After two weeks on board the Nieuw Statendam, Tom and I have settled into a routine, at least on our “at sea” days.  When my left leg wasn’t working, we got in the habit of going to breakfast together.  This requires me to wait a little while for breakfast and for Tom to get up …

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Before we left, lots of people asked me what you do on a ship for 10 days of a sea crossing.  Not to worry – the Nieuw Statendam has plenty of programs all day long.  In fact, I’ve had a hard time finding time to write the blog during our sea days because we have …

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Our first port of call was King’s Wharf, Bermuda, on the third day of our cruise.  Tom and I had never been to Bermuda before and were looking forward to exploring.  Unfortunately, the morning we were supposed to go into Bermuda, my knee gave out.  It felt very similar to when I tore my ACL.  …

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Tom and I boarded our ship, Nieuw Statendam, on Sunday.  After all the preparation, the planning, the paying off of the trip, we were super excited that the day had finally arrived.  Our four month adventure to Europe begins! Everything went very smoothly on Sunday.  Holland America makes the boarding process a breeze.  Although our …

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Tom and I are now away on our long trip.  I write the blog a week ahead of when I publish it, so we are in Florida, only a couple of days away from getting on the ship.  We used the month of March to get ready, so I thought I would let you know …

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Tom and I have been busy catching up on the home front.  We got back from Georgia at the end of February.  Although Ohio has had a very mild winter, we got back on a day with rain, wind, snow, and rapidly dropping temperatures.  As soon as we got the car unloaded from the dolly, …

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Tom and I have had an abundance of guests visiting us here in Georgia.  It is a great blessing to have friends that care enough about us to come all this way to visit.  We have only been here six weeks but we have had four groups of friends come. The first were Sherry and …

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Every year Tom and I go into Nature Gifts to look at the cool things.  This year, for the first time, we bought something. I love this store because it has unique jewelry and decor items.  The jewelry is very sparkly, which always makes me think of Jackie.  The wall decor is bright and cheerful …

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The older I get, the more I value the friends I have and the more time I want to spend with them.  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in his poem “Youth and Age,” wrote “Friendship is a sheltering tree.”  I like that image for friendship, especially friendships that have endured over time.  An unknown author said, “Friends …

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How was your Christmas?  Mine was wonderful, although a little different than usual.  In fact, I had four Christmases in one week.  Usually I just stick to two, sometimes three.  Four might be a little much. The first of the four Christmases was on Sunday, December 24.  In the morning Tom and I attended Lewis …

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