Quartzsite Cruiser

Good morning from a very cloudy Quartzsite. The clouds are giving us a beautiful sunrise, but it's too cold to go out and take a picture. It 41F with a predicted high of 60F. There is a chance of rain this afternoon. The best way I know to get it to rain is to hang the towels out to dry, but I'll probably dry them in the dryer today. Today is housecleaning day, and I better get started soon. I try to do the living room and a couple of others before DH gets up. I guess DH is enjoying Festival of Sleep, and since we've been here, my sleep has improved. I have not read any J.R.R. Tolkien books, so I'll let others celebrate that day. The last day is an interesting day, and the last year or two have brought the realization that our time is limited to us to the forefront. The quote is a good one, and I hope I can create more of what I want. We'll pass on the meal, for today, the drink and the wine. We have not been to Richards Bay. Four good in history to celebrate, and they all changed the world in some way. @kazu Jacqui, I'm glad Ivan was such a good boy yesterday. Not only a few months, but a wonderful "mom" made all the difference in Ivan. He is a very lucky dog. @grapau27 Graham, thanks for the explanations of the days today. @Denise T Denise. good luck at the dentist today. Congratulations on the weight loss and lowering your blood sugar. @marshhawk Annie, best wishes for your DH when he has his infusion. Safe travels to and from the appointment. I hope Bubbles will continue to improve. @StPeteCruiser Enjoy your last day on board Zaandam. That is good news about picking up the man on the disabled sailboat. @smitty34877 Terry, I'm glad you were able to relax yesterday with the aide there to help Tana. @JazzyV Vanessa, I hope the doctor today can help you. @dfish Debbie, that is good news you're 80% recovered. Good luck at the spine and pain clinic today. @Nickelpenny Pennie, I'm glad you enjoyed your beach day yesterday. Safe travels home today. @ger_77 Gerry, good luck at the appointment today. I hope the doctor has some ideas to try before resorting to surgery. Lenda

To all the Dailyites who are boarding their ships today, I hope everyone has a wonderful time. @Cat in my lap BON VOYAGE! @ottahand7 BON VOYAGE! @cruising sister BON VOYAGE! @durangoscots BON VOYAGE! @Cruising-along BON VOYAGE! @Cruisercl BON VOYAGE! Lenda

Thank you, Graham. Lenda

Good afternoon. As usual, the day did not go quite as planned. The laundry was finished by 11:30, then when DH mentioned there were a lot of things for the neighborhood garage sale next week in his observatory, which we call the dome. We been collecting things for several years, and there is quite a collection. We went through it, and decided to take some of the things to the thrift store instead. I'm not sure I'll be trying to to the garage sale next week or will wait until the first one next fall. A lot depends on the weather and how I feel. Charlene, I'm happy your stress test went well. Ann, thank you for your pictures from Marrakesh. We did the ships transfer and saw a lot of the town, but didn't go in any of the palaces. Debbie, I'm glad you felt like doing the laundry and taking the ornament off the tree. I wonder if everyone involved could document all that is transpiring between River and her mother, and maybe find a way to get her placed with her grandmother. At least, she has loving and stable relationships with a lot of the extended family. I'm glad the Zaandam is in great shape and they are bringing back some of the things that made HAL special. I think it's a combination of making money now and new leadership at the top. I'm glad you are feeling better and saw the doctor. I hope the prescriptions help you feel better sooner. Vanessa, I hope you can get some help at PT today and that tomorrow the Rheumatologist can help you and get things moving to find you some relief. Paul, at least they are doing a temporary fix so that you have a functioning thermostat. I hope they get the correct one soon, and that all your glasses come in soon. Lenda

After a traditional Moroccan lunch, we headed to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Our first stop was the Royal Palace. Near the Palace was the Mausoleum of Mohamad V Another guard, but at least they had dirt for the horse to stand on. Hassan Tower, an old unfinished minaret A garden outside an old fortress Pictures from our walk back to the bus. Lenda

We returned to Casablanca on September 24, 2009, on Tahitian Princess. That day our tour was of Casablanca and Rabat. I'll post the Casablanca pictures here, and the Rabat pictures in another post. Many of the buildings in Morocco are very ornate like this one. A market A minaret Notre Dame de Lourdes Hassan II Mosque The view from the mosque More shopping A busy street And more shopping Lenda

On April 28, 2002, on Noordam III, we made our first visit to Casablanca. That day we took the ship's transfer to Marrakesh and explored the town. We were dropped off in the main market square near a restaurant where our bus would pick us up later that afternoon. The entrance to the Souk, which was interesting to walk through. Some of the items for sale To see more of the area, we took a horse drawn carriage ride. That horse was so dirty, we both had an allergic reaction that fortunately cleared up after we got out of the carriage. The Royal Palace in Marrakesh. There are royal palaces in many of the larger towns. A street outside the market area More markets. The restaurant where we were dropped off and where we waited for our bus is upstairs in the second picture. Lenda

Good morning from a sunny and cold Quartzsite. It is 38F which is slightly better than the 36F an hour ago. Our high is supposed to be 63F, but we won't get to 60F until 1 pm. Today is laundry day, and with the colder temperatures, I think I'll break down and use the dryer instead of hanging the clothes outside. I'm not sure my hands could handle hanging wet clothes in 38 degree weather. I hope all the Daily cats are celebrating Happy Mew Year today. We go to the Lido buffet for breakfast, but usually have dinner in the MDR or specialty restaurants. I was not inspired, but motivated to do laundry today since we are beginning to run low on clean clothes. Tomorrow, it will be about the same with house cleaning. Since I finally got all the projects that we do when we first get here completed, I haven't been inspired or motivated. I found the Rodney Dangerfield quote amusing even though women were often the victims of his humor. The meal sounds good, but I'll save it for another day. We'll pass on the drink and the wine. We have been to Casablanca twice, and I'll retrieve my pictures in a few minutes. Today in history is an important one for India. I saw some pictures of the destruction in Japan caused by the earthquake. In one, a building that was probably six to eight stories was lying on its side. I hope everyone got out of the building safely and with only minor injuries. @grapau27 Graham, I noticed that you have picked up one of our southernisms -- y'all. @StLouisCruisers Sandi, please wish your DDIL a HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY for us. @kazu Jacqui, I hope the vet visit for Ivan goes well, and that it's not too difficult to get him on the scales. @Lady Hudson Katherine, I'm sorry your DH wasn't feeling well yesterday, and hope he is better today. @ottahand7 Enjoy your day in Ft. Lauderdale. The last few minutes of the game were exciting, and a nail biter. I read this morning the "real" reason UT lost. Our two legged state jinx, Ted Cruz, was in the stands. It seems every time he shows up at a big game to support a team from Texas, they lose. He was there for the Astros lose last fall. @Nickelpenny Pennie, I hope your last day on the ship is better than yesterday. Beautiful sunrise pictures. @Cruzin Terri Terri, I'm sorry you had a stomach bug yesterday, and I hope you feel better today. @smitty34877 Terry, I'm happy your aide is well and back taking care of Tana. You both are always in my thoughts. @marshhawk Annie, I can't believe people who have been exposed to Covid or other illnesses will still to to parties and expose others. I hope you and your DH stay well. I hope the vet will be willing to see bubbles. It sounds like he really needs a vet visit in spite of all you have done to doctor him. @aliaschief Safe travels tomorrow, Bruce. @dfish Debbie, I wish River could be with her other grandmother beyond November. She deserves a stable, supportive home. @RMLincoln I hope your DH can get the money wiring straighten out. @cruising sister Lorraine, enjoy your walk today. I'm glad the three of you have someone to explore SD with. Lenda

@mamaofami Carol, happy 88th birthday wishes to Sam. Lenda

@RMLincoln Maureen, best wishes for your 31st anniversary, and for many more future anniversaries. Lenda

Congratulations to the Washington Huskies. It was a nail biter literally to the last second. Unfortunately, the Horns didn't play their best during a good bit of the game. Since there are Dailyite fans of both teams heading to the National Championship game next Monday, I will not publically pick a team. UT can still be proud of their season, the best one in years. Terri, I'm glad you got it. I widh I could think up clever things like that. Debbie, good for you for getting it. While wearing a t-shirt under his back brace helped some, DH still found it uncomfortable. He was supposed to wear it 24/7 except in the shower for two months post op. However, the nurses in the hospital and rehab told him he didn't need it when he was lying down. At the two month post op visit, he showed great restraint, and didn't take it off in the doctor's office after he was told he no longer needed to wear the brace. Not only would your grandmother be happy her needle point is still gracing a chair, I bet she'd be surprised. Great picture. Glad you could get together before the cruise. Safe travels tomorroe, Carolyn. Safe travels tomorrow, and enjoy your cruise. Lenda

Good afternoon. Finally, all the Christmas decorations, lights and trees are stored until next November when they will again make an appearance. In addition to the 7 1/2 foot tree that takes up a lot of room, but looks great, we have a small 2 foot tree that we got on close out when Robinson May stores closed. We used it in the motorhome before we put the house on the lot. I decided to keep it, and it sits on the end of the kitchen bar. It is decorated with bells and red and green yarn bows. Originally, it had clear lights, but when the quit working, I replaced them with multi-colored lights. I think we are on the third or fourth generation of lights. It's full but could almost be a Charlie Brown tree since it is lopsided and no amount of straightening helps. We keep if because of the memories of Christmas in the motorhome. Eva, I'm glad you got it. It will be interesting to see how many people get it. Sandi, I'm glad you got it. The first part is easy, but it took a bit to get the second half. I figured after the holidays and all the food, we needed to challenge our brains. I used to do Swedish weaving on monks cloth and stitching the ends to prevent raveling, sorting the tread and finding the center. Once I missed the center and the afghan did not match it's mate. I also did crewel embroidery and used a frame similar to yours. I'm glad you liked the photos. Just looking at the pictures made me cold. We swam across the Arctic Circle on Rotterdam VI, but they heated the sea view pool. That made it seem even colder when we got out of the pool. Paul, I think all postal systems have their problems. We've had our mail from Texas to Quartzsite take a detour to Florida, and packages wander around the country. Susan, those clams look wonderful. It's been too long since I've had good fried clams. We'll be watching the Texas v Washington game. I read this week that Bevo, the Longhorn mascot now has a new little sister. In honor of the game tonight, she was named Sugar. That doesn't seem like a name for a longhorn, but it's fitting anyway. I better go take my shower and start dinner. Lenda

Almost all the little decorative pieces are pack away for another year. I've also begun taking the ornaments off the tree. Once that's done, I'll get the flags changed from Christmas to the US and Texas flags. Of course, the UT flag will remain flying from the flagpole. Then, there are five strings of lights to put away pulse the remote switches and extension cords. I hope it warms up by then and there is not as much wind. Gerry, I'm happy you got it. It took me awhile to get it when I first saw the meme. I had to explain it to DH. Ann, I also hope the earthquake in Japan does not set others off. I hope everyone there had enough warning about the tsunami to get to higher ground. Roy, thanks for the pictures from Ellis Island. Even when we lived in NJ we never made it there. We had planned to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on the two cruises in 2023 and 2024 that we had to cancel. Brenda, thanks for you pictures from Osaka and Kyoto. Debbie, I'm glad the swelling and soreness are greatly diminished. DH had to wear a back brace for a month before his surgeries and for two months afterwards. Besides being scratchy and itchy, it would also stick him in the side at times. He found wearing a t-shirt under the brace helped, and it might help with the hernia belt. Glad the New Year was tooted in with still. It's good to know most of the passengers dressed appropriately. Lenda

Here are some of my pictures of Kyoto. These are the two trains we rode. I did not get any pictures inside the first train, but it was crowded. It looks like there were six others in our car on the bullet train. Scenes as we walked to the temple. Pictures from the temple. Sorry, I don't remember which temple out of the many temples in Kyoto we visited. A view of Kyoto from the temple. The street leading to the temple Kyoto Station, where ironically, we found some very good Chinese food for lunch. Kyoto as seen from the train station Lenda

We have been to Osaka twice, and missed the port in 2018. In 2000, it was the disembarkation port for a trans Pacific cruise. We did not see much of the city, as we were taken to hotel before our late afternoon flights, and were stuck in a banquet room. We were there for a long day in 2002 on the APEC cruise on Volendam. We covered a lot of ground that day. Early that morning, we took the train to Kyoto and spent several hours walking around and touring one of the many temples there. We took a local train to Kyoto, which was very interesting. We took the bullet train back to Osaka, and our car was mostly empty. What a difference! I'll post the Kyoto pictures in another post. These first pictures were taken as we walked back from the train station. It was a grey day and very polluted. The giant Ferris wheel as seen from Volendam. It was the first large one we saw. Back on board, we had dinner in the Lido, which at that time, you picked up your appetizer and salad, then placed your order which was cooked and delivered to your table. After dinner we walked over to the aquarium and went through it. The aquarium is multi-storied. You take an elevator to the top, and begin walking down a gently sloped ramp that circles a very, very large tank. As you descend, the sea life changes from fish that live near the surface to the denizens of the deep. This is the outside of the aquarium. Lenda

RABBIT 🐰 RABBIT 🐰 WHITE RABBIT! 🐇 HAPPY NEW YEAR! Good morning from a mostly cloudy Quartzsite. At 8:55 am it was 43F with a 1mph wind. Our high today will be 62F. BTW, we stayed up until a little after midnight, and toasted the New Year with the last of the Prosecco. We also said rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit before wishing each other Happy New Year. There were some fireworks in the neighborhood, but the stopped sometime between 8 and 9 last night. Today while watching the Rose Parade and probably some afternoon bowl games, I'll be putting away the Christmas decorations and taking the tree down. I hope to also get to the outside lights later this afternoon. Ellis Island was very important in US history as that was the first place most immigrants first stepped foot on US soil. The Euro definitely made visiting Europe easier. We first went to Europe in September 2001, and had to exchange money when the ship changed countries. We were back in Europe in April 2002, and the Euro was the currency by then. I think I'll let DH be the first one to step out and back into the house, because after the last couple of years, he needs good luck even more than I do. I like the George R. R Martin quote. Even though we need our sleep, without books the world would not be as open to us. We'll skip the meal today, but we've had roasted sweet potatoes as a side dish along with air fryer sweet potato fries. We'll pass on the drink, but the sparkling wine would be nice to try if it wasn't a tad bit expensive. We have been to Osaka twice in 2000 and 2002. The first time we disembarked the old Regal Princess and spent the day in a banquet room of a local hotel before going to the airport. The second time we were there on Volendam's APEC cruise. @StLouisCruisers Sandi, the days your picks for days in history are good and were changes for the better. The celebration tree is lovely. Thanks for the pictures of Antarctica. @ottahand7 Safe travels to Ft. Lauderdale today. I would also like to read how your cruise is going. @rafinmd Roy, thank you for stepping up and providing us with the maps of the ship locations. @grapau27 Graham, thank you for the explanations of the days. @Denise T Denise, that is good news that you're getting your blood sugar under control Condolences on having to return to work tomorrow. I'm sure you realize work is a four letter word. @dfish Debbie, we usually don't watch too much football, but this year we've seen a lot of bowl games, and we will be watching the Sugar Bowl and cheering on Texas. HOOKEM HORNS! 🤘 @kochleffel Paul, I hope you are feeling better today, and that the emotional distress is easing. @rafinmd Roy, the train ride to the Copper Canyon was always on my father's bucket list, and something I've wanted to do, but haven't had the chance. @marshhawk Annie, I hope you enjoy the collard greens. They are our favorite of all the greens. Blackeyed peas were the traditional good luck food when I was growing up. DSIL said that in Louisiana cabbage was eaten on NYD for good luck. Tonight we'll be having a ham and cabbage dish along with blackeyed peas, doctored with Picante Sauce. @VMax1700 Welcome back. You have been missed, and we hope you will visit often. @Nickelpenny Pennie, thanks for the New Year pictures. @tupper10 I hope you are feeling better, but sorry your DH is getting a cold. I know your family appreciates all the precautions you are taking to keep them well. @mamaofami Carol, please wish Sam an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY from us. @cruising sister Lorraine, I'm glad some of you got to meet last night. I hope you, Susan and Caron enjoy the Ho-Ho, and that the weather cooperates. @sailingdutchy Tony, thanks for sharing your pictures of Osaka. @Cruising-along Carolyn, safe travels tomorrow. Lenda

@Cat in my lap Wishing both of you a very HAPPY 47TH ANNIVERSARY! Lenda

RABBIT 🐰 RABBIT 🐰 WHITE RABBIT! 🐇 HAPPY NEW YEAR! My New Year's wish is for good health and happiness in 2024 for all our wonderful Dailyites and their families. Lenda

2023 is almost history here in Quartzsite. Three more minutes, and we'll be rid of 2023. Lenda

I'm sure that La Madeleine is not the only restaurant to change the original recipe. Thinking back to when I made Sacher Torte, the recipe said either apricots or another filling. Even using apricots it didn't live up to expectations, and I have not attempted to make it in more than 30 years. If Sacher Torte is on the menu, I usually order it. I'm glad you made the video. Those certainly don't look like service dogs or emotional support dogs. Let us know how the story ends. I would not have put up with the barking as long as you have. Lenda

@Haljo1935 Happy New Year! Enjoy ringing in the new year on Koningsdam.

Sandi, sorry more lights went after you were putting the ornaments back on the tree. We switched to pre-lit trees and have had the lights go out. The last time that happened, we got a tree with led lights. The cost a little more, but the led lights last a lot longer. Ann, I hope 2024 is a very good year for you and Pat. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Safe travels to you and John tomorrow. I'm pulling for the Vikings to win. Lenda

Lorraine, I'm glad you arrived safely in San Diego. I'm sorry about that big dent in your suitcase. Maybe some at the hotel or on the ship could push it more or less back into shape. The guys on the ship can do wonders with a lot of things. Lenda

I agree with the advice to contact the wedding coordinator for the cruise line. Since the Princess cruise where my daughter was married sailed from Fort Lauderdale, she worked with a coordinator based in south Florida. It was an easy way to plan a wedding. Remember, the ship has everything you would need for a wedding. They have a chapel, florist, photographer, musician, venues for a reception and specialty restaurants for the rehearsal dinner and wedding dinner. Plus, the Captain is there to perform the ceremony. She also arranged appointments in the beauty shop for the female family members to have their hair and make up done if they wished. It was an easy and basically a hassle free way to have a wedding.

We've noticed at times the different dishes and antenna for the tv and internet are located such that at times the funnel could be blocking the signal. However, we've never had anyone on the ship admit that is the case.