The Great North Sea

Guess it's time to blog the cruise.  A 5:15 limo to O'Hare on Friday morning wasn't quite the way I had visioned my dream vacation, but it was ok, as was the vacation.
We were at O'Hare Airport in plenty of time, checked our bags and made it through TSA security without out a hassle.  Then we waited for the next plane going to Boston.  It wasn't OUR plane but it was going to Boston.  Had another cup of coffee and a sweetie and waited for OUR plane.  The trip was uneventful so I sat behind John and picked at the back of his head till he reached back and scratched it.  A girl has to do something to amuse herself.
The day in Boston was interesting.  We took cabs to see the "USS Constitution" (Old Iron Sides) and "Cheers" bar sign.  Back to the hotel to wait for time to head to the ship.  We thought we were early but we were not.  The ship personnel took our luggage at the cab so we didn't have to deal with that.  The line was long for the check ins but moved rather fast.  We found our cabins without a great deal of problem and settled in for a week of sightseeing and relaxing.
We were to early for the fall colors even at the northern part of the cruise in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  We took a tour in Bar Harbor, St John and Halifax and enjoyed each one.  Learnt a lot about the area and how it was developed.  Watched an in coming ocean tide meet an out going St Laurence River with gigantic whirlpools and sprays and a beautiful Victorian flower garden  in St Johns.  St Johns and Halifax are very proud of their part in the attempted rescue of the Titanic victims but bitter that New York got all the glory without any work on their part.  Both towns proudly display the cemeteries of the ones that didn't make it to New York.
We had two days at sea, one between St Johns and Halifax and one when we left Halifax to docking in Boston.  We purchased a tour from the ship to see Boston with a guide and then dropped off at the airport.  We got a much better view of the city and it's firsts, oldest and biggest.  The guide was very proud of his city and reminded us often that it was the "cradle of the revolution" .
The trip home on the plane was great, they moved my seat behind the others so I had an enjoyable conversation with the lady next to me plus a little nap.
Since the day had begun and 6 am EDT, John and Pat decided to spend the night at our house and then go home to Milwaukee on Sunday morning.  It was an early night and all were in bed by 11 pm. CDT.  The spell was broken so I had to cook breakfast but I sat my foot down when it came to putting their napkins in their lap and handing them a menu.

New Experience

Well, today is the day to make sure everything is in order.  We did our airport check in this morning online and printed out the documents.  Ron's off to the bank to put a couple things in the safety deposit box.  Now it's wait for John and Pat to get here, go out for pizza (cause I'm not cooking), clean out the frig and get the garbage ready for tomorrow (that's a constant) and try and get some sleep before the stretch limo arrives at 5:15 am tomorrow morning.  The two piece of luggage are packed, locked and paid for flight.  My clothes are all laid out ready to slip into, can't say the same about Ron.
Got to go cups for coffee if anyone wants to take some with them tomorrow.  Wish I had donuts too but I can't wish for everything.  Please keep me in your prayers that the security check on me goes well.  The TSA documents I got online say they can't ask me to remove, raise or lift an article of clothing or remove the prosthesis so we'll see.

Retiree's Picnic

We've had a couple of really cool days and nights but today was just beautiful for our Retiree's Annual Picnic at the New Lenox VFW.  They have a beautiful picnic area with a covered pavilion and open area with lots of picnic tables under lots of beautiful shade trees next to a rolling creek.  They set up all the tables and provide an ice one for the food that needs refrigeration.  They even furnish the bingo cards and setup so we can play after the noon meal at no cost to us.
Turnout was good.  We had some new people and some guest who used to work for the County but didn't retiree from there.  Plenty of time spent talking and catching up with what's going on in people's lives.  A lot of us will be leaving for warmer climate in a few weeks so we were making plans to meet up with the AZ ones and wishing good luck to the FL ones.  It's nice to have the picnic since we won't be around for the big Christmas Party in December.