Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[lenquixote66]

41 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

We're heading to Smithtown this coming Saturday.  Certainly not looking forward to this ride from hell!  It took so many hours the last time we traveled there.  This time, we're taking the Garden State, Staten Island Expressway, Belt Parkway, the Southern State to the Sacgticose(sp?) aaargh!!!🤪

 

Pantyhose sure beats the nylons and garter belts from the early '60's!  Just sayin...😁

When we lived in Brooklyn we took that route from the Belt Parkway many times to go to Sunken Meadow State Park.Since moving to LI we have never gone there.

[grapau27]

[lenquixote66]

I am sitting in bet gazing at the beautiful blue sky listening to 83 year old Ringo Starr singing .He sounds the same as he did 50 years ago.

[BonTexasNY]

13 hours ago, brillohead said:

Just looking at the picture makes my knees ache, let alone the feet!

I swear, pantyhose and high heels were invented by men just to torture women.  I haven't worn either in a couple decades now.  

Debi, nothing aches when you're in your 20's 😉 

[bobmacliberty]

3 hours ago, h20skibum said:

Yesterday, we tried out a new experience for the kids.  Three guesses what it was.  

 

When we were getting ready to go, I grabbed a few props and put them on.  When my grandson saw them, he wanted to put them on.  

 

 

I guess that anyone in the know, knows that tomorrow is Harry Potter’s birthday.  Now me, I know nothing of it.  Never read the books, nor have I watched any of the movies.  But I guess the grandkids know something of the wizarding world, because they have owls and wands. 

 

So last night we went to a themed dinner celebrating Harry’s birthday.  

 

 

No one in our group wore official costume, but I think we were the only ones in the place that didn’t.  Evidently there are some serious fans out there. 

 

 

They had a couple characters dressed as Harry and I guess it is one of his friends (like I said, I know nothing of the movies)

 

 

I guess this is Potter drink and food.  My one grandson swears that butter beer is the best, so I tried it out. 

 

 

Shepard’s pie

 

 

And a cupcake.  

 

 

Everyone received a mini wand favor and a chocolate quidditch ball

 

 

The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. 
 

Today, SYFY has a Harry Potter movie marathon, so maybe I will get to watch one of the movies to see what they are about. 

 

 

On one of our Royal cruises, when our daughters were with us, we decided to try the Harry Potter trivia.  We had read all of the books and seen all of the movies (several more than once) and thought we might have a chance to do well.  Not even close.  There were some VERY serious fans there and the questions were incredibly detailed...something like what is the name of the highest denomination coin in Gringott's Bank.  I think we got one or two answers correct (I think we could name Harry's owl) while there was a tie at the top with a few teams getting every answer correct. 

 

Of course there's also the chance that the winning teams were not really serious fans but instead had participated in HP trivia on Royal before and already knew the answers.  Gotta get that key chain!

[Ozark_Kid]

Another thing about the 70's, you didn't buy jeans with holes already in them, you wore them out until natural wholes appeared. 

[Jimbo]

2 buds on our Hibiscus  bloomed, there has to be at least 100 more buds to bloom. It's amazing the size of the flowers when the buds really aren't that large.

 

 

[Sea Dog]

We are cat sitting Jonathan’s two cats while he is away on vacation. Drave (he)

 

 

and Beans (she)

 

 

 

They have been here before but beans when she was kitten and scared of everything. Now Beans is the ultimate lover cat.

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Sea Dog

[Sunshine3601]

15 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Sounds great!

+1. @ReneeFLL. Love that itinerary b2b.   Hope you have an excellent cruise.   Is Mike going to be on both legs?

[ollienbertsmum]

20 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

I might of mentioned before that I am growing jalapeno peppers from last year's seeds.  Out of the 8 plants one is cross-pollinated.  It is producing peppers that are big and characteristics of a bell pepper.   The first one I tried had very little heat.  Today I was chopping up a lot of different vegetables to roast.  I thought I would had one.  After cutting it open I took a seed a put it on my tongue.   Another one stuck on my finger dropped on my lower lip.  HOT 🔥.   It felt like I had a severe burn.  I recovered with a couple spoonfuls of cool whip!  These pics don't show the true size but here ya go.  I set regular jalapenos inside the sliced new one.

 

Here is a comparison of the tops.

I have grown jalapeños for the first time this year.  I picked one two days ago and I too thought it was a bit weak on the heat.  Tasted more like a bell pepper.  I think I am going to leave them a bit longer. 

[ollienbertsmum]

So today was a day at sea.  Almost felt like I was on a cruise.  For my birthday in April  my girls promised me a whale watch.  The idea is to see Orcas but they don’t pass through the Straits of Gibraltar until mid summer.  We saw whales but only pilot whales.  Apparently they are quite territorial and aggressive so they keep the Orcas away.  We were a bit spoiled the first time we went two years ago when we saw so many Orcas….  maybe next year.  We had a lovely lunch in Tarifa to end.  

 

In this area there are not many boats that go out.  When we went in Vancouver and Boston there were lots of boats.  I think that they communicate with each other and let each other know where the whales are on that day giving more chance of sighting.  It was good to see one whale species though.  

 

It did feel l like I was standing on a balcony at one point.  

 

[bobmacliberty]

56 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

We are cat sitting Jonathan’s two cats while he is away on vacation. Drave (he)

 

 

and Beans (she)

 

 

 

They have been here before but beans when she was kitten and scared of everything. Now Beans is the ultimate lover cat.

 

 

IMG_1893.mov 97.39 MB · 1 download

 

 

 

How are the dogs handling this?  Any jealousy?

[Sea Dog]

6 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

How are the dogs handling this?  Any jealousy?

Not great. The cats mainly hang out upstairs and the dog’s downstairs. Kylar is used to the dogs and they like him. When Lizzy sees Beans she barks at her. Drave could care less about anything.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Debi, nothing aches when you're in your 20's 😉 

30’s or 40’s

[bobmacliberty]

52 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Drave could care less about anything.

 

Typical cat.

 

[A&L_Ont]

While BBQing I took a couple flower pictures at the pool.
 

 

 

Dinner tonight. Pork chops. 

 

[SteelCityCruiser10]

 

 

 

 

 

Buccos pulled off the win in extra innings.

 

Check out that floating Tiki Bar on the river! 

[Luckynana]

Beautiful day for the ballgame!!

[bmblob]

@Sea Dog Hi Greg -

Got to see a DCI West (Drum Corps International) Show at Stanford Stadium earlier this month, hadn't seen one in person for several decades.  The top corps have all evolved with much more theatrics, dancing about, costumes, etc... but still great musicianship in the horn and drum lines.  Recalled chatting about such shows with you. 

 

Many more shows throughout the country with the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis on August 12th.

 

It was a kick to see the units perform.  

 

Marty

 

 

The Blue Devils - from Concord, CA.

 

[Sea Dog]

26 minutes ago, bmblob said:

@Sea Dog Hi Greg -

Got to see a DCI West (Drum Corps International) Show at Stanford Stadium earlier this month, hadn't seen one in person for several decades.  The top corps have all evolved with much more theatrics, dancing about, costumes, etc... but still great musicianship in the horn and drum lines.  Recalled chatting about such shows with you. 

 

Many more shows throughout the country with the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis on August 12th.

 

It was a kick to see the units perform.  

 

Marty

 

 

The Blue Devils - from Concord, CA.

 

 

Oh man I asm so envious. There is nothing like that wall of sound that hits you. It's so powerful. I may buy the streaming package for the finals so I can watch but it's nothing like seeing it in person. I'm glad you got to go. The blue Devils are one of my favorites along with Santa Clara Vanguard.

[bmblob]

46 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Oh man I asm so envious. There is nothing like that wall of sound that hits you. It's so powerful. I may buy the streaming package for the finals so I can watch but it's nothing like seeing it in person. I'm glad you got to go. The blue Devils are one of my favorites along with Santa Clara Vanguard.

Yes, I missed seeing the Vanguard as well.  Our local high school band director and instructors are all  Vanguard and Blue Devils alumni.  I actually remember the days when they were both new corps on the scene, and even before DCI which started in 1971.  The marching pagentry is always so spectacular, but now there is a ton of showmanship and theater. 

 

We're traveling on the day of finals but will look for YouTube postings later on.

[brillohead]

12 hours ago, BonTexasNY said:

Debi, nothing aches when you're in your 20's 😉 

Not for civilians, but my Army Vet son and his Marine Reserve girlfriend would disagree with you!!!

The GF is being medically discharged from the Marines and she's pursuing disability from them.  Her knee got torn up during a training, and she's had two operations on it so far and they've told her that it can't be repaired.  

My son is contemplating going for partial disability for his knees and back pain, both of which he was being treated for in his last year of service.  

[grapau27]

9 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

While BBQing I took a couple flower pictures at the pool.
 

 

 

Dinner tonight. Pork chops. 

 

Fantastic garden and nice steak Andrew.

[grapau27]

Good morning.

It is 61°F and cloudy here at 09.36am.

Prayers 🙏 for good health and safety to Dani @dani negreanu and her family and all of my friends on this amazing thread.

I hope everyone has a great day.

[sgmn]

On 7/29/2023 at 10:32 PM, FromSea2ShiningSea said:

 

Sue, I checked the map.  You are pretty far from Liverpool.  We will enjoy our time there though. I hope you will consider Bella 2 also.  It would be so nice to meet you.

Thank you so much 😊

We havent been on many Caribbean cruises, maybe two or three. We've done more cool weather ones in USA than warm ones (though going on a repo TPA to BOS in September).

But it would be so special to meet lots of the Dani/Bella regulars, its very tempting