Vict0riann

We had Easter Brunch in the PG on Rotterdam last year, but it was that 150th anniversary cruise, so I don't know if it was extra special! Sorry, I see it is the same as Cruisemom's menu - I should have read before posting!

And here's my picture from Rotterdam last year. It was messy, the crab legs were a lot of work, we get lots of salmon here, so I didn't eat that. No lobster. There was corn, plus clams, mussels, shrimp, potato, I couldn't eat all of it. We didn't get any discount. It was fun but I don't know that I will do it again.

Did they give you a black eye?

Good morning, Dailyites! Thanks for the news and prayers for those suffering, especially Tana and Terri. Bon voyage to the lucky ducks who are sailing. We have decided to forego a cruise this spring, we looked into some, the prices are good, but airfares are exorbitant. We'll wait until the fall. It has been raining steadily for a few days, and the reservoir has gone up to 98.3%. Good news, but as fast as it fills, we use it. My Library of Congress story. When we lived in Virginia, I took a genealogy course at the Northern Virginia Community College one year. It turned out that, although a Canadian, I was the only one in the class whose ancestors came from Maryland, Virginia and what became West Virginia. We had field trips to Baltimore, Hagerstown, etc., and found information and also many trips to the National Archives and the Library of Congress. Our first visit to the Library of Congress, we were all given computers and told to write in the name of the ancestors we were researching. I typed it in and suddenly the screen started flashing, alarms went off and the supervisor rushed over. I was in trouble! I was not invited back - my ancestors' name is "English", and the poor old computer just could not encompass all those references. (It was a long time ago!)

Good morning, Dailyites! Everyone please send bubblewrap to Jacqui! The chicken sounds good - might try it. Last night I marinated some chicken thighs in soy sauce, mirin, chilli sauce, and fish sauce (all compliments of DD, who shops on line) and then added some peas and bamboo shoots in a pancake. Pat said it was tasty, I found it a bit too spicy, but I survived. We eat a lot of chicken. But I think we'll have left over pot roast tonight, and we have a bottle of red wine to finish up. As Roy said, we joined the Grand SA on Prinsendam at the last minute in BA for the Amazon. We decided, as the ship would overnight there we could risk arriving on the day, so we used the ship's transfer and planned to go ashore the next day, however there was a strike or something going on, so we just stayed on board. We had visited BA for a few days in 2017 before a Zaandam cruise in the other direction, so we did see a lot of the city, we joined friends at dinner, where our waiter pointed to a large dish of meats that a single gentleman was enjoying and said that was their usual order for 2, but we decided it was enough for 4! We couldn't eat it all, it came with empanadas, french fries, rolls, and a large salad. I have a picture of the meats, but I think we already had had a few pieces. We walked for miles in BA, an amazing city., We found a 3-storey shopping centre overlooking the Recoleta and got pictures of it from there - a city within a city! Even crypts underground. The Galleria shopping centre had very ornate ceilings. On the way to dinner This enormous flower has petals that are supposed to open and close depending on the sunshine, but it wasn't working when we were there. Bird's eye view of the Recoleta Cemetary and wall. Ceiling in the shopping centre

Good afternoon, Dailyites, so nice to hear all the news! I hope the changes to Maurice's medications solve or at least help, @ger_77! Pat was getting really uppity after his good report, but we spent most of yesterday at the hospital emergency room with one of his nasty nosebleeds. The doctor kept trying to find the spot that was bleeding, but eventually said he thought it was too high up in the nostril for him to get at and Pat would need to see a specialist. After 7 hours on pretty uncomfortable chairs and stools, I was sooo tired, we had lunch at 3:30 after we got home, and I just made a very small salad for our supper. I am recovering today! We are in for an atmospheric river for the next few days, but at least it is quite warm outside (in the 50's) we haven't had the heat on. Pat had an English colleague (RIP) a long time ago who had been at one of the concentration camps when the prisoners were released. I asked him about it, he couldn't speak, just shook his head. It must have been horrifying. I know my father never talked about his time in the Japanese camp in Shanghai.

It’s been dropped from ours as well. I do like Sitka!

Pat's cardiologist didn't say anything like yours did - he just said that at his age, Pat wouldn't be a good candidate for the open heart surgery, they would most likely do it through the groin. I will have to do some research, but I think that means a mechanical valve. That they can do in Victoria, anything more complicated they would have to do in Vancouver. Do they do all the different surgeries in Saskatoon? It is not a good thing to be struggling for breath. I hope something gets organized for your husband right away.

Looks good, but now we need new passports - we're going to go in tomorrow to do that! There's a nice Hawaii cruise on K in April, too... 😁

Pat had encouraging news at the cardiologist, he can come off the care list! His aortic stenosis has progressed, but as long as he has no symptoms, they will just monitor him every 6 months. Next appointment in July. On the strength of that, we might book a cruise!

Praying hard for Maurice today. What a worry! Hope they can help, pdq. I’ll let you know how Pat’s appointment goes today too, but he is asymptomatic, so it’s certainly not as much of an emergency.

Good morning, Dailyites! Many thanks to all who post such interesting stuff. I had to re-read all the threads with Haifa and laughed at the memes. We have been there twice, the first time I was in isolation with noro, and DH and DD went to Nazareth and Capharnaum; the next time we had a tour to Jaffa and Caesarea with Tony and he posted pictures on one of the threads. So I won't add pictures - they are much like others here. Yesterday we had an outing and ended up at the grocery store at almost lunchtime - I came away with Nanaimo bars, butter tarts, carrot cake, brownies and oatmeal raisin cookies. Fortunately I managed to get them packaged up quickly and into the freezer but we did have a Nanaimo bar for lunch. On our drive we saw a large "V" of Canada geese - and they were flying north - they must have our same weather lady who said winter is over! I missed some birthdays, I know, so I wish all the birthday girls many happy returns, even if belatedly. I made the roasted cauliflower and broccoli the other day, it was really good. I added some onion chunks and sweet potato slices (butternut squash chunks would have been good), and I had a piece of pork tenderloin which I seared first on the stove and then added to the vegetable pan for the last 20 minutes, which was when I stirred up the veg and put the crumb topping on them, and it was all delicious, I thought. Pat didn't say anything.... but he ate it. Good use of a beer can - a gift from one of the bartenders on a bhb.

We got quite a lot of snow here, for Victoria a lot anyway!, about 4 inches. The weather lady says now there is not much chance for any more as it's an El Nino year. Winter is over!! (Famous last words.)

Good morning, Dailyites, I'm here fairly early because I didn't go to exercise; there's still a little snow on the ground, and I didn't go out all last week, so I'm out of shape and I don't think I could get up off the floor. I will practice today and hope to go to exercise on Wednesday. What a nuisance it is, getting old.. I've been reading with interest the information about who does the bookkeeping in the household, and I have to say, I need to know more from Pat. I used to share the banking duties while he was travelling a lot, but haven't kept up for years now, and he does everything on line. With this heart thing he has, I think I need at least a list of logins and passwords, etc! It has always been the plan that I would "go" first, his family was all long-lived, and no one I know in my family has made it to 90! But now... Anyway, to travel - we have been to Ushuaia twice, the first time for a few days before our Antarctic "expedition" on Quark, DD was with us and as she wanted to add Argentina to her driving log, we rented a car, and she drove us all over the place. The scenery is very impressive! Of course the number one spot to visit is the National Park, we saw so many birds! I will post some pictures, sorry, I can't remember all their names. The second time we were on Zaandam and we went ashore with CC friends and Pat found us a taxi. Our friend wanted wool, we had shopped with her in Montevideo and Stanley, and our taxi driver in Ushuaia said his abuelita (little grandmother) also used the "palillos" (little sticks) and he knew where she bought wool. He took us to a shop way off in the boonies that had wool from floor to ceiling on every wall and piled in the middle. He warned our friend not to say the prices were good, as then they would put them up. She came away from the cruise with bags of wool; fortunately they had packed a large duffel bag for the purpose! We also went to the park, but didn't see so many birds this time. We did go to the End of the World postoffice. Amazing scenery Guanaco In the park, Chile in the distance. Magellanic woodpecker - they are huge! Love birds... Plover The second time we went to the park this is all we saw - Best wishes to Bruno, @atexsix, on his care for his DD, I remember the hospice coming in for my mother; as much as it is a great help in keeping the person comfortable, it means more people in the house, and more confusion; I will remember you both in my prayers.

Or use airdrop, I guess… I only mentioned it because my Fitbit had a really hard time changing time! It couldn’t sync, either.

The only other thing I have to say , with one account and two devices(actually we usually have one account, 4 devices) is that the Navigator app on all the devices has to be set in the name of the person buying the internet. Then it is easy for any device to “bump” any other device that is using it. Another thing is that as two devices cannot be on the internet at the same time, they can’t sync, so a photo on your phone won’t show up on your iPad until you get home!

Good morning all (only just morning - 15 minutes to go). Sorry to hear about your DH, @ger_77, mine needs a new valve, too, but it's for aortic stenosis. We'll see what the cardiologist says next week. I'm hoping recovery will be quick, we have a cruise booked in October, but it's just as well we cancelled our spring cruise. I'm worried he won't be allowed to fly, or drive... Debbie, Happy Birthday to your DB! Surprise him... Still very white here, but it is raining and the white stuff is slowly disappearing. The reservoir is up to 89%, hope we reach 100% before the end of the month. As the population grows, we use more and more water. Prayers going out for everybody!

Good morning, Dailyites, or Good Afternoon, depending on where you are, or even Good Night, Colin and Graham! (Glad you got your internet back!) My arm is sore this morning from the RSV vaccination, and I had a really bad night, very achy and uncomfortable, but I don't know if it was from the RSV or the change in weather, because that four-letter word has appeared - SNOW! We have about 3 inches of it now and we are threatened with 8", though if the temperature goes up, it will change to rain and then probably freeze tonight. Shades of when we lived in Virginia! Of course the doctor phoned this morning to cancel my "bump removal" today - moved to February 14. Probably snow that day, too, if my luck holds.. We have been to Edinburgh a few times, but not by sea, and it was pre-digital, so I would have to hunt through old photograph albums to find pictures. Chicken stew sounds warming, but we had chicken last night, and I had originally told Pat he would have to cook tonight if I had both hands cut up, so now I will have to re-think it. I hope Chuck's recovery goes smoothly, and all the other Dailyites stay well, or get better.

We got our RSV vaccinations this afternoon. The pharmacist said it is a one-time vaccination - I wonder how they know that? I think it is a rather new vaccine. He suggested our daughter who lives with us (and is 60) get it too, as she is an asthmatic and lives with us. He said that way she will protect us and we will protect her.

Good morning, Dailyites. Good day for us dragons! My mother was born in the year of the dragon, as were I and our elder daughter. With three dragons in the household, you can imagine the fire-breathing going on! Fortunately, Pat was born in the year of the rat and rats and dragons are compatible... Now I will be humming Puff all day. Pat has gone to get some bloodwork done for the cardiologist and run some errands. We will be making appointments to get the RSV vaccine. The skies are blue today, with a few wispy clouds. We are threatened with snow, but it does not look like a snow sky. Temps around freezing. We were in Papeete in 2016 with Jacqui on Westerdam, we had had a lot of itinerary changes due to weather, and we just walked around during the day and visited the church and the market. That evening we went ashore, too, to see all the night market food trucks. It was bustling ashore, but we had eaten on the ship. One of our favourite Tamarind servers, Apinya, sent us a picture yesterday of herself with Tony and Martha on Rotterdam. Now we are so envious and want to join them! I also checked on the wandering AirTag on Sunday and it was in Fort Lauderdale, but is slowly dying - it is calling out for a new battery. So sad... I have enjoyed following it around as it cruised. I called Guest Relations yesterday to ask (again) about our refund for our Covid expenses in September 2022. A very helpful agent said he had approved it and would be sending an email. The email eventually arrived and all it did was ask for the same information - for the third time. It's never going to end!

Good Monday morning, Dailyites, and thanks for all the news of the day. Martha (Mrs. @sailingdutchy) sent me a picture from Rotterdam - they're having a good time! Our weather has warmed up a bit, but it's still frosty, and I didn't go to exercise this morning, Pat did and said there was a good crowd. The hummingbird feeders are out today without the hand warmers to keep them from freezing - we'll see how it goes. Just hope winter is over! Pat has booked flights to England in June to visit his favourite cousin on his 96th birthday. I hope it will come to pass. He has an appointment to see the cardiologist January 25 - our doctor had said it would take 6 to 9 months to get the referral, but it has happened very quickly, and we're hoping he says Pat is fit to fly. And who knows how long it will take for him to have the surgery to replace the valve.

Robin is probably drunk! Here the robins are gorging themselves on the berries that froze overnight and are now alcoholic. Lots of robins and other small birds, juncos, etc. eating berries suddenly palatable.

Glad the nosebleed sorted itself out although it took a long time, Roy. Pat has been having bad ones on a regular basis, and the doctor gave him the name of a nasal gel to use daily. It’s called Secaris. Do you think it has any connection to the radiation treatments? on a happier note, the lunch of the day at the grocery store was - wait for it - butternut squash soup!

Good morning, Dailyites! Will I make it on page 2 for a change? Probably not... I was up early to put out the hummingbird feeders, with new hand warmers attached, they were waiting for their breakfasts. In 2016 we visited Nuku Hiva on Westerdam, we hit a lot of strange weather and ports were missed or changed, but we did make it to Nuku Hiva, and it was probably Jacqui who organized a wonderful jungle tour, with an interesting lunch and hike. I'll see if I can post pictures today or if I have to change over to my phone. An amazing day!

I remember when they used to check the outsides of the plane for leaks- they would find them by the nicotine stains. See, smoking was good for something. we are also playing hummingbird bingo. This last time I took one out, “our” little male landed on it before I could get it hung. Even with the hand warmers attached the one in the shade is freezing within an hour, the other, in a sunny spot, is taking a little longer to freeze(that’s the one the girls sit on, the male hogs the other).