TRIP OF A LIFEETIME: Port Cobh, Cork Ireland

Following Portugal we were at sea for another two days. The day before we had walked the town of Ponta Delagada and then hired a taxi to take up us on a drive through the mountains to the lakes. This worked out very well. Much cheaper than paying for an excursion through the cruise ship. Above are Bill and Carol a real delight from Clearwater area of Florida.
Featured above are Pam and Ed from Naples, Florida. We really had a lot of fun with these four every night.

This is the port town of Cobh, Ireland and this is referred to as the House of Cards.

This church in Cobh just stands out no matter where you stood in town.

Just as beautiful inside as out.

I took this picture in downtown Cobh and it makes it look like the cruise ship sits right in the town itself.

This little port town has just finished building this lovely little park to welcome the cruise ships. There were all kinds of vending booths along the street.

For my family I want them to know that my total knee replacement handled these steps so I am thrilled.
I must say the people here all came out to welcome the first big cruise ship of the season. It was Sunday so they made it a family affair. They brought picnic lunches and were out in the park and had various bands playing to welcome us to port.

We took a train from Cobh to Cork. This again worked out very well for us and so much less expense than a shore excursion with the cruise line. A beautiful city.

Welcome to the world of Guinness !!!!!

These old churches are quite something to the eyes of one who has never been to Europe.

Can you just imagine the history of a church this old?

Cork, Ireland

Every where you look the view is incredible.

Every where we went there are signs that God is at work throughout the world.

More Guinness!!!

Throughout the downtown shopping section of Cork was the most unusual street lighting.

As we left Cork that night to the sounds of the bands playing and the streets lined with people waving good-bye we thought what warm lovely people. We had had a very beautiful day.

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!!!!!!

On May 5th 2011 we embarked on the trip of a lifetime. We left Fort Lauderdale,
Florida on the Grand Princess for a 16 night Trans Atlantic crossing.

Our state room was lovely. For the first 6 1/2 days we were at sea and we spent this time exploring the ship and taking advantage of the many facilities on board. We kept a regular exercise program up in an effort to combat any weight gain due to the marvelous food. Whether or not that has been successful is as yet to be determined. We are not yet ready to deal with what the answer might be. The shows on board were excellent and we were lucky to dine each night with two very lovely couples, can you believe--from Florida.

Above is pictured one of the 4 pools aboard the Grand Princess

This is referred to as Theater Under the Stars. At night you curl up under prewarmed blankets and the staff comes around with popcorn and drinks while you watch the most recent released movies.

Our first port Ponta Delagada, Portugal.

We spent the morning walking around the town and then we spent the afternoon on a beautiful drives through the hills surrounding the town. Absolutely beautiful.

A pretty church in town.

One of the government buildings in town.

I don't know if it really show up in a picture but one of these lakes is blue and the other green.

It's because of the different mineral deposits in each.

The mountain sides here are gorgeous and all the flowers were just coming into bloom.

Cobblestone streets are the norm in Europe.

It's been so long since I have posted. I have continued to be busy with knee rehab and Lee has had projects on the farm to complete before our trip to England to see Jim and Jane. After 5 months the orthopedics surgeon and I have finally decided what has taken my knee so long to heal. I had injured it the end of July, had a knee scope on Sept. 23rd and then a total knee replacement on Nov. 4th. The surgeon believes he did the total knee too soon after the scope and that the knee had been inflamed since July with no down time to heal. We backed off on all physical therapy except gentle stretches since the end of first week of April and now the knee is finally healing and the pain is totally gone and flexibility great. I feel like I can finally move on with life. The surgeon told me I was the most aggressive patient he has even had and in this particular case it worked against me.

As you can see spring has finally arrived and the cherry trees Lee planted in the fall are in bloom.

Over Easter we visited our eldest son and family in Pittsburgh, PA. What a great time we had!! We played Mexican train, and spoons, and watched movies together. Unfortunately it was a mostly rainy week-end here.
Pictured above is Friday the families new puppy.

The leather sofa is one of David's great finds on Craig's list.

This guy is a long haired Wheaten terrier. He is 4 and 1/2 months old now and just too cute!!

I finally got a good picture of the entire family.

From left to right: Dave (our son) children Isabella and Garrett and Erica with Friday on her lap.

Isabella dying the eggs. What a beautiful color!!

Friday with his new bone.

Just before we left for Dave's house Lee had to uncover the well. On Wednesday of this week we are having a new pump put in the old one is 24 years old.

Earlier this month we had gone to East Petersburg to visit our eldest daughter Suzanne.

Our granddaughter Hollyn, Troy and Keenan our two soccer players are off somewhere.
We had green waffles for breakfast, NOW that's a first!!!

We are very busy trying to get all loose end tied up around here on the farm and things lined up for Nicky's care while we are gone. We've been busy spending time with the children before we go. We will have so much to tell them when we return.

We fly to Fort Lauderdale on May 5th and board the Grand Princess and set sail for England that night. We will arrrive in England on May 21st and be with Jim and Jane until June 17th when we fly home. The four of us will be doing some really amazing stuff. Jim has been able to line up some really nice trips for us. We are sooooooo excited. I have a feeling that I will not be doing much blogging on the trip and will do it upon our return to the states.

Early February 2011

This hangs in my daughter's house and it truly says it all. That is exactly what a good friend is and God's has graciously blessed me with good friends. Through my knee replacement surgery God has taught me a lot. He's given me much greater compassion for those in constant pain, a real appreciation for the many friends who have been there for me, an acceptance that there are things you must wait for --- the patience part God is still working on. I have found out that my recovery has been hard and long because I was given a very tight knee which is good if you are active and also they tend to last longer so I'm told. However, getting all those tendons all stretched out again has been an entire winter project. I am still going to PT 3 times a week and I work on it at home. I definitely see progress now and I'm seldom in any pain but I really do feel like my life has revolved around my knee way too long and then I think of Keith and Marie Richards and what they have had to go through and that gets my attitude straightened out real quick. Let's just say God has shown me a lot I need to change about myself through all of this.
Above is my grandson, Keenan, he is elder brother to Troy below. This is a picture of a picture I took at their house. Have you ever seen such determination on a face? Keenan plays Division 1 soccer at Long Island University.

We have had more time to visit with friends and family and we love being at our home church and being able to take place in their activities. This past Tuesday we went to visit out grandson, Troy, who is recovering from surgery. He had a benign cyst taken off his shin bone. Not much fun. We took him out to lunch and got him out of the house for awhile. We really had a nice visit and Nicky got to visit with his buddy, Roscoe.

This is our Friday morning Bible study group. We have about an hour of good Bible study and then we follow that with homemade soup and bread. It's a lot of fun. Last week was my turn to cook so I made chili, cornbread, and chocolate cake.

We've also had time to hang in the local coffee shop. This is a picture of Lee and my brother, Graham.

We really have enjoyed watching the birds just out the kitchen window. Above is a ed headed woodpecker and a female cardinal.

I've never seen so many cardinals but then again I'm not usually here to notice.

See this cute little tree? She said, " I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not giving up my leaves it is just too cold". We've thanked her many times for the little bit of color she left in the woods.

Nicky thought the snow was great at the beginning but he is really sick of it now especially with the ice on top of the snow. He looks at me as if to say,"there's not a decent place for a dog to take care of business out here.

Nicky has his sheep's coat on now and stays plenty warm.

This is why we don't do usually do winter!!!
It is beautiful to look at but I don't like living in it for months on end. This was an ice storm which hit about a week ago.

I will say one thing for this winter -- it has been sunny when it is not snowing. It has been very pleasant on the sun porch when the sun is out brightly it heats the entire room up and you feel toasty warm.

When the sun hit the ice on the trees it was a sparkling wonderland.
This is Lee cleaning the driveways after one of the storms. I wanted Jim Tull to see the new headlights Lee put on and the new enclosure he added. He also added hydraulics on the plow. He's a handy guy to have around isn't he?

Oops here come another one!!!! Get ready Lee