Memorial Day...a time to remember.

I know I have written blogs about Memorial Day and Veterans Day celebrations here in Solivita before.  It's one of the nicest things that happen here.  I am picking up my friend Donna this morning at 8 to go up to Freedom Park.  The singers from Guys and Dolls or Staliters will be singing several patriotic songs and all of the armed forces songs during the ceremony.

This afternoon I will play Mah Jongg at my neighbor's house, and tonight we will have dinner at Susie and Ed's house and then play Rummycube.  Such a good day.

We walked almost 13, 000 steps in our eight hours in Epcot, so even though I ate food from three kiosks plus a gelato in Italy, my weight is an even 275 this morning, exactly where I was when we left for the cruise and 3.5 pounds DOWN from two weeks ago when I reported my last weigh-in Monday.  I'm pretty pleased about that.

We had a great time at Epcot yesterday, especially riding Soarin' Over California one final time.

Here are some pictures from our second day on Bermuda and a few pictures from Epcot.

On our second day in Bermuda, it rained so hard in the morning that we cancelled our beach day and just relaxed on board.

The third day, we went out to the Royal Navy Dockyard and went through the National Museum.

The Commissioner's House is now three floors of exhibits about the history of Bermuda.

View from the front porch on the second floor of the house.

Looking out over more parts of the Dockyard.

Snorkel Beach is just behind the ramparts of the fort.

The courtesy shuttle train that takes you from the ship to the dockyard with six convenient HOHO stops.

First of three food kiosks for lunch, a mushroom and cheese quesadilla in Mexico.

Beautiful orchids

With the dragon topiary in China.

Epcot Soarin' Over California, the final time

One of our all time favorite rides anywhere has been closed for months to build a third theater and to replace the California film with a new one about wonders of the world.  Now the ride has reopened and for just about a week or so, it is going to run the old film, Soarin' over California, in a cleaned up, high def version.  As soon as we heard this, we jumped on a Fast Pass for today at 11:35 a.m.  We will be heading over there shortly for that final ride.  We plan to stay all day, enjoy some more of the beautiful topiaries and exhibits for the Flower and Garden Show, catch the Spinners in concert at 5:30, and see the Pixar film shorts in the old Captain EO theater.  It's going to be a lovely Epcot day.

Yesterday I logged all my calories in faithfully and hit 1560, which is what I should eat according to the Lose It! program.  I didn't even get dressed yesterday, so there was no exercise at all.  I may or may not have lost weight.  It depends on whether I report the weight before or after my morning shower.  I got up and weighed myself, 277.3, a smudge higher than yesterday, then took a shower, then weighed again, 275.3, two pound loss.  Two pounds gone for washing my hair and body!  LOL!  So maybe I lost some; maybe I didn't  I don't know.

We will be eating lunch at food kiosk at Epcot, so there will probably be a lot of sodium.  Who knows what's in that food, but there will be a lot of walking around in 92 heat, so I should be fine.  Maybe I'll drop some more weight after tomorrow's shower!

Here are some pictures from Bermuda.

World's Smallest Drawbridge

In Hamilton, but everything was closed because it was Sunday.

Posing with our bus driver guide, Sweyn Goddard, and talking about Robert Goddard and Goddard Space Flight Center.

Signing the guest book in St. George.

Loved all the colorful houses

At a brief beach stop.

Climbed to the top of the hill to see Gibb's Hill Lighthouse.

View from the top of the hill.

Played mini-golf after the tour, but it was very windy!

I was ahead all the way up until this hole.  Then Mark won by one stroke.

Back from Bermuda

We arrived back yesterday and were in the house by noon.  We quickly unloaded the car and headed to the Cove for the afternoon.  That was wonderful because we ran into lots of people we knew, had lunch at Cheeks, and while Mark worked in the library I relaxed in the pool and played Mah Jongg.  What an easy transition from cruising to home!

Today we are staying home all day and watching TV and generally catching up on things in the house.

The cruise was great.  The weather was much better than I anticipated, especially on the sea days.  Those were perfect.  It rained a little on the day of our big bus tour but not enough to disrupt anything.  It rained like cats and dogs the morning of our beach day, so we cancelled it.  Then the weather cleared up, but our excursion was already gone.  They gave our money back, so that was fine.  We enjoyed a day on the ship and used the hot tub and read our books.  The last day in Bermuda we took the shuttle train to the museum and stores at the Dockyard.  There is a lot to see and do right in the Dockyard.  The Bermuda National Museum is there, so we spent over two hours exploring that.  We also saw there was Snorkel Beach right by the museum.  We could have gone over there the day before after the rain cleared, but we didn't know about it then.  Oh, well....

I ate bland food and drank no alcohol or coffee the entire time.  I finished the antibiotic Thursday afternoon, and I'm feeling good.  This morning I weighed myself and I'm only 1.5 pounds up.  For an eight day cruise for me, that's pretty good.  Today I plan to behave very well and will probably drop that by tomorrow.  Even though there was nothing fried, spicy, gassy, raw, or alcoholic, it is possible to eat a lot of calories in self-serve soft ice cream, plain fish, baked potatoes, rice, and white bread!

Here's a few pictures from the cruise.  I'll start today's blog with pictures from the first few sea days.

Cabin 1214, a porthole room on deck one.  Carnival cabins are very big and spacious.

Mark's whiskey for Sail Away.

Atrium Lobby looking down from deck five to three.  We liked the "under the sea" feeling the art and decor inspired.

First day he had to buy Advil because he pulled his knee the night before.

I started and finished this book on the cruise.

First formal night in my new dress.

Second sea day the boat made an unexpected sharp right turn and headed  back west.

The engines then cut off entirely.  No wake.  Turns out a passenger had spotted something and reported it.  The captain investigated and found an abandoned boat.  There was no wake when he was pulling alongside and sending crew over to look.  So we left, but the captain had to do a lot of paperwork!  Thank you, Bermuda Triangle.

The second night's production number, Living in America, was one of the best we have ever seen.

We spent some time up on the Serenity Deck one morning, reading.  It was gray and windy and a little cool.

In the casino area.

Off to Bermuda

This morning I weighed in at 275.5 to start the cruise.  I am up half a pound from yesterday, but that's ok.  I ate more yesterday.  Mark brought me a loaf of white bread when he shopped.  I had two slices with Smart Beat margarine three times during the day.  These were big heavy slices, too.  120 calories each.  I had two bowls of my homemade turkey soup for lunch and two for dinner.  Other than that, I also an 80 calorie yogurt for breakfast with a banana, four sugar free hellos spread throughout the day, and the last banana at midnight to go with the Flagyl.  I didn't log it in to the Lose It! program, but I'm pretty sure that was a lot of calories.  I'm not unhappy with this weight as we leave for the cruise today.  It's lower than I have been when setting out on a trip since last August when I was 273 on the way to Hawaii.

We are leaving at noon to head to Port Canaveral for the eight day cruise to Bermuda.  Sunday through Tuesday we will be docked at King's Wharf.  We booked a five hour bus tour of the highlights of the island for Sunday and a bus to take us to a beach for about four hours on Monday.  We didn't make a shore excursion for Tuesday, so we'll play it by ear.  The phone weather app has rain on all three days, so maybe we will just have to sit on the ship.  Who knows?

Mark packed last night, but I did not.  I was watching the three hour Survivor finale. Much more fun.

I can still feel discomfort in the abdomen.  I am still counting on the antibiotic to do its job and get me through this.  The last thing I want to do is end up in a hospital in Bermuda.  LOL!  I think I feel a little worse this morning because I ate too much yesterday.  It might have been that I should have stuck to clear liquids for those two days and started eating only today.  Or maybe six slices of that heavy white bread was just too much.  I need to be very careful about what I eat on this ship.

Although I'll be taking my laptop, I won't be writing blogs until I get back next Friday evening.

OK, my Flagyl alarm just went off.  Time for my 8 a.m. pill and something to eat with it.  Have a great week.  Talk to you next weekend.

Confirmed Diverticulitis

The doctor's office called me about 10 a.m. yesterday morning.  My CT scan Monday afternoon confirmed the doctor's diagnosis of Diverticulitis.  I had picked up my prescription of generic Flagyl Monday evening.  I started taking it at midnight that night.  Just like when I was on Flagyl for C-diff back during the chemo days, I have set my alarm for 8 a.m, 4 p.m., and midnight so that I can take it thee times a day at exactly 8 hours apart.

Tomorrow's cruise just keeps going south.  Not only is the weather going to be rainy most of the time, but my food has now been drastically curtailed.  NO ALCOHOL while on Flagyl!  I don't remember that restriction back in 2010-11, but maybe I just never drank then on chemo.  So I'm on Flagyl right up until the last night of the cruise.  Also, starting after the doctor's call yesterday, I have been told to eat only clear liquids and/or a very bland diet, non-acidic.  Nothing fried, too acidic, too spicy, too fatty, too fibrous or raw veggies.  And as if that's not enough, NO COFFEE!  No decaf, no tea, nothing with caffeine.  Nothing with acid, so no juice or soda either. That no coffee or tea thing might be the worst thing of all. I'm sure I'm going to have a caffeine-withdrawal headache soon!

So there is almost nothing in the house that was like that.  I had already eaten my yogurt and Morningstar links for breakfast before she called.  So for lunch I had a can of kosher clear chicken broth.  Then I took out all the frozen leftover Passover turkey and boiled it for about two hours to pick all the meat off.  I made a huge pot of soup.  I looked up what I can eat on a bland diet, so in the soup I only put shredded carrots, a can of green beans, and some white rice along with the turkey.  I ate some of the cooked turkey meat at 4 p.m. to go with the flagyl and then two bowls of soup for dinner.  At midnight I ate one of my last two yogurts to go with the flagyl.

So far this morning, I have only eaten the last yogurt in the house.  There isn't much else here to eat at this point. I had planned to go to water aerobics this morning with Mark and then shop for a few more things that I can eat today.  Honestly, after I showered and moved around a lot this morning, I have decided I should not do the exercise.  I can still feel the discomfort, the heavy feeling in the lower abdomen.  I have an infection in there!!  I really think another day of babying myself is in order.

Mark and I have Facetimed Evey two days in a row to watch Kiwi play.  Kiwi is changing the dynamics in the Gaertner household, which is what any new addition to a household will do.  Eric didn't grow up with pets, and he's not really a "dog" person, so this is a huge learning curve for him.  She is such a sweet dog that I am sure she will win him over if he gives her half a chance.  Evey is totally in love, and I'm already in love with her, too! I can't wait to see Kiwi in person in August.  I feel confident that the three of them will be a strong family of three once Kiwi settles down to her new life, but it's going to take a few months to get there, for sure.

Mark and I both started a six hour online AARP Safe Driving Course for Seniors yesterday.  I finished four of the six units, which did indeed take about four hours.  So I will complete the last two hours today.  Then we'll get a nice discount on our car insurance.

So this is my day:
Watch what I eat
Put away laundry
Finish the last two hours of the driving course
PACK for the cruise
Rest and recuperate!

Tomorrow we are supposed to board the ship between 1:30 and 4:30.  It's not sailing away until 6 p.m.  That's because they are refurbishing some staterooms and have pushed off the sail away time. We are thinking that we won't be going to a sail away party since our dinner time is also 6 p.m.  With all my food restrictions, we might eat in the buffet most of the time where I can have more control over what I choose.  The good thing about Carnival is that grilled salmon, baked potato, and cooked carrots/green beans is usually an option every single night.  That would work for me.

One final note, I lost weight yesterday.  LOL!  I was 275 this morning.  Maybe this will be the first cruise ever where I actually lose weight.  Look on the bright side of everything, right?  RIGHT!

Let's start off today's blog with pictures from Sunday afternoon's performance.  The link to post pictures that wouldn't work yesterday at all seems to be doing fine today.

We were only nine up there, but we sounded great.  We even had three part harmony, and at times FOUR parts, for the first time every.

Shelly and I were the soprano section.

Ginny and Yvonne are two of the four altos.

Marsha and Susan are the other altos.

Jonathan, Mark, and the Rabbi were the men's section.  Leslie couldn't make it that day.

Jonathan played his djembe on two of our songs.

Marvin and Mark had a great time hanging out and talking before and after the show.

i did end up connecting with the doctor.  I had to drive over an hour north to get the CT scan, but it got one.  I drank three 16 ounce cups of barium over a 90 minute period and then had the scans.  The doctor also called in a ten day prescription for generic Flagyl, the drug I took for months and months to fight off C-diff.  It works for diverticulitis, too, if that's what it is.  Sad for me is that you can drink not even one drop of anything with alcohol in it while you are taking this drug, or you will get violently ill.  Not even have mouthwash in your mouth!  So that's sad for me, but it's going to save Mark a lot of money on the cruise!

And now for a few pictures of Kiwi that Evey sent me via text messages the day she came home with her on Sunday.  We had a nice long FaceTime visit with the two of them last night.  So adorable.  Evey seems super happy to finally have a dog, and she won't be lonely when Eric is gone so much of the time.  Hm....can't figure out how to post a picture on here from my email or text messages, so maybe some other time.  Trust me, she's adorable!

Evey got Kiwi!

First, let's start with Kiwi.  Evey and Eric adopted a dog yesterday.  She surprised me when she sent a text of a very cute, medium-sized, brown dog resting on her lap in the backseat of their car.  They drove to a foster home in Santa Cruz to pick up Kiwi.  She is maybe 2-3 years old, spayed, in good health, and sweet-natured.  She is not very trained since her original owners just kept her in a garage all the time and didn't try to house break her or really do anything with her.  They finally turned her in to the San Jose Animal Shelter because they realized they were neglecting her.  Then the foster family took her for awhile and got her into better health.

Second, the concert yesterday was our best yet.  There were nine of us and six microphones, so the acoustics were perfect.  It was also indoors on a stage.  I could hear all the harmonies, and the sound man, the same one who did Thursday evening, was able to balance everything perfectly.  Everyone said we sounded fantastic.  Plus Mark found his SOJC t-shirt, so we all matched!

I had planned to post pictures of this today, but the blog website is acting funky and won't let me open the link to any pictures for some reason.  I might try again later to add them.

Third, when the doctor's office opens at 8 a.m., I will call and ask about being seen or at least getting a prescription and a scrip for a scan of some kind.  That's what she wanted me to do, so hopefully her office staff will facilitate this happening.  I never did get a fever again.  Yesterday didn't hurt too bad at all, but this morning it's definitely still there.  It's about the same as yesterday.  Since we are going on the cruise Thursday afternoon, I would really like to have antibiotics to take along with me.

Fourth, it's Weigh-in Monday.  I weigh 278.5, half a pound up from last Monday.  I ate out for lunch yesterday, and it was high sodium.  That was probably the reason for the slight gain.  It might not be gone tomorrow because we are having a kosher hot dog dinner at the Shalom Club tonight. More sodium! I didn't really try to diet too much today.  I ate out several times and exercised zero times.  That's what you get.  I am glad I'm only up a half.  It's a far cry from the excitement I felt after the last cruise, thinking that I had about six weeks between cruises and hoping to be down ten pounds before this week's cruise.  I did not do that at all, but I am down from the 283.2 that I weighed the day we got off the cruise ship on April 3.

I'll check back either later today or tomorrow to see if the picture posting link is functioning.  If it is, I will add pictures of Kiwi and the SOJC choir performance.

Shabbat rest at home.

Yesterday was lovely.  We tidied up the house for the cleaning people and then headed to the Cove for a picnic lunch.  We found friends Marilyn and Larry there, so we ate at Cheeks with them.  I brought my picnic back home and ordered the Garden Baked Potato instead.  Delicious.  Mark went to the library at 1, but the rest of us sat and talked at the table until 2:30.  I played in the pool by myself for a solid hour at that point, sat in the hot tub for ten minutes, and laid on a chaise in the sun until Mark came out at 4.  Then we went in the pool again for 25 minutes before heading home for Shabbat dinner.  Fabulous.

The only thing that wasn't fabulous is that I woke up yesterday with the same lower abdominal discomfort that I had at the end of August and again the week of Passover.  Both of those times it lasted exactly eight days, with days 3, 4, and 5 being the worst.  Because of that, we decided not to go to shut last night, which was the original plan, and not to go today either.  This morning, it's still hurting, but it hasn't gone into that sharp, focused pain on the lower left side like the previous two times.  I have a heavy feeling, an "out of sorts," "not quite myself," feeling.  I even took my temp last evening because I thought I was getting a fever, but I did not have one.  So far this morning, it's just like yesterday.

My primary care doctor suspects diverticulitis, which I did have once before in the early 2000s.  I actually went to the ER that time and was put on an antibiotic.  She wants me to get a CT scan while it's hurting.  It never got bad enough yesterday to call them, and of course now they are closed.  If the sharp pain starts tomorrow, then I'll call on Monday and try to get in for a CT scan right away somewhere.  And as I always tell Mark, if it gets REALLY bad, I'll go to an ER like I did before.

The last two times it happened, I know I had eaten popcorn.  That's what sent me to the ER the first time, and what probably set it off in August and April.  This time I did not eat any popcorn, but I did eat a LOT of cashews earlier in the week one afternoon.  So....could be those this time.

Well, of course, I'll keep you posted.  I am just hoping it goes away by Thursday because we are getting on the Carnival Victory to Bermuda that afternoon!

Tomorrow the SOJC choir is singing six songs at the Rosen JCC for another Israel Independence Day Celebration.  I actually have a solo in one of the songs, too, so there is NO not going there no matter how I feel!  Well, someone else could sing the solo.  The Rabbi could do it because there are three verses, and he's one of the verses.  He could do mine, too, but someone would have to give pitches and get them started.  Hopefully, no matter how I feel tomorrow, it won't prevent me from showing up with the group and getting through one more show.

Friday the 13th and a Full Moon!

If I was still teaching, I'd expect today to be a little crazy.  Glad I'm not teaching.

The SOJC choir's performance last night in Maitland at the JCC was pretty good considering the circumstances.  The choir did great, but the outdoor venue and sound system lacked a lot.  I doubt if we were really heard by very many.  There were people sitting in chairs listening, but the mikes weren't very good.  I had them cluster around the mikes, but it was hard.  Anyway, I think they sang great.  We are doing six songs on Sunday, so hopefully the sound system will do them justice there.

Today we will be at the Cove all afternoon.  That should be relaxing and fun, but then in the evening we are going to rush like crazy to have an early dinner and head out to shul for the guitar service.  This year the rabbi is playing guitar, and they are starting half an hour earlier, at 7, in order to be able to play more of the service.  Should be lovely.

We had dinner with Susan, Jonathan, and Tom at the kosher restaurant in Kissimmee after the performance.  That was also a lot of fun and more relaxing and easy to talk than if we had stayed at the festival.

Here are a few pictures from last night.