Update on the sugar thing

Okay so I made this goal for myself way back in March to quit eating desserts and stay away from sugar and sugar substitutes.  Here is the progress report -

It's working!!!

It's been easier than I thought. Once I made the commitment, it was almost like when we joined the church. No more coffee? Fine. No alcohol? No problem. So I looked at sweets as just something I don't do anymore. But the cruise to Alaska posed a problem for me. Was I going to look at it like I was an addict and not eat anything sweet? Or was I going to let myself have a treat occasionally? So as I fussed and stewed over it, Larry one day said to me, "Why don't you just eat?" OH! Imagine that.

So the vacation - I found it was hard to resist my favorite dessert on the ship. But a little bit was enough. Also one day at the pool I was really wanting some ice cream. So I got a small cone and was happy. Unfortunately, it was easy to let go and eat the sweets though, once I got started. Much harder to eat wisely....

The good news is that once I got home, it was easy again to get back on track. I did have some ice cream the other night, but had WAAAAY too much and my stomach rebelled. I felt sick for a few hours.

One thing I learned from all this is that if the food doesn't taste good enough, I don't want it. For instance, Hershey kisses are fine, but not good enough. If I'm going to eat chocolate, give me Lindt or Dove or Cadbury. Something I REALLY like.

So that's the report. I feel successful!

August 23 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARRY!!

I love Larry. EVERYBODY loves Larry. He is funny and witty. But I love him because he cares about my happiness. He sacrifices a lot to make me happy, like going places he may not want to go or sending me on my grand adventures with his blessing. And a priesthood blessing, too.

He is an incredibly good neighbor. He is friendly, with the ability to make conversation with just about anyone. He was an excellent branch president. The people loved him.

We read together, listen to music together and work well together. He helps me with my lessons. He is loyal. He is tolerant of my craziness.

And like I've said before, my father was right. He said Larry was a good man.

So happy birthday, hon! Let's go have a great day!

But Neil Diamond made it all better!!!

A concert!!  In Albany!!  Last night!!  With Pam, my best and eternal friend in all the world!!  First time Neil Diamond has toured in three years. Last time we saw him was in Wilkes-Barre, PA in December 2005. It's been a long three years but that concert last night was so worth it. Oh my. We cried and laughed and screamed and danced and well......we just love the man and the music. 

 Pam's husband took this picture of us just before we left for Albany yesterday afternoon. We have been friends since 1976.

Hard week

1. Bee sting

2. Nearly killed on the road

3. Two good friends and one family member with terminal cancer. My cousin literally has days to live

4. Mother issues

5. Dream about a 25 ft. blue and white snake devouring one woman and then another one feet first. Am I scared about being eaten by snake??

6. Trying to learn why my computer keeps dropping the internet

7. Wasted my Saturday with phone calls to customer support

Time for bed. There is a pretty lightning and thunder storm going on. I'd rather stay up and watch it....

I nearly joined the ranks of the dearly departed

Monday, I was zipping down 390, going about 65mph in the middle lane. A slowpoke was crawling along in the right lane. Someone in a huge white van decided to pass the slowpoke, by switching lanes. Allofasudden I see this white thing in my windshield and I realize I am going to get creamed. So I swerved sharply to the left, never having time to look to see if anyone was next to me. You know that song, "Jesus Take the Wheel?" I think He did. I lost control and fishtailed like I was on ice. I don't know what prevented me from flipping over because the car was rockin' and rollin'. And nobody was around me so I didn't hit anyone.

What surprises me was the extent of my anger. I murmured a prayer of thanksgiving which helped, but if I had been able, I would have stopped both vehicles, slammed on his window and screamed at the driver, "Are you freakin' nuts?" I mean, I was shaking, my heart was pounding and I wanted to cry. What if someone had been next to me? I saw how easy it is to get killed while driving.

The driver of the van slowed way down. I could see him in my rearview mirror. He was probably really ashamed and maybe as scared as I was. Who knows. 

I'm alive.

Family time, or Boating, Bocci and Bees

Saturday, Larry and I, along with most of my cousins got together for our First Annual Cousins Reunion Day. We gathered at a family cottage on Canandaigua Lake on a beautiful, (mostly) sunny day that was warm and just perfect. I absolutely love being with my family! We are kind of scattered, although three of us are still in Rochester. I am in the middle of the eight of us, four older and three younger than me.  The rest live in: Morgantown WV, Hastings-on-Hudson NY, Minneapolis MN, Blacksburg Virginia, and Richmond VA. Their kids are scattered, either in college or working elsewhere.

Since I don't have brothers or sisters, my cousins are the closest I have. As kids, we lived literally within yards of each other. We could shout out our bedroom windows, and even run to one house and then another in seconds, including our grandma's. We played Hopscoth, Spud, Tag, Hide and Seek, we walked to the library almost daily, returning with so many books stacked in our arms that they came up to our armpits, (well mine anyway!) We had a "book club" and one of my favorite memories as a kid was reading outside on a summer afternoon. I can still smell the Coppertone. 

Back to the present day:

There goes one boatful out for a ride Saturday! A boat, tow rope, and tube make for happy times!  Bounce, bounce, bounce, wipeout!

Some of the younger generation of cousins kicking the soccer ball around

Jim, Rick and Joe getting a sunburn on the Aqua Float. Jim is a cousin-in-law. You can tell 'cause he's blonde!

Larry and Florence. I have thought many times that if I had had a daughter, she would have looked like Florence. As we were looking at old pictures that evening, somebody noticed that she looked like our grandmother!

More of the next generation playing bocci. True Italians!

Chuck, cutting up honeydew for our colorful fruit salad

Peter, Rick and Chuck

And then I got stung by a ground bee, right on the back of my ankle, like at the Achilles tendon. It hurt a little when it stung me but it really hurt afterwards and all day, too. We put ice on it and then a baking soda paste. Younger cousin Phil and his girlfriend are EMTs so they got out the tweezers and pulled the stinger out. They saved the day! Here's to future doctors of America! (REALLY. Georgetown Med School.) 

We ended our day with fireworks, looking at pictures, hugs and kisses and pears. Ciao for now, cousins! And thank you!

Goodbye to Alaska

So we had to leave Alaska. I was sad. But we had one more day on the ship before we got to Vancouver. 

This lovely shot is in British Columbia as we got closer and closer to the end of our trip.

Our last night featured a beautiful sunset with spectacular clouds. I love this shot with the moon.

We took the train from Vancouver to Seattle where we met up with Jennifer Graham McClelland and her family. Thanks for your hospitality and sweet family, Jen! This is Mt. Rainier from the train.

My final picture is of the sunrise from the plane as we approached JFK. We landed there at 6:30am after an all night flight from Seattle.
We had a GREAT time. I love Alaska and would have turned right around in Vancouver, boarded the ship again and gone north. We really had a blast.

On to Ketchikan

Our last stop in Alaska was to (reportedly) the rainiest city in North America. Average rainfall is something like 13 FEET! But the day we were there, it didn't rain!! And it was the warmest we had been in days. 

I took this picture from the ship. The town looked so cool from way up there and I couldn't wait to shop!

Had to take a picture of the touristy sign!

This is the infamous Creek St. which long ago housed bars and bordellos. Today it has the coolest shops! 




This is me, wearing only TWO layers looking for salmon in the Ketchikan River.

Skagway - my favorite little town

Although it was another cloudy day, it wasn't raining!!! Here we had docked and were waiting to begin our exploration of Skagway and take the White Pass and Yukon Railway. We had a long walk into town but it was pleasantly chilly, not freezing and not RAINING!

Skagway was like right out of Gunsmoke. Wooden sidewalks and everything. Even the train ran through town. There was something special about that little town that just touched my heart. I don't know what it was, I just loved it. And of course, that's the place where we had the least amount of time before we boarded the train. AAAGGGHHH!!  Guess I have to go back.

It doesn't look like I'm freezing here but I am. Freezing but happy. It got cold after such a nice morning. That's three layers I'm wearing. It's a wonder I could even put my arms by my side. I felt like the little kid in The Christmas Story movie who can barely move, he's so bundled up.

So we boarded this great train that took us nearly up to the Yukon. The ride was phenomenal. Our ship is docked somewhere in that body of water. We kind of followed the route the gold miners used to get up in the mountains. See, Skagway was where the Klondike Gold Rush started. Don't ask me how those guys got up those mountains and over the rivers with MULES. I would have fallen off a mountain and died for sure. 

Rain, dogs and whales - Juneau!

As we approached Juneau that morning, the clouds were very low and I thought "Oh no. More rain."  But even the clouds in the mountains were lovely.

As you can see from the deck and the railing of our ship, it WAS raining. And cold.

But we were going dog "sledding" no matter what, so we bundled up, put on the water resistant shoes and slogged through the mud with the best dogs! I think there were 12 dogs in the team. When they saw their musher approach with us, the dogs started barking like crazy. They were ready to RUN! These are Iditarod dogs and used to 50 below zero when they run, so this 50 above zero weather was like running in Miami for them. We stopped a few times so they could rest and drink. The ride was about two miles or so. We were in kind of a golf cart. Those dogs can PULL. We went fast. It was great. In the rain.

This is Kara and me in the dog sled cart during a rest stop for the dogs. The musher took our cameras and took pictures for everyone.

We were allowed to pet the dogs but only the ones the musher said we could. He knows his dogs. This is Olive Oyl and me.

Then we had two really great sessions with mushers, explaining how the dogs are cared for and how they train for races. This picture is of me with a puppy. Part of the training is for the puppies to be handled by strangers so they get used to people. Sweet baby dogs.  I think this was my favorite excursion.

We also went on a whale watch! They put us on a catamaran that was loaded with binoculars for our use. They also provided a FEAST, which included roast beef, reindeer sausage (?!), salmon mousse, shrimp cocktail, cheese and crackers, fruit, dessert - all sorts of yummy things to eat as we headed out to the sea. 

We saw a whole bunch of whales. We could see and hear them exhaling through their blow holes. These are two at once!

We could also hear their bodies slap the water. This is the tale of a humpback whale.

This is our darling young bus driver who took us from the ship to the catamaran and back. She looks so Alaskan but is from El Paso, Texas!

Cool, damp Sitka

Sitka was the original capital of Alaska. It's very small and has a distinct Russian atmosphere. We toured St. Michael's Russian Orthodox Church and then saw a show of Russian dancing. Very cool. The main industries in this city are health and education, fishing and then tourism. It used to be a favorite fishing ground for the Tlingit (pronounced klink-it) Indians. The Tlingits are still there and all around southeast Alaska.

The ship was approaching the port of Sitka. It proved to be a drizzly day.

Can you imagine living on an island like this??? It's pretty, but kind of isolated.

And there is me looking like a real tourist, dorky but happy. All bundled up in three layers.

We went to the Raptor Center which is really a hospital for raptors, or birds of prey. I cried here too, but that's just me.

The next day we went to Juneau, the capital of Alaska.........

Ready for some pictures of Alaska?

Since I've been home for two weeks now, I thought I had better start posting some of my 316 photos! No, no, I will only post the best ones or at least some that will make you laugh.

I went on this trip with a doula friend, Kara. We flew into Anchorage, spent the night there and then took a shuttle to Whittier, were we would board our ship, the Carnival Spirit.

This is the Turnagain Arm, the first beauty we experienced on our way from Anchorage to Whittier. It's at sea level and these mountains are about 5,000 feet. This was the epicenter of the earthquake that hit Anchorage on Good Friday, 1964. It registered a 9.2 and caused the land I was taking this picture from to sink nine feet.

Here I am on our first night on the ship. It was 10:15PM. See how light it still is out?

This was our first morning. I woke up at 5:30, ran up to an upper deck to see what was out there and saw this breathtaking vision. We were in the College Fjord, surrounded by mountains, glaciers (which are blue) and icebergs. It was so lovely I cried.

This is one of the glaciers. I forget the name of it. Maybe the Bryn Mawr? All the glaciers in this fjord are named after colleges.

Okay so this is one of those photos that will make you laugh. You have probably NEVER seen me without my glasses and with mud on my face on a ship in Alaska with BRACES so here you are. I am SO glad this blog is now private!  Actually, we were taking a class at the ship's spa about facials. All the ladies in the class were slapping stuff on their faces. It was hilarious.

So that was our first day or so. Next stop, Sitka!