Hey Man....It's Cayman!

The airport was quite and our plane took off on schedule....landing in Grand Cayman on time. We grabbed our bags and picked up our rent car before heading out to Compass Point on the East End. The staff greeted us warmly and told us they were waiting for us to arrive, showing us to our condo #102....WOW! The condo was.....great, fully furnished, a complete kitchen, Cable TV and even a jacuzzi tub. We unloaded the car, unpacked, stowed the groceries, and made ourselves at home. I ran over to the dive shop to register and check on my dive time for the next day. After a light supper, a hot shower, some time on the internet....we turned in.
Up early, I placed my dive gear outside the door for pickup...this is valet diving, they take care of all your stuff...you just show up, jump on the boat and go diving.
I was anxious to use my new 3 mil wetsuit that I finally purchased. With only 5 on the boat, we got in two dives very quickly...the water was warm and visibility was great. Dale was waiting when we docked and we quickly drove up the main road to the fried fish stand at the Blow Hole, the staff had told me the Mahi Mahi was really good. We enjoyed our lunch on a picnic table across the road from the Blow Hole while talking with other tourist on Cayman. Dale grilled for supper and then we watched the last rays of sunlight while sitting on the pier. Our first day on Grand Cayman came to relaxing end.
The week consisted of 12 great dives, 2 awesome night dives, lots of great weather and a first class dive operation. My deepest dive was 102 feet and the famous Cayman Wall was breathtaking. I saw sharks, rays, turtles, tarpon, lobster, crabs, barracuda and a beautiful reef system. The night dives were shallow and so easy, with hot chocolate, muffins and warm towels when we surfaced.
Dale and I were really impressed with everyone, so warm and friendly........made us feel right at home.
During the mornings while I was diving, Dale would walk and work out in the training pool. In the afternoon we went snorkeling, sightseeing, or made a run to the local grocery store. We enjoyed cooking almost all our meals at the condo and enjoying them on the patio overlooking the Caribbean.
Our final day, we enjoyed a late breakfast, finished packing and headed to the other end of the island for a final picnic lunch before checking in at the airport. It was a great end to a great week. Our flight home was on time and easy, no problems!

Atchetee Weekend

Friday morning we packed up and headed out to Magnolia for a "Atchetee Weekend" at Harlo and Rhonda's new home. We were the first to arrive, unpacked, and waited for Evon and Linda to arrive. Rhonda fixed a great supper, and we had lots of laughs sharing stories of these three brothers growing up in El Campo. Saturday morning after breakfast, the gals headed to town on a grocery shopping trip to pick up fajitas for dinner Saturday night. Harlo turned on the heater for the spa, we all piled in for a long soak....felt pretty darn good. We stayed in the jacuzzi so long, we all got a little to much sun...but had a great time. Dinner that night was a feast to say the least. Sunday Evon and Linda left after lunch for home, while we planned to stay another night. Sunday night we settled in the theater chairs in the media room and watched two movies....."Blind Side" and "Crazy Hearts"...one great and one not so great! Monday Dale and I packed up, said our good-byes and headed to Houston for his doctor visit.
It was a great weekend with the Atchetee brothers....so many laughs, so many stories, lots of good food......plus a beautiful new home to enjoy. Thanks Harlo and Rhonda!

Pollen Count

Grabbed my camera Sunday and went out to take a few more photos of the wildflowers out in the country. I think the flowers have peaked, and noticed some of them have begun to fade...it has been an amazing season this year. It was easy to see after a few macro shots why the pollen count is off the chart this year. Pollen, pollen everywhere!!

SandFest Sista's Weekend

Picked up my old high school friend, Karen and headed to Corpus Christi airport to pick up my friend, Pam that was flying in from Fort Worth for SandFest Sista's Weekend in Port Aransas. We stopped after crossing the JFK bridge for lunch at Snoopy's, a great meal sitting outside on the deck on a beautiful Spring day. We then drove over to Port Aransas, checked out our rental, made plans to rent a cart the next day and purchased 10 pounds of fresh Gulf shrimp....right off the boat. We drove down to the beach to watch the sand sculptors begin their works of art, plus take photos. Lanell and her friend, Brett drove down after they got off work to join our group. Dinner that evening was at Beach Station Street Bar and Grill.......more seafood!


Saturday was a beautiful,sunny, day and Karen fixed breakfast for all at our house. We then picked up "Miss Kitty" .....our pretty pink rental cart for the day. We drove down to SandFest, checked it all out, shopped at the vendors and enjoyed a big piece of cheesecake dipped in chocolate......OMG! We went back to our place for a light lunch on the porch before sitting out again to cruise around Port A in "Miss Kitty"....a real eye catcher. Stops were made at the jetties, the beach, the marina, and the birding center....a hunt for the local alligator proved futile. After a few great drinks, including the now famous "Thai Fresh" we prepared our Shrimp Fest.....boiled, fried, and grilled with some sides. Sitting around the table we enjoyed lots of laughs and some real funny stories.
Sunday morning I got up early and drove down to the beach for some photos while the rest of the group....slept in. Karen prepared "Amaretto French Toast" for breakfast, an original for sure! A final trip down to SandFest to check the sand sculptures out and pick our favorites. Lunch was boiled shrimp on the porch before packing up and heading home. Karen and I dropped Pam off at the airport for her flight and made our way back to Victoria after a great weekend.
We had lots of fun, lots of laughs and enjoyed lots of shrimp at our SandFest Sista's Weekend in Port Aransas. It was true "Estrogen Therapy"!!!!!

Springtime in Texas

"Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams

Grabbed my camera after lunch on Sunday and headed out to capture the local wildflowers in bloom. Heading down Hwy 87, I turned off on the Old Thomaston River Road and spotted some fields of flowers, lots of yellow and red blooms blanketed the countryside. Turning on FM 236 into Cuero I stopped several times to take some shots, even spotted a horse grazing in a field of bluebonnets.

Leaving Cuero I followed my map to the community of Cheapside, a old wooden church was surrounded by a huge field of red wildflowers and made a great photo opt. After returning to Cuero I decided to head to Yoakum and that it where I found an amazing field of bluebonnets on Alt. Hwy. 77. The whole pasture was covered with bluebonnets in full bloom, a breathtaking picture...blue skies and bluebonnets. On the way home on Hwy. 111 I found a big patch of yellow and red flowers and stopped again to take pictures.

I was anxious to get home and download my photos. It was a great trip hunting for wildflowers, even if the wind was howling and made macro photography impossible. After a terrible drought last summer I was pleasantly surprised to find lots of wildflowers along the roads and in the pastures.

New Knee

Well it is a little over a week now since Dale had total knee replacement on his right leg in Houston at Saint Luke's Hospital. The surgery went well, and all the staff at the hospital were wonderful. Dale loved having two pain pumps in the hospital, kept him happy!!!
It was an exhausting week and we were glad to get home.
Dale started physical therapy on Monday morning at Warm Springs in Victoria. They really work him out and he comes home tired. I guess getting the pain meds regulated has been our biggest obstacle, but hopefully we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The first few days were really a killer......lack of sleep, nausea, loss of appetite, and pain management were taking their toll on us. I found keeping up with the cooking, grocery shopping, washing clothes, driving Dale to PT, making runs to the drugstore for more pain meds a full time job. After a day of dishes stacking up on the counter...we even opted for paper plates.
I think things will get better quickly...hope so!!!! The other knee is in 6 - 8 weeks.....Maybe?

2nd Anniversary Cruise

We left for Galveston, ready to board Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas for a week long cruise to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. Shortly after lunch, we were on board enjoying lunch in the Windjammer Cafe. After lunch, we found our cabin #9601 and unpacked after the luggage arrived. We joined Vinny and Carolyn from New York in the Royal Suite for a Sail Away Party. It was great to stand on the balcony with a glass of wine as we left Galveston as the sun set over the bay.

Dinner that night was at Portofino's, an wonderful Italian Restaurant, the food and service were fantastic. They even prepared a surprise anniversary cake and sang "Happy Anniversary" to us. Dale surprised me a beautiful long stem red rose. We enjoyed the Welcome Aboard show before turning in.

The next morning we had a Meet and Mingle after breakfast with the group from Cruise Critic. Dale headed to the Solarium Pools and I took part in the Cabin Crawl, fun and lots of laughs.
We enjoyed a wonderful show by the Texas Tenors and even had a chance to talk with them in Grand Cayman. They became famous after appearing on "America's Got Talent".

Our first port was Cozumel, my dive trip was canceled because of rough seas, so we headed into town for lunch and margaritas. The next day, we made port in Grand Cayman and had a Stingray Sand Bar excursion planned. The wind was still blowing, but we made the trip, swam with the stingrays and Dale even got a Stingray "Hickie". Our final port, Jamaica was canceled because of gale force winds...so we had another sea day to kill.

We ate way too much, worked out in the gym, soaked in the hot tubs, got in some dancing and saw some good shows. On "Fat Tuesday" we watched a group put on a Mardi Gras parade down the Promenade, throwing beads to the crowd. We did get invited to a special Crown and Anchor Society lunch and enjoyed the company of the Hotel Manager, an interesting guy. The weather was kinda of funky, not much sun, lots of wind and a little cool. We met lots of interesting people from all over the world.

Our last night we decided to make reservations at Portofino's again and enjoyed another wonderful meal.....a fitting way to end the cruise. Our arrival in Galveston was delayed by heavy fog and we docked much later than expected, but since we only had a short drive it didn't make much difference.