pay more for what you get on the mainland. Especially in consumer goods. But its what everyone is paying.
12. People are people everywhere. Most people on the ship were very tolerant of the powerchair. Some were not.
13. The movies under the stars is a great concept in warm climates.
14. Hilo Hatties had the largest collections of Hawaiian goods for sale. Walmart had the best prices. Some of the island produced perfumes and soaps could only be purchased at the ABC store.
15. Always bring a tropical rated umbrella on your journeys away from the ship.
16. Its pretty hot in Hawaii.
17. A tropical rainstorm is nothing to sneeze at.
18. Public transportation is great in Honolulu but realize that everyone there also knows about it.
19. Enjoy the diversity of Hawaii. Its different at every turn.
20. Hawaii is not just for the fit and tan. There are lots of ways to enjoy Hawaii that don't require good swimming skills.
21. Its a great place to buy kuku beads and shell beads
22. Don't expect chocolate buffets or midnight seafood extravaganzas on Princess. It does not happen.
23. There is progress in keeping down the smoke in the casinos. There were several no smoking nights and periods where smoking was not allowed in the casino.
24. LA has made huge strides in customer movement to get in and out of the port.
25. Expect to pay a fare in addition to the two fares it took to get on the ship to get off the ship. This comes from the tips, excursions and the photos and drinks you acquire on the ship.
26. The ports themselves are an interesting place to take photographs. You can shoot an unobstructed shot from 9 stories up.
26. The night entertainment is pretty stock on Princess cruises. All the ships in the fleet have the same stage shows. Still its something we do not do at home.. its great.
27. Liquor is not cheap. A stock American beer is about $8.40 including the 15 percent tip. A bottle of wine starts at $30. This however, these would be the prices in a Hyatt or a Hilton bar.
28. The coffee card is a good deal. It works out to be 2 dollars a cappucino.
29. The soda card is a great deal too. At $67 dollars, the unlimited diet coke was available in the cup that was provided with the sale and at any bar when showing your coke sticker on your cruise card.
30. People were willing to talk to others when they sat down to eat or relax along the trip.
31. Don't expect your TV lineup when you are using the stateroom tv. There were only a couple of news feeds (fox and CNBC) ESPN2 and BBC. In the past we had better TV. The close to first run movies on ship and through the stateroom were really pretty good. Most of them were at the pay per view level.
32. Don't expect to have your DSL level speed with the internet on the ship.
33. Buy the internet supplement minute package early.. like the first day or two. You will have more time to use it and getting the price package will be much cheaper than later on the ship. We were happy to hear that we had 250 minutes since we are platinum passengers. Elite members like mom and dad do not have to watch their minutes. The irony is that they don't usually use the service.
36. Look for unique ways to have fun. After all you are on a vacation. You are doing and going places that you would not do at home. So don't expect to have all the same things that you have at home.
37. Get a good table of people to eat with every night. If the first group doesn't fit with you, talk with the Matre dei arrangement can be made.
38. If you don't know what is offered on the menu, ask the waiter.. he or she will often give you an idea. If you don't like it when it comes... order something else. Or order more than one to start with. Our table had people that ordered three entrees regularly and shared it among its ordering couple.
39. Expect European portions at the table. Except on Lobster night.
40. The utilization of the International Cafe and the Piazza as an entertainment venue was new to me and very pleasent.
41. The scholarship at sea is a great program for Princess. The naturalist, the lei making and the ukelele lessons were super parts of the trip even if they were crowded and under supplied.
42. The ceramics program that Sue has loved on previous trips was totally in adequate and inaccessible. This one needs to be redesigned.
43. Getting on and off of this ship was easy even with a powerchair.
44. A person with limited mobility should consider renting a power chair for mobility and independence on this ship.. both for the barriers and the size of the ship.
45. Elevator use was much better on this ship than on others
46. Time changes on this cruise was unbelievable. We had to lose 3 hours going in time zones. We ended up with 2 hours on the way home because of the end of daylight savings. We had three because Mexico is one time zone different than we are by edict. The minute we crossed back into the US it was just 2 hours that had to be adjusted since Hawaii.
47. This was an "older" cruise similar to the Alaskan cruises we have taken. Very few school aged passengers. Very few newlyweds too.
Overall it was a wonderful trip and we would do it again!
1. Princess is the best cruise lines in its category for food and service.
2. 14 days is not too long a cruise.
3. Hawaii is a valid cruise destination even if you do not spend your money on a lot of excursions
4. Each Hawaiian island is very different from the others
5. The Hawaiian people we met were friendly and accomadating
6. People in Hawaii wear Hawaiian shirts and clothing all the time
7. There is more that we need to see, but it was so different than my expectations.
8. Fall may not be the best time to go since we missed the whale migration from Alaska
9. Fall is a great time to go as it seemed we had Hawaii to ourselves and our ship mates
10. The free Walmart express was an quick way to get the lay of the land. It was not reliable for meeting an excursion schedule
11. Expect to pay more for what you get on the mainland. Especially in consumer goods. But its what everyone is paying.
12. People are people everywhere. Most people on the ship were very tolerant of the powerchair. Some were not.
13. The movies under the stars is a great concept in warm climates.
14. Hilo Hatties had the largest collections of Hawaiian goods for sale. Walmart had the best prices. Some of the island produced perfumes and soaps could only be purchased at the ABC store.
15. Always bring a tropical rated umbrella on your journeys away from the ship.
16. Its pretty hot in Hawaii.
17. A tropical rainstorm is nothing to sneeze at.
18. Public transportation is great in Honolulu but realize that everyone there also knows about it.
19. Enjoy the diversity of Hawaii. Its different at every turn.
20. Hawaii is not just for the fit and tan. There are lots of ways to enjoy Hawaii that don't require good swimming skills.
21. Its a great place to buy kuku beads and shell beads
22. Don't expect chocolate buffets or midnight seafood extravaganzas on Princess. It does not happen.
23. There is progress in keeping down the smoke in the casinos. There were several no smoking nights and periods where smoking was not allowed in the casino.
24. LA has made huge strides in customer movement to get in and out of the port.
25. Expect to pay a fare in addition to the two fares it took to get on the ship to get off the ship. This comes from the tips, excursions and the photos and drinks you acquire on the ship.
26. The ports themselves are an interesting place to take photographs. You can shoot an unobstructed shot from 9 stories up.
26. The night entertainment is pretty stock on Princess cruises. All the ships in the fleet have the same stage shows. Still its something we do not do at home.. its great.
27. Liquor is not cheap. A stock American beer is about $8.40 including the 15 percent tip. A bottle of wine starts at $30. This however, these would be the prices in a Hyatt or a Hilton bar.
28. The coffee card is a good deal. It works out to be 2 dollars a cappucino.
29. The soda card is a great deal too. At $67 dollars, the unlimited diet coke was available in the cup that was provided with the sale and at any bar when showing your coke sticker on your cruise card.
30. People were willing to talk to others when they sat down to eat or relax along the trip.
31. Don't expect your TV lineup when you are using the stateroom tv. There were only a couple of news feeds (fox and CNBC) ESPN2 and BBC. In the past we had better TV. The close to first run movies on ship and through the stateroom were really pretty good. Most of them were at the pay per view level.
32. Don't expect to have your DSL level speed with the internet on the ship.
33. Buy the internet supplement minute package early.. like the first day or two. You will have more time to use it and getting the price package will be much cheaper than later on the ship. We were happy to hear that we had 250 minutes since we are platinum passengers. Elite members like mom and dad do not have to watch their minutes. The irony is that they don't usually use the service.
36. Look for unique ways to have fun. After all you are on a vacation. You are doing and going places that you would not do at home. So don't expect to have all the same things that you have at home.
37. Get a good table of people to eat with every night. If the first group doesn't fit with you, talk with the Matre dei arrangement can be made.
38. If you don't know what is offered on the menu, ask the waiter.. he or she will often give you an idea. If you don't like it when it comes... order something else. Or order more than one to start with. Our table had people that ordered three entrees regularly and shared it among its ordering couple.
39. Expect European portions at the table. Except on Lobster night.
40. The utilization of the International Cafe and the Piazza as an entertainment venue was new to me and very pleasent.
41. The scholarship at sea is a great program for Princess. The naturalist, the lei making and the ukelele lessons were super parts of the trip even if they were crowded and under supplied.
42. The ceramics program that Sue has loved on previous trips was totally in adequate and inaccessible. This one needs to be redesigned.
43. Getting on and off of this ship was easy even with a powerchair.
44. A person with limited mobility should consider renting a power chair for mobility and independence on this ship.. both for the barriers and the size of the ship.
45. Elevator use was much better on this ship than on others
46. Time changes on this cruise was unbelievable. We had to lose 3 hours going in time zones. We ended up with 2 hours on the way home because of the end of daylight savings. We had three because Mexico is one time zone different than we are by edict. The minute we crossed back into the US it was just 2 hours that had to be adjusted since Hawaii.
47. This was an "older" cruise similar to the Alaskan cruises we have taken. Very few school aged passengers. Very few newlyweds too.
Overall it was a wonderful trip and we would do it again!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Day 14 Hawaiian Cruise
_____________________________________
Day 14 Hawaiian Cruise--- Port of Los Angeles
November 9, 2011
_______________________________________
Today's entry is not from the daily journal I wrote while on ship. There was too much to do and the journal was packed as the made preparations for disembarcation... er getting off the ship and heading home. It was written several weeks after the voyage.
We woke up and got ready as requested by 7:30 am.
For those of you who haven't been cruising for a while, there is a new wave of getting many of the people off the ship that do not need to jamming up the exit.
All those people that can leave without using baggage services, can walk off the ship at its earliest time. Most of the people that live close by or did not bring a bag that they could not handle took advantage of this early off. They were off the ship and on the shore around 8:00. This reduces the number of people waiting to get off the ship. On the last cruise, to Mexico, this amounted to almost half of the passengers. The cruise was shorter and most of the passengers were Californians.
There were many people from other countries that need to be checked more carefully than we were as they came into the country to travel on the ship and were headed for more USA adventures or a quick connection to flights at LAX to home. Some of these folks came into to Las Vegas on the way to LA. They all had their own lines to stand in to get back to LA.
Our ship, The Golden Princess, slid into its LA port dock around 6:30. It was interesting to watch the ship recharge its wares and move the passenger luggage in steel cages simultaneously.
Our waiting area was designated by the time and order we were to leave the ship. We were in blue 1. We had no particular need to meet an airline schedule, or make connections with an overnight hotel. Our waiting area was in the plush upscale Italian restaurant on deck 7. This worked out well for us as Sue has a hard time sitting for a period of time and could lounge on the padded seats until our color was called. There were about 35 colors and number categories so that there would not be a bum rush to the gate. Our combination was one of the last.
Our time to leave the ship was announced and we were escorted to the machines that took our cruise card and verified that we were going off the ship.
The Princess port has a two story disembarkation building that our ship utilized. When we left the ship we still had a fairly lengthy wait to get through customs and immigrations and homeland security. We also had to pass the fruit and ag station going into California. Some of the passengers had failed at this spot and a couple of dozen flower leis were on top of the machines. Some ship fruit also was sequested there too.
Some older people that did not need a wheelchair, needed one to wait in the line. Princess employees were right their to get them into the wheel chairs and out of the line. Rightly so, with Sue's power chair, we were not offered this convenience.
When customs forms were filled out and turned in, after all, the ship spent four hours in Mexico, the next job was to find our bags and the extra wheelchair in the barn of the port. The luggage was sorted in the same sequence as the colors and numbers.
Sue had gathered up a porter with a long cart and she had found that most of our bags were near each other. The porter gathered us up and we headed out to the street. He dropped the bags on the curb and we gave him a 20 and I went looking for our expedition. Sue stayed next to our bags with her powerchair.
I found the truck and ran through the parking kiosk with my credit card in hand. $165 for 14 days.
I circled around to the loading area. We opened the back of the truck and threw in the bags. I repositioned the manual wheelchair so that the back of the trunk would go down. when I lowered the lift for the power chair and Sue guided it on.
We were all set to go.
I took the Harbor Blvd freeway to the 110 and since it was about 10:45 we whistled through LA without a slowdown. It was a beautiful day.
We stopped for a burger at Santa Clarita. A lady stopped me because she saw that were both dressed in the Hilo Hatties matching Hawaiian shirts. Together they make quite a statement.
The expedition purred over the grapevine and up interstate 5. We stopped for gas in Los Banos and we were home before dark..
The kitties were very happy to see us! We were happy to see them!.
What a great experience to cruise to Hawaii and back.
Day 14 Hawaiian Cruise--- Port of Los Angeles
November 9, 2011
_______________________________________
Today's entry is not from the daily journal I wrote while on ship. There was too much to do and the journal was packed as the made preparations for disembarcation... er getting off the ship and heading home. It was written several weeks after the voyage.
We woke up and got ready as requested by 7:30 am.
For those of you who haven't been cruising for a while, there is a new wave of getting many of the people off the ship that do not need to jamming up the exit.
All those people that can leave without using baggage services, can walk off the ship at its earliest time. Most of the people that live close by or did not bring a bag that they could not handle took advantage of this early off. They were off the ship and on the shore around 8:00. This reduces the number of people waiting to get off the ship. On the last cruise, to Mexico, this amounted to almost half of the passengers. The cruise was shorter and most of the passengers were Californians.
There were many people from other countries that need to be checked more carefully than we were as they came into the country to travel on the ship and were headed for more USA adventures or a quick connection to flights at LAX to home. Some of these folks came into to Las Vegas on the way to LA. They all had their own lines to stand in to get back to LA.
Our ship, The Golden Princess, slid into its LA port dock around 6:30. It was interesting to watch the ship recharge its wares and move the passenger luggage in steel cages simultaneously.
Our waiting area was designated by the time and order we were to leave the ship. We were in blue 1. We had no particular need to meet an airline schedule, or make connections with an overnight hotel. Our waiting area was in the plush upscale Italian restaurant on deck 7. This worked out well for us as Sue has a hard time sitting for a period of time and could lounge on the padded seats until our color was called. There were about 35 colors and number categories so that there would not be a bum rush to the gate. Our combination was one of the last.
Our time to leave the ship was announced and we were escorted to the machines that took our cruise card and verified that we were going off the ship.
The Princess port has a two story disembarkation building that our ship utilized. When we left the ship we still had a fairly lengthy wait to get through customs and immigrations and homeland security. We also had to pass the fruit and ag station going into California. Some of the passengers had failed at this spot and a couple of dozen flower leis were on top of the machines. Some ship fruit also was sequested there too.
Some older people that did not need a wheelchair, needed one to wait in the line. Princess employees were right their to get them into the wheel chairs and out of the line. Rightly so, with Sue's power chair, we were not offered this convenience.
When customs forms were filled out and turned in, after all, the ship spent four hours in Mexico, the next job was to find our bags and the extra wheelchair in the barn of the port. The luggage was sorted in the same sequence as the colors and numbers.
Sue had gathered up a porter with a long cart and she had found that most of our bags were near each other. The porter gathered us up and we headed out to the street. He dropped the bags on the curb and we gave him a 20 and I went looking for our expedition. Sue stayed next to our bags with her powerchair.
I found the truck and ran through the parking kiosk with my credit card in hand. $165 for 14 days.
I circled around to the loading area. We opened the back of the truck and threw in the bags. I repositioned the manual wheelchair so that the back of the trunk would go down. when I lowered the lift for the power chair and Sue guided it on.
We were all set to go.
I took the Harbor Blvd freeway to the 110 and since it was about 10:45 we whistled through LA without a slowdown. It was a beautiful day.
We stopped for a burger at Santa Clarita. A lady stopped me because she saw that were both dressed in the Hilo Hatties matching Hawaiian shirts. Together they make quite a statement.
The expedition purred over the grapevine and up interstate 5. We stopped for gas in Los Banos and we were home before dark..
The kitties were very happy to see us! We were happy to see them!.
What a great experience to cruise to Hawaii and back.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Day 13 Hawaiian Cruise
_________________________________________________
Hawaiian Cruise Day 13- Ensenada Mexico 4pm-7:30pm
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Forecast: Partly cloudy, High 70 F Low 56 F
Sunrise 6:11 Sunset 4:50 pm. Minus one hour from California Time
_______________________________________________________
This morning despite the forecast, the sky is clear and the winds are down. Its not a "shorts and tank top" day but I know that many will be seeking the sunburn bronze today in and around the pools.
The ship seems strangely quiet today. Lots of readers with their books and ribbon lei making going on around the ship.
Most of the readers are into their books. There were only 6 kindles/electronic books noted in the promenade lounges where people often go during the day to read or look for some quite time.
I picked up our DVD collection at the photo booth. 4 DVD's. Two were pro stock like photos taken in Hawaii and our ship. Two other DVDs were produced by the photographic staff for our particular cruise with footage of our crew members . Total cost was $39.00. A bargain and insurance from my perspective.
At lunch, as usual, I went for a shared table. Sitting next to me was a elderly man and his wife. They were not happy with the menu. They grumbled under their breaths about the menu being the worst they had encountered on the ship and almost got up and left. They would have done so if they had not had mobility issues and had paid the physical price to get there. They registered their concerns to the waiter who tried his best to find a choice that would fit their needs. He finally chose a cheese soup with ham . When it came he grumbled that their wasn't much ham in it. His sandwich came, it was a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich. I took one look at it and said that it was too spicy.
I enjoyed the linguini with tomato sauce, broccoli, and fresh peppers. My second entree was the Portuguese stew. It was a thick chippino type soup with smaller pieces of fish related ingredients. I suspect it had as its base the lobster and the shrimp from the night before. It was very tasty but certainly beyond the spice range of the couple next to me. The wife had a "health cup" of sliced fruit for desert. She had a grilled chicken salad for her lunch meal. They were both much more pleasant once they had some food going down. He had 2 scoops of ice cream. The couple from KC had a hamburger and they joined me in ordering peach pie with vanilla ice cream for desert. It also had a dollop of creme fresch to go with the pie.
The Kansas City couple were St. Louis cardinal fans. They were basking in the limelight of their team's World Series victory. They also liked hockey and were fans of the NHL St. Louis Blues as well as their minor league hockey team in KC.. He currently works for Honeywell which has collected and changed and merged a couple of times from the original Bendix. Basically it is a defense industry supplier.
They said that they enjoyed the solitude of the cruise.
I watched the naturalist's power point lecture on the pelicans (brown) and the penipods (sea lions) in the smaller presentation theater. These were animals that could be seen as we headed into the Baja coast.
I first saw land at 1:30 this afternoon. It was a few island off the Baja Coast.
The bay of Ensenada was much larger than I expected. I watched as we picked up the pilot on the south side of the ship and hour away from docking at the port.
Passengers were warned of strange additions being added to alcohol drinks ashore. This changed the idea s of many going ashore fore most of the passengers. Rumors of big weapons etc. also heightened the panic.
A fancy yacht was passing us as we were heading in. It was headed for Fiji.
We did not go ashore, but I had some fun taking photos of the sunset and the shore lights from the top of the ship.
We worked to get all of our stuff back into the bags this night as they needed to be out in the hall before we left for dinner. All that we held back were the items that we needed to get off the ship and check through the customs and immigration.
I got a card and some cash ready for Rosalie who had been so patient in working around our erratic schedule.
Our waiter was teasing us that all they would have for this dinner would be meatloaf. I think that he did that to see the reaction of the passengers.
We had more than that.. but in the fury of getting everything back into the suitcases.. I didn't write it down.
Hawaiian Cruise Day 13- Ensenada Mexico 4pm-7:30pm
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Forecast: Partly cloudy, High 70 F Low 56 F
Sunrise 6:11 Sunset 4:50 pm. Minus one hour from California Time
_______________________________________________________
This morning despite the forecast, the sky is clear and the winds are down. Its not a "shorts and tank top" day but I know that many will be seeking the sunburn bronze today in and around the pools.
The ship seems strangely quiet today. Lots of readers with their books and ribbon lei making going on around the ship.
Most of the readers are into their books. There were only 6 kindles/electronic books noted in the promenade lounges where people often go during the day to read or look for some quite time.
I picked up our DVD collection at the photo booth. 4 DVD's. Two were pro stock like photos taken in Hawaii and our ship. Two other DVDs were produced by the photographic staff for our particular cruise with footage of our crew members . Total cost was $39.00. A bargain and insurance from my perspective.
At lunch, as usual, I went for a shared table. Sitting next to me was a elderly man and his wife. They were not happy with the menu. They grumbled under their breaths about the menu being the worst they had encountered on the ship and almost got up and left. They would have done so if they had not had mobility issues and had paid the physical price to get there. They registered their concerns to the waiter who tried his best to find a choice that would fit their needs. He finally chose a cheese soup with ham . When it came he grumbled that their wasn't much ham in it. His sandwich came, it was a grilled tomato and cheese sandwich. I took one look at it and said that it was too spicy.
I enjoyed the linguini with tomato sauce, broccoli, and fresh peppers. My second entree was the Portuguese stew. It was a thick chippino type soup with smaller pieces of fish related ingredients. I suspect it had as its base the lobster and the shrimp from the night before. It was very tasty but certainly beyond the spice range of the couple next to me. The wife had a "health cup" of sliced fruit for desert. She had a grilled chicken salad for her lunch meal. They were both much more pleasant once they had some food going down. He had 2 scoops of ice cream. The couple from KC had a hamburger and they joined me in ordering peach pie with vanilla ice cream for desert. It also had a dollop of creme fresch to go with the pie.
The Kansas City couple were St. Louis cardinal fans. They were basking in the limelight of their team's World Series victory. They also liked hockey and were fans of the NHL St. Louis Blues as well as their minor league hockey team in KC.. He currently works for Honeywell which has collected and changed and merged a couple of times from the original Bendix. Basically it is a defense industry supplier.
They said that they enjoyed the solitude of the cruise.
I watched the naturalist's power point lecture on the pelicans (brown) and the penipods (sea lions) in the smaller presentation theater. These were animals that could be seen as we headed into the Baja coast.
I first saw land at 1:30 this afternoon. It was a few island off the Baja Coast.
The bay of Ensenada was much larger than I expected. I watched as we picked up the pilot on the south side of the ship and hour away from docking at the port.
Passengers were warned of strange additions being added to alcohol drinks ashore. This changed the idea s of many going ashore fore most of the passengers. Rumors of big weapons etc. also heightened the panic.
A fancy yacht was passing us as we were heading in. It was headed for Fiji.
We did not go ashore, but I had some fun taking photos of the sunset and the shore lights from the top of the ship.
We worked to get all of our stuff back into the bags this night as they needed to be out in the hall before we left for dinner. All that we held back were the items that we needed to get off the ship and check through the customs and immigration.
I got a card and some cash ready for Rosalie who had been so patient in working around our erratic schedule.
Our waiter was teasing us that all they would have for this dinner would be meatloaf. I think that he did that to see the reaction of the passengers.
We had more than that.. but in the fury of getting everything back into the suitcases.. I didn't write it down.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Day 12 Hawaiian Cruise
_________________________________
Day 12 Hawaiian Cruise, Monday, November 7, 2011 Dress: Formal
Weather Forecast: Mostly Cloudy- High 67F Low 56F
Sunrise: 6:49 Sunset: 5:18
___________________________________
Its easy to work the routine from this room for everything except dinner.
We are 35 feet away from the elevators that go all the way to the 5th floor from the 14th.
The 5th deck from this elevator opens to a Hall that leads into the art gallery. This ship has a large quantity of Art that will be put up for auction at times throughout the cruise. Prior to these auctions, these auctions these works of art are hung or displayed in the gallery.
The morning connections to the Piazza is through this art gallery. In the Piazza, is the International cafe with free 24 hour dinning. The internet cafe, a wine cafe doubles as a wifi station for those passengers that have brought their laptops along. A Godiva chocolate store and a tall central ear that exposes the central core of the ship 3 decks of open area. There is also a bar, and thankfully no smoking allowed. Many "outdoor" activities occur in the center. An activity that some people participated in was a group "sing" of some popular songs. Those interested, met and rehearsed a couple of times at sea and then performed in the piazza with a conductor. The chamber quartet would often perform in this area as did the instrumental jazz group. "Street performers" and piano players were scheduled to use its center stage. It was also used as the location for the champagne tower that is the Princess cruise lines signature captain participation event. This central area is much smaller than those on most of the previous ships we have cruised. However there seemed to be much more programed for it use than other ships. It was too small for that art auction . The wait staff for this area as it relates to the only place where you could order a gourmet coffee such as you might get at Starbucks, was very attentive. Most people, just like at Starbucks back at home, were gathering up the coffee to go. They have big "here" coffee cups here for the cappuccino, donuts (small) are there every morning with croissants,yogurts parfaits and breakfast sandwiches. Its really a nice alternative to the buffet and the formal dinning room.
Going to our dining room was a bit difficult. Usually we took the elevator to the 7th deck (the promenade deck, walked through the smoky casino, a piano bar, the piaza central open area, another smaller nightclub venue, the photographer's hall with their kiosk, and finally to the only elevator that would go down to the 6th floor on this deck. This a power chair, this was not that hard to do. If you wanted to do this with a walker, it could be problematic.
Being on Lido deck (deck 14) with a cabin is pretty special. You are only 35 feet from the outside. This was very quiet, and as close as you can get to the the bar for the diet coke, and the hamburger bar. Its a short walk across the deck to the buffet. There is always a buffet line that is open except for the middle of the night. A trip down to the International buffet has food available. A free room service with sandwiches and minimal food is also available from just a phone call.
The sun deck and the spa facilities were located one floor above us.
10:15 Culinary Demo
Our head chef is Scottish. The matre dei for this cruise is Italian. Where there is usually pasta potatoes become an option.
Demo today Salmon cured 48hours with salt and sugar and vodka.. sliced very thin.
Pesto pasta- chef drops some toasted walnuts into the usual mix
Garlic shrimp- olive oil, garlic with shrimp. tossed as they cook with brandy.. set aflame
Black forest gateau- chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream and cherries
11:30 Ship board Naturalist doing Natural Triva (from her talks)
Bonus round questions:
A. Demonstrate the sound/song of the humpback whale (someone in the crowd did)
B. Demonstrate physically the life cycle of a barnacle (no one did so she did on stage)
1)swimming upward 2) attaching to a site with tentacles 3) Feeding using feet to drag food to the mouth area (demonstrated by lying down on the stage and performing the movements)
Throughout the ship there were other activities going on full bore. The people who were getting uekeulalie lessons were rehearsing for their performance. There were also chances to make "woven leis"
The professional photographers were getting into their last chances to photograph people in the "fancy clothes."
I only counted 6 men with tuxedos on the entire ship for this night. All the women on the ship look forward to these nights as it is a chance to get out their fancy clothes and have a "night on the town" without having to worry about alcohol consumption and where we will eat and what we will see after. "Formal" for most men consists of a dress shirt with a tie and a suit like jacket.
Dinner- Formal Lobster Night!
Pat: Chopped cold crab cake with other chopped sea food ingredients (calamari, squid, mussel meat)
Asparagrass in tiny bundles (poached in stock)
Mango cold soup
Lobster and shrimp (the shrimp were just a little smaller than the medium sized lobster)
Beef wellington
Baked Alaska (the waiter parade with lit platters) then divided into individual servings
Sue: Chopped cold crabcake
Mango soup
Lobster
Another song and dance revue played at the major theater venue. It was called the "British Invasion" and featured songs of the Beatles and other tunes of that era.
Costumes from the "Mod" era and stage props included an inflatable captain for the Yellow Submarine . A parade sized mini car with a union jack painted on it was driven on stage for another song.
Our dining schedule had us eating at the 8:15pm serving. The most requested time is the 5:30 seating. This made it pretty late to go the late show after dinner for many of the guests that have this seating. This gets complicated for the people that want to see the show twice as they can sit through the show and maintain their seats. This ship's main theater does not hold enough people so that everyone can sit in there at one time.
When I went to see the British invasion show, all the seats left in the entire theater were standing room only. After about half way through, some people had had enough and there was room for us to sit.
Overall this is not that big a deal.
Day 12 Hawaiian Cruise, Monday, November 7, 2011 Dress: Formal
Weather Forecast: Mostly Cloudy- High 67F Low 56F
Sunrise: 6:49 Sunset: 5:18
___________________________________
Its easy to work the routine from this room for everything except dinner.
We are 35 feet away from the elevators that go all the way to the 5th floor from the 14th.
The 5th deck from this elevator opens to a Hall that leads into the art gallery. This ship has a large quantity of Art that will be put up for auction at times throughout the cruise. Prior to these auctions, these auctions these works of art are hung or displayed in the gallery.
The morning connections to the Piazza is through this art gallery. In the Piazza, is the International cafe with free 24 hour dinning. The internet cafe, a wine cafe doubles as a wifi station for those passengers that have brought their laptops along. A Godiva chocolate store and a tall central ear that exposes the central core of the ship 3 decks of open area. There is also a bar, and thankfully no smoking allowed. Many "outdoor" activities occur in the center. An activity that some people participated in was a group "sing" of some popular songs. Those interested, met and rehearsed a couple of times at sea and then performed in the piazza with a conductor. The chamber quartet would often perform in this area as did the instrumental jazz group. "Street performers" and piano players were scheduled to use its center stage. It was also used as the location for the champagne tower that is the Princess cruise lines signature captain participation event. This central area is much smaller than those on most of the previous ships we have cruised. However there seemed to be much more programed for it use than other ships. It was too small for that art auction . The wait staff for this area as it relates to the only place where you could order a gourmet coffee such as you might get at Starbucks, was very attentive. Most people, just like at Starbucks back at home, were gathering up the coffee to go. They have big "here" coffee cups here for the cappuccino, donuts (small) are there every morning with croissants,yogurts parfaits and breakfast sandwiches. Its really a nice alternative to the buffet and the formal dinning room.
Going to our dining room was a bit difficult. Usually we took the elevator to the 7th deck (the promenade deck, walked through the smoky casino, a piano bar, the piaza central open area, another smaller nightclub venue, the photographer's hall with their kiosk, and finally to the only elevator that would go down to the 6th floor on this deck. This a power chair, this was not that hard to do. If you wanted to do this with a walker, it could be problematic.
Being on Lido deck (deck 14) with a cabin is pretty special. You are only 35 feet from the outside. This was very quiet, and as close as you can get to the the bar for the diet coke, and the hamburger bar. Its a short walk across the deck to the buffet. There is always a buffet line that is open except for the middle of the night. A trip down to the International buffet has food available. A free room service with sandwiches and minimal food is also available from just a phone call.
The sun deck and the spa facilities were located one floor above us.
10:15 Culinary Demo
Our head chef is Scottish. The matre dei for this cruise is Italian. Where there is usually pasta potatoes become an option.
Demo today Salmon cured 48hours with salt and sugar and vodka.. sliced very thin.
Pesto pasta- chef drops some toasted walnuts into the usual mix
Garlic shrimp- olive oil, garlic with shrimp. tossed as they cook with brandy.. set aflame
Black forest gateau- chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream and cherries
11:30 Ship board Naturalist doing Natural Triva (from her talks)
Bonus round questions:
A. Demonstrate the sound/song of the humpback whale (someone in the crowd did)
B. Demonstrate physically the life cycle of a barnacle (no one did so she did on stage)
1)swimming upward 2) attaching to a site with tentacles 3) Feeding using feet to drag food to the mouth area (demonstrated by lying down on the stage and performing the movements)
Throughout the ship there were other activities going on full bore. The people who were getting uekeulalie lessons were rehearsing for their performance. There were also chances to make "woven leis"
The professional photographers were getting into their last chances to photograph people in the "fancy clothes."
I only counted 6 men with tuxedos on the entire ship for this night. All the women on the ship look forward to these nights as it is a chance to get out their fancy clothes and have a "night on the town" without having to worry about alcohol consumption and where we will eat and what we will see after. "Formal" for most men consists of a dress shirt with a tie and a suit like jacket.
Dinner- Formal Lobster Night!
Pat: Chopped cold crab cake with other chopped sea food ingredients (calamari, squid, mussel meat)
Asparagrass in tiny bundles (poached in stock)
Mango cold soup
Lobster and shrimp (the shrimp were just a little smaller than the medium sized lobster)
Beef wellington
Baked Alaska (the waiter parade with lit platters) then divided into individual servings
Sue: Chopped cold crabcake
Mango soup
Lobster
Another song and dance revue played at the major theater venue. It was called the "British Invasion" and featured songs of the Beatles and other tunes of that era.
Costumes from the "Mod" era and stage props included an inflatable captain for the Yellow Submarine . A parade sized mini car with a union jack painted on it was driven on stage for another song.
Our dining schedule had us eating at the 8:15pm serving. The most requested time is the 5:30 seating. This made it pretty late to go the late show after dinner for many of the guests that have this seating. This gets complicated for the people that want to see the show twice as they can sit through the show and maintain their seats. This ship's main theater does not hold enough people so that everyone can sit in there at one time.
When I went to see the British invasion show, all the seats left in the entire theater were standing room only. After about half way through, some people had had enough and there was room for us to sit.
Overall this is not that big a deal.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Day 11 Hawaiian Cruise
_______________________________________
Day 11, Hawaiian Cruise November 6, 2011
Weather: partly cloudy High 72 Low 60
Sunrie 7:20 Sunset 5:30
________________________________________
Today started out and continued to be a pretty dreary day at sea. There is lots of wind outside.
The LasVegas Company Fixer
The 84 year old approached me at coffee this morning. He has been "collecting life stories this trip and mostly relating his own. He has been "working the piazza" in the morning for most of the trip. Today was my turn.
I had watched him approach other and he diffidently had the gift of gab. I overheard that he had connections in Escondido. Escondido was one of the childhood homes of my dad. So when he approached me for some conversation, I asked him, "How is the man from Escondido doing today?"
He was a little taken back that I knew that, but it only changed his patter a little.
He had good mobility but had that long hound dog look that many years in the world of accountancy could give you.
He said that his job was to turn companies around. He claimed to be very successful at it.
He talked through his bushy eye brows. He introduced himself as "Chuck." I had overheard his story before at least three times with various people seated in the piazza. He took the Piazza as a center of the town literally. He agreed that he had lived in Escondido, a town just north of San Diego California for a large part of his life. He only recently, in the last three years had moved to Las Vegas. He moved there because California was taxing him to death. He owned or used to own numerous parcels of land including one that was about 1200 feet above sea level. It had no electricity or water. He brought in a railroad generator and drilled his own well. When they came to "provide" him with electricity, his power bill went up. They would make him pay for the water that he had drilled. He won a lawsuit that showed that he was out of their water district, so he could use his own well without having to pay an entity.
He has always worked hard he claimed. He was sent to rescue a jewelry company based out of Chicago that was losing 800,000 dollars a year. He turned it around by paying the employees much more than then the prevailing rates and firing the ones that were poor employees. He also reduced the market prices sold by them by a third and underbid the competitors. The company turned around to be making $28 million. They refused to give him his bonus on this turn around because they felt that the turn around was a fluke. Two more years later it was still doing that kind of business.
He wanted to pay his secretary a big raise. The company wouldn't do it because she was "union."
He has a bad taste in his mouth regarding unions. He said that he is a "conservative" not a Republican.
He also stated that he was behind the idea for Costco. He knows the president of costco by first name and also the owner of its older competitor, Price Club, He had someone try to sell him a 2 dollar coffee cup that he could sell for 3 dollars. He found out that the company had a warehouse in San Francisco. He called them knowing that they were paying a lot for warehouse space for all of the cups. He said that he would pay 39 cents for all they had. He sold them in his stores for two for a dollar. He had two railroad cars full of these cups that he warehoused in Texas in stead of San Francisco. He took an 18 percent profit from the transaction and shared the idea with the founder of Costco. Costco moved into that kind of sales and the rest is history.
He went on about his connection with Jimmy Carter and Clinton.."Two of the worst " presidents outside of Obama.. yada yada Yada.
He said that when Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, father was governor, he vowed to never build a freeway in San Diego because he disliked the mayor and the politics of the area. The next governor did.
_____________________
Hard Working Mexican
I met a miner on the ship. He was in his early 50's and short.. about 5 feet one inch. He said that he lived in Chico California. His wife was a RN .
He worked with crews that drilled underground to build utility lines and other infrastructures. His maid job was material removal. He ran a small train with rails that took the soil out form where they were digging.
He had done farm labor but realized that to get his kids though schools he needed more money.
Work pretty much stopped for him in 2008. He had to return to the farms. He was making good money but not as much as working the tunnels. He worked planting almond and other trees in orchards around Chico and Stockton and Lodi.
His kids are both gown now. He is proud that his daughter is working up the corporate ladder in CVR pharmacy . They told her that she had to get trained as a pharmacy tech to be a daily manager and eventually a district manager of about 40 stores.
The son had a college education too. He went on to study to become a computer engineer. He is working for a private corporation near China Lake in Southern California.
_________________
He and his wife and her mother had chosen this cruise because all of his current jobs were completed . The last one as a miner took 3 years . He could not take time off during that time.
The was a sea day. The football game (being Sunday) were sparse. The Green Bay Packers fans and the San Diego Fans got their wish of coverage on the big casino tv. The Green Bay Packers caem through which delighted the vocal crowd. I am sure that if there was a rallying song the Green Bay Packers fans would have broken into song.
In the afternoon I watched the movie "Super 8". It would be available on Netflicks about 20 days later. It was shown in the stardust theater.
Dinner: Italian themed
Pat: antipasto seafood mix, mussels, calamari ,
parma ham and cantaloupe
veal scallopine
snow crabs (legs cut in half lengthwise
Tiramisu
Zabaglione ice cream
Sue: zippy peach soup
snow crab legs
lemon sorbet
I watched the movie "The Help" up in the other big venue stage.. the vista lounge. Its a powerful movie about prejudice in the 60's with the black people that were the "help" to the rich white people of Jackson Mississippi.
Day 11, Hawaiian Cruise November 6, 2011
Weather: partly cloudy High 72 Low 60
Sunrie 7:20 Sunset 5:30
________________________________________
Today started out and continued to be a pretty dreary day at sea. There is lots of wind outside.
The LasVegas Company Fixer
The 84 year old approached me at coffee this morning. He has been "collecting life stories this trip and mostly relating his own. He has been "working the piazza" in the morning for most of the trip. Today was my turn.
I had watched him approach other and he diffidently had the gift of gab. I overheard that he had connections in Escondido. Escondido was one of the childhood homes of my dad. So when he approached me for some conversation, I asked him, "How is the man from Escondido doing today?"
He was a little taken back that I knew that, but it only changed his patter a little.
He had good mobility but had that long hound dog look that many years in the world of accountancy could give you.
He said that his job was to turn companies around. He claimed to be very successful at it.
He talked through his bushy eye brows. He introduced himself as "Chuck." I had overheard his story before at least three times with various people seated in the piazza. He took the Piazza as a center of the town literally. He agreed that he had lived in Escondido, a town just north of San Diego California for a large part of his life. He only recently, in the last three years had moved to Las Vegas. He moved there because California was taxing him to death. He owned or used to own numerous parcels of land including one that was about 1200 feet above sea level. It had no electricity or water. He brought in a railroad generator and drilled his own well. When they came to "provide" him with electricity, his power bill went up. They would make him pay for the water that he had drilled. He won a lawsuit that showed that he was out of their water district, so he could use his own well without having to pay an entity.
He has always worked hard he claimed. He was sent to rescue a jewelry company based out of Chicago that was losing 800,000 dollars a year. He turned it around by paying the employees much more than then the prevailing rates and firing the ones that were poor employees. He also reduced the market prices sold by them by a third and underbid the competitors. The company turned around to be making $28 million. They refused to give him his bonus on this turn around because they felt that the turn around was a fluke. Two more years later it was still doing that kind of business.
He wanted to pay his secretary a big raise. The company wouldn't do it because she was "union."
He has a bad taste in his mouth regarding unions. He said that he is a "conservative" not a Republican.
He also stated that he was behind the idea for Costco. He knows the president of costco by first name and also the owner of its older competitor, Price Club, He had someone try to sell him a 2 dollar coffee cup that he could sell for 3 dollars. He found out that the company had a warehouse in San Francisco. He called them knowing that they were paying a lot for warehouse space for all of the cups. He said that he would pay 39 cents for all they had. He sold them in his stores for two for a dollar. He had two railroad cars full of these cups that he warehoused in Texas in stead of San Francisco. He took an 18 percent profit from the transaction and shared the idea with the founder of Costco. Costco moved into that kind of sales and the rest is history.
He went on about his connection with Jimmy Carter and Clinton.."Two of the worst " presidents outside of Obama.. yada yada Yada.
He said that when Jerry Brown, the current governor of California, father was governor, he vowed to never build a freeway in San Diego because he disliked the mayor and the politics of the area. The next governor did.
_____________________
Hard Working Mexican
I met a miner on the ship. He was in his early 50's and short.. about 5 feet one inch. He said that he lived in Chico California. His wife was a RN .
He worked with crews that drilled underground to build utility lines and other infrastructures. His maid job was material removal. He ran a small train with rails that took the soil out form where they were digging.
He had done farm labor but realized that to get his kids though schools he needed more money.
Work pretty much stopped for him in 2008. He had to return to the farms. He was making good money but not as much as working the tunnels. He worked planting almond and other trees in orchards around Chico and Stockton and Lodi.
His kids are both gown now. He is proud that his daughter is working up the corporate ladder in CVR pharmacy . They told her that she had to get trained as a pharmacy tech to be a daily manager and eventually a district manager of about 40 stores.
The son had a college education too. He went on to study to become a computer engineer. He is working for a private corporation near China Lake in Southern California.
_________________
He and his wife and her mother had chosen this cruise because all of his current jobs were completed . The last one as a miner took 3 years . He could not take time off during that time.
The was a sea day. The football game (being Sunday) were sparse. The Green Bay Packers fans and the San Diego Fans got their wish of coverage on the big casino tv. The Green Bay Packers caem through which delighted the vocal crowd. I am sure that if there was a rallying song the Green Bay Packers fans would have broken into song.
In the afternoon I watched the movie "Super 8". It would be available on Netflicks about 20 days later. It was shown in the stardust theater.
Dinner: Italian themed
Pat: antipasto seafood mix, mussels, calamari ,
parma ham and cantaloupe
veal scallopine
snow crabs (legs cut in half lengthwise
Tiramisu
Zabaglione ice cream
Sue: zippy peach soup
snow crab legs
lemon sorbet
I watched the movie "The Help" up in the other big venue stage.. the vista lounge. Its a powerful movie about prejudice in the 60's with the black people that were the "help" to the rich white people of Jackson Mississippi.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Day 10 Hawiaan Cruise
_______________________________________
Day 10 Hawaiian Cruise Saturday, November 5, 2011
_________________________________________
I Checked the mail-email- messages sent and received. I bought a new coffee card to get me through the cruise. I did laundry on Deck 5. Later I found about three others all around the ship, and some were even closer. $2.00 wash $2.00 dry and $1.00 for soap. I had read that I needed quarters for the laundry from some nice people that blogged their trip on the web. No one was using the two washers or dryers that were in this compartment early in the morning. I watched the "coin" man come and get the money out of the machines and haul it away in a little cart. He was on his last cruise before he was off. He was pretty happy that there would not be any more coin collections on this cruise. The laundry was just down the hall from the art gallery and the piazza center. It still made it easy to get the clothes going and go get a coffee while they whirled and spun. We just needed a little bit of laundry done from this or that to make the one more formal night happen.
I got Sue up and we headed to do ceramics. Its one of the things that Sue liked to do when we were on the Alaskan Princess voyages. On this ship its a closed one table kind of thing. The table was sitting in one floor above us perched out above the indoor pool. Sue accidentally bumped a sun chair with an older lady in it. She got pretty upset . I informed the lady that she was way in to the passage space area with her chair and we couldn't get by without a bump. She said at least you could have said excuse me.
Sue was pretty upset about the lack of access to the event and the whole attempt.
She ate a quick scoop of shrimp slaw from the international cafe and headed back to the room.
I took her back and then had lunch in the dinning room.
I met a family from Madison Wisconsin. In conversation I found out that the mad worked for CUNA- now retired three years. There was also a couple from Nebraska and one from Ohio.
I got to talk health care plans with the insurance man. His office was union covered and he negotiated their contracts. Just as he was retiring, their company pulled their retiree health care package.
He had to go outside to get a $10,000 deductible policy,
He asked me what I thought we should get into at the end of the health care issue. I said a single payer plan.
I watched some college football (we got ESPN2 on the room TVs) Iowa beat Michigan in the last moments of teh game. I heard reported that Stanford had beaten Oregon State.
I did some more painting in the room. Sue did more reading with the books we bought in Kaui and some that people had donated to the pile in the library (paperbacks). We donated a half a dozen too that we had already read.
I completed the rainbow over Lahaina Maui that was scanned and inserted in a previous entry.
Dinner: Sue Hamburger and fries at the outdoor stand
Pat: Hawaiian fruits and macadamia nuts
Leg of lamb
Prime Rib
Chocolate Brandy Cake
Banana brioche bread pudding with caramel sauce
Day 10 Hawaiian Cruise Saturday, November 5, 2011
_________________________________________
I Checked the mail-email- messages sent and received. I bought a new coffee card to get me through the cruise. I did laundry on Deck 5. Later I found about three others all around the ship, and some were even closer. $2.00 wash $2.00 dry and $1.00 for soap. I had read that I needed quarters for the laundry from some nice people that blogged their trip on the web. No one was using the two washers or dryers that were in this compartment early in the morning. I watched the "coin" man come and get the money out of the machines and haul it away in a little cart. He was on his last cruise before he was off. He was pretty happy that there would not be any more coin collections on this cruise. The laundry was just down the hall from the art gallery and the piazza center. It still made it easy to get the clothes going and go get a coffee while they whirled and spun. We just needed a little bit of laundry done from this or that to make the one more formal night happen.
I got Sue up and we headed to do ceramics. Its one of the things that Sue liked to do when we were on the Alaskan Princess voyages. On this ship its a closed one table kind of thing. The table was sitting in one floor above us perched out above the indoor pool. Sue accidentally bumped a sun chair with an older lady in it. She got pretty upset . I informed the lady that she was way in to the passage space area with her chair and we couldn't get by without a bump. She said at least you could have said excuse me.
Sue was pretty upset about the lack of access to the event and the whole attempt.
She ate a quick scoop of shrimp slaw from the international cafe and headed back to the room.
I took her back and then had lunch in the dinning room.
I met a family from Madison Wisconsin. In conversation I found out that the mad worked for CUNA- now retired three years. There was also a couple from Nebraska and one from Ohio.
I got to talk health care plans with the insurance man. His office was union covered and he negotiated their contracts. Just as he was retiring, their company pulled their retiree health care package.
He had to go outside to get a $10,000 deductible policy,
He asked me what I thought we should get into at the end of the health care issue. I said a single payer plan.
I watched some college football (we got ESPN2 on the room TVs) Iowa beat Michigan in the last moments of teh game. I heard reported that Stanford had beaten Oregon State.
I did some more painting in the room. Sue did more reading with the books we bought in Kaui and some that people had donated to the pile in the library (paperbacks). We donated a half a dozen too that we had already read.
I completed the rainbow over Lahaina Maui that was scanned and inserted in a previous entry.
Dinner: Sue Hamburger and fries at the outdoor stand
Pat: Hawaiian fruits and macadamia nuts
Leg of lamb
Prime Rib
Chocolate Brandy Cake
Banana brioche bread pudding with caramel sauce
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Day 9 Hawaiian Cruise
_________________________________________
Day 9 Friday, November 4, 2011 - Formal
Weather: Chance of Showers High 80 degrees Low 69
Sunrise 7:20 Sunset 6:14
Added on an hour
___________________________________________
We are headed back today. There is a 30 mile an hour wind we are knifing through with a 190,000 ton vessel. There was considerable dip and roll last night no seems to be sea sick from it.
We are now out of shore days with the getting on land and security checks. I checked the email and Nattalie is handling it well.
Sue is pretty wiped out form yesterday. We needed some time to rejuvenate after all of those shore days. I got some painting in. Oh the joy of good brushes. They accompanied me to the ship with a limited palette of colors. It was fun to wet on wet the landsacpes of the Maui countryside from the ship. I made the first one on the moleskine tablet and made a few cards of the flowers we saw in the Botanical gardens. I also got a chance to paint the wild? chickens of Kaui. A rooster was printed on the tag of one of my shirts . He became the the starting off point to my rooster series. One wet on wet with the spray background, followed up by some pigment pen. The other card started with a dry paper and a very wet brush and pigment pen to define the details.
I am reading the Steve Jobs biography that I picked up in Hilo. Its a hard bound and written by Walter Isaccson . Its pretty clean. He also wrote the biography of Ben Franklin and Albert Einstein. Steve picked him to do the biography and Walter turned him down twice.
Sue was too tired for lunch in the dining room. I had a great one.
Crustinnee with smoked sturgeon and cream cheese and scallons each on their own layer
Ruben sandwich
creme carmel for desert
Great conversation at the table with a couple from Green Bay, Southern New York, and a couple from Florida. The green bay couple had cheeseburgers.
It was formal night and we were invited to the captain's reception. All but the passengers with the their first year were invited.They honored the passengers with the longest cruise record- a mother and daughter tied (they always travel together). They had 1,072 days on Princess. No one else was close. The captain did not shake hands with anyone coming in. due to the Norwalk restrictions. The captain introduced a short movie of the artists representation of the newest princess.. the Royal Princess 4X the size of the Golden. Its due to enter service in 2013.
It was the Chef's special night:
Dinner:
Pat: Goat cheese souffle
French onion soup
gnochi, in cream sauce
strawberry sorbet
Triology- Veal steak, Lamb chop, and chicken skewer
Menage le Trois desert--- pana cotta, termousou, strawberry creme
(2 small tablespoons of each) 2 cookies pistachio and chocolate
Sue: Strawberry soup
green salad
seared scallops
strawberry sorbet
Romantic quote for the day: The best and most wonderful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller
Day 9 Friday, November 4, 2011 - Formal
Weather: Chance of Showers High 80 degrees Low 69
Sunrise 7:20 Sunset 6:14
Added on an hour
___________________________________________
We are headed back today. There is a 30 mile an hour wind we are knifing through with a 190,000 ton vessel. There was considerable dip and roll last night no seems to be sea sick from it.
We are now out of shore days with the getting on land and security checks. I checked the email and Nattalie is handling it well.
Sue is pretty wiped out form yesterday. We needed some time to rejuvenate after all of those shore days. I got some painting in. Oh the joy of good brushes. They accompanied me to the ship with a limited palette of colors. It was fun to wet on wet the landsacpes of the Maui countryside from the ship. I made the first one on the moleskine tablet and made a few cards of the flowers we saw in the Botanical gardens. I also got a chance to paint the wild? chickens of Kaui. A rooster was printed on the tag of one of my shirts . He became the the starting off point to my rooster series. One wet on wet with the spray background, followed up by some pigment pen. The other card started with a dry paper and a very wet brush and pigment pen to define the details.
I am reading the Steve Jobs biography that I picked up in Hilo. Its a hard bound and written by Walter Isaccson . Its pretty clean. He also wrote the biography of Ben Franklin and Albert Einstein. Steve picked him to do the biography and Walter turned him down twice.
Sue was too tired for lunch in the dining room. I had a great one.
Crustinnee with smoked sturgeon and cream cheese and scallons each on their own layer
Ruben sandwich
creme carmel for desert
Great conversation at the table with a couple from Green Bay, Southern New York, and a couple from Florida. The green bay couple had cheeseburgers.
It was formal night and we were invited to the captain's reception. All but the passengers with the their first year were invited.They honored the passengers with the longest cruise record- a mother and daughter tied (they always travel together). They had 1,072 days on Princess. No one else was close. The captain did not shake hands with anyone coming in. due to the Norwalk restrictions. The captain introduced a short movie of the artists representation of the newest princess.. the Royal Princess 4X the size of the Golden. Its due to enter service in 2013.
It was the Chef's special night:
Dinner:
Pat: Goat cheese souffle
French onion soup
gnochi, in cream sauce
strawberry sorbet
Triology- Veal steak, Lamb chop, and chicken skewer
Menage le Trois desert--- pana cotta, termousou, strawberry creme
(2 small tablespoons of each) 2 cookies pistachio and chocolate
Sue: Strawberry soup
green salad
seared scallops
strawberry sorbet
Romantic quote for the day: The best and most wonderful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller
Day 8 Hawaiian Cruise
________________________________________________
Day 8 Hawaiian Cruise Lahaina, Maui, November 3, 2011
________________________________________________
Morning pastries at the Piazza. The ship is moored in the Bay at Maui around 7:00 am. Some people had to be on shore at 7:30 to go to a snorkeling site. 2 snorkeling sites were going to be explored . 3 of our evening table dinner mates were on the excursion. The owner of the tour was showing some of the people the probable location of a medium sized octopus. As was related to us later that afternoon, by Jill, a 70+ year old man who seemed in good shape took the snorkel and died in the water. His wife who was along on the trip shouted for his rescue, The doctor who happened to be on the excursion jumped on the man and tried to revive him. He was already gone. It happened that a bereavement counselor was also on the excursion. She immediately started helping the wife. The excursion went back to port, the owner apologized profusely and the excursion was refunded to all the participants.
Our trip to the port was largely uneventful. I had taken the tender earlier and was back on the ship at 1:30.
I had texted Lindsay to make sure that I was getting the right products at the ABC store. She was hoping that we could bring back some pikake perfume. It is very subtle and is made only on the islands. Its pretty much only sold in the islands as well according to her. It has a distinctive after taste rather than a bold upfront smell.
At the ABC store Sue thought that she would go for one of her favorite snacks. Snowballs. I asked her to look at the price before she bought them. Not that she couldn't get them... but I had seen that the other hostess products packed a hefty price. She was shocked that they were over 3 dollars. The grocery store in Merced sells them for a dollar. I guess jet fuel is expensive.
I also found a great Hawaiian ice spot just off of front avenue. It was shady and important quality for today. There are no clouds in Lahinia. There was no rain today and it got rather warm in the sun. A gentle breeze from the ocean helped out however. The surfers were out giving it a go of the reef. The surf was bigger than any I had seen in California. It seemed more consistent.
We walked along Front street and enjoyed the art that was visible from the gallery windows.
It was a pleasant time. The huge banyan tree in the city square was much more than I imagined.
As we were leaving by tender Sue saw a beautiful rainbow by fog up on the mountainside above Maui.
Even though it was hot and everyone was sweaty, it was a great time. Sue loved the shopping and the Hawaiian ice. The first one she had was a mango and cherry with a little leeche thrown in. We shared this one.. but it was sooo good Sue needed another small one before we left. The one that I had before her was their coconut lychee condensed milk ice. It was spectacular.
Lahainia was an interesting mix of Carmel by the sea and Sonora. With their art galleries and architectural historic restrictions on city look it was an interesting combination. I really loved the idea of the banyan tree taking up a city block. That was unbelievable.
Diner:
Pat: tomato and fresh mozzarella cheeese
Crayfish and savory relish
smoked slices of duck breast
Potato and Ham soup
Chateubrieand and Snow Crab legs
Carmel souffle with sauce
Peanutbutter Oreo pie with chocolate garnish
Sue: Hamburger with fixings
Maui adventure was energy intensive, Sue didn't go to dinner
Day 8 Hawaiian Cruise Lahaina, Maui, November 3, 2011
________________________________________________
Morning pastries at the Piazza. The ship is moored in the Bay at Maui around 7:00 am. Some people had to be on shore at 7:30 to go to a snorkeling site. 2 snorkeling sites were going to be explored . 3 of our evening table dinner mates were on the excursion. The owner of the tour was showing some of the people the probable location of a medium sized octopus. As was related to us later that afternoon, by Jill, a 70+ year old man who seemed in good shape took the snorkel and died in the water. His wife who was along on the trip shouted for his rescue, The doctor who happened to be on the excursion jumped on the man and tried to revive him. He was already gone. It happened that a bereavement counselor was also on the excursion. She immediately started helping the wife. The excursion went back to port, the owner apologized profusely and the excursion was refunded to all the participants.
Our trip to the port was largely uneventful. I had taken the tender earlier and was back on the ship at 1:30.
I had texted Lindsay to make sure that I was getting the right products at the ABC store. She was hoping that we could bring back some pikake perfume. It is very subtle and is made only on the islands. Its pretty much only sold in the islands as well according to her. It has a distinctive after taste rather than a bold upfront smell.
At the ABC store Sue thought that she would go for one of her favorite snacks. Snowballs. I asked her to look at the price before she bought them. Not that she couldn't get them... but I had seen that the other hostess products packed a hefty price. She was shocked that they were over 3 dollars. The grocery store in Merced sells them for a dollar. I guess jet fuel is expensive.
I also found a great Hawaiian ice spot just off of front avenue. It was shady and important quality for today. There are no clouds in Lahinia. There was no rain today and it got rather warm in the sun. A gentle breeze from the ocean helped out however. The surfers were out giving it a go of the reef. The surf was bigger than any I had seen in California. It seemed more consistent.
We walked along Front street and enjoyed the art that was visible from the gallery windows.
It was a pleasant time. The huge banyan tree in the city square was much more than I imagined.
As we were leaving by tender Sue saw a beautiful rainbow by fog up on the mountainside above Maui.
Even though it was hot and everyone was sweaty, it was a great time. Sue loved the shopping and the Hawaiian ice. The first one she had was a mango and cherry with a little leeche thrown in. We shared this one.. but it was sooo good Sue needed another small one before we left. The one that I had before her was their coconut lychee condensed milk ice. It was spectacular.
Lahainia was an interesting mix of Carmel by the sea and Sonora. With their art galleries and architectural historic restrictions on city look it was an interesting combination. I really loved the idea of the banyan tree taking up a city block. That was unbelievable.
Diner:
Pat: tomato and fresh mozzarella cheeese
Crayfish and savory relish
smoked slices of duck breast
Potato and Ham soup
Chateubrieand and Snow Crab legs
Carmel souffle with sauce
Peanutbutter Oreo pie with chocolate garnish
Sue: Hamburger with fixings
Maui adventure was energy intensive, Sue didn't go to dinner
Friday, November 18, 2011
Day 7 Hawaiian Cruise
_________________________________________
Day 7 Nwilliwilli, Kauai, November2, 2011
Today's Forecast: Isolated showers- High 78 Low 73
Sunrise 6:43, Sunset 5:58
__________________________________________
The waters of the Ocean had become on the rough side as we snaked inot the port of Nawilliwilli. The port side was tall mountains and a very small breakwaterarea. The ship landed next to a huge shed that looks as if it were used to load ships with sugar cane or other products. The ship had to move completely to one side in the wind and then straighten out to dock along the tiny port.
I took the free shuttle to Walmart. the crusty female driver had been doing this for years, drove us up the hill. She had a good patter and narrated the sights. She could also let you stop at the museum or the anchor shopping area. But she made it clear that she would not pick you up at the anchor shopping center. It was about a half a mile away from the ship downhill.
The town its self is really small and kind of broken down. Along the top ridge are various helicopter businesses to take people for adventure rides into Wiemea Canyon.
One of the old guys on the shuttle said he was cold and could she turn down the air. We had been waiting outside and the rain had fallen, She said,"No" He asked why. She said that she liked it that temperature. The shuttle was a 25 passenger bus with a tall ceiling and a short step up to get in.
There was also a free shuttle for passengers that wanted to go to Kmart and Hilo Hatties. All the big boxes knew they needed to get the ship passengers up to their businesses.
Later that morning we were waiting transport up to the walmart with Sue. The Hilo Hatties shuttle arrived ahead of the Walmart one. We opted for the Hilo Hatties.
Sue and I had a great time at Hilo Hatties. That girl loves to shop and it seemed like everything Hawaiian was in this store. Most of the goods were made in Hawaii.
The shuttle driver started out by handing out to each rider a shell lei. One of the old ladies up front asked if he was going to kiss each person that got the lei. He said, "They have laws against that Now!" Everyone on the bus laughed.
Hilo Hatties in Nawilliwilli's is a one story about 10,000 square feet of retails space. As you walk in there are coffee cups and a couple of Hawaiian coffees for self serve as well as a couple of fruit juice containers for self serve as well.
The store has most of the square footage stocked with racks of Hawaiian shirts and other other attire. There are some sections with Macadamia nuts and cosmetics.
Sue found the bargain table and we invested in some nice genuine bargains.
We saw the chickens all over everywhere.
At the Walmart I picked up another 12 pack of caffeine diet pepsi. I was stopped by several passengers in line back to ship asking me whether that was permissible to take on the ship. They all made plans to do the same.
The Follies Singer
At breakfast I met an Asian man that needed a table to eat his breakfast. He told me that he was living in a gated community at 1500 feet elevation just outside of Palm Springs. He had retired as San Francisco architect 13 years ago. He said that he loved his life since he could play golf 4 times a week throughout the year. He also liked the fact that his community village had numerous interest groups that met throughout the month. They brought in a big star at least once a month to give them a show, like Bono or Andy Williams.
Every year the village puts on a big follies show. He was a performer. He likes to be an Elvis impersonator. As of 2 years ago his hearing got in the way of his performance so now he does it with lip syncing. He also is a star in the village people YMCA group. He is the C. Sometimes he is able to do a Louis Armstrong without the lip sync. He used a napkin to demonstrate how he could carry on a conversation with Louis Armstrong leading up to his singing one of his songs for me. What a treat.
He said that he had 6 Grand kids but is not as close to them as he should be. Some Grand kids live in Fresno and some in Turlock. He follies singer was a regular character. He asked me to guess his age. I guessed 72. He was amazed. He said that he was 78. It is these encounters that make the cruise for me. I always try to get a conversation going. The only problem that I have now is that these people will see me on the ship and break out in a big smile and they walk by before I can track down the memory of their conversation.
Chickens Domestic ---- Wild
At Walmart there were a huge amount of chickens running around loose in their parking lot. They were looking for a spare piece of a McDonald's bun .
Apparently they started out as domestic chickens in people's backyards. A hurricane in 1992 whipped through the town and lifted the chickens out of their cages and dropped them into the verdant country where they became feral. There were many more roosters than you would usually see in a domestic chicken population. They were also very territorial and had huge spurs.
Our driver mentioned that it was against the law to try to suppress the population. He said though with a little wink that went along with the statement. There homeless don't go hungry. At the Walmart parking lot the flock has become pretty bold, and the cars slow down when they make turns so as not to hit them. The flock was defiantly working the waiting crowd, looking for a a chance to pick up a crumb or a two.
There were downpours again today. Hilo Hatties has a covered outdoor waiting area for the shuttles along the side of the store. Even with this, the rain splashed significantly on one side reducing the sitting area to about half.
In the waiting area, Sue saw a lady show off to her friend a cosmetic bag she had bought on sale in the store. It was bright yellow with orange flowers on its side. She found out that it was only 5 dollars marked down from 27. We marched right back in and bought a stack of them. There was also a matching wallet kind of thing. Sue needed it too.
Sue bought be a T shirt at Hilo Hattie that had the logo from above on a green shirt.. StarClucks Kaui
Dinner:
Pat: Daiquri Soup (watermelon based)
Calamari-flash fried with baby octopus and artichoke
rack of veal with aspargrass.
Apple Struedel
Sue: Daiquri Soup
mixed greens salad
Tiger Shrip with mango and tomato chutney
coffee creme bruelee
Day 7 Nwilliwilli, Kauai, November2, 2011
Today's Forecast: Isolated showers- High 78 Low 73
Sunrise 6:43, Sunset 5:58
__________________________________________
The waters of the Ocean had become on the rough side as we snaked inot the port of Nawilliwilli. The port side was tall mountains and a very small breakwaterarea. The ship landed next to a huge shed that looks as if it were used to load ships with sugar cane or other products. The ship had to move completely to one side in the wind and then straighten out to dock along the tiny port.
I took the free shuttle to Walmart. the crusty female driver had been doing this for years, drove us up the hill. She had a good patter and narrated the sights. She could also let you stop at the museum or the anchor shopping area. But she made it clear that she would not pick you up at the anchor shopping center. It was about a half a mile away from the ship downhill.
The town its self is really small and kind of broken down. Along the top ridge are various helicopter businesses to take people for adventure rides into Wiemea Canyon.
One of the old guys on the shuttle said he was cold and could she turn down the air. We had been waiting outside and the rain had fallen, She said,"No" He asked why. She said that she liked it that temperature. The shuttle was a 25 passenger bus with a tall ceiling and a short step up to get in.
There was also a free shuttle for passengers that wanted to go to Kmart and Hilo Hatties. All the big boxes knew they needed to get the ship passengers up to their businesses.
Later that morning we were waiting transport up to the walmart with Sue. The Hilo Hatties shuttle arrived ahead of the Walmart one. We opted for the Hilo Hatties.
Sue and I had a great time at Hilo Hatties. That girl loves to shop and it seemed like everything Hawaiian was in this store. Most of the goods were made in Hawaii.
The shuttle driver started out by handing out to each rider a shell lei. One of the old ladies up front asked if he was going to kiss each person that got the lei. He said, "They have laws against that Now!" Everyone on the bus laughed.
Hilo Hatties in Nawilliwilli's is a one story about 10,000 square feet of retails space. As you walk in there are coffee cups and a couple of Hawaiian coffees for self serve as well as a couple of fruit juice containers for self serve as well.
The store has most of the square footage stocked with racks of Hawaiian shirts and other other attire. There are some sections with Macadamia nuts and cosmetics.
Sue found the bargain table and we invested in some nice genuine bargains.
We saw the chickens all over everywhere.
At the Walmart I picked up another 12 pack of caffeine diet pepsi. I was stopped by several passengers in line back to ship asking me whether that was permissible to take on the ship. They all made plans to do the same.
The Follies Singer
At breakfast I met an Asian man that needed a table to eat his breakfast. He told me that he was living in a gated community at 1500 feet elevation just outside of Palm Springs. He had retired as San Francisco architect 13 years ago. He said that he loved his life since he could play golf 4 times a week throughout the year. He also liked the fact that his community village had numerous interest groups that met throughout the month. They brought in a big star at least once a month to give them a show, like Bono or Andy Williams.
Every year the village puts on a big follies show. He was a performer. He likes to be an Elvis impersonator. As of 2 years ago his hearing got in the way of his performance so now he does it with lip syncing. He also is a star in the village people YMCA group. He is the C. Sometimes he is able to do a Louis Armstrong without the lip sync. He used a napkin to demonstrate how he could carry on a conversation with Louis Armstrong leading up to his singing one of his songs for me. What a treat.
He said that he had 6 Grand kids but is not as close to them as he should be. Some Grand kids live in Fresno and some in Turlock. He follies singer was a regular character. He asked me to guess his age. I guessed 72. He was amazed. He said that he was 78. It is these encounters that make the cruise for me. I always try to get a conversation going. The only problem that I have now is that these people will see me on the ship and break out in a big smile and they walk by before I can track down the memory of their conversation.
Chickens Domestic ---- Wild
At Walmart there were a huge amount of chickens running around loose in their parking lot. They were looking for a spare piece of a McDonald's bun .
Apparently they started out as domestic chickens in people's backyards. A hurricane in 1992 whipped through the town and lifted the chickens out of their cages and dropped them into the verdant country where they became feral. There were many more roosters than you would usually see in a domestic chicken population. They were also very territorial and had huge spurs.
Our driver mentioned that it was against the law to try to suppress the population. He said though with a little wink that went along with the statement. There homeless don't go hungry. At the Walmart parking lot the flock has become pretty bold, and the cars slow down when they make turns so as not to hit them. The flock was defiantly working the waiting crowd, looking for a a chance to pick up a crumb or a two.
There were downpours again today. Hilo Hatties has a covered outdoor waiting area for the shuttles along the side of the store. Even with this, the rain splashed significantly on one side reducing the sitting area to about half.
In the waiting area, Sue saw a lady show off to her friend a cosmetic bag she had bought on sale in the store. It was bright yellow with orange flowers on its side. She found out that it was only 5 dollars marked down from 27. We marched right back in and bought a stack of them. There was also a matching wallet kind of thing. Sue needed it too.
Sue bought be a T shirt at Hilo Hattie that had the logo from above on a green shirt.. StarClucks Kaui
Dinner:
Pat: Daiquri Soup (watermelon based)
Calamari-flash fried with baby octopus and artichoke
rack of veal with aspargrass.
Apple Struedel
Sue: Daiquri Soup
mixed greens salad
Tiger Shrip with mango and tomato chutney
coffee creme bruelee
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Day 6 Hawaiian Cruise
______________________________________
Day 6 Honolulu Oahu, November 1,2011
Today's Forcast: Mostly Sunny High 82 Low 73
Sunrise 6:36 Sunset 5:58
_______________________________________
We pulled into the dock ten minutes late at 7:10 am. I got up on the deck to take photos of the surrounds.
I saw a double beautiful double rainbow off the decks and to the East.
We were ported in the dock closest to the Aloha Towers.
I had my usual cappuccino on deck 5 with the usual pastry assortment. Sue wanted me to to check out the "get off the ship" clearance and report back.
I was off and looking for Diamond Head and maybe Waikiki.
My morning walk took me after 2.5 miles to the county park of Ala Moana. It had a good view of Diamond Head . Many people were jogging the park in the morning. It was not crowded on the beach or on the trails. Three were people swimming in the area before the breakers and several people on very long boards doing paddle surfing on the flats in front of the breakers. The breakers seem to be a quarter of a mile away from the beach. This is not what I imagined.. but good.
I was having a pleasant time when I felt a gentle mist blowing in the wind the had picked up. Then suddenly a tropical downpour occurred. It was huge. I tried to find cover under the Banyon tree. It helped a little but I was drenched. The downpour continued for 25 minutes . It reminded me of heading toward the trees or the car when a rainstorm would hit when we were fishing in the rockies.
This rain was pouring out of the sky. It lacked the coolness of the Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. There was no lightening in this and no thunder.
I rolled into the nearby Starbucks and the cashier noted my condition. I earned my Hawaii badge under the banyon tree. A native Hawaiian also headed for the tree at the same time I was there.
A banyon tree is a ficas relative. There are a million ficus trees in homes across the country but I will never look at the indoor tree in the same way again.
I had lunch at the Ward Farmer's market on the way home. No farmers but a grocery store for the Asian population. It also had a "junk souvenir" stand out in front. Inside they had a section of the store devoted to making sushi. 8 people were working making sushi in an animated way. I bought a bento box for $6.69 that had a thin piece of cold salmon the width of my hand, a shrimp tempura piece and a chicken on a skewer tempura piece. there was rice and three different salads. No wasabe or pickled ginger. also no chopsticks... fingers worked.
Another rainstorm hit and I was glad I was under some cover.
I took the bus back to the ship 2.50. Sue wanted to get out and move along the streets with her power chair. I thought that we might do the upscale mall right along the side of the ship. We did those and bought a few items. Then she wanted to go to the park that I had been. As we made it out along the streets we realized that the power chair was not fully charged. We had a mix up and got separated. She barely made it up the ramp to the elevators and to the room to plug the beast in.
On the way back I noticed that the water in the port had cleaned and the little reef that the port made had dozens of Angel fish and trigger fish swimming around it. No snorkel mask needed.
Dinner: Because we were in Honolulu there was reduced dinning room support. They told us all to use the anytime dinning if we wanted a formal dinner on the ship instead of our usual spot.
Pat:
Bratwurst and fries from the hot dog stand on ship. Copra (a kind of Italian salami) and a couple of chicken skewers from the buffet.
Sue: Hot dog with cheese roll, fries and some brough from home fruit roll ups and a nut bar
During the dinning hours teh captain came on the announcements and stated that there was a higher than normal admission to the Drs for gastro intestinal outbreak Norwalk. He said that we should be vigilant regarding our hand washing and that he was enacting new procedures today in the self serve sections of the food areas.
It was obvious that self serve buffets were no longer self serve. Everyone was "served" in the buffet. No passenger was allowed to "touch" tongs or even in the hot dog bar pump their own mustard.
I sat down at the table and an "older lady" sat across from me at the buffet tables. She said that she was hit by the malady. She was signed up to go with her grown kids to the Polynesian Cultural center all day long excursion. She sent them on in the morning. She tried to send word out that she could not make it on her legs. She slept the entire day. She was hoping that they would cancel the cost of the excursion..$375. There was no one down at the excursion table to collect her request. She had not been to the Dr on the ship. I told her that she needed to do that if she hoped that the excursion would not be billed to her account. She said that she was up all night but slept the morning through to the afternoon before she could get up again. The Polynesian Village excursion was to leave at 8:30 in the morning and get back about 10:30 at night.
The captain reviewed again the Norwalk procedures and did not shake hands with anyone that night at the captain's reception for the Captain's Circle members. At our cabin we responded by wiping everything down again with the disposable sheets we bought at the walmart in Hilo.
Overall there was a large contrast to between the rural sort of run down look of Hilo and the urban Jaguar car feel of Honolulu.
We saw some homeless (a few) camped out corners along the road in Honoulu. None of them were begging like ours. Some people were living out of their cars or vans, living the idealistic surf bum life.
Oddly there were not many tourists in the areas we walked except for ship borne folks all carrying their free blue princess bags.
I also had a chance to visit the Ward center. Its a 3 story "outdoor" mall and a group of parking spots between the two wings. There were empty store fronts and a little food court with a DQ and Orange Julius combined. I had a pumpkin blizzard.. pumpkin pie flavored soft serve with some cookie chucks that had the texture of crust tossed in.. I approved. the McDonald's was advertising their baked pies in Hawaii... bananna.. I didn't try.. got to save something for the next trip!
I took some photos of the sunset across the port.. The lights came on and streaked across the water of the port as the sky turned orange.
Overall a great day.. although it had its moments!
Day 6 Honolulu Oahu, November 1,2011
Today's Forcast: Mostly Sunny High 82 Low 73
Sunrise 6:36 Sunset 5:58
_______________________________________
We pulled into the dock ten minutes late at 7:10 am. I got up on the deck to take photos of the surrounds.
I saw a double beautiful double rainbow off the decks and to the East.
We were ported in the dock closest to the Aloha Towers.
I had my usual cappuccino on deck 5 with the usual pastry assortment. Sue wanted me to to check out the "get off the ship" clearance and report back.
I was off and looking for Diamond Head and maybe Waikiki.
My morning walk took me after 2.5 miles to the county park of Ala Moana. It had a good view of Diamond Head . Many people were jogging the park in the morning. It was not crowded on the beach or on the trails. Three were people swimming in the area before the breakers and several people on very long boards doing paddle surfing on the flats in front of the breakers. The breakers seem to be a quarter of a mile away from the beach. This is not what I imagined.. but good.
I was having a pleasant time when I felt a gentle mist blowing in the wind the had picked up. Then suddenly a tropical downpour occurred. It was huge. I tried to find cover under the Banyon tree. It helped a little but I was drenched. The downpour continued for 25 minutes . It reminded me of heading toward the trees or the car when a rainstorm would hit when we were fishing in the rockies.
This rain was pouring out of the sky. It lacked the coolness of the Rocky Mountain thunderstorm. There was no lightening in this and no thunder.
I rolled into the nearby Starbucks and the cashier noted my condition. I earned my Hawaii badge under the banyon tree. A native Hawaiian also headed for the tree at the same time I was there.
A banyon tree is a ficas relative. There are a million ficus trees in homes across the country but I will never look at the indoor tree in the same way again.
I had lunch at the Ward Farmer's market on the way home. No farmers but a grocery store for the Asian population. It also had a "junk souvenir" stand out in front. Inside they had a section of the store devoted to making sushi. 8 people were working making sushi in an animated way. I bought a bento box for $6.69 that had a thin piece of cold salmon the width of my hand, a shrimp tempura piece and a chicken on a skewer tempura piece. there was rice and three different salads. No wasabe or pickled ginger. also no chopsticks... fingers worked.
Another rainstorm hit and I was glad I was under some cover.
I took the bus back to the ship 2.50. Sue wanted to get out and move along the streets with her power chair. I thought that we might do the upscale mall right along the side of the ship. We did those and bought a few items. Then she wanted to go to the park that I had been. As we made it out along the streets we realized that the power chair was not fully charged. We had a mix up and got separated. She barely made it up the ramp to the elevators and to the room to plug the beast in.
On the way back I noticed that the water in the port had cleaned and the little reef that the port made had dozens of Angel fish and trigger fish swimming around it. No snorkel mask needed.
Dinner: Because we were in Honolulu there was reduced dinning room support. They told us all to use the anytime dinning if we wanted a formal dinner on the ship instead of our usual spot.
Pat:
Bratwurst and fries from the hot dog stand on ship. Copra (a kind of Italian salami) and a couple of chicken skewers from the buffet.
Sue: Hot dog with cheese roll, fries and some brough from home fruit roll ups and a nut bar
During the dinning hours teh captain came on the announcements and stated that there was a higher than normal admission to the Drs for gastro intestinal outbreak Norwalk. He said that we should be vigilant regarding our hand washing and that he was enacting new procedures today in the self serve sections of the food areas.
It was obvious that self serve buffets were no longer self serve. Everyone was "served" in the buffet. No passenger was allowed to "touch" tongs or even in the hot dog bar pump their own mustard.
I sat down at the table and an "older lady" sat across from me at the buffet tables. She said that she was hit by the malady. She was signed up to go with her grown kids to the Polynesian Cultural center all day long excursion. She sent them on in the morning. She tried to send word out that she could not make it on her legs. She slept the entire day. She was hoping that they would cancel the cost of the excursion..$375. There was no one down at the excursion table to collect her request. She had not been to the Dr on the ship. I told her that she needed to do that if she hoped that the excursion would not be billed to her account. She said that she was up all night but slept the morning through to the afternoon before she could get up again. The Polynesian Village excursion was to leave at 8:30 in the morning and get back about 10:30 at night.
The captain reviewed again the Norwalk procedures and did not shake hands with anyone that night at the captain's reception for the Captain's Circle members. At our cabin we responded by wiping everything down again with the disposable sheets we bought at the walmart in Hilo.
Overall there was a large contrast to between the rural sort of run down look of Hilo and the urban Jaguar car feel of Honolulu.
We saw some homeless (a few) camped out corners along the road in Honoulu. None of them were begging like ours. Some people were living out of their cars or vans, living the idealistic surf bum life.
Oddly there were not many tourists in the areas we walked except for ship borne folks all carrying their free blue princess bags.
I also had a chance to visit the Ward center. Its a 3 story "outdoor" mall and a group of parking spots between the two wings. There were empty store fronts and a little food court with a DQ and Orange Julius combined. I had a pumpkin blizzard.. pumpkin pie flavored soft serve with some cookie chucks that had the texture of crust tossed in.. I approved. the McDonald's was advertising their baked pies in Hawaii... bananna.. I didn't try.. got to save something for the next trip!
I took some photos of the sunset across the port.. The lights came on and streaked across the water of the port as the sky turned orange.
Overall a great day.. although it had its moments!
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Day 5 Hawaiian Cruise
__________________________________
Day 5 Hilo Hawaii October 31,2011
Weather: Chance of Showers High 82 Low 65.
Sunrise 6:22 Sunset 5:44
__________________________________
This morning started with storm clouds all around the ship. Not overcast, but genuine black clouds. This storm passed us by. We are going to have a brilliant sunny morning.
I brought Sue her breakfast and choice from the buffet, scrambled eggs, bacon, corned beef hash, a baked pear adn 3 rolls with butter.
I took the elevator down to the 5th floor piazza, walking through the art gallery and had what they called an bengue (sp?) a french donut. Its really a small doughnut square filled with blackberry filling., a chocolate glazed rolled doughnut and a custard filled doughnut. Add these to a broad rimmed cup and saucer cappuccino and its almost a perfect breakfast.
I checked the email. Natalie said that Nigel is in the window all day and is happy to eat the treats.
Today is Mom's birthday!
They have a wild display in the piazza lobby. It had some gruesome carved pumpkins (the cooks with the garnish knives on watermelons could accomplish amazing things with pumpkins). Also in the center was a manikin with green eyes, and bloody shirt. My daily internet use is around 20 minutes per day on a 14 day cruise that works out to be around 300 minutes. I bought a plan that would give me more than the minimum 500. So I guess that spend a little more time in facebook. The connection speed was really good as there were only three others in the internet cafe and people started using their regular cell phones as we rolled into US territory in Hawaii.
I called Wanda (mom) to wish her a happy birthday. Dad was chopping on his peach tree.
I text messaged the Brownie Korbs in Colorado and both girls in the Bay Area.
It was neat to see that breakers as we barreled up the coast to our docking port in Hilo. It was clear enough at this point to see all the way up the mountain to the tiny round knobs that had to be the observatory. It was the only time during the entire day that the mountain was visible. The rest of the time grey and black clouds blocked the view.
I was off the boat about a half and hour after we docked for my 2 mile hike. I thought that it would take longer than that with people being on ship for so long. It was an easy off. So the early exucrsions were off on time. We had arrived about a half an hour late. After that many miles at see its a wonder that we were there so close to our planned arrival,
I walked down toward the town and saw car dealerships and big truck warehouses. After I walked a a mile and a half I decided that the additional mile to the town was not worth it. I had failed to put on my hat, and the sun was making it pretty hot.
I headed back and got Sue up to do the run to Walmart. A shuttle runs form port to Walmart and Hilo Hatties was running the some vans and did not want to waste their space with a wheel chair. (This we found out from another wheelchair couple as they waited to get on. Walmart hired a bus to do the runs and everyone including our two wheelchairs were welcome. The walmart bus held 65 people . It pulled up and we climbed on. It dropped us off at Walmart, and the driver gave us a little local color as we traveled. Hilo has 45,000 people.
Sue and I ate McRibs.. yum. I listened to the post high school students talk in their classic "pidgin" What an interesting linguistic soup.
I bought the Steve Jobs biography. Sue fell in love with the quality and depth of Hawaiian material available in the store. Almost everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts. Shorts were everywhere.
When we were ready to return, we waited for the bus outside of Walmart. It finally came up but it did not have room for us. We could have waited for the next bus. But....
Our excursion started at 2:20 and I was afraid we were going to miss that one. I flagged down a taxi. It was a mini van. The first question the middle aged female taxi driver asked was,"Are you allergic to dogs?" I said no. Sue said, "find out how much it would cost." She guessed it would be about 14 dollars to the port. It was only 12. by meter. I told her to keep the change of the 20. She almost didn't want to keep the change but she did. She did in honor of her little shitzu dog that was her constant companion. Sue sat up in front with the driver and her little dog that had a tiny gold clip to keep her hair out of her eyes. She rode the transmission hump all day with her master.
Back at the port. I took the Walmart purchases up to the cabin while Sue shopped the merchants set up inside the port building. Some of our family members will be the recipients of the fine shopping environments . There were even some lady selling tropical arrangements for your cabin at 10dollars a throw.
The Botanical Excursion
We were gathered up from the huge indoor port building under the sign. We had the tickets supplied by the ship. We traded them for a big gold sticker for our clothes. 9 of us and the manual wheelchair squeezed into the van and off we went. The driver was equipped with a microphone and a headset so that he could narrate the trip and answer questions that people had before getting to the gardens. Our driver took us sight seeing along the way, showing us some of the public parks beside the sea and some of the flora that makes this place different.
We unloaded at the gardens and Sue went diving into the gift shop. She found the only shirt that had a chance of fitting. We also got some postcards of the place. It had some photos of the beautiful flowers and plants that we would see along the slopes of this vertical garden.
Sue got out her camera and took a large number of photos of the things that impressed her. It is situated on a very steep hillside. They got us down to the area that we had a chance at pushing the wheel chair around and more level walking by moving us down using gas powered golf carts. They were also used to drag the wheelchair and us back up the hill.
Sue sat in the front of the van coming and going. I sat with a newlywed couple from our ship from Oregon. She had long gorgeous red hair.
The driver narrated our journey. He answered the "living"questions. Gas was $4.25 a gallon. Currently in the states its $3.65 a gallon. He pointed out the banyon trees and the umbrella trees.
We were all checked thoroughly for identity four times this day just getting into the area that had the ship. Sue was hurting and wiped out. I was just wiped out from what felt like working in a warm sauna all day long.
It took 6 glasses of water at the buffet for me to feel I had caught up with the water I had lost.
Dinner:
Sue: hot dog with extra mustard with cheese and rolls form the buffet.
Pat: Double hamburger with cheese, handful of fries, a scoop of garlic shrimp form the buffet and a desert sampler (for use to share) small slices of pumpkin pie squares, cheesecake, and choc. layer cake
I watched the last quarter of the Monday night game that pitted the San Diego Chargers and the K.C. Chiefs. It was on the big outdoor screen as we headed out of port in the evening headed to Honolulu.
The kids on the ship, all six of them did some trick or treating through the buffet with the Princess mascot.. the pelican. Its the first and probably the only time that I have ever seen the Princess mascot.
Day 5 Hilo Hawaii October 31,2011
Weather: Chance of Showers High 82 Low 65.
Sunrise 6:22 Sunset 5:44
__________________________________
This morning started with storm clouds all around the ship. Not overcast, but genuine black clouds. This storm passed us by. We are going to have a brilliant sunny morning.
I brought Sue her breakfast and choice from the buffet, scrambled eggs, bacon, corned beef hash, a baked pear adn 3 rolls with butter.
I took the elevator down to the 5th floor piazza, walking through the art gallery and had what they called an bengue (sp?) a french donut. Its really a small doughnut square filled with blackberry filling., a chocolate glazed rolled doughnut and a custard filled doughnut. Add these to a broad rimmed cup and saucer cappuccino and its almost a perfect breakfast.
I checked the email. Natalie said that Nigel is in the window all day and is happy to eat the treats.
Today is Mom's birthday!
They have a wild display in the piazza lobby. It had some gruesome carved pumpkins (the cooks with the garnish knives on watermelons could accomplish amazing things with pumpkins). Also in the center was a manikin with green eyes, and bloody shirt. My daily internet use is around 20 minutes per day on a 14 day cruise that works out to be around 300 minutes. I bought a plan that would give me more than the minimum 500. So I guess that spend a little more time in facebook. The connection speed was really good as there were only three others in the internet cafe and people started using their regular cell phones as we rolled into US territory in Hawaii.
I called Wanda (mom) to wish her a happy birthday. Dad was chopping on his peach tree.
I text messaged the Brownie Korbs in Colorado and both girls in the Bay Area.
It was neat to see that breakers as we barreled up the coast to our docking port in Hilo. It was clear enough at this point to see all the way up the mountain to the tiny round knobs that had to be the observatory. It was the only time during the entire day that the mountain was visible. The rest of the time grey and black clouds blocked the view.
I was off the boat about a half and hour after we docked for my 2 mile hike. I thought that it would take longer than that with people being on ship for so long. It was an easy off. So the early exucrsions were off on time. We had arrived about a half an hour late. After that many miles at see its a wonder that we were there so close to our planned arrival,
I walked down toward the town and saw car dealerships and big truck warehouses. After I walked a a mile and a half I decided that the additional mile to the town was not worth it. I had failed to put on my hat, and the sun was making it pretty hot.
I headed back and got Sue up to do the run to Walmart. A shuttle runs form port to Walmart and Hilo Hatties was running the some vans and did not want to waste their space with a wheel chair. (This we found out from another wheelchair couple as they waited to get on. Walmart hired a bus to do the runs and everyone including our two wheelchairs were welcome. The walmart bus held 65 people . It pulled up and we climbed on. It dropped us off at Walmart, and the driver gave us a little local color as we traveled. Hilo has 45,000 people.
Sue and I ate McRibs.. yum. I listened to the post high school students talk in their classic "pidgin" What an interesting linguistic soup.
I bought the Steve Jobs biography. Sue fell in love with the quality and depth of Hawaiian material available in the store. Almost everyone was wearing Hawaiian shirts. Shorts were everywhere.
When we were ready to return, we waited for the bus outside of Walmart. It finally came up but it did not have room for us. We could have waited for the next bus. But....
Our excursion started at 2:20 and I was afraid we were going to miss that one. I flagged down a taxi. It was a mini van. The first question the middle aged female taxi driver asked was,"Are you allergic to dogs?" I said no. Sue said, "find out how much it would cost." She guessed it would be about 14 dollars to the port. It was only 12. by meter. I told her to keep the change of the 20. She almost didn't want to keep the change but she did. She did in honor of her little shitzu dog that was her constant companion. Sue sat up in front with the driver and her little dog that had a tiny gold clip to keep her hair out of her eyes. She rode the transmission hump all day with her master.
Back at the port. I took the Walmart purchases up to the cabin while Sue shopped the merchants set up inside the port building. Some of our family members will be the recipients of the fine shopping environments . There were even some lady selling tropical arrangements for your cabin at 10dollars a throw.
The Botanical Excursion
We were gathered up from the huge indoor port building under the sign. We had the tickets supplied by the ship. We traded them for a big gold sticker for our clothes. 9 of us and the manual wheelchair squeezed into the van and off we went. The driver was equipped with a microphone and a headset so that he could narrate the trip and answer questions that people had before getting to the gardens. Our driver took us sight seeing along the way, showing us some of the public parks beside the sea and some of the flora that makes this place different.
We unloaded at the gardens and Sue went diving into the gift shop. She found the only shirt that had a chance of fitting. We also got some postcards of the place. It had some photos of the beautiful flowers and plants that we would see along the slopes of this vertical garden.
Sue got out her camera and took a large number of photos of the things that impressed her. It is situated on a very steep hillside. They got us down to the area that we had a chance at pushing the wheel chair around and more level walking by moving us down using gas powered golf carts. They were also used to drag the wheelchair and us back up the hill.
Sue sat in the front of the van coming and going. I sat with a newlywed couple from our ship from Oregon. She had long gorgeous red hair.
The driver narrated our journey. He answered the "living"questions. Gas was $4.25 a gallon. Currently in the states its $3.65 a gallon. He pointed out the banyon trees and the umbrella trees.
We were all checked thoroughly for identity four times this day just getting into the area that had the ship. Sue was hurting and wiped out. I was just wiped out from what felt like working in a warm sauna all day long.
It took 6 glasses of water at the buffet for me to feel I had caught up with the water I had lost.
Dinner:
Sue: hot dog with extra mustard with cheese and rolls form the buffet.
Pat: Double hamburger with cheese, handful of fries, a scoop of garlic shrimp form the buffet and a desert sampler (for use to share) small slices of pumpkin pie squares, cheesecake, and choc. layer cake
I watched the last quarter of the Monday night game that pitted the San Diego Chargers and the K.C. Chiefs. It was on the big outdoor screen as we headed out of port in the evening headed to Honolulu.
The kids on the ship, all six of them did some trick or treating through the buffet with the Princess mascot.. the pelican. Its the first and probably the only time that I have ever seen the Princess mascot.