PICTURES

 Safety equipment in place...

...and we are leaving New York

it was very windy and cold

Congratulations! We are on our merry way!

Leaving the NY Brooklyn Cruise Terminal

Looks like a "yellow cab" but it really is a tug boat

Statue of Liberty. It was too late and too windy to circle around. 

We headed straight for the Verrazano Bridge

The QM2 has to leave in time to make sure she fits under the bridge. 

We left a bit later than planned and had

only a few feet to spare

Sitting on deck 7 on the way out we met this nice mother-daughter couple from Hamburg. 

Can you see how cold it is???

 We stopped at the wintergarden to write a few post cards

The chairs are now all tied up to prevent them from blowing across the deck.

This beautiful chimney is one of the original four Titanic chimneys 

 The lifeboats

Looking down to deck 7

Deck 7 - Three laps equal 1.9 miles. Usually it's very busy here

Deck 11 with indoor and outdoor pool and the Ragatta Bar and Lounge

The view out to the back of the ship

The middle of the Atlantic Ocean 

Deck Stuarts hard at work

The nose - I wanted to stand there at night like in the Titanic movie, but it's restricted.

Here you see extra propellers. The look very small from up top. In reality the are very large but still decorative.

The view from the observation deck, right below the bridge.

The bridge with the shadow of your Captain

 The doggy park - not very attractive but functional. The dogs are supervised all day and have individual kennels. Sorry, no grass until England

One of the endless hallways. Narrow, so you can touch the walls and railings at high seas.

The stairwell and elevators on deck 6

Go up to deck 7, to the Kings Court buffet area and the wonderful  promenade deck

Plaques like this are on the walls all around the ship from hundreds of locations around the world

BON VOYAGE

On the way to NY. The rental provides a comfortable ride and is big enough for all the luggage. We got a GMC Yucon XL - it's nice, but I miss my muscle van. Lol

This is it!!

Sleep one more time in our bed and off we go. Not sure if I can see the road through the curtain of tears but I'll try. It's hard to say good bye even if its not permanent. Much can happen in a year or even a week.

Yesterday we gave the Crombie fleet their last ride. With 338.000 miles and 248.000 miles they served us very well.

Kiss the older brother good bye.....

The rental is is in the driveway already packed and ready to go. Last items to be added in the morning and we will be on our way. 

We might have a 10 day silence period but I promise you will hear all about it once we are connected again.

For right now, I need some sleep

Inside the QMII

Inside the Queen Mary II - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWKxQ7wvbaE

What a BEAUTY!

Queen Mary 2's 200th Transatlantic Crossing: http://youtu.be/1IOsNk9d6Lo

7 DAYS, 20 HOURS AND 6 MINUTES

Medical records collected, most stuff either brought to the dump or to storage, Goodwill box dropped off and garage somewhat cleaned out.

Tomorrow I have to pick up my gowns from the seamstress and Toms pants from the dry cleaners. I haven't done much cooking lately. We have a lot of last dinner gatherings. Tuesday night we had a lovely time with friends at the Back Room Restaurant. The food was great and the company was even better. I also enjoyed a short visit from an ex co-worker and last night we took a few hours to play Yahtzee. Our daughter came for a few days and will be back beginning of the week. It's sooo good to have the kids around. Tomorrow night my son has a surprise dinner scheduled. It's an early Mother day dinner and I wonder where we are going.

I managed to reserve an appointment with Concord Imaging for a mammography and don't have to worry about that for a few years. All prescriptions are filled and supplements packed. Dramamine for motion sickness and Immodium for the unexpected airborne intestinal virus are also packed. There are no special immunization requirements going to Europe.

I got a new Laptop today! My old one started scrolling lately and so we decided to get a new one before we leave. That will take a while until I know my way around….

This weekend we will open the garage sale for one more time. I hope we have willing customers stopping by. Wish us luck!!!

 

TEN!

10 days to departure! I’m ready to leave now, but I’m really not ready at all. The house is a disaster, there is still so much to do, so much to take care of and so much to think and make sure. I have to admit, this is the second most difficult move in my life. The first was coming to the US in 1986 and now going back. I think I moved a total of 30 times, but this is much harder. Moving from one city or one street to another is easy. You put all your stuff in boxes at one location and unpack in the new location – DONE. This is different. We are not taking anything but clothes and important documents. What to do with the rest of all this stuff??? Constant walks down memory lane delay the process and the final decision. Dump, storage, or suitcase? Or maybe one of the kids want it – not very likely.

I found vacuum sealed bags are a fantastic space saver. I used to use “Space bags” but after a short time they started sucking in air. K-Mart sells “Smart bags” and those seals seem to be much better. It’s not easy to fill an average suitcase to 45 pounds without vacuum bags.

This afternoon we will retrieve the last parts of our medical records and work on some legal documents regarding the house and power of attorney for the kids to be able to take care of things on our behalf. Passports, tickets and rental car are all set and ready to go. I even found my old German driver’s license! It is still valid – not that anybody would recognize me, but I can still use it.

Toms van is just about cleared out while mine is still full with STUFF. That word is starting to irritate me severely….

Good thing, we had a few alcohol remnants kicking around. Tom had a shot of Goldschlager and I had a shot of V.S.O.P. Brandy. No more leftovers in the booze cupboard! LOL

MANY LAST TIMES - FOR NOW

Hi, its Tom and it is CRUNCH TIME! We now have thirteen.......uh.......twelve days until we get rid of the vans and say goodbye to the house......at least for the year. We have spent the past two days going through stuff that I personally haven't looked at in the past ten years......so why do we still have it. (sentimental reasons). For me its mostly old pictures and memories of places, pictures that can't be replaced and are never really forgotten, only white washed over by our hectic daily lives.

My brother came up from Texas on April 23rd to spend some time with us before we depart and also to see friends. It's too bad that we live so far apart and don't get to spend much time together except when he visits me or I visit him. It was really great having him here for the week. His next visit to us will be in Germany on the Baltic.

Today I have to clean out my van. This will be a monumental event because there will only be two times when the inside of my van has been really clean with no clutter........the day that I bought it and after I clean it today! (to stay in my van has been threatened as punishment by my brother to his son, its been so bad at times) Of course without a pickup, my van has been substituted for work, hauling everything from boulders, rock dust, gravel, sheet rock, lumber,trash, and tree limbs to leaves and furniture. If I had to buy another new car it would be a Grand Caravan.

I unfortunately inherited "chronic worrying" so I'm taking Herb Pharm drops....Brain Tonic, Immune Defense and Nervous System to help calm me down and keep me focused on the task at hand. They seem to have helped. 

Well, I still have boxes of photo albums that I haven't found yet, and where the heck is my left shoe...........

20 DAYS, 2 HOURS AND 36 MINUTES

Today I experienced a brief moment of disappointment. The people to come and look at the house drove up the street, turned around and left. Word is that the party didn't like the neighborhood or the outside of the house. That is personal opinion. It’s too bad, since this is a nice and friendly neighborhood. I got over my disappointment quickly.

The good thing about the expectation of a showing is that you get much more accomplished under pressure. We have now at least a squeaky clean house!

Moving right along – with 20 days left it is time for final preparations for departure.  My gown arrived yesterday. I tried it on and it fits beautifully and only needs to be hemmed a little bit. Monday both gowns will go to the tailor. She works pretty fast and the dresses will be done in plenty time.

The next week will be filled with emptying the house. I have boxes of books that need to be donated to the library, bedding that goes to the animal shelter, clothes that need to go in the suitcases and papers and pictures that need to be dropped off at the storage unit.

There is an end in sight.

WE HAVE A SHOWING TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow 12:45 pm! Somebody scheduled a showing to tour our home. This is the first serious inquiry since the house is on the market.

Please everybody, pray – send good vibes – cast a good spell – wish us luck – do whatever you think would help make the visitor instantly fall in love with our home..

Besides the wonderful surprise call from the realtor we had another great day. In the morning I had my last appointment and my physician told me that I’m “perfect” (he really said this). After the appointment I went to pick up a few things for my daughter in Germany and when I arrived back home my brother in law was hard at work doing landscaping and yard clean-up and Tom was moving stuff out of the garage.

Later in the afternoon, good friends came for a last visit before we leave. We don’t get to spend much time with them since they live out in the sticks in the direction we never have any business to go to. Besides, all of us are always busy. So this was a lot of fun. We have this tradition that, whenever we get a chance to get together, we share Pizza and ice cream. So that’s what was for dinner today as well.