Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[Lois R]

Good morning.......the flooding looks devastating:eek::(.......watching some families this morning on the news walking

through it all trying to get to safety.........

 

Wishing my best thoughts and good wishes to everyone affected.............

[Lois R]

Me again, I decided to write another review of my cruise and submit it to the "REVIEWS SECTION" of Cruise Critic.

It is a bit more condensed than my thoughts on here but wanted to post something about it for other folks too.:)

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Continued thoughts and well wishes for those affected by Harvey! Food damage is so very difficult for people to deal with! Clean-up is a nightmare!

 

Today was dust bunny round-up. For some reason, this week, they were the size of ponies...and they had riders! As fall approaches we have spiders join the fun! So the round-up did have some casualties this time around. If you can't pay rent or contribute to the upkeep of the house, you will be evicted! :) Farewell spiders!

 

The rib eye looks delicious J!

 

Kind of you to post another review of your cruise Lois! The more input people get, the more likely that they will choose something just right for them.

 

Have a great day all!

[Camillus112]

Hello Coolers,

Sad the devastation in Houston and nearby areas...

Lois, be quick in posting your review in the Review Section of CC. Mine was accepted when submitted but never published...maybe a few days late..

As usual, lovely food pictures, Jeff.

[Lois R]

Hi Cam, I submitted it this morning.........received a reply that CC received it......now will just wait to see how long it takes.

[mysty]

Flooding in Houston sounds dire! Is your son OK Spins?

[spinnaker2]

Yes thanks Mysty. So far he's spared.

 

 

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[Camillus112]

That's a relief for you, Spins! I'm glad everything is fine for your son, and and I'm hoping for the best for everybody else, since the storm is not abating. My thoughts and prayers for the ones who were seriously affected.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Great news Spins.

 

I must say the images are much grimmer than one expects and I think we all hope that people are as safe as possible and that disruption to their lives is as minimal as possible.

[Lois R]

Cam and Spins.....glad both of your families are ok.......

 

I am watching the news......they are showing this elderly family being helped on a boat in Dickison, Texas (don't know the location of that city) but I want to cry.:(.....so glad they are safe but the man looks in his 80's.......waiting to bring the Mom

and daughter out............

[Lois R]

Great news Spins.

 

I must say the images are much grimmer than one expects and I think we all hope that people are as safe as possible and that disruption to their lives is as minimal as possible.

 

Hi Jeff, these rains and floods are some of the worst on record......EVER......and they are saying it is supposed rain

for at least 2-4 more days:(......there are neighborhoods that are no longer livable......people are being rescued by

neighbor's boats.......it is horrific:(...catastrophic......however you want to word it.......

[jpalbny]

Scary stuff down in TX. Friends down there are safe but wow, nature is truly a force to be reckoned with.

 

Not a bad weekend here in Albany. Pleasant sunny days with low humidity and a deep blue sky. Highs 75F/24C and cool nights, low 50s F / 12C. The solar cover is working well on the pool - it's stayed at 83F so we've spent some time in there.

 

Our sunroom is almost done so we filled the hot tub and got a chance to use that yesterday.

 

 

Planted some flowers in the planter that they built for us near the sunroom.

 

 

We didn't cook much this weekend. Met some friends for dinner Friday night and had brunch on Saturday with some other friends. Tonight we roasted a chicken though. Unstuffed and at a high temperature so it cooked fast. Such nice crispy skin!

 

 

The sauce was even better. We roasted a head of garlic with the chicken, and pureed it with sauteed onions, red peppers, and the pan juices from the roasted chicken. Yum!

 

 

 

The wine choice was a red. The recipe suggested a Spanish Garnacha, but we didn't have one. A Portuguese red from the Duoro substituted nicely.

 

 

Tomorrow we are on call for the next 8 nights. Ugh. No fun. But after that we have a weekend with our friends in Michigan to look forward to! Hope everyone else had a great weekend and wishing all a good week ahead.

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

JP, the food is as gorgeous as we come to expect ..... but that sun room is startlingly good.

 

Are they speakers or lights in the ceiling? The floor looks like massive slabs of slate? What else will you use the room for? I love the external colour. Those planters are really stylish and restrained classic elegance.

 

Such great taste. :)

[mysty]

JP..echo J's comments on the food and the gorgeous sun room! Beautiful spot! Hope your on-call days are uneventful!

[spinnaker2]

Gorgeous JP.

An all weather room.

Food looks great too.

 

Have to admit I don't miss the on-call responsibilities.

You never really sleep while waiting for call.

[jpalbny]

Ah, the sun room. We have been thinking about it for several years now and finally bit the bullet and hired someone to do it. We had a large Trex deck over the back of the house (which I built about 12 years ago) and we'd had a hot tub on 1/3 of it. But as we got older and less hardy, we stopped using the hot tub when it got cold. So we'd been thinking about an enclosure for some time. I had some ideas but they were not anything too exciting, and the prospect of doing it myself didn't appeal.

 

So we had them take down the 1/3 of the deck where the hot tub was, and dig a frost wall (partial foundation) to build a fully-enclosed sun room. The walls are mostly sliding glass doors so it's full of light. There are skylights in the ceiling. The round things in the ceiling are lights, not speakers, Jeff. The inside is cedar siding, and the hot tub is sitting on a cement slab below the floor grade so it's just above the level of the floor.

 

The flooring is ceramic tile that looks like slate. We had a sunroom in our former house with a beautiful slate floor and we originally wanted to copy that, but ceramic tile that looks like slate tile is much lower maintenance. Sold!

 

 

Spins, it is an all-season room because there is a split mini AC/heater unit installed there. So we'll be able to put our nice wicker furniture out there and enjoy it all year round. We'll probably put some plants there too - hoping to make it a nice greenhouse. Lots of light, and some humidity from the hot tub, though we'll try to keep that under control by covering it most of the time.

 

The hot tub has LED lights and looks cool after dark.

 

 

A few construction photos.

 

 

 

 

[spinnaker2]

JP

I remember that you posted about estimates months ago.

Lovely to see the completion.

We are all coming to visit.:-)

[jpalbny]

Guess I better stock the fridge! :D

[spinnaker2]

I will bring vittles and vino.

And warn you before we invade.

Like a good Viking.

[rpfarris]

Beautiful, JP.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks for the detail JP. It is a stunning addition. It's a weird thing in life that we have the necessities ie bedrooms, kitchens, lounges etc but the real enjoyment is from space solely for self-indulgent enjoyment.

 

I've never been in a hot tub. In the UK it sort of has connotations but I perfectly get the attractions. I reckon this is just rewards for all your joint hard work.

[MissSophia]

G'Day All.....

 

JP, your sunroom is gorgeous..what a fabulous place to chill and enjoy the hot tub which looks stunning in design....thank you for sharing the photos.

 

Keeping fingers crossed that our cooler families in Texas stay safe.....from news coming in here it appears that the Carolinas may be in for the next storm.....

 

Coming to the end of our last bank holiday before the festive season and the weather is warm...for a change!

Our RAF display team The Red Arrows have been flying about all weekend attending various local airshows......always good to see their air skills.

 

As it's the 20th Anniversary of the passing of Diana we seem to be having overkill with the documentary programmes and l can't help feeling sad for her two boys with credit to them for supporting their Father during the aftermath....l still can't imagine having a Queen Camilla!

 

Happy Day

😊

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning Coolers ..

 

i'd thought I'd share an "intriguing" picture published in today's Times of sheep being taken down from the hills to the lush and verdant summer valleys in Valais, Switzerland.

 

These Swiss sheep are extremely unusual and skilful as the choose to make the journey ... it seems .... by reversing backwards down the slope .......:)

 

 

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

The Times photo editor has clearly hit the bottle a touch to early today, as he or she has managed to publish a picture in the obituary of Fergus Allen and used the negative rather making him look like something out of The Black and White Minstrel Show.

 

Oh well .... we all have off days .....:)

 

 

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Veg stir fry today as we needed something light ....