Bill is here

Bill arrived on July 1.
Tuesday we went to see The Lone Ranger.  It was totally funny and enjoyable.  Crazy outrageous, like Pirates.

I found and bought at Goodwill four 1-gallon glass jars for making Kombucha tea. We have been looking for months, for 1 glass jar or equivalent, now we have 5. 

We also found a good frozen yogurt place. 

It's still very hot, and the fireworks have started early. 

OMG! A customer! Our first!!

Amazing! But true. 

Some nice lady found her way to our luggage website. 

And she ordered TWO SUITCASES!!. 

I think a notice came in about it, but I didn't see it, because I've never seen one b4. 

I found out because she wrote to ask when they had been shipped.  

Anyway, I had the bags shipped to her, plus a Bible cover, to thank her for her patience. 

Now I have to figure out how to get paid.  The $$ is being held up because we never finished the paperwork, but we're not sure how to do that. 

This is what the site looks like. It is www.travel-smart-luggage.com   

I don't know how she found it. 

She says she uses google, but I couldn't find it there searching "carry-on luggage"

But it came up #6 in Bing. 

Longest day

Today sunrise is at 5:14, and sunset is at 21:10. It starts getting light at 4:00 a.m. and it doesn't get really dark until 10:30 p.m. 

But after today, the hours of daylight will get shorter each day until the Winter Solstice in December. By then, the figures will be reversed--it will start getting dark at 4:00 pm, and it won't be really light until 10:30 am. 

So we will enjoy our hours of daylight while we can. 

Bill's visit

Bill came on Sunday and is leaving Thursday morning. Yesterday we went to the Apple Store in Tacoma and had a very good session, learning stuff about music and iCloud. 

  Us @ Apple store. 

Today we saw the movie Epic -- very fun and beautifully done.  

Chuck and Diane last day

It's been a really good time -- going on the cruise to Alaska, then staying in the WM condo in Leavenworth, then having some time with them here in Port Orchard. 

Yesterday we did the Sunday brunch in Gig Harbor, and there was a fair, with classic cars. 

Unfortunately, I came down with a horrendous cold. 

 

Back from Leavenworth.

We spent 4 lovely days in Leavenworth. This is a Bavarian-style town, built by 

Bavarians in the Bavaria-like hills of Washington State in the USA. 

With our good friends and traveling companions, Charles and Diane Fitzgerald. 

Our WorldMark condo had this view from the terrace.

Back from the cruise

It was a great experience and we loved it. Holland American is much better than Norwegian. The food, however, is too much. Too tempting. 

  

  

In Sitka

NFinally we got a WiFi connection. We are sitting in a community hall, watching Russian dancers. 

  At a glacier. 

Today is the day...

the day we board the MS Oosterdam, our floating hotel for the next week. 

We got new clothes, we dug out old big suitcases, and packed them. 

Then re-packed them. 

Chuck & Diane are here

We picked them up at the airport 6:30 yesterday, stopped for a burger at a Red Robin and for a highway accident, got home before 10. 

Nice visit from Chas

Good friend from Victoria Chas Martin spent the night on his way to Orlando. Good to see him again. 

  Chas

I'm using the 'Blogger' ap on my iPad to put in these posts, which is why there are so many. It's super easy to make a post. Only problem is that there's no run-around on photos. 

Apple Store 1-2-1

Went to Apple in Tacoma to fix the iPhone. It needed to be nuked and paved. Did it during a one-to-one open training session. It has some residual problems, but at least the camera works again. It is our "main" camera. Bill came with, then we had our Red Robin burgers. It was a good day.

Working a bit,

. . . getting electronics and other info into Evernote. Finally.

Manfred's almost-new iPhone gradually stopped working.
He's getting used to his new teeth. Learning to stop biting cheek.

Here's a photo M took in our yard.
The birds are one of those
"They told us we could be anything, so we became..." photo jokes.

Back in P.O., facing austerity & weight loss

We have been back in Port Orchard for a couple of days, now. Mercutio, our cat, came running from the woods to greet us when we arrived around 8 pm. He has been über-affectionate ever since. Our flights were not delayed, in fact, they were early.

We have to go into austerity mode now, to pay for all that extra activity.
No buying nothin', not nohow. Sequester kicking in. : (

Manfred is making another attempt at losing weight. Me, too, I am getting fat and lazy. We have been eating mostly soup, and some yogurt, for the last 2 days.

M's fav cook on Food network, Alton Brown, had some good rules:
Daily - eat fruits, whole grain, leafy greens, nuts, carrots, green tea
3x/wk - eat oily fish, yogurt, broccoli, sweet potato, avocado
1x/wk - eat red meat, pasta, desserts, alcohol
0x/wk - never eat fast food, soda, processed meals, canned soups, "diet" anything.

I don't agree totally with those 1x restrictions, but I'll try it anyway.

 Alton Brown

Today is the day . .

The day that Manfred gets his new teeth. We need to leave Chuck & Diane's house at 11 a.m., to get to the dentist appointment at 4.

?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?

Well, it was pretty horrendous, but we made it. The dentist took too long, and we had to take a taxi which drove really fast and got us to the train station in time to just catch the last train to Encinitas. It cost us $60. Luckily we had round trip tickets.

There was a lovely lasagna dinner waiting for us.
Tomorrow is our flight home.

In Encinitas near San Diego

We are having such a good time with Charles and Diane. We're doing fun things with computers and iPads.

Manfred got his dental prep done and is waiting for the lower permanent denture, which will be installed Monday. Tuesday we leave.

TJ again

Logan left yesterday and we spent today getting to Tijuana. We are in the hotel now. Tomorrow the dentist, then to San Diego to visit Chuck and Diane.

Logan visit

Logan came on May 5, and it's been so nice. We went to Seattle to see Jurassic Park 3D at the IMAX theatre. It cost a lot, but it was worth it as it was Logan's first ferry ride, and first IMAX.

Then Bill invited us all to come to his place. We drove to Port Angeles and took the ferry on foot. After the usual hold up at the border, Bill picked us up and drove to Port Renfrew. That was yesterday. Today we saw Maurice Tremblay, and Betty, and Ted and Loretta.  And the big spruce. We didn't see Bruce and Angie, but we saw them last week.

Tomorrow, we go back to Port Orchard. It makes for a long trip.

<

Between visitors.

Bill left yesterday. We took him to the ferry, met with friends, did not attend SMUG meeting. Today we prepare for Logan's visit. He'll be here 10 days, April 5 -15. Can't wait to meet him. We haven't seen him since he was a few month old, now he's 21, I think.

Happy Easter!

I'm writing this post on my cute little iPad, so the writing is really tiny. I have to depend on the spellchecker because I can hardly read it.

Bill is visiting again.  He was going to stay in BC until April 8, but couldn't stay away.  We are working on the traditional Easter ham dinner. Already had the Deviled Eggs (delicious), including a couple of painted eggs from our wonderful neighbor, Charri.

We have just booked our flight to San Diego for April 16, returning April 23.  Logan will be here from April 5-15, so it will be a busy month.