THIS is Seward!

Hi All!

Sorry about the mistaken identity of my location yesterday. THESE are pictures from Seward, Alaska!

The shuttle from the ship dropped us off at a little park right next to this mural. There were several murals around town and they were very neat. I took this shot to show to my mother - "Look Mom, flowers!"

Despite the clouds, the views were spectacular!

This is a view of the main drag is Seward. Hubby and I had a good time walking up and down looking at all of the shops while looking at the snow covered mountains in the background.

At the end of the street there was the Alaska Sea Life Center. Jay and I had heard from my in-laws that this was a neat place to go so . . .

We had to check it out. The darn people in front of the sign wouldn't move so I couldn't get the entire sign. Rats!

I got to see Puffins up close for the first time. This little guy (or girl) was strutting around close to the people just begging for a picture to be taken.

Isn't he/she interesting? I liked this shot when the Puffin peered around a rock. There was also a very deep tank where you could watch the Puffins swimming underwater. I had never seen this before and was impressed. They actually swim by flapping their wings under water! Neat! I also couldn't believe how deep these birds went and how long they stayed under the water. I kept trying to get a picture of one under the surface but never was quick enough to get a good shot.

This bird was in the same area as the Puffins and I thought he/she was very interesting. Of course I forget what this bird is called now that I am home. Darn memory!

There was a big tank with three seals in it. They were swimming all over the place and workers were in the tank in scuba gear cleaning the tank. I got some shots of those swimmers while they were underwater. I could have sat all day watching them go around and around. They always seemed to be swimming upside down!

This little seal was in a tank isolated from the rest of the seals outside of the center. You could look out windows and see the tanks. This little one was just sipping away. I thought he/she looked a little sad. What do you think? Adorable but just a bit melancholy!

Look at this big guy! I put in this picture with the person at the far right hand side for some scale. This a sea lion. Immense!

In addition to the pictures I took, the Sea Life Center had a lot of very interesting displays and a touch tank with star fish, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, etc. in it. The water was very cold but it was fun to actually get to touch these creatures. Of course Hubby just sat and watched me. He doesn't know what he missed out on!

If you ever venture to Seward, Alaska, I highly recommend a visit to the Alaska Sea Life Center. It is well worth it! The city is also a fun place to visit and you just can't beat the scenery!

I think I was on a tilt for this picture!

Trisha

Voice Update: Pretty good. Better than the other day. I am not missing as many "h's." I have done several short sessions of massage and my throat is starting to get a bit looser and isn't quite as sore. I did some inhale/exhale exercises on and off during the day and a few in bed while Hubby slept and I laid awake.

OOPS! This is really KODIAK!

Edited Note: Hubby looked at me funny when I said this was Seward. It turns out these photos were taken in Kodiak! Sorry everyone! My memory is short at to just where I take pictures! I hope to post about Seward tomorrow!

Hi All!

If you are bored with the Alaskan pictures, quit reading now and check back tomorrow. Unless you want to see some Bald Eagles - then scroll down.

If you are NOT bored with my Alaskan pictures yet, enjoy! I am having fun sharing them.

While we were in Seward, Alaska, we stopped by a local place to have some King Crab Legs. This is the place. Nothing fancy but it is where the locals go for good seafood. I even talked to some people who live in Seward and learned that they eat here at least once a week. On Friday - the day we were there - they have a crab leg special. A pound and a half for $19. A really good deal!

Hubby and I split an order of crab legs and an order of "Scallibut." Which is fried scallops and fried Halibut. Very, very good. The only problem was that the crab legs were very spiny and I got two "battle wounds" while I was cracking them open. Ouch! I guess it was worth it! Sorry I don't have pictures of the crab legs - I was too interested in eating them!

Sitting in the restaurant you could see across this little channel to a wooded area where a Bald Eagle had a nest. Actually, I think there were two over there but I never saw the second. Anyway, there was a lot of eagle activity when the owner of the restaurant put out some fish scraps for the birds. We saw one adult - above - and I thought this shot wasn't too bad.

There were also several "baby" eagles. Really they were probably teenagers but we called them "babies." This one sat on a pier right at the edge of the restaurant's patio and I got within about ten feet of him before he got nervous and flew away. He was HUGE! I knew eagles were big but never being that close to one . . . I didn't actually understand just how big they were

Isn't "Baby" cute? I was impressed that I could get so close to a real, live Bald Eagle. Okay - so he isn't old enough to be bald yet . . . it still counts. Right?

Okay - I had never heard of the Alaskan earthquake of 1964. I know I wasn't born then but shouldn't I have heard about the biggest earthquake in American history? This sign was on a sporting goods store about a mile or so from the waterfront.

This was also on the same store. Amazing that a big fishing vessel could be washed that far onto land. However - there were NO photos in the store. We looked everywhere!

THIS was in the store though. A stuffed bear that someone had shot. It was also HUGE! Much, much bigger than the eagle! Having stuffed animals seemed to be a theme in stores in Seward. There were other stuffed animals - usually Mountain Goats (or whatever they are technically called). I think that is just plain weird. What do you think?

Sorry about the poor quality of this picture. I took it through the glass and apparently had some issues with it! Just look at the measurements of this bear! Immense! I am glad I don't live near any of these things roaming around in the wild!

This is just a harbor shot. I like taking those. Look at the beautiful scenery!

Trisha

Voice Update: Yesterday I had a lot of trouble with those darn "h" words and other unvoiced consonants. Hubby even dared to make fun of me once while we were walking. That earned him a punch in the belly (a very soft one because I am a wimp!)! I did some massage - not enough of course! - and the upper left part of my throat really hurt - like a pin was stuck in it. I wonder what that is all about. This morning it seems to be fine. Hold on while I do a bit of massage to check it out. . . Yep - that sore spot is gone. My throat is really tight (due to a lack of regular massage no doubt) but it isn't sore in that spot anymore.

I, Mona Lisa - Cruise Reading

Hi All!
I am taking a break from the Alaskan pictures for a day to tell you about this book - I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis. I finished this book while on our Alaskan cruise so I guess it sort of ties into the whole description of my vacation.

This is a very interesting book and for people who like historical novels, I think it is a must read. The whole book is basically a biography of Mona Lisa - the subject of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous portrait. Woven throughout the book is the story of the Medici family and their struggle to rule the city of Florence.

Mona Lisa, a merchant's daughter, becomes entangled with the Medici family and is thrust into the political battles which consume Florence. The famous portrait comes about in the midst of political intrigue, personal tragedies, plague, and famine.

While I have never read any of Jeanne Kalogridis' other novels, I found her writing to be very entertaining and her historical facts to be informative without sounding like a history textbook. In fact, I am tempted to keep an eye out for one of her other works to see if they are as good as I, Mona Lisa.

By the way - the book also explains the Mona part of her name.

Trisha

Voice Update: My voice is a bit weak this morning. I am not sure why but saying goodbye to Hubby was a bit rocky. I did some massage yesterday (and will continue today) and my throat really hurts! I guess that is what I get for not keeping up with my massage during the cruise! I also was doing inhale/exhale matching pitches while I puttered around the house. I also found myself doing that in the post office while waiting for the worker to figure out how much I owed to mail a package. I hope it sounded like humming instead of a crazy person!

Glacier Bay

Hi All!

Are you tired of Alaskan pictures yet? No? Well then, here are some more! Yes? Well, check in tomorrow to see if I have moved on yet!

On this cruise we "cruised" Glacier Bay National Park. It was beautiful! The day was a bit overcast and the crowds on the ship were a bit pushy but . . . enjoy the scenery! Oh - I did decide to make the pictures bigger for your ease of viewing! I had forgotten I had the pictures set to "small!" Sorry about that!

This glacier "calved" while we were watching. Of course I didn't have my camera ready to take a shot of it - that is the whole story of this trip - me being late with the pictures!

It was cold out here! We were wearing jeans and long sleeved shirts while everyone else was bundled in parkas and gloves. I got the strangest looks when I sat and enjoyed what sun there was!
I am fascinated with glacial ice. It looks so rough and it is so dirty from ground up rock it has picked up along its journey.

Look at the layers in this ice! It is like rock layers in the side of a mountain but all made of dirt and ice!
Such amazing views!

I loved the way that the clouds were on the top of the mountains.

Icebergs are so cool - this one looks like a hippo with his mouth open wide! Yes, I know I have a very active imagination. I asked Hubby what he thought this looked like. His answer? "An iceberg."

I tried to go a little "arty" with this shot out of our porthole in our stateroom. I think it turned out pretty well!

Until tomorrow!

Trisha

P.S. Is there anyone out there reading this who can tell me how to cross out words on blogger?

Voice Update: Good, good, good! I keep pinching myself because I can't believe my voice has been this good this long. I am really determined to get to my exercises today and get back into the routine. Inhale/exhale matching pitches, oral reading, and massage. I am still working on getting a good description of the massage to post and to put on my podcast for everyone who asks.

Alaskan Pictures Part II

Hi All!

It is Sunday and I am being very lazy. It feels so good to be home. I have been catching up on my blogs and email. Who knew I was so popular?

Okay - enough small talk. Here are some more pictures!

Our first stop this cruise was Ketchikan. We have been to this lovely place before so we just hiked around the town a bit and enjoyed the scenery. I can't remember if we did any souvenir shopping or not.Ketchikan has a lot of totem poles. There is a totem pole park which we didn't go to on this trip but you can also see totem poles around town. I took this picture to show the totem pole and the beautiful mountains in the background. The lamp post was just in the way!

Probably the most recognizable part of Ketchican is Creek Street. This is an entire street built on wooden walkways which rise above the creek on wooden stilts. This area is mostly tourist shops now but in its heyday it was the red light district of the city.

Here is Hubby gesturing wildly that I should take this picture with the camera turned the other way. I did take another picture that way but thought this was too funny! The rain gauge in the background keeps track of the rain for the year. Can you see the little fish sticking out of the side of the gauge? It is about even with the top of the first floor. That is how much rain they have gotten this year. Impressive!This picture is for my mother who told me that there are no flowers in Alaska. Wrong, wrong, wrong. While our trip was rather early in the year (an Alaska native told me that no one sets out annuals until June 1) there were some shrubs and things blooming. Not as impressive as they will be in another month or so but . . . .Look Mom! Flowers!

Trisha

Voice Update: I haven't talked too much yet this morning but, from what I can tell, I am still in good voice. Darn it - I really need to get on my exercises. Vacations make me lazy!

Alaskan Pictures Part I

Hi All!

I just downloaded my Alaskan pictures - all seven billion of them. Okay - not ACTUALLY seven billion . . . it just seems like it! Anyway, I don't have them all organized yet. In fact, I looked through them and had a total blank out on just where I took all of them. I will need Hubby's help to sort them all out.

However, I thought I could start off with a few pictures of the ship and our lovely room.

This is our floating home-away-from-home, the Tahitian Princess. It is rather small - as cruise ships go - it only holds about 684 passengers and 370 or so crew.

Here is our room - 3007. It was on the lowest deck that passengers could stay on. We lovingly called our floor "the basement." Most of the deck was for crew only so we did see a lot of crew members coming and going. It was sort of neat.

Here is an inside view. The door right under the tv holds the safe and another large shelf. on the wall to the right of the door and behind the tv is the closet. The bathroom is to the left of the door.

We had a nice little love seat (Hubby didn't think it was too comfy but I thought it was okay) and the bedside table you see is the one I claimed for the trip.

Here is our bed and the porthole. On the wall to the left is a HUGE mirror. It does make the room seem bigger but it was a bit weird - after all, who wants to see themselves sleeping? It did come in handy when we were getting ready to go somewhere. You could always fix your hair without getting in the bathroom.

A nice, cozy, little place, huh? I have discovered over the years of cruising that the room seems a lot bigger if you get everything organized and then keep it that way. Of course Hubby doesn't really ascribe to that theory so he makes my organization a bit more difficult. Then again, it does give me something to do when I am waiting to eat . . . again!

You do know about the eating on cruise ships, right?

Trisha

Voice update: Still good. I got a little frustrated with Hubby last night - he wasn't listening to me and would turn away from me when HE talked so I couldn't hear HIM! Oh well. What are you going to do? I still haven't gotten into the exercise groove again. I am going to work on that today. For sure. I hope.

Seven Strange Facts About Me

Hi All!

Well, I haven't done as much laundry as I had hoped or had as nice of a nap as I had hoped but, I am back blogging.

I had hoped (do you see a recurring theme here?) to have downloaded my pictures by now so I could share them with you but, again, things didn't go as I had planned. I promise to have some pictures for you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I was tagged by Lauren so I thought I would give that a shot.

Seven Strange Facts About Me

7. I am a woman (no - THAT isn't the strange part!) and I HATE to shop. You read that right. I don't like shopping. I shop about twice a year for clothes - if I HAVE to - and don't really like it too much when I do. I would much rather do just about anything instead of shopping.

6. I don't match my earrings. What I mean by that is that I wear four different earrings at all times or - if I am in a particularly "normal" mood, I might wear two matching earrings in one ear and two totally different earrings in the other. This all started when I was 16 and got my ears doubled pierced. I suddenly realized that keeping track of pairs of earrings was way too much of a bother so . . . I just tried to find earrings that sort of went together. It has now rubbed off onto my Aunt Donna who has started the mismatched look as well.

5. I am a shy extrovert. Thanks to some moderate pushing by my mother, I have the wonderful ability to speak to pretty much anyone. Talking to people is now so second nature to me that I do it all the time - in fact talking to strangers is how I met Hubby. But, that is a story for a different time. Despite all of this talking to people, I am actually very shy. I might be smiling and extroverted on the outside but on the inside I am trying to hide under the covers!

4. When I am not feeling well, the first thing that I HAVE to do is cool off my tummy. Most people put cool cloths on foreheads or maybe the back of the neck. Me, it is the tummy. If my tummy is too hot it isn't a good thing. Recently, I talked to my parents and they told me that even as an infant I hated being hot. They would bundle me up (as was proper infant attire in those days) and I would cry until they unwrapped me and I was down to my diaper.

3. Vacuum Cleaners are my sworn enemies and I will do almost anything to avoid using them. This one I blame on the old Electrolux canister sweeper that my parents had when I was growing up. Wonderful sweepers but, this particular one was wearing out the and the connecting where the heavy power head clicked into the hose wasn't working well. I would hook the thing up and start sweeping back and forth. The only problem is that at some random time I would push the sweeper out and, when I brought it back, the hose would disconnect from the power head. That in itself isn't a big deal. The big deal is that it always seemed to fall and hit my toes. It really hurt! Now, that memory keeps me from sweeping as much as possible with a vacuum cleaner. Brooms on the other hand are fine.

2. I won't walk on grates. You know, the kind that are just in the middle of sidewalks without any apparent reason? Some are heavy iron looking things while others look like more flimsy wire contraptions. Sometimes man hole covers are okay but, to be perfectly honest, I would prefer to avoid those as well. Grates over drains in parking lots - no way. Hubby has a lot of fun walking with me (especially when we are on vacation in a play like - say - Victoria, British Columbia, where there seems to be an extraordinary number of grates in the sidewalk) and pretending to push me so that I HAVE to walk on a grate. It freaks me out! I am sure that - being such a petite little flower - I will fall right through the three inch wide holes. Yuck! I get the goosebumps just thinking about walking on those things.

1. I have Abductor Spasmodic Dysphonia. I am sure that most of you who read my blog once in a while know this but, I felt the need to repeat this as something that is strange about me. After all, only 50,000 people (estimated) in North America have been diagnosed with SD and I am one of them. SD isn't something that most people have ever heard of making it a "strange disorder." Also, having ABductor instead of ADductor SD is not very common among SDers so that is "strange" as well. Then, getting a voice back when you have SD happens to only an estimated 2% of people (an estimate by my speech therapist) so it is strange that I have such a good voice at the moment.

There - my seven strange things about myself. In no way are these seven the ONLY strange things about me. They are the only ones that I could think of off the top of my head. If my dad reads this, I am sure that he could think up another seven with little effort! Of course, it is important to note that I do take after HIM (I really take after Mom too but for the purposes of this post - I am blaming most of it on him).

Trisha

Voice Update: My voice is still rocking! Most of the people on the cruise didn't even notice anything wrong with my voice. I did manage to tell a few people about SD - remember that is one of my goals in life these days! I didn't do much massage today (only once for about five minutes) and no exercises. I guess I feel like I am still on vacation. I guess it is back to work tomorrow! I did a little inhale work while imitating the woman at the next table for dinner with the odd laugh. Does that count?