Grandsons

They are Gods reward for Motherhood. I have 2 of the sweetest grandsons. Well most of the time they are the sweetest....lol. But then I can just give them back to their Mother....My youngest grandson, Joseph will be 4 tomorrow. Can't believe how fast time has gone by. He asked me to make him a Dinosaur quilt. So of course Grandma will make one... I have the quilt top done and layered for the dreaded quilting part. I also did a couple of applique dinosaur wall hangings. One of the wall hangings is finished. The other one is ready for machine quilting. So of course my tension is off on the machine and I'm having a really lousy time trying to quilt this.Today is his birthday party and I only have one
walling hanging done. Well I guess it will have to do.

Here we are in Mykonos OMG this place is so beautiful






I couldn't resist taking this shot. Read the name of the store.....But I have the real Prince.....LOL




These are just few of the pictures of Mykonos

Mykonos, Greece & Kuasdasi, Turkey

I know I should have posted sooner. I have been working hard on making a video from all the pictures I have taken. I didn't know that I even had this program in my computer until this cruise. Well, I just can't pick any music to go with my pictures. They have to go with the scenes. So although there are times that I get frustrated, and I start yelling at the computer, I am having a good time with it. I'm bent on getting it right. Anyway, here is the next installment. Not very long. I believe, in this case, the Greek Islands, the pictures say it all.


June 4, 2009

Today we are in beautiful Mykonos. Just a little bit of Paradise. Here is a place where it would be so easy to let time slip away. We took a bus from the port into town and just wandered around and had lunch at Nikos Restaurant. It was a totally relaxing day. This is one place I would return to in a heartbeat.







June 5, 2009

Kuasdasi, Turkey – I made arrangements for a private tour of the Ancient city of Ephesus. So at 7:45am we were off the ship and meet up with our guide at 8am. We had a brand new 12 seat air conditioned Van. So we were very comfortable. Bekir, our guide, spoke excellent English and gave a very interesting tour of Ephesus, Celsus Library, the Temple of Hadrian and the great theatre, where Paul preached to the Ephesians. Then we went to a school where we watch a young woman making a silk rug. She was following a chart that anyone who has done counted cross stitch or needlepoint would be familier with. I've used this type of chart myself, but with a ruler, so I would know where I was at. Not this woman. Using nothing to mark her progress, she was making a most beautiful rug. Anyway, everything was beautiful and very expensive. We didn't buy anything.......

Back to the ship for lunch, then I grabbed my laptop, and off to the local Starbucks for free wifi. Well, not free I did buy a cup of coffee.

Athens June 3, 2009

Athens is a very large and crowded city. I have nothing against old buildings, but these were 20^th century old dirty buildings. With absolutely no charm. All we got to see was from the port to the metro station and from the metro to the Acropolis. We had a hard time trying to read the signs and finding the metro so we could get to the Parthenon. We got there eventually after we asked about a dozen different people, including the police. I should have done more research but I had assumed that Princess Cruises would give us more information on how to get around. I learned my lesson.. Cruise ships are only interested in selling their over priced tours. They really aren't into helping the independent traveler. We finally get to the Parthenon which was mobbed with tourists. So, what else is new?

It was a little disappointing. It's hard to get a sense of the history of a place when there is scaffolding all over the place. But I realize that it was necessary for the restoration of the buildings.The weather was very hot. I would recommend going earlier then June or in October, when the weather should be more comfortable.

And now for the most exciting part of our visit to Athens. As we were getting on the train going back to the port 3 young men surrounded my husband Tom, who was the last of us to get on the train. One guy was behind him and the other 2 were on each side hemming him in so he could not go forward. Since he is a retired cop he knew right away what was going on. As the one guy grab his wallet, he grabbed him and off the train they go. I go after him and jump in because I didn't want the guy getting away from Tom. Gail and Larry are behind me. Tom’s yelling “give me my wallet” The guys is trying to get away and I’m hanging on to his shirt. He's dragging me and I ripped his shirt. Larry had the second guy, yelling into to his camera Police Police. They think it’s a phone. The guy Tom had freaked and dropped the wallet. Tom kicked him in the a-s and we got their bags……I don’t think they expected us to fight. They saw what they thought was easy pickings. A couple of gray haired tourists with their wives, but we’re NYC breed and you just don’t mess with us…LOL…..All in all no one got hurt and that's the most important part of this experience.

I had posted this report on Trip Adviser and had gotten some interesting comments. Would I go back? I would like to. There are many fans of Athens and so I would have to believe that there is a lot more to see and do. And of course nicer sections of the city that I missed. I certainly would not judge a city by this one incident.

Captain's Night on the Crown Princess

Corfu & Katakolon, Greece

Corfu, June 1, 2009

Today we are in Corfu…Again we are tendered into the port. Except, everything was much faster, when compared to our trip into Dubrovnik. We walked into town (1 mile). Wandered through downtown and then finally found the Old Town which was very nice. We ate at a local restaurant (gyros – very good). The guys had the local beer (Mythos) which they enjoyed. The day was overcast. Temp. 73f.and humid. It rained for about 1 1/2 hr while we were in the restaurant. That was the only rain we had for the entire trip. We walked around some more. Looked at all the beautiful jewelry, and let me tell you, there were some really gorgeous gold jewelry. I didn’t buy any, but I did get a pair of sneakers. I had forgotten to bring mine. Oh and what a relief it was to put my poor achy footsie into my new sneakers. Ladies let me tell you “ Fashion stops at the ankles”. When on vacation nobody is going to notice what kind of shoes you're wearing, and if they do who cares. You'll never see them again…LOL

Then it was back to the ship at 4:15..

Tonight we had a lovely dinner in the DaVinci Restaurant. Enjoyed one of the bottles of red wine that Gail had arranged to get for us. None of us are real drinkers so the one bottle was enough. Jim had his usual beer.

After the dinner we went to the theater and saw "The Reader". Starring Kate Winslet. Excellent movie. I can see why she won the Oscar.

Katakolon June 2, 2009

I had originally thought we would take the train to Olympia. But that didn’t work out. There aren’t that many trains running from the port. 2 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. We just didn’t want to take a chance on missing our ship. I can just see us at the port waving good bye to our ship….no, no, no. Not a good idea. So we just walked around for a couple hours and then went back to the ship for lunch and a little relaxation. I went to a computer talk on photoshop element 6. Most of it I already new but I did get a couple of tips. Tonight is Captains night. There were 2 really dress up nights on a cruise and this was the first one. So everyone gets gussyed up. And at 7:30 went midship for champagne & photos. They take a hold bunch of posed shots and you hope they come out half way decent. This is the first time I bought one of the pictures. Usually they are so awful and want to cry. "Do I really look that bad" If so where's the oven I want to stick my head inside...LOL So I was happy to finally get a picture that wasn't half bad. A nice group picture to remember our time together.

After dinner we changed and went to see another movie "Taken" with Liam Neeson. Instead of the theater it was under the stars. Predicable but a fun action movie. They give you blankets and popcorn, what more can you ask for.