Friday August 24th

I set the alarm for 6:15am so we'd have plenty of time to get some breakfast, finish our last minute packing and get out of the cabin so Tonny could ready it for the next passengers that would board later in the day.  When we got back from breakfast, he had already changed the bed configuration, but nicely left our towels so we could wash up, brush our teeth, etc after eating. We grabbed the last of our stuff, found Tonny & thanked him for his good service and back up to Deck 9 for awhile to soak in the sun, watching Seattle come awake and then we headed down to the Masquerade Theater (our assigned area to wait for the announcement to disembark)  We were given new tags for our bags, so we had to wait for Orange 3 to be called.  For those of you who haven't cruised, they let the passengers off the ship in order of their need. In other words, if you have an early flight out of Seattle...you get off first...since we were local we were just about the last group off the ship. Meanwhile, we visited with those around us while we waited.  Bob called his brother and let him know the approximate time we'd be ready for pickup. He was about 15 minutes away, so once we were off the ship, had gathered our luggage and were waiting out on the sidewalk, he was there in about 10 minutes. It was actually about 9:50am when they called our group. 

We were taken up to west Seattle, where we visited with Bob's brother's wife and their daughter, SIL and two little grand daughters who were visiting from New York, after loading all our stuff into my car.

Then it was off to the freeway for our 35 minute drive home.  My little kitty was very happy to see me and in the little over a week, I've been home...she still sticks pretty close to me.

I'm going to scan a few of the pictures taken by the ship's photographer and I'll post those in the days to come.  Meanwhile, it's been back to the real world.

We even attended a funeral this last Thursday.  The mother of Bob's oldest daughter was rushed to the Emergency Room on Tuesday August 21st (while we were gone) and she passed away the morning of August 27th.  Bob had just seen her and her husband a few weeks earlier at his daughter's house and she seemed fine.  Her passing was a shock to all of her family and friends.  Then two days later, the grandmother ( mother of his recently deceased ex wife) passed away. I understand they had a private service for her yesterday. This family has had their share of grief in the matter of a week.

Yesterday, we took a drive to Hoodsport (along the Hood Canal) to visit friends Ruth & George.  We had a fun day visiting with them and one of their grand daughter's and her precious little girl.

I've been busy listing on eBay, it's a "low or no listing fee" weekend.  I managed to get some things listed Friday evening but then we were gone all day yesterday, so I'll be back at it today.

I also want to go to JoAnne's Fabrics, as the have their "fat quarter's on sale for 99 cents this weekend.  I need some of those to go with the fabric I got in that Juneau quilt shop.

I talked with my son Saturday afternoon.  After work, we went to the Verizion store and got a new phone.  He'd also gone to see the manager of the apartments to see about getting a new screen in his window and to let her know about the break-in.   Once he got home, he discovered there was also about $30 cash missing that he had laying on his computer desk.  I just reminded him that I was so grateful that he wasn't harmed, the money & the cell phone are material things, that can be replaced.  I pray for each member of my family every night, that God will protect them and keep them safe.  This is another example of answered prayer.

Have a wonderful weekend...be safe and if you're out on the highways...watch out for those crazy Labor Day weekend drivers.         Linda