Friday, January 28

We have been very busy since returning from the cruise. It seems that everyday is overly full. I am ready for it to slow down a bit. It has been fun though. Today I played pool from 9:00 to 1:00 to determine who goes to the valley olympics. It isn't me but it took 13 games to determine that! I thought it would take 3. Then we went to Mercedes to watch Marlene K. throw bean bags in a competition when Butch returned from his golf game. Weekends do slow down some and I am ready for some weekend slowdown. Till next time...Smile!

Wednesday, January 26

Webshots of Cruise

Webshots Community - barbie1943's Photo Home Page
Butch's brother Leo is a CPA in Jefferson Iowa and he tells me we can do our taxes online from down here on a secure site and it will cost less than that H & R company. We plan to do it this way this year.

Monday, January 24

Cozemel Mexico was our first stop on the cruise. It was very commercial, of course. I managed to get us stuck in a timeshare talk that ate up an hour and half of our time. We did get two blankets, a hammock, a bottle of tequila and a wild and free taxi ride for our trouble.Smile!
A beautiful view on Roatan
Another scavenged shipwreck
A shipwreck off the coast of Roatan. They scavenge iron from the shipwrecks around the island
The pier at Roatan Honduras
Hibiscus in Roatan Honduras

Butch with a Roatan dancer. They wear womens clothing because many years ago when a war started they were going to kill all men so they wore womens clothing and started a tradition.
Looking down on the festivities from above. This was shortly after our arrival on the ship.
With dancers at Roatan Honduras
Greeted by dancer in Cozemel Mexico.
When we would return to our stateroom at night sometimes we would find a 'pet'.
Our ship...the Norwegian Sea, the smallest and oldest in their line of ships. She goes to Europe in July. She still looks healthy.
I was fascinated with these hovering pelicans trying to get someone else to fix dinner!
I loved this shot of Butch going nose to nose with a dolphin. We were there close to closing and the only people in the place at the time.
Then we visited the Texas State Aquarium where this sea turtle seemed to have an interest in us.
We started our trip in Corpus Christi touring the US Lexington Aircraft Carrier.
We are back!!! And here is something good friends Bill and Bev G. sent that I knew we all would enjoy. Fender Skirts:

What a great blast from the past! I haven't thought about "fender skirts" in years. When I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term. Made me think of a car in a dress.

Thinking about "fender skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice.

Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs." Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.

Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency brake."

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the "running board" up to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "worldwide" for granted. This floors me.

On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.

When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being in a family way" or simply "expecting."

Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now. "Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.

It's hard to recall that this word was once said in a whisper -"divorce." And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. Certainly not a "gay divorcee." Come to think of it, "confirmed bachelors" and "career girls" are long gone, too.

I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered "movie" an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffeemaker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and "ElectraLuxe." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"

Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening their kids with castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most - "supper." Now everybody says "dinner." Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

Someone forwarded this to me, and I thought some of us of a "certain age" would remember most of these