It's funny, but even though we have only been home less than a week, it seems like we have been here for weeks. That is because there is SO much to catch up on, it is overwhelming. We find it easier to do a little, then go out for a long walk and lunch. We have been blessed with very warm weather that has gradually returned to comfortable temperatures in the low 80's. For us, it is much nicer to be outside on days like these.
But the good news is that our seven pieces of shipped luggage arrived, pretty much in one piece, on Thursday, the 15th, in the late afternoon. Frankly, it would have been nice not to have to deal with it for a week or so, but at least it is here, and not lost in space. Since we had taken out some extra insurance on the four duffels, we did have to sign for them. Good thing we were home, because that could get complicated re-scheduling to our advantage.
Last year, our entire shipment was on a pallet and shrink-wrapped. The Fed Ex driver had a small fork lift to bring the pallet to the garage doors, which is a long ways down our driveway. This time, the driver asked if he could drive his truck to the garage doors, instead of lugging each bag one at a time. He realized that after hauling one suitcase, they probably weighed more than he did. Of course, we said yes, and we even helped him take them off of his truck, which did not have a lift gate.
Now if it were up to me, Mary Ann, the luggage would have remained in the living room until tomorrow, or even later since I tend to be the procrastinator (not always good). But......one of us was more interested in knowing if the Sri Lankan elephant, the Papua New Guinea and Fiji masks and baskets, and the Guatemalan giraffe made it home in tact. Since we never did keep tabs on which bag had what, we ended up opening all of them to find these treasures. Lo and behold, all of the souveniers made it in one piece. The only casualty was the $4.00 wall clock, which had broken glass. Kind of expected that.
So the rest of the contents are now spread in neat pile all over the floor, furniture, chairs, and piano. Notice, we said NEAT. We can tackle this chore a little at a time. One nice thing is that most every piece of clothing is clean, thanks to the efficient free laundry service onboard the ship. Towards the end of the Panama cruise, the bag of laundry that was sent out in the morning, arrived back that same evening.
Our new rooster, Foghorn, has only three girlfriends left. Our hens were really on the elderly side, so perhaps this summer, we will look for some younger chicks for him. He is still strutting and doing his thing, even defensive with us, since he really doesn't know us yet. We did have an out-dated bag of corn chips in the pantry, which we fed them when we got back. That is the best way to make friends with him. Our roaming peacock, who our neighbor named Anthony, has been following Bill around as he mows the weeds. Guess that disturbs the many insects hiding in the grasses, which gives him plenty of fresh snacks as he tags behind.
The only one missing in action is our feral cat. Not that he was ever "ours", he just made the rounds when the feeder dispensed the dry cat food twice a day. We have no idea how old he was, or even if he may have belonged to someone out here. Our guess is that if we have not seen him for five days now, he must have found a new home, or is in "cat heaven".
So that's a wrap for this world cruise. As always, we did notice some subtle differences, small cutbacks that would probably go unnoticed by the first-time world cruisers. Perhaps we are becoming part of the crowd that does not like change, especially with age-old traditions. Like we said previously, nothing stays the same forever. Will that keep us from coming back for another Grand Voyage? Well, probably not.
Our next trip will be in the fall, when we join the Statendam for one week in Alaska, then 35 days in the South Pacific. Then we hope to be back on the Amsterdam next January for her 114 day Grand World Voyage.
Wishing you all a wonderful summer.............
