jpalbny

Beautiful picture of the locks. We were just there a few weeks ago. This pic is taken facing the opposite direction from the one that you posted. I like yours better!

There once was a man from Devizes, Whose ears were of different sizes. The one that was small, Was of no use at all, But the other won several prizes!

We walked some of the Ottawa portion last month, and also the area near Dow's lake. Very pretty!

Jeff, there are more constructive ways for one to make the point. Consider, "The included wines were basic $10 bottlings which mostly seemed generic and didn't pair well with the food offerings, often because they didn't come from the same region. For instance, they paired a Northern Italian mushroom risotto with a mass-produced pinotage based blend from South Africa. Not really a good local match, and the pinotage had a harshness about it which overwhelmed the subtle mushroom flavor of the dish." Vs. "The included wines were terrible." The latter is just pejorative and offers little opportunity for a productive conversation. The former would be a nuanced comment which should invite a nice dialogue. And isn't that the type of in-depth analysis that one would expect from a gourmet?

Great polar bear pictures! Your fellow passenger? Feed him/her to the bears...

Is that an oxymoron?

Algorithmic traders - computer programs set to make certain trades automatically when a certain scenario occurs. They can snowball and have major effects on prices.

Stumblefoot, do you recognize this poor soul?

A shame, Silver. I have wanted to go there (for some reason) for a long time. One of my former residents is from there, and apparently his family is VERY connected. So he's been saying that when travel is safe again, he'll hook me up with a VIP tour.

Karin - glad you posted, but sorry to read the contents of your post. Feel free to come by and post any time - and share your cooking adventures!

Sounds tasty, Lola. I'd enjoy it. But Chris doesn't like goat cheese. I guess being married to an old goat has made it somehow less appealing to her?

Welcome home! Glad everything went smoothly. Did you fly out of JFK or LGA? We love T4 at JFK but DL is putting lots of effort into making a domestic hub at LGA now.

Happy cruising, banjo!

The requirements change so rapidly. I suspect that the SS website just hasn't caught up. This is from the official Canadian website. It clearly says that pre-cruise testing is no longer required as of today. https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid?utm_campaign=gac-amc-covidoct1-22-23&utm_source=covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada&utm_medium=redirect&utm_content=en Hope you go on the cruise and enjoy it!

Thank you @dusababy, for the news. Glad to hear that she is OK.

Rachel confirmed that they left Newport much later than anticipated, due to some difficulty securing one of the tenders. Afternoon arrival is expected.

I don't know the answer to your questions, but just popping in this thread to say hi to our cruise friends from the November 2017 Explorer expedition! That sure was an amazing trip.

I refuse to "like" this post.

Cruisinbanjo, the wording has been confusing from day one WRT boosters and expiration. Boosters do not expire (yet...). The regs are saying (in a confusing way) that if your last shot of the PRIMARY series is >270 days old, THEN you are considered unvaccinated - UNLESS you have a booster. That booster can be as old as possible and isn't considered expired. Yes, it reminds me of the Monty Python skit with Prince Erbert's guards...

Safe travels and hope your meeting goes off exactly as planned! Have a wonderful trip!

That's my story at the local wine shop.

From my uncle. He lived in Illinois for years but retired and moved to Florida maybe 2y ago, where 3 of his kids live as well. About Sanibel. Casa Ybel is the time share where they've vacationed since the 80s. "We had to go because we were at Casa Ybel. Owners of houses could stay. Some people stayed because everybody insisted it was going to go to Tampa-St. Pete not to Fort Myers but he changed his mind. It slowed down to 10 miles an hour and sat over Sanibel and Fort Myers and us for 12 hours We heard them on the radio calling for help and on the roof or in the trees and the answers were we cannot help you at this time. They had to wait for the next day or so we don’t know how many lives were lost. One man and his wife and two kids jumped out the second floor window with the water as it was rising in their house as it was swept downstream, but they were able to swim to the next house over and climb on the roof but who knows what happened to them then." "We can’t get any information out of Sanibel. Water was 6 feet deep on Periwinkle by Casa Ybel. The roads are out everything is gone. The water rose 10 to 15 feet from the ocean and ran over the whole island. The island is only 5 feet above sea level so we’re not sure anything is left. The bridge did collapse in two places and the only way to save people is by air or sea . The good news is we only expect an inch of rain in the next three days and the sun is out, and the water is drying out." I messaged him this morning and he got back to me an hour ago. "Well, cell service is spotty if it even works. I have to leave the house and travel a couple of miles to even attempt to get it so that’s why I can’t answer. We have no stores open, no power no water in the bathrooms, etc. and the hurricane passed right over us about 60 miles wide though the eye just missed us. And we had all winds up to 140 miles an hour although I really think we only got hit with 90 mile an hour winds. Trees down everywhere roads blocked roads flooded. The water came up in our development to my back door and front door and stopped because the tide went out .We are 12 miles from the shore, but everything backed up because of the winds and the tide but it’s much better now. We may not have power for a week and water. And no cell Wi-Fi or Internet. None of the stores are open. Fort Myer beach is done Sanabel is flattened and the bridge to Sanibel collapsed. Over 24 hours of the winds, howling pounding on the roof ripping off the solar panels. It was horrible but we’re all safe the whole family. My daughter got 6 inches of water in her first floor she’s 15 miles from the beach, go figure. I can’t tell you how many boats are sitting on the guard rails along the roads to Fort Myers Beach and one was in a tree. It’s really odd. But hurricanes are hell let me tell you. Being cooped up in your house 24 hours in the dark with the wind howling is no fun. Everybody’s fine but the vacation is over and we’re all cleaning up now. No planes until Saturday Take care more later if I can get cell service," Sorry for the long paragraphs. Just passing this on as it came to me with minor spelling corrections. Sounds pretty horrible.

My Uncle lives in Ft. Meyers and has vacationed in Sanibel for decades. He was at their timeshare and had to evacuate ahead of the hurricane. He heard some horror stories from Sanibel. I'll clean up some of his messages and maybe post them for illustration. Or maybe not...it sounds pretty horrible there.

I see you're up posting this morning, so hope all is OK.

I try not to listen. But I tell ya, I've seen some posts...