Voyage of the (Euro)Dammed, Part 2 (days 3 and 4)

Day three of the trip was spent wandering around again and seeing what we'd missed. I also had a scalp massage scheduled in the Greenhouse Spa, which was heavenly. The women's locker room was directly above our stateroom, as it so happened. The outer walls of the locker room were floor-to-ceiling windows, which gave a stunning view of the sun coming up over the ocean. It also would give a stunning view to someone who just so happened to be in the right place at the right time if you were in port, so be sure to close the curtains in that case.


One thing that Holland America is known for is their HUGE, real flower arrangements. I took pictures of several, here is one example.

There is a sports bar onboard, they have some great chairs that look like baseball gloves. Believe it or not, they are incredibly comfortable.

We spent some time in the Crow's Nest but it was FREEZING up there, I don't know why. They were having a game show where you had to guess someone's weird job using only yes or no questions. They had an opera singer, a traffic reporter (helicopter), and an Aussie guy who collected toys for Santa to give to needy kids. It was a lot of fun.


That night, mom and I had reservations for the Italian restaurant on board....staffed with Italians. Young Itallians. Young, buff, good looking Italians. In tight black pants and black and white striped shirts. Very nice. The food was good, too, I was impressed. And after your main course and before your dessert they bring you a big plate of pink cotton candy. I'm not sure why, anybody know?


The next morning we were up ultra early because mom was worrying all night about catching our train and she woke me up. We were getting off the ship later in the morning, so we decided to order room service because we didn't know what the game plan was for leaving and didn't want to get stuck in one of the eateries and miss our train.

Mom had fallen in love with their tomato juice, which she said was the best she's ever had, and I already knew their chocolate croissants were to die for, as well as the bagels with lox and cream cheese. We had a wonderful breakfast while coming into NY Harbor.

I got this great shot of the Emperor of the Kingdom of Fools try to outrun us as we were turning into our berth. We are a BIG SHIP. This is a DINKY BOAT. But no, he just had to speed up on us on that side and try to beat us. He did beat us, but god it was close.

I'm not sure what buildings these are, but I really liked this picture because it is a straight shot up the street. I just thought it was cool.

We sat in Penn Station for an hour waiting for our train. The station wasn't crowded at all, but the train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was sold out. We got off in Harrisburg, dad met us and was really happy to see us. He'd been there an hour, I think he said.

All in all, a great trip. I'd do the train again in a heart beat. I'd go on the Eurodam again, too, without question. Just a beautiful ship. Mom is hooked, she's already sent away for Holland America's New England/Canada itinerary book. She won't be going with me, but I think she will go in the next few years. If dad lets her, of course.

General happenings and comings up

On the home-front, not too much has been going on. Summer is winding down noticeably with nights in the 50s and sometimes 40s. The leaves have been changing colors. Max has been sleeping under the bankies with us to keep warm, which we don’t mind but would probably freak some people out. I find it very comforting in a cave-dweller kind of way when he cuddles up to me. Humans and dogs have been doing that for tens of thousands of years.

Speaking of Max, on our most recent trip to see the Opth doc we had good news and bad news. The Good News is that his corneal ulcer is totally healed and the internal inflammation is going down so he can go off two of the anti-inflamatories and the antibiotic. She did put us back on another steroid anti-inflamatory, though, but that still brings our total med count from 7 to 5. He is totally de-coned, too, and the pressure in both eyes is normal.

The Bad News is that he still has no functional vision in the eye and she did an ultrasound to confirm her hunch that he did, in fact, have a detached retina in that eye. So unless we want to have another surgery to reattach the retina (not) he is totally blind in that eye from now on. However, it doesn’t seem to be affecting him much at all. He gets around fine, he runs and jumps and plays fine. He just can’t see anything that you do off to his left side. If you hold a toy or biscuit on that side he can’t see it, and if you are walking towards him from that direction he can’t see you but usually can hear you if he’s paying attention and not zoning. I think he’s just ok, the only thing we need to do is keep sure that the eye remains healthy. He’s a sweet dog.

I will be posting part 2 of the cruise here soon, maybe next week. I have off next week, I’m going to be doing quite a bit of computer work (mainly business related, I’ll get to that in a minute). Matt and I will also be leaving this Friday for a mini-vacation. We haven’t had one this year at all. We’d planned a few day trips to DC and a couple other places over the summer that never materialized due to the Dog Emergency. Friday we’re driving down to Lexington, VA, to stay with a former coworker for 2 nights. We will be visiting Monticello, Tommy J’s old stomping ground, and the Natural Rock Bridge. Then Sunday we will be driving to West Virginia to see one of the National Radio Astronomy Observatories and to Cass Scenic Railroad. We’ll be spending the night in a B&B, which we’ve never done before. Then heading north to Blackwater Falls and whatever else we may run into that strikes our fancy, and to a lodge with a really interesting chef. Then home on Tuesday. I hope to have some really great pictures.

On the business front, I published the website last week. I still need to tweak it and add a lot of pictures to the Gallery page. I made my first sale yesterday!!! Two pair of earrings to a friend of Matt’s mom. Yippee!!! I need to celebrate somehow. The only down side is now I have to pay tax.

Cruise of the (Euro)dammed! Part 1 (day 1 and 2)

The cruise was fantastic, mom and I both had a good time.




The train ride was wonderful, great time watching the scenery go by. I would recommend this mode of travel highly. It took us just over 3 hours to get from Harrisburg to NYC Penn Station via Philadelphia and we made LOTS of stops along the way. Very smooth, very clean. Got to use a train toilet, so it was also entertaining.

The cab ride from Penn Station to the pier was great fun, I think we were on sidewalks for part of the time. Mom thoroughly enjoyed herself, she is still talking about it.

We had booked what they call and obstructed view stateroom, which meant that the windows were totally blocked by the lifeboats. Two days before we left I found out that we had been visited by what is called the Upgrade Fairy. The Upgrade Fairy gave us a VA-category balcony stateroom right behind the bridge, which would have cost at least double what we actually paid. This was a 14-category upgrade. We were incredibly lucky. Either that or the ritual sacrifices worked. :)




We had early dinner in the main dining room and were seated with two couples at a six person table near the windows at the very aft of the ship. Someone must have done their homework, because one of the men at the table was a retired fire chief. Mom and I both work at the National Fire Academy, so we had a lot to talk about. Very nice people. Food was excellent.



They actually started pulling out of port before we left the dining room. I could tell we were moving only by looking out the window, it was that smooth. Mom and I left and went up top to wach sail-away. We went by the statue of liberty, and quite a lot of crew members came out from their duty stations to see the Statue of Liberty go by. They'd never seen her before.


We weren't sure if we would get a big hooplah when we left the harbor, but we did. This was the first time the Eurodam had been to a US port, so we got the fireboat spraying water, we got the police boat escort, we got the police helicopter escort. It was very cool.

We were passing the statue of liberty and had the FDNY fireboat doing its thing, and all of a sudden the ship’s horn sounded. BWOOOOOOOOOOMP! We all jumped. It scared the bejezzus out of us collectively. It blew for about 15-20 seconds, and that thing is LOUD. We were right below it. Then it did it again. And again. And then the fireboat sounded its horn: meep! And the Eurodam hit it again, a short blast in response: BWOMP! It was so funny, everyone was laughing.

We passed under the Verezanno Bridge (I think that's what it was) so I got a chance to try out my night setting on the camera. I liked it, it worked out well.

We wandered the ship, had a drinky, and went to bed early. We weren't interestedin the entertainment and we were both beat, I hadn't slept well for 3 nights.

The Muster drill (lifeboat drill) was the next morning, so after a buffet breakfast (I had fruit, bagel with smoked salmon, and a chocolate croissant), we headed to our room for our life jackets and headed back down to the promenade deck. It was entertaining, too, in a people-watching kind of way. There was a woman in our boat (lucky us) who kept wandering back and forth without a life jacket on. She had a ‘duh’ look plastered on her face but after a while you could kind of tell that she knew where her life jacket was, she just didn’t want to go get it. She wanted someone on deck to give her one. After about 15 minutes of half sentences asking people and crew ‘well, why don’t I have one?’ someone finally gave her one…and walked away. So we were also treated to her trying in vain to put it on.


Our room was behind the bridge. At one point I was leaving our stateroom…and I walked into this large white wall. And I looked up, and up. And up, and it was the tallest officer I have ever seen. Actually, they have a picture of him on the Eurodam Blog, he’s 7 feet tall! I moved out of his way and watched him make his way down the hall, stooped down and dodging the light fixtures and sprinkler heads. Wow.

We sat in on an Acupuncture lecture sponsored by the Greenhouse Spa, which was very interesting and has pushed me to contact our local acupuncturist and set up an appointment next month. We also checked out the shops on board, I got a pair of Roman glass earrings similar to these. We got some tea and went and sat out on our room's balcony. We have decided we are now spoiled and can never get anything but a balcony room ever again. Sigh.

Dinner was formal tonight, and I have the pictures to prove it. I will scan one in sometime and add it in here. It was another early night.

Cruise of the Dammed!

This weekend is the weekend to end all weekends. This weekend will go down in history. This is the weekend that will try men's souls.

My mother and I are going on a cruise.

I had suggested it last January and to my great surprise my father decided to let (ahem) my mother do it. Yes, I know, the less said about that the better. Mom had expressed interest in a cruise, especially after Matt and I did the 11-day Caribean for our 5-year anniversary. She was concerned, however, that she wouldn't like and that she would get seasick.

When I saw this short, 3-day introductory cruise on Holland America's brand-spanking-new Eurodam (HATE the name), I thought it would be ideal. The price was right, the location was good, it would be a good taste for her to get an idea on what it is all about. So we booked it.

We leave Harrisburg on Amtrak at 9ish this coming Friday morning. We get to NYC around noon, just in time to wait at the pier for maybe 3-4 hours because they bumped back the embarkation time. *sigh* The timing on this trip has become almost a comedy of errors:

• Embarkation was supposed to be at 1, but it was bumped back to 3pm. Since this is the first time the Eurodam will be in a US port the Coast Guard has to do its inspection, followed by
• The muster drill (lifeboat drill) we'd heard was pushed back to 11pm! That turned out to be inaccurate, thank god, or else we'd be in nighties and slippers and a lifevest. The new muster drill is 4:45, which will just give us time to head to
• Dinner, which we have a set time in the main dinning room at 5:45. If we skip dessert the first night we may just be able to make it to
• Sailaway, which was supposed to be at 7:30 but was bumped up to 7:00. Mom really wants to see the Statue of Liberty.

Don't worry, we can get dessert somewhere else on the ship or from room service. :) As many as we want.

We have an outside stateroom with an obstructed view, so we will get natural light but not much real view (which is fine because we're not GOING anywhere). This picture is actually of the cabin next to ours. I'm a member of CruiseCritic online, and it just so happened that one of the people on the boards was on the innagural cruise and happened to be in the room next to the one Mom & I'll be in.

This is a picture of the glass...art...in the atrium on the ship. People on CruiseCritic started calling it the 'condom pile.' I can see it. It's funny, because now the staff on the ship also call it the condom pile. And it changes colors, too.

And this is the casino. I don't know how much time we'll spend here, but some at least.

This is a really big ship. It holds 2100 passengers (the other ship we were on carried 1200 passengers, and it wasn't dinky by any stretch of the imagination).

This is a picture of the chairs in the Crow's Nest. Matt and I spent a lot of time in the Crow's Nest. It is at the top of the ship at the front (don't ask me to say bow and starbord and all that, I can't keep it straight) and is a great panoramic view. It also has a bar, and on the Eurodam it apparently has Star Trek seating. :)

So, wish me luck. We'll be home on Monday, again by train.

Business update

I'm working slowly to get my jewelry business going. I purchased the domain name and (barely started working on it. I will let everyone know when it has been 'published.' I have been working on getting some better photographs of my work so I can easily post them on the website, too.

I also have been working on tags for the jewelry, which are mini cards I purchased from Moo.com. My bud Tim told me about them, they are the cat's meow. I have grommets and a grommet gun that I'm using to make durable holes with a bit of color, then using thin ribbon to actually attatch them to jewelry.

I also bought a 1/16 inch hole punch to make earring hang tags with. all the card came printed on the back with my business name, website, and a blurb about me. They are really high quality cards, plastic coated. I would highly recommend them. MOO now has business cards, too, which if they'd had them when I'd been in the market for them I'd have gotten them from MOO.

So, it's going. Slowly, but that's what I wanted. Stay tuned.

Max update

We went to visit with Dr. Caruso yesterday, Max is doing well (notice he got part of a biscuit stuck in the bottom of his cone):

• His corneal ulcers are healed. He lost one contact lens but the other stayed in.
• He has some corneal edema (cloudiness) in both eyes (left more than right), and she's thinking that this is what caused the ulcers. It happens in older dogs. She prescribed another drop to help get rid of the the edema. I'm not sure if this is a forever thing or what yet.
• There is still some inflamation in the surgery eye, but it is expected and improving.
• There is a small cataract in his right eye, but no evidence of lens loosening in that eye.
• The pressure was good in both eyes, not sure if that is due to the glaucoma meds or what. She's planning on weaning him off those meds over time to see if the pressure stays down or goes up.
• She also bumped us back on the meds, so only 4 drops twice a day instead of 7 drops 2 or 3 times a day, and only 2 drops in the right eye.

While I was in there I saw a beagle, a husky, a french bulldog, a poodle, and several cats. I also saw a vet tech walk a lab mix outside, she had a bell around her front leg (the lab, not the tech :). I asked why, she said it annoys the dog and makes them lift the (injured/operated on) leg instead of dragging it and helps them heal faster. Interesting. They should do that for people.

Grandma Mary V. 1925 - 2008

Last year we threw a surprise birthday party for my mother in law, JoAnne. Mary V was instrumental in the decoy actions, we three drove up to Ashcombe’s greenhouses while everyone arrived for the party and set up, got food together, etc. JoAnne was very surprised. One of the married-in family, Rod, made some frozen fruit drink concoction that was VERY strong. I distinctly remember Mary V wandering through the crowd, drink in hand, smacking and licking her lips in ecstasy.

• She’s been almost totally deaf most of her life, with the last remaining hearing in her ‘good’ ear dwindling away in the time that I’ve known her. Last February she went through with the surgery to get a cochlear implant, and for the first time in years she had some hearing back. She was so thrilled. This June for her birthday a lot of people gave her those musical cards. The family has decided to donate her external implant device back to Johns Hopkins.
• Last year sometime Matt and I went to visit grandma. We notices she kept rubbing at her ribs on one side and finally Matt asked her about it. Well, she said, she was out in the garage and something had to be removed. So she went to the basement and got Steven’s 4’ bolt cutters and went and cut the thing, but she wound up catching her sides in the handles of the cutters. “I think I cracked a rib,” she told us. “It hurts when I breath a little. But there isn’t anything they can do about it, anyway, except tape it.” She never did go get it checked out.
• Whenever we visit she always fed us really well. She never got out of the habit of cooking for a large family, so when people would arrive she would start bring out casseroles, ham or tuna salad, bread, lunchmeat, cookies, homemade candy, pies, tarts, and especially the breads (banana, zucchini, etc) she would make almost daily. Everything from scratch, no mixes here. She would also give us breads that were frozen to take home. Also, every summer she would can dozens and dozens of jars of jellies and jams, pickles, relish, and especially tomato sauce, then she would take us to the basement and give us boxes so we could fill up. We haven’t bought tomato sauce in about 4-5 years. Of everything she made, my favorites were the green tomato dill pickles and the orange marmalade. Both were very strong. I’m hoping to get the recipes, but it is very possible she did it from memory.
• Mary had a computer and she and I would email back and forth fairly regularly. Due to her hearing problems, this was a really great way to communicate with her. She was fairly savvy with a computer.
• She and I shared a love of gardening. I shared some seeds with her this year for the Guatemalan Blue Banana winter squash. She was so tickled, she told JoAnne just the day before she died, the squash vines were going around her vegetable patch 3 times! She’d never seen anything like it. I’ll probably be going over to tend her garden the rest of the summer, I don’t think anyone else will be doing it.
• She made the best coffee I have ever had, and I’ll miss it terribly.
• Most of you know that I also make jewelry (just got my business license, actually). Christmas a year ago I made a necklace for her as a gift. She was thrilled, and JoAnne told me Sunday that she apparently wore it all the time. She had it on Sunday.
• She was pulled over for a speeding ticket a couple years ago and told the cop he should be out catching criminals instead of picking on little old ladies. So there.
• On the other hand, someone told me yesterday she hit a car...in an automatic car wash. I hadn't heard about this at all. Go Grandma.

There was another funny story that Matt told yesterday, I've forgotten it now. I'll post it when I remember.