Blackduck59

@lyndarra Hey Lyndon, have you firmed up your pre and post cruise for your Alaska adventure? it would be cool to get together if your schedule permits. Let me know what's up, we would meet you in Vancouver if you aren't able to make it to the Island. Cheers, Lyle

Our cruise booking included specialty dining credits so we booked Pinnacle Grill for my birthday. It is the first day of the cruise and we booked a little later than we normally would. We don't want to miss sail away.

We certainly enjoyed all the planning we put into our down under adventures but alas they were both cancelled. Now we are looking at options for the another try but I think it may be a couple years off. Lynn's mom is at an assisted living facility but Lynn is not keen to be half way around the planet because of her. I am planning to retire in September of 2024 and we will be putting our house back up for sale probably in the fall, after we get back from the east coast trip. Then we will be planning the down under for the third time (3rd try lucky?) Of course we have to make some plans for what we want to do in each place we visit. I know the JFK Library is definitely on the itinerary for Boston. I haven't really looked at it "excursions" offered but Lynn has mentioned a few things she might like.

So we have sorted most details for our great trip to our east coast. The hotels are booked, we will book the train from Montreal to Ottawa a little closer to the date.

It will wander back to meat pies eventually, although vanilla slice is a worthy topic. Hopefully some of these purveyors of fine pastry are still around when we finally get down there.

So we booked our airfare for the east coast Canada/New England cruise. We had asked for "Premium Economy" and when we looked at the actual booking it said "Business Class". Our agent had mentioned earlier that "Business Class" on the flight to Boston was more like Premium Economy. So i'm looking at the seat assignments and the Vancouver to Boston flight looked right but the Ottawa to Vancouver flight didn't seem right. I did a test booking through the Air Canada site and it turns out the flight from Ottawa is on a Boeing Dreamliner and we are in full blown business class. Complete with lay flat seats. I contacted our TA and she said "I got you a bit of an upgrade". We are quite excited to try this new luxury. Unfortunately it will probably result in reluctance to go back to "Premium Economy" I see a very big airfare bill coming for when we finally do make our down under adventure.

No we I haven't been to any of the places on this trip, Lynn has been to Ottawa but other than that it's a new adventure (other than Vancouver which doesn't count, we just need to change planes there). The cruise itinerary starts in Boston, and the ports are Portland Maine, St. John New Brunswick, Halifax Nova Scotia, Cornerbrook Newfoundland, Charlottetown PEI, Saguenay Quebec, Quebec City Quebec and Montreal Quebec. We will be cruising in Zaandam.

All is well thanks Linda. I had the squamous cell carcinoma removed from my nose yesterday. It was a simple procedure is far as surgery goes, less than 10 minutes. It did bleed more than I expected and is still quite tender. I am a little shy about pain killers because they are also blood thinners and I really don't want to bleed a bunch. I was off yesterday and decided this morning to take today as well, it was still quite tender and the plaster was soaked through with blood. I will try to get back to work tomorrow. We continue to firm up the plans for our cruise in August/September which will include a couple days in Boston before the cruise and couple nights in Montreal after as well as a train trip to Ottawa for a couple nights before we come home.

Take care Les, it's nice to see your posts wherever they come up. Live life full, Lyle & Lynn

Oh oops. We had quite a wind storm last night winds up 117km/h. We lost power for almost 6 hours. Unfortunately that meant no power for my CPAP so it was difficult to get any sleep. We got power back at 0020 hrs. so I did get a bit of sleep before getting up for work at 0500hrs. Time to look into a battery back up for that. Now we are expecting a bit of an Arctic wind and maybe some snow 😒

We did the same for the most part Mic. I did however make an effort with the supper and Lynn set the table with the nicer dishes. We do try to disregard what I think of as "Hallmark" holidays. Those things blown out of all proportion by marketers. I give Lynn flowers from time to time just because it will brighten her day.

The little ramican has mashed potato mixed with cream cheese, balderson double smoked cheddar and bacon then baked. Fries are for burgers 😉

It is. That being said Lynn set that lovely table. The dried roses are from a bunch I gave her about 2 weeks ago just because I thought it would brighten her day. That is a fairly casual setting. If it was "dinner" the table would be much more cluttered with Coronation silverware, Noritake China and Mikasa Chrystal. We haven't done one of those for a while.

Thank you, I've had that set since before Lynn & I met. As a matter of fact I served the first meal I ever cooked for her on that dinnerware. I bought a heart shaped cake that was very tasty, unfortunately I forgot to photograph it. I went shopping on the way home from work yesterday so Lynn had no idea what she was going to eat, I just told her I had a plan.

Steak for me chicken for Lynn

Valentine's day at Maison du Canard Prawn cocktail to start.

@3rdGenCunarder I'm glad you enjoyed our little town. As someone who has been to the gardens many times over the years (not so much recently) it takes hours to see it properly. Ideally you would arrive in the late afternoon so you can see it once in natural light and again in the twilight with the artificial light. The Ross fountain at night is spectacular with the lights. The HOHO bus has a stop at Beacon Hill Park and Craigdarroch Castle to name 2 good things to see here. I hope that those who are disappointed to miss Skagway will be pleasantly surprised by Victoria. I hope you get a full day here. So many cruise ships show up at about 1600 hrs. and leave at 2300 hrs. they only stop here to rubber stamp the PVSA rule from the United States. Such visits are a waste of time because you can't really do anything in the time available. Enjoy Victoria everyone, if I can answer any questions please ask.

I haven't been to Skagway and if we ever go back to Alaska we would want that port on the itinerary. I'm thinking that train trip is the highlight. We live in Victoria, it is our home and we sometimes wonder why we spend money to go elsewhere. I have to remind people that Butchart Gardens is at least 45 minutes away from the cruise port so that would be a large part of your day. There are lots of gardens in Victoria most of them are free. Beacon hill park and Government house come to mind. So don't think that Victoria is a poor substitute for Skagway, unfortunately we don't have a vintage scenic train to ride. We do have little harbour ferries that are fun though.

Once again I'm late to the response. I'm glad you and Mrs Gut are both okay and if course Maxi would be a top priority. That being said with your mobility issues he was probably safer with Mrs Gut 😁😉. I hope the insurance people make sure everything is taken care of in a timely fashion, perhaps there will be some upgrades in the destroyed electronics. I fear the worst part will be getting rid of the scorched electrical smell. We're glad everyone including Maxi is safe but I suspect he will be skittish for a while. Take care Lyle & Lynn

I was wondering if there is actually such a thing as "good" bourbon I prefer good Canadian rye whiskey. As it turns out for some reason Jack Daniel's is not technically a "Bourbon". They have rules about what makes it "Bourbon" and Jack doesn't follow rules well.

Why would you ruin a good bourbon (is there such a thing 😁) with cola of any kind

Thanks @Mareblu that's too bad they have chosen to let this slide until after the down under season. I'm guessing the antifouling is at the end of it's life and a ship moving in the water takes on less fouling than one sitting at anchor. So with her sitting idle for 2 years there's probably a good amount of critters on that hull.

The RMS Queen Elizabeth (or was she HMS during the war) came into the graving dock here in Victoria BC during the war. It was and I think may still be the largest such facility on the west coast of the Americas. As you can imagine the whole "loose lips sink ships" motto was drummed into the population with the graving dock, a shipyard and the RCN Pacific Fleet all in the same area. The Queen Elizabeth was in the graving dock and yard workers were on her every day. Nobody said anything no news agency reported she was here and it wasn't until after the war that the pictures of her in the drydock became public knowledge. I'm pretty sure the Queen Mary was in that dock at one time as well.

Thanks Linda for thinking of me. I have to think this thing isn't much of a concern because I haven't heard back about a schedule for the procedure. Of course with this diagnosis I'm a little paranoid about some other little spots that don't seem to want to heal. I'm sorry that the cruise didn't go as planned, I'm not sure that Cunard made a very good business decision by not cleaning the hull. I have to believe that drydock period is scheduled after the down under season is over, isn't there a transpacific where she repositions to the Alaska run? I guess she could drydock here, that would be cool because the original Queen Elizabeth visited our graving dock during the WW 2.

We have a product called "Rogers Golden Syrup" are we taking about the same thing? If so maybe not on fruit bread, Like Mic said thick cut, toasted and plenty of butter for that. I like the golden syrup on fresh baked biscuits (or scones) still warm for the oven with butter and syrup. Of course my lovely wife thinks it's sacrilege so I don't get that very often.