Two New Podcasts!

Hi All!

I just finished posting TWO new podcasts today. Yes, you read that correctly, TWO! The first podcast - episode #20 is about the amplified telephone which is invaluable to me as I go through my ABSD dance. I include information about how to obtain the telephone (applicable in Texas only, sorry!) as well as ideas about how to start the ball rolling to find such a phone if you live in other states. I hope to come back to this blog and show a picture of the phone in all its glory later today (after dinner!).

Oh - Mom, this podcast is a long one! Sorry about that but there was just a lot of information to share. I think it is around ten minutes. You may want to start downloading before you walk and it might be ready when you get home!

Here is a rather poorly lit photo of my wonderful phone. It looks a bit dowdy but, I don't really care! It helps me get heard!

This is a close up of the amplification button. You can also adjust the volume of the outgoing voice. Since this is a phone will all kinds of wonders, I can also amplify the incoming sounds (good for talking to other SDers) and, if I wanted, I could install a battery so the bottom part would blink wildly when the phone rings. I guess I am ready for when I start losing my hearing too!

This is also a good picture of the HUGE buttons on this phone. It makes me feel like I am about three years old and playing with the "grown up phone." I guess when my eyesight goes that will be a good thing, right?

The second podcast is a short one - only about three minutes - and it is all about getting the word out about the video about SD from the Denver television station.

If you listen, I hope you enjoy!

Trisha

Sunday, Lovely Sunday!

Hi All!

Isn't the sky just so blue in this picture? I love it! These are Cedar Waxwings - I do believe - hanging out in our trees out front in early spring/late winter.

Hubby isn't feeling well today - allergies, I think. We are just hanging out at home and doing a whole lot of nothing.

Maybe I will actually get around to editing and posting another podcast - wouldn't that be super?

Happy Sunday!

Trisha

Voice Update: Haven't talked a whole lot today since Hubby is still sort of out of it but, it seems like my voice is good. Still missing some of those darn "h's" but . . . I am starting to like the world without them! I did a lot more massage yesterday than I have been doing and I think things are really starting to loosen up. I also annoyed Hubby to death with the inhale/exhale matching pitches while we were watching tv. It was a boring program anyway!

Gold Mining and Searching for Wildlife

Hi All!

I hope everyone had a nice Fourth of July and got to see a few fireworks. Hubby and I always get to watch fireworks while standing on our front sidewalk. It is nice and we don't have to fight crowds for a "good" spot.

Time for some more Alaskan pictures. Don't worry - I think I am almost done. Again -if you don't want to see more pictures - just skip today. However, I am going to show some gold mine pictures so you might want to stick around!


I have shown you our stateroom before with its porthole. Well, for most of the trip the porthole was open like this letting that midnight sun shine in. We had to really make sure the curtains were closed when we went to bed or we would wake up at about five in the morning when the sun "rose." What fun!

Now, here is a shot of the porthole closed! On a sea day, in the afternoon, our room steward came in and shut the porthole "by orders of the captain." Interesting! Of course Hubby and I wanted to know what was up. Apparently there was some rough weather coming.

Hubby and I got up from our mid-afternoon nap (aren't vacations great??), bundled up, grabbed our earmuffs and promptly headed to the top deck where the jogging track was (deck ten) to see what was happening with the weather.

The wind was blowing so hard that it was difficult to walk against it and when you walked with your back to it, it blew so hard that you had to sort of trot along or get blown down. Also, the water was really rough. At one point we had to stop walking in order to avoid getting drenched when a wave crashed over the rail. Remember - we were on the 10th deck of the ship - pretty high up! That was some wave!

Needless to say, many people were a bit "under the weather" that night. The dining room was less than half full and even some of the wait staff were conspicuously absent. When we were in our room we could hear the waves crashing against the side of the ship seemingly right outside our safely closed porthole. Luckily, neither Hubby nor I get motion sickness so we rode out the rough weather with no problems.

When we were in Juneau we took a Gold Mine tour.

Here is the resident miner (who was actually a retired miner from Arizona who lives at this mine during the summer to lead tours), Dave, is showing us the mechanism for directing ore onto conveyor belts to be sent to processing. Notice all of the hard hats. We had to wear these nifty hardhats to go into the mine. Only Dave's had a lamp on it. Hubby felt jipped.

Right outside the mine entrance was this little shack with the hardhats just waiting for us.

Here we are mobbing Dave asking all kinds of weird questions. That is me in the green coat. Because I had a massive headache at the beginning of this day, Hubby was in charge of the pictures.

I am happy to say that the cold, dark mine helped my headache pretty much go away. Now, if only I had a cold, dark mine in my back yard for every time I got a headache!

This is all that remained of the old ore processing factory. All of this steel and the concrete for the foundation had to be lugged up the mountain - we were pretty far up there! Notice the glass structure in the foreground - well, plexiglass - that was built for all of us tourists and was nice and heated!

After the official tour, we got to pan for gold in a little station set up near the gift shop. Both Hubby and I found gold (!!!!) which probably amounts to 1/100 of an ounce and is worth something like sixteen cents. I guess we will have to find another way to get rich! Panning for gold was fun!

These next pictures are from our "Sea Otter and Wildlife Tour" that we took in Sitka. We traveled in a nice boat which had an enclosed section on the first deck which was heated and also had a small snack bar. The top deck had some enclosed seating and also an open air area. We spent most of our time in the open air section. Freezing! We did see some interesting creatures though.

Here is a Sea Otter. Hard to take good pictures when the boat is bobbing up and down and the Sea Otters and bobbing up and down. Trust me - that is an otter. The zoom on my camera wasn't nearly as good as the zoom on my binoculars!

This is an eagle's nest. Supposedly, people saw a little head bobbing up and down in this thing. I never saw that at all! The nest is HUGE. Quite impressive. There was an adult hanging around the nest but I didn't get him/her in this shot.

Hubby was enthralled with this volcano. I can't remember its name but, it certainly was nice to look at!
Here is my best shot of a whale. This is the humpback which was flinging its tail around earlier and stopped just as I got ready to take the picture. This whale was further out of the water but, again, I just couldn't get the picture! It became a joke to everyone on the top deck that I couldn't get a whale picture. Nice. A grey whale also surfaced very close to the boat but, I didn't get any picture of that either! It was pretty awesome to see in person though. To think that we were on the water and these huge mammals were under the water where we couldn't see them.

Well, that is the last of the pictures from Alaska. I hope you enjoyed them! I know that I had a lot of fun taking them! I guess I will have to go back to my "normal" blog now. How boring!

Hey - does anyone out there reading this know how to make the text in a blog look like it has been crossed out? If so - please let me know!

Trisha

Voice Update: Pretty good. Not the best, of course, because I need to build up the effects of my exercises. My throat is still pretty tight when I do the massage and it is even crunchier sounding - I hate that sound! Inhale/exhale matching pitches kept me company while I was reading yesterday. I didn't read out loud - totally forgot! Darn! Well, I will have to work on that today.

Happy Fourth of July!

Hi All!

Happy Independence Day! Let us all celebrate our freedom and our great country. No matter what problems we might have in the United States, it is still the best country in the world!

Here is a link to a tribute to veterans who helped make sure that we can enjoy our freedom. Check it out. There is also a new version honoring the veterans of the Vietnam war also.

http://www.managedmusic.com/php/BYGIndex.php?page=playBYG

Trisha

Voice Update: I sat outside and cheered on the 5k runners/walkers who passed my house this morning and my voice did very well. Still need to work on the massage but am getting into the inhale/exhale stuff.

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!