"Down Under" in Sydney

Hi! After a few weeks of no posts, I have pictures and tales to post! I traveled to Sydney, Australia with Maggie (daughter-in-law) and 18-month-old grandson, Finn, on December 18th to meet Travis, who works in Perth. (Maggie and Finn had been in the US visiting family for about six weeks.) You can probably guess that flying non-stop from LA to Sydney is L-O-N-G but add a toddler! What a hilarious time we had but how glad we were to see Travis in the Sydney airport!!! We had lots of luggage and managed to haul luggage, toddler, car seat, hand luggage, and ourselves through immigration and customs but it was sheer joy to turn the works over to Travis! He and the taxi driver soon has us at our lovely hotel at "The Rocks", the oldest part of Sydney which is now a wonderful area for tourists, as it is right on the harbor and was just a few blocks from the cruise ship terminal.

We spent the next three days in Sydney, which is a beautiful place. The view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House from the zoo is just below---quite spectacular. Travis, Finn, and I enjoyed an early morning stroll from our hotel, which was just across the bay from the Opera House. (I could lay in bed and see the flood-lit Opera House out my hotel window wall---that was something I would never have guessed would ever be in my range of experiences.) When our cruise ship arrived we could see it right off the deck of the hotel.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge is the widest bridge of its type in the world. Travis and I actually climbed it, taking a tour that took us up, down, and around the guts of the bridge and then to the very top of the curved arch. What a view and what a great thing to do with your son.
-Travis and Finn, checking out the bridge before our climb, wearing their

"sunnies"---the Aussie term for sunglasses-

Maggie and Travis are adept at porting Finn in his stroller (asleep) up and down flights of steps---here they were coming off a walk across the bridge.

Finn loved the zoo where we saw kangaroos sleeping in the shade. He is a merry little guy with a big, belly laugh and a cute little giggle. I am certainly enjoying time with him!

Finn, having a bit of a stroll at the Sydney Zoo

(note his Colorado Crocs if you can)

Having time in Sydney together was a wonderful way to start our journey together. Finn and I got acquainted---he looks so much like Travis did and has many of the same traits---sort of like winding the clock back 33 years!

Next posting: pictures from our New Zealand cruise.

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!!!