Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[BklynBoy8]

21 hours ago, vettprincess said:

Greetings again from Minnesota the scene of 4 days of riots and burning of buildings.

 

Now have heard that no more cruise ships for Canada through 2020. So besides our canceled QM2 on 9/11 there is not going to happen the 10/9 QM2 cruise.

 

So I will be home trying to stay safe from the virus and all the rioting and destruction around me.

 

Most of my gardens are planted but did buy a few more vegetable plants and oriental lily plants. I have a small yard in the back and bigger in the front.

Every space is planted with food or flowers and plants. It was only 55 degrees this am and not very warm weather here this spring.

I put tomatoes in pots and in the ground. The squirrels take them off the vine take a bite. The rabbits in the front yard dig up my bulbs and chew up my lily plants. Mr. chipmunk digs and eats in the backyard. 

My daughter says I provide the critters with a buffet. Wish I could use them for target practice.

On Sunday I will be having a zoom video call with my QM2 friends and one from Isle of Thanet in England. (spelled it wrong!)

Have a nice week-end and I welcome a peaceful day in Minnesota and getting back on a ship or two.

 

Hi Esther,

Looking forward to the Zoom Call on Sunday. Nice to extend the QM2 CC Friendship to post Cruise Entertainment.

 

So sorry to share the Zoom last night with you and watching together the Cable News Channels in each of our homes. All the stores that were afire and being destroyed that you said you knew of and shopped at. Not sure if anymore will happen tonight but afraid it will take some days to stop this all. Minn will definitely take some time to redevelop and rebuild especially after these days.

 

But you are not alone. We had several groups in Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan beside the other dozen cities around the US.

 

Looking forward to Sun's Zoom. 

[vettprincess]

20 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

I have my reliable "Red Ryder" bb gun, it won't kill the little tree rats, but is does get their attention at least for a while. 

I have something similiar but need the rest of my items to protect myself and my home from all the riots and warned to get out of my house and leave for the northern suburbs. They have looting there too. I have finished the rest of my yard work and secured what I can and pack to go to daughters.

I need to be on my QM2 to forget what has been happening for the past 5 days.

[Host Hattie]

That sounds very scary @vettprincess, stay safe, I hope things calm down soon in Minnesota and elsewhere.

[Lanky Lad]

23 minutes ago, Host Hattie said:

That sounds very scary @vettprincess, stay safe, I hope things calm down soon in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Yes, I agree, stay safe and I hope your house and neighbourhood are ok.

[Bigmike911]

2 hours ago, vettprincess said:

I have something similiar but need the rest of my items to protect myself and my home from all the riots and warned to get out of my house and leave for the northern suburbs. They have looting there too. I have finished the rest of my yard work and secured what I can and pack to go to daughters.

I need to be on my QM2 to forget what has been happening for the past 5 days.

That sounds terrible Vette Princess. I have been watching the events on Television. Stay safe, and hopefully your property will be o.k. The state Governor and mayor need to get their arms around this. A massive show tonight of the National Guard, which I understand is planned,  might help. 

[alc13]

3 hours ago, vettprincess said:

I have something similiar but need the rest of my items to protect myself and my home from all the riots and warned to get out of my house and leave for the northern suburbs. They have looting there too. I have finished the rest of my yard work and secured what I can and pack to go to daughters.

I need to be on my QM2 to forget what has been happening for the past 5 days.

vettprincess, I am so sorry you are in the heart of it.  It is a difficult time.  Stay safe.

[alc13]

5 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

It's another beautiful day in South Wales, our lockdown rules have changed slightly. From Monday the message is Stay Local rather than Stay Home. We will be allowed to meet people from another household outdoors but only within 5 miles of home. The last bit has caused some consternation but I understand the logic of trying to contain cases. I'm not sure we'll be doing anything different immediately but most of our local friends and some of Mr HH's family live within 5 miles so there's progress.

That is indeed progress!  Stay Local is a sensible way to relax restrictions.  I'm sure you will enjoy your expanding boundaries. 

[alc13]

6 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Hi from Palm Beach County, Florida,

  We have had over 1,200 new cases of the virus this past week, yet people are acting as if things are back to normal. We like to walk in the evening and generally have a mask with us, if we see other people close by, we put it on. However, very few people are wearing masks and are not even bothering to social distance from each other.

Our downtown area looks like the Wild West, people are jamming into restaurants and stores as well as crowding the sidewalks. At this point, we are wary of leaving home. We will sit out on our patio and look at the birds on the lake. I can pretend that I’m sitting on the balcony of the QV and looking out at the ocean as I read my book. My husband is busy tending his gorgeous orchids, which are all in bloom.

You are wise to stay close to home - crowds are the riskiest environment.  I understand the urge to go back to normal living, but I'm not ready to do that myself just yet.  Anyway, a balcony with views of birds on a lake and orchids in bloom sounds better than a crowded sidewalk any day!

[erniebernie]

Goodmorning all from a beautiful Autumnal day here in Kirwee Christchurch NZ at the moment its 8deg c hope to get to 13 had a decent frost this morning. We had  our cruise from Vancouver to Japan  in September this year cancelled so have been humming and hawwing about what to do next so I have made the decision to re book now for next year instead of waiting to see what might or might not happen  as this has been in the pipeline for a few years and will be so upset if we leave it till later and find its booked out,my biggest worry at the moment is trying to get an answer from Air New Zealand reguarding our booked and paid for flights  they are not very forthcoming at the moment with information. I tried to get flight refund from travel insurance company and was told " Your flights have not been cancelled yet and we dont cover ANYTHING pandemic related". Very helpfull NOT. Anyway im off to travel agent (being mindful of social distancing) to transfer to our next cruise as Cunard still have our deposit so nothing lost at this stage. Fingers crossed. Allison

[vettprincess]

Thank you all for positive thoughts. Better tonight. Not as many fires. They have brought in more national guard to help.

We even have a reporter here from London. Do not know who at this time. We are under curfew and many people are not obeying and taunt law enforcement. They have closed all the highways coming into the city for now. Goodnight.

 

 

[Lanky Lad]

We are having issues with fires near me.  There have been 4 or 5 on the moors around here.  Not sure if these are idiots with BBQ's / camp fires, arson or accidental.  

 

It's been very dry here so does not take much for a fire to get out of control.

[majortom10]

11 minutes ago, Lanky Lad said:

We are having issues with fires near me.  There have been 4 or 5 on the moors around here.  Not sure if these are idiots with BBQ's / camp fires, arson or accidental.  

 

It's been very dry here so does not take much for a fire to get out of control.

Having spent over 30yrs as a firefighter and putting out many grass fires a lot are started by either children deliberate, careless discarded cigarettes and surprisingly discarded glass bottles causing magnifying effect and setting fire to grass like you used to do with a magnifying glass directing sun on the back of your hand when we were kids.

[Kynance]

As anticipated, I finished my Beatles biography yesterday and have started on a new book - Victory Disc by Andrew Cartmel.  This is the fourth instalment in his “The Vinyl Detective” series. My favourite characters are the detective’s cats, Fanny & Turk. 
 

We have also finished the first harvest of radishes - they were very nice and miraculously none were eaten by anything other than my partner and me! I also have a good crop of salad leaves but unfortunately I think I will only get one spring onion from my first planting. However, I am persevering and have sown more seeds today together with some more radishes.  My strawberries are coming along ok - I think we will get a few to eat - or at least enough for a jug of Pimms. I also have quite a few agapanthus now developing flowers. Hurrah!
 

Since the easing of certain lockdown restrictions, the only change to our routine is that we have driven a short distance for some different walks which has been enjoyable. We live near a place called Silchester, which was the site of the Roman city of Calleva Atrebatum.  It is looked after by English Heritage and is free to access. There isn’t a lot left to see but it makes for a pleasant stroll and until we can travel further, let’s my OH get his fix of Roman “stuff”. 
 

As far as the other changes are concerned, we don’t play golf, tennis or fish and we have no family closer than Essex or friends near by so we’re still carrying on pretty much as we were before - though I feel less guilty if we go out food shopping more than once a week!
 

As it is Sunday night, I’m just about to finish the weekend with episode 4, series 3 of Poldark and a cup of mint tea. 
 

All the best to everyone on this thread. 

[Camgirl]

Kynance, congratulations on your crops! I think we might manage some lettuce soon, and our strawberries have flowers. However, I don't know if they will make it to fruits. Some for a jug of pimms would be wonderful! Hopefully, there will be lots of strawberries next year. Unfortunately I think my poorly Acer might have finally popped its clogs 😔. Very sad. 

 

We are not changing what we do at the moment beyond driving out occasionally for our walks like Kynance. As we go out early, it is still very quiet but there are definitely more cars around now. We have walked around the city of Ely and also Bury St Edmunds as well. Nice to see somewhere else but being careful to still go early and just to walk around then return home. Though we have been known to support some local bakers!!!

 

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary, so I think we will be supporting our local Indian restaurant later, as they are doing takeaway and delivery orders 🙂

 

Another beautiful day here but it looks like that is changing on Wednesday. I shall have to take a book to the garden to enjoy the sun whilst it is still with us.

[Kynance]

@Camgirl- congratulations on your anniversary! Have a lovely day and enjoy your takeaway later. I have fingers crossed for both of our strawberry crops. 
 

Rain here on Wednesday would be welcome - a day off from watering would be nice and our poor lawn is looking rather parched already and it is only 1 June. 
 

I received a much  anticipated missive from Cunard this morning so am very happy indeed just now. Will post separately about it on the relevant thread. 

[Host Hattie]

Happy Anniversary @Camgirl, I hope you have a lovely day.

 

 

[Bigmike911]

Good June to all. This morning my gardener arrived and helped me plant my new Persian (aka Bearss) lime which already has set fruit and new blossoms, and my new improved Meyer Lemon (also blossoms and fruit). We re-potted a Calamandin, and a gardenia in larger pots. I will replant my old root bound lemon and lime in the spring. There is too much growth on them do it now as it would likely shock them to death. 

 

The gardener also weeded around three California Live Oaks that I have in the ground having grown them from acorns and put cedar mulch around them. He weeded and prepared the ground around my two Texas Live Oaks and my Cathedral oak and next week he will plant asiatic jasmine as a ground cover to keep the weeds away. In South East Texas with lots of rain and lots of heat we are able to grow bumper crops of weeds nearly year around. So mulch and ground cover are helpful.  My contribution to climate change has been to grow and plant trees. So far I have planted more than 40 (various oaks, sweet gum and pine) on my two acre garden, and I have four pin oaks and two southern Pines in the nursery for planting in the fall. The neighbor hood squirrels kindly plant acorns in the flower beds and saplings sprout. I put them in pots and grow for a couple of seasons, them put them in the ground.

 

It has been quiet in my neck of the woods, but the cities are redolent with protestors and looters, more looters than protesters. in most cases. That should settle down with the work week restarting. I suspect we will see a huge spike of corona-virus cases in some parts of the population in a couple of weeks. Sad, Truly Sad. 

[Camgirl]

Just heard p and o have cancelled through to October 15th. Looks like our August cruise will be cancelled soon then. Hopefully we will meet onboard one day, Lanky lad.

[Lanky Lad]

8 hours ago, Camgirl said:

Just heard p and o have cancelled through to October 15th. Looks like our August cruise will be cancelled soon then. Hopefully we will meet onboard one day, Lanky lad.

Cunard are still selling the August trip, but I expect the cruise will be cancelled.  Hopefully, we will meet sometime. 

 

I am due on QM2 in December and then again in May 2021 and QV in September 2021.  Therefore, if the August cruise is cancelled I will need a refund.

[bluemarble]

It's been close to a month (May 7th) since I posted about the Queen Mary jigsaw puzzle we were starting. Here's the satisfying end result completed a couple hours ago. This has to be one of the more challenging puzzles we've worked on. It has 1500 pieces instead of the more typical 1000 piece puzzles we usually do. Just getting the outer border put together was more challenging than usual since they put in quite a few pieces with straight edges that weren't border pieces to throw us off track. I thought the sky wouldn't be too difficult because of the different shades of sky and clouds, but I was wrong about that.

 

[Camgirl]

Congratulations on finishing the jigsaw bluemarble! It looks good and I can imagine it was challenging! 

[BklynBoy8]

13 hours ago, bluemarble said:

It's been close to a month (May 7th) since I posted about the Queen Mary jigsaw puzzle we were starting. Here's the satisfying end result completed a couple hours ago. This has to be one of the more challenging puzzles we've worked on. It has 1500 pieces instead of the more typical 1000 piece puzzles we usually do. Just getting the outer border put together was more challenging than usual since they put in quite a few pieces with straight edges that weren't border pieces to throw us off track. I thought the sky wouldn't be too difficult because of the different shades of sky and clouds, but I was wrong about that.

 

Congratulation Blue Marble!

 

We don't have room for a puzzle so we play Scrabble and Monopoly.....

[Bigmike911]

15 hours ago, bluemarble said:

It's been close to a month (May 7th) since I posted about the Queen Mary jigsaw puzzle we were starting. Here's the satisfying end result completed a couple hours ago. This has to be one of the more challenging puzzles we've worked on. It has 1500 pieces instead of the more typical 1000 piece puzzles we usually do. Just getting the outer border put together was more challenging than usual since they put in quite a few pieces with straight edges that weren't border pieces to throw us off track. I thought the sky wouldn't be too difficult because of the different shades of sky and clouds, but I was wrong about that.

 

Well Done Blue Marble. I hear you about the sky colors. They are usually the worst part of the puzzle to deal with. 

[Host Hattie]

Very impressive @bluemarble, it's been our first wet day here for a while. 

We're just getting ready to watch the latest "National Theatre Live" production "This House".

[vettprincess]

Good afternoon from the nasty site where all the trouble started-Minneapolis MN. Enough on that.

I must say-what a wonderful puzzle accomplishment. Just lovely. I know some people that frame a puzzle like this.

My garden is starting to get better with the warmer weather and rain.

As for QM2.

I called today about the 2 Canada New England cruises. They said a decision would be made by next week as to what will happen.

I would just love if she just cruised up and down the eastern coast to at least 4 ports. Dreamer that I am.