Update on my trip to the pearl market, first though - I bought my first sea pearl! Now, to be honest, before I lived here I really didn't know the difference between freshwater pearls and sea pearls, but holy smokes if you've ever felt a sea pearl (a much more rare cousin of the freshwater pearl) it feels like warm butter on toast! Literally, I'm not joking, the first time I felt one I said, "it feels like butter," as that was the most luxurious, similar thing that came immediately to my mind. Since I've learned more about these much more expensive and rare pearls, I decided that before I left here I had to get me at least one!
They sell them at the pearl market, but if a certain stall carries them, they're kept in a small safe that's bolted to the floor, and at any given time each place may only have 20 single (different colored) pearls at a time, to give you an idea of how special these are. If you were rich enough to be able to afford an entire strand of them, you'd have to special order them from Hong Kong. Most ladies here, though, have a single pearl mounted in a ring or as a pendant necklace.
My pearl was hand chosen by me, has only one tiny flaw, is gunmetal gray (it reminds me of the ocean on a dark, cloudy day), and over 11 mm. I'm going to put it into a ring after I get a design ready to take to the local jeweler here who specializes in just such things. It's going to be BEAUTIFUL!
So... that was a big deal :-).
Yesterday I didn't have any time to blog post as I literally spent 6-7 hours on the computer booking our hotels for our trip. There aren't a ton of chain hotels outside of the major cities, which required a lot of review reading and clicking on individual sites (only to get far into the process to realize they were booked as it's a popular time of year), so by the time Curt got home I was in a pretty foul mood. After a couple more hours this morning, I'm happy to say we have a place to lay our heads in each city, which is a lot to say as we're only staying in the same place 3 times (8 nights) for 20 nights - whew! We also have a car rental, and all of our major excursions lined up as well.
I can't wait to experience all of these things... a few highlights to look forward to reading about:
Australia:
Sydney: Koala Park Sanctuary, Bridge Climb
Melbourne: Driving the Great Ocean Road
Cairns: Diving the Great Barrier Reef on a 4-day liveaboard, which INCLUDES a low level flight back over the Great Barrier Reef to have a close bird's eye view! (crossing off an item on my life goal list - which was really just to SEE the reef, diving was always on the list but way farther down and more in the "maybe" category, so it wasn't as much of a given, if that makes sense, so now I kind of get to kill two birds with one stone!)
New Zealand:
Akaroa: Swim with Hector's Dolphins, the smallest dolphin species in the world - I believe they only live here in the whole world, so this will be amazing (crossing off an item on my life goal list)
Mt. Cook/Lake Tekapo: Helicopter Ride to Mount Cook with glacier landing (yes, just like the Bachelorette and this will be my first helicopter ride!)
There will also be lots of driving and other sightseeing in there as well... Curt and I really want to do something related to the Aborgines in Australia and the Maori people in New Zealand, and we've heard the Sydney Aquarium is a must see as well (one of the best in the world which I didn't know?) so we'll fit those in as well, I'm sure.
Should be something to remember for a lifetime...
In the meantime though, still stressing about Maverick. Mom had to take him to the emergency room last night as he was bleeding a lot on the outside, and then was bleeding internally as he had a blood pocket quickly pop up. Sigh... I believe there is no worse feeling than relying on someone the way I'm relying on my family at the moment for his care. Obviously no one likes to feel like they're burdening someone, and to be honest I don't know I've ever had this feeling in my life to this extent which is entirely unsettling - and heavy... I feel grateful that they love me enough to do this for me because any other alternative would be much, much worse, but I feel so awful at the same time.
I'm not sure I'll ever be able to serve my family in the way they are serving me now, but I know I will owe them all and will be on the lookout for ways to repay them. Hopefully, in the end, it will have been worth it if Curt and I get to come home soon, and if we have been able to prolong his life enough to be able to have plenty of time left with him. Loving something, or someone so much is always hard, I guess, whether it is a person, or in this case, a big ol' dog.
Funny story that cracked me up, though - here's part of Kendyl's nightly update from his first night home (she stayed the night with him in my room - don't I have the most amazing family?):
Mav was fine last night, didn't even get up at all that I noticed. He woke up really happy and wanted to go with me when I left. The wound doesn't seem to bother him at all. Last night Mom waited to give him his meds untl we got upstairs because they are supposed to make him woozy, so she brought up the 2 pills and a slice of cheese, and Mav kept spitting the ball of cheese out and sticking his tongue out like he was trying to get a disgusting taste out of his mouth... Mom had to go back down and get some peanut butter and fish out the pills and then he gobbled it right up! It was pretty funny!
Some back story there is that Cottonwood, Kendyl's dog that we had for many years LOVED cheese, and that's also how she received all of her meds. Maverick and Savannah, however, grew up with peanut butter glob birthday cakes, etc. and LOVED that, so I learned to use that for delivering meds as it works well for them?
I'm assuming Mom was just going with the less messy option as she thought it would work just as well. In truth, I would have though it would be fine, too - Maverick usually isn't picky but I guess he's never had cheese? And I guess he doesn't care for it, LOL! What's hilarious to me is that I can perfectly picture every person in this and they're faces, including Maverick's - I'm sure he was thinking, "What the heck is this stuff? Where's my peanut butter?!"
Anyway, we leave for our first stop, Bangkok, tomorrow morning... don't worry, just a quick stop over before we get to the land down under!
I'm going to try and blog regularly while we're gone - until then, G'day mates!
4 comments:
Have fun, don't forget Stanley, and try to talk to us as much as possible. The boys were asking to talk to you last night before bed!
Trooper is a cheese FANATIC! However, I can't use it to deliver meds as he will chew all of the cheese off and spit out the pill. When he flipped his stomach I had to learn how to administer his antibiotics with a syringe myself. He does get his arthritis pills with a giant glob of peanut butter on them though and they seem to go down just fine! Hope y'all have a fantastic trip. We'll keep Mav in our puppy prayers : ).
Mom Here.. Mav is ok - doing fine today. The pressure bandage has stopped the seepage. It is fluid with some blood as they explained last night. He now is sporting one of Tasha's pink T-shirts over the bandage. He is just sooo cute! Walks funny now and does not like the stairs with his bandage on. It hampers his range of movement on his front legs. He is now picking his pills out of the p-nut butter so another trick - crushed the pills, mixed in p-nut butter and then sandwiched between one his special doggie biscuit treats. That worked this morning, but I never know. He is a fast learner. No worries Tasha... have a great time on vacation!
Haha - too hilarious. I can see him doing that too! Have a great time down under and post lots of pics! Glad Maverick is OK.
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