Never too old!

[3dogsrule]

Pat, come along on any of the cruises I've got planned and you and me will drink a toast in honor of all our babies at the Bridge.

 

You holding up okay tonight?

[yellowbird23]

Pat, come along on any of the cruises I've got planned and you and me will drink a toast in honor of all our babies at the Bridge.

 

You holding up okay tonight?

One toast for each or one for all of them? If all of them, they will have to carry me back to my cabin. I'm doing fine, but it's strange. She was our quiet dog. My husband is the one who Lita loved so much. He is crying all day long. Yesterday, she sat out in the yard looking for him to come home. She calmly laid her head on his shoulder and went to sleep.

[ThursdaysChild]

Pat, I am so, so very sorry to hear about Lita going to the Rainbow Bridge. My sincerest condolences!

[Mike981]

Sorry to hear that Pat.

[wishful thinking]

Blessings and kind thoughts coming your way.

[CAC104]

 

We are a little more wrinkled, a little more fluffier, and one of us is a whole lot grayer, but we are still going strong after 46 years. I still have the glasses we used at our wedding reception!

[yellowbird23]

 

We are a little more wrinkled, a little more fluffier, and one of us is a whole lot grayer, but we are still going strong after 46 years. I still have the glasses we used at our wedding reception!

Good for you. We're coming up on 38 years in July.

[jlb91454]

 

We are a little more wrinkled, a little more fluffier, and one of us is a whole lot grayer, but we are still going strong after 46 years. I still have the glasses we used at our wedding reception!

 

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! You don't get to hear about people still in love and going strong after 46 years much these days.

[Red State Sam]

My son and daughter-in-law just lost their beloved cat. Tracee had stayed home with her all day while she waited at the front door. Finally Hunter came home, picked her up and within minutes she had passed. Like Lita, it's like she waited until all of those she loved were with her for her last goodbye. I'm so glad she died peacefully and secure like your Lita. Our hearts break but be comforted by the knowledge that you were a wonderful caretaker for one of God's little creatures.

[yellowbird23]

My son and daughter-in-law just lost their beloved cat. Tracee had stayed home with her all day while she waited at the front door. Finally Hunter came home, picked her up and within minutes she had passed. Like Lita, it's like she waited until all of those she loved were with her for her last goodbye. I'm so glad she died peacefully and secure like your Lita. Our hearts break but be comforted by the knowledge that you were a wonderful caretaker for one of God's little creatures.

Beautiful acknowledgement Sam. Thanks so much. I told my husband not to move Lita's ball for a while in the back yard, to just mow around it. I was on the deck this morning as a white butterfly landed on the ball briefly and flew away. Sign?

[Swelldame]

Beautiful acknowledgement Sam. Thanks so much. I told my husband not to move Lita's ball for a while in the back yard, to just mow around it. I was on the deck this morning as a white butterfly landed on the ball briefly and flew away. Sign?

 

Yes, sign. :)

 

Keep smiling through the tears, and treasure the memories and love that will continue. xo

[bjbear]

Beautiful acknowledgement Sam. Thanks so much. I told my husband not to move Lita's ball for a while in the back yard, to just mow around it. I was on the deck this morning as a white butterfly landed on the ball briefly and flew away. Sign?

 

It truly is a beautiful acknowledgement. And yes, Pat, it's really, truly a sign from Lita to you and hubby, Beautiful!! :)

 

Sue

[yellowbird23]

It truly is a beautiful acknowledgement. And yes, Pat, it's really, truly a sign from Lita to you and hubby, Beautiful!! :)

 

Sue

The butterfly came back this afternoon, lighted on the ball and flew away again. I think Lita is definitely much better where she is.

[CAC104]

It is always so sad to lose a beloved pet. That butterfly on the ball sighting is very touching.

[3dogsrule]

When Shelby's cancer came back (and it did so visciously) my vet came out to my house to end his misery. After the vet left (he took Shelby with him to be cremated) I went out on the deck to cry. All of a sudden I saw a big beautiful butterfly, flying around the deck like he wanted me to see him. I called my girlfriend to tell her that the vet had come and Shelby was gone, and she told me that at about the same time Shelby passed she was in her backyard (this is my friend 300 miles away) and saw a butterfly so big and beautiful that it really caught her eye. Ever since then (3 years this month) whenever I see a butterfly I can't help but imagine it's Shelby's spirit stopping by to check on me and let me know he still loves me. So yes, Pat, it's definitely a sign, take comfort in it.

[yellowbird23]

When Shelby's cancer came back (and it did so visciously) my vet came out to my house to end his misery. After the vet left (he took Shelby with him to be cremated) I went out on the deck to cry. All of a sudden I saw a big beautiful butterfly, flying around the deck like he wanted me to see him. I called my girlfriend to tell her that the vet had come and Shelby was gone, and she told me that at about the same time Shelby passed she was in her backyard (this is my friend 300 miles away) and saw a butterfly so big and beautiful that it really caught her eye. Ever since then (3 years this month) whenever I see a butterfly I can't help but imagine it's Shelby's spirit stopping by to check on me and let me know he still loves me. So yes, Pat, it's definitely a sign, take comfort in it.

Awe, how beautiful! My Lila was a white llasa and the butterfly was white as well. The two yorkies who are still here are lost and don't know what is going on.

[bjbear]

I believe it - white dog, white butterfly, it's Lita giving you and DH butterfly kisses!

 

Bless You, Sue

[yellowbird23]

I'm hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend and thank you all for your support for me this week. Much appreciated.

[Stella777]

I just can't wait for the next installment of Egon's travel's.I am hoping that all is well and that he is looking for a place to hook up to free wifi so he can post what is going on in his world for all of us who care about what he is doing. That's what we are here for right?:D

[PartyOfOne]

#33: June 3-June 28 2012

 

 

At the Restaurant table I am greeted by two Swiss and one Belgian couples and of course we had the champagne and strawberries. The ship seems teeming with Germans but I'll try to get a list of nationalities on board, also so that when I play the piano, I can cater to some of their tastes.

 

 

June 4, Gala night, martini night! The general cocktail hour from 5.30 to 6.30 takes place in all the lounges and after a most successful piano play, a shower and change, I am scooting around, a martini in hand and finally settle somewhere. The places are crowded - after all there are more than 2.500 people on board!, but where I find a seat, there is a couple from Italy who get up to dance and I much admire their ballroom dance style and tell them so when they come back to where we sit - most people haven't got a clue how to dance. Martinis keep flowing, but eventually time is up and I find myself alone with my fourth martini, everyone has gone to eat or to sleep it off. But wait - close to me sits a gorgeous young woman alone - practically the only person left at this point und what the hell, with the fourth martini I muster up the courage to saunter over and talk to her, since I guess that she is a lonely as I am. She probably is, for she welcomes me and we have a very pleasant half hour together. She is Ira, Russian, but lives in Italy with her physician boyfriend who is not feeling well tonight and stayed in his cabin. Wish I could seduce her. No chance. She gets more desireable as time goes on. Oh what the hell, I'm pipe dreaming. We kiss as we part.

 

 

June 5, Bergen: cold and it rains. And, speaking of cold, I seem to have developed one as I have been caughing all night and am all congested. Nevertheless, I dress as warm as possible and with the somewhat unwieldy plastic raincape covering me as well as much of the scooter, set out on a pretty long but well remembered drive which ends 10 Minutes before opening in front of McDonald's door. Bless McD! If it weren't for the awful and loud music blaring all the time it would be perfect. But beggars can't be chosers and since I use their facilities and WiFi and seldom even buy anything, I am grateful. Among emails received is one from Erik Larsen from the Newspaper who made the big splash about me last year; since we had kept in touch, he knew that I was in town and would like to see me (as I him). I send him an email and tell him where I am and he appears 10 Minutes later, lugging around his huge and fancy cameras. So it's another interview and photo session and eventually I hope to be able to attach some of his work to a report. Meantime, here is a photo of him.

 

 

At the Dining Room table there now are 3 wiss couples and I. And coming back from Dinner, I met another Swiss couple in the elevator. Tomorrow I'll find out how many of them are on board.

 

 

June 6: There are 172 Swiss on board. Predictably Germans with 960 are dominant and swelled by 139 Austrians; next 339 Danes, 227 Italians, Australia 117 and French 116 - a Total of 2321 passengers of 31 nationalities. It was a seaday, I played again and now always find the grand piano not only open but with its big leaf up as well - I think it is the lady who plays it often that does this for me, as she seems to admire my playing as much as I do hers which is actually with a solid conversatory training and thus technically superior to mine. Maybe it's the fact that I play everything by ear that she envies, while she is tied to the printed Musik .

 

 

June 7: Tromso: Against my better judgement because of the cold that I have, I venture out and take the shuttle bus into town. But It's a cold day and it rains and I get wet before I manage to don the unwieldy raincover. On the hills surrounding the city is snow. We'll be still going much further North into the Arctic. Anyway, I am happy to find the library, which is a prominent large and modern building in the middle of town and there I roost, dry out in comfort and warmth and WiFi. It is sort of a community center as well; there are lots of local people reading newspapers from all over Europe; large groups of children come and have something going on at the floor below. A very impressive place. Got back to the ship at 2pm. - I still have not heard from the purser about the laundry, despite the fact that I twice sent a request for him to call me - I really find this scandalous. Tomorrow I'll definitely insist on seeing him.

 

 

June 9: At breakfast, a young lady came to me whom, after we talked for a moment, I recognized as being Melanie, the wife of the hotel manager Angelo whom I had gotten to know at a captain's dinner on Poesia. She is here alone, because Angelo is on Opera, onto which ship she and I will move on the 28th at Stavanger. Anyway, she heard me play again yesterday and asked me whether I could provide some music today at 10 o'clock, when a Danish couple will be married by the ship's chaplain in the atrium. Of course I agreed and then made a little list of suitable love songs, changed into gala and went down where the atrium, the hotel's foyer, was festooned with balloons and the carpets strewn with rose petals. I was introduced to the not so young groom and went up to the piano -to find it locked. They came with some keys which didn't seem to work. Then they got the key Iryna uses to open it and couldn't. She finally came herself and opened it with the same key, but exerting much force to turn the lock which no one dared to do lest the key would break! Of course I took some pictures, but unfortunately had forgotten to turn the camera's "macro" setting off which I had used for a closeup of Melanie this morning and so the photographs are not clear. Anyway, I played bits of "Here comes the bride" and the Wedding March at the appropriate times, songs like "Love Story", "Love me tender" etc. after the ceremony while they and the families where having champagne and wedding cake, both of which was also presented to me. Melanie wrote a charming note of thanks.

 

 

On the way to Alesund, as far North as you can go (only 1000 Miles South of the North Pole), we pass Spitzbergen and Magdalenefjord - a stunning arctic landscape with rugged snow covered mountains and glaciers. We are blessed with bright sunshine which warms us out of the wind despite a temperature close to freezing. In Alesund we are tendered ashore to the small settlement which has the northernmost postoffice in the world and is mostly a large research station with some 30 houses. Because of my cold, I opt out of going ashore and take a few pictures and a panorama video from the open deck 7.

 

 

In the afternoon I went to the Medical Center and came back with cough syrup, antibiotica and a bill for 54 Euro. Let's hope for the Best.

 

 

Erik Larsen June 5 2012

 

 

 

June 7 2012 Tromso

 

 

(More pictures to follow)

--

 

http://home.cablerocket.com/~egon/index.htm

[PartyOfOne]

Wedding June 9 2012

 

 

Magdalenefjord (2)

 

 

Magdalenefjord (4)

 

 

Magdalenefjord (5)

 

 

Alesund research Station

 

 

Alesund (2)

[bjbear]

Wow, those are great pictures, and happy to know he is sailing along again!:D I have so much admiration (and envy) for him, what a guy. I just wish there was something that could be done about his poor treatment from MSC. I know that's subjective but he's been on there for over a year and spent God knows how much and they can't give him free laundry!! :rolleyes: HAL or Celebrity would have given it to him after so many days along with a lot of other perks. I just hate to see a cruise line take advantage of someone, particularly when he has/can generate so much great free publicity for them. Shame on them! :mad:

 

Ok, I'm done with my rant. Pat, I hope you had a nice weekend and found a little peace.

 

Sue

[3dogsrule]

I agree with you Sue, they could really partner with Egon and form a mutually beneficial deal. It sounds as though the people enjoy Egon's (free) piano playing, and he's a good walking advertisement on the ship, not to mention the online attention he's bringing to the line (I hadn't even heard of MSC before I read about Egon!). I would think a little free laundry and maybe even an hour of internet a week wouldn't hurt their bottom line.

 

Okay, anyway, it's good to get the next installment, I sure hope Egon starts feeling better soon. His little "colds" and cuts/scrapes scare me.

 

Pat, been thinking about you all weekend, hope you and your husband are doing okay.

[yellowbird23]

Thanks Karen and Sue. Really missing our Lita this weekend.

[yellowbird23]

Feeling somewhat better. Lita is finally home again, although not the way we wanted.