Cunard Cruisers - How are things where you are ?

[Bigmike911]

Warm days in the mid 80's f, and warm nights around 70 f have had an amazing effect on the garden and the trees in the forest I live in. Mother Nature has come alive. The eastern Red-bud is covered with pink flowers, and the elms, oaks and sweet gums are all leafing out.

 

My two Hybrid American Chestnuts, I received as part of the Chestnut reforestation project both have small green leaves. They will remain in pots for a year or so, and then will be planted in the garden. The citrus continues to put out leaves. At least three trees have them above the graft, three of the others, below the graft. Hopefully they will leaf above the graft, fingers crossed.

 

A new frost resistant Gardenia has arrived along with four clivias, and a Pigmy Itty Bitty Fig to be potted and protected from the evil tree rats.

 

The garden clean up, continues with about half of the clump Bamboo having been cut back and disposed of. Deer have been nibbling the leaves of my newly planted Camellias, so I have gotten a foul smelling liquid to spray on them to discourage the deer. The only thing I would rather do than gardening is to sail Trans-Atlantic on Queen Mary 2. I have been watching her progress on her Round the World voyage, soon to reach Australia.

[ronpes]

My day today, involved taking this man on a visit to the Dentist to get a molar tooth removed.

Never an easy task with a 600kg horse. Fortunately, it all went well and it came out fairly easily and he is now safely back to his cosy stable with a nice big deep bed of straw and a big bucket of slushy mash to eat.

[Host Hattie]

He's a handsome boy 

[ronpes]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

He's a handsome boy 

Thank you. 
We love him very much and he has been a big part of our family for 15 years now.

[sfred]

13 hours ago, ronpes said:

My day today, involved taking this man on a visit to the Dentist to get a molar tooth removed.

Never an easy task with a 600kg horse. Fortunately, it all went well and it came out fairly easily and he is now safely back to his cosy stable with a nice big deep bed of straw and a big bucket of slushy mash to eat.

 

 

I presume that your equine dentist charges a substantial fee for the service, lest she/he be accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth?  😄

Edited February 25, 2023 by sfred

[ronpes]

4 hours ago, sfred said:

 

I presume that your equine dentist charges a substantial fee for the service, lest she/he be accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth?  😄

Am afraid he does charge a sizeable fee. However, most of the bill actually goes towards the cost a hiring a room at the vets surgery as it has to be done there due to the fact he had to be sedated. 
Thinking about the bill again, it was less than what my son paid last year to get a crown fitted. 

For peace of mind, pain relief and for his well-being it was money well spent. 

For his usual six monthly dental check ups etc, the Dentist normally comes to the yard and does all the basic stuff there and that costs around the same I pay for a filling. 

[D&N]

Still learning to use the new camera. I think it’s the most expensive piece of electronics I’ve ever bought. It came with a “kit lens”, but some of the vast range of lenses available for it can cost several times the price of the camera. I’ve been searching the used market for cheap kit that I might not use very often. That included a zoom for taking distant shots. In turn that’s led to finding out how F-stops and exposure compensation can enhance results on those. I want to master such shots before Queen Mary 2 next sails past our window on August 3rd!

 

Here we have Carmel taken on automatic settings.

A max zoom video frame from yesterday’s 777-300ER arrival from Dubai.

The SW tip of the airport runway taken at f/11 on max zoom.

 

The plane is about 2½ miles away. QM2 will be about 7½ miles but have about 5 times the profile.

The small domed structure at the runway is 3½ miles towards the course of ships heading to Villefranche. QM2 will be slightly more than twice that distance.

 

Of course CC compresses the photos. Originals are much bigger.

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by D&N

[Victoria2]

On 2/18/2023 at 8:13 PM, naturelovergirl said:

All is well in Central Florida. The weather is cool and breezy with a warm sun.

I’ve been enjoying planning our Queen Elizabeth voyage to Alaska- coming up in August! Can’t wait!

We actually just finished listening to James A. Michener’s ALASKA in anticipation of our sailing. It was quite a long audiobook, of course  being Michener, but the book was absolutely worth the journey. We especially enjoyed the chapters dealing with the Alaska Gold Rush, salmon, and Tlingit history.

Listening to the book has made us even more excited about our upcoming trip to Alaska on QE.

I'm a Michener fan and bought this book after our first Alaska cruise. I read it every so often when I need an Alaskan fix.

[Lanky Lad]

Has anyone else had a survey from Cunard? I've filled it in. 

[ronpes]

13 hours ago, Lanky Lad said:

Has anyone else had a survey from Cunard? I've filled it in. 

I haven’t seen anything yet. 

[Host Hattie]

No surveys here, just being nagged to pay for our June cruise!

[exlondoner]

10 hours ago, Host Hattie said:

No surveys here, just being nagged to pay for our June cruise!

I had one a few weeks ago.

[D&N]

It's been nice and bright here for a few days.

After the initial purchases of new camera gear, I've been picking up used kit on leboncoin, which is a small ads site equivalent to UK's Gumtree.

I've got some more flash gear and lenses. 2 fairly low aperture wide angle lenses and a long zoom. The latter is not really for my camera, which is a "full frame". Those for "APS-C" are hugely cheaper and at maximum zoom there's not much difference. I've removed a plastic baffle from the lens and on full zoom there is only a tiny amount of vignetting in the corners. The subjects I'm targeting are likely to be centre frame (QM2 at 7.5miles) so that won't be a problem.

This first shot is of The Southern Alpes. Monte Argentera is to left of tallest conifer in the photo. It's the highest peak in Southern Alpes at 10,817ft. It's nearly 38 miles away. I've cropped that photo to remove the vignetting. Mont Mounier and it's friends are to left. They're a little bit smaller.

 

Then we have Carmel lounging in a sunspot. You can just make out the vignetting in her corners.

 

And finally here's a sunburst that clearly shows the vignetting. It would have helped if I'd cleaned dust from the lens and sensor before taking the photo.

 

[Ray66]

Has anyone been watching Coastal Defenders on BBC2 at 6.30pm? The programme is based in Southampton and part of tonight's programme was about having to fix Queen Victoria's anchor chain in stormy waters.

 

It's on about the last ten minutes:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001jw5x/coastal-defenders-series-1-4-sun-and-storms

[Host Hattie]

I hadn't so thanks for posting. 

[ronpes]

18 hours ago, Ray66 said:

Has anyone been watching Coastal Defenders on BBC2 at 6.30pm? The programme is based in Southampton and part of tonight's programme was about having to fix Queen Victoria's anchor chain in stormy waters.

 

It's on about the last ten minutes:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001jw5x/coastal-defenders-series-1-4-sun-and-storms

Thanks for the heads up. 

[Lanky Lad]

Thanks for posting the link. 

[ronpes]

On 3/1/2023 at 9:54 PM, Lanky Lad said:

Has anyone else had a survey from Cunard? I've filled it in. 

 

Received mine today. All done and submitted. 

[Bigmike911]

As I was driving home from my grocery shopping, last week, I was listening to ClassicFM and heard a news broadcast forecasting a winter storm for most of the UK. On the home front, we are now in about the third week of really warm Spring-like weather in Southeast Texas. 

All of the trees even the lazy elm and pecans have leaves now. Four of my dead potted citrus have been cut down and the pots cleared for four new trees that arrived yesterday. The remaining four are putting on new growth, and I will allow them to grow to see how high on the branches the new growth is before I trim them.

My gardener is coming on Friday and we will pot the new citrus all of which have blossoms on them. I may have to do it myself tomorrow, if there is rain in the forecast for Friday. I also received a Japanese Maple for my fern garden. I ordered two, and one came with the other noted as not available. I emailed the owner of the nursery and got a rather snappy response, that she would refund the order. I told her that had I known that the tree I wanted was unavailable I would have ordered another available tree. I think we are finished doing business with her.

There is still plenty to keep me busy. The fern garden has made a remarkable recovery with new varieties springing back each day. I am hopeful some of the rarer ferns will return. Time will tell. The only complaint I have is the Pollen. The older I get the more it seems to hit me, and I am loth to medicate for it. The Oak Pollen has been in the 4000 parts per cubic foot. My vehicles have a yellow tinge and even washing them last week didn't really solve the problem, they are yellow again.

I hope our UK friends finish with their cold weather and get a breath of genuine Spring soon.

[alc13]

14 hours ago, Bigmike911 said:

As I was driving home from my grocery shopping, last week, I was listening to ClassicFM and heard a news broadcast forecasting a winter storm for most of the UK. On the home front, we are now in about the third week of really warm Spring-like weather in Southeast Texas......

I enjoy your garden updates.  I imagine a verdant Utopia outside your windows.  Good luck with the new trees and you are right to ditch the nursery.

[Lanky Lad]

We had about 2 inches of snow here on Friday morning last week, but it gone by lunchtime. There was a bit more on Monday and Tuesday. 

[techteach]

FYI - Off topic - I noticed this morning I was receiving emails from content I follow so there must have been a change on CC over night. I went into my notification settings and removed the check marks from “email” in a couple of the settings.

[techteach]

Happy St. Pat’s Day! Sun in shining in Seattle this morning, but there is frost on the roof of the house across the street. We may reach 60 degrees tomorrow! The daffodils are opening and brightening the gardens. 

[Bigmike911]

2 hours ago, techteach said:

Happy St. Pat’s Day! Sun in shining in Seattle this morning, but there is frost on the roof of the house across the street. We may reach 60 degrees tomorrow! The daffodils are opening and brightening the gardens. 

Happy St. Paddy's day indeed. I will be doing a dinner on Sunday afternoon. Corned beef slow cooked in Guiness. Cabbage and red potatoes, Irish Soda bread and Irish butter. The starter will be chilled minted pea soup, and dessert Irish Coffee made with Jameson's

 

From memory lane in 2005 I did a trip around the UK on Queen Mary 2 (her first such voyage) including Cherbourg and Cobh and I did a city tour in Cobh and the last stop was the Jameson's Distillery.

 

Naturally we will be wearing the green.

[techteach]

On 3/17/2023 at 10:54 AM, Bigmike911 said:

Happy St. Paddy's day indeed. I will be doing a dinner on Sunday afternoon. Corned beef slow cooked in Guiness. Cabbage and red potatoes, Irish Soda bread and Irish butter. The starter will be chilled minted pea soup, and dessert Irish Coffee made with Jameson's

 

From memory lane in 2005 I did a trip around the UK on Queen Mary 2 (her first such voyage) including Cherbourg and Cobh and I did a city tour in Cobh and the last stop was the Jameson's Distillery.

 

Naturally we will be wearing the green.

What time should I arrive for this feast? Sounds wonderful.