PACKING FOR DEPARTURE

I had handed off my baby finches to "Sondra", who will be caring for them while I'm gone, so now I can get down to the serious business of packing and getting the last minute things done.  I will be in Florida and on a 4-day Disney Cruise.  I fly out tomorrow, and my DH will be holding down the fort (however, he was not up to taking care of the baby finches.  LOL!).  We leave for our cruise on the 23rd of Sept. and come back on the 27th.  Then I'll stay in Florida a couple more days and fly back home on Sept. 30th.  Whew!!  I'll be blogging some while I'm gone and taking some pics, which I hope to post, so keep tuning in to my blog

Here is a photo of an adult Gouldian Finch, just so you know why I'm so anxious to save these little babies:

Having A Great Time In Florida

I'm typing this on my new Kindle,so it's kind of slow going,but I just wanted to let everyone know that I got down here very late Friday Night,and I'vebeen enjoying the wonderful weather ever since. The 2 books that I made right before I came down were well received,and Isold them both for $30 apiece. I was going to try to make a book while I,m down here, but I don,t think I'll have time. Everyone has plans for me, so it sounds like I,m going to be pretty busy. It,s just so nice to sleep in and have nothing particular I have to do.

TODAY I'M IN BOSTON

My DH and I spent the night with our youngest daughter and her family in Mt. Juliet, and then we flew out bright and early this morning.  We were in Boston by 12:30 P.M.  We had some time to walk around time a little bit and even get a bite to eat.  We are staying at the Lennox Hotel in downtown Boston - very ritzy!  Tonight we've got a wine and cheese reception to meet the other folks on the tour, and then we go across the street to eat.  It'll be early to bed for us because we'll have to get up early.  As I have  been told before - "You're not on vacation, you're on tour."  Both my husband and I have come down with colds, wouldn't you know it.  I started with it first about 4 days ago, and today he's coming down with it.  We'll be unpopular on the bus, I fear.  Hope they don't kick us off!

HERE SHE COMES - HURRICANE IRENE!!

My daughter in Florida is preparing for a hurricane this week, and my husband and I are planning on leaving for the first good vacation we've taken in 3 years.  We have plans to go on a bus tour of Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, and Nantucket for a whaling cruise.  Now all I can think of is this stupid hurricane that is supposed to come up the east coast of the U.S. this week-end - right when we leave for the coast of Massachuttes.  Is fate going to put us on a collision path with this hurricane?  I can just see us trying to take a whaling cruise in 10 foot seas!!  Of course,  we just have to wait and see what course this storm takes, but what a huge disappointment it will be if we have crappy weather the whole time we're gone.  I've bought a little notebook-size laptop to take with me, so I can keep up with my blog while we're on the trip.  Hopefully I'll get some good pictures.  Hopefully the sun will shine.  Hopefully Hurricane Irene will just turn in another direction and head out to sea.  My family in Florida will be fine because it's not a bad storm right now, just a lot of rain.  But it could strengthen if it stays just off-shore and goes up the east coast.  If that happens, I think I'll just stay home and scrap.

I'm Baaack!

Hi Everyone,
     I got back last night (Wednesday) after spending the entire day on airplanes or in airports.  I must say, Park City, Utah, and The Canyons Ski Resort was absolutely wonderful!!  The weather was cold enough to keep the snow good, but not really much colder than it has been where I live in Tennessee.  Of course, my daughter and her family live in Florida, so they thought it was really cold.  We were there 4 full days for skiing and all the other amenities, and Cade spent two full days in Ski School, and then he was able to hit all the slopes with his mom and dad.  It always amazes me how quickly kids pick up that sort of thing - and no fear at all.  Naturally, they don't have far to fall either!  I didn't ski, but I took a lot of pictures and rode all over the place in the Gondola.  Unfortunately, I lost my Delta Sky Miles credit card at one of the ski lodges the first day - I think I probably forgot to put it back in my camera bag when I bought lunch and left it on the table or somewhere.  At any rate,  I called and cancelled the card right away, so no damage was done.  In fact, the loss probably eliminated some of the damage I could have done.  I did manage to buy myself a cute Alpine-looking ski hat and some T-shirts for my husband and 12 year old grandson, who is now staying with us for a week.  We stayed at the Westgate Resort and had a great suite with two bedrooms, two living rooms and two kitchens and baths.  Very nice!  Laura (my daughter) and I treated ourselves to massages, and every evening, after all day in the weather, we hit the hot tub.  The weather was good, except for one day, when it misted rain all day.  But that day we decided to go tubing.  That was more up my alley - lots of fun, but also, lots of trudging around in the snow to get to the "magic carpet" that took us up the hill.  My legs finally got so tired that I fell right on my butt on one slope.  That got a good laugh.  I'll go through all the pics I took and post some of the better ones.  I had a new camera, and I really didn't know how to work it too well.  I'm glad to be back home and able to scrapbook again.  Talk to you later.