Cardi on a Cruise Ship?!

Our vacation the first week of September was a much needed break! The virtual Hush came along so I would have a virtual Cardigan companion for the trip.

We left gray, hazy and wet New York behind...


New York Harbor and The Statue of Liberty.Going under the Verrazano Bridge.
The bridge we just squeezed under.

Hush made new friends...
Florida was very sunny and HOT!
The space shuttle replica.
And Luther would have loved all the "fire hydrants"...
The moon was just rising over the flag at the Kennedy Space Center, photo taken as we were leaving.
The ocean in the Bahamas was so blue!
And there we visited the zoo.
And fell in love with the flamingos!
It was over too soon and we were headed back home.Farewell to the Norwegian Jewel. We will be back on another NCL ship next spring!

More photos can be seen in our photobucket album.

Atlantic City & Roxy

Sunday & Monday we spent at Atlantic City.

The ocean was beautiful, though the beach and boardwalk were covered in trash. It was sad to see.
My favorite store in the casino was Jake's Dog House. They had great prices for their location!
There we bought this new magnet for Ellie.
Roxy came home today! As you can see, she made herself right at home. She is snoring on the sofa while I type this.

The shelter was calling her an Australian Shepherd mix. I really don't see that. Her coat is like a Labrador's coat and she is the size of a Dal, with a few small black spots scattered about. So we are guessing Lab x Dal. Any other ideas?

Later I will get photos of the back of her ears. They match Luther's ears.

She goes to the shelter's vet on Thursday for a dental, bloodwork & chest x-ray. They are worried about a heart murmur. Hopefully it is nothing serious. No matter what, she has a home for her golden years.

More from Bermuda...

Our arrival - the Royal Dockyard and Maritime Museum. King's Wharf, Bermuda.

The first stop on our bus tour of the island was the beautiful chapel built in the 1630s. It is still in use today.
The ceiling showing the original bermuda cedar beams and limestone roof.

The interior of the chapel. "Rejoice in the Lord always." How true.

The view from the chapel.

The world's smallest, working drawbridge! The Somerset Bridge.

Gibb's Lighthouse and a partial view from the hill. You can see our cruise ship in the background.

A lizzard in a bush at the light house.

Horseshoe Beach. These were taken from the tour bus.

A tree (and Leonard) in the botanical garden.

More of the botanical garden.

St. George, the other end of the island. I LOVE the lime green building!

Feeding the fish in St. George while we had lunch at The Whitehorse Tavern.

More pictures later!

The Departure

We were able to embark on the MS Norwegian Dawn at around 1:00 pm, Sunday 5/17. This is the atrium.

My surprise for Leonard was that I had the stateroom decorated for our anniversary, complete with cake! He loved it! And the cake was delicious!


We left NYC at about 5:00 pm. Here you can see the Empire State Building from the upper deck of the ship as we left the harbor.

We passed the Statue of Liberty.

The gray weather followed us on our first day at sea. The sea was very rough then, 7-12 waves, and it was raining or misting all day on Monday. I did not get sea sick, but had a horrible time walking as the ship rocked and rolled. We splurged on the thermal suite spa pass, where we had access to the indoor pool, hot tub, jacuzzi & sauna. It was set on the back of the ship, with a picture window view! It was so relaxing! It was neat to be in the indoor pool while being rolled with the ship as it had it's own mini waves.

We had beautiful weather the rest of the week.

She's on her way! (Oh yeah... we're back!)

Cornerstone Visions Deja Bleu

Zsa Zsa will be arriving on Wednesday!

Marked oh so similar to our beloved Demi, this little one called my name from the day she was born. The one big difference is that Zsa Zsa has two blue eyes. From the time I started in Cardis 9 years ago, I have always wanted a blue eyed blue merle. Zsa Zsa has turned out very nicely and we are very excited to have her come up north.

Horseshoe Beach, Bermuda

On a non-doggy note, Leonard & I had a WONDERFUL vacation! Bermuda was GORGEOUS (and expensive). The cruise was delightful. We are looking forward to planning another. We both pulled a sweet surprise on each other which made it even more special. I will share many more photos over the coming week.

Sight seeing in Kansas/Missouri

Here are some photos taken on our trip. Considering these are from my cell phone, I think the quality is good.

As we entered the Kansas Turnpike section of I70, there was this picture-perfect farm. It seemed that the minute we drove into Kansas that the wind became eerie. I will never forget the creepy wind.


The flat fields of the ranch were we had the herding trial. Can you see Snickers & Luther romping in the second photo?


On the way back from Salina to Topeka, Genie & I detoured to Abilene to the Eisenhower Presidential Library.


Inside The Place of Meditation, the final resting place of Ike, Mame and their first born son, Doud Dwight.


Ike's boyhood home.


Welcome to the Topeka Zoo! The first exhibit were giraffes. We went to the zoo specifically for the Rainforest Exhibit.

Free range flamingos. At first I though they were statues, until they started to move!


A reptile of some sort that was free ranging in the rainforest exhibit.

A momma sloth with a baby clutched to her chest. No cage protecting them from the public.

The lioness, behind plexiglass. Now I know why stupid people get eaten by zoo animals. You should see the idiots tormenting this creature by pawing at her through the glass, and she was pawing right back at them! Parents were encouraging their children to "play with the lion". Urgh!

We detoured into St. Louis on the way home and visited the Gateway Arch. I am afraid of heights and could barely look up at it! No way would I take the tram ride up into it. We wanted to take a river boat ride on the Mississippi but the river was too high and the boat rides were canceled. So, we visited the museum under ground at the arch. It was a nice museum but I thought this was a bit creepy...

Yes, it is a taxidermy Appaloosa horse. I think I prefer mine alive and well in a field. The sad thing is I made an observation that most of the horses roadside in Kansas were very underweight. I hope that they will gain weight and get proper care now that spring is upon us.