The Daily for Thursday Jul 15, 2021

[smitty34877]

Good  morning  to  all. It  is  already  steamy  here  with  heat  advisories coming  to  the  cell  phone. Yesterday I  handed  the  mail  carrier (she  does  the  route  on  foot) 2  bottles  of  icy  cold  water  and  a  cold  towel. She  rested  in  the  shade  of  the front  door  overhang for  a  while. It  is  so  hard  to  work  outdoors  in  this  humid  heat.

 

I  will  celebrate  Dork  Day  and  Cow  day  but  not  tapioca!  The  recipe  of  the  day  looks  great  and  I  even  have  some  frozen  shrimp available. I  particularly  like  the  second  one,thanks  Debbie ,@dfish.  I  very  much  admire  your  painting  abilities  and  wish  I  had  some  of  that myself.

 

We  have  not  been  to  Sitka  but  I  do  look  forward  to  the  pictures.

@grapau27, I  just  love  seeing  your  pictures  . I  have  been  reading  a  Detective  Series  that  takes  place  in  the  Lakes  District  and  can  now  visualize different  regions.  The  writer  often  describes  a  fell  and  although  I  looked  it  up I  can't  quite  imagine  it. Any  Fells  in  your  travels?

 

Stay  safe  everyone

Terry

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise is from my 2018 Grand Alaska/Panama journey.  On July 15 I was on VIA

Rail's Canadian approaching Saskatoon:

 

 

Roy

[summer slope]

Happy Thursday.  Great group of days.  And I love the quote!  The meal sounds and looks good.

We've been to Sitka, but it was late and everything was closed.  Got off the train and onto a catamaran to take an Eagle tour on Haines.  Sorry, no pictures.

Prayers and toasts to our lists.

John Collins:

Similar to a Tom Collins, the John Collins is made with bourbon whiskey instead of gin, but still mixes in lemon juice, simple syrup, and club soda to make a refreshing cocktail. Serve with straws.

2 fluid ounces bourbon whiskey
1 fluid ounce lemon juice
1 teaspoon simple syrup
2 cups ice, divided
2 fluid ounces club soda
1 orange slice
1 lemon slice
1 maraschino cherry

Combine bourbon, lemon juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add 1 cup ice, cover and shake until chilled. Strain into a Collins glass. Add 1 cup ice, fill with club soda, and stir.
Garnish with slice of orange and lemon and a maraschino cherry.

 

[Sir PMP]

Sitka, Alaska, new dock:

 

 

[AncientWanderer]

Good morning!  We like tapioca pudding and Sitka very much.  Here we are, with the Amsterdam, July 2019.

 

[StLouisCruisers]

On September 6, 2019 we disembarked the beautiful Amsterdam to take a bus ride into the town of Sitka, 5 or 6 miles away.  The painters were busy touching up the hull with "Holland America Blue" paint. 

 

 

 

When we arrived downtown, we noticed the smoke hanging in the air from nearby wildfires, unfortunately.  But it was still beautiful!

 

 

We enjoyed sitting near the little harbor for a while.  DH phoned his DM at her nursing facility back in St. Louis and had a nice chat.  I wish she could still participate in a conversation like that now, but her abilities have declined since then.  We also took a selfie of ourselves to send the kids to show them where we were spending our anniversary.

 

Luckily they give out little maps showing you where all the sights are to be seen in the town.

 

We passed by St. Michael's Orthodox Cathedral, a National Historic Landmark.  It was originally built while the land was under Russian rule, but was rebuilt in 1966 after a fire.

 

Lots of shopping, of course.  I have to admit I didn't buy one of these because I have so many T-shirts from over the years, stacked up on my closet shelves. 

 

Then there were book stores, florists, hotels and general stores.

 

 

A very nice looking rest home for the elderly.  

 

And right in front of it this statue of what must be a Pioneer as the building says in its name.

 

A totem pole, of course.

 

Some of the details on it.

 

 

 

We really enjoyed our walk through Sitka that day.  Later in the day we sat in the Crow's Nest and watched the dock workers lifting boats out of and into the water.  They could just roll them into a parking spot!

 

 

 

 

We also noticed a large group of staff and crew welcoming passengers back to the ship.  They were there until the last person boarded.  A nice touch, and something we all miss I'm sure.

 

[ger_77]

Good morning, thanks for the Daily!  I'm sure in high school, I ran with the dork crowd, as we weren't in the "cool" group, but I still have some as life-long friends.  Cows are both beautiful and useful, and I've always loved tapioca pudding.   If it wasn't so darned hot, I'd make some.

 

Speaking of heat, we're in another heat wave here on the "frozen tundra" - the forecast is for at least the next 7 days in the high 30's with little to no chance of rain.  Already the farmers are worried about their crops, as there has been so little precipitation since the growing season began.  Today we're looking at 36C (96F), so we'll be doing what needs to get done early this morning and then hunkering down in the a/c for the remainder of the day.

 

Like a lot of you, I was disappointed to hear that the wine steward positions were being eliminated - I wonder if the sommelier's position is next?  Will that also mean the end of the Cellar Master's Dinner?  Yikes!

 

I like today's menu suggestion, but don't have the ingredients for it . . . but, there's a great Vietnamese restaurant not far from our house that makes a wonderful noodle bowl.  I'm pretty sure it won't take any convincing for DH to head over there and pick up an order for us.  If it's cool enough, we'll dine on the deck, if not, it will be the noodle bowl on the kitchen table for us for dinner tonight.  And wine.

 

Prayers for everyone who needs them and even for those who don't think they do.  Clinking the glasses together to celebrate all on the happy list.  Stay safe, be well, wash your hands, wear your masks when you need to, and hydrate!

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

Gerry

 

 

[Seasick Sailor]

Thank you for our Daily Rich. Good morning Daily-ites. A beautiful morning here in Georgetown. We had a lovely dinner last night at our favorite Asian restaurant. Then on to a country concert. The band members were from Germany and Australia and were very funny and good players and singers.

 

There really is a cow day??

 

 

 

Our friends decided they would like to join us in Maui next year, so we booked last night. We may add on if we can finagle some more timeshare points.

 

Today I have to run downtown and get a chip in our windshield fixed. It happened on the toll road into Austin when a gravel truck was raining rocks with no tarp..

 

I have my Mahjongg girls tonight and one has a birthday to celebrate.

 

Praying for those on Roy's well thought out prayer listing, and cheers to all on his celebrations list.

 

God bless and have a great Thursday y'all!

 

 

[kplady]

Good morning everyone!

 

We've been to Sitka on all four of our HAL cruises (not sure about the Coral Princess cruise).  The last time in 2019 (Maasdam 21 day cruise) we just walked around town and visited St. Michael's church. It's a lovely small town to visit.

 

When I saw tapioca pudding it brought back so many memories.  My Nana used to make the BEST tapioca pudding.  My mom tried everything she could to make it as well, including the measurements (Nana would measure some of the ingredients in an egg shell - hard to get the exact measurement for that!). Every time my mom would make it I'd tell her it wasn't as good as Nana's! She understood, and after a few tries gave up totally.  I haven't had it since those days - what a great memory.

 

Prayers for all needing them - glad to hear @mamaofamiis getting the help needed with Sam.  It sounds like he is determined to make a good recovery, which makes us all happy!

 

Have a wonderful day,

Laura

[AncientWanderer]

I have a lot of catching up to do here.  We spent a few days at La Quinta Resort, swimming and trying to keep cool.  It was around 115 degrees during the day and was still around 100 at 10 o'clock at night.  We used to go to the desert in the summer when we were younger, but weren't sure how we'd hold up now.  But it was great to get away and there were no problems.  Lots of swimming and eating good stuff.  I had hotel reward certificates that were expiring, and all the beachy places were booked up, so that's what we did.

 

I glanced at the Daily periodically, and for sure want to wish a Happy Belated Birthday to 

@Seasick Sailor's Allen.  It was nice to hear about some of his health journey and how his strength has carried through there.  A nice birthday tribute.  

 

And good news from @wandb about Sister's progress.  Happy news there.  😊

 

For all Dailyites, sending prayers for those on the care list, and congratulations to those with happy events to celebrate.  Have a great day!

 

[Mtn2Sea]

We visited Sitka in 2017 while aboard the Amsterdam.  Prior to our excursion which began in town, we had a few minutes to walk around to check out some of the shops.  The first half of the excursion gave us an opportunity to see bears.  The second half was a boat tour where we saw otters, sea lions and whales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Mtn2Sea

[Divi]

@smitty34877 I love to read British detective books. Are you referring to books by Martin Edwards?

I often have to ask a British friend to translate 😀

Deen

[puppycanducruise]

1 hour ago, smitty34877 said:

 

@grapau27, I  just  love  seeing  your  pictures  . I  have  been  reading  a  Detective  Series  that  takes  place  in  the  Lakes  District  and  can  now  visualize different  regions.  The  writer  often  describes  a  fell  and  although  I  looked  it  up I  can't  quite  imagine  it. Any  Fells  in  your  travels?

 

 

I love detective (murder/mysteries) too.  What series are you reading?

[Tbay]

Thanks to all who keep this site running.

@dfishToday's recipe looks delish. I am in awe of all the work you do in your house!

And thanks to all who post Sitka pictures.  Have been to Alaska twice, but not Sitka.  It's on my bucket list. 

 

[garlictown]

👍Thank you Rich @richwmn for the Daily and to Roy @rafinmd for both the Care and Celebration Lists. 😊 Yesterday my cast ( scaphoid fracture) came off and now I have the removable thumb spica splint which is a lot lighter and much more comfortable.  Later this morning, I have PT and will see what new exercises will be added to the already arm and shoulder ones....oh, the joy of not watching where I was stepping two and a half months ago. 😔 

We need to "bug" our TA about getting FCC /$ transferred to our cruise in December.  The Nieuw Statendam cruise in Europe was cancelled and we weren't interested in the replacement. I hear you @kazu. We'd like going to lunch with you, too, @grapau27...interesting places!😎

Thank you for all the photos of Sitka~ a port our 2 previous 🚢Princess cruises missed.

There are quite a few Japanese and Vietnamese restaurants we enjoy and often have the "bowls."🥣

🙏Prayers to all in need and thanks to all who contribute. 

Katie

 

 

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, smitty34877 said:

Good  morning  to  all. It  is  already  steamy  here  with  heat  advisories coming  to  the  cell  phone. Yesterday I  handed  the  mail  carrier (she  does  the  route  on  foot) 2  bottles  of  icy  cold  water  and  a  cold  towel. She  rested  in  the  shade  of  the front  door  overhang for  a  while. It  is  so  hard  to  work  outdoors  in  this  humid  heat.

 

I  will  celebrate  Dork  Day  and  Cow  day  but  not  tapioca!  The  recipe  of  the  day  looks  great  and  I  even  have  some  frozen  shrimp available. I  particularly  like  the  second  one,thanks  Debbie ,@dfish.  I  very  much  admire  your  painting  abilities  and  wish  I  had  some  of  that myself.

 

We  have  not  been  to  Sitka  but  I  do  look  forward  to  the  pictures.

@grapau27, I  just  love  seeing  your  pictures  . I  have  been  reading  a  Detective  Series  that  takes  place  in  the  Lakes  District  and  can  now  visualize different  regions.  The  writer  often  describes  a  fell  and  although  I  looked  it  up I  can't  quite  imagine  it. Any  Fells  in  your  travels?

 

Stay  safe  everyone

Terry

There are lots of fells in the lake District.

The most famous is Scafell Pike.

Graham.

[TiogaCruiser]

A Good (but late) Morning to All,

 

We continue with the warm (high 80s) and humidish days here. Our second young dove fledged yesterday, apparently when I got close to the nest and spooked him. If that was his first flight, he’ll be doing fine. He went directly for the property fence, with a nice downward glide slope, then the last part of his flight he “pulled up” and ended up on the 5’ fence. Then promptly hid in the adjacent tree. During all of this our Golden “fluff-boy” was blissfully unaware, laying on the cool tile inside.

 

Today’s wine report from Cat. I’d love to give this one a go:

******************
 

McPherson Shiraz
This Australian Shiraz might be a bit of a gamble, since I could not find a review of it on any of my trusted sources. I found one Canadian distributor online. And other global distributors – all willing to ship. Prices are very reasonable, especially if you are willing to wait to enjoy it.

Winemaker Notes
The grapes for this Shiraz were picked and crushed during the cool of night, thus ensuring the retention of varietal characterwhich help to create the signature McPherson style. Fermentation took place in sweeping arm red fermenters, giving the wine a denser, richer colour and allowing
for gentle flavour extraction. Softer tannins are also a result of this process, an important feature of the McPherson Shiraz style. Careful attention was also paid to the oak selection for the Shiraz. This wine was aged on French oak for approximately 8 months, giving the wine a noticeable, but not an excessive oak influence. The inclusion of some central Victorian fruit into the blend has boosted both the colour and the intensity of flavour. Deep purple in colour, with an intense aroma of dark fruits and spice, the McPherson Shiraz expresses true varietal character. With subtly integrated American Oak balanced with ripe plums and blackberries, this wine has excellent structure and length. Secondary aromas of chocolate and spice add intrigue and complexity to the wine with soft tannins creating a supple and smooth wine with impressive length.

 

Have a great day everyone!

[St. Louis Sal]

Good morning all!
 

It’s been a busy week and I am taking a quick break here while DH packs so we can head to Branson. So I am quite behind on what’s happening, maybe while we are driving I will go back and read up. 
 

I guess I was a dork in my younger days. As a city girl, I give cows a wide berth. And although my grandma made tapioca a lot when I was a kid, it was never a favorite.

 

I have not heard of a John Collins, curious about that.  I think Asian noodle bowls are great (a favorite restaurant in Branson is called Noodles 21), but DH is not a fan, so not in my near future. Looking forward to reading about the wine.
 

Went to Eckerts, our local pick-your-own farm yesterday. We did lunch (where I had pulled pork, a blackberry whiskey lemonade and fritters with apple butter) and then oldest DD went peach picking and also cut a bouquet of sunflowers. I can’t easily do the trailers (pulled by John Deere tractors) anymore to ride out to the fields, so I sat on the patio in the shade and admired all the flowers.

 

Sitka is one of my favorite places, been there 4 times at least. I will share a few pictures from our 2019 trip on the Eurodam, they are the only ones on this IPad. We celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary on this trip and in Sitka we took the Sea Life boat tour which is a favorite (although the water was quite choppy that day). I thought I had a good whale pic, but I can’t find it. We wandered around town a bit, but took very few pictures there as we had been many times before. Tip: You always want to be awake and outside as you sail into Sitka in he morning, it is one of the most beautiful approaches in Alaska.

 

Sending prayers 🙏 to all in need of them and a glass of cheer 🍷 for the celebrations. Have mentioned friend with liver transplant. He had a miracle yesterday. Scheduled to have surgery to remove fluid around his heart as well as a band of fibrous tissue, a scan showed it was all gone, no surgery needed! Such good news for him. 
 

Take care all,
St Louis Sal

 

[St. Louis Sal]

Found my pic, actually a video, I will share. Hope the motion isn’t too bad, it was the choppiest we’ve ever experienced in Sitka.

 

I am always amazed at the pictures I get from my cellphone, hardly bother with a camera anymore.

 

St Louis Sal

[Cruising-along]

Good morning all!

I'm sure I'm a bit of a dork, do appreciate cows and love tapioca.  I think of my dear sister when I have tapioca, it was her favorite to make as we were growing up (she was 10 years older than me).  DH doesn't like it at all, so unfortunately (or fortunately??) for me I have to eat it all when I make it.  😉  

 

Love the quote, will pass on the drink, wine and meal.  

I have a busy day ahead, baking, packing, and preparing food for our weekend at the ocean with DGS.  I'm probably bringing enough food to feed an army, but I'm always amazed at how much that 8-year-old boy can put away. 🙂  

 

Have been to Sitka only once, it was on our very first cruise in 2004 on the Amsterdam.  The cruise that made me fall in love with HAL and cruising.  Even though we live so close to Seattle we've only cruised to Alaska twice in all those years. We took the Rain Forest Hike that day -- if we ever get back, I would spend more time browsing in town, but it was our first cruise, what did we know?  😉  My photos are all pre-digital so won't post photos, but imagine a beautiful rain forest with banana slugs.  🤣

 

 

 

 

[atexsix]

Good Morning,

 

We have a heavy marine layer today and it was down to 61 in the living room this morning, I don't think it's been that cold since early spring.  There's a slight chance of a sprinkle or mist today and tomorrow, any moisture would help.  It's also helping to lower the fire danger and the smoke stays out of the air, let's hope it continues.  

 

Thanks to all the listers.  Thoughts and prayers to all that need them.  

 

Sitka is my favorite Alaska port.  I was not a dork, but I can still appreciate them and celebrate the day.  I don't think anyone in the daily is a dork because it doesn't fit "socially inept" which was the meaning of dork that I just looked up. I think I'm pretty grateful for cows, a lot we wouldn't have without them. 

 

The junk haulers will be here at 10 and I will be so glad to have the garage cleared out, it already looks a lot better just from the cleaning I did over the weekend. 

 

@StLouisCruisers Our ChickFilA does not yet have the dining room open, none of the fast food places do and I don't understand why if our state is completely reopened.  

@mamaofami I found the OT to be very helpful because they work with practical matters.  At least I didn't feel like she was trying to kill me like the Physical Therapist was.  I lost a lot of my hand function, gripping/grabbing and holding onto things are my biggest deficits and I drop things a lot.  It was nice to be able to sit as she tested my fine motor skills and develope a program to strengthen the muscles using silly putty type stuff.  Also, the grab bars are extremely important.  I need to get one installed for Dear Dad.  

@aliaschief I can't imagine how removing the wine stewards will play out on sailings with a lot of European cruisers, might be a mutiny. 

@rafinmd continuing to pray for tooth.  Are those actual meal pictures from rail Canada?!  Looks amazing, what I'd expect to see on a ship. 

@Sir PMP  I love that picture, it gives a great perspective on where the buses line up, somebody was trying to explain it to me a few weeks ago.

@ger_77 praying you survive the heat.

 

Have a great day!

 

 

 

[atexsix]

20 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

Good morning all!

I'm sure I'm a bit of a dork, do appreciate cows and love tapioca.  I think of my dear sister when I have tapioca, it was her favorite to make as we were growing up (she was 10 years older than me).  DH doesn't like it at all, so unfortunately (or fortunately??) for me I have to eat it all when I make it.  😉  

 

Love the quote, will pass on the drink, wine and meal.  

I have a busy day ahead, baking, packing, and preparing food for our weekend at the ocean with DGS.  I'm probably bringing enough food to feed an army, but I'm always amazed at how much that 8-year-old boy can put away. 🙂  

 

Have been to Sitka only once, it was on our very first cruise in 2004 on the Amsterdam.  The cruise that made me fall in love with HAL and cruising.  Even though we live so close to Seattle we've only cruised to Alaska twice in all those years. We took the Rain Forest Hike that day -- if we ever get back, I would spend more time browsing in town, but it was our first cruise, what did we know?  😉  My photos are all pre-digital so won't post photos, but imagine a beautiful rain forest with banana slugs.  🤣

 

 

 

 

My first cruise to Sitka was on the Westerdam and I was opposite, being new to cruising I was shore excursion shy...so all I did in Sitka or in any of the ports was wander around the towns.  Now, I'm going back and getting to some of the tours. 

[Overhead Fred]

I do love tapioca pudding, both my mom and my grandmother (Mimi) made great versions. We haven't had any lately so I might just have to whip up a batch. Tapioca flour/starch is also a useful thickening agent to have in the kitchen pantry. 

 

We had an all day rain yesterday but did not get the predicted thunderstorms and high winds. It quit around 4-5 pm which was just a bit too late to get the tennis courts dried off for our weekly Wednesday doubles games. Which sadly meant there was no after tennis beer drinking! 

 

I think we have had the McPherson Shiraz on the BHBs. It was serviceable and a decent price (relatively speaking) for HAL. 

 

The John Collins sounds like a whiskey sour with seltzer added. I do like whiskey sours so I might give it a try. 

 

We have two large concrete planters on the front patio that we decided to plant with a foliage motif rather than flowers. They are doing quite nicely with Kong coleus in the center and trailing things around the edges. There is one that is particularly interesting - a Livingstone Daisy "Mezoo Trailing Red". It looks sorta like variegated vinca but the leaves are more succulent-like. And it gets the cutest little red flowers.

 

 

[smitty34877]

1 hour ago, puppycanducruise said:

I love detective (murder/mysteries) too.  What series are you reading?

The Skelgill series  by Bruce Beckham.There are 17 and I have found them to be very entertaining .I used kindle unlimited and devoured  them

[durangoscots]

Morning all. Yesterday the promised us rain.... and it was dry and sunny all day. Hopefully we will get some later this weekend. Our local weather guru says to forecast the weather just "look out the window".

 

I have been to Sitka twice and loved it. Did the whale watching and otter seeking and we did see a couple of bears by the road. And I just like walking about town and looking at the Russian church. Lots to see there. I also have a school friend living there and we meet for coffee or tea.

 

On the home front, I spent most of yesterday afternoon at the shelter dealing with the roofing and HVAC remodel issues and things just get more complicated and, of course, more expensive. Then came home to the news that the buildings on either side of us are needing new roofs. I need to send my roofer up to look at ours.... and hope it is good for at least another year. At least I have a couple of people I can consult when getting information on various projects.

 

Pulled out a T-shirt to wear this morning .... Pitcairn Island. I need to get away.

 

Susan