I had been munching on Golden Grahms and so when I went to the bank, I was happy to see the bowl of mints at the window. I took one and then went into a coughing fit, turning red as I choked on the stupid thing. The bank teller kindly left her post to go into the back room to get me a drink of water. As embarrassing as it was, I left thinking what a brilliant scheme that could have worked out to be to rob the bank. The teller left her station open for a good half a minute...Of course I haven't thought into it enough to figure out what to do about the video cameras and the other teller or the security guard with a gun at the door.
Brilliant.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Pavlov's Favorite Season
I wonder if the sound of crunching leaves can cause one to salivate. With autumn comes some of the best food of the year!
Cold Stone Creamery has a new Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream...a mix of sweet, spicy pumpkin and cheesecake!
Sonic has a new Holiday Spiced Sugar Cookie Blast made with spiced caramel-flavored real ice cream, sweet sugar cookie pieces and whipped topping.
Baskin Robbins has light gingerbread and vanilla ice cream with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon caramel ribbons. 
Aaahhh. My mouth is watering. Wait a minute...What is the difference between one's mouth watering and drooling? Is it when the saliva flows outside of the mouth? Then maybe I am drooling!
Cold Stone Creamery has a new Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream...a mix of sweet, spicy pumpkin and cheesecake!
Sonic has a new Holiday Spiced Sugar Cookie Blast made with spiced caramel-flavored real ice cream, sweet sugar cookie pieces and whipped topping.
Baskin Robbins has light gingerbread and vanilla ice cream with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon caramel ribbons. 
Aaahhh. My mouth is watering. Wait a minute...What is the difference between one's mouth watering and drooling? Is it when the saliva flows outside of the mouth? Then maybe I am drooling! Wednesday, November 3, 2010
And Bringing Up the Rear - Greece & Croatia
The latter end of the trip - Greece & Croatia...and a little bit about the boat.
Greece was disappointing. We were in Athens for part of a day and due to strikes, we did not get to go up to the Acropolis.
We did climb Mars Hill and had a sermon from Acts 17 - Paul's sermon about the Unknown God. It was awesome. (Pictured is Roy Christensen)
Cassie & Michelle liked Greek food best out of any meal we had had in Egypt or Israel. I enjoyed the falafaels in Israel myself. Any who, we did see the Olympic stadium and enjoyed saying "And there you go" after everything our guide said.
Croatia was a Gorgeous country!!! Wow! It was raining while we walked around the city of Split.
We had enough free time to eat a doughnut from one of their bakeries. Heaven!!! So delicious! And a huge thanks to Michael Ballam for buying.
We saw some craaaazy looking fish there in Croatia. This was at the fish market. Note its many layers of teeth. The fish seller woman picked it up by its eyes.
We also ate some craaaaazy stuff. We had octopus salad which had a great flavor. (This is me and Larry, the Cruise Lady's husband.) 
We also ate sardines and tuna at a little mill turned restaurant in Croatia (and fed the cats). 
It is a place I could retire - buy some land and a couple of goats and be set.
Some of the best parts of the trip were being on the Vision of the Seas cruise ship out in the Mediterranean Sea.
We enjoyed the sun and the food and our waiters (Carlos and Dennis and the cold soups and the chocolate milk!). We also loved our Cruise Lady cruise group of 66 members more than we imagined! Larry and Diane Larson were the cruise guides and we were assigned at their dinner table along with Michael Ballam, his wife Laurie, and their son Ben. It was so fun getting to know them.
We ate dinner with them every night possible and tried to soak it all in.
Indeed a vacation of a lifetime.
Greece was disappointing. We were in Athens for part of a day and due to strikes, we did not get to go up to the Acropolis.
We did climb Mars Hill and had a sermon from Acts 17 - Paul's sermon about the Unknown God. It was awesome. (Pictured is Roy Christensen)
Cassie & Michelle liked Greek food best out of any meal we had had in Egypt or Israel. I enjoyed the falafaels in Israel myself. Any who, we did see the Olympic stadium and enjoyed saying "And there you go" after everything our guide said.
Croatia was a Gorgeous country!!! Wow! It was raining while we walked around the city of Split.
We had enough free time to eat a doughnut from one of their bakeries. Heaven!!! So delicious! And a huge thanks to Michael Ballam for buying.
We saw some craaaazy looking fish there in Croatia. This was at the fish market. Note its many layers of teeth. The fish seller woman picked it up by its eyes.
We also ate some craaaaazy stuff. We had octopus salad which had a great flavor. (This is me and Larry, the Cruise Lady's husband.) 
We also ate sardines and tuna at a little mill turned restaurant in Croatia (and fed the cats). 
It is a place I could retire - buy some land and a couple of goats and be set.Some of the best parts of the trip were being on the Vision of the Seas cruise ship out in the Mediterranean Sea.
We enjoyed the sun and the food and our waiters (Carlos and Dennis and the cold soups and the chocolate milk!). We also loved our Cruise Lady cruise group of 66 members more than we imagined! Larry and Diane Larson were the cruise guides and we were assigned at their dinner table along with Michael Ballam, his wife Laurie, and their son Ben. It was so fun getting to know them.
We ate dinner with them every night possible and tried to soak it all in. Indeed a vacation of a lifetime.
Second Things Second - Israel
Israel was pretty awesome!
We ported in Ashdod and then took a bus into Jerusalem the first day. The second day we ported in Haifa and bused in. In general, the whole city has been built upon. If it was a sacred site, there is now a gaudy church on it or two. According to Michael Ballam, if the Sea of Galilee was any smaller there would be a church on top of it too.
At the Wailing Wall, the men are separated from the women by a shorter wall, but the women stand on chairs and look over the wall. I peered over too. You also always back away from the
wall (and fire).
The Via Dolorosa is where Jesus carried his cross through the streets. It is a very small street and has the essence of nothing more than a marketplace nowadays - with vendors and money changers.
The Garden of Gethsemane is just outside the city wall. It now has gates around the olive trees and picking the trees is looked down upon. Luckily the trees were being pruned while we where there and and the workers were kind enough to give us branches. The church at Gethsemane is extremely dark, like the cave that would have existed there at the time of Christ.
The Dome of the Rock. We didn't get to go in to see it, but this is the view of it from the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Abraham was to have sacrificed Isaac.
The Garden Tomb is run by volunteers. It is beautiful and peaceful as far as tourist sites go.
We did have an opportunity to look in the tomb and rejoice that He is not there. (This is the sign on the inside of the door of the tomb.)
I was surprised to find out that Golgatha, where the crucifixion took place, was just yards away from the tomb site. There is now a parking lot over the base of the hill of Golgatha. (Golgatha means skull and you can just make out the eye sockets on the hill now.)
The River Jordan was turquoise in color. We were in a very calm section, not where Jesus would have been baptised, but it was beautiful and I did dip my hand in! (I swear that hand looks like it hasn't aged a day since.)
We went to Capernaum where Peter's house is said to be. There is a church/structure built on top of it with a glass floor so you can see down to the ruins. It has a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee.
I liked the Mount of Beatitudes. It is in a beautiful area with plants akin to those found in California (palm trees and impatients, bouganvilla, oleanders, etc.) with manicured gardens and a church on it with a bunch of Pope stuff inside.
Sailing the Sea of Galilee was totally awesome!!! It was calm and beautiful and our boat workers tossed in some fishing nets similar to what the disciples would have done.
I didn't have to go across the world to know that Jesus lives. He atoned for my sins and died and was resurrected. But seeing where He lived and taught and walked was an incredible experience. I would definitely go back.
We ported in Ashdod and then took a bus into Jerusalem the first day. The second day we ported in Haifa and bused in. In general, the whole city has been built upon. If it was a sacred site, there is now a gaudy church on it or two. According to Michael Ballam, if the Sea of Galilee was any smaller there would be a church on top of it too.
At the Wailing Wall, the men are separated from the women by a shorter wall, but the women stand on chairs and look over the wall. I peered over too. You also always back away from the
wall (and fire).
The Via Dolorosa is where Jesus carried his cross through the streets. It is a very small street and has the essence of nothing more than a marketplace nowadays - with vendors and money changers.
The Garden of Gethsemane is just outside the city wall. It now has gates around the olive trees and picking the trees is looked down upon. Luckily the trees were being pruned while we where there and and the workers were kind enough to give us branches. The church at Gethsemane is extremely dark, like the cave that would have existed there at the time of Christ.
The Dome of the Rock. We didn't get to go in to see it, but this is the view of it from the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Abraham was to have sacrificed Isaac.
The Garden Tomb is run by volunteers. It is beautiful and peaceful as far as tourist sites go.
We did have an opportunity to look in the tomb and rejoice that He is not there. (This is the sign on the inside of the door of the tomb.)
I was surprised to find out that Golgatha, where the crucifixion took place, was just yards away from the tomb site. There is now a parking lot over the base of the hill of Golgatha. (Golgatha means skull and you can just make out the eye sockets on the hill now.)
The River Jordan was turquoise in color. We were in a very calm section, not where Jesus would have been baptised, but it was beautiful and I did dip my hand in! (I swear that hand looks like it hasn't aged a day since.)
We went to Capernaum where Peter's house is said to be. There is a church/structure built on top of it with a glass floor so you can see down to the ruins. It has a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee.
I liked the Mount of Beatitudes. It is in a beautiful area with plants akin to those found in California (palm trees and impatients, bouganvilla, oleanders, etc.) with manicured gardens and a church on it with a bunch of Pope stuff inside.
Sailing the Sea of Galilee was totally awesome!!! It was calm and beautiful and our boat workers tossed in some fishing nets similar to what the disciples would have done.
I didn't have to go across the world to know that Jesus lives. He atoned for my sins and died and was resurrected. But seeing where He lived and taught and walked was an incredible experience. I would definitely go back.
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