Dear Edward

 

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Twelve-year-old Edward and his family are on a plane on their way to a new life when the plane crashes. Edward is the only survivor. It is story about grief. I liked all of the characters and watched as each worked through their grief in their own way. I thought it was interesting, and maybe mostly unnecessary that the author also tells the background story of many of the people on the flight. It is not an action-packed story at all, but it is a thought-provoking one. I liked it.

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Samuel Illustrates Our Whale Adventure

 Our grandson Samuel is very artistically talented.  The other night during Come Follow Me study he illustrated our whale watching adventure.  He draws freehand without looking at a picture.  We think he is pretty amazing.

Our Whale Watching Adventure

 One of the main reasons we wanted to go on this cruise was to see whales up close.  We went whale watching in Alaska, but there were rules there.  You couldn't get closer than 200 yards from a whale.  It was fun, but not as close as I was hoping.  But in Mexico- there are no rules.  Well, they probably have the same rules, but no one obeys them.  So we got off the boat in Cabo San Lucas and immediately hired someone to take us on a water taxi.  The salesman lead us to his boat on the wharf and then left to find more customers. There were many boats lined up, some with customers in them.  Each boat holds eight people.  So, we were sitting in the boat all by ourselves, though there were other customers waiting in nearby boats.  Gradually we realized we were moving.  We were going out to sea.  A guy in the boat next to us shouts, "You are floating away! " He gets the attention of one of the boat captains who leaps from boat to boat to get onto ours .  By then we had floated almost to where he couldn't have got on.  He started the motor and backs us back to the wharf.  They hadn't tied up the boat!  He tied up the boat.  But, by then,  I was in panic mode.  I am the LEAST adventurous person on the planet.  No, really I am.  It took a lot of courage for me to decide to go on this tour.  And then this happens. "I'm getting off."  "I can't do this."  I was in panic mode.  But just then the guy comes back with six more customers for our boat.  So I have to tone down my panic.  I was embarrassed.  Two of the couples were obviously together.  We asked where they were from.  "Gilbert, Arizona!"  We have family in Gilbert!  They asked where we were from.  "St. George, Utah" We know people there- the Hintons.  In fact, they are staying on our house right now."  "Mark Hinton?"  "Yes!"  "He's my brother!."  Both couples knew Mark and Kathy well and started telling all of their connections with them.   Now I was really embarrassed I panicked in front of them.

Well, our captain came back and we were on our way on our adventure.  And what an adventure it was!  Like I say, there are no rules in Mexico.  So, we go out to where the whales were.  There were about 20 boats like ours out there.  As soon as a whale surfaced, all 20 boats gunned their motors and surrounded the surfaced whales.  Everyone was taking pictures, of course.  The whale would go down, and all the boats just sat there waiting and watching.  Then another whale or whales would surface and all 20 boats would gun and go, drenching all the customers.  We were so close to those whales!  

This picture was taken in my miserable, panic phase.

These are the fun people from Gilbert.- the Jepsons and Ellworths They really were nice.

Look at this!  Can you believe how close!

Finally one of them showed us his tail.

Okay, I finally relaxed and enjoyed this adventure of a lifetime.

We had to laugh.  This was the advertised "glass bottom boat."

Our new friends.  It was so fun to get back on our ship and text Mark and Kathy these pictures!

The tunnel between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific.

Tourists having a fun day on the beach.

Seals barked us welcome as went back to the wharf.  
What a great adventure!  But now I'm done.  No more whale watching for me!

The Lincoln Highway

 

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Fiction. Audiobook.
This was a DNF for me. I thought it was going to be good at first. But then, one after the other, the characters that were supposed to be friends kept cheating and stealing from one another. When the “pastor” started bilking the little boy out of his precious coin collection, I said I was through. That was about a third of the way in. So I didn’t finish it.


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Cruising the Mexican Riviera

 Ken and I took a week and went on a fun cruise in the Mexican Riviera on January 31- February 8.  We like to go on on Princess Cruise Lines.  It is a cruise we have done many times before.  This time we flew to LA rather than drive, as we usually do.

LA cruise port

As soon as we got settled in our room, I found the steward and asked where the library was.  His answer was the saddest sentence I have heard, "This ship has no library."  One of the things I most look forward to on cruises is going to the library.  I bring books that I have read in my suitcase to donate, hoping I will find others I want to take with me.  I was so sad!  I had brought plenty to read while on the cruise (as you may have noticed with all of my recently posted book reviews on here,) but I was hoping to find good books to take home.  I instead took home my books that I planned to donate and have since shared in little free libraries here in town.

As always, the food was delicious; the service superb.

We had a lovely private table by a window each night for dinner.

As we approached Cabo San Lucus, we saw many whales.

These boats were all gathered around whales that had come up.

If you look amongst the boats you can see them.

This whale was right by us- this picture taken from our balcony.

See him?

After going ashore by tender, we hired a water taxi to take us whale watching.  We saw many whales.  I'll post just a few pictures here, but it was such an interesting experience that I will do a separate post about it after this one.

That evening, after dinner, we sat out on our balcony and watched the gorgeous sunset.  It was a highlight of the cruise. The weather was perfect and the company superb.

We saw beautiful sunsets out our dining window as well.

Ken got up early many mornings and went walking up on the top deck.  One morning he got beautiful photos of the sunrise.

One evening we went to this show.  She sang ABBA songs and was really good.

Shopping area in Matzatlan.

We wore masks on the flights and a lot times on the ship as well, but to no avail.  Yes, that is foreshadowing.

Despite getting sick after, it was a wonderful and relaxing trip.