Saturday 26 May 2012

HOODSPORT, WA, USA

Here I am on the last leg of my journey. This will be my home for the next 2 weeks. My friends call it their "5th wheel" and it sits in their garden at this beautiful location in Hoodsport which is a small community along the Hoodsport Canal. They live high above canal beside a gulf course The nearest big city is Seattle

This is my living/kitchen area. Not that I do any cooking!  Remember to view all my travels starting in Australia on 11th February until now simply click on the strange lady in the cork hat on the right hand sidebar.  More pictures there! Home on 10th June! 




Saturday 5 May 2012

LIFE ABOARD THE DIAMOND PRINCESS

DON'T FORGET, TO READ THE FULL ACCOUNT OF MY TRAVELS WITH PHOTOGRAPHS YOU CLICK ON THE LADY WEARING THE FUNNY HAT ON THE SIDEBAR XXX

This is a typical day on board.  Some mornings I start the day with hot tub, sauna and then breakfast.  This morning I skipped the hot tub and sauna to check emails.  After breakfast I went to a lecture entitled “Paradise Undiscovered – Hawaii before Cook”.  Very good.  The lecturer, Paul Escenfelder, reinforced what we had already been hearing from our tour guides.  The Hawaiian islanders were also  self sufficient inasmuch as they had plentiful supplies of food from the sea, wild fruits and vegetables and the Coconut tree to providing shelter, transport (canoes), clothing and food.

 Food was cooked in fire pits by the men.  The men and women had separate fire pits because it was forbidden to cook or eat food together. The men were permitted go into the women’s huts, but the women could not go into the men’s.  Consequently the men fished, gathered and cooked all the food and took it to the women.  This sounds like a very good lifestyle to me!
After this I went deck walking for 20 minutes, then played Trivia and then walked the deck for another 20 minutes stopping along the way for chats with various people that I’ve got to know. 
Lunchtime!  Then the “Crossing of the Equator Ceremony”.  This was so funny.  It takes the form of a trial.  One of “the accused” was tried for causing “washing machine rage” having being seen using the machines simultaneously on desks 5, 8, 9,10 and 11.  Another was tried for eating all day and causing havoc with the chef’s budget etc. etc.  Naturally, they were all found guilty and, to appease King Neptune, had to be severely punished. The pictures tell the story.  But check out King Neptune’s body!  He takes the zumba classes and a group of us sit and drool over him.  I told him he had a great body and he laughed and said “yes, Adam told me you had been saying that!”  It’s  great being 71, you can get away with almost anything!
Then on to a lecture called “The Singers Singer” about Matt Monro who was a very popular singer in the ‘60’s.  The talk was given by his daughter Michele.
This was followed by dinner with Anne, Pat & Ed, then on to the Darren Williams show.  Now there IS eye candy!  He is an Aussie living in New York and is a brilliant singer, entertainer and musician.  By far the best act we have seen so far. Then supper in the Horizon Buffet and bed. Whew. 
I would also like to have done afternoon tea and I missed another couple of trivia sessions because I simply ran out of time. 
If I were inclined to I could also have gone to a juggling work shop, the gym, listened to music at various venues throughout the day, visited the library, shopped, swum, had cocktails and music with “Derringer” (who every they are), gone to a Musical Concert starring the Josef  Mezel Trio, gone ballroom dancing, watched 3 movies, listened to Rose Winters in Crooners Lounge in the evening or watched her rehearse the choir in the morning, played poker, blackjack, or the one armed bandits (called “pokies” in Australia),  gone disco dancing, played bingo, watched the Mr Sexy Legs competition, gone to the Crafters and Knitters Get-Together, joined a group of “stock watchers”  or a group studying comparative religion and spirituality, or gone to the “Engineers get together”, the “Gardeners get together”, the “Arts & crafts workshop” to study calligraphy, dance classes or a seminar on how to increase your metabolism, played backgammon, whist, canasta, pinochie, poker, bridge, paddle tennis, water volleyball, watched TV all day and let’s not forget the Spa for full body treatment or the hairdressers for a hair do!  And, if I had the need, I could have gone to a Jewish Sabbath Eve Service, an AA meeting or a meeting of the gay and lesbian community! And then there is the singles and solo traveller’s dinner, the Princess Pot Star qualifying heats etc. etc.  Phew!!!!