Where In The World Have You Been?!!

Never in all my travels have I been so happy to be home after the most challenging contract ever! For the past 3 months I have been sailing the MS Ryndam on its ‘trial’ Mediterranean season. The company is trying to expand its European presence, which is why from August 28th to November 20th our ship stopped at 28 different ports of call, repeating each one no more than two times. Our itinerary included: Barcelona, Spain; Trapani, Italy; Valletta, Malta; Katakolon (Olympia), Greece; Corfu, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Naples, Italy; Cagliari, (Sardinia), Italy; Palma de Mallorca, Spain; Messina, Italy; Argostoli, Greece; Brindisi, Italy; Kotor, Montenegro; Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Livorno (Florence) Italy; Marseille, France; Malaga, Spain; Cádiz, Spain; Casablanca, Morocco; Agadir, Morocco; Ibiza, Spain; Monte Carlo, Monaco; Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy; Tunis, Tunisia; Tenerife, Canary Islands; Lanzarote, Canary Islands; Madeira, Portugal; Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Tampa, Florida.


To have visited such magnificent places (especially Tampa!) is a blessing under any circumstance, so complaining is not a part of the equation…but Holy Crap that was hard! Or rather, this was one wild ride with bumps and swells I could never have anticipated. That and extremely poor satellite internet are the primary reasons for not posting anything during this most eventful contract.


Now I’m home for the holidays and safely tucked into my Slanket. The turquoise blur of the past 3 months is slowly unraveling, revealing cohesive thought and great little stories. I thought I would put together a 'retrospective' of the fall Mediterranean itinerary. I am also currently in the midst preparing a trunk show featuring my paintings, photography, original greeting cards and decorative arts. This will be held at the Carlisle Historical Society in Carlisle, PA, on Saturday, December 17th. The image above is an 11"x14" acryllic painting that will be for sale at the show. I'll be back shortly with Tales From the Sea!