Christmas coffee

Spouse & I enjoy flavored coffees. In fact we drink flavored coffee (at home) more frequently than that plain coffee.

But if you're one of those folks who just wants flavored coffee occasionally, you may not want to keep a full pound of it around the house. Or maybe you're looking for a way to make the coffee extra special for your next dinner party.

So I thought I'd share some of my quick and easy tips for making tasty coffees during the holidays:

1. Add some ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to your coffee grounds, then brew as usual. The taste and aroma are spicy and delicious.
2. Add some ground cinnamon and ground ginger to your coffee grounds, then brew as usual. This combination gives you the added peppery flavor with the ginger.
3. Use eggnog instead of cream in your brewed coffee. This gives you the hint of sweetness and eggnog flavor in your coffee.

Give these a try and let me know how you like them!

This blog and my future

For a while now I've been feeling sort of bad for not giving my blog enough attention. Sometimes I feel like the posts are little more than a recounting of what I've been doing, when the real purpose of this blog is to have an outlet for expressing my thoughts and feelings.

This is strange to me because I thought that once I stopped working full-time that I'd have so much more time to devote to my blog. I figured the posts would be better and more meaningful than before. But in reality I've had to 'catch up' by writing 2 or 3 day's posts in 1 day (and back-dating them) in order to not miss a day.

So if you've been a fan/follower/reader of this blog for a while but have disappointed with the content recently, I understand, and I promise to make it better. I can't change the past but I can try to affect the future, starting now.

By way of an update, I have decided to discontinue looking for a traditional job. Spouse & I have talked about it at great length. Instead I'm going to enroll in real estate school (starting in Jan) and become a real estate agent. Why?

There are several reasons.

One is that there are very few professional jobs here in our area. Most of them revolve around the large medical center, and I have no experience or interest in working in the medical industry. I applied for a position with the State that was well below my abilities and former salary, but was not considered for the position because I had no experience in that specific field, despite the fact that I had transferable skills.

Spouse suggested I look for positions back in the DC area where I could stay for free with his mother (temporarily) and work Mon-Fri and we would see each other on the weekends either at home or at his mom's. I was not fond of the idea because I remember how difficult it was when we did that 4 years ago. Spouse had to start his new job in DE but I had to stay in DC until our house got rented. It was very difficult to be apart so much. Plus life in DE is very different than life in DC and I am not eager to return to the life I chose to leave 4 years ago. I want to keep the life I have in DE. I applied for a few positions in DC anyway, but none of them have turned out, which is fine with me.

But the most important reason for not pursuing another traditional job is that I'm tired of that. I want to do something new and fun. Confucius said "If you do what you love, you'll never work another day in your life." When I thought about this, I asked myself what do I love and came up with "real estate". It quickly became clear to me that this was the direction in which I wanted to focus.

I am a self-identifying real estate junkie. I love looking at real estate. Spouse & I have been investing in real estate for years. I watch all of the real estate shows on cable TV and even peruse the public MLS site as a hobby. Spouse & I always keep up on what's for sale and what's sold in our area. It just makes sense that I work in an area that I find so much fun!

I was hoping to take the pre-licensing course (pre-requisite for getting a real estate license) right away, but found that none of the venues were offering it in Nov & Dec, presumably because enrollment is low during those holiday months. So the earliest I can enroll is in Jan, which is not so bad in that I get to really enjoy the holiday months. Its Dec 8 and I am already finished with writing, addressing, stamping, and sealing all 142 holiday cards! I've never been done this early.

I figured the best thing I could do while waiting to go to real estate school is to ask questions and listen to successful realtors. So I've had conversations/interviews with 5 friends who are realtors. All of them have said that real estate is hard work, but if you enjoy it then you probably won't mind working hard. Each conversation has brought me more and new information. The slogan "You don't know what you don't know" certainly holds true for me here!

After identifying my next career I had to figure out how to pay the bills until I could actually start working in it. My last severance check is on Dec 24th (Merry Christmas!) so I will be applying for unemployment benefits the following Mon. We have some savings we can use and I plan to cash in an asset to help bridge the gap between the unemployment income and our expenses. The real estate school costs money too, but it is a necessary investment in my new career and is probably deductible. So we should be okay financially for a while as I get licensed and select a brokerage for which to begin working.

But even once I'm working I won't get a paycheck for a while, since realtors are paid commission from real estate transactions. That's probably the biggest adjustment for me, both mentally and financially, since I've always been employed in an industry where I got paid every 2 weeks.

But I'm not going to allow fear to stop me.

Birthday

Yes, its true. Its my birthday today.

Since I'm not working and have very few demands on my time right now, I decided to do just what I wanted on my birthday. After showering and walking Jordan the dog, I put on some Christmas music, poured myself a mug of coffee (with eggnog instead of cream) and organized my Christmas cards and supplies on the kitchen table. I was going to spend the majority of the day writing and addressing Christmas cards! Its my thing.

But first I needed to get the laptop so I'd have the addresses. I brought it into the kitchen and decided to check my email before starting the cards, and there they were: tons of facebook notifications that people had posted on my wall! I began reading through all of them and responding, but they just kept coming. I mean, not that it was a 'problem', in fact it was quite touching that so many friends saw my birthday pop up on their facebook and decided to post on my wall. It really made me feel great!

Eventually I decided to stop responding to the messages for a while and get started on the Christmas cards. I sang along with many of the songs and made my way down the list of card recipients. It got about 1/2 of them done (about 70) and it was great!

I took a break to meet my friends Deb & Greer for lunch, then stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.

It was very cold out and Spouse had not mentioned going out for dinner for my birthday. (He'd suggested having a brunch this coming Sun for my birthday.) So we had dinner at home, which was fine since it was one of my favorites: spicy Thai chicken lettuce wraps.

We watched "Glee" then watched the last episodes of "True Blood" on DVD.

It was a simple day, but a great one.

Weekend highlights

The weather turned cold this weekend.

Spouse & I had a relaxing Sat morning at home, then went to the grocery store. Then my friend Steven came over and we went to the line-up area for the Lewes Christmas parade. Spouse met up with our friends Rick & Nick at Steve & Mike's porch to watch the parade. Spouse took these photos.

Notice the wreath on the front of Big Ella. Its battery-operated and plays 8 different carols and flashes to the beat of the music.A closer look at Big Ella, but this one was taken when the wreath was not flashing.

Steven tossed candy to the kids along the parade route. Afterward Steven went home and Spouse & I had dinner with Rick & Nick. Then we came home and watched a few episodes of "True Blood" on DVD.

Sun morning we met Steven for breakfast. (Thad was out of town visiting his mom.) While we ate we could see flurries coming down! We wound up talking and drinking coffee for 3 1/2 hours. It was nice and relaxing, and we didn't have any place we needed to be. Afterward we went for a little drive. I wanted to go for a walk but it was just too cold and windy. So we returned home and just hung out, watching TV and surfing the internet.

It was a low-key weekend, which was just fine with me.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own blog posts.

Last night we attended Lewes Hospitality Night. This is where the Second St merchants who normally close up shop at 5:00 stay open until 9:00 for holiday shoppers. Many merchants give away free snacks and samples. The local high school jazz band performed, and there was a DJ playing music while the band took breaks. It was only in the low 30s so Spouse & I bundled up. We never buy anything at this event but always go each year because its a nice way to see friends and neighbors and wish them happy holidays.

My friend Dick sent me this, which gave me a chuckle.

I went to Social Media seminar today in upstate DE with my friends Deb & Greer. It was supposed to be a free seminar on using Social Media as a Marketing Tool, geared toward small business owners and non-profits. It was free and Deb offered to drive, so that was great. The seminar itself was less than great. The presenters were all volunteers who need to spend less time playing with social media and more time practicing their presentation skills. They had no idea how long they'd been talking or how much they had left to cover. One woman was all over the place like a child with ADHD. We actually left before the seminar was over because we just weren't getting enough out of it. But we had a great lunch at Border Cafe and have a terrific time talking in the car for the 90 minutes up there and 90 minutes back.

Spouse & I are not going to the Manassas Christmas parade tomorrow at our friends Kerry & Hugh's. We were just in VA last weekend, and going for that parade means missing the local parade, tree lighting, and caroling. We've been to the one in Manassas for the last 7 years so we've earned the right to stay home this year and enjoy the local happenings. Big Ella is excited about being in the Lewes Christmas parade tomorrow!

My friend Jared sent me this funny little ditty.

My friend Rick sent me this terrific video of an AMAZING ventriloquist. Enjoy!

After a small (1/2 lb) weight gain last week, Spouse rebounded this week at his Weight Watchers weigh-in with a 3 lb loss. Despite the holiday parties and goodies he's staying on track!

My friend Jared sent me this gem too.

This video seen on facebook made me laugh out loud!

Love eggnog but sometimes feel guilty about drinking a glass of it due to the high fat and calorie content? Try adding a tablespoon of eggnog to your cup of coffee... you get the taste of eggnog but a fraction of the fat and calories of a full glass. Mmm - its dee-lish!!

Wishing everyone a terrific weekend! What are your plans?

Tree trimming tips

There's no 'right' or 'wrong' way to decorate your Christmas tree. Your personal taste will dictate how your tree looks, but I thought I'd share some of my tips for easily creating a gorgeous tree with less stress and work.

1. Take a moment to untangle and plug in your strings of lights BEFORE you hang them on the tree to be sure there are no 'dead' sections. Finding this out later will be a huge pain in the rear.
2. Take a moment to unpack ALL your decorations before hanging any of them. Organize them by size, then start hanging the largest balls and ornaments first, then medium, then small, then extra-small, then 'filler' materials.
3. Don't hang all ornaments on the branch tips, as this will give your tree a 'flat' look. Instead, hang large and heavy ornaments on the middle of the branches to keep the branches from bending down. Large ornaments look best on the lower 1/2 of your tree. Hang medium ornaments next, then small on the upper 1/2 of your tree. Hang your smallest and lightest ornaments on the tips of branches. Having ornaments on the middle and tips of branches gives your tree more depth and dimension.
4. Use 'filler' materials that don't need to be hung from a branch to fill in any 'holes' in your tree's decoration. Some examples of 'filler' materials are natural or gold spray painted pine cones, snow flakes, holly berry springs, and stuffed figurines of snowmen, Santa, reindeer, animals wearing Santa caps, etc. These can be placed in 'holes' without needing to be hung from a branch.
5. Try to avoid an unbalance of color. You don't want lots of decorations that are the same color close together on the tree. Spread the colors all around your tree, and don't be afraid to move decorations after they've been hung if necessary.
6. Stand back from your tree from time to time as you're decorating it to view it from a distance. This may cause you to move some of the decorations right then for size and/or color balance, before the decorating is finished.
7. Avoid 'theme' trees unless you're going to have more than 1 tree. You're always going to have sentimental decorations, heirloom decorations, and decorations that were gifts from friends that won't fit into your 'theme'. So if you're having just 1 tree, don't make it a 'theme' tree, but feel free to use several ornaments of a particular theme into your tree's overall decoration.

World AIDS Day

We Remember and Celebrate

Those we Knew
Those we Loved
And Even Those we Didn't Know
Because They Left Before Their Time.
We Remember and Celebrate
With Hope in our Hearts
For a Cure.

Parade season

When you think of 'parade season' most people think of summertime. Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day frequently have parades. But here in 'lower, slower Delaware', early December is also 'parade season'.

Residents of these small towns and rural outskirts love a Christmas parade!

In fact, practically every town in these parts has its own Christmas parade. Fortunately they coordinate them so no two parades are on the same day.

Of course, every vintage car owner (myself included) looks for opportunities like parades to share their beauty with the masses, so I will be driving Big Ella in 3 local parades this year:

• Milton - Wednesday, Dec 1 at 7:30
• Lewes - Saturday, Dec 3 at 5:00
• Rehoboth Beach - Monday, Dec 6 at 6:00

Each parade has its own set of 'rules'. One says 'no Santa costumes' because the official parade Santa will appear at the end of the parade, and they don't want children to be confused by seeing more than 1 Santa! Another says 'no throwing anything' meaning candy, bubble gum, mardi gras beads, etc. I guess they don't want to have to send the street sweeper around after the parade. Yet another says 'Floats and vehicles MUST be decorated'. Who knew there were such politics in Christmas parades?

My friend Steven has agreed to ride with me in all 3 parades since Spouse doesn't like to 'be the center of attention'. (I told Spouse "You're not the center of attention - Big Ella is" but he still won't ride with me in a parade.)

Since the point of driving Big Ella in the parade is to share her beauty, I've decided to keep her decorations simple. I have an artificial wreath with battery operated lights that also plays 8 different Christmas carols which I'll attach to Big Ella's front grill. I have another decorated artificial wreath to attach to her rear bumper, and a velvet bow for each of the front doors. Steven & I will both wear Santa hats. That's it; just enough decoration to qualify as 'decorated', but not so much that it distracts from Big Ella's beautiful lines.

Look for photos after the parades.

Weekend highlights

Sat morning Spouse went to the new gym and had another conversation with the recovering alcoholic. Seeing his wedding ring, the guy asked Spouse about his wife. Spouse told him he had a partner named Mark. The guy paused for a few seconds, then said "That's cool." Meanwhile I was at home enjoying coffee while watching back-to-back episodes of "Sell This House" - a perfect Sat morning in my book. Once Spouse got home it was time to get busy. He helped me carry the bins of ornaments, decorations, and the artificial tree itself down 2 flights of stairs from the attic to the living room. I assembled and lit the tree while Spouse got to work on the snacks and drinks.

That afternoon the 15 guests arrived and we had a lovely little tree trimming party.

To my surprise, most of the guests ended up just eating, drinking and watching while just a few of us actually hung the ornaments.

But we had a great time and the tree is beautiful. Afterward Spouse & I went to Outback Steakhouse with Steven & Thad for dinner.

On Sun morning I finished cleaning up after the previous night's party, then Spouse & I went for a nice walk on the boardwalk. We stopped by the grocery store for a few necessities on the way home. Later that afternoon we went to Steven & Thad's to watch "BearCity" and have dinner. Steven made Italian wedding soup and we brought baguettes. Don't you love a meal of soup and bread? We had a great evening with our buddies, and a really fun weekend.

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own blog post.

My friend Jared is responsible for this hilarious photo.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Spouse's mom, sister, brother-in-law, niece, 2 nephews, and my aunt Mary. Spouse made the beautiful turkey and dressing.His sister brought the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, corn casserole, macaroni and cheese, and brownies. Aunt Mary brought sweet potato casserole and hummingbird cake (my all-time favorite cake). Spouse's sister-in-law dropped off pumpkin pies.

Everything tasted wonderful and we all overate hedonistically.

This morning we removed the leaves from the dining table and finished cleaning up, then relaxed as Spouse's mom watched back-to-back episodes of her favorite sitcom: Seinfeld. I sort of 1/2 watched with 1 eye as I read my book "Mary Ann in Autumn". Then we met up with our good friends Kerry & Hugh and Kerry's father George and sister Kelly for a late lunch. It was nice to reconnect with them since we haven't seen them as much this year as usual, and since so much has transpired in their lives and ours. Afterward we tidied up our room, loaded the car and headed home, arriving at 7:00. We'll unpack, relax, watch TV, and check our email until bedtime.

Tomorrow is our tree trimming party! Spouse is in charge of the food while I'm in charge of assembling and lighting the tree.

I just realized I haven't ordered my Christmas return address labels for the holidays cards. Hopefully I can order them tomorrow and they'll arrive before Christmas. I always enjoy having special holiday return address labels on my cards.

Spouse is eagerly awaiting the changes to Weight Watchers. He's done so well (down 70 lbs since July) so he's anxious to find out how the program will change.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Maid to order

When I was laid off one of the cost-saving things we did was to discontinue the housekeeper. (Insert big sad face here.) I volunteered to take on the majority of the housecleaning since I have more unscheduled time than Spouse.

Today was all about cleaning, but not because the family is coming for Thanksgiving. Unlike the last 14 Thanksgivings, the family is NOT coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year. Spouse's niece (a freshmen in college) has a part-time job and has to work on Fri, and his nephew had surgery on his knee (due to a football injury followed by a fall) and can't get around very well. So we're going back to VA to have Thanksgiving at Spouse's mom's house.

The reason I'm cleanin' like a demon is because we are having some friends over on Sat for a tree trimming party. Instead of spending hours and hours hanging ornaments by myself (Spouse loses interest after 10 minutes), I thought it would be fun to invite friends to help me hang the ornaments and have a snack and drink. So today I cleaned the entire house, all 3 floors, which took almost 6 hours.

I did take a break for lunch and met up with my realtor friend Andy. It was really great to chat about real estate and regular stuff. It was very generous of him to spend 2 hours with me, although the time seemed to fly.

Tonight Spouse & I will pack up the car and head to VA, returning Fri night.

TSA bumper stickers

There's been lots and lots of hubbub recently about the TSA body scanners and pat-downs. I don't claim to know much about the technology being used, but my sense is that body scanners are a worthwhile nuisance if they can detect just one person attempting to board a plane with weapons or the makings of a bomb.

Some people claim that the body scanners violate their civil right of privacy, yet its hard for me to believe that they honestly feel their 'privacy' is worth the risk of someone boarding a plane with a gun or bomb. Furthermore, there are many other requirements of US citizens that would appear to violate their right to privacy (filling out census info, registering vehicles at the DMV, and federal income tax returns, etc.) yet no one is complaining about these things.

It seems to me that these same people who object to the body scanners and pat-downs would be the same ones to get up-in-arms the next time there's an attempted hijacking or terrorist attack.

A friend sent me the following humorous (fictitious) TSA bumper stickers. Click to enlarge and enjoy!

Weekend highlights

We had a very low-key weekend.

Spouse went for a work out at his new gym. While there he met an older guy who said he was a recovering alcoholic and asked Spouse all kinds of questions, as if they had been introduced by a mutual friend. Spouse found it kind of odd, but I reminded him that people around here are friendlier and more talkative than where we were raised. While Spouse learned more about his new gym buddy, I relaxed with coffee and watched back-to-back episodes of "Sell This House".

That afternoon we went for a nice, long walk around town. We walked a block over to the park where we walked around the pond, then out of the park and around the neighborhood, surveying the new homes being built, and then down the main street, across the canal bridge and down to the bay, and then back home. It was a warm day for late November; perfect for a good walk.

That evening we went to a glass-blowing demonstration by our friend and local glass artist Deb Appleby at her studio. She and her interns made some large glass ornaments and 2 lovely scallop-edge 'spin bowls'.

(Two years ago we bought one of her 'spin bowls'.) Steven & Thad met us there, and we also saw Rick & Nick there. Afterward, Steven & Thad and Spouse & I had dinner at Saketumi.

Spouse & I got up rather early for a Sun morning, and decided to go for a walk on the boardwalk. It was more chilly and breezy than we'd expected, but it was bright and sunny so we enjoyed the walk anyway. Afterward we picked up some things from the grocery store, relaxed at home for a while, then had dinner at Steven & Thad's house with our friend Thatcher. It was a very nice, fun evening!

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

Spouse continues to amaze me with this Weight Watchers determination. Despite having been on the cruise for a week with all that amazing food, Spouse still managed to lose 2.4 lbs when he weighed in last night! Who goes on a cruise and loses weight?!?! I guess it didn't hurt that after returning from the cruise he ate soup for lunch and salad for dinner for 4 days. But still...

I've been missing Pouncer since we returned home. Spouse got rid of his litter box before we left, but his cute little ceramic food bowl (which I washed) is sitting on the counter next to the kitchen sink. At this point I don't have the heart to put it away just yet. He really was a special guy.

Today I learned that our Thanksgiving plans have been turned completely upside down! Spouse's family usually comes here for Thanksgiving, and we do most of the cooking. But due to a couple of extenuating circumstances, they can't come so we are traveling back to VA instead. This could actually turn out much better for us, now that I think of it. Usually I have to clean the house from top to bottom before they arrive, continue cleaning while they're here, and then wash 4 or 5 sets of sheets and 6 sets of towels and clean the house again after they leave. Having Thanksgiving at Spouse's mom's house means I don't have to clean the house or do all that laundry! Score!!! But the best part about it is that my aunt Mary will be able to join us. It will feel more like the Thanksgivings we used to have when we lived in VA with my aunt there.

Back in the spring I pre-ordered Armistead Maupin's new book "Mary Ann in Autumn" from Amazon. Its the latest in his "Tales of the City" series. Unfortunately it didn't arrive prior to our cruise as I had hoped, but it was waiting for me when we returned. I love Maupin's writing and find it very easy to read and get caught up. I really hate to finish his books so I try to ration my reading to prevent me from finishing too quickly. I started reading the newest book this week and have already read 1/2 of it! Yikes - I can't control myself. In case you hadn't guessed, this blog is named after Maupin's famous series.

My new laptop arrived today. For years now I'd been using my work laptop for personal computing, since our dinosaur of a desktop is practically non-functional. But since I have to ship my work laptop back to my former employer, Spouse & I agreed I should get a new laptop. We found a terrific deal on HSN, ordered it on Mon night, and it arrived today. I'm using it right now... can you tell?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Cruise photos

I shared a summary of our cruise, then shared some of the things that happened which we laughed about over and over. Now I'll share a selection of photos. I mean, nobody wants to see all 100+ photos, right? Well, if you do, I'll provide a link to all of them later.

Here's the ship: the Crown Princess. It was enormous and luxurious.
Here we are, hanging out on one of the balconies overlooking the rear pool.
Me and my buddy Steven at the bar by the pool.
Spouse and Thad at the bar.

The Bobs on formal night.

Thad & Steven on formal night.

Spouse & me on formal night.

The chair lift on Roatan, Honduras.

Me next to a LIVE bronze sculpture. Also notice the "Goodmark" sign.

Our ship from one of our ports.

Spouse & me on our ship, with another ship in the background.

The rear pool where we hung out all week, and the ship's wake.

Eddy, Spouse, Chris and Thad form a "waffle".

We met Jorge & Don and found that they live in the city where Spouse & I used to live in VA. Once we became friends on Facebook we discovered we had several mutual friends.

Spouse having some fun with the boys!

The beautiful Grand Piazza.

The dual spiral staircases in the Grand Piazza.

Just in case these photo highlights aren't enough, you can view all our cruise photos here.

Routine

Routines can be good and bad.

They're good in the sense that they give one a sense of structure. If you have a lot of small things to do, doing them in a certain order or routine helps reduce the possibility that you will forget to do something.

They're bad in the sense that they can get stale. Doing the exact same things the exact same way for a long time can become monotonous and boring, causing some to want to 'spice up' their routine now and then.

People often have a hard time returning to their routine after a vacation. While on vacation people usually abandon much of their routine, especially the parts related to going to work, in favor of a more free-style, serendipitous time. When the vacation is over, its common to hear people complain about having a difficult time going back to their routine.

In my case, I am having some difficulty defining a new routine.

As you may recall, I was laid off from my job on Oct 29. The following Mon thru Thurs I was dealing with decisions related to Pouncer's declining health as well as packing for our trip. We were out of town for 10 days, and when we returned it took me the better part of 2 days to unpack and do all the laundry. That's when it hit me that I didn't really have a routine to return to.

My formal routine consisted of showering, feeding and walking Jordan, working from 8:30-5:00, then having dinner and spending the evening with Spouse. Without a job, a large part of my routine is gone. Of course, in place of working I am looking at websites for appropriate jobs for which I might apply. I'm also making lots of inquiries regarding enrolling in real estate school. If I secure a traditional job, I'll go to real estate school 2-3 nights per week over the course of 3 months. If I don't get a traditional job, I'll take an accelerated real estate course that will be over in 1 month.

Its not that I don't have things to do; I just don't feel like I have a routine, and that makes me feel uneasy.

Laughter

As I mentioned in yesterday's summary of our vacation, we shared a LOT of laughs with our friends. Hopefully I can describe some of them so you can enjoy them too.

Honey, what's this? What's happening? Why am I still sober? (Said with a Karen Walker voice)
This was a favorite phrase of mine and Steven, likely the 2 biggest Karen Walker fans, whenever there was a lull in any conversation.

Is that Standard time, ship time, or Central time?
The night we set sail, most of the US set their clocks back an hour. For some reason, the ship's clocks were not set back until a few days later. Then we crossed from Eastern into Central time, then sailed back into Eastern time again. It seemed we never really knew what time it was!

Let's not ignore the obvious
When we entered a souvenir store on Grand Cayman the female shop keeper said to Steven "The plus size t-shirts are over here" to which he replied "What are you trying to say?" Giving Steven a once-over, she said "Let's not ignore the obvious", which easily became the most repeated phrase on our vacation!

I figured as much
In another store on Grand Cayman Steven & Thad and I were pointing and laughing at the 'hooker heals' for sale. The female shop keeper asked if we wore high heels. Steven said "I don't, but he does" and pointed to me. Without missing a beat, the shop keeper replied "I figured as much." We decided Grand Cayman must have the boldest shop keepers in the Caribbean.

Red dot!! Red dot!!
Chumley Bear Cruise passengers were issued ID tags to wear which gave us admission into Chumley events and helped us identify each other throughout the ship. Monogamous couples were instructed to place a red dot on their badge while singles and non-monogamous couples used a green dot. One morning Spouse was approached by a man in the elevator on his way to the gym. Spouse's badge had flipped over so the red dot could not be seen. The man made his interest in Spouse very well known. Later as I recounted this incident to the others I said that Spouse probably flipped his badge over and yelled "Red dot!! Red dot!!"

Yes thank you please
Cruise ships pride themselves on having a diverse, international crew. One of the waiters at dinner bore a striking resemblance to Imelda Marcos and even appeared to be wearing make-up. He was a terrific waiter and each time we spoke with him he ended the exchange with 'Yes thank you please'.

Pocono Ed
One of the guys we met in advance of the cruise was named Ed who lived in the Poconos of PA. When we saw him on the ship I said "There's Pocono Ed" and from then on he retained the moniker.

Mini Bear and Howard Stern
Two other guys we met in advance of the cruise and then saw frequently on the ship were from NJ. One of them was much shorter than average so we nicknamed him Mini Bear. His boyfriends voice sounded a lot like that of radio personality Howard Stern, so we referred to the duo as Mini Bear and Howard Stern.

The fake Bobs
Very often we hung out at the pool at the back of the ship, which had 2 balconies that overlooked the pool and sundeck. From there we saw a man who looked very much like our friend Bob K and another man who looked very much like our friend Bob N (aka The Bobs). We referred to these impostors as The fake Bobs.

Fake Honduras
Our port of call in Honduras was a small island adjacent to Roatan where the only buildings were souvenir shops, restaurants, bars, and beach cabanas. No one lived there and the structures were obviously built for cruise ship passengers. For this reason we dubbed the island the fake Honduras.

Waffle
The waffles on the breakfast buffet were not square, but rather, shaped like a flower. The butter served with the bread at dinner was not square either, but rather, shaped like the waffles which looked like a flower. We noticed that when 4 or 5 guys would face each other with their arms on each others' shoulders in the pool, they resembled the flower-shaped waffles so we called those male pool formations waffles.

Selling children
In a children's clothing store on Princess Cay we were startled by life-like, life-size mannequins. These mannequins didn't have the typical same color faces as the bodies, but had faces with eyes, eyebrows, and lips painted on them. They were so real looking that we joked that they were selling children instead of children's clothing. We laughed even harder as we joked about how long it takes to adopt when you can just come to Princess Cay and buy one! This went on and on until we had to leave the store for fear we'd be thrown out.

Oriental spread
One day the lunch buffet had an array of Chinese food. After eating it we were talking about how good it was. Someone who wasn't paying attention to the conversation asked what was so good, to which Spouse replied "The Oriental spread." That sounded funny, as we pictured the other possible uses of that term. Later when Spouse straddled the lounge chair we jokingly asked if he was offering an Italian spread.

Entertainment Tonight
On the last day of the cruise our group had a pool party. One of the activities was to vote on the most friendly passenger. After the competition was over, a passenger who'd been liberally enjoying drinks from the bar all day came up to us in an exaggerated disgust and said that he had been robbed of the title 'Most Friendly'. With slurred words and flailing arms he assured us that the whole story would be on Entertainment Tonight. We referred to HIM as Entertainment Tonight for his 'entertaining' behavior.

Bubbles
While on (fake) Honduras we saw an older woman riding around in one of those scooters with very small wheels, designed for people with mobility issues. As she was enjoying the beach she got a little too close to the softer sand near the surf and her scooter wheels got stuck. We happened to be walking past her when this happened and asked if we could help. Seconds later a young man came running over and said "What's the matter Bubbles, are you stuck?" He pulled her back to the harder sand and she drove off. Back on the ship I saw Bubbles scooting around so I said to her "Well, I'm glad to see you made it back to the ship, safe and sound, Bubbles." She smiled at me and said "I don't want to miss any of the fun."

Beryl & Beryl
Also while on the beach at (fake) Honduras we met an older couple who sat down and began talking to us. When we asked their names we found out they were both named Beryl. Now, Beryl is a rather unusual name, so we found it quite odd that 2 people named Beryl would find each other! The female Beryl later told us she goes by the nickname Billie.

Welcome Wagon Steven
My good friend Steven is known in these parts for being a no-nonsense kind of guy. Despite his teddy bear appearance he tries to portray a gruff exterior. However, on this cruise he did a 360 about face and said hello to everyone he saw! I suggested he could get a job with Welcome Wagon.

Pitter Patter Paper
The cruise ship provided us with a schedule of the next day's activities in the 'Princess Patter', slipped under our stateroom door every evening. One day while trying to figure out something about the next day's itinerary I suggested we could find the answer in the Pitter Patter Paper. The rest of the week we all referred to it as such.

Jason Alexander
A member of the Chumley group bore a real resemblance to the actor Jason Alexander so we referred to him as Jason Alexander for the duration of the cruise.

Harvey Korman
One of the ship's crew (I think he was the dining room manager) bore a striking resemblance to the actor Harvey Korman, so whenever we'd see him (every night in the dining room) we'd say "There's Harvey Korman".

Club Chaos
The venue where several of the Chumley group activities took place was called Club Fusion. Once I made the mistake of calling it Club Chaos and we all decided we liked that name better than Club Fusion, so for the rest of the week we made arrangements to meet at Club Chaos.

Kelly Clarkson
As we were wading into the slightly chilly water in Princess Cay, the cool water lapped up over my crotch and startled me so I tensed up and shouted "Aaaaaah - Kelly Clarkson!!", imitating this scene from the film "40 Year Old Virgin". Thad cracked up, and we continued the imitation but supplied other American Idol winners' names. "Aaaaaaah - Fantasia Borino!!", "Aaaaaah - Ruben Stoddard!!!", etc.

Steve rubs a stranger
Shortly after the Kelly Clarkson incident, we'd gotten used to the water temperature and were enjoying the lagoon. Steve reached behind him to rub up against his partner Thad, then all the sudden saw Thad several feet across from him. He turned around to find that he had rubbed up against a total stranger, who apparently felt no need to notify him!

Sexy by nature
We saw a guy on the ship wearing a t-shirt that read "Naughty By Nature" and Thad decided he should write a blog about how sexy his partner Steven is, which he would entitle "Sexy by Nature".

Self-induced coma
Chris meant to say medically-induced coma but instead said self-induced coma. We all cracked up as we imagined how one would later get one's self OUT of a self-induced coma!

Some of this humor may get lost in the translation, but I'm telling you these things provided us with more than our share of laughs on the cruise! Sometimes even those around us laughed.

Back to reality

We returned from our cruise (plus an extra day in Ft Lauderdale) last night, and after unloading our suitcases, hat boxes and steamer trunks, we met up with Steven & Thad and one of the Bobs for dinner at La Tonalteca. It seemed Mexican food was the only cuisine we didn't have during our vacation.

Jordan was happy to see us when we opened the door, and barked and wagged her tail furiously. This of course made me sad that Pouncer was not behind her, meowing and trying to lick me. Although initially I thought the timing was horrible, saying goodbye to Pouncer the same day we left on our much anticipated cruise vacation, it was actually great because the excitement of the trip kept me from dwelling on my sadness.

I'll share more details of the cruise later, but in summary I'll say that we had a great time. Thurs evening we stopped for dinner on our way to Baltimore where we stayed overnight at a hotel near the airport. We arranged to leave our cars at the hotel for a modest fee and rode a free shuttle to the airport for our early morning flight on Fri. Just over 2 hours later we arrived in Ft Lauderdale and checked into our hotel which was right on the beach. The weather was sunny but uncharacterically cool and windy. Later that afternoon we attended a pool party hosted by the Chumley Bear Cruise group, then had dinner at Tropics in the gay-famous Wilton Manors area of Ft Lauderdale. I saw Terry & Jerry there, whom I knew from back at home. I didn't realize they spent the winter there. Then went to a Bon Voyage party at The Manor nightclub.

Sat afternoon we boarded the ship, the Crown Princess, which was completely overwhelming due to its size. Imagine a 19-story hotel that occupies an entire city block, floating in the harbor! The ship was spotlessly clean and absolutely beautiful throughout. Our group of nearly 500 took over the smallest pool (1 of 4) at the back of the ship for the whole week, and in addition to all of the ship's activities, we had several activities throughout the week reserved just for us. We had a few rounds of 'The Gay Dating Game' and 'The Newlywed Game', a private screening of the new film 'BearCity', a dance, and a pool party.

One activity whose popularity with our group surprised me was the afternoon tea. At 3:30 each day we were treated to an afternoon English tea, finger sandwiches, scones, and assorted pastries by uniformed wait staff in white gloves. It was oh so very proper and fun.

The food on this cruise was delicious and plentiful. In addition to the amazing dinners in the dining room each night, there were several 24-hour buffets, a pizza and soft-serve ice cream station, and a hamburger, hot dog, bratwurst, and french fries station. Our typical routine consisted of a full breakfast about 8:00, lunch at 12:00, a slice of pizza (snack) around 2:00, afternoon tea at 3:30, and dinner at 8:15. I know - ridiculous, right?!?!

We opted not to purchase any of the excursions, but instead did our own 'exploring' at the ports of call. Our 1st stop was Grand Cayman Island where we walked and shopped our way through the village at George Town. Our 2nd stop was Roatan Honduras where we took a ski lift ride and spent the day at the beach. Our 3rd stop was Cozumel Mexico where we paid a native taxi driver $40. to drive 4 of us around the city for an hour, showing us the highlights and lowlights. Our 4th and final stop was Princess Cay, a private island owned by Princess Cruise Lines in the Bahamas. We spent the day on the beach and enjoyed a buffet lunch on the island.

The one area that didn't seem on the same par with everything else was the entertainment. There was a 'show' the 1st night that basically consisted of the cruise director welcoming everyone onboard with a canned, semi-comical schtick followed by a 15 minute routine by a comedian who'd been on the Tonight Show. Yawn. Later in the week was the 'Motor City' show which paid tribute to music that originated out of Detroit. We found it ironic that there was only 1 African American in the entire cast. The 3rd show was a crew talent show which was probably my favorite of the 3. Waiters, engineers, and cabin crew members sang, played instruments and danced.

The weather was great the entire time. We had a brief shower once or twice but nothing that altered our plans. We went to the beach or hung out by the pool everyday. In anticipation of possible rough seas I wore a small anti-seasickness patch behind my ear. It hardly seemed necessary since the ship was so smooth... until the last night. The captain announced we'd be entering choppy water between 6-10pm and sure enough, the enormous ship rocked and bounced enough to send me and some others to bed. They closed the outdoor portion of the Promenade deck to make sure no one fell overboard. But once through the rough area the ship stabilized and everything continued as before.

The group of nearly 500 bear men with whom we spent this cruise were great! We found everyone to be fun, friendly and unassuming. I didn't see any attitudes or cattiness. And although I'm not a bear myself, no one acted like I didn't belong. But that could have been because Spouse was such a star among the bears! We would definitely go on this cruise again. We met a great new friend from TX named Eddy, as well as a couple who live very close to where we used to live in VA. In fact, upon becoming Facebook friends with them we discovered several mutual friends.

And our enjoyment was certainly due in part to the great friends who went with us from DE, Steven & Thad, The Bobs, and Chris & Jason. We shared a LOT of fun and laughs! Look for details of the fun and laughs tomorrow.

We disembarked on Sat and returned to the beachfront hotel in Ft Lauderdale where we relaxed in lounge chairs and swam in the pool. Later we walked to a French restaurant and had a lovely dinner on their patio. Sun we flew home and faced the reality of life off of the cruise ship, where we'd have to cook and clean up after ourselves. We all agreed that reality SUCKS!

Bon Voyage

Last evening we connected with our local friends and carpooled to Baltimore, stopping for dinner in Annapolis along the way.

Today we fly to Ft Lauderdale where we'll check into our hotel, meet up with the other gay cruisers for check-in and a pool party, and then later a 'Bon Voyage' party.

Sat we board the cruise ship and will sail to Grand Cayman, Roatan Honduras, Cozumel Mexico, and Princess Cay Bahamas. We return to Ft Lauderdale the following Sat and will stay overnight. We'll fly back home on Sun the 14th. So don't look for anymore posts from me until at least Mon the 15th. Hopefully I'll be having too much fun to use the internet cafe aboard the ship.

Bon Voyage!