Mostly for Mo who just got back from Hawaii

Hi Mo, I was glad to see that you got to visit Hilo Hattie and got some plumeria sticks. I thought that I should let you see some photos of my plumeria that I have had for 10 years. My kids laughed at me because I watered that dry stick for over 8 months before it even produced a leaf. But now, it blooms every year from May through November, I just took these photos of the flowers this week. You can see how tall it is. I bring it in before it freezes and it lives in my living room. It loses most of the leaves in the winter, so don't worry. Have fun with it. Love from Colleen

My Trip, Part 2 - Beautiful, Beautiful Tbilisi

By the time we got to Tbilisi, it was nighttime again, and we were very pleased to see our cozy bedroom. The next morning, we opened the doors to the balcony to see a lovely view. Then, time to go downstairs for breakfast. We walked through the courtyard and saw a wonderful breakfast buffet. After we ate, we were off to our first stop, the new cathedral church.

This lovely cathedral is now the largest in the country. Surrounded by a wall, you enter into an enormous courtyard, with a belltower, and a swan pool. Inside the church, the the decorations and the lovely hand painted icons make you feel that you are in another world. To see more photos of this beautiful church, you can look at my photo album, Tbilisi, which I should have posted very soon Next, more views of Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia.

My Trip, Part One

We started out from Washington DC.at 6pm. I truly hate night flights, I can't sleep on a plane, and so I have to sit up all night. It was a smooth flight, but we arrived in London at Heathrow Airport at about 2am our local DC time. Our next flight, going to the former Soviet Republic of Georgia's capital city, Tbilisi, didn't leave for 8 hours. I was NOT looking forward to hanging around Heathrow waiting for it, but Gus had a surprise for me. Yotel! This is a new type of hotel, and it is right in the airport. You can rent a room any time of day or night for any amount of time. It's cool, you check in by computer, the computer unlocks the doors for you, and in you go. Here is a photo of Gus checking out our room. I always laugh when I see this picture, he looks like he is thinking "they expect me to sleep sitting up?". Actually, once you get in bed, you press a button and the bed slides out and down flat. I say you need to press the button after you are already in bed, because the room is so small that you can't walk around the bed when it is down. The room has a big nice bathroom, but it is a really tiny room. I was thrilled to see it, I was tired, and we had 8 hours between flights so we could sleep about 6 hours. I went right to sleep. The next morning (for us it felt like morning, but it was actually 3pm London time), we left our cute little Yotel room and headed back out to the main part of the airport to get a snack before we flew to Tbilisi. Coffee and a big Cinnimon bun is my favorite brunch. Next, Tbilisi and the wonders of the Republic of Georgia...