bennybear

Good morning and thanks all! We visited Tunisia and enjoyed seeing it, but declined the camel rides. I will salute mentors, have enjoyed playing that role for several colleagues. Both benefit. Condolences to @ger_77 on the loss of her mentor who helped shape her practice. @kochleffel Bon voyage! May you all enjoy the light as it grows daily.

Glad to be following along! How exciting to have authors onboard!

We do usually once or twice a year and agree it’s no fun! Great meme @Quartzsite Cruiser @Norseh2o my condolences, so hard losing your mom! @StLouisCruisers anniversaries are difficult, but then we remember the love. @rafinmd please try to pace yourself, sometimes fatigue can hit pretty hard. Unfortunately, DH had his two skin biopsies confirmed cancerous. Good news they were caught early and only one needs reexcision. I always try to be thankful when things are caught early and are easily treatable. We have horrific ice on all our paths making walking without spikes dangerous. Love all the old abandoned farm buildings.

Sending Bon Vogage wishes @aliaschief! Happily will celebrate any bird days!

Celebrations and Shoutouts: Bon Voyage Cat in my Lap! Bon Voyage Ottahand7! Bon Voyage Cruising-along! Bon Voyage Durangoscots! Bon Voyage Cruising sister! Bon Voyage Cruisercl! Adding my wishes for fair winds and following seas with thanks to @JazzyV

Good morning and thanks all! We enjoyed our visit to Morocco but it was in the land before time. Saw Dangerfield in Vegas years ago and wasn’t terribly amused either. Special wishes to: @RMLincoln happy anniversary! @mamaofamihappy birthday to Sam! @StLouisCruisershappy birthday to yourDDIL Glad to hear @smitty34877 your aide is back! I hope you can enjoy reading again, I love it. @dfish glad you are healing and now wonder you take River! @Cruising-alongso exciting you can fly out of Paine field! I can see the runways from my aunt’s house when I visit Everett. Nice to see it being used more often. Wishing you a wonderful cruise! We saw a special midnight visitor New Year’s Eve.

It should be. We have swam in early October on other islands.

Highly recommend staying in Kyoto for a few days, so much to experience. Understand Tony’s difficulty selecting photos. We absolutely loved it. We stayed in a converted Machiya, a former shop in the older Center of Kyoto near the temples. It was magical at night, we slept on tatami mats on heated floors, with a beautiful rock shower and little garden. some of the sights!

Rabbit rabbit rabbit! happy new year! We were able to see a lot of fireworks without leaving home. happy anniversary @Cat in my lap Osaka is an interesting port, You can maybe see the Westie in the background. Check out the castle and the modern buildings! Or the aquarium. We had stayed in Kyoto for five nights prior to the cruise so I’ll do a separate post.

Good morning and thank you to all who contribute to this community. Like many I will be happy to say goodbye to 2023. My yoga teacher had a lovely way to look at the year. She said to imagine a branch of a rose with a faded bloom, a thorn and a bud on it. The faded bloom is something positive, or something you are grateful for this past year, The thorn something you needed support for or overcame and the bud what will unfold in the new year. I really liked this, we had some significant milestones but too had a large thorn. Praying for everyone to have hope for good in the new year. Wishing you all a lovely budding of the new year. We will be opening the saved Dom Perignon from our 50 th anniversary. A very happy, healthy 24 filled with new possiblities and adventures to you all. wishing

I would like a ladies maid😉🤷‍♀️

We used Michael Sterianos Taxi tours. He has large vans that should be perfect and can tailor make a tour where you wish, We used his company for an overnight to Meteora and it was great. He also provided us a choice of hotels. I know there are a couple of large chains at or right at the airport but haven’t stayed there so no recommendations .

There are buses and taxis from Oia to Fira, but you still need to take the cable car to the port. Allow lots of time, the buses can be crowded and the cable car line huge.

We took the bus to Kalafati beach, also popular with the locals!

I think this is great advice! That’s what we’ve done with friends and it has worked well. I agree that you should stay in the historic centre in order so see as much as possible of Rome. For your first trip that makes the most sense. Also I suggest you arrange private car transfers to further maximize your time and lessen stress from the airport and to and from the port. We like using Stefano’s Rome Cabs. With four people the costs will be reasonable for the convenience. For Ephesus, we had good luck with the tour guide Levant Solmaz, highly recommend you visit the Terrace houses. In Naples, either a ferry ride and visit to Capri, or an excursion to Pompeii would be my suggestion for a first visit. Or you could take the easy way and each choose your own ship’s excursions. All the best!

Good morning! Thanks all Hoping surgery goes well @dfish love Nero D’avila, we visited one of the wineries last time in Sicily. I’m enjoying the beautiful photos of Dubrovnik. We’ve been several times too and visited one time the walled city where they mine salt and last time the beautiful resort town of Cavtat and took a boat back to port.

Good morning and thanks all! I like zoos, especially when I can see the Giant Pandas. We always made paper snowflakes in school. @SusieKIslandGirl happy anniversary! @rafinmd sending wishes that all goes well with the rads! @dfish praying all is well for your surgery! @kochleffel sorry it is basal cell and You need mohs, but glad it is soon! @0106 I really enjoyed that book, thanks for your explanation. I was reading it in Greece and a teen came up to me to talk about it. When I taught junior high they all loved Are you there God, it’s me Margaret? It is now a movie, which was fun to watch as we have a young teen DGD. @RMLincoln would love to hear your thoughts. Hope there is improvement soon for your DH. So relived to hear @Haljo1935 is safe and the Koningsdam has regained power. We were onboard a few years ago when we were adrift in the Messina straits. Sending special wishes to those missing someone this year, I was very touched by @kazu words. I know others are fearful to mention those lost so as not to upset you, but it is SO comforting to be able to speak of those we have loved and are missing. We enjoyed our visit to Grenada. See who recognizes the older ship in my photos.

We were onboard attending a Mariner’s luncheon when the captain got up and left in a hurry. I thought we were in a good spot, near land but was later told it’s much better to be at sea as one doesn’t want to run aground! Fortunately, It was sorted out quite quickly. I am hoping you are safe and get power restored quickly.

You won’t regret it! We’ve had an induction cook top for probably near 15 years and love it, still looks like new!

Merry Christmas! @ger_77 happy birthday! st Kitts is a lovely island, we really enjoyed our visit there! We saw some beautiful sites and a baby monkey! It's a good friends son’s birthday today, and they are both ministers. We’re a little late as we didn’t get to bed until late after church at midnight, I am wishing everyone a healthy happy day!

Finally had a minute to read today’s daily. Thanks for all the lovely DGD birthday wishes! @kazu the photo is with my late DM. But no mistaking the love! @grapau27 happy birthday to your niece! @Cruzin Terri So sorry you are ill, my BFF had the same symptoms and unfortunately is ill with covid now. Might be worth testing, just in case.

Christmas Eve has always been special. When our DGD was born it was absolutely magical. Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas Eve!

Good morning and thanks all! My late condolences to Jacqui, @kazu and @1ANGELCATlosses are never easy but somehow they seem worse this time of year! Happy birthday wishes to @kochleffeland @Sir PMP Also an interesting time for birthdays, both my grandmother and granddaughter were born Christmas Eve! @StLouisCruisersyikes! Your poor DGD, so sorry that she experienced this! We have enjoyed visiting Santa Barbara and area.

Good morning and thanks all! @RMLincoln sweet baby! We too have been to Montepulciano, and enjoy their wines. Just to be confusing the wine today is from Abruzzo, not Montepulciano but is Montepulciano grapes. The wines from Montepulciano are Vin nobile and Grand Rosso de Montepulciano. Now I need to look up if they are Montepulciano grapes🤷‍♀️ Our first cruise was to Alaska, to see how we liked cruising. Well we all know how that worked out. We actually enjoyed breakfast with the Canadian pilot. People think it’s cold, but when we visited the first time in July it was in the low 80s and absolutely delightful with beautiful flowers. Much warmer than Norway! @aliaschiefgiggled over the cartoon of the pilot with the IPad, there is a lot of truth to that! I was seated beside a pilot trainer on Alaska, and it is all on the IPad! Fascinating!

Welcome home! Thanks for sharing the great adventure!