Skip to content

Writer on Deck

Random thoughts from the sea

  • Home
  • Cruises
    • 2025 European Odyssey
    • 2025 Grand World Voyage
    • 2024 Caribbean Holiday
    • 2024 Ultimate Mediterranean
    • 2024 Majestic Japan
    • 2024 Ultimate Alaska
    • 2024 Grand World Voyage
    • 2023 Caribbean Holiday
    • 2023 Grand South America & Antarctica
    • 2020 Grand World Voyage
    • 2023 North Atlantic Adventure
    • 2023 Grand World Voyage
    • 2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
    • 2019 Voyage of the Vikings
    • 2018 Grand Asia
    • 2017 Grand Asia
    • 2013 Cruise Flashback
    • 2013 Galveston to Dubai
    • General Cruising
  • Between Cruises
    • Train Journeys
    • Travel Photography
  • About

Quarantine, and the Living is Easy

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 134, Staying at Home Monday, August 3, 2020; Santa Fe, New Mexico Why come to Santa Fe for a pandemic summer? No Opera, no Indian Market. The museums are all closed – even the outdoor botanical garden (which doesn’t make much sense to me). Galleries and retail shops around

Continue reading
Between Cruises
13 comments

Suddenly Saying Goodbye to the Amsterdam

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 126, Staying at Home Sunday, July 26, 2020; Santa Fe, New Mexico When we abruptly left the ship last March, I don’t think any of us imagined that we would never again sail on Holland America’s MS Amsterdam. Sure, it would be a while before we would cruise again,

Continue reading
Between Cruises
10 comments

Oh, The Places My Luggage Will Go!

Posted on July 25, 2020July 25, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 125, Staying at Home Saturday, July 25, 2020; Santa Fe, New Mexico Shanghai! South Africa! Hong Kong! Jakarta! South Korea! Vietnam! Manila! Even if I can’t have travel adventures during this pandemic, at least my luggage has gotten out and about. I must say I am a bit jealous.

Continue reading
Between Cruises
20 comments

Hot Springs: BBQ, Bathhouses and Gardens

Posted on July 10, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 79, Staying at Home Wednesday, June 10, 2020; Hot Springs, Arkansas (I recently decamped to Santa Fe for a few months, where I’m still in quarantine. Before I start writing about this new adventure I’m finishing up posts about my weeks in Arkansas.) The great thing about being in

Continue reading
Between Cruises
11 comments

Fort Smith’s Unexpected Art

Posted on July 6, 2020July 7, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 96, Staying at Home Saturday, June 28, 2020; Fort Smith, Arkansas Once you get off the interstates to cross this country, you drive through hundreds of small downtowns. Sadly, many of them feel neglected. Big box stores have drawn shoppers out of downtowns to strip malls and larger towns

Continue reading
Between Cruises
13 comments

Fort Smith — More Than Just Hangings

Posted on July 4, 2020July 6, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 95, Staying at Home Friday, June 26, 2020; Fort Smith, Arkansas With no home of my own (remember, my plan for two years was to live mostly on cruise ships), I retreated to my sister Eloise’s home in Fort Smith in mid May. Fort Smith is the second largest

Continue reading
Between Cruises
13 comments

Wrapping up loose threads

Posted on June 28, 2020July 5, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 94, Staying at Home Thursday, June 25, 2020; Fort Smith, Arkansas The funny thing about seasons is that they don’t change in a blink of an eye. A spot of warm weather fools you into thinking that spring has sprung, but winter then returns with a vengeance. It was

Continue reading
Between Cruises
14 comments

For Everything There Is A Season

Posted on June 8, 2020June 19, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 77, Staying at Home Monday, June 8, 2020; Fort Smith, Arkansas For two weeks I’ve been mulling over a dozen quilting projects. I pulled them out from storage under my bed thinking this is the perfect time to get back to quilting. Which do I want to attack first?

Continue reading
Between Cruises
41 comments

I’m Just Pausing Here

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 67, Staying at Home Friday, May 29, 2020; Fort Smith, Arkansas Why is it that a quarter-note rest in music looks like a bird flying away – not a pause? I’ve been trying to write for the past month, and even wrote a blog post 25 days ago in

Continue reading
Between Cruises
13 comments

Finding My Land Legs

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Jo Johnston

Day 35, Staying at Home Monday, April 27, 2020; Dallas, Texas We were warned we would come home to a different world. They were right. Last Thursday marked a month since our return from the “Grand Half-World Voyage 2020” as I took to describing our interrupted cruise. We left after

Continue reading
Between Cruises
18 comments

Posts pagination

«Previous Posts 1 … 35 36 37 38 39 … 64 Next Posts»

Subscribe via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Writer on Deck and receive notifications of new posts by email.

I’m a writer in love with the sea, sailing, travel and sketching.

Follow Me

  • Instagram
  • X
  • Pinterest

Recent Posts

  • Faroe, Shetland Offer Unique Views Of Remote Island Life
  • Volcanos, Waterfalls and Puffins – We’re Back in Amazing Iceland
  • Bugs? Thank You, But We Don’t Want Pesky Biting Bugs
  • Stunning Greenland Passages Compensate for Missed Iced-In Ports
  • Whales, Puffins and Stop Lights Full of Love on Iceland´s North Coast

Recent Comments

  • Mary Ward on Faroe, Shetland Offer Unique Views Of Remote Island Life
  • Jean Anderson on Faroe, Shetland Offer Unique Views Of Remote Island Life
  • Marilyn Harris on Faroe, Shetland Offer Unique Views Of Remote Island Life
  • Julie McMahon on Faroe, Shetland Offer Unique Views Of Remote Island Life
  • Paul W on Faroe, Shetland Offer Unique Views Of Remote Island Life

Archives

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • January 2015
  • July 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013

Categories

  • 2022 South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand
  • 2023 Caribbean Holiday
  • 2023 East Coast Voyage
  • 2023 Grand South America/Antarctica
  • 2023 Grand World Voyage
  • 2023 North Atlantic Adventure
  • 2024 Caribbean Holiday
  • 2024 Grand World Voyage
  • 2024 Holiday Cruise
  • 2024 Majestic Japan
  • 2024 Ultimate Alaska
  • 2024 Ultimate Mediterranean
  • 2025 European Odyssey
  • 2025 Grand World Voyage
  • Between Cruises
  • Cruise Flashback
  • Cruises
  • Galveston to Dubai 2013
  • General Cruising
  • Grand Asia 2017
  • Grand Asia 2018
  • Holland America
  • Train Journeys
  • Travel Photography
  • Uncategorized
  • Voyage of the Vikings 2019
  • World Cruise 2020
WordPress Theme: Donovan by ThemeZee.