Happy Thanksgiving!

Just a short post to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  Our turkey is in the oven and Mr. Gadget is on his way to the train station to pick up Big City Girl (delayed a day because of snow).

I'm thankful for so many things.....my wonderful family and friends and my faithful blog readers.  You've hung in during the dry spells and the crazy posts, and that recent time when I asked you all to "please hold."  I'm grateful for all of you!

So Happy Thanksgiving all, and let's think about making this a day to celebrate the turkey neck.  Be proud.  Leave those cowls and scarves in the drawer. Go forth and strut!

Souvenir

I usually don't buy trinkets or souvenirs when I travel, mostly because I'm in the thinning out stage of my life rather than the bulking up.  When I do buy something it's because it will serve a useful purpose and not just collect dust.  That's why I bought this delightfully colorful coffee mug in Portugal. 

I admired the bright colors and the fact that it said "Portugal" on both the front and back.  It would be used, if not every day, certainly on a regular basis.  I do love my coffee.

So by now I'm sure you've realized that it's pretty much just a black mug (with a little unintended reflection).  That's because after the first washing the pretty design began to peel off, and with very little coaxing the whole thing just basically came unglued.  So now I have a plain black mug that will provide no special remembrance of my time in Portugal.  I do have a black t-shirt to match it though, and I will try to remember to drink coffee from my black mug when I'm wearing it.  Well,  at least until I can make arrangements to return it for a full refund...

Recooooperating

I'm feeling much better today after spending most of yesterday in my recliner under my heated throw.  This was all thanks to a flu shot I had the day before.  I've never had anything worse than a sore arm in the past.  Mr. Gadget took good care of me....brewing tea, bringing Tylenol, and even offering to go out last night to get me some frozen yogurt.  I'm feeling much better today.....but please don't tell Mr. G.

I did manage to dose myself up enough yesterday morning to drive up to the old hotel with my handiwork for the Christmas craft show.  The show has always been the first weekend in December, but this year they've decided to do it for two weekends beginning right after Thanksgiving.

Here are a couple of my needle-felted pieces:

I knitted more sweater ornaments this year--some for the craft show and some to donate to the senior center for their holiday bazaar. I think I referred to them earlier as the "can't-say-no" sweaters.  When someone asks me to volunteer to do something, and they preface it by saying  "oh, they're so wonderful and you're so talented and they sold like hotcakes last year," my brain says no, but my mouth says yes.  How does that happen?

 

So now I'm sitting here in the Treehouse amidst the mess--threads, stuffing, little bits of fiber, jars of paint, needles and pins, and little beads rolling around.  Where is that stateroom steward when you really need him?

Interlopers

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the ancient Roman city of Ephesus on the outskirts of Kusadasi, Turkey. The locals, including our tour guide who insisted on calling us "dear guests," call it Kush-a-das-eh. 

We saw the Library of Celsus....

and the Temple of Hadrian.

  This is the huge amphitheater....

 

...and the toilets.  Always plenty of seating so never an annoying line.

But what surprised me the most were these little furballs--clearly freeloaders who were just lounging around like they owned the joint.

Halloween at sea

As I mentioned, after seeing a crate of pumpkins being loaded on the ship in Venice, I was pretty sure there would be some Halloween fun.

This was the hostess who greeted us in the dining room.

I'm sure the kitchen crew had fun carving these during the wee hours.

Two Halloween beauties...

Here are a few of the costumes worn by passengers:

Crafty things along the way

I had a hunch there'd be some Halloween festivities onboard when I saw a big crate of pumpkins on a forklift in Venice.

 

 Cat in a shop window (Funchal, Madeira, Portugal)

Even the sidewalks were crafty!

 

 Store front of a woodcrafter's shop (Orvieto, Italy)

 

                                               Weaving studio (Orvieto)

 

 Fabric chickens (Taormina, Italy)

 

Ceramic jugs (Taormina) 

 

 Paper-mache masks (Taormina)

 

Pretty felted things (Istanbul) 

 

 Buttons and embellishments (Athens Archeological Museum)

 

 Hand-woven carpets (Istanbul)

 

Ceramic basset hound (Sorrento, Italy) 

 

Statue on a balcony (Barcelona) 

 

 Cement sculpture on side of a building (Sorrento)

 

Be-jeweled dog on a sweater (Taormina) 

Street entertainer "statue" (Barcelona)

Thanks so much for holding!

I'm back in the Treehouse once again, after a wonderful adventure.  Mr. Gadget and I have been cruising....but I'm sure you assumed....

For 3 weeks we cruised around the Mediterranean Sea and then we sailed for another week across the Atlantic to Florida.  Gotta love a trip without jet lag.

We love to cruise, and we realized on this trip that we can look forward to doing more of it in our elder years.

Some days the seas were choppy.

Some days they were smooth.

We rode on buses.

We saw wonderful places.

And we realized yet again that people are pretty much the same the world over.