This week in the Pearl – March 27, 2026


We stayed pretty close to home this week but still a few highlights stand out – especially with food and people. Saturday morning we had a WhatsApp video chat with Shirley and Jim, our friends and former neighbors in Mukilteo, who now live in Paris. Though technology can be a pain, we are thankful for…

This week we end the cruise


Today we are at sea headed for Los Angeles, we arrive early on Thursday, and disembark. Sixteen days is quite long, a bit too long for me. Here are what may be the last two pages of my sketching journal for this trip. I plan to print it up into a spiral bound book. An…

Still in Normandie, for a bit


We are enjoying our time back in La Thébaudière. We have been doing some spring sorting, going through clothes that we just never wear and then donating them to groups that will get them to people who can use them. It is quite beautiful here. You turn off of a narrow road just barely wide…

A week back in La Thebaudiere


We have been back in La Thebaudiere, our tiny village in Normandie, for just a week – so what have we been up to? Well of course we have spent time remembering our long trip, which for me includes some sketching. One of the best hotels we stayed in was the Central Heritage Hotel in…

Leaving Croatia with so many memories


We sat up on the bow of the ship taking in the sun as the crew was preparing to cast off in Korčula. On our way to Hvar the captain made a stop at a clam inlet so folks could swim off the back of the ship, too cold for me. Tricia and a shipmate…