Dip and Glide

Let me just state up front that I ride. Upside down, loops, drops, spins, I love them all. But here I sit in my cabin, gently rocking back and forth and I’m a bit undone. I went up to breakfast and staggered so much that Steve had to lead me back down. Thankfully our cabin is in the center of the boat and the rocking is not quite so bad.

Steve can barely feel it. It’s a big ship; so the issue of rolling is not supposed to be as bad. It’s not like I’m green and leaning over the banister. I’m just disoriented. Having a bit of trouble walking and I’m not sure why I feel this so extremely. I’ve been on so many small boats and roared with pleasure at the rocking and bumping from other boats’ wakes.

But this feels as if my whole world is very gently sliding off-balance. And I’m confused by it.

Let me backtrack a bit. Yesterday after my post, we walked down to the Pike’s Market area in Seattle. What an experience! There was the usual tourist flotsam (in keeping with the nautical theme). However bright chili and pepper swags hung in bunches – not just the garlic braids and chili wreaths but long collections of multi-colored peppers of all kinds and sizes. And flowers, everywhere. Not just vendors and booths full of flowers but growing all along the edges of the stall roofs.

And the pastries and breads! And, of course, the fish. I guess we were too early in the morning for any fish-tossing, but that was just as well. Then with a respectful nod to coffee, we dashed into the original Starbucks. It had real character – worn, rustic and unadorned. My favorite, though, came as we walked back up the hill toward the hotel. We passed a coffee roaster that had one of its doors blocked off with huge hopsack bags of coffee beans piled high.

It IS all about the coffee in Seattle.

We got our things together and trooped downstairs at the hotel to grab a cab. I’m going to wander down a little trail for a minute. Let me tell you how clever my husband is and clever I am not. We decided that we would check three bags in at $23 a bag. We would carry on the last one which would be our overnight things for Seattle. I’m accustomed to carrying a purse and a computer on board a flight. All the things that I cannot take through security are really not an issue for me. So I packed what I would need for sundries that evening and for the trip.

You guessed it. I had included large bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body spray, hair spray, etc. Our TSA agent thankfully was quite sweet and had a patient spirit. As she set aside what we could not take, I began to add them up and, as opposed to only $23 a bag, we were definitely coming out on the short end of this deal. But we were at the airport in Florence, South Carolina; so our car was only parked a short distance away. Off Steve went to deposit all our items in the car. I wasn’t losing them; but I would have to get them for the trip.

Here’s where Steve’s ingenuity comes in. On a Starbucks run, he discovered an IGA not far from the hotel and talked the checker into letting us come and buy a boxful of those items plus soft drinks and such, pay for them, and leave them. Once we had our cab and were on the way to the pier, we simply stopped in and picked them up!

There’s no need to be concerned about pages of more detail on our checking in, taking care of bags and such. It was handled in such an efficient way that in minutes we were upstairs by the gangplank waiting for boarding to begin. We had seen the ship from the street, but the boarding process between the loading area and the ship made my heart race. Too exciting.

Our cabin is much roomier that we anticipated and there are so many little cubbies! Space has definitely been optimized. Our balcony is plenty large enough for the table and two chairs and it is completely open, yet private. We spent the hours until the time when we were to cast off just exploring the ship.

They had opened the buffet on deck ten (read tenth floor) for early boarders. I got my first inkling of two shipboard facts. First, food – as much (actually way more) than you could possibly eat, any time, anywhere.

Second issue. Heights and an uneasy floor beneath my feet. Steve and I sat down on that first day and admired the view out the window. I looked down to adjust my chair and found that I was sitting on a glass disk ten floors above a rolling ocean! And so began my romance with shipboard disorientation. Who knew I’d feel the need to get on a tilt-a-whirl to get my equilibrium back in the right place? Which is why I found myself at breakfast the next morning staggering into my shipmates.

Next, the fear of food.

If I Had Another Life to Live...

…I would live it in Seattle.

We arrived at around 6:00 PM (9:00 PM EST) yesterday to a gray and rainy day. The standard in Seattle, I’m told. How wonderful is that? Those of you who know me really well know that this is my kind of weather. Nothing buoys my spirits like a gray mist.

The clouds hung low and a damp rain fell. We were exhausted, having been on travel since noon. People had been friendly, sweet and helpful the whole day and it definitely was not a hard travel day, just long.

But here’s the thing. We don’t travel that much anymore and I said several silent prayers that God would intervene on our behalf. As I phoned a dear friend and chatted for a bit, Steve stood with an airport cart and waited for luggage. He told me later, he just kept letting people in front of him because he had the cart and he didn’t want to get in their way.

Suddenly the short siren sounded and the belt started moving – on the next baggage area directly behind Steve! All he had to do was turn around and, pretty much, there came our bags. Ours were among the first dozen! The man standing next to Steve said, “Man! How did you DO that?”

We gathered our bags and trudged over to the elevators in search of ground transportation. We had not made shuttle reservations and needed to go downtown. We were aware this could be a serious issue. We asked information and found out about a shuttle service for the major hotels. There was no one in their little “caboose booth” but the woman told us we could just catch it and pay the driver.

Thing is, we didn’t know what we were looking for. And there were so many different kinds of shuttles. Suddenly, Steve made sure I was good with the luggage and bolted across the street. He came back grinning with two reservation tickets and said, “That’s it! C’mon.” He grabbed the luggage cart and away we went toward a small white van parked away from the rest – certainly not one we would have been looking for or even have noticed.

Steve had seen a woman come into the ticket booth The young man told us we had gotten the last two seats, loaded our luggage, and turned to inform the four people approaching that he was full.

I sat in the front seat and enjoyed the hills, the green and the fog. The Seattle skyline was partially covered in clouds and I was taken in. The city had San Francisco hills and so many trees! I have never seen a city with more green.

This morning Steve and I woke at 5:30 (8:30 EST) and I ventured out around 7:30. Buildings were half hidden in fog and everywhere there was the heavenly smell of coffee. It was like chocolate in Hershey, Pennsylvania! Not just on the street corners, the coffee stalls are everywhere!

I haven’t pulled out the camera yet – that’s for the cruise. I just wanted to give a nod to this lovely city. Probably should stop the entry now…it’s getting harder. It’s my third grande and my hands are shaking from the caffeine.

Round Two from Adventureland

The wildlife is restless this morning. The mullet are, no doubt, having some kinds of athletic games going on – I never heard so much splashing. They make me laugh, the silliest and most fun fish of all. And Steve, so patient, stood for a really long time trying to get a picture for me. What he ended up with is the fish from a weird perspective – you can barely see him above the water. But the picture definitely tells the story: the rings left in the water are his footprints, like a big stone being skipped across.

In the middle of all the shrieking, calling and splashing, we heard a strange “thwack, thwack.” What on earth? There is an old dead tree at the edge of the lake just down from our balcony. A big black cormorant sits there for hours every morning and afternoon. His special spot.

This morning a great blue heron decided it looked appealing. After much posturing and attempted size-intimidation by the heron,

the two decided to have a go at it, beak to beak. Very noisy and exciting. We watched for a good little while, snapping pictures and praying that the camera battery would hold. Finally they managed an uneasy truce with neither of them in total relaxation mode.

Suddenly from just above our heads another heron swept down upon the tree and the two of them flew off across the lagoon. It was majestic and breath-taking. And I was struck that if we had just stopped and looked around a bit, we would have snapped an incredible picture of the heron just above us in the tree.

Meanwhile, the cormorant smoothed out his ruffled feathers, looked around to see if anyone was watching and settled in for his nap.

Have You Ever Seen a Mullet Dance?

The water reflects the Spanish moss, magnolias and palm trees and it is smooth as glass. The surface breaks and a fish comes flying straight up and completes a leap of about ten feet in length. Another one jumps a smaller height and length and immediately reenters the water to jump again and again like a stone being skipped across the surface.

South Carolina is Adventureland for those who love nature. Steve and I are in Hilton Head this week and we're sitting on the balcony of our condo. In the space of less than ten minutes, we saw mullet jumping, turtles and an eight-foot alligator cruising from one end of the lagoon to the other. He was actually moving pretty quickly, gliding on top so that we could see his eyes above the water and the full length of his body. He moved quickly enough that, as he approached the end of the pond where the golf course was, several startled golfers stood watching him with raised clubs. Honest.

We also saw a long-necked cormorant coming toward us across the water. For a crazy minute we thought he was a snake halfway out of the water with a fish in his mouth. We saw only a long, black neck with a fish. His body was completely under the water.

All of this was going on to the accompaniment of the flapping sound of mullet hitting the water. The next flapping sound was of me hitting the internet to try to find out why they jump. There was the entertaining (and wrong) answer that they see where they are going by jumping. Some said that they are plant eaters but they jump to flee predators and they have the strength to jump as many times as they need to in order to escape. There were other explanations about their being able to absorb oxygen and such, but I was getting bored and went back out to watch the show. Wondering why I haven't posted a picture? Because they're so fast, you basically have to set your camera on an area of water and wait. Frankly, I didn't want the picture that badly.

We have seen great blue herons and a rookery where over fifty white egrets come to roost every night with much squawking. The rookery is at the edge of a lagoon with, you guessed it, more mullet. So there is much flapping and squawking and jumping and splashing. Adventureland. Come on down!

Family Unplugged

I’ve been thinking a lot about family lately. Our son, Cory, and our grandkids, Jacob and Claire, just left after a brief stay – first time at our South Carolina home. Steve and I live in a golf community on the lake and it is essentially a retirement community. The nearest small town, Manning, is about 11 miles away. You will not find a Starbucks, a movie complex, Outback Steakhouse, Borders books or Target store. Best Buy does not occupy mall space nor does Laser Quest, Chuck E Cheese nor Red Robin.

How would our technology-craving, fast-moving, entertainment-centered kids (including our grown son) take to our new and very quiet life style? I will tell you that when they got into the car and drove away, I was as exhausted as I ever am after a stay. But what a sweet kind of fatigue this was!

The twilight of the night before had found us standing on our dock, tossing food to the turtles and fishing. We listened to Canadian geese passing overhead and watched heat lightning in the clouds on the horizon, “Southern lights”. I marveled at how very much it felt like my summer vacations of the 1950’s. No technology, just nature and family.

We played board games and sat on the back porch and rocked. My grandson and I shared stories and spent long companionable silences simply rocking and basking in our shared company. My granddaughter told me about her wishes and dreams and asked me about mine. We played bingo at the community center and set off fireworks.

Steve and I had been looking for a pontoon boat for some time and it just so happened that we found the one we felt we were supposed to buy only days before our family arrived. Steve and Jacob brought it home for the first time together. A milestone frozen in time that seemed monumental – that we will remember and we hope he does too.

Late at night, when the kids were in bed, the adults sat in the dark on the porch and listened to the crickets, cicadas and discussed the dearth of fireflies compared to my childhood. We too shared our dreams, disappointments, and hopes. We communicated. Without wires and without wireless. Just quiet voices wrapped in love.