Sunday Stealing . . .Sunday Stealing . . .Sunday Stealing!

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Manic Monday. Stolen from a blog that alas, is no more.

1) What's the longest you've gone without sleep? Let's see . . .which time? I remember going bowling at midnight and not going to bed at all (when I was younger). I remember when our twins were born, I went 10 weeks with no more than two hours sleep per night. Also, when we travel to places like Israel . . .I might doze a little on the airplane but sometimes we don't go to bed for over 24 hours.

2) What was the highlight of your last week? I was FaceTiming with our daughter and youngest granddaughter on Saturday and as we were ending the call, that sweet one year old blew kisses to me.

3) You have to give a 10-minute speech to a group of high school students. What's your topic? I'm actually writing a five minute speech for my Speech 106 class. I don't think I would give it to high school students because it is on breweries! I'm not sure what I would talk to high school students about. Maybe I would share an abbreviated version of my life story with them. They might be bored!

4) What is the single best decision you've ever made in your life? Wow - I don't think I can narrow it to one. Let's see . . . Love God. Love People. All People. That is a big one. I'm glad I made the decision to marry Mark. I'm glad I made the decision to go back to work 21 years ago. I'm glad we made the decision to have children. I'm glad we made the decision to purchase this house. I'm glad I made the decision to go back to school.

5) If you could ask a coworker, friend or family member a question and be guaranteed an honest answer, who would you choose and what would you ask? I have no idea.

6) Do you cook for yourself when you're home alone? If I'm by myself, I might fix a lean cuisine or heat up a can of soup or make a sandwich. I might pick up a salad or zap some left-overs. I guess if I didn't have any of those options, I might cook for myself.

7) Do you most often access the internet from your computer, your phone, or your smart watch? I use both my computer (laptop) and my phone. I don't usually access the internet from my watch. 

8) Do you have more email addresses or phone numbers? For myself? or from others? I have a lot of both.

9) What's the biggest source of anger in your life right now? Injustice in the world 

10) Mondays make me feel _________________. Monday Monday Monday! I actually like my job. Sometimes I am very tired on Monday mornings.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

 

E is for Ephesus

 

We feel very blessed that we were able to visit Ephesus and walk where the Apostle Paul walked. We were in Ephesus in October of 2024.

To get to Ephesus, you go right at the traffic light and then left at the old building -- just kidding! Actually, we were on a ship and our ship docked at Kusadasi.

Just in case you don't know, Ephesus is where the Apostle Paul had a two year ministry and where the disciple John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, are supposedly buried. Back in those days, Ephesus was the fourth largest city in the world, with a population of more than 250,000 people!!

Tourism is their big money maker these days!

Ephesus is one of the most well preserved ancient classical cities in the eastern Mediterranean. Ephesus was an important seaport as early as 600 BC. Today, the original harbor has filled in with silt and the city is actually several miles inland.

Ephesus is one of those ancient cities you can visit . . .and while you are there, the tour guide will show you a replica of how the city used to be. I think that is so cool! 

The day we were in Ephesus, the weather was amazing! Good weather makes sight seeing so much more enjoyable!

The Temple of Hadrian - everything in the city is not
about Christianity. Places like Ephesus
have much history!

This is some of our tour group!

Look at those gorgeous mosaics (floor)

the theater

I love thinking about all of the people who lived and walked, who had families in places like Ephesus and I truly feel so blessed to have walked those same streets.

There is so much more to Ephesus that what I've posted. I don't want to bore people . . .because I could truly geek out with all sorts of information!!

D is for Dogs and Cats in Other Countries

 

Everywhere we have traveled, we have been surrounded by stray dogs and cats. What is so interesting is that none of these animals appear malnourished! They roam around and different folks feed them and give them water.

I wondered if in the U.S., people just have more pets but according to some statistics I found online, the U.S. is not even first in the world in pet ownership. Latin America has the most pets and Russia has more than the U.S. I was shocked.

When we were visiting the pyramids, we were surprised at the number of stray dogs in the desert. I found this article online . . .you might not want to read it. The dogs we saw looked like well-fed strays. The article does point out that there is garbage piled up on all the streets and so the dogs can find food to eat - from the trash.

Of course, when I started reading articles like this one . . .I went down the rabbit hole. I did borrow this picture from the article. 

I thought I had a picture of a camel with dogs around, but I can't find it! But I do have this one from the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities.

AI shared this with me about him (above) The black dog or jackal-headed statue in the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, specifically the one found in King Tut's tomb, represents the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, associated with mummification, the afterlife, and the cemetery. 

I do have these pictures of cats from our most recent trip in October 2024 -- cats in Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. The top one is my favorite. We were leaving a restaurant and Mr. (or Miss) Kitty jumped through a window and up onto a table to lick the fish bones clean!

This one reminded me of Harvey and I love how they casually lie around the ancient ruins!

These kitties were in an open air restaurant and I may have fed them most of my lunch. One of them was a nursing mama and she needed some food.

Do you have a cat or dog? If so, does your pet stay inside or outside? What is your pet's name?

C is for Culture - sometimes different from our own!

 

Day three -- the letter C. 

Deep South in the United States vs. Egypt

When we were in Egypt, I did notice the difference in our cultures. In my Speech 106 class this semester, we've actually been talking about the differences in cultures and how those differences would affect a zoom call or a business meeting. Thinking about the cultural differences in communication made me remember a difference I noticed when we visited Egypt.

We visited a rug factory and they had gorgeous rugs BUT some of the weavers, who were working with a blade, were so young. Our oldest granddaughter is 9 and I feel certain that the "star worker" was about her age. If you google, "What age can a child go to work in Egypt?" you will find all sorts of articles and papers. Most of those articles report that to work, a child must be 15 which is similar to the U.S. I did find one site that said a child of 13 could be in a training program. I did find a paper (cited at the bottom) that shows there were children working at a much younger age in 2010 and I imagine there are still younger children working.

I know that if a child grows up on a farm in Alabama, they are probably helping to feed and water the animals from a very young age, but in 2025, those children who live on a farm are enrolled in a local school or they are home-schooled. Someone in our group did ask our tour guide about the children who were weavers and they were told that the children work in the factory for half a day and go to school for half a day. We did see signs of severe poverty in many areas and we did discuss amongst ourselves the fact that it might be more important for a child to have a trade vs an education. We can't make a judgement call on the culture of another country UNLESS we have lived in their shoes.

I found this article written by an Egyptian journalist that is very interesting. His article shares that in some families, the children are the main wage earners.

I found another article about a student named Abdelhalim who has lived back and forth between the U.S. and Egypt. He says that one of the main cultural differences between the U.S. and Egypt is this -- Americans are very individualistic; Egyptians have a stronger sense of family and community. He said that Americans live for themselves.

I definitely think it is interesting to compare and contrast our cultures. I think there are probably good things about every culture in the world.

Where have you traveled that you noticed a big difference in their culture vs. the culture in the U.S.? Or if you live outside the U.S. and have traveled to the U.S., what cultural differences have you noticed? I've always heard that Americans are perceived as loud and rude in other countries. I imagine that might be true quite often. Mark has realized that other cultures don't value his sense of humor. If you ever meet him, you should ask him about joking with security in an airport in Germany!!

Some information from: 2010 Report - Working Children in Egypt 

B – Bosphorus Strait: Where Europe Meets Asia on Water – A cruise through one of the world’s most strategic waterways.

 

B is all about the Bosphorus Strait which I actually had to google while we were on our trip!! Are you familiar with the Bosphorus Strait? 

According to Worldatlas.com, “Bosphorus Strait is one of the few straits that act as a boundary between two continents and at the same time divides a country into two portions. It has played an important role in politics, commerce, and European history.”

It is evidently the narrowest strait in the world and measures just a little over 2 miles at its widest. I'm writing from Alabama . . . so I converted kilometers to miles (3.7 to 2.29 - someone let me know if my calculation is not correct).

The Bosphorous Strait is a boundary between Europe (Turkey) and Asia and I thought it was so cool when they told us we would be standing on two different continents in one day!

As you can see, from the map above, The Bosphorus Strait (which I just noticed is spelled Bosporus like in ancient Greece!) connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea. Just FYI - I also had to google Sea of Marmara while on the trip.

This is why I love to travel. I see parts of the world I know nothing about and learn something new about a very strategic waterway and the land around it.

The water was very calm. We left port and traveled at night so we didn't get to see much of the scenery - we were asleep!

The Bosphorus played and still plays such a strategic role in commerce and politics, too. This is from the WorldAtlas.com site, too: "Its control has been a subject of conflicts, including the Russo-Turkish War and the Battle of Gallipoli. In the 5th Century BC, it facilitated grain export from Scythia to Athens and allowed the Greek city to maintain an alliance with several other cities, including Byzantium and Megarian. In the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire constructed a fortification on both sides of the strait; Rumelihisari and Anaduluhisari. The increasing European influence over the strait in the 19th century led to the coding of rules governing its use."

Here are some photos of the Strait while we were still in port. It was grey and cloudy when we boarded the boat, but it was still pleasant enough to sit outside.

First of all, do you love to travel? Do you love learning new things? Do you have to google names and places while traveling or are you already familiar with the places from your own pre-trip research?

P.S. Today's blog title was generated by AI - but tweaked by me.

April Showers Brings . . .a New Hodgepodge!

1. No foolin'! April is here. What's one fun thing on your April calendar? We will host our neighborhood supper club group in a week or so! Easter, though it is a lot of work, is coming!

2. It's often said, 'A fool and his money are soon parted'...what's the last thing you wasted money on? Great question! Not long before Harvey died, I bought a little hand held vacuum cleaner. I did use it a few times but it is in one of the upstairs bathroom cabinets. I don't know if I wasted the money. . . I just don't use it often.

3.  April 2nd is National DIY day. Are you a do-it yourself kind of person or maybe you're married to one? If so, what's the last thing you DIY-ed. If you're not a DIY-er what's the most recent job you had to hire someone to complete? Our daughter and son-in-law are doing a MAJOR DIY on a house they have purchased. Mark is very handy - especially with plumbing. He is one of the few CFO's I've ever met who could also fix plumbing! He worked as a plumber's assistant in the summers when he was in college. I can do a little DIY.

4. Do you eat lamb? If so do you have a favorite dish that calls for lamb? My mother-in-law used to roast a leg of lamb and it was so delicious.

5. Do you fit a stereotype in some way? Explain. I am a middle-aged (actually maybe I'm an old) white woman. I've noticed that the older I get, the more invisible I become in random public settings.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I just looked up "old white lady memes." I'm not that old! haha!

I'm participating in the April A to Z challenge - and I would love for you to visit some this month!!

April A to Z - Azamara Pursuit - A Boutique Cruise Experience

I'm excited to participate in the April A to Z challenge once again! I want to give credit where credit is due . . .I did use AI as I crafted my A to Z list. We've been using AI often at work and I wanted to see what help it could offer me as I was feeling overwhelmed. To come up with the list, I did feed a LOT of info into ChatGPT and we had several "conversations." The writing each day is mine. AI crafted some of my daily titles.

With that said, let's jump right in and talk about the Azamara Pursuit, which is indeed a boutique cruise experience!

We boarded our ship in Galataport Istanbul. 

Prior to October 2024, Mark, nor I were "cruising people." Back when I was 20 or so, I went on a cruise to the Caribbean and had not been on a cruise ship since. Mark had never cruised before so the Azamara Pursuit was the perfect ship. This beautiful ship was launched in 2018.. As soon as we boarded the ship back in October, I fell in love with the ship immediately!

Mark and I decided to splurge on an upgraded room and it was worth every penny. I felt like I was "living in a movie" all week! As soon as we were on board, we were greeted with a glass of champagne! We arrived in our room and we found a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for us! 

We met our butler, Omar and our room steward, Christopher. They were totally amazing. They asked our drink preferences and then had our drinks (including a bottle of whiskey for Mark) delivered to our room. We ordered room service every morning and it was delivered and set up on our little table for us to enjoy. We were surprised by "tea" one afternoon. Diet Pepsi was not available but Omar kept me supplied with Coke Zero.

There are multiple restaurants, lounges, and bars on board. With our upgrade, we could dine anywhere but the food was so good in the main dining room that we only ate in one of the really nice restaurants one time. Our friends ate at the pool bar one night and they said it was good, too!

We enjoyed dining with some of our old and new friends!

Mark and Lu and Dave tried out the pool bar.

The food below was from the seafood buffet in the main restaurant. It was delicious.

Mark really enjoyed the gelato!

Here is a picture of some of us out on the deck outside the restaurant.

We had lovely amenities in our rooms. We were provided luxurious white fluffy robes and slippers and those robes came in handy when our breakfast was delivered each day.

Due to some sinus surgery I had a couple of years ago, I have to do a crazy nasal wash twice a day. When I shared that with our butler, he hand delivered a new bottle of distilled water to our room each day.

Our room was truly lovely with high quality linens and a comfy bed.

We had a mini fridge and bar area, along with drawers and a closet.

We had a small desk which I also used to dry my hair and put on my make-up.

Our bathroom was a great size - full size tub and shower, sink with lighted mirror and toilet.

We loved our little balcony!

As we were pulling out of port on the first night, the sunset was amazing.

It was so lovely up on the top of the ship.

Look at that sunset.

Even the stairwells inside the boat were luxurious.

We used one of the lounges every afternoon for our recap of the day.

 

Mark and I highly recommend Azamara. We felt like we were living in the lap of luxury all week. Our week on the ship was truly a boutique cruise experience.