New addition!

Meet our sweet foster dog! She is a 10 year old, recently retired guide dog! When a guide retires they come into the school for medical evaluation. This sweet girl was nervous in the kennels so we get to be her home for the next couple of weeks. I love having a dog again. She already has place in our hearts!

Valentine's Day

A Valentine's Day thought:

"Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new." Ursula K. LeGuin

Day #21 - Tango anyone????

When in Buenos Aires.......let's tango!!!!!

Day #20 - Monica

We were so excited to meet John's girlfriend, Monica. She is a delightful girl, pretty with a great sense of humor, talkative, friendly, spiritual and confident! George and I liked her a lot and look forward to getting to know her better.

Day #19 - Sorry, more penguins!

One last day with thousands of penguins, no exaggeration! We took a bumpy bus ride to Punta Tombo which is a protected area for penguins in Argentina. It is hard to see just how many there were but trust me there were a lot.

Penguins are monogamaus and return to the place they were born each year to lay their eggs and raise their chicks. They usually lay two eggs about a week apart. The biggest, oldest chick is given the most food. The younger chick is just an insurance policy! Sometimes there is enough food for both but sometimes, well Mother Nature can be cruel. Both of these guys look healthy.

The chicks have downey feathers so they don't swim

The parents feed the chicks for couple of months but when those downy feathers are gone so is the free food! The parents just leave them and the new adult chicks figure out how to get to the ocean and swim and fish. This fellow looks like he is about ready to be independent. I like his punk penguin look!

Here is a Mom, or maybe a Dad, feeding one of the chicks. Cute how she holds him in place with her wing!

These three babies just wouldn't leave Mom alone. She kept trying to get away from them but they kept following her everywhere. Guess they were hungry and waiting for the other parent to return with a belly full of fish!

Loved this family picture!

But this one reminded me more of our attempts at a family picture when the kids were little. Some squawking, Mom exasperated and only one looking at the camera! (that would have been Mary)

This is as close as one got to me. You are not supposed to approach them, but they can approach you. They are wary but curious.

Definitely a day I'll remember for the rest of my life!

Day #18 - Handsome Hunk!

With his Antarctic explorer beard and minus 35 pounds George is quite the handsome hunk! I'm one lucky girl!

And in a tux, wow! I think we should go to more formal things just because he looks so good! Sort of James Bondish, I think

Day #17 - Wanderfire - Falkland Islands

Sir Ernest Shackleton's wife once said of her husband that he was 'blessed or cursed with the wander fire'. I sometimes wonder if my 'wander fire' is a blessing or a curse! But I do love our travel adventures!

Never in a million years did I think I'd one day go hiking on the Falkland Islands.

Along with John and Katherine and our new friends Chuck and Nancy, we decided to forgo one of the planned excursions and just asked some of the locals for advice as to how to spend the day. A short taxi ride took us to 'Gypsy Cove" and we spent the rest of the day hiking back along the beautiful bay!

There were interesting birds....

And even a few penguins!

Some shipwrecks......

And the brightly colored roofs of Stanley.....

George and I couldn't resist a little fun with the street signs!

Lovely day in Stanley, Falkland Islands!

Day #16 - Four pounds!

Why I gained FOUR pounds on our cruise:

Chocolate Cake

Delicious pie

Coconut Cake

More chocolate cake!

Please note that every single one of these has fruit. Shouldn't that be healthy and not cause excess weight gain?

Of course if you couldn't find a dessert on the menu that was exactly what you wanted that evening, there was always the ice cream option and if you asked nicely they'd put whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top! And if you really couldn't make up your mind, they'd give you two desserts!!! FYI, Katherine only gained 1 pound on the cruise! And yes she did eat every bite of both of these desserts!

As you left the dining room, you could have a napkin full of after-dinner mints.

And then go to the "Dessert Extravaganza"

If that still wasn't enough sweetness, there were always the chocolates for a bedtime snack!

The four pounds are not my fault....it was a conspiracy!

Day #15 - Cleanliness is next to......

Germs are not good things anywhere but especially on a cruise ship. Before you went through the buffet lines there were smiling helpers to remind you to 'wash your hands'. I loved these automatic 'hand washers'.

Putting your hands in the openings activated a 10 second soap and warm water spray! Felt good and certainly felt clean! I think they should put these in schools and restaurants and malls.

If that weren't enough to keep us germ free, hand sanitizer was available everywhere on the ship. By every staircase, every restaurant, every common area, as you left the ship for ports and when you came back on board, you could get a squirt of a very nice smelling and non drying sanitizer. I'm happy to report that we didn't get sick!

Day #14 - Penguins AGAIN!

We had seen penguins before on the trip but it was just so exciting when we saw our first penguin on an iceberg! I'm surprised the boat didn't tip from all the photographers rushing to capture this Kodak moment!

What we didn't realize as we cruised into Esperanza Bay, is that every iceberg had penguins! Lots of penguins!

Penguins diving!

And penguins swimming!

Penguins lining up!

Penguins on their bellies!

Penguins everywhere! This particular penguin is a 'Chinstrap Penguin' and it is easy to tell why.

While one parent enjoys a "Mom's Day Out" or a "few hours with the guys" on the icebergs, the other stays on the land to take care of the babies. Actually the parents take turns feasting on krill in the water and then return to regurgitate the fish into the baby's mouth. The babies are almost the same size as the parents but have downy feathers and can't yet go in the water. When the downy feathers are gone, the parents simply stop feeding them. The little guys figure out how to feed themselves pretty fast! Can you find the babies?