the witching hour...

is upon us!!!!! - it's five o'clock on halloween and from now until 8 p.m. our house is transformed into an evil witch's den...complete with loud noises and moans and chains clanking and howls and growls and candy and lots of little ones who get braver every year. some of them get a little farther up the walk with their parents close behind with the video camera. we started this years ago, when our kids were much younger and one year a young friend dressed up in the dummy we have on the front porch and scared hell out of those brave enough to come all the way up. other years our kids dressed up and hung out in the yaard and chased the kids down the street....time out..our first customers..the frenchies next door - all five of them with their dad. they've been so excited because we're actually going to be here this year for halloween!!...(i'll have to finish this later - that was a whole slew...)..more tomorrow...

newsflash!!!!

we found my memory card!!!!! and davey did not put it on my desk, afterall!!...it was caught in the printer, probably having fallen off his desk while he was doing a bunch of printing...so i am one happy girl and he is one chagrined boy!!! here's another photo of ruby - in nellie's basket!

ruby

what were we thinking??????? - nellie was 3 months old when we got her and ruby was 7 weeks...you do the math!....she is the cutest thing going but boy is she a lot of work! - she's getting better about potty training but her little teeth are sharp and she's got a tenacious grip when she gets a hold of something. it's up to us...davey, nellie and i to socialize her and teach her to use her soft mouth and not her teeth. she's going to grow up to be an enormous dog and she needs to learn to be gentle. when nellie was a pup, we had little ones around her all the time so she learned early to be gentle - but i'm thinking scooby, the frenchie's dog, is like a litter mate and they scrap around and fight and it's going to be harder to get her to be gentle, i think. i had a whole bunch of images of her, along with all my cruise photos, etc on the other memory card...somehow it's gone and so we start over and, as my husband says, "move on"....hard for me, sometimes.

donation

12x12 hand-embellished giclee on canvas

so here's a giclee of one of my very early daily paintings..jennifer's old toe shoes which now hang in my studio where they await future painting, i swear!! this is my donation to this year's annual fund-raiser for our local arts association, CAAC. tonight's their big wing-ding and we won't be going. we haven't been able to attend for years, partly due to my hubby's schedule and possibly a little bit because one time our group got severely scolded when we got a little rambunctious and acted up in the back during the auction...(we were a rowdy group back in the day...much older and more sedate now...)anyway..i still like to support my local sherrif so i always donate either an original or a giclee, now that giclees have come into favor...i love the digital print technology which makes a print look quite like the original artwork..(can you say thomas kincaid?)...and especially when they're hand-embellished by the artist...or not..again, think kincaid....they can be good value and a nice work of art. i was going to post a bunch of stuff about ruby but as i was working on this post, i thought i was posting a ruby picture but i accidentally put up a very cute but funny picture of davey and in trying to delete that, i somehow deleted the whole post. huge bummer!!!!... so this is a second effort and i'll stop here and post the puppy stuff tomorrow....hopefully...

the ruby has landed!!!!

today was "D-Day"...delivery day for the newest addition to our family..RUBY BEGONIA!!!...we took nels and drove over to oldenburg...the great chicken place...but instead of chicken we got our sweet ruby!! - we had 4 to choose from and the minute i held this little girl in my arms and she licked my face i knew she was the one!...she is so calm...just what this family needs i'm thinking...and at the moment she's sound asleep in her crate, full tummy, puppy breath quietly going in and out and head resting on a toy the frenchies next door got her as a welcome home present. their golden, scooby, is 2 weeks older than ruby but he's a lot bigger and, being a boy, a lot more aggresive...go figure...i can see a whole lot of backyard frolicing in their future!...just returned from the cottage...with this new life ahead of us i sure hope i find time to fit a little painting into the mix. nels is still a bit wary but so far it looks like she's a keeper for sure!!

gangway to jamaica

here's the view from our balcony...this is at the end of our day in jamaica and the folks are straggling back on board. i would highly recommend a balcony - it was small but we spent some quality time out there..reading, snoozing in the sun, mesmerized by the waves at night...

grand cayman

so here are a couple pics of grand cayman - as you can see, the water is very choppy and we couldn't even sit near the edge on the balcony of the bad restaurant because we'd get sprayed. they closed the dolphin swim and the stingray adventure so all we ended up doing is browsing, eating, taking pix of galoots and buying a lovely bracelet. we found out later that some of the folks snorkled but i don't think we know how...davey says we did it years ago in some southern place but i've slept since then and don't remember it if it even happened!..gorgeous day today...played some golf...ordered our christmas present to each other...(a tempurpedic mattress!!!) and had the comcast guy come again!! time to eat!

a bit of the dunns river falls..

so i'm finally able to upload my pictures..back to normal wifi after the vastness of the ocean...this climb up the falls was just spectacular - i'm not sure i captured it and in certain places you were in water past your waist. i had to hold my fanny pack containing my camera up around my shoulders and davey kept having to hold his back pack over his head. (check him out in the first pic above).. we weren't even allowed to bring cameras or backpacks on the trek but we managed to skirt the official "group" so we never quite got the memo. it was so exhilirating - we wanted to turn around and immediately do it again but we were running out of time so we just walked down on the beach and my hubby, while looking for a bob marly hat, got bamboozled into buying a little carved piece - the guy gave us the first piece as a gift and then demanded to sell us the second and snarled when we didn't offer enough - really quite threatening...we were so happy to get out of there...anyway - back to work and real life...we're picking up ruby within a week and we're starting to break the news to nels...she's already exhausted from playing with scooby next door!! the weather is still hot hot hot so i'm thinking tennis will have to wait another week and i plan to hit the links in the morning!!!

back home again...

well - we're back in indiana...was that a dream?? - hopefully i'll have time tomorrow to catch up..maybe post some of my pictures..galoots, etc....but we came home to 82 degree weather and we may just have to golf...laundry and golf...bills and golf....life is good, no matter what, and we are ready for another cruise!!

headin home....

ok - so we only have 18 minutes left on our wifi account so i'll be brief...and unless something fantastical happens tonight, this will probably be my last post before we're back in the states. we're beginning to see signs of humanity - the occasional lighthouse-looking thing - a dim far-off landmass looking thing - i know we headed out of jamaica yesterday and headed northeast and around the eastern end of cuba and then back up sort of following the coast - the tv available on board is pretty pathetic but they do have a channel that continually shows where you are and it's kind of cool!...a lazy day - have to have all our bags packed before we head to dinner and we just aren't making that much headway - we did take a long nap this afternoon - this nightlife is really hard on a body! - we watched a beatles tribute and then went to a piano bar last night. davey is of course the hit in our group! -they can't get over his argyle socks, of all things - that's just the way he dresses! - gotta run - we've printed off a couple prints of some galoots we know...

468 pounds of "galoot"...

(note*...i have since been able to access my files so i'm uploading the pix!!)

so now i have my computer back up and running and i actually FOUND my camera charger! - i knew i wasn't crazy!!..SO I'M ALL SET! - so there we were in cayman yesterday - browsed around the jewelry stores and had lunch at a very overpriced and not very good place called the paradise...as we were leaving we happened to look down this little stairway to the ocean and who should we see but two huge galoots getting tossed by the waves. it was dak and heck of course so after we got a quick pic we joined them and got absolutely wiped out by an enormous wave! and for some reason i can't seem to upload the image! rats! i'll keep trying but it may be that i'll have to wait to do most of that til i get back in the states. before we came back on board, my hubby bought me a beautiful gold bracelet with 3 little perfect diamonds - i was so thrilled!!...then last night we had a lovely dinner and then went to karioke..i couldn't get anyone to agree to sing with me but then monica walked in late and i had my accomplice! - we also dragged james up there - another IU cruiser - and we did a fine number..we sang "don't stop believing" and we were pretty fabulous! - then up to the lido deck for a bit of dancing - not too strenuous - it was almost one and we were tired. we needed to get to bed because today we hit jamaica - mon - and went to dunn's river falls - it's this fabulous waterfall that you climb up - all this rushing water cascading down around you and water at times up past your waist - we did pretty well for a couple of mid-sixty year olds! and then we had to avoid at all costs the beggars accosting us, starting with the guy at the stairs at the top of the falls who announced that this was the "tipping station" of all things! we'd been warned about this so we were prepared - we also did the falls on our own instead of joining a group - that way we avoided all the guys snapping pics in hopes of selling you a video at the end of the ordeal. had lunch at the hard rock.. some jerk chicken sangies and red stripes - now back in the cabin and, since we've already run out of scotch, we bought 6 little duty free bottles and snuck them back on the ship by pouring them into a tea bottle. very clever - so now we're resting up for a big night - no-one needs to get up tomorrow so we may have a fun evening in store - no need to hit the leg machine at the gym today - the falls did it for us!

hilarious....

so here we are in cayman - bad weather on the other side of the island kept us from landing in the main city...we took a bus over to all the action and just browsed around a bit...all of a sudden a strange man came over and yelled.."i thought you should have won the dance contest!!"...what a riot - i'm running our of battery - more later...

another dancing injury.....

well...i am NOT the best dancer on the ship, apparently! - last night before dinner we discovered this fabulous little bar with live music right across from our sit-down dinner venue...davey and i got the place going a bit until we had to leave for the late seating...then after dinnner, we dragged jackie and dak and monica and ski to this little spot for just a bit and then they dragged us to the michael jackson tribute...and that's when the fun began~! - the place was not exactly rocking when we arrived but in no time jackie. monica, davey and i had most of the crowd out there! - at one point i was dancing with this very smooth black mj wanna-be - and we were going to town when all of a sudden i tripped and couldn't catch myself - (i'm blaming it on the rubber crocs i was wearing - they wouldn't exactly slide and spin!) - i went crashing to the floor and this fine fellow actually came swooping in on his knees and we kept dancing so it looked like we planned it! dak actually asked if i did that on purpose!! it hurt like hell! - in fact i hardly slept - anyway...davey was out there shaking it down almost every dance. he was his usual fantastical self but he needed just a tiny break - so i grabbed "bob"...who said he would only dance if THRILLER came on...and it did..so he did!...one dance....and while we were out there this gal came around and put a medal around my neck, saying i was officially in the dance contest. she tagged 4 other ladies and 5 guys - one of whom was BOB!!! - davey was so pissed! - sits out one dance and he gets "bobbed"...or as he likes to say "wally ( i think) pipped"...the guy who sat out one game and then lou gerhig played the next 4 thousand and 12 or something...anyway - we had the dance-off and even though i did my best, the crowd got behind these two other ladies, one of whom was from the short bus and the other looked like betty white...the betty white gal i think won the girls and for the guys...even though there were some mighty fine dancers - mj wanna-bes for sure...guess who won!!!??? BOB!!!! - plus he went on to win the entire thing and a bottle of champers...and he's been in my husband's face ever since!! - we are having a wonderful time with these new IU friends - and today had a eucher tournament - we all thought bob would win that too but some other guy did and i came in second - dumb luck and 3 hands of "going it alone" didn't hurt!!...i can't decide if there will be dancing in my future but after a couple drinks with dinner i just may have to hit the floor again...(not literally, of course!)

key west

it was so strange last night...first of all we had a lovely dinner - met two very lovely couples, one of whom was celebrating their 50th wedding ann'y! - then, since we ate so late, when we finally got back to the room it was quite dark...then it got strange.....on the balcony, with the ship traveling around 20 knots or so - we were making time and it was almost eerie - the birds looked like stars, darting about overhead - almost luminescent - and the vastness of it all - i was at that moment very happy and grateful to not be alone in the world - to have wonderful family and friends - i can't imagine how alone one would feel under that great big sky - lost in the middle of the ocean..if one didn't have faith and family and friends....we slept well and this morning pulled into key west - quite the tourist trap - lots of junky stores selling lots of junky stuff. we rented a couple bikes and got several hours of exercise - rode all over - got some great shots - the southernmost home for one...and now i have a delimma...i find i forgot to pack my camera charger! - i'm going to check to see if they have another - i actually bought a new battery for just such an occasion but it's supposed to be charged first so i'm in deep trouble! - i may just have to write about things and not do any pix - i'll probably wait til i get home to post most of the stuff since it takes so long out in the middle of the ocean. you can get some idea of the hugeness of our ship with this photo and out room is directly above the "N" in carnival!!

underway.....

well i took so many fabulous pictures today...including one of a group of people doing the twist...and i asked them if they would mind being on my blog...and they said great! - i took one of us leaving the port, a couple of the inside of the pool area...one of the outside of the boat as we were arriving...and then i went to post all this and i found i'd left my card in the computer. no card in the camera!!! i promise to do better tomorrow! - anyway...we actually stood in the VERY long check in line with the fellow who was the primary reason we're even taking this cruise in the first place - danny dakich - former iu player and assistant, head coach of bowling green, back as assistant at iu - interim coach under sampson during a very hard time for iu - now a fabulous radio and soon to be ESPN commentator...anyway...we met his wife jackie and traveling buddies monica and ron and found it was a very small world indeed...some stuff about the ship...almost 1000 feet long and around 300 feeet high - absolutely immense!!!! i've done a bunch of exploring and this place is unbelieveable - so much to do - i found myself in the middle of a spa tour in the blink of an eye...and the food!!!!!! - my friend michelle told me the average weight gain for a cruise is 7 or 8 pounds. from the look of perhaps 30% of the people on this ship..they have been on many many MANY cruises!!!!! i think you can eat at all hours of the day and it's all included so "what the hell"?! we did check out our dinner arrangements and we have regular 8:15 seating in the "posh" restaurant - unbelieveable! - i took a picture and..well you know the rest...maybe tomorrow...getting ready to meet the IU gang at 6:30 and then on to dinner. this is going to be so much fun! - and guess what my hubby just said..."maybe we SHOULD play golf"...go figure! - and he, of course, managed to get out of the call to muster drill - i knew he would! i was there frantic and he was relaxing in the cabin, having told the guy who knocked on the door that he'd been so sick and vomiting he couldn't leave the room. we DID manage to sneak our scotch on board!!! more later!

from our hotel balcony.....

so here's the view from our balcony here at the hilton marina in ft. lauderdale....i took this today..sunday morning...but it was way more fun to watch last night!..we think this may be between 100 and 200 feet - a true luxury yacht with a crew of i don't know how many. at least two girls and maybe three fellows scurried about most of the early evening, preparing for something. then all of a sudden, we saw a young couple - lounging - not working - they'd be on one deck, then they'd be on another - then they'd go inside and come back out - then they went up on the top deck and lay down with their feet kicking up behind them. this was after we came home from dinner...we took a break and watched the Blind Side - a wonderful movie, by the way!!!..then when we checked back in we saw what all the preparations were about. the two girls were serving 4 people dinner - very elegant it seemed - and the young couple had been joined by two other men. the rich are differect. but they still have to eat - even if it's aboard a fabulous yacht!! i think we caught a glimpse of the carnival freedom on our way to the hotel yesterday - if i'm right - this yacht will look like a toy boat...more later..and are we excited!!!!

c-day approaches....

c-day..as is "cruise"...fast approaching and we are getting very psyched!! in getting my piles together, i'm realizing i have WAY more clothes than i need - maybe because i have a hard time letting go of anything...(i think i still have some over the knee "go-go" boots up there somewhere)....so hopefully, with all this i can pare down and give some stuff away..honestly, i've really tried over the years to do that but now i think it's staring me in the face - so i will do it...when i get home, of course! - packing up my computer and my camera so i can hopefully document some of the fun stuff we'll be doing. i can't wait for dunn's falls! and the stingrays...and the food! - someone mentioned the average weight gain is 8 pounds...i KNOW we can do better than that! ok - all for now...