December 18, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Maggie, Finn, and I are off to Australia to meet Travis in Sydney. After a few days in Sydney we will board our cruise ship for a 14-day trip around New Zealand's two islands. We will be aboard for Christmas and New Year's and are all looking forward to being together and the cruise fun.

Next we will travel to Perth, where Maggie and Travis have established their current home. I imagine that will be the next place I will be posting news and pictures---so Happy, Happy Holidays and love from Penny.

Greetings from Pennsylvania!!!!

Hello from York, Pennsylvania! I am so happy to be here visiting Suzie and James and my month-old grand-daughter, Audrey Grace! This picture shows one of AG's favorite activities--sleeping on her mom's shoulder!

Her dad is also very good at discussing the affairs of life and the world with her. Note how carefully she listens to his wise counsel!

She also enjoys her favorite mittens---hand-me-downs that were made in 1975 for Uncle Travis by my cousin, Arlene Helling, from North Dakota. She seems to live the big flappy "paws" the mittens create!

Here she is back on her mom's shoulder! Sleep is soon to come...

Sleeping in the Heskin family heirloom cradle. Audrey is the 11th child to sleep in this special cradle that two generations of Heskin babies have enjoyed. She is a lovely baby and is a

wonderful addition to our family. Thanks, Suzie and James!

Over the Bounding Main---With All the Cars!

Little did we know that "the bounding main" is a very real thing when you are in the North Atlantic on a flat-bottomed car transport freighter! We bounded, rolled, tilted, thumped, crashed, ande creaked our way from southern England to the far eastern reaches of the Mediterranean and back. We also glided quietly along in the lovely sunshine all of which offered a great deal of variety and adventure to our 36 nights at sea on the Grande Europa.

The following pictures were planned to be in a somewhat orderly arrangement, but you are going to have a bonus as there are two that sneaked in--????

Our "cabina" (remember, we were on an Italian ship!) had cozy bunks (my bottom bunk even had the Virgin Mary on the wall over my head!) It was about 10 X 14 feet, including our nice little bathroom. There was a wall of hooks for hanging coats and hats, one chair, and reading lights over each bed. (I wonder why we think we have to have such large bedrooms in our houses?)

and adequate storeage for our clothing and other effects. It should be noted that the dresser drawers and closet doors locked for our convenience. The first night of rough water we did not know what that convenience was---the drawers and doors took turns banging most of the night. The next night we were smarter! There was also a pull-out shelf for writing. Note also the bar across the front of the bookshelf to keep things in place during the rocking and rolling It worked!

Here is the Grande Europa of the Grimaldi Line, of Naples, Italy. (It's actually the large yellow and white ship in the background---not the skiff in the foreground. I'll bet you wondered!)

The ship was 588 feet long, rather like a large floating parking garage. It had eleven levels with all the living quarters on level ten in the front of the ship.

Here is my travel mate, Ruth Ann, walking across the ramp at the stern to get back into the ship. The entire ramp lifted up, hydraulically, to close for sailing---the ramp weighs 150 tons!

The ship is built to carry 2500 vehicles or more, depending on size. To a couple of mountain ladies, it was BIG!!!!

Picture #1 that sneaked in---a street in Setubal, Portugal. Note the lovely mosaic pavement, all made from local marble. This is where we fell in love with Portuguese Muscatel wine. Try some! We were only there in the morning so we started drinking it at about 9:30!

This was the bathroom in our cabin. At the left, with the stars and fish pattern, is the shower curtain as there was a tiny little shower in the corner. It worked quite nicely, however. I did wonder how Travis would ever be able to use it but the Italians are rather short! Note the handle on the wall over the sink (right hand side)---we laughed about that at first but it came in handy when the water got exciting!

Another "extra"---this was a Rumanian deck hand who tied down all the cars on the decks. We thought that would be an exhausting job. He had a tie-down that hooked into the wheel and then hooked to a loop on the deck. All four wheels were tied. Imagine if the ship was full of 2500 cars---that would be 10,000 wheels to tie!

Here is our life-boat, hiding behind two cars. It was made to lower by cable to the sea, 10 floors below. However, the Bulgarian officer told us that if it wouldn't lower properly, it would have to be dropped and then rope ladders hung off the side for descent. No thanks!

This vision is me in my hard hat and life jacket, complete with reflective tape. I am holding my blinking light and my whistle and hanging off to the side was the bag containing my heavy neoprene immersion suit. In case of an abandon ship alarm we were to show up at our muster station in our suit, wearing our lifejacket and hardhat as well. I am not sure I could have walked with all that on! I did try on the immersion suit at one of our drills---I could hardly move once it was on let alone climb stairs or down the ladder into the life boat!

This photo was taken off the top deck of the ship in the huge container port at Ismir, Turkey. The containers were stacked with "streets" sectioning them. I'm not sure how you'd ever find a missing container!

Limassol, Cyprus:

Ruth Ann and I visited a Medieval Castle which was remodeled by the Ottoman Turks. It was where Richard the Lion-Hearted rescued and married his fiance'; the locals still have a big blowout every year to celebrate!

Yes, that is me all bundled up to be on deck on a sunny day as we sailed past the Rock of Gibraltar! I remembered studying about it in 5th grade geography and you would not believe how many pictures I have!!! (The rock is off to the right behind me!)

Several people have asked about the ship's water. The Europa had her own desalinization system but the water was still quite salty. We did not notice it when we drank it but soon we discovered we were developing little bags of water around our ankles---so then we drank bottled water. Here are the deckhands lifting a pallet of bottled water on to the ship. All our food was brought on this same way from the dock below.

Lunch on my birthday started with this fantastic antipasto spread. On the left was octopus salad which was absolutely wonderful!!!! Our food was quite wonderful and much too plentiful. After all, we were eating like sailors!

The morning of my birthday was spent sailing past Gibraltar. The afternoon was spent in the sunshine on the deck---knitting, reading and snoozing. What a great way to be 66!!!

Most of our 37 days at sea ended with a glorious sunset like this one. What an interesting, informative trip we had. Freighter travel is not for everyone but it was a huge success as far as Ruth Ann and I were concerned. Come visit me and see the rest of the 300 photos I took!

Home Again!!

November 26, 2008

Home in beautiful Silverton after 49 days---36 at sea and the rest in England. It was a delightful journey and we did a lot of learning about what is out there!

BIGGEST NEWS: Audrey Grace Heskin arrived on election day! There is a link on this blog to the Heskin Family Cradle, another blog, which has Suzie's details about the dear little munchkin's arrival. I am one happy Grammie---a grand-daughter and a grandson!

December 3rd will find me winging my way to Pennsylvania to meet Audrey and hug Suzie and James---I can hardly wait! Home again December 11th to get ready to travel to New Zealand and Australia where I will spend the holidays cruising around New Zealand with Finn, Maggie and Travis. After the cruise we will go to their home in Perth. I will be there until time to take the train and work my way back across Australia to catch a plane home from Sydney Feb. 12.

Happy holidays to anyone who reads this! I am expecting to post photos from the recent freighter trip---thought you might like a few views for your enjoyment!

Sailing the High Seas on The Grande Europa!!

Adventures come in many sizes and shapes---here is the vehicle much of my next "lark" will take place upon, and I am expecting to have many "yarns!" Read on...

"Yo ho ho! Fifteen men and a bottle of rum!" Not sure about the rum but we're off to sail the bounding main, leaving September 28th!!! My great travel companion, from here in Silverton, Ruth Ann, and I are excited to be setting forth on a freighter trip which will take us from southern England on a lap around the Mediterranean, back to England and then to Ireland and the west coast of Europe. We will be aboard approximately thirty five days and will be calling in at ports in eleven countries! What an adventure for a couple of mountain ladies!

Here we are in Greece on a ferry, summer of 2006, headed to the little island of Lipsi. Now we are off to do some more "boating", but on a larger scale.

Above are my attempts at scanning items and getting them onto this blog---I need Maggie to give me some lessons! Anyway, you can get an idea of our route (map of Europe) and the general appearance of the Grande Europa, an Italian car transport freighter.

If you would like to receive an occasional e-mail, when we find an internet cafe', let me know!

Meanwhile, our motto is from Voltaire's "Candide" : "If we do not find anything pleasant, at least we will find something new." And, no, we are not working on the ship! No deck swabbing or painting---return here for new posts in mid-November when I return home!

Quilting for "Baby Heskin"

There is great joy in our family! James and Suzie are expecting "Baby Heskin" in early November!! Babies bring such happiness and hopes for the future!!!





It seemed appropriate for me to make a special quilt for this welcome child. Knowing Suzie's fondness for things African (thanks to the time she spent there as a high school senior), and because the Heskins have opted to NOT learn the gender of their offspring until its birth, I selected an African theme. After all, don't all children love monkeys and elephants?

What fun I had making the animals come to life! The elephant has a floppy ear, the snake has a bright red tongue, the zebra is so geometrically busy he is hard to look at very long!, and the smiling hippo is guaranteed to make a child smile!
Giraffes wandering through the grass....
The King of the Beasts lounging on the grass...
The s-s-s-sneaky s-s-s-snake s-s-s-slithering s-s-s-s-ilently along...
The zany zebra contemplates the monkey's tail...

On August 28th I am off to Pennsylvania for a visit with Suzie and James. While there I have been scheduled to do some sewing for the nursery to go with the lovely new cherry baby furniture. Lucky me!!! I am liking this "grammie" thing---

Stay tuned---nursery pictures may turn up next!!!

Fly Fishing on the Rio Grande

One of my new great joys is learning to fly fish!!! My long-time friend, Lyndon Skinner, has been patiently teaching me how to "think like a fish" and "read the stream" as well as how to make that silly little fly land where I think there might be a hungry fish. No day has ever gone by as quickly as a day fly-fishing in our beautiful wilderness. I even catch a fish every now and then!

Last week we set forth early in the morning for the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, which just happen to be over the pass, right here in our own county. We stopped at the top of Stony Pass, which grants a glorious view of the sunrise, a bank of last winter's snow, and the endless mountain ranges of the Weminuche Wilderness.
Traveling down the pass we were soon on the very upper reaches of the Rio Grande River. It is a great delight to drive through the forest and the meadows where often deer and elk can be sighted, where the wild flowers are beautifully abundant, and where there is a minimum of evidence of man...
Soon we were donning our waders and boots and sliding and skidding into the deep canyon formed by the river (or maybe that the river runs through....)
This canyon is quite spectacular; note the sphinx-like formations behind me!
Who do you suppose this happy fisherwoman could be?
As the day wore on we worked our way upriver in the canyon and the walls became higher and the entire scene more spectacular---what a gorgeous place to spend a day!

The fish were sneaky and challenging to catch---

We kept trying to outsmart them---
Lyndon measured this 19" beauty before turning it loose---
Day's end on the river sort of tugs at your heart---you don't really want to leave!
Climbing up this cliff was tricky in our fishing boots (they have flat felt bottoms!)---can you see the river at the bottom? (If not, click on this photo to enlarge it.) Time to head for home---

I hope you now better understand my fascination with this new endeavor!!! Care to come to Silverton and we'll go fishing?

Springtime in the Rockies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spring doesn't really come to the high country until June, as you can see in the picture below. As I arrived home for summer in the San Juan Mountains, this view greeted me just 35 miles north of Silverton---the Dallas Range and Mt. Sneffels, still covered with snow! The breath-taking beauty of this "every day" sort of scene still fills my prairie heart with joy that this is now home. Up the river from Silverton, my friends Doris and Dick, from Dallas, and I found lots of snow in June! Here is their vehicle parked in the roadway that leads to Animas Forks, a ghost town at the head of the Animas River northeast of Silverton.
Snowbanks and snowballs are reality here in June after a deep winter such as 2008. Here are the Underwoods enjoying the snowcut left by the plow.
So, just how high do you think THIS cut really is?
It is still amazing to me that there can be this much snow and the daytime temperatures can be so comfortably warm. If you haven't been here to visit in June, you should plan to come in 2009 just to experience this sort of thing. It really is amazing!

There still is lots of snow in the high country, even in July. I went fishing over the continental divide a few days ago and we saw wild flowers blooming right beside six-foot-deep banks of snow! Come see me and we'll fire up Scarlet (my red Dodge Durango) and head for the high country and the snow! Meanwhile, thanks for visiting my post. PDM

Meandering About Minnesota with Marie

Sometimes computers are annoying, are they not? Serious efforts have been made by this writer to post details of a delightful journey in May to Minneapolis and my computer has always opted to dump the pictures or lose the text---so I shall try again! Here is my friend, Marie King, with whom I toured China a year ago. She is standing on a balcony at the Guthrie Theatre, overlooking St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River. We enjoyed touring the theatre as well as seeing "Midsummer's Night Dream", easily the best theatrical production I've ever seen!
Minneapolis is a wonderful city, with lots of cultural features and events, enough good restaurants to keep one eating for days (the Greek brunch Marie took me to at Santorini's took me right back to Greece!), and, blessedly, mild traffic.

Marie took me along the North Shore of Lake Superior into the part of Minnestoa the locals call "The Arrow" where we saw lots of lovely, wild, lakeshore country. The waterfalls were abundant, the forests were lush, and the air was crisp and clean. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the great iron shipping harbor at Duluth, toured interesting old lighthouses, and even saw a wolf one morning, crossing the highway, headed for the lake for a drink...just as if he went there every morning!
The little blue lady is Marie by Gooseberry Falls, formed by water rushing out of the north Minnesota hills (mountains---a little difficult for me to say, comparing them to the Rockies!)
headed for Lake Superior. (photo below by Marie)We had a wonderful hike through the woods to an area with waterfalls and a swirling pool called "The Devil's Cauldron", which is misting away in the background and I am obviously enjoying!

One overnight was at a charming Scandanavian lodge on Lake Superior---seen here at twilight. Once again, the food was wonderful and we enjoyed the breakfast as it reminded us of our travels in Norway and Sweden forty years ago.
Split Rock Lighthouse is one of Minnesota's signature places. We spent an afternoon there, touring the buildings and climbing around on the rocks along the lake front.
Of course, no trip to Minneapolis is complete without going to the Mall of America! Above you can see a view of the indoor amusement park at the Mall. Pick out the people in the foreground for perspective, please.
A lovely spring afternoon called for margaritas at one of Marie's favorite spots, "Psycho Suzie's", a sort of Polynesian bar with plenty of outside seating. (You don't have to just eat in Minneapolis---there are plenty of places to bend an elbow, too!)

Back to the Mall of America---the Lego display was astonishing! (Travis must go there someday!) Look for the man above the Gap sign to establish the size of the thing---all built with normal-sized legos.)
Last of all---here I am with a dinosaur built of tiny little legos and don't miss the green tail of another dino nearby---how many thousands?

Marie---I thank you for a great visit and I am hoping that this posting won't vanish into cyberspace as have my other attempts! I am looking forward to visit #2 in Minnesota!