Horizon chaser 1957

Good morning, all! We had cheese pizza last night - but then threw a few more things on before it hit the oven. We have no appointments today, so I’ll have to pass on being late. My main plans today involve housework. It will wait patiently for me no matter how late I try to be.

Prayers to all on the care list, and thanks to @richwmn for the R&D and to all who contribute.

Happy Tuesday, everyone, and enjoy the day!

36 minutes ago, Kelownabccan said:

Surprised this thread still going....lol.......I may even try to bring on a six pack of beer in my carry on....wife likes wine....I like the beer....Heineken of course on this cruise...........this is all moot for us anyways as this is the first cruise we have done the "all in package".....but apparently to have a drink in your room I have to run to the bar and then carry back???....and If wife wants a glass of wine what about getting two drinks ....will they allow that???

 

 

 

 

As long as you aren’t over your 15 drink limit, you can bring as many glasses of wine or bottles of beer back to your room as your heart desires. The same applies to Happy Hour if you don’t have a drink package. DH buys four Diet Coke to take to the cabin, and they bring him a box for it. I get two glasses of wine - the second is to take to the MDR. 
One of our party had the HIA package, and went over the 15 drink limit several times. They never cut her off, they just charged the extra drinks to her account. I’m guessing if someone is visibly intoxicated, then they might cut off service, though.

Good morning all, and Happy Labour Day! I like making spice mixes, and having a Mediterranean chicken dish on SpiceMix Day seem very fitting!

We have rain today! It started yesterday evening, really came down for about half an hour, and has been on and off lightly ever since. This has been the driest summer I’ve ever seen on the West Coast, so it is SO welcome. Lawns and garden can only be watered once a week, so we really, really needed this!

@aliaschief I love the Oregon coast! It’s our favorite land based getaway place.

Prayers continue for baby Murphy and her parents. What a heartbreaking time for them.

Happy Monday, and so long to the official summer. Time to prepare for fall cruising on our BHB’s!

Good morning, all! Interesting days, and I love the quote.

A busy summer of visitors is over, and it’s our turn to travel again.

We just got back yesterday from a week in Alaska on the Konigsdam with DH’s cousins. I’ve never been on a Pinnacle class ship before. It was interesting. The New York Deli was our favorite breakfast spot, mainly because it wasn’t crowded and there was no line up. The Grand Dutch Cafe was amazing! The Tamarind was also excellent. The MDR, staff and food, were great. The Pinnacle Grill was sub par at best. I never thought I could meet Clothesline Bacon I didn’t like, but they managed. And a medium rare fillet should not hit the table well done. The Lido was a zoo and some of the staff were actually rude, which you just don’t see on HAL. 
Yes, there’s a reason we never do Alaska in the prime summer weeks, but that’s when the cousins wanted to go. And of course, I was cruising again, so that’s the main point. The weather was gorgeous. It’s the fourth time we’ve been to Ketchikan, and the first time we’ve been there when it wasn’t raining. So all in all, it was a great week.

Happy Sunday to all, and cheers to your next time at sea, whenever it may be! 

12 minutes ago, ExpatBride said:

 

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for me.

Ooohhhh…. That IS unfortunate! There is a terrible disconnect between Seattle and the ships. Trying to sort out a Seattle goof once onboard takes forever, and is not how you want to spend your cruise time!

5 minutes ago, ExpatBride said:

I would't pre-pay it because it opens the door for things to go wrong.

On NS last month, they kept adding the charges to my onboard account every day even though I showed them my booking confirmation, which stated that I had prepaid gratuities as part of a promo. I wasted a lot of time trying to sort it out with "Guest Services," who were supposedly trying to sort it out with the head office.

 

Long story short, it wasn't resolved before I disembarked. So I ended up using my OBC to cover it and reduced the total amount by $10-20 (can't remember), which OBC wouldn't cover. That's a big black mark against HAL because it stressed me out, wasted my time, gave me less than I paid for, and affected my holiday. I had and provided documentation of the promo. It's not my problem that there was a disconnect somewhere in their process. 

Any time we’ve prepared the gratuities, the amount we’ve paid shows up as refundable OBC on our statement at the beginning of the cruise. Then the daily grats show up as a charge on the statement each day. That way, your prepaid grats get included as onboard spending and count towards building Mariner points.

Good morning, all! Our Daffodils are long gone, but I will certainly Hug My Sweetheart today. And I won’t be riding the wind, but in a few days I’ll be riding the Konigsdam to Alaska!

We took DD to the airport yesterday, and she’s on her way to Nepal for a week before going back to Taipei. It’s going to be strange not having her around after the last two months. We were supposed to have a big family gathering at my sisters house near Kelowna just before she left. Anyone who’s followed the news can guess that got cancelled. DS and BIL are safe, but the air quality there has been appalling.

The current excitement is waking up to rain this morning! I don’t know how long it will last, but it’s our first in over a month, and hugely welcome. We aren’t used to dry weather on the west coast. We are at level 3 water restrictions, and all the lawns and gardens look terrible.

My thoughts are with those south of us getting too much rain in the path of the tropical storm. Stay safe!

Happy Wednesday, and I’m looking forward to being back on a BHB!

No, but you get 50% off wine packages.

Good morning, all! With DD home from Taiwan for the summer, I got to hug my kid yesterday! She’s accompanied a student group from Taipei studying in Kamloops for a month. We see her on weekends at my sisters house on Lake Kalamalka. @cat shepard, Ann yikes on the close lightning! As @richwmncan attest, the Zuiderdam was hit by lightning in Panama on the GWV. I was standing on upper outer deck at the time. The noise and flash were incredible, and long black shreds of the antenna that was hit spiralled down onto the dome over the pool. 

54 minutes ago, pmjnh said:

We are doing B2B (first  b2b for us) on the Noordam with turnaround day in Whittier. While in Whittier we want to take an excursion with a local boat touring company. This should not affect disembarking (I dont think) as the excursion  leaves at noonish but it does not return until 6:45 PM. Ship is scheduled to leave at 8PM. How will that affect the turnaround process that you mention above and our desire to take this excursion.

The excursion is an excellent idea. It accomplishes everything you need: being officially checked off the ship, and back on later. Most of all, you spend your time off the ship doing something fun, instead of spending it like BobbiSox did -

20 minutes ago, BobbiSox said:

Hope you have a better experience on your B2B than I had on Rottodam in October. We were seated in an auditorium for almost three hours and ten marched do the terminal  and forced to STAND over another hour while they searched for three stow-aways.

Good morning, all! The meal sounds good, and I may try that tonight. DD is visiting from Taiwan. She’s vegetarian, so my usual dinners have altered for the time being. Last night I made one of Debbie’s sweet and sour chicken recipes, using cauliflower bites instead of chicken. It was delicious!

DD is on a working holiday, and spends July in Kamloops with a group of students from Taiwan. She flew in early to have a visit before,she meets her group at Vancouver airport on Sunday.

Fingers crossed I can post this time without my post disappearing. I won’t risk adding a picture!

Happy Thursday, everyone, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s wherever they may be!

On 6/24/2023 at 4:01 PM, Cruzin Terri said:

I don’t think you can do that when using an iPad.  i tried that and it didn’t work.

If there is a way I don’t know how.

Thanks for the help. 

Terri

I always use my iPad.

Choose the files (pics) you want to use.

Touch the end of the line of type above where you want the picture, hit return. The cursor will now be where you want the pic to be.
Sorry - this is the step I left out : Scroll down and touch the pic you want to use, and it will appear where the cursor was. Hit enter, and the cursor will reappear UNDER the picture. You can add text or add another pic at this point.

Lion pic added, then return to add this text. If I hit return again, I can add a picture UNDER the lion pic caption by touching that one.

The leopard says Hi!

49 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

I cannot get a description of another photo after posting a photo.  

Thank you for the pictures! Terri, after you post the photo, hit ‘return’. This moves the cursor underneath the photo, and you can add a description. Or hit return a second time, and you can post the next photo with a space between it and the previous one.

37 minutes ago, dfish said:

This one just has chicken in it, but you can add the veggies you want.  https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/sweet-and-sour-chicken/

Oh Debbie, this one is gluten free (just use GF soy sauce)!

I can have Sweet and Sour Chicken again. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

@kazu Happy Anniversary in heaven to you and Jose.

@kochleffel Happy Retirement! I did not look forward to my retirement party either, but it’s actually for your coworkers to accept a change to their workplace. They need it. View it as a meeting where you smile and nod and get to go home after putting in an appearance.

@marshhawk fingers crossed that the meds help with the pain, significantly.

Good morning, all! Happy Summer Soltice and National Indigenous People’s Day. I will we’re an orange shirt today. It will need to be a warm one - it’s still chilly and wet here. Given the forecast for a hot, dry summer with exceptional forest fires, I’ll enjoy the cool,wet weather while it lasts.

Yesterday we had friends over for a card game afternoon and then went out for dinner. It was fun.

Yesterday I did a full post, with pictures, which vanished when it was posted, so I’ll end here! Happy Wednesday, everyone, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s wherever they may be!

20 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

@Horizon chaser 1957 — I loved your picture of the Brazo de Mercedes. It was offered once on the Panama Canal segment of my last cruise, the first night, and I had never heard of it before. Your version sounds good too. This was HAL’s version. 
 

 

 

HAL MDR’s is where I was introduced to it. I loved the desert, and thought it would make a perfect crustless lemon meringue pie. It does!

Good morning, all! Take Your Cat to Work Day could make public transit very interesting during rush hour.🤔 

Growing up, it was taken for granted that chilli had beans and meat. It was always called Chilli con Carne, which implied there’s also a chilli without meat, but chilli without beans was unheard of. Decades later and across the continent, chilli without beans is rare and generally seen as a topping on something else. It must be regional.

We are back on the mainland after a long transit day yesterday. Rain has set in, so most of my favorite island activities would be shelved anyway. Two of my three banana plants survived winter without me and are growing again. Last year my two hostas were finally a good size with lots of blooms. I don’t know what the new gardeners did while I was gone, but the hostas are both just a few weak shoots struggling to survive. It’s like they chopped out the main plants and missed a spot. I hope they didn’t assume they were communal plants and relocate them elsewhere! But the roses doing well, and the lilies are starting to bloom, so the garden is still happy.

Happy Monday, everyone, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s, wherever they may be!

Good morning, all, and Happy Father’s Day! Very fitting that Go Fishing Day falls on Fathers Day. No coincidence, I’m sure. Being dyslexic, I also like that International Panic Day and International Picnic Day are together. No matter which way I read it, I’m not wrong!
We had a good time at our friends house last night. She baked Sockeye salmon, which was delicious and perfect. Her husband had been a commercial fisherman in younger years, so cooking salmon is her wheelhouse. 
The Brazo de Mercedes I made with lemon filling instead of the traditional custard was a hit, and will be repeated. Brazo de Mercedes translates to Arms of the Lady of Mercy. Indeed, when you cut it and lay the slice on the plate, it looks like soft white arms wrapped around the filling. I took a picture of the full thing, but not of the cut desert.

We head back to the mainland today, because tomorrow we have a couple of appointments. I’m also eyeing some cruises this fall to burn off our remaining Covid FCC before it expires.

Happy Sunday, everyone, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s, wherever they may be!

Good morning, all! I enjoy veggies, especially raw. I also love road trips, although my last real road trip was the summer before Covid, so it’s been awhile. Juggling is beyond me, although I enjoy watching. I’ve been to Panama City, but not Colon.

Yesterday I printed a scarf using the few Mopani leaves I brought back from north Kruger. It is subtle shades of beige and brown, with a lot of ghost prints as well as the main ones. I like the way it came out, and is my souvenir from our first safari camp. 
A friend dropped over for coffee and a card game. Tonight we’re going to their house for dinner, and bringing desert. I’m making Brazo de Mercedes, but with lemon curd filling instead of the traditional vanilla custard.

Happy Saturday, everyone, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s, wherever they may be!

2 minutes ago, aliaschief said:

@Horizon chaser 1957 Not trying to sound snarky or directive but now that mask supplies, post Covid are available; why not purchase a mask with most protection such as K9 or better. Cloth mask in the beginning, when we had no mask were available offered minimal protection.

Bruce, I’m with you there. I’ve still got a small stash of some DD in Taiwan sent me that have a charcoal filter layer in them. They are intended for air pollution caused by traffic and factories, but also do an awesome job on smoke. We’ve used them the last couple of summers when the smoke was bad in B.C.

Still, fitted triple layer tight weave cloth is better than nothing, and it’s what she had in her car.

1 hour ago, ger_77 said:

I've been busy making coasters to use up my fabric stash from mask making during the pandemic and have made 8 sets so far.  I've likely got enough fabric to make at least that many and possibly even more.  I like to keep busy.

DD who lives near you has dug out the triple layer cloth masks I made her during Covid and is using them to filter the smoke. I hope I don’t need to start making them again as the summer goes on!

Good morning, all! Fresh vegetables and waterfalls are good things to celebrate. We’re back in the time of year where fresh veggies are plentiful, but I’m still not used to the prices now!

Yesterday was spent on the phone with Shaw. They deactivated my email account when I started sending emails from Africa. It was flagged as fraudulent activity. And now I have my account back, with 2500 emails that came in over those months. Oh well, lots to still sort out.

That is terrible news about the bus crash in Winnipeg. It sounds like Humboldt all over again.

Happy Friday, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s, wherever they may be!

 If I want to make reservations or purchases in advance of a cruise, I use the HAL website. It’s useless for that once you board.
 Once I’m onboard I switch to the Navigator App. That’s what it’s meant for.

Using them the other way around is like driving your lawnmower to the mall and using your car to cut the lawn. 

7 minutes ago, RedneckBob said:

Something tells me some of y’all did not understand the photo that I tool this AM in our breakfast area. It’s a wicker table with glass top and something extra under the glass. Let me blow it up. It is a snake!

 

I think I would skip breakfast at your house. Have you considered marketing the table design to Weight Watchers?

Good morning, all! Yesterday was a travel day, and we’re back on the island now. A friend from here was flying back from visiting her grandbabies in Calgary. We picked her up at the airport on the mainland and brought her back home to Salt Spring. This was why we went over to the mainland in the first place. She’s the one who looked after our house while we were away. Her husband is recovering from having a detached retina treated, and couldn’t go over to pick her up. 
The tent caterpillars are definitely decreasing, which is a relief. The wildflowers are in full bloom, and it’s beautiful here right now! 
In honour of National Nature Photography Day, here are a few shots from our travels in Africa on this past trip, mainly in Kruger National Park:

It’s a little disconcerting when they look right at you!

… and is an open Jeep really a shelter?

This leopard, however, did not find us interesting.

Cape Buffalo just chillin’

Enjoying the swim.

A group of giraffes standing is a tower. A group of giraffes passing by is a journey.

A young female elephant.

Mother, child, and baby. The baby clearly adored her older sister.

A family at Addy Elephant National Park. Notice the reddish colour. This is from dust and mud from the red earth.

A hyena wanting to pass by to his pack on the other side of the bridge. 
 

A hippo below our room on the Shelati Train on the Bridge in Sabi Sands

Male Kudu.

The End.

Happy Thursday, and cheers to our favorite BHB’s, wherever they may be!

2 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

We did.  I blame it on my second glass of red wine.

Ray

A wine bottle has broad shoulders. It can accept the blame gracefully.😉