April Showers Bring May Flowers

In spite of warnings about the hottest winter ever, cool temperatures remained the norm most of spring.  

We had a few days approaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit sprinkled in, but more often we were below 60.

That is actually excellent hiking weather.  We enjoyed many forays into nearby forests, including favorite places like Haverford Nature Preserve and Ridley Creek State Park (Julie's short video linked here), which themselves offer multiple trails from which to choose.

We walk daily, including neighborhood walks and the Nature Trail at Haverford College by Emma's skating rink, where we often walk with Gina and Laszlo.

Emma, Laszlo, Gina and I play tennis together occasionally, too.

Fridays usually meant more time with Gina and Laszlo at happy hour on our backyard deck, though occasionally we went to a venue like PJ Whelihan's, or shifting the day to Saturday.

I mentioned rain in the subject, so I will include that some days it rained at happy hour time, forcing us inside, although the showers spread around through the day so that we managed to find a lot of time to enjoy the great outdoors.

With rain followed by sunshine, flowers have bloomed throughout the spring.  Pennsylvania is a lush world from spring through the changing of the leaves in fall.  Having lived most of our lives in arid Southern California, it's a treat to live where lawns are green despite not having sprinklers.

On many an afternoon, I have stood on the back deck appreciating the foliage while playing my guitar, accompanied by singing birds and watching bunnies hop by.

During April and May, we celebrated many special occasions.

Gina, Laszlo and Emma provided their Giant ham as centerpiece for a delicious Easter dinner cooked by Julie.

On Easter morning, Laszlo and Emma had returned from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where they went so Emma could visit a friend who had attended school with her the prior year.  They had a good time and returned with positive impressions of Riyadh.

Saving some of that huge ham for later meant we had ham as entrees for two other family dinners.  Julie also served roasts and other dishes as centerpieces for almost weekly dinners.

On the weekend of Gina's birthday, Amy and Lukas came to Philly to celebrate Gina's and Amy's birthdays.

They stayed at Gina's house this time, so we mostly gathered there.

But we had happy hour on Saturday on our deck in Ardmore.

Gina and Laszlo served Indian food for dinner.  For dessert, we had strawberry shortcake, with a candle to celebrate Gina's birthday.

When Gina was a little girl, my mom made strawberry shortcake one evening.  Gina did not want to try it.  I knew she would love it, so I told Gina I would give he a quarter if she took one bight.  As expected, she found it delicious.  I asked if she wanted more, which she did.  I told her it would cost her a quarter to get the rest of her serving.  A real deal.

We celebrated Mother's Day on Sunday.  Gina bought craft projects for Julie, Amy and herself.  I helped Julie keep up.  Key birthdays and anniversaries are written on tags which tangle as a sort of calendar.  I now look at Julie's each morning at one point in my stretching routine, so I shouldn't miss any birthdays.

On Sunday afternoon, we sang happy birthday to Amy, whose actual birthday was about a week away.  More strawberries and whipped cream, with most of us putting personal-sized sponge cakes underneath.

Between work, going upstate to visit Lukas's hometown and enjoying Jersey City/NYC life, Amy and Lukas don't make their way to Philly as much as we'd like, so we combine celebrations.  Amy still skates for the Gotham Girls B Team, where she was recently selected as team captain.  Amy also manages their All-Star team.  At a derby tournament in Boston last weekend, she won MVP honors

Amy and Lukas would soon be off to Chania, on Greece's isle of Crete, with Lukas's parents and sister.  They loved the trip.

Amy in Greece

While they were on Crete, Emma's ice-skating club put on a fun figure skating show in Ardmore called "Yo, Philly."  For their number, Emma and four others skated to John Fogerty's Centerfield, wearing Phillies costumes.

Gina, as a new Skating Board member, volunteered at the concession stand rinkside, while Laszlo, Julie and I sprung for the VIP suite upstairs, with a catered buffet dinner including wine.

A month later, Emma attended a figure skating contest held at the University of Delaware.

Coach Russ, Emma and Proud Grampa

I rode over with Emma and her dad in Laszlo's car, while Gina and Julie took Amtrak plus Uber to join us.  Emma skates for the beauty and joy of the sport, but we were all very proud that she won first in her division during this, her second competition.  All her devoted practice pays off.

On their ride home from Delaware, Julie and Gina took advantage of a break changing trains in Philadelphia to take the elevator to the 60th floor of the Four Seasons to enjoy the view.

Gina treated Julie with tickets to see the 4-time Tony winning musical Some Like It Hot, a stage version of the silvers screen comedy that had starred Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon.  They said it was fantastic.  Funny, of course, but also terrific singing and dancing.  Gina generously shares her season tickets with various guests.

I recently heard of a new term popping up in culture: "land-snorkeling."

It refers to appreciating nature and other beauty all around us just walking around, like the wonder we find when snorkeling around coral reefs in the ocean.  I'd say we do this on a regular basis.  We started long before this emerging fad.

A recent land-snorkel took us back to Maybrook Mansion, adjacent to the Wynnewood Train station.

Linked here is a short video of geese at Maybrook Mansion hat Julie captured.

I wonder how many people ride the SEPTA train past that stop never knowing it is there?

While Julie and I didn't go either time, I should at least mention that Amy and Lukas took a trip to California to visit Jay, Sasha and Owen, paired with attending a concert.  About a week later, Gina visited Santa Monica kin in conjunction with a work trip.  And don't pity Julie and me, because we visited Santa Monica in March.

We all enjoyed our very cool spring.

If it rained all day, we walked indoor malls like King of Prussia.

Where I probably spend too much time.

More Spring Photos from Emma

Emma and Coach Russ

Thanksgiving at Sea

Before you cruise to Hawaii from Los Angeles or take any transoceanic cruise, you better be sure enjoy days at sea.  It's not unusual to find a few people on such cruises who love sea days so much that they skip some ports of call entirely.

My friends Brion and Rita cruise to Hawaii every Christmas, but their primary focus is the on-board experience.  They enjoy the great meals and entertainment, but their biggest passion is ballroom dancing.  Julie and I took fun Latin dance lessons taught by Oz on Star Princess on our recent cruise, but I can't say we're devotees.

Taking a holiday cruise can be an opportunity for a family reunion at a time when kids are off school and salaried workers receive paid holidays that save valuable vacation days.  Multi-generational family members can do what interests them alone or together and gather around the dinner table to share their experiences.

For other folks who opted to focus on careers rather than families, there's a sense of belonging among travelers exploring the world together on all cruises.  That's true in spades for holiday cruises in particular.

Drs. Christian and Caroline, the psychologists we briefly encountered on the rental car bus in Hilo, spoke about 7 kinds of love for the modern world in one of their presentations.  Among their list was enjoying shared interests together and the sense of belonging to something greater than ourselves.  I don't recall all of the details, but the exact categories as defined by Christian differed from those carried forward from classic Greece.  It's good to remember that just because a relationship isn't hitting on all cylinders doesn't mean that love ceases to be.  This is especially important for couples should Eros love that sparks the initial attraction may wane.  Other types of love remain, and of course we can also experience with people beyond our soulmates.

Christian actually began that presentation by recounting an intermittent conversation he and I had on the Promenade Deck when we passed as I did laps.  Julie had opted to do the aerobic dance class that morning, which I also enjoyed on a couple of other days.  As always, we are forced to make choices on cruises between interesting activities, which is why I only attended two of the psychology presentations despite quite enjoying both of them.

The prior day, the Heims presentation had been that "Laughter Is the Best Medicine," and it was hilarious as well as educational.

Julie was reading by the pool when I attended this very funny seminar, but she came to mind as I laughed together with the audience, and she was the topic of my interaction walking laps the next day.

Some early jokes humorously attributed to Aristotle made fun of Cretans, and Julie's grandfather happened to come from Crete.  More current jokes of this type made fun had British making fun of Irish, and Julie's mother's maiden name is associated with a castle in Northern Ireland, so Julie is both Cretan and Irish.

Then, there were some jokes about lawyers, and Julie spent many years essentially acting as a lawyer in negotiations with lawyers.

Of course, there had to be some blond jokes, and Julie is blond.  Christian also told a couple of jokes about strong-willed redheads like his wife Caroline, which actually are much applicable to Julie than blond jokes.

Anyway, I revealed an element of this with each lap, which amused both Christian and me, so when he started his presentation the next day, he spoke about how he had insulted one person in every way possible within five minutes of starting his presentation the day before.  As he recounted them, I wished Julie had been there, but she was reading in a lounge chair in the sun, with Shania Twain in concert on the poolside movie screen.

Music on board is always important to us.  Each time, we tend to gravitate to some particular performers who we follow during the voyage.  One was the Hawaiian duo Makani E, made up of my Ukelele teacher Kimo and his wife Lokelina, who taught Julie the hula in a separate class.  As family friends of the late Hawaiian music icon Bruddah Iz (famous for his version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"), they carry forward his gentle style of island music.

We rarely missed a show of the Ukranian violinists, the Adagio Trio.  I especially enjoyed their renditions of Strauss and Mozart, whose music was prominent on our Danube River cruise, but they also did shows based on other themes, including one based on "The Sound of Music," which for me also brought to mind our AmaWaterways excursion to Salzburg.

The incredible orchestra band did some great jazz concerts outside of their usual venue of the Princess Theater, where they back guest performers as well as production shows.  It's always so amazing how these band members gel as a unit and produce flawless back-up for guest performers and production shows even if a replacement band member has only arrived on board the day before.

The production shows were also outstanding, with a gifted group of performers where all were stars, and as always there were guest artists to keep add to the variety.

I personally enjoy movies, and in addition to "Yesterday," which we both loved, I enjoyed seeing another great movie I'd missed in theaters,  "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood."

The meals aboard our cruise were all delicious.  A highlight this time was at the alternative dining venue, Crown Grill, where we savored 8-ounce Filet Mignons cooked to perfection and great sides.  I must say the similarly prepared Princess Medallions in the dining room while smaller were quite excellent, and as usual, I enjoyed all the savory seafood dishes.

I think Julie wanted to take this cruise primarily to get away from the kitchen, and of course another dining highlight was Thanksgiving Dinner.  Some other guests skipped turkey for other tempting entrees, but we went with the traditional meal.

Our kids had gathered at Gina and Laszlo's new home in Pennsylvania, and I must confess I would have rather been at that feast.

However, we had flown to four family reunion vacations already this year, and also had Emma in California stay with us for an extended visit during the summer, so at the time when flights needed to be booked and seemed very expensive, we somehow talked ourselves out of going.

While I love travel, nothing beats spending time with our family.  I'm excited to be getting together with Jay and Sasha plus my sister's family for Christmas.

Make no mistake; we definitely enjoyed this entertaining two-week escape to paradise.

Our final port was Ensenada, where we took our morning walk but then returned to enjoy our final afternoon and evening aboard the ship.

With a simple Lyft home from the port, we returned home totally relaxed and renewed, which I'm not sure would have been the case had we endured holiday airport hassles for a quick turnaround trip east.