Disney Dream Cruise

Disney Dream and Bruce Malcolm

Our family recently took a  four night cruise from Port Canaveral, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas. We were very fortunate to have just missed Hurricane Sandy.  In fact, our ship, Disney Dream, was doing a bit of rocking on the last night.  (Thanks to Bonine, an anti-seasick over the counter pill recommended by my brother, Bob, a retired Navy chief, we all felt fine.)

We entered the Dream at Deck 3 mid-ship to discover a huge golden atrium with a sweeping royal blue carpeted staircase.  That's where our granddaughter, Ava, got the autographs from and had her picture taken with Princesses Snow White, Tiana, Ariel and Aurora. Below, Tiana is about to sign Ava's book.









Ava descending the royal staircase in her Cinderella wedding gown

 

The huge "magical porthole" of our cozy inside cabin showed a live feed from four cameras positioned around the exterior of the ship so we saw the same sights the cabins with real portholes saw. That was pretty spectacular and a fun surprise. Talk about ship-shape, all 14 decks of Dream, inside and out, were in pristine condition. They were so well tended, Bruce and I tried hard to find a piece of trash, a nick, a scratch. We found nothing.  While we were docked in Nassau, the Disney crew could be seen hanging from scaffold, touching up the exterior paint! And the marble flooring was polished to a fine fare-thee-well.







Mickey Mouse and Goofy and the gang below performing at our bon voage party on deck

 

 Donald and Daisy Duck

 

Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck

 

Our third night out was all about pirates.  On our beds, we found pirate scarves to wear and, of course, Bruce aka Captain Fancy Patch, attended the event wearing his decorated eye patch, garnering lots of compliments. At dinner that night,  the wait staff dressed the part  as well. 

Captain Hook in pirate show on deck

 

We chose the early seating for dinner and each night the same servers tended us with warmth, grace and humor.  By the end of the cruise,  my usual,  water with lemon and Splenda sweetener, was ready and waiting for me.  We were greeted with a bow or curtsy in the Royal Palace and the menu was written in calligraphy and sealed with wax. Several glass slippers were visible if you took the time to look. 

fancy chocolate sweetie w/ Mickey head

Once the green iron gates of the Enchanted Garden opened, we entered the airy and trellised restaurant, inspired by the beautiful Versailles gardens.The walls were transformed with lavish lighting from day to dusk.  This lush conservatory has glass floral fixtures which changed into fans.  A seven-foot statue of Mickey as Cupid is the focal point of the fanciful room. From a huge framed "aquarium" on the wall in Animator's Palace, a live action talking turtle conversed with Ava, calling her by name, and commenting on her shiny shell.  She was wearing a sparkling princess gown.  Oh, the butter knife was in the shape of a flat paint brush! The food everywhere on board was very good and far too much and the presentation was perfection. When ketchup was requested for Ava's fries, the server strategically plopped three blobs on the plate to make a Mickey head! 

kid's meal with Mickey head in ketchup

Entertainment was vast.  Each night after dinner, in the Walt Disney Theater,  was a Broadway style musical show, the final one complete with a flying Peter Pan and waltzing princesses and princes.  (No filming was permitted.)  Ava's favorite was Villains Tonight, a fun array of the  Disney bad guys and gals we enjoy so much.  The Aqua Duck, is the first on-board water-coaster ever! Two people to a raft and off you go in a  clear  acrylic tube that propels you 150 feet above the ocean!  After Mickey's pirate party and before more adult pirates had their show on deck, fireworks blasted overhead keeping in rhythm to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean theme song, naturally.  We heard that sometimes ships from other cruise lines pull near Disney's ships so their guests can enjoy the fireworks since they are too expensive to provide.  True?  I only know that in the near distance on the vast ocean, I did see other ships... 

another cruise ship nearby on the ocean

 

daughter Barbra, in red, and Ava, in white, whirl away the night

 

Then there was a very clever techno detective game for the whole family.  You searched all 14 decks to find brass plates in the floor. Once found, you stood on the plate and pointed your magic card at the framed picture  before you.  As it interacts with your card, it talks and gives clues about who stole the missing puppies. We took an official tour of the ship and details were pointed out we would have missed.  We saw the first run movie Frankenweenie, in 3-D, too.  Oh, and they had an animation session which Ava and I attended. Below is my drawing of Mickey's head.  Very easy really.  Now, Donald Duck was a bit more complicated what with his beak and sailor's cap.

Jane Marie's version of Mickey.  His ears are a bit uneven.

As an optional port adventure, we took a bus tour of Nassau and then strolled through the beautiful aquarium of Atlantis.

Atlantis

 

tunnel aquarium at Atlantis

 

We snorkeled in Castaway Cay's lagoon, Disney's private island.  I overheard my daughter, Barbra, say, "Mom's really proud of herself," and I am.  The last time I snorkeled was when I was a little kid with a plastic tube in our family kiddie pool.  Besides the vibrant blue, yellow and zebra patterned fish, the sting rays and "sunken ships" were fun to find. I felt like a Jame's Bond girl, my arms against my sides, my flippered feet propelling me forward, my masked face submerged to see the sights below.  But what I'll keep with me always is the feel of the touch of Barbra's hand over mine as she guided and guarded her mother in the Caribbean waters.

Jane Marie snorkeling

 





From shuffleboard to relaxing on canvas deck chairs,  if we didn't do it all, we sure did try.  

shuffleboard 

 

Reminds me of Breelan and Nora on the deck chairs
 of the Gentle Comfort in The Goodbye Lie set in 1882...
http://www.greenlightwrite.com/homegraciousjanemarie.htm

 

Some folks can't imagine sailing with all those kids--Well, if you've ever been to Disneyland or Disney World, it was just like that.  There were families so there were as many adults as children.  It was so well organized, the only line we had to wait in was for the elevator when a show let out.  TIP:  No matter if you want to go up or down on the elevator, when it's crowded, get on the first available because sooner or later, if it's going up, it will come back down, etc.  The secret is to just get on! 

Adult offerings are a-plenty.  Two top-notch restaurants are on the upper decks and there is an adults- only pool and several really slick bars.  You can watch the shows with everyone, ride the Aqua Duck, play bingo, take cooking lessons or stay isolated.  When they say a Disney cruise is not just for kids, they mean it.

As for most people, our cruise aboard Disney Dream was an event of a lifetime.

For lots more photos and videos of Dream, check out
http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/



Sleepy covered chocolate on our bed waiting for us

Our pillow read: A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep...









a quote...

This is for anyone who is thinking about not voting. "One of the penalties of not participating in politics is that you will be governed by your inferiors." Plato

Meet Royalty

Yes, dear friends, you are in the presence of royalty, albeit, in our minds.  At my recent bunko party, everyone was to dress up as royalty, on a shoestring, so there is more money for our subjects. Two free decorated Burger King crowns, left-over ribbon from our daughter's wedding more than a decade ago, glue and glitter, a dart board and just look at the result. Meet the:

 

the Queen of Darts & the King of Farts

Ryan on Amelia Island, FL

Vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan will speak at 1:30 pm tomorrow, Monday, October 29th, 2012, at our Main Beach on the Atlantic Ocean.  This is a big deal for little old Fernandina- and I mean little (2 1/2  x 13 miles) and old (we have a Victorian district on the National Register of Historic Places) as a compliment.  If you can make it, stop on by!

Goodbye Lie Diaries - Making the Mark

Grandmother Peeper's Egg Pie & Jane Marie's Quiche

1880s
Fernandina on Amelia Island, Florida

Grandmother Peeper writes:  I've had many a ree-quest fer my egg pies. Mix eggs, nacherly, milk, cheese and ham. Bake  'um half the hour in a medium hot oven lessen you git a burnt crust.  Breakfast, dinner and supper, any time is the right time ta be served a wedge.  Add some a the fruit a the season ifn' ya don't have a hateful Aunt Noreena around who is worse at stealing your crops than them rabbits from the woods. Eat hearty!





2012
Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida

Jane Marie writes:
Peeper, your egg pie sounds delightful so, with your permission, I'll have you serve it to your Dunnigan family in Mark of a Man, my next novel, set in your 1898 time.

I make something similar.  Below is my version  we call quiche.

You will need:
2 frozen regular pie shells
6 eggs
1 cup light sour cream
8 ounces 2% sharp cheddar cheese
2 think slices of lean ham, chopped
1/4 cup no fat milk
green onions, chopped, optional

Spice for first pie:
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, more or less, depending upon how strong you like your garlic

Spice for second pie:
1 small can green chillies

Poke each shell all over with a fork so it won't puff up during pre-baking for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Let cool while mixing filling.

Pie Filling:
Beat eggs, sour cream, cheese, milk, and ham together.  Separate evenly into two separate bowls. To the first bowl, stir in the garlic powder.  To the second, stir in the green chilies. Fill cooled pie shells with mixtures and bake for 45 to 50 minutes at 325 degrees until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It may be necessary to cover edge of crust with aluminum foil to prevent browning too much.  Serve warm and refrigerate leftovers.  Reheat for moments in the microwave to avoid a soggy crust.
                                       

ham, cheese and garlic powder

ham, cheese and chopped green chilies

Book Title

I've got a great title for a book on etiquette.  I'll call it Pass the Please.  Of course, it will have to wait until Mark of a Man is out next year and then Sand and Sin and then Jubilee Junket and then my Martha Bear stories.  As my brother Bob says, "I'll add it to the list... "

Goodbye Lie Diaries - A New One to Peeper

2012
Fernandina Beach, Florida

Jane Marie writes:  I was asked, "What can I do to keep my new kitty from running away from my house?"

Cricket, from Virginia, wrote to me with an old wives' tale that just might work. Put a little bacon grease on the bottom of the kitty's feet. Let the cat out the door and walk down the sidewalk to clean his paws. After you've bandaged where he's clawed you, he'll be ready to follow the scent of the bacon and return home!

***
1880s
Fernandina, Florida    

*Grandmother Pepper writes: Woo-howdie!  That's a new one on me.  Don't think I'll be atryin' that trick any time soon though.  I got me enuf cats. Fact is, I got too many cats.  Hmm. Let me give that some more thinkin'. Yup.  I'll fry me up some bacon tomorra, dip a couple a cats in it and set 'um on Aunt Noreen's doorstep.  I'll be alistenin' for her hollerin' across the yard.  Won't take long! 

*Grandmother Peeper and Aunt Noreen are featured players in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie Trilogy. As you might guess, they don't get along- at all!

Happy 13th Anniversary to Us

My wonderful sister, Nancy Kamp, and I are celebrating our 13th year as website partners.  A celebration of heart and home with roses, recipes and romance, GraciousJaneMarie.com, has been a rewarding passion for us. We want to thank our friends, and will continue our efforts to entertain you as we entertain ourselves. Enjoy!

Jane Marie   

 

www.GraciousJaneMarie.com

since 1999 - division of greenlightwrite.com

where no niche is good niche

 

  A little history:

 

How We Changed Our Logo

This was our original logo.

One Brand, Multiple Solutions™ Nancy Kamp's greenlightWRITE.com Freelance Writing: On Target, On Time™

Not many people liked it, and they let us know so we began a quest for a new logo.

This was Nancy's early favorite:

One Brand, Multiple Solutions™

Nancy Kamp's greenlightWRITE.com

Freelance Writing: On Target, On Time™

Then Jane Marie came up with a bunch of great designs we haven't been able to copy and paste here or anywhere for bizarre technical reasons. (We couldn't figure out how to do it because of interference by the Northern Lights.)

However, NancygreenlightWRITE."

But Jane Marie wasn't really satisfied. She came up with a logo that didn't scream, "I can make tables and not much else."

"No more changes!" Nancy Kamp, October 22, 2001. Ha!

 

At the top of this page is our current and favorite logo.

NAVY JAZZ

We spent the afternoon enjoying the U.S. Navy Dixieland Band today at Amelia Park. Chairs in the shade, greats eats and toe-tapping tunes from their blistering brass band left the crowd cheering!  This was the kick-off for the week long Jazz Festival here on Amelia Island.  For info, 904 504-4772 or www.ameliaislandjazzfestival.com.

 

bugs, bugS, BUGS!

I don't know what they are but these cream colored little suckers were everywhere this morning--on our clothes, in our hair, in our ears... At least they're not biting like the tiny "flying jaws" we have around here. Bruce asked me, if I had to do it over, would I still want to walk to and from church through them?  "Yes, sir," I answered.  "When you weigh everything, bugs and all, the palm trees and ocean are the clear winners.  Besides, we are human, hear us complain.  So, it just gives us one more reason to grumble." Shame on us- well, me. Let's hear it for the bugs!

Year of Living Graciously - October

Find a forgotten treasure in your home

 and display it!

Feels Like Fall

The kids are back in school.  The weather is just beginning to feel a tish cooler.  The beaches are practically desserted these days. The summer tourist bustle is over. The daylight hours are shrinking.  It sure feels like fall on Amelia Island!

 

Veterans' Memorial Park

September 30, 2012 was the groundbreaking and dedication of Veterans' Memorial Park on Atlantic Avenue in Fernandina Beach, Florida. The location is where the original 1940 American Legion Post 54 log cabin used to stand. This cabin was demolished due to rot and termites. (A new Post 54 has since been built on American Legion Way in town.) The strong stone chimney still there serves as a monument to our military. Boy Scouts are laying a brick sidewalk to earn Eagle Scout honors and engraved paving bricks will be sold for $50 to complete the area surrounding the site.  Stay tuned to see how the park develops.  It's a fine thing to honor our veterans for honor is given from the heart. 

 

American Legion Post 54 Chaplain Bruce Malcolm giving opening prayer

( note the round holes in the stone chimney where the logs from the cabin wall used to be)

 

 

 

plaque on front of chimney

Local Authors' Marketplace

Today was a gathering of local authors sponsored by Maggie DeVries of Books Plus in Fernandina Beach, Florida.  It's always fun to catch up with other writers, hear how their next book is progressing, what shows and signings they've done, ideas on marketing, etc.  Even more fun than that is, of course, meeting readers!

I sat next to  Lt. Colonel Richard B. (Dick) Lewis, a WWII bomber pilot who has written Angel on my Wing, a true story of his 35 combat missions in the 8th Air Force  as a pilot with the 493rd Bomb Group in 1944.  What a treat for me.  I'm known as the Questionmeister and the poor guy endured all my queries.  His book is available at Books Plus, http://www.booksplusamelia.com/.

Spanish American War Reenactors

Once a month, Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida has reenactors. They are usually dressed in Civil War period costumes.  Recently, they represented the Spanish American War of 1898.  As it happens, 1898 in Fernandina is the setting of my upcoming book Mark of a Man, the third novel in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie Trilogy.  I took over 200 photos, the best to use in MM's promotional video. There is so much history here.  Below are a few of the pictures of this beautiful place.


approaching Forth Clinch

                                       

soldiers posing

 

belt buckle

 

jail cell with daylight

 

 

 

"Fire!"

 

Red Cross nurses on duty

watching the gun demonstration

 

chow time

 

officers' dining

 

arch tunnel

 

drawbridge

Same Old Word

If I've commented upon this before, then just consider this re-emphasis.  Why is it so many people, famous and not so famous, are reduced to describing something that is great, wonderful, marvelous, fabulous, astounding, and/or astonishing by only one word? Yup, all "everybody" says these days is, "That's amazing.  It's amazing." And, "Amazing."  Just tune in your ears and listen.  No only do celebrities and commentators say it over and over in an interview, but now it has invaded the masses.  Sure, there was "cool, swell, great, the bee's knees, cool beans, right on." Those words have mostly come and gone, although there are still a few holdouts who particularly like the word swell. (I shall remain nameless.) But come on, folks.  It's time to pull out the old thesaurus and come up with another positive word besides amazing.  If I never hear it again, well, that would be amazing!

Goodbye Lie Diaries - A Wonderful Gift

Jane Marie writes:

 

I had to share. A new friend, Mirina, made this beautiful double-layered yarn cross for me. It's about nine inches long which had to have taken her hours and hours to create.  She told me she couldn't find blue tipped flowers so took a magic marker and colored the edges of all the blossoms to match the blue border.  It is a gift I  will treasure always.

 

***
1880s
Fernandina - Grandmother Peeper writes:

I make yarn crosses, too, but mine is crocheted and they's smaller.  I don't have no flowers on mine. Come ta think a it, that's a good idee. And the ribbon- I like that part. Who says this old dog cain't learn no new tricks.  Like the ant said ta the clock- If'n ya don't rest your hands, ya won't be able ta dust the table! Remember that.

Another Anniversary

Each September 11th,

 we recall with great sadness

the events of that tragic day.

Out of it has come a determination to

remember those lost

 and those who took them from us. 

 God bless the innocent always.

 

Once Upon a Time in America

 

Happy Grandparents Day



     In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the first Sunday after Labor Day to be National Grandparents Day. So, today is that day!

      If you are a grandparent, enjoy your day. I hope you can spend it with your grandchild in some fashion, be it in person, by phone, Skype, etc. If you are a grandchild, contact your grammy and/or grampy if you can. They'll love it because grandchildren, no matter their ages, are baby angels on earth! Enjoy!

  

 

    

Refrigerator art is a forever treasure
 when created by a child who loves you.
 

 

Year of Living Graciously - September

Play with your pet, starting now.  Don't take for granted that your pet's ultimate joy is watching you and your life go by without being included. Spend some one-on-one time each day throwing a ball, tossing single pieces of kitty-crunchies out for fetching, etc.  You know what will make your pet extra happy, so do it!  It will make you happy, too.

Ingenuity?

The latch on the gate into our courtyard is broken again. All the pieces are there but it doesn’t line up or something technical like that. Because of either the myriad of visitors we have to stately Martha Manor or the ocean wind banging the gate shut and bending the latch, it is now time to replace the closure. Over the years, my husband Bruce has cobbled, excuse me, repaired many a latch.  Being a mechanical mastermind, as he likes to refer to himself, this time the solution requires no grease, no hammer, no screwdriver, no saw and no ax. This time he uses a spatula! Yes, insert the spatula under the latch and lift. Easy as that!

 

In the event the spatula blows off the top of the nearby column where he keeps it for easy access, then he suggests you come prepared with your own spatula in hand. To prevent the flapjack flipper from falling into the bushes or the visiting kitties, Oddie or Odette, from carrying it off for a hearty breakfast of their own, I mentioned he, Bruce, might attach it to a piece of yarn. Not being his own idea, he is considering it. Having the sense of urgency of a glacier, Bruce is otherwise occupied with the repair to the torn holes in the plastic shower curtain liner. You know, where the shower curtain rings go through to hang the thing on the rod. We are now up to three torn holes as he ponders the answer. From the grapefruit knife to the rubber squeegee, whatever he comes up with, I proudly declare, "I recognize a genius when I see one!”