I can’t believe that I haven’t posted anything on my blog for MORE than a MONTH. That’s never happened, methinks. Yikes.

Well, basically, in a nutshell, I took a holiday from my eloma. Oh, sorry, from my myeloma. 😉 In the past four weeks, I’ve barely given a thought to it. Can’t say I’ve missed it, either! 🙂

Stefano and I spent three of those four weeks with my parents on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. We had a quiet holiday and didn’t do much in terms of sightseeing, but we did do one fabulous thing: we hired a private charter to go whale watching off the coast of Provincetown. We’d never done anything like that, mainly because of the cost…We’d always gone whale watching with the Dolphin Fleet, which I highly recommend since you learn a lot about these magnificent creatures, the whales. And of course we strongly support the type of research done by the Dolphin scientists…But there are a few drawbacks to going on such big boats–mainly, they’re always crowded, which makes it difficult to get decent photos. Another thing that I hadn’t considered before is the noise made not just by the above-mentioned crowds (kids screeching with excitement, e.g.) but by the boat’s motors. Those powerful motors make a lot of noise, let me tell ya…

Our private charter was worth every single penny. It was fantastic to be seated on a small boat, almost at the level of the whales, and take photos without anyone in front of us. And…tada!…no noise. The captain of our boat kept the engines at a minimum whenever we were near the whales, so the only noises we heard were the whales expelling air through their blowholes and the rippling sound of the waves around us. Unbelievable. Magical…

We mainly saw humpback whales, including three mamas with their calves (see photo no. 1). We also saw a few minke whales from afar and a couple of fin whales (the second largest living mammal…), which was a big treat…

And we saw tons of shearwaters and other sea birds. That was a big bonus for Stefano and me…and for our cameras. I haven’t been through my hundreds of photos yet, because ever since we’ve returned to Florence, I’ve had a zillion things to do, busy busy busy all day every day!, but here are a few photos, which I hope will give you an idea of the magic we experienced…

Speaking of things to do, I must rush off now. But I did want to say that all is well. I’m feeling and doing splendidly…Okay, must dash…Take care, everyone!!! Ciao!!! 🙂