More rain drops on Lilies.

It has been a ugly few days in Rocehster.  At least when the rain does stop if makes for intertesing photos.

Rain drops on day lily

As above

Snow pictures

Thinking about heading out and getting some pictures of the snow.  Well maybe we will see.

Test

Test

The christmas wolf

Have  not made a post in a while.  So here is one now.   As I was cleaning up some computer files I came across this cool picture of a wolf.


wolf  Yellowstone.

 

Grace wondering

Is some one going to put some ornaments on this damn tree

Waking up to a horrible scene

Really!!!

Allie will she be right side up

Leaf pick up

Well this week is our. Leaf pickup week. But my trees are still loaded

Thurs eve Drinks and desert at Dukes.

 

      

TROPICAL ITCH

HULA PIE

This what we saw while getting gas

Aloha army

A bit of vog today (volcanic fog)

And. Waves pounding.  Sounds like a good time for some bloody Marys pool side

Eels

Leaving the seminar today I walked by the snorkeling lagoon and came across these 2 guys.   Right on the shoreline.  I took this picture with my cell phone

Just a few things on the way to the cabin last weekend

I posted the pictures of the dogs yesterday from out trip to the country. In case you missed it here is the LINK. On the way we say a few interesting things as well.

Chris wanted to get out of the car and take a picture and get an up close look at a wooly worm. They are supposed to predict the winter.  Instead he was greeted by this SNAKE.

Angelica NY Cemetery.

Here is the wooly worm he was looking for.








He got so scared he almost ended up here

Some pictures from the Wet side of out trip to Niagara Falls

WET

Some pictures from the Wet side of out trip to Niagara Falls. CLICK HERE.

No wonder why i feel like i need a nap

Well if I could get on the couch

Is it really still September

It should not be 39 degrees in sept.   Had to break down and turn on the heat a bit this am. Poor Allie was freezing.     Will get the gas fireplace going to night. That will keep the down stairs warm without the furnace heating thw whole house

Happy First day of Fall

I really hope we do not have to turn on the heat this weekend.

Summer is coming to a close

Not only the calander and cool temps signal the end of summer. When the torch lily blooms the end is near :(

Great night for a walk on charlotte pier

Now to get some food

Its her birthday!!! Its Her Birthday!!! LYNN B-day

Happy Birthday to LYNN

Now that she is 50 will she still be able to do  an upper bunk in a Paris apartment?

Happy Birthday to our travel buddy...... And of course we are on another adventure RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jen earning her keep

Thanks Jen for getting  putting together the new chairs  the boxes have only
been around for 4 months.

Of course the girls have to try t hem out right away

A roll in the hay

 

Well it appears that someone, somehow hacked into my blog and posted some adds for sex.  I think I was able to get them all deleted from here as well as from the transfer to the webpage.  So I figured it only fitting to post my own risque photo of a roll in the hay.

 

Watermelon freeze

Just sayin watermelon frozen with liquiod nitrogen will shatter like glass

Gaurding the grill

Well someone has to do it

All the girls love Alan

Once the shirt came off none of the girls could resist Alan

Men at work

Macho men working with wood.  Good thing I was there to supervise

Macho macho men

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Macho macho men
From: <drpod100@aol.com>
To: Webpage Post <Drpod100.bears@blogger.com>
CC:

Worken with wood
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Macho macho men

Worken with wood
Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Still Missing out Girl



Emma Lu  been gone 2 years now.



Going old school



Missing Italy badly

Even a real swimmer needs to take a break

And chew a stick

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Grace in the garden.

A very rare quiet moment

Day Lily in bloom

garden view

Looks like a lazy sunday

With the abundance of things to photograph in the summer months I am hoping to get back into the habit of posting a new picture ever few days or so.  I was cleaning out some old files and came across one of my favorites that I took in Alaska's Katmai national park.






I am hoping that some of this will transfer over to facebook as well since the blog posting have been slow I am sure I have lost a lot of followers.  So we will see how this new approach works over the next few months.  I am hoping that this will post to our walls and actually be seen.

Staying Cool on a hot summer afternoon

.

Just watching life swim by.

Girls on the deck

Book ends

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Seats in the garden

Waiting to relax

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Morning sun

Allie getting some morning sun on the back stoop

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Grace on a warm summer eve

Trying to catch a breeze

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Did we get lost?

Well  It looks like I got off the cruise ship in the wrong port. Some how I ended up back in Egypt.   Back in 30 BC or so, This leader was Jelous of the Antony Cleopartra news and had his own scale paramide biult in Rome.

Going way to fast

Only a day and a half left on the cruise ship. Trying to catch up on some of the blogging. The weather has been spectacular. Sunny all the time. I am so sunburned. I have not been this sun burned in long time, Even with spf 30.… This was a good time to sit in the shade and relax.

Because of the few English speaking guests many of the English tours have been cancelled. In Tenerife at 95 I was all set to go to the water park but it was cancelled and we could not find any public transport. So we spent most of the day on the ship at that pool drinking. The all inclusive drink package has sure come in handy.

Funchal Madeira Portugal is a spectacular Island. It has more flowerers and flowering trees than Hawaii. We spent the day on the hop on hop off bus. We took the cable car up to the top of the mountains to the tropical botanical gardens. Later we found out that we had seen and done more than any of the tours offered and for about 1/3 of the price.

Malaga Spain. Since this is our third time here I spent the morning sleeping in, sitting watching the sea and drinking unlimited cappuccino and express. Chris did choose to take a walk on the beach but I wanted to stay out of the sun.

So would I do Costa again???? Yes but the itinerary would have to be spectacular as well as the price. They defiantly do not cater to English speaking guests. The bar service is beyond compare excellent!!! Everything else is average. The food is hit and miss. Not much variety, but must be willing to experiment. Of note osseobucco, pasta dishes, braised rabbit. Prime rib? The worse dish I have ever had on a cruise ship. Our horse meat in France was better. Back it went. I have no Idea what cut of meat it was at all. Stringy prime Rib? We ordered the Italian onion pie in its place Was terrific. The dining room is very hot and they don’t really seam to care. One eve I left with out eating as the sweat dripped off me.

Limited selections and times on the Buffet. If not for all the alcohol chris may have actually lost weight on this cruise.

But the weather and destinations have made this an incredible journey.

MOROCCO

Morocco…….

The visit to morocco sure was a very interesting adventure. There were only about 10 English speaking guests on the tour so we were forced to share a bus with about 40 Russians.

Upon arriving in Casablanca we had a short tour of the city including seeing the tallest mosque in the world. We then started our journey though the mountains, plains and Sahara desert to the ancient city of Marrakesh. It was interesting to learn that Morocco is one of the most conservative Arabic nations in the world. In fact, the majority of people are Berber and do not consider themselves Arabic at all. They wear much more traditional attire than was seen in Egypt.

We toured the city with stops at an ancient university (with awesome architecture), the large mosque and the Kasbah. WE had to make the obligatory stop at the rug shop and a medicinal spice shop. The spice shop was interesting but I could have done with out the rugs. We were held up there because many of the Russians were buying the 1800 rugs and having them shipped home.

We walked the tiny ally ways with the many shops with motor scooters almost running us down. All while dodging donkeys and other assorted beasts. We were taken to a traditional Moroccan restaurant for lunch. Not only was there a belly dancer but also a women who danced and rolled on the floor with a light candelabra balanced on her head.

We eat a variety of traditional salads breads and wines. The main dishes were chicken backed in a clay posts and roast beef with coiscuese and veggies.

Morocco…….

The visit to morocco sure was a very interesting adventure. There were only about 10 English speaking guests on the tour so we were forced to share a bus with about 40 Russians.

Upon arriving in Casablanca we had a short tour of the city including seeing the tallest mosque in the world. We then started our journey though the mountains, plains and Sahara desert to the ancient city of Marrakesh. It was interesting to learn that Morocco is one of the most conservative Arabic nations in the world. In fact, the majority of people are Berber and do not consider themselves Arabic at all. They wear much more traditional attire than was seen in Egypt.

We toured the city with stops at an ancient university (with awesome architecture), the large mosque and the Kasbah. WE had to make the obligatory stop at the rug shop and a medicinal spice shop. The spice shop was interesting but I could have done with out the rugs. We were held up there because many of the Russians were buying the 1800 rugs and having them shipped home.

We walked the tiny ally ways with the many shops with motor scooters almost running us down. All while dodging donkeys and other assorted beasts. We were taken to a traditional Moroccan restaurant for lunch. Not only was there a belly dancer but also a women who danced and rolled on the floor with a light candelabra balanced on her head.

We eat a variety of traditional salads breads and wines. The main dishes were chicken backed in a clay posts and roast beef with coiscuese and veggies.

We Then headed to the main square which is famous for it shops, acrobats, snake charmers and other various oddities. If you take a picture of any of these thinks you are expected to tip the performer. I wanted a picture of the cobras and the snake charmers. Chris had most of the change so I asked him to tip the guy. Little did I know that he told him that I wanted to dance with the snakes…. The next thing I know is that there is a snake around my neck and they are shoving the snakes head into my hand saying “ don’t let go or it bites” They then dragged my over to this little stool and made me sit down. Another snake around my neck and into my other hand. The music starts and the cobras are up and dancing in front of me. I have to admit I had my eyes closed more of the time.

After it was over I was shaking for a half hour. I am so afraid of snakes. I got back on the bus and scrubbed my hands and neck with sanitizer.
.

After it was over I was shaking for a half hour. I am so afraid of snakes. I got back on the bus and scrubbed my hands and neck with sanitizer.

Barcelona Spain

May 8, 2012

A day in Barcelona.  The weather today was wonderful in Spain today. Since we have been here a few times our main goal was to have a great lunch.  We shared a cab into the heart of the city with a couple from Switzerland  and then spent most of the day exploring the gothic quarter seeing many part that we had not seen in the past.

We then found our favorite Tapas restaurant Teller de tapas.   We had a large pitcher of sangria and a selection of local favorites of tapas.  The grilled squid was exceptional.

Upon returning to the ship we had some much need sun time by the pool with margaritas.   For dinner we had a rather  unusual but tasty entre, braised pork neck.  Very tasty…………….

We set our clocks back an hour tonight as we head toward the straight of Gibraltar and make out way to western Africa..

Genoa Italy.

Monday May 7, 2012

Dinner last night was delayed so we ended up waiting 20 min just to get into the dinning room. Monday night Dinner was also delayed as there was a long line and wait to enter the dinning room. So as in the past I cannot under stand why people get so upset when there may be a 5 min wait for a table on NCL free style program???!!!!

The Italian dishes are very good. Other dishes are average and on par with other lines. I do think NCL has more choices.

The seas have been very smooth so far.

We arrived Savona Italy early 8 am instead of 9. This was great news because we got off the ship and went to the train station and were off to Genoa. Genoa is a very beautiful city. It is a mix of old and modern. It is clean and bright. The Italian spoken there is easy to understand compared (as it was in Milan) compared to the south. The taxi driver back to the ship told me my Italian was very good. J We were able to cover everything that was offered by the tour, and much more. We saved well over 100.00 doing it this way. It also allowed us to mingle with the locals and have a wonderful lunch at a small restaurant. The entire city is built on the side of a hill. They have elevators that will take you up about 6-700 feet. I am sure this is where Disney got the idea for the tower of terror ride. You get into this square box on a track. It takes you back deep into the hill side. They suddenly you change directions and are taken up to the top of the hill in a solid rock elevator shaft.

I am enjoying the costa experience so far. It is different. I am glad we purchased the all inclusive drink package. I am trying to keep a tally of what we are drinking to see if we come out ahead. The coffee drinks really would have added up and last night we killed a whole bottle of Italian wine with dinner. The cheapest bottle on the menu was 23 Euro. So that alone covered more that one of the all inclusive drink package.

We sailed away from Italy sipping on lemon cello.

Day One,

May 5, 2012

Well so far the trip has gotten off to an uneventful start. Our flight to JFK was on time. Since we had almost 8 hours to kill in NYC we decided to take the sub way into Manhattan. It was cinco de mayo so we headed to one of out favorite restaurants Chevys. We had blue agave margaritas. Our regular drink when we are there. I don’t know why but they were exceptionally good this time.

Back to JFK to board out 8+ flight to Rome. Not much sleep to be had on this flight. We were seated in the bulk head. Lots of leg room but right next to the first class galley. There was banging and clanging going on all night.

Day two

May 6 2012.

We actually arrived in Rome a few minutes early. Luggage and customs in under 30 min. Amazing. We boarded out shuttle to the port city of Civitavecchia. It is raining here today. Boarding done very strange compared to other cruises. No real check in. You have to show your ticket and passport 3 times. You can settle you bill at the end or register your credit card. The key cards are already active in in your room. The only thing that bothers me so far is that they took our passports. They will return them on the last day of the cruise.???? The only way we could keep them is too have to personally meet with customs clearance at every port. Which means would always be delayed getting off the ship.

So far not sure of the ship itself it us a bit older than we are used too. It is very clean and staff is very friendly. We DID have a life boat drill before leaving Rome. We have the all inclusive package, and we have used it a few times already. Lunch buffet nothing special at all.

All the English shore excursions are sold out for Genoa tomorrow. So depending on what time we can actually get off the ship and the weather we may wing it on the train.

Will keep you posted on that and how our first scheduled dinner time goes. I do miss freestyle cruising!!!!!!!! Way to go NCL….

They are calling for rough seas tonight.

Hsppy cinco de mayo. IMG00006-20120505-1425.jpg

Allie posing with here easter ball..

Happy Easter everyone.A

April first

Lily beetle damage.

Well here it is April 1 already. Finally a winter that went by fast.  Due to the warm weather the plants are all coming up early in the garden.  Unfortunately, it looks like the dreaded lily beetles are awake and active already too.

Happy St Pats day.

Not so nice and Sunny up here by the lake.  BURRR.  Wish we had some sun. But at least we did get a little yard work done.  This was about 345 in the afternoon.