Sunday, July 26, 2015

Classic Scotland Cruise

Returned from Scotland about a week ago.  Jet lag and the flight took a toll this time, so my writing has lagged behind a bit.  Scotland is wonderful—people, location and history.  Checked all my boxes. 

IMG_3303This trip was aboard a barge.  Built in the 1930s as a working barge and renovated now as a luxury passenger vessel cruising the Scotland Caledonia canal.  But, the best part of the trip was the staff and other passengers—4 staff members and 8 passengers, and the Scotland Highlanders we met.  The two kilted fellows in the photo right were attending a wedding near our hotel in Inverness (our two days pre-trip).  “May we take your picture?”  With a laugh, they both replied, “Aye!”

IMG_3391The barge staff included Mick, our captain; Paul, tour director; Danni, host, and Sasha, the chef.  Each one with a story, personality plus, and outstanding service.  Let’s start with Danni and Sasha (Danni on the left, Sasha on the right).

Danni is 28 years old originally from Dublin, Ireland and an aspiring circus performer.  She attends specialized schools in the off-season to improve her craft.  Her skill includes a combination of dance and acrobat.  No doubt, we will see her in Cirque du Soleil some day.  Depending on her school location (this year will be Spain), she also teaches English to help pay for school.  Last year she was attending school in Argentina and teaching youngsters English (with an Irish accent, mind you).  She tells a story of setting up the movie, “Up”, for the kids—only they learned it from Danni pronounced as Ooop (the Irish way).  The headmaster was baffled what movie they were actually seeing until Danni showed him the DVD cover.

Sasha is the best cook I have ever encountered.  I gained five pounds in the 7 days we stayed on board.  Each meal was a classic Scottish dish, but with a modern twist, i.e., Haggis with a whisky reduction sauce.  Sasha hails from Slovakia and hopes to open a restaurant there someday.  I plan on going…

Tomorrow, I will highlight Day 1 on the cruise and introduce Mick and Paul.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Another Passing

SCAN0847Jackie was my best friend in junior high and most of high school.  Someone described her as a “spark”.  And she certainly was.  Athletic.  Energetic.  Big Blue Eyes with eyelashes out to there.  Tiny, standing a little over five feet and maybe 95 pounds soaking wet.  One early spring day, circa 1970, I took her as my guest on a family outing to Lehman Hot Springs in Oregon.  Still snow on the ground, she was the first one to jump on the slide; a slide covered with 2 feet of snow.  Down she went with snow exploding all around her and into the hot, steamy water.  I thought this girl was the coolest being walking the earth.  I adored her.

PicnicNDesert-1The last year of high school and beyond we grew apart.  Nothing went wrong; we just took different paths.  Only occasionally seeing one another.  A couple of years ago we reconnected online.  We now only lived less than 100 miles apart—so we promised to meet for lunch someday with a couple of other school friends.

Yesterday, I learned she died from cancer.  Never making it public—I never knew.  Always the picture of health, she maintained her trim, muscular figure and energy.  To say I was shocked is an understatement.  Although she has not been a close friend of late, she was such an important part of my life during those difficult adolescent years that a piece of me died yesterday,  too.  She was special and I will cherish her memory.  I love you, Jackie.

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