Vict0riann

That is funny, we were in Bari on October 13, 2016 on Prinsendam also, but we had not yet met Linda! We went on one of @sailingdutchy's Tantalizing and Tasty (and Tiring) Tours to Alberobello and Ostuni, and on the way back a quick walk around Bari, where my pictures are much like Lenda's. Alberobello, the home of the famous "beehive" houses, is fascinating. Unfortunately, DD, DH, and I had not learned at that time that we needed to carefully synch our cameras, so the photos are a bit mixed up. Ostuni, up in the hills was also interesting, and we had a nice meal there. Then back through Bari to our home away from home! Alberobello We're just about to go out, so I'll post more when we get back...

You might wait until you are on board and find out if you can cancel = as long as it is more than 3 days before the tour. You might just get OBC for it. But we had no problems with Schiphol in the Spring. We had a tour of Rotterdam and then transfer to Schiphol. It went well.

Good morning, Dailyites. For the last few days I have found a bit of time to read the news, but have been hauled off to do stuff before I could post (Pat is getting his energy back..). I have been thinking of you. So sad about baby Murphy, I hope she improves; we had terrible problems with our son when he was a baby, in and out of hospital, it was really difficult for us, fortunately, he doesn't remember a thing. At least there is good doggie news today! And birthdays to celebrate this month. The grocery store flyer today offered a barbecue chicken plus potato salad to get 500 points, but it starts tomorrow, so I might get it, if I remember! But then again, DD said she will cook tomorrow, so maybe I won't. She made a delicious chicken dish last night, she said the recipe was on tiktok, but unfortunately it didn't agree with me, so I had a bad night... I need to stick with my old "tried and true" very plain food. Yesterday I decided to call HAL to see if I could get Club Orange added to our cruise in the Spring on NS. Originally I was told it was sold out and we would be on the wait list, (haha), but recently someone on the roll call mentioned that she had got it for one of the legs, so I figured it was worth it to try again. Yay! We got the last two spots, I was told, and I was able to choose a fairly good verandah - not many left it turns out. So we have the early booking HIA and now CO - we can live it up! The wandering AirTag on Rotterdam is still checking in every few days, I wonder how long the battery will last...

Good morning, Dailyites, and thanks to all for all the news. Lots of cruising going on! I am envious... but yesterday we picked up three sets of antibiotics to take with us when next we travel, so we're set to go! We did check all the "best by" dates, and we're covered until 2025. Yesterday I gardened, and I got down and up again twice, so I was definitely the image of the chief's meme! I'm sore today. Pat was going for some tests and I told him to be sure to check on me when he got back, in case I was still on my hands and knees, but I managed without him. Today is ironing day, and I got out a steak for dinner, so Pat can barbecue. I've only seen tigers in zoos, they are magnificent animals. One time when Pat was working in Nepal and I was with him we went on a "tiger hunt" in the terai on elephants, but didn't see any. There was an interesting article in the paper yesterday about cruising. Evidently the store owners in town are suffering because the cruise ships have shortened their time in port here in Victoria, most arrive now about 8 and just have a few hours, so no time to do much. But it is because they have been ordered to reduce speed through our waters to protect the orca population and the new addition of many humpback whales. So I approve! Just read in today's paper that Canadians and some other nations will have to get permission to enter many European nations starting next year, over 70's at least don't have to pay the fee!

Thanks. That was the page I had been looking at, but I don't see anything about gift cards. Just the AARP rewards.

When I bring up the AARP site there is nowhere to find the gift cards. Help! I used to be able to find it...

They are crocosmia. I have some of them too, but the older orangey ones, volunteers - like @marshhawk's DH, I tend to pull them out - I would keep them if they were red, but I'm not crazy about orange glowers.

I have a wonderful little tool that helps me thread a needle! I think this was my mother's, but I imagine they are still available. Pat often visited Singapore during business trips and stayed at Raffles (pre-air conditioning!) then he found the beautiful Shangri-La hotel on Orchard Road, and I stayed there with him a couple of times. Great for shopping! We also had a turn-around day in Singapore on Volendam in 2014 and then a few days there at the end of the cruise. We had friends on board as well as Pat's DS and BIL and our younger DD. We had a wonderful time. Our hotel (I don't remember which one it was) was over the underground shopping area of Singapore and it had a huge food court. We ate there a lot, but also at the Jumbo Restaurant on the Singapore River, where the others had chile crab, it was too spicy for me. We went to the Night Safari, rode the Singapore Flyer and the HOHO and a boat down the river, visited the museums and the Jurong Bird Park, Chinatown, there is so much to do, you could spend weeks there and not run out of activities. But, boy was it hot! I have tons of pictures, I'll post a few that might be different.. Decorations for, you guessed it, the Year of the Horse.. On the river Jumbo Restaurant and getting ready for chile crab! From the Singapore Flyer The beautiful Jurong Bird Park and gardens, such gorgeous birds!

So sorry there are so many health problems today. We did get some good news, the surgeon said, although everything showed up clear everywhere on the pathology, the cancer Pat has/had is very "tricky" and could reappear, so he will be monitored every 6 months with ultrasound, scans, bloodwork, etc., I guess forever, by the surgeon. I was busily taking notes while the two Irishmen spent most of the time cracking wise! Anyway, he has the green light to travel, and prescriptions to take with us, just in case.

It's raining here, too! Very exciting. Just hope it keeps up for days, as our reservoir is down to 82% and, as more and more people move here, it goes down even faster. If we have another dry winter, we're in trouble. @mamaofami, Carol, so sorry about your DH, I hope he recovers pdq. What a worry these men can be! Pat is pale, too, @marshhawk, I worry about him, he went to exercise class this morning for the first time in many months, now he is going to have a haircut, and we have an appointment with the surgeon this afternoon. i have a feeling he will say "I've done my job, just go back to your own doctor now, I want nothing more to do with you." But we need to find out if he will be referred to the Cancer Centre, or what we do for the future. Also the pathology results. Roy, @rafinmd, I hope everything goes well with your appointments this week, and you can get going on some travel! It looks like you had a very interesting trip planned, you always do some amazing organizing.

Lots of prayers for little baby Murphy.

Good morning, Dailyites, and thank you to all for all the interesting news. Much better than the newspaper! This morning we have our Strata pancake breakfast, cooked up by the Board. We have to take our own cishes and dutlery... I bought a lot of saffron when we visited Morocco, I still have some, I hope it doesn't go bad. I think my headache is gone! I decided that I could take Robaxacet as it seems it was a muscle, and so that, plus heat and the exercises and stretches the physiotherapist gave me seem to have worked. The next time it happens I know what to do! Pat has been off the antibiotics for almost a week now, and seems to be okay, so I think he can come off the Cares List, @JazzyV, I'll let you know if he needs prayers again.. In the past the infection has come back within 3 or 4 days, so maybe they got it this time. He still doesn't have mush energy, but says he plans to hit a bucket of balls next week, and prepare to go back to golf. I have a very strange lily in my flower bed - I bought the bulb a couple of years ago, and it said "3 feet tall" - the first summer it was about 4 feet and I figured as it got older it would shrink - this year it is 7 feet tall. I don't know what is going to happen next year! DD sent me this.

Good afternoon, Dailyites! We have had visitors the last few days, they left two hours ago, and are now on the ferry, and we are worn out! But it was fun being tourists with them, we had the "scenic drive" yesterday, plus visits to the cemetery where my cousin's parents are buried and shopping for things you can only get here - tea and chocolates.... Today was a visit to Butchart's, it was really hot! We visited Flam on the Ryndam and enjoyed our Norway cruise so much, we had DD with us and she is great fun. Sailing in and out of Sognefjord was very impressive.

And Annie, @marshhawk, in a side street off the square where the church is in Messina is a little bakery that makes very good cannoli while you watch. It was a side street that was kind of back in the direction of the port but I don't know the name, or the name of the bakery, sorry, maybe someone here will know.

Hi, Jacqui, we have had to cancel our October cruise on Oosterdam, so no Bon Voyage for us! Thanks for keeping the List.

Good morning, Dailyites, and thank you to all for the morning news, as our paper has not arrived yet. We did get a Globe and Mail, so I had one sudoku to do anyway, and I did start the cryptic crossword. Happy birthdays to Allan and Keith, and many prayers for health for baby Murphy. Not much going on here. Temps still in the 20's, but we are being warned daily about the drought, soon we will be showering with a bucket at our feet like we did in Australia. We need a pipeline across the country for water, so we can send and receive! Our Fall cruise is cancelled, I will post it on Jacqui's Bon Voyage list, sad about that, but the only new port for us would have been Sete, France, and that visit has evidently suddenly been cancelled... Haha!

Good morning, Dailyites, and thank you to Rich and all the providers of the daily news! Here we are having fairly warm weather - in the 20's - but no rain in the forecast for weeks to come. July and August are our driest months, I'm having to water almost daily, and the fear is that watering will be forbidden soon, as the reservoir is getting lower and lower. Bowdlerism still exists! I think blueberry muffins are more like cupcakes, but I do like them. We are picking up a friend in a care home this morning and going to Timmie's for coffee, so perhaps I will have one. As Jacqui said, we were in Cabo in January, before the terrible elbow accident, and had a nice boat trip to join many other boats watching a family of whales. Then we headed along the shore to a bar where we had a lunch of a delicious guacamole plus seafood and Mexican beers. One whale came quite close and we could see its giant mouth. But it was hard to catch them on the camera IMG_2333.MOV Lunch, prepared in front of us For the garden club, one dahlia that survived the winter in the courtyard started blooming a couple of weeks ago, I was picking a flower almost every other day, but we went away for three days and came back to this

Good morning, Dailyites, and many thanks to Rich, and all who post all the interesting news of the day! We are back from our few days in Bellingham, and it was a success, although not everything turned out as we thought. We had to make reservations for the ferry both ways, there have been terrible delays the last few weeks as so many are travelling, and BC Ferries has had a lot of staffing shortages, so sailings are cancelled at a moment's notice. But we made it! The mall took us by surprise, as it now opens at 11 and of course we were there much earlier! A lot of the stores are closed, but we did find a few things to buy. There are still empty shelves, though! We were disappointed with our favourite restaurant, Anthony's, they seem to have doubled prices and reduced choices, I think we will be looking for a new favourite next time. Pat did really well, and seems to have adjusted to his "new reality". We slowed down a lot, and I made sure he drank a lot of water and rested between bouts of activity. Now all that remains to see is what happens when he finishes his course of antibiotics in a couple of weeks. This infection keeps coming back, this is the fourth bout, at least... and he has had four different antibiotics this time. Hopefully it is sensitive to at least one of them! Vanessa, @JazzyV, I think you can take him off the Cares list, perhaps on the rotation it would be nice to see his name occasionally. Pat has gone off to church, but I decided not to go, I'm still finding it difficult to sit still with this headache. I will go and do some watering for my poor plants which suffered without me for 3 days, and say my prayers then, for all the Dailyites and their loved ones who are ailing. I count Father David as my church for the day! Please say Happy Birthday to him for me, too, Graham.

My tiny “Mouse Ears” hosta has decided to bloom this year. I saw a bee trying to get into a flower yesterday. It was a squeeze.

I'm worn out! I got massaged, manipulated, tractioned (?), stuck with needles and heated! Now I feel worse than I did before, but he said I'm going to be a difficult case, with arthritis in my neck as well as the muscle problems. So I have exercise and stretches to do and I go back next week. In the meantime, we are going to take a drive tomorrow down to Bellingham, Wa., for a few days. Pat is now on no BP meds for this very low blood pressure, do we wish for the high blood pressure to come back? We have smoky skies today, too. I believe there are fires up the island on the west coast, or maybe it's coming from Washington State.

Good morning, Dailyites! Interesting day - but no Vigo here, nor chili or mai tais! Yesterday we had neighbours in, could have used them then, but we stuck to wine. I'm sorry about Bailey, @summer slope, it's such a hard decision to make for our furry friends, a real heartache. @smitty34877, so happy your DH will be coming home today, I hope you will have some help with hi and Tana. It is stressful being the nurse - I know, I'm finding it hard to make sure Pat is doing what he's supposed to do now that he's feeling better, although we had Sunday at Emergency again. It's a big day for me, I have my appointment with the physiotherapist this morning, I do hope he can fix what ails me. I had a bad day yesterday.

It's an interesting dinner, worth it to do it once. I preferred Le Cirque, but they don't do that anymore, and the Pinnacle Gala dinner seems to have disappeared. I'd definitely choose the Cellar Master dinner over De Librije, too. These are all the pics I have - B.C. (Before Covid) (I remember the deconstructed apple pie, but don't have a picture...)

Happy Independence Day to all our American Dailyites! And thank you to all who post. I'll be thinking of all those who have problems and ailments. All those joys of getting older! We have visited LA on driving trips, and Long Beach on cruises. We learned why it is called Long Beach; we needed a drug store one time on a Sunday and decided to just walk until we came to one - well, we never did, and finally turned around and walked back to the ship. In LA last time (years ago), we were staying in Malibu and took the public busses, just 25 cents for seniors, and we didn't even have to show an ID....

Good morning, Dailyites, and many thanks to all who post. Those skewers look yummy! My body piercings are only two - one in each ear; they almost closed up during Covid, I wore no jewelry at all for about a year I think, so it was a struggle to put earrings back in my ears, the ones with really thick posts I still have difficulty with. I don't think we've been to Cozumel - is it on the Caribbean side? Thinking a lot of @luvteaching today, I have her to thank, I believe, for putting me on the path to figuring out what was going on with Pat and getting him to the doctor. We both had doctor's appointments yesterday, Pat's BP is going up a tiny bit, he has reduced his meds again, and the doctor quickly diagnosed me has having a trapezius muscle problem causing my "headache". Never heard of a trapezius! But I am being sent to a physiotherapist, and he could fit me in next week. If it works, then the next time, I'll just head straight to the physio... When I looked on line, there was a picture of the "headache" caused by it, just behind the right ear, and that is exactly where mine is. So I'm "textbook"! But Pat's infections are still a worry, and we are going to cancel our Fall cruise before final payment. It's no use paying out a whole bunch of money and then only getting back a portion when we have to cancel last minute. Better to get him well and then figure something out! I had been looking forward to meeting @kochleffel!

Karen, my deepest condolences on your loss. You and your family will be in my prayers.