45th anniversary...crocs and all

FISH!!!!

So we have been somewhat out of touch for the past week. Started out in the Coral Princess with a lovely cabin and only 17 of us passengers.  Almost as many crew as tourists.  A morning visit to Cooktown and then off to Lizard Island to visit the giant clam beds.  Wow!!!  Giant is right.  I think the largest was 5 feet across.  Mark and I both got to do a preliminary scuba dive.  Once I admitted to asthma, though, not to mention the heart issues, they never let me get deeper than a meter.
Over the next three days, we snorkeled and dove at 4 more fantastic spots.  Ribbon reef no. 3, Ribbon reef no. 9, Escape reef, and more on Lizard Island.  It was a difficult trip...get up early, eat, snorkel, eat, snorkel, drink, eat, sleep.  Oh my.  So much for losing weight while I travel!  There were so many fish, we didn't have to swim far or fast.
Finally, though, the fish were awesome.  Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the coral.  It is terribly stressed,  every bed we were at showed major signs of bleaching.  Though beautiful, all those shiny whites piles of delicate calcium are not the thing we want to see.  In addition, many of the beautiful blues and Reds were sadly showing a sickly mushy brown and yellow color.  On the way to bleaching.  They had little rain in the "wet" so the sea temperature was too high for the past six months.  They are hoping that the winter "dry" will be cool enough to let the coral recover.
After the boat trip, we stayed in Palm Cove for a few nights.  We swam within the jelly nets and took long walks through the mangroves, but only in daytime as we were warned to avoid them at night...dangerous people or crocs....Took a trip through the Daintree and visited Cape Tribulation where Capt. Cook visited in the 1700s.  Black tip sharks swam in the shallows of the ocean and crocodiles lazed in the shallows of the streams. Everyone told us to stay clear of the streams and do not swim in the ocean there.  In addition to the crocs, there were swarms of little deadly jellyfish so everyone only swims within the netted areas at this time of year.  We swam in a safe stream in the Daintree - clear and too fast moving for the crocs - and enjoyed Billy Tea and tucker before heading back to the hotel.  This morning, we hear that a 40 year old woman got et by the crocs in front of our hotel....OMG!  EVERYTHING inAustralia seems dangerous.  Oh well.  Having a good time.  Off to camp and hike in the Outback at 5a.m. tomorrow morning.  More when we get back

Flying foxes... Aargh, No!!!

So we got to the WhitsSundays on a lovely drizzly afternoon and proceeded to walk all around the marina and the resort complex.   We signed up for a variety of kayak or snorkel trips. Unfortunately, all these trips except one were foiled by the wind. We didn't get to go out on kayaks but did make it to Whitehaven beach and chalkies beach for snorkeling and swimming. Whitehaven beach has this perfect all silica sand, white as can be, and the texture of cornstarch. After walking for maybe 15 minutes, all of the calluses are sanded off my feet.    Because the weather was poor, the coral reef wasn't brightly colored. There were fish, but not many. The variety of coral was better than we have seen in the past years. Sadly much of it has been broken by people walking on it and there are some  signs of bleaching and coral death. They surprised me in that there seems to be little protection built in for the coral reef. They do not sell reef safe sunscreens,  they do not require floating vests while snorkeling above the reef, and they do not seem to regulate what people do the reef. You could break off pieces and take it with you or walk on it, damaging it. The ocean  is about 82° quite warm. I have no trouble swimming for a long periods of time; Mark however still gets a bit cold after a while.   Fortunately, the dangerous jellyfish are not in the water at this time of year.  We are now in Cairns and will be heading out on a boat for four days .   While in the Whitsundays and here we have been surprised by the large birds flying each sunset. Last night we got a much closer look: flying foxes,? Heck no, they are giant flying BATS!!!! Upon closer examination it was clear their wings worked differently than any bird we've ever seen. They are not vampires, but fruit eating thank goodness.

Off to rent bikes for the morning and tour the Esplanade of Cairns. More later.

Language barriers

All we wanted was a cocktail while we watched the glorious sunset.  We don't know what went wrong but this guy showed up and wouldn't leave.  Wild yellow hair, rude obnoxious behavior, wouldn't shut up and was really loud.  Thought we left this behind!? Never did get that cocktail.  Guess we haven't yet figured out the language down here.

Melbourne afternoon and evening the 18th

We may never again be able to play "go fish" again with a straight face.  After a lovely day walking through the Botanical Gardens, and then resting in the room to recover from the five or six mile walk, we headed out to dinner on an antique tram through the neighborhoods of  Melbourne. We were joined on the tram by two young (brainless) Canadian women and twenty Chinese men with little English.  Hence, we got extra service from Rowan and Tim, the two marvelous waiters.  A wonderful dinner with bubbly, wines, and more bubbly ensued.  Followed by port and Baileys Creme over ice. Tim was a great guy and we spoke of Seattle, his upcoming trips to SF and Vancouver. He seemed quite taken with us, more so with Mark.  After a thoroughly enjoyable evening - the Canadians flirting with the Chinese and Tim with Mark, we had way too much to drink.  As our children know all too well, Mark can get carried away with his comments in this situation.  At the end of the  evening, the waiters passed out postcards of Melbourne.  Mark fanned out the postcards as if in serious contemplation and asked Tim :  "Do you have any Queens."  Tim answered readily, "I am one.  What would you do with me if you got me."  The Canadians screamed "Go fish!" And Mark melted into the corner of his seat.  Tim loved it all and we could all hardly get off the tram we were laughing so hard.  The Chinese laughed along, but had no clue what was going on.  They obviously thought the Canadians were entranced  by them.  They kept flashing "V" for victory signs and trading pictures.  Now it is time for us to "go fish" for real.  We are up at 4 tomorrow morning to catch the plane to the Whitsunday Islands.

Melbourne morning...

Having woken up way too early, we descended to the lovely breakfast bar.  Our table overlooks the Yarra River in downtown Melbourne.  As the sun comes up, about 6:45, the town slowly comes alive. Blue lights shine off the footbridge as the commuter trains arrive and we relax into our lovely tea and coffee.  Melbourne claims to be the coffee capital of the world.  Vienna and Seattle, take notice!!  This is a lovely town.  I have already developed shin splints from walking many miles,  aargh.  Sustained by a variety of fresh fruits, omelet and pastries, we are off to swim and then walk some more!

Well damn! We got here early this morning after traveling for more than 30 hours. And look what we found! We found the 17th !  It wasn't lost afterall! Sadly, though, this means we actually lost the 16th instead ... so sad. We have spent today recovering from the long flight by eating our way through speciality doughnuts  (creme brulee stuffing with caramel topping, chocolate cake with candied hazlenuts), wonderful mussels (in a cream, coconut, tomato and chili broth), and the speciality coffees of Melbourne.  Mark is now swimming at the pool before working out and I will be getting a massage in a short time to loosen up my stiff muscles - perhaps I will find the 16th after that massage. I now at least we will find ascrumptious dinner.  Melbourne is very similar to SF, PDX and Seattle with numerous restaurants, cosmopolitan speakers and bicyclists and activities everywhere.  Spent some time at the huge city market.  We do always love those....We will be spending the day at the botanical gardens tomorrow and then will be flying on to the Whitsunday Islands.  I expect we will find a fish or two there, perhaps the 16th also.

Ozzie Fish !!!

Still in search of fish, fish, and more fish, we are about to head off to the lower ... what?!  Australia is lower, or something!  We leave May 15, fly about 20 hours and arrive May 18.  Wait a minute!  What happened?  We lost a day!  Where did 17 go???  Damn!  I had plans for that day!  Can we handle a trip this long?  Kayaking on the reef for 4-6 days, camping in the whoop-whoop?  Sydney Harbor, Melbourne?  Whitsunday Islands?  No worries, she'll be apples!  Watch this space if you're bored and in need of something to put you to sleep!

Happy Happy Christmas - 2015

Happy Holidays dear friends! As each year draws to a close, we feel even luckier, at peace in our home, and more blessed with our friends and our lives. Thank you for being out there! We will need it when the s_ _ _ hits the fan!

Peace, hmmm. Of course, we ain’t talkin politics here – nothing peaceful there. As usual next year, we will leave the country in October in order to avoid the hateful thing we call election hoo hah, or words to that effect. But gee, it seems to already be happening. How can that be???!!! We may have to leave sooner rather than later, and stay longer this upcoming year! Fortunately, we may have more time for that.

 Mark is just dropping down to practicing 2 days weekly and I am down to 2-3 days a week. Mark is not winding down his practice, but is certainly winding down his involvement in it. My firm is merging with another firm and the two “oldsters” (me and the other firm’s major domo) will be phasing out slowly over the next 2-3 years. Life is good…now, where is that travel money coming from? Hmmmm, must find cheaper way to do that! I know, says Mark, let’s buy a rig! A what?! A travel trailer?! Yuck, no, I don’t want to be one of those old couples arguing our way down the road says Kathie. But wait, says Mark, I have an idea. So, picked that idea up in Boise last month and spent 3 days wine tasting in Wala Walla. That I can get used to. Small, though, not one of those big things…and lots cheaper than airline flights to somewhere else! License is “On Paws.” Nuff said. Woof. The dogs think it is their new dog house…about the right fit for them. If we don’t take up too much of the bed!!

T@B crazy

It's our kennel, what do you mean you want in???

 As before, we have continued to enjoy our new home (now almost 4 years in!) immensely. (Why do we want to leave in a tiny trailer!!?) From the annual Easter duck races in the stream,

Duck races - an annual event since we moved here

All 8, but coop is hidden behind Gracie!

to grandkids overnight, to office or other parties, to dogs running everywhere, to kayaking daily, it is awesome. After adding on an apartment last year, just for fun, it got taken advantage of by Jake and Kim. They moved in for 6 months while building a new house. The apartment was a bit small for 5 people and a dog, but it worked out well for us as we got to spend lots of time with them all. Gunner our 9 yr old setter was a bit grumpy with the 1 yr old Golden retriever, but all went well once he got fixed….

Golden treasure at the end of the rainbow

Wild Waves for Gracie's birthday, the cousins take a ride!

The heirs....2015

Jake’s practice is going well, leaving time for training (more on that later). Kim sold her businesses but still is busy all day every day. and the kids are all doing well in school! Mason is a sports freak and can quote every game statistic and draw all their logos. Kale is a sweet strong, very deep little 6 year old. His thoughts keep us guessing. Paige is becoming quite a character at almost 2 – and strong willed. They just got a new dog to join Kula, the golden - Yet another English Setter. 7 months old, smart as can be and a nose that tracks down every morsel of food left high or low. His current name is Noah, sounds close to “No” so he hears it a lot. That may change (name or the yelling??)! What more can we say? We have successfully passed our insanity on to our kids.

Mason Paige Kim and Kale

Jake and boys finishing the triathlon

Kale  and Soccer

Kale gets to drive the boat

Paige and Gunner

Paige

Jake Kim and family flying high

Waiting for the Tour de France to pass

Looking for whales at our house

 Ian and Candace have settled into Puyallup well (about 3 blocks from Liesl). Ian is enjoying his new law firm very much and we hear his voice emanating out of the TV once in a while. Weird. Candace has created a lovely yard and garden area and works hard with the kids to enhance their school experiences. She is enjoying being home and not practicing law and has also begun painting with acrylics...budding artistry!  Aidan is into soccer, Donovan into art, and Nya is lost with the fairy princesses somewhere. They all took part in a wedding this summer, hence the fancy pictures! They also have a new puppy, a golden doodle whose name is, I believe, Remy(sp?) Disney rules!

Aidan and soccer

First day of school for Aidan and Donovan

The Ian and Candace family dressed in wedding duds for Candace's brothers wedding

 Liesl and Nate have had a bit of a change this year. Liesl’s practice is still busy and crowded 2 days each week in Oly, but Nathan has left Starbucks. He is now with Amazon in Seattle, working as a lead person in compliance with regulatory issues for products going in to Canada. I am sure I have that wrong, somehow, it is a new job and I haven’t got the patter down yet! He still rides the train into Seattle and he and Ian get a chance to talk more regularly as they wake up on the train! Cooper is a true lego maniac. He can build just about anything and is way beyond the 6 yr old recommended levels. Grace is beginning to get excited about school next year now that Coop in in Kindergarden. She doesn’t much like being left behind. Their lovely bloodhound Burger died this year so they got Lacie another dog to keep her busy…a Puyallup street rescue dog…shepherd, lab, husky? Who knows! Sherman is a sweet, not so little, terror!

Overlooking Goult in Provence

Staying cool in the Rhone river

Classic Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Gracie flies in the water or on land

Legoland exhaustees

A quiet evening with wine

Gracie and Coop loved the medieval!

The night watchman!!!

Desperately seeking Pisces (What, you expected Susan?) - 2015

Now, on to us. As you know, we are always kayaking and looking for snorkel spots. After kayaking in Greece in 2013, and then Dalmatia in 2014, and seeing no fish whatsoever, I got frustrated and planned a kayak snorkel trip to the Caribbean to celebrate Mark’s 66th. Surely the Caribbean wouldn’t be as warm and salty as the Mediterranean and would have fish! We headed down there through Puerto Rico for a short stay. Didn’t kayak or swim in PR but truly enjoyed our time on the beach and touring the old forts. So much history we hadn’t remembered from our schooling. Gee, did they ever touch on the battles that took place there or did we learn it all from Pirates of the Caribbean? Either way, lots of fun. From Puerto Rico we took a short hop in a SMALL plane to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands.

 We stayed in an expensive hole (note that is not a misspelling of hotel) …sadly, lots of the island was that way. The island has shut down their refineries and other main jobs for the locals, so there is extensive unemployment, an increase in crime, and a sad loss of dignity for many. Of course, as the crime rate went up, the tour boats stopped coming. A beautiful struggling place. I can attest the fruit flavored rum made there is top notch, though.

 Buck Island off the NW shore is supposed to be some of the best in the world for snorkeling, but the coral was almost all dead and there were few fish…My oh my. Off we flew to St. Thomas, jumped in a car and caught a ferry to St. John. This island is quite prosperous with few big hotels, lots of little ones and beautiful beaches (and sun!!) and restaurants, but still few fish and not a lot of healthy coral. In search of more fish, we took a long day trip tour to the British Virgin Islands…more fish…more rum. Most ports we went into were too small for the boat to dock so we simply jumped ship, swam into shore and ate or drank our way through the visit before swimming back.

St. Thomas

Jumbies on St Croix at a jump-up

Lunch on shore, sort of, our boat in back

Lovely beaches on St. John

 The most interesting (challenging?) spot was the “Soggy Dollar” bar on Jost Van Dyke island. No credit cards…they simply set up the glasses, poured 20 mixed drinks at a time and collect the dollars. Apt name! Getting back to the boat was a hoot. One of the locals was making quite a profit picking up drunk visitors, flopping them into his zodiac like dead whales, steering out to the moored boats and shoving them, hands deep into buttocks, till they kerflumped (onomatopoeia) back in to their yachts. Like landing 300 pound flounders. Fortunately, we were classy, we had stairs out of the water. After our lovely time on St. John and the BVI, we took the last few days at St. Thomas. The USVI are lovely (and sometimes expensive) places to visit. I expect we will go back, but no fish or coral to speak of. There is a rumor that if you go further SE along the island chain .....

Summer in Europe with Family - 2015

The other major trip of the year was a visit to Germany and France with Jake and Kim’s family and Liesl and Nate’s group. We landed in Munich to pick up Mark’s new car at the Audi factory,
 then spent a night at Legoland amusement park with the kids before heading to Roth Germany where Jake was running the world famous ROTH Challenge Triathlon. The heat was miserable, about 100 degrees much of the day. He finished the total 140.6 miles (combined 2.4 mile swim, 112 bike ride and a marathon (26.2)) in just a little over 10 hours…quite a successful run!

Then we all took off for Provence to recover. We had a house that slept us all plus Mark’s (and Jake’s) partner Shauna Richert with her family. The high heat continued so most afternoons were spent in the pool, in a river close by, or in the Mediterranean.

 Even got to the point where all the kids would climb into the bathtub to cool off!















Jake and Kim also spent some time in Barcelona before the trip and a North Sea Disney cruise after. Liesl and Nate spent time in Paris after. We headed for a tour of NE France and Belgium WWI battlefields, ending with 3 days in Bruges.

 Wonderful break! Sadly, Ian’s family couldn’t make it as the family was taking part in Candace’s brother’s wedding! Next time!

French towns and men

Wine

Pool time

Who can jump the highest?!

Roughhousing while waiting for jake to finish!