Sunday on the blog with PHOTOS!

Check this out: on the island of St. John, a pristine beach called Honeymoon Beach beckons sunworshippers, snorkelers and devotees of just relaxing on warm sand, from every geographical direction. You can count me as one of those folks who enjoy spreading out the towel and sinking down into the sand, under the shade. While doing so, I noticed one of the leaves waving above me had an interesting design, made by hungry insects. If you look closely, you'll see one of the lower leaves has a peace sign chewed into it.

Peace to all on this blessed Sunday.

Hunka hunka birthday cake

Spent the last eversomany days aboard the Disney Cruise ship, the Magic. Let me tell you, there's probably no better way to spend one's birthday, especially if one's birthday is in the middle of winter and, usually, there are no flamingos anywhere nearby. Here, flamingos aren't that far away, and dolphins swim alongside your ship and you can even have High Tea on the High Seas, which is precisely what I did.

We had high tea at Palo, the ship's exclusive restaurant for "grown-ups" only (we appear to fit the bill, but are actually just overgrown children with credit cards, so we pass muster). I'm served my own pot o' tea, Jasmine green. Then the sandwiches arrive: baby shrimp salad and cucumber and ham on foccacia and more. Scones, delicate and fluffy, soon follow, accompanied by jam and double cream. Ben eats most of the double cream by the spoonful, never mind the scone. And after these, the actual desserts follow: eclairs, brownie fudge cake, and a blueberry cheesecake that equalled perfection, along with fruit tarts topped with tropical fruits. We were entitled to seconds, thirds, a continuous stream of plenty, but we finished right there and then, requesting to take our remaining pastries with us (where they sat in our stateroom fridge)

This was at 3 o'clock. Our scheduled dinner seating? 5:45. Can you see a bit of a difficulty here?

We arrived at dinner at Lumiere's which boasts an incredible French menu. Somehow Ben managed to order a full dinner. I had a simple green salad, which drew raised eyebrows from our server and giggles from our tablemates (who blissfully ordered full meals as well).

Dessert time came and, by then, I decided I did, in fact, have a teensy bit of room for, well hey, creme brulee is small most of the time, right? So I ordered it, cracked through the burnt sugar on top (the best part!) and poked through only about a quarter of it.

And then the clapping began. And our entire waitstaff, from far away places like the Philippines and Serbia, all gathered around to celebrate, what? My birthday, of course!!! And what did they bring?

See above photo.

This glorious cake was approximately 6" tall, 6" across, 6" deep. White cake with a creamy strawberry center and smooth vanilla frosting. With a white chocolate ship to top it.

After our merry waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to me, I slowly scraped my fork along one side of the cake. Offered as much of my cake to our tablemates as they would like, but they just had their own separate desserts and were also jam-packed (quite possibly with actual jam!).

So the photo of this generous amount of pastry is one for the ages now. It was awfully sweet of the staff to remember my birthday and, well, at least I had room for about one thirtysecond of it. Plus the aft end of the chocolate topper.

Bobbing along, bobbing along...

Seated in a relatively quiet terminal at Orlando International Airport, waiting for our flight, listening to Mozart and CNN simultaneously, while I'm typing away while I wonder when I'll stop feeling like the boat is still rocking under my seat.

Yes, our grand tour of the eastern Caribbean ended this morning and the Floating Mouse House is setting sail with a whole new crop of seafarers at this very minute.

And I'm so jealous I could spit.

I highly recommend the Disney Cruise for anyone, any age, at any time. Just go. Wonderful service, wonderful food, wonderful excursions and entertainment. It just goes on and on, the wonder of it all.

Some highlights:

The "Sweet Temptations" nightly dessert offering. Always inventive, never boring, always delicious.

Getting a free upgrade (angels must've been aflight) to a room with an outdoor open air deck, with chairs and a little table for setting your Mai Tai upon.

The onboard gym, with a glorious view of the ocean through the huge windows. It's located Forward so you see what the captain sees while you're working the elliptical.

The "Pirates IN the Caribbean" night time show, complete with pirates and fireworks! Arrrrrgghhhh -- thar be firey chrysanthemums above the sea!!!

The island of St. John. Just. Beautiful.

And, most importantly, quiet contemplative time. Especially with my wonderful hubby.

So I'm almost back home and I'll be blogging up a storm and posting a plethora of pictures. Stay tuned.

Oh -- and I'll be working out basically around the clock.

Putting it Together

Lots of things go into putting together your plans for a trip. The booking of flights, renting of cars, packing of clothes, buying of Earplanes. With Dad in the condition he's in, there's even more detailed planning. He's now officially a candidate for assisted living, although we have to get him completely assessed by his MD before he can be moved to the assisted living quarters at his retirement home.

Part of us feels very selfish about even going on the trip that's, oh, just around the corner. But life doesn't really come with a crystal ball and since I'm no Mystic Meg (although I've been told I look like her. Maybe that's the picture I should use as my Facebook profile, as this week is apparently "Doppleganger Week" where you're supposed to post a picture of someone people say you look like), I have no way to know if Dad will be stable while we're away, or if all systems will fail simultaneously.

So we pray, we hope, and we bring in the artillery.

Friends and relatives who live nearby are being encouraged to just drop by his place and say "hi". So much of his condition can't be alleviated, but what can be lessened is any boredom he might feel; restlessness has never been his buddy.

Folks will stop by and update us on his mood, how he's "seeming". And besides our posse, we also have the incredible staff at the Arms who keep him comfortable, safe, and secure. Sure, you could say they're being paid to do so and they are, but their heart is undeniably in it. You can tell in the way they communicate with him, with us.

"No, you two go on and enjoy your vacation. Dan is in good hands. I'll watch him myself! Just try keeping me away from him!" said one of Dad's healthcare workers, a sassy lady who goes from sweet to jalapeno in a nanosecond.

So our visit to Silver Springs is days away. And then onto the Disney Cruise and ports sun-worhippy, pineapple-scented, and marine blue.

We both need it. And Dad will be fine. We must take this opportunity, embrace it, run with it -- because we don't have the ability to do our scrying, to find out what Dad's health will be like in even a month or so from now.

Deep breath. A smile. Smiling is good for you, clears out the dustbunnies in your soul.

Okay. Now the only worry I have is how very outdated my swimsuit is. And the fact that in just a few short days, I'll be SEEN in a swimsuit, period.