Closed in 2010 for renovations, historic Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC reopened today. Founded in 1887 this 68 acre park is one of many reasons Raleigh is considered one of the best cities in America to live. The City of Oaks is a city with an abundance of charming parks. But if you like a little nostalgic charm with your park, you’ll love the 1911 carousel. We had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Parr who had lovingly hand painted the animals on the carousel. Beautifully done, Lisa. Not enough? How about a cute little train you can ride around the scenic lake and park grounds? See it all in the video. Then plan your trip to the 16th oldest park in America.

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Later in the morning, Joy and Moku went with us on the boat. After his back surgery he isn’t allowed to jump. After I tied off the stern line I opened the gate to pick Moku up and put him on the dock. He wasn’t having it and squirted past me only to fall in the water between the boat and the dock. He had to swim under the dock and over to the “beach” on the other side to get out. He is fine, but Joy and I are both recovering from heart attacks.

“Hey good lookin’.  What you got cookin’?”  Yesterday, our church community group got together for an afternoon dedicated to one of my greatest interests – FOOD.  Chef Kyle came into the Deakles home and showed us how to prepare three entrées. In turn we showed him how to eat three entrées. It was an awesome afternoon well spent. But apparently all that food contributes to memory loss. I forgot to step on the scales this morning.

Enjoying playing with my camera’s settings.  The gardenia picture was composed to allow space on the left for icons on my desktop when I use it as a background.

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Even at 14 years of age, Rhapsody of the Seas is a good looking vessel. She was clean and well-maintained. On our Alaskan cruise, we opted for the stateroom we had envied on previous cruises. This was our first time in a junior suite – and it was sweet. Our center aft balcony provided us 180 degree views of everything our ship passed. The balcony itself was quite large, possibly 10′ x 14′. Underway, our deck was in the lee of the ship providing us with as much shelter has could be expected in outdoor Alaska. But most of the views could have been enjoyed from our nice little indoor sitting area. This was the first time we did not go to the Atrium pool to read. We did see many others enjoying that space as we passed through on our way from the Windjammer cafeteria to our stateroom. But that stateroom was just too attractive to leave alone.

At the 6pm “main” seating, we had great company. A cute young Mexican couple, both software engineers working in Houston; an Orange County Ph.D. candidate, his Columbian wife, who worked in medical software development, and their toddler; a Scot who had taken up citizenship in his long-time home of Australia and his Filipino wife; and a recently retired couple from Hong Kong whose children had taken over their import business. One of our favorite parts of every cruise are the wonderful people with whom we have a chance to talk. We also had the chance talk with two people from outside Oxford, and three generations of Cubans now living in Miami, during different meals in the Windjammer.