songbird's crazy world

We go every year.  It’s a ride-through display, and and then end there’s a small ‘Christmas Village” with snacks and activities for children. This year  they added a Barbie section. Of course, most of our favorites were on display, too.      Do you like light tunnels?    There are trees at the Village.    Santa isn’t  there anymore, of course, but children can still visit the Grinch or make s’mores at fire pit.  And this year they added a skating rink. One more trip through a light tunnel … Hard to believe Christmas is over and the year is coming to an end …

  #skywatchfriday

 How do your pets greet you after you have been away for awhile? So during our vacation I arranged for Shadow to stay with my friend Jenn and her two sons, Greg and Ben.  Jenn and I share a two family house; she lives downstairs and my apartment is upstairs.  Jenn has two cats, so I was certain Shadow would have a good time.  My fur ball spent two weeks chasing after  torturing Jenn’s cat Mavis. When I got home Friday night, Ben brought Shadow upstairs.  She was all squirmy and didn’t want to be held.  He handed her to me, and she was still squirmy. But as soon as her paws hit the floor, she realized it was me who had been holding her, and wrapped herself around my ankles.  Didn’t let me out of her sight for 24 hours. Drew has two roommates, so he knew Duchess would be ok.  But she very clearly missed him, because she scolded him the moment he walked into the house.  She meowed and hissed at him.  You could tell she wasn’t just angry, she was furious!   And then she calmed down, and wo

 Our last full day of vacation was Thursday.  It was a sea day, meaning we participated in lots of activities aboard ship. I spent more time on the pool deck.  That thelassotherapy pool was wonderful. Drew finally won a trivia contest.  The subject was James Bond.   Later he took all the tickets he accumulated from playing trivia and redeemed them for a t shirt. Charity Lockhart was the last guest performer in the main theater. Later we sat on the balcony and Star gazed.   And saw other cruise ships on the water. Then came the ordeal of getting home.   There’s no easy way to get 2,000 passengers and their luggage off a cruise ship, through US Customs and on to their next destinations.  But eventually we made it to Tampa Airport.  Spent a “delightful” afternoon at the airport — our flight was delayed.  Not a bad flight home, with one “laugh out loud” moment;  as we are flying towards La Guardia, we are watching Jeopardy!   and Ken Jennings starts to read a clue about “La Guardia Airport

 And the last re-run  and for the last Monday of the year, it's time for the annual New Year's Eve music party. Bing Crosby is always a joy. A little ABBA    Some Johnny Mathis   Of course we include Barry Manilow    You  really need some Pentatonix    A real Scotsman to sing  "Auld Lange Syne"   

Revisiting the Mayan ruins at Altun Ha, Belize    We were there in February 2010.  At this site we were able to climb a pyramid.  The acoustics are amazing — Drew climbed the pyramid and was able to speak to me while I was on the ground in front of the structure, without shouting or using any amplifier.  

 The day after Costa Rica was a sea day.  Very relaxing.  We slept in, had breakfast at the buffet, played trivia and spent some time in the thelassotherapy pool.   The evening’s entertainment was something called Soundtrack , singing, dancing and acrobatics set to music from the movies.  I especially liked the James Bond tribute. And then it was time to visit Mexico.  We were one of several ships to make port in Cozumel that day.  We were berthed beside the Disney Magic. There’s a large shopping area immediately adjacent to the port.  There are all sorts if jewelry stores, leather stores, souvenir stores and a pharmacy. Yes, a pharmacy.  Mexico has very different rules about drugs.  You don’t need a prescription for Viagra, amoxicillin, or dozens of other medications, and much cheaper than in the States.  All I wanted was a bottle of Listerine… This was our third visit to Cozumel. The first time we opted to visit the beach, as we had seen Mayan ruins at Altun Ha in Belize earlier in o

   We made port in Colon, Costa Rica. Today’s tour took us to the  Veragua Rainforest . Located less than one hour from the historic Caribbean town of Puerto Limón and with enchanting views of the endless mountains of the Talamanca Range, the Veragua Rainforest Eco-Adventure allows visitors to explore the natural wonders of Costa Rica’s breathtaking tropical rainforest. This tour is really for adults, children will be bored.  If you want to learn about the rainforest you’re in the right place.  If you expect to see lots of animals, you might be disappointed.  We saw a sloth from the bus, but didn’t see any additional sloths or howler monkeys.  As you might expect, it’s a walking tour.  The guide took us through the park, showing us all the different species of plants that grow in the area.  Some plants even grow on top of the trees, to get more sunlight. There was a building devoted to snakes, another to frogs and toads, and a third devoted to butterflies.   This is ginger: An orchid.

    The ship made port in Colon, on the Caribbean coast of Panama.  It was an all-day excursion, booked through the cruise line.  Five buses —about 150 passengers.  Our tour guide explained how Panama had the first transcontinental railroad, built by Americans in the 1850’s to accommodate the California Gold Rush.  He explained how the French tried to build a canal but failed, how the Americans under Teddy Roosevelt were able to get the job done. How the US helped Panama gain its independence from Colombia. He talked about John McCain being born in the Canal Zone, and how Jimmy Carter negotiated the treaty that returned the canal to Panamanian control. The buses took us to Gatun Lake, a man made lake in the middle of the country.  The lake feeds the canal. It’s also a “parking lot” of sorts — traffic travels either Atlantic to Pacific or Pacific to Atlantic, but cannot travel in both directions at the same time. At the lake we boarded a ferry and began our journey to Panama City, on th