Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[clo]

33 minutes ago, spinnaker2 said:

Ooh, now that's an idea for a new tattoo. Except I would include "Notorious."

[UKCruiseJeff]

7 hours ago, mysty said:

 

Lola it is good to have you back here in the Cooler as well as having El Jeffo visiting as well!  You are both long-time Cooler denizens (not old!) and many lovely conversations happened over the scarred Cooler Bar.  Your bar stools have been dusted recently and the peanut shells swept up.

 

I think there may have been some confusion over your El Jeffo recent post.  The suggestions you offered our dear friend Lola were spirit lightening things that work for you J and would probably work for a number of us.  I certainly like them!  There was NO suggestion that your approach would work for everyone or that everyone should jump on that band wagon.  Everyone is attempting to keep their heads above water (or COVID germs in this case).  People need to find a way to cope and any and all suggestions are worth giving space to. 🙂

 

Thanks,

 

I couldn't read Lola's note and simply shrug and pass by and not post some solidarity .... as I think it better we all try and look out for each other if we can and show some supoort and understanding when someone seems glum because it is often simply showing you care and are thinking of someone that's more important than what you actually might clumsilly say. It is more true now than ever before that "it is the thought that counts".

 

It seems to me that us older people are much more prudent and concerned about this thing and as it happens we are a part of society that more time on our hands and often therefore spend a lot of time at home with the TV switched on all the time and that lends itself to being confronted hour in and hour out with the same news repeated in excited menacing tones, and after six months or so I believe this constant noise all day is causing a lot of us a lot of us increasing serious depression and anxiety. 

 

I'm suprised that some have taken the gist of my note to L so literally and have taken the trouble to criticise.   I get the news once or twice a day, I read the newspapers and I look out for the numbers that interest me and I don't believe that I'm less informed than anyone else here.  The presumption that I meant that I am literally not exposed to the news and am ignorant is weird. My point to my friends is simply we mustn't spend all our time on this thing but find others things to destract us and that is immersive becauselife is too short as you get older and it will otherwise certainly make us all ill.

 

Anyway, I'm done and wish all well over the next few months.

 

Jeff

[Lois R]

Hi Jeff, sometimes the internet can be a funky medium........I was not trying to be rude with my post.  I just know 

(for me anyway) I follow things here very closely and was just trying to tell Lola it is more than appropriate to vent 

the frustrations that these times bring us.  I wasn't trying to be critical of you personally.

[mysty]

26 minutes ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

Thanks,

 

I couldn't read Lola's note and simply shrug and pass by and not post some solidarity .... as I think it better we all try and look out for each other if we can and show some supoort and understanding when someone seems glum because it is often simply showing you care and are thinking of someone that's more important than what you actually might clumsilly say. It is more true now than ever before that "it is the thought that counts".

 

It seems to me that us older people are much more prudent and concerned about this thing and as it happens we are a part of society that more time on our hands and often therefore spend a lot of time at home with the TV switched on all the time and that lends itself to being confronted hour in and hour out with the same news repeated in excited menacing tones, and after six months or so I believe this constant noise all day is causing a lot of us a lot of us increasing serious depression and anxiety. 

 

I'm suprised that some have taken the gist of my note to L so literally and have taken the trouble to criticise.   I get the news once or twice a day, I read the newspapers and I look out for the numbers that interest me and I don't believe that I'm less informed than anyone else here.  The presumption that I meant that I am literally not exposed to the news and am ignorant is weird. My point to my friends is simply we mustn't spend all our time on this thing but find others things to destract us and that is immersive becauselife is too short as you get older and it will otherwise certainly make us all ill.

 

Anyway, I'm done and wish all well over the next few months.

 

Jeff

 

 

Thanks J!  Posting on social media has always been a mine field.  One step can explode into reactions that were not expected and attributed to feelings and attitudes that were never intended. That was my initial fear when I started posting here in the Cooler many, many moons ago.  You were one of the first to make me feel comfortable here and you encouraged me to allow my voice to be heard.  I will be forever grateful for your warm welcome and encouragement.  In our current situation social media posting is even more fraught with misunderstandings.  It seems that now tiny niggles are resulting in over-the-top reactions.  People's nerves are worn to a frazzle.  And emotions are right under the skin.  This is a time when we should consider carefully what we say and show kindness and tolerance for what others say.   Hopefully we can all learn to be gentle with one another.  Your bar stool will be kept dusted!

[Daveywavey70]

9 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

I suspect that there is a perfect champagne for each of us and that it's pretty accurate to say that when you find the right one or two it can be sublime and then everything else isn't right.

 

Saddened by hearing of home stuff and I just hope you can find some shrugness and push on a little. Whatever else, I feel that I'm fortunate to be alive and not have some of the challenges that others have and I therefore feel guilty at what seems like the self indulgence when I feel a bit glum. That approach helps no one else but we all deal with stuff the best way we can. Hope things improve for you,  If not I recommend Absolut Vanilla. 🙂

It is so good to see you here again Jeff.
 

My own preference for a daily drinker has to be Taittinger, with LP Rose as a favourite Saturday night tipple. I Was once gifted a magnum of vintage Krug Rose which we welcomed the Millenium in with but I do prefer Taittinger to many of the more expensive alternatives.

[QueSeraSera]

The cooler is a good place to be.  Good people here I've learned over the past couple years or so.  Its a safe place to check in anytime, even when that first glass of wine has turned into who's counting 🙂.  Well,  as Jeff said, we do have to push on, even though times are confusingly tough.  And, with no data to back me up, I remain confident that we will all have the opportunity to cruise again, and I feel best when I'm thinking about where I'll travel next.

[mysty]

5 minutes ago, QueSeraSera said:

The cooler is a good place to be.  Good people here I've learned over the past couple years or so.  Its a safe place to check in anytime, even when that first glass of wine has turned into who's counting 🙂.  Well,  as Jeff said, we do have to push on, even though times are confusingly tough.  And, with no data to back me up, I remain confident that we will all have the opportunity to cruise again, and I feel best when I'm thinking about where I'll travel next.

 

Well said Que!  🥰

[jpalbny]

Hi all, has been a decent weekend so far. The house next to ours finally sold, after a few years of being on and off the market. We met our new neighbors last weekend; turns out he's one of my counterparts at Albany Med (same department, different hospital). Small world! So we had them over for a socially-distanced welcome lunch on our deck. Was nice for a few hours until the sun dipped behind the trees then we got chilly and went home. I made some chicken wings with a few tasty sauces - one with Shiro Miso and the other with Gochujang (Korean chili paste).

 

They went well with some local wines - a Chardonnay and a Lemberger that we'd picked up in the Finger Lakes last weekend. QueSeraSera, I lost count on the wine, and that was all before the G&T I'm sipping now (Hendrick's Midsummer Solstice Gin, with Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic, if you are keeping track). But it's the Cooler so I think we're all OK with that!

 

Lola's and Jeff's posts certainly made me think. Both of us feel in a bit of a funk with these never-ending travel bans. We lost our 25th anniversary trip to China and now we've lost the November cruise to Borneo (hiking to orangutans) and Komodo. And on the one hand, we are both lucky to still be working full-time...BUT we are working nonstop with no break and no light at the end of the tunnel, and just waiting for New York to surge again. It really gets to us some days. We are going to take a few days off in 2 weeks and we have no idea where to go, or where we can even go. We will probably stay local, again.

 

So how are we coping? We are doing a few things around the house to make it more pleasant. We planted more of a garden this year than ever and are enjoying lots of fresh veggies. We are supplementing that with some nice takeout meals when we feel like we are sick of cooking. We are trying some nicer wines than we often do, and sampling some different interesting Gin and Tonic combinations. It's all still cheaper than one cruise would cost.

 

And we are exercising much more regularly than we have in the past ten years. Last year it was a struggle to get to 10000 steps a day and this year I feel lazy if I have less than 12000. We've been doing some strength training as well which adds to the positive effects of aerobic training. So watch out when we get to travel again, because we might take off and never come back!

 

The pandemic also has got us thinking about how much longer we want, or need, to work full-time. We realize that we (somewhat) like what we do, but not enough to do it without a break. Since we are both on the wrong side of 50, if we don't need to work full-time, should we really keep doing it? What would we gain? MIght it be better for our health and sanity, to work part-time? It seems a no-brainer if we can make the finances work.

 

We have been playing with different scenarios involving reduced hours and if the numbers work out as I think they will, we might just cut back on our work burden in the next year or two. We can't retire fully because we need to be a little older to get full retirement benefits, but with some creativity I think we will be able to strike a balance that can make us happy until that day comes.

 

So that's how we are trying to cope. Usually I spend every spare moment planning vacations. Now I'm thinking about how to have more time off so I can plan even more vacations. Do you sense a theme here? 😄

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

Dearest fellow SS cruisers, 

My DW & I have done more cruising on SS than any other line, so this is sort of my home base.  I have posted previously about how - when I first read about this pandemic (in December), then posted here in maybe March, that I researched and read up on AIDS.  Another terrible plague, delivered by a virus, easily transferred between people. I noted that there was not then (and is not now), a vaccine for HIV.  We may or may not get one for Covid.  But, with AIDS we did get a work around, with an antiviral "cocktail" than had the effect of rendering HIV (and thus AIDS) less of a threat. If I was a praying man, I'd be on my knees 24/7 asking for an effective vaccine for Covid.  I'm confidant that, if there is one to be had, one will be produced.  This is the biggest and most motivated market that has ever been, for a medical intervention.  

 

I went and got my flu shot a couple days ago.  I wear masks when out, at my office (I have to work still to pay the bills) we maintain social distance everywhere.  I haven't been to a restaurant or bar or such since March.  I hope and pray that humankind will conjure up a response to this - maybe the biggest threat to us in our lives.  Meanwhile, we should all set aside petty grievances and be nice to each other, and hope to survive long enough to see this terrible affliction in our rear view mirrors.  And then, we can all sign up for big honking cruises on our favorite ships, and make up for lost time enjoying ourselves and our fellow passengers on some bodacious cruises hither and yon.  We've had a pretty steady diet of bad news, so I'm confident that we are due for some good news - maybe a good efficacious vaccine that will send this virus back to the showers, and humanity can get on with living and reproducing and enjoying life and making up for lost time.  

 

Besties, 

Mr Will Work for Tiramisu 

 

 

[lincslady]

Good morning, everyone

 

I really appreciate all the kind and wise words in the last many posts - and I too hope that Jeff's intelligent, helpful and interesting posts - not to mention photos of food and drink  and views - will not be lost to us for any time at all.  And hoping that Jeff and his wife celebrated their iconic birthdays with oodles of champagne.

 

Lola

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning All,

 

It was encouraging and interesting to read about how some of us are starting to think about the recalibrating of  our lives, not just because of "this thing" but because it is a wise thing to pursue happiness and know where you are heading and why.  It's also just as important to realise when you have arrived pretty much at that moment and allow yourself to be content.  If life has a purpose it is to be experienced and enjoyed rather than simply the pursuit of say wealth or stuff you don't have for example.

 

I suspect that when in the future they look back at the last forty or fifty years  or hundred years or so it will be viewed as being the time that the world saw more extreme changes than the previous tens of thousands of years and I think that many of the factors involved will be seen as instrumental in being the cause of many of our ills and in particular that of a pandemic of anxiety and depression.  Our brain was built to absorb handle and deal with so much and I think the rate of change we have experience is and will have it's toll.  We have never been bombarded with so much information and opinion about everything including ourselves by so many others ever before in our development.  I think we can all only cope with so much and at some point the brain begs for a rest and to be bombarded with no more.  The accelerating rate of change with all the detail could be the subject of a seperate long discussion because many of the technologies we now use may on face value be seen as progressive but many of them will I believe be somewhat regressive at so many other levels than the face-value advantages.  What I'm saying is that much of what we assume to be progressive does in fact has many unintended and unappreciated downside consequences.

 

I wanted to say a note of encouragement to JP and Chris about their recalibrations.  For what it's worth, it is my observation that the very happiest and contented people in the world that I see are those that have just a little more than they need but not too much.   Those with far too much have often seemed to me to be burdoned by their wealth and the acquisition of much more than they need and the retention of what they have, and those that have far too little often lead a terribly  miserable life.  It is ironic that many very wealthy people are confused as to why with so much wealth it has failed to make them happy and content.

 

So working out and realising that you are safe and have "just enough" not to worry at least about whether you can keep yourself fed, sheltered and warm  is really enough and is the "sweet spot in life" and is a wonderful state to be in, and that the icing on the cake being that at any moment you are not unwell and that you are sharing it all with someone who you care for and who cares for you is the sweetest place to be in life if you are lucky and clever enough to stop for a moment and realise this is all you should want for and therefore be content with it. 

 

I think Epicurus probably had it right aided and abetted be Marcus Aurelius!   They knew a bit about things!

 

Anyway these are more musings about the square root of nothing at all.

Edited September 20, 2020 by UKCruiseJeff

[mysty]

1 hour ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

So working out and realising that you are safe and have "just enough" not to worry at least about whether you can keep yourself fed, sheltered and warm  is really enough and is the "sweet spot in life" and is a wonderful state to be in, and that the icing on the cake being that at any moment you are not unwell and that you are sharing it all with someone who you care for and who cares for you is the sweetest place to be in life if you are lucky and clever enough to stop for a moment and realise this is all you should want for and therefore be content with it. 

 

I think Epicurus probably had it right aided and abetted be Marcus Aurelius!   They knew a bit about things!

 

Anyway these are more musings about the square root of nothing at all.

 

 

You are back in the blue chair J!  It suits you!  🥰

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe day all!

[zqtchas]

[spinnaker2]

[zqtchas]

[MHF]

Hello all, made it to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Las Vegas.  The scenery of our National Parks is extraordinary.  Gorgeous skies first day and hazy from the fires for the rest of the time.  I was able to capture the mirror image of Tetons/Trees in the beaver pond at Schwabacker's Landing on the clear day.  The Falls/Canyon do not have the pretty blue sky the following day.  Pix below.  Saw buffalo, pronghorn, and mule deer but no moose or bears.  Woke up Thursday in LV to cancelation of Ss cruise this November (not unexpected).  LV is a changed town with a lot of street fights and such.  There was a shooting at Paris Hotel and I heard the sirens.  One newspaper blamed the rock bottom hotel rates.  In terms of flying, Southwest had middle seats open whereas United crammed us in.

Missy, back in MD

[Lois R]

Hi Missy, welcome back and glad you had a fun trip🙂 Did you do this with a tour company? If so, which one?

[jpalbny]

Beautiful pictures, @MHF. We have so many fond memories of our trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons, now 13 years ago. We also went just after Labor Day, and enjoyed fewer crowds, beautiful weather, and amazing scenery.

 

Lois, these areas are best experienced in small groups. Though I can certainly sympathize if you don't want to go it as a party of one, there is something to be said for getting away from it all and enjoying some solitude. I clearly remember one hike we did there, around String and Leigh Lakes in the late afternoon, all the way out to Bearpaw Lake. We were quite certainly the only ones (or the last ones) out there. It got a little creepy, once we got to thinking about whether or not the bears were watching us...

[MHF]

40 minutes ago, Lois R said:

Hi Missy, welcome back and glad you had a fun trip🙂 Did you do this with a tour company? If so, which one?

Hi Lois,

I was the tour director, took me months to plan...my parents, my brother, his wife. (mom/dad are 80 and brother wanted to camp so I suspect I'm solo touring after this)  I had a little cabin to myself at Signal Mountain Lodge and again at Lake Yellowstone but we drove in the Suburban together to everything else and then split up, each according to his/her wish to walk around the sites.  The only time I was a bit concerned in the Parks was walking back to my cabin after dark.  I found out there were elk and buffalo wandering with me.

M in M

[Lois R]

Ahhh.....ok...thanks for the explanation and thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

JP,  I do plenty of things on my own but not sure about doing a trip like that by myself.  I don't want to have to rent

a car and get myself from point A to point B......I might look for a private tour company who offer some smaller

size tours though.  It sure is different from cruising.........that is part of why I love to cruise.....upack once, and thats

it.....they take care of everything else!😃.......

[clo]

2 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I do plenty of things on my own but not sure about doing a trip like that by myself. 

I love sharing the adventure. The "oh, look at that"''s.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe day all!

[zqtchas]

[spinnaker2]