Sunday December 17th, 2023 -- The Fleet Report and Daily

[St Pete Cruiser]

Good Morning everyone.  We survived yesterdays rain and wind quite well, even attending the Holiday Pops last night at Mahaffey Theater.  St Petersburg needed the rain and we received about 2 inches.

We are renting a car to drive to Ft Lauderdale early Tuesday morning to embark the good ship Zaandam for our first ever Christmas/New Years cruise.  It is 16 days with a different itinerary than normal.  The Prinsendam usually did a similar holiday itinerary, for those oldies among us!  While the Zaandam is no Prinsendam, she is Holland America's 1 of 2 smallest ships.  I won't have the ships wifi on this cruise, I will occasionally post an update for those interested.  Zaandam is completing its Grand South America and some of those aboard will stay for this holiday cruise.  Ft Lauderdale weather forecast for Tuesday is sunny and 70F.

Our best to those who are not well today, especially some of our long time posters.  May the spirit of the season lift you up.

 

[Crazy For Cats]

The weather this morning is ever changing.  I woke up and it was sunny, showered and it was raining.  Went to breakfast sunny, now rain again.  Luckily we have no tours planned.

After posting this appeared. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Crazy For Cats
Added pictures

[rafinmd]

Today's sunrise  is from my 2016 Seabourn Odyssey transatlantic, one of the last sea days from Madiera to Fort Lauderdale

 

 

Roy

[Heartgrove]

Thank you Rich, thank you Debbie, thank you Vanessa, thank you Ann, and thank you Dixie for all your work. And thank you everyone for being here!

 

Feeling so sorry for all the cruisers attempting to sail allong the entire East Coast of the USA!

 

Stay Safe, and prayers for those in need.

- Jack

[GTVCRUISER]

[Denise T]

Happy Sunday. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. 

Rainy day today. After a successful family visit, I am relaxing today. My nephew and his fiancé have announced the wedding date for September 2024. They have already selected the venue. I am so happy for this young couple. 

Thinking of all on the care list. 

Celebrating with all who are celebrating. 

Have a safe and healthy day. 

[ger_77]

Good morning, thanks for the Fleet Report and Daily!  Yay for maple syrup - I like it with peanut butter on pancakes.  I don't have any more ugly sweaters, I gave them all away.  Thank goodness for the Wright Brothers and their persistence with an amazing invention, otherwise we'd have to drive to ports to board the BHB's.

 

Yesterday we went out early to do some last minute shopping - we discovered our "almost daughter" Sophia and her family had given us something that was way too expensive, so we felt we had to reciprocate.  We ended up getting them an Instax camera with a couple of extra rolls of film and a food saver with additional rolls of bags.  I'm glad we decided to open the gifts ahead of time, rather than leaving it till Christmas morning when we would have felt uncomfortable having given them so little.   After Christmas I'm going to have a chat with her to say that we'd prefer small gifts, or even gifts of food, rather than putting out a lot of money on things.

 

This morning I'm going to clear off the dining room table and bring out the wrapping paper, tape, ribbons and tags and get to the task of wrapping gifts.  I like to use wrapping paper for the children, so that each gift is wrapped individually - for me it's  more fun to see them taking the paper off the gifts, rather than simply opening a bag and pulling out the contents.  DH helps me by bringing me coffee and Bailey's from time to time.  This morning is a good time to do it because he'll be watching his news programs on TV and I'll enjoy the Sunday morning oldies on the radio as I wrap.

 

@grapau27how sad for Pauline's friend; I'm so glad she has you and Pauline to give her support.

@seagarsmoker and @Petunia1950 Bon Voyage!

Welcome back to all the Daily-ites from your pre-holiday cruises.

I hope everyone stayed safe during the storms, and for those it hasn't hit yet, be careful!

 

I'm going to pass on the drink (bourbon), will let others enjoy the wine, and would love the menu suggestion, but DH doesn't care for lamb - at all.  I've got a very small pork roast that will make it's way into the oven along with potatoes, carrots, celery and onions for a one pot dinner that we can enjoy at the kitchen table tonight.  And wine.

 

Prayers for everyone who is in need, cheers to all with celebrations.

 

Smooth Sailing!  ☺️☺️☺️

Gerry

[smitty34877]

Good morning. My DB had a particularly ugly sweater that he wore when we were young for Christmas Eve. He has saved it and now scares his own family with it. At 75 he should be proud of still fitting into it!

I will celebrate Canadian maple syrup and used it sparingly on the Swedish pancakes I made last night. I have not been to Jamaica and I am sorry to say that the Jamaican women I worked with warned people not to go as it was too dangerous.

A wind and rain storm will arrive overnight. Our weather person warns of flooding and wind damage. I think I will hide inside. The pipe line replacement company had a really big job connecting one of the houses across the street and the sidewalk was completely dug up as well as their walkway around the house. The “beep beep beep” went on until almost 8 pm. I doubt they will be able to work on Monday. These men have a tough job on these old and narrow streets with ancient pipes. DD baked some cookies and brought the workers coffee yesterday. 

 

Tana and I watched the Julia Roberts movie on Netflix’s that was discussed a few days ago. We both liked it but were a little surprised by the ending. 
Enjoy the day and stay safe out there!

 

 

[Crazy For Cats]

4 minutes ago, Denise T said:

Happy Sunday. Thank you for the Daily and Fleet reports. 

Rainy day today. After a successful family visit, I am relaxing today. My nephew and his fiancé have announced the wedding date for September 2024. They have already selected the venue. I am so happy for this young couple. 

Thinking of all on the care list. 

Celebrating with all who are celebrating. 

Have a safe and healthy day. 

This is so true in our house. Tucker and Jasper will fight me for my cereal bowl. 

[Himself]

Good morning, Rich!    Thanks for the Daily and sharing the fleet report. Lamb is good with mint jelly.

[kazu]

Thanks for our Sunday Daily, Rich

& thanks to Vanessa, Ann, Dixie & Debbie.

 

Great collection of days.  Maple syrup is always in my cupboard (hey, I’m Canadian 😉).  Wright brothers are worthy of celebration.  Ugly sweaters can be fun to look at even if I don’t wear them.  

 

LOL on the Twain quote.  Yum on the today’s meal - love lamb (actually discovered it on a BHB) and a white Pinot Noir!  Sign me up!  I’ve been to Ocho Rios once and once was enough.  Not a fan of Jamaica at all.

 

 

It’s a dreary day here as the storm slowly approaches.  The bright side to the day is my other amaryllis which has opened and other than two buds still to come has opened up nearly at once.  For the Garden Club:

 

 

DD DH loved amaryllis.  When we first met he asked me what flowers represented the seasons and I said amaryllis for Christmas.  I didn’t know until much later that he went home, got out his dictionary and struggled to find the name.  He couldn’t 😂. He loved flowers but didn’t know this one.

 

 

 

 

My condolences to Pauline’s friend and her family. 😔  I’ll be joining Gerry @ger_77 as I pull out the wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, etc and wrap presents.  While I have to use bags to deliver them I too like to wrap the presents inside 😊   I’ll be curious to see Ivan’s reaction.  He’s been very nosy when I tape up the boxes of stuff I’m giving away.

 

 

Very behind this morning so I had better get moving.  Prayers for those on the Care list, those suffering losses, health problems, pain, worries & those that need them 🙏. Cheers to those celebrating and cruising 🥂 

 

 

Have a good Sunday everyone.

[travelingbums]

Thank you everyone for sharing.

Hope and prayers for many.

[kazu]

Bon Voyage @seagarsmoker& @Petunia1950 !!

 

Have a great cruise and a WONDERFUL time !!!!

 

[cunnorl]

 Good Morning from a bright and sunny day at the beach

  It is currently 71 and more showers are expected. I dont think the storm here was as expected. Had heavy rain and winds but all is well this morning. There 2 ships that left Port Canaveral and sat just off the coast for a long time before sailing away. I imagine it was a very rough nite. The ocean is still churning with strong riptides.

   We are going to the local playhouse this afternoon for their Christmas show and then come here for a light supper. Hoping it didnt flood out, waiting to hear.

     @grapau27 Graham, I am very sorry to hear about Paulines friend. Very difficult. My prayers are with all of you.

      Stay safe and enjoy today

         Charlene

 

[ottahand7]

Bon Voyage!   🍾 @seagarsmoker and @Petunia1950!  

 

[marshhawk]

Good Sunday Morning Dailyites!  It's 46 and very cloudy again today.  We are not expecting the rain that we so desperately need.  The coast is getting the rain.  We are just getting clouds until the wind comes in from the west later tonight, and drops our temps by 20 degrees.  Yay?  

 

At Christmas we usually put up a strand of lights along the garden wall, and while I did get the snowman out, and the topiary tree, and the wreath, I am still fighting with the ants along the wall.  I put poison down, and they moved to the right.  I put more down, and they moved to the left.  I think my ant killer is too old to do anything but scare them.

 

Today is grocery shopping day.  The cats pointed out to me, that they are almost out of food.  Almost, but it's getting low, and so off we go.  We will do the grocery store, and then the farmers market. I've been wanting something besides frozen food.

 

@grapau27Thank you again, for bringing us Father David.  It makes my Sunday!  

@smitty34877How many houses are left before the beeping stops?

 

One of the roads in our neighborhood was closed for a week to be repaved.  I'm wondering if all the roads will be repaved, or did someone special live on that particular road.  We had a state rep live on the road behind us, and when we had a big snow storm several years ago, her road was the only road in the subdivision that got plowed. 

 

about 8 days ago I did some online shopping.  There were two things in particular that I actually really wanted to order for two friends.  One who is always cold, and the other loves to curl up in front of the tv.  I ordered each one of them a "sherpa" throw to curl up in.  And then I saw a couple of shirts that DH needed, and some Christmas pins for my friend with dementia, and when I was checking out, the store offered me a pair of diamond earrings for 35. I have never owned anything so fancy so I ordered them.  (I told DH that was what he was giving me for Christmas)  Everything has shown up except, the two throws that were the original reason for the order.  Guess it's time to do a search, as they are both shown as shipped, but who knows from where...

 

 

 

[dfish]

Good morning, everyone!

 

It is a rather dreary day here in mid-Michigan.  Temperatures are mild for December, but it is dark and gloomy out.  We finally made it to the Christmas walk at the gardens last night.  It was just too crowded last weekend.  It was still crowded last night, but nothing like it had been.  It was very enjoyable and the display was lovely.  

 

@grapau27 my condolences to Paulines friend on the passing of her DM.  That kind of scares me because my hernia could easily create strangulated intestines.  I'll be very happy when the surgery is over and hopefully my pain won't be so severe.

 

Bon Voyage to @seagarsmoker and @Petunia1950.  Welcome home to many Dailyites who have ended their cruise.  

 

Nothing is on the agenda today except a trip to the grocery store.  Otherwise, it is a fire in the fireplace and Netflix.

 

I am not a fan of lamb unless it is seasoned well.  I'm not sure this one would be seasoned to my liking.  This website uses Italian seasoning on everything.  https://www.aheadofthyme.com/easy-roast-lamb-with-vegetables/

 

 

This one uses a different seasoning blend.  The garlic may do the trick. It calls for a boneless leg of lamb.  Most stores will remove the bone for you.    https://www.thespruceeats.com/roast-lamb-with-root-vegetables-2216633

 

 

This site gives us a tour of the lamb farm and how you go from pasture to table.  Interesting information.  https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/slow-roast-lamb-shoulder/

 

 

This last one probably doesn't fit the Easy part of the meal title, but it sounds the best to me.  I like the seasoning blend and the vegetable medley.  I'd give this a try.  https://www.themediterraneandish.com/kleftiko-greek-lamb-in-parchment/

 

 

Wishing you a wonderful day!

 

[ottahand7]

Well all my comments weren't saved when I went to look up a person who is ailing so I will be brief.

 

Prayers for Pauline's friend and sympathy for the passing of her dear Mam @grapau27.

 

Prayers that @57redbird is doing better at home after her back surgery.

 

Prayers for @JazzyV that your visit to the neurosurgeon will start you on the path to the treatment you need for your back pain.   

 

Prayers for everyone in war zones and the hostages.

 

It is cool and rainy off and on here.  I have a late Raven's game which is in Jacksonville so I hope the rain has moved on by the after 8PM kickoff.   I did my pill pods and found out I didn't have enough Synthroid so I will call my doctor and have it sent to my local pharmacy.   I am already going there on Tuesday.    Then I will have to go through and fill every pod with calcium because for some reason I am out of that, we are going to Costco tomorrow.   I also have a doctor appointment real early tomorrow.  I always schedule early to avoid having to wait if they are backed up but for two weeks in a row I have start of day appointments after night football games.   I will have to be more mindful of the days I schedule.   Have a lovely Sunday and Go Ravens!   Nancy 

[aliaschief]

Good morning. Late this morning but with good purpose. First was a birthday breakfast and we just celebrated Lana Jane’s opening birthday presents. Hard to believe she is already eight years old. Her three year old sister struggled why she wasn’t getting any gifts.

It rained most of the night and it is pretty breezy outside.

Time to play a new game and that’s why we are here. Precious times.

Have a good week. Bruce

 

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

@seagarsmoker  BON VOYAGE!  I hope you and your DW have a wonderful, relaxing cruise.

 

 

Lenda

 

[Nickelpenny]

Happy Sunday to All.  Thanks for the FR&D.  I don't have an ugly sweater, thank goodness the Wright Bros did their "thing", and I don't think I have ever had real Canadian Maple Syrup. Strange quote (I must ponder it a sec), lamb sounds so good but I will pass on the drink and wine.  Been to Ocho Rios once (my excursion to Dunn's Falls was great!!) but don't think I will visit again.  Creepy place.  What a medical feat it was having a lung, heat, and liver transplant!

 

I accomplished my goal yesterday to not do anything.  Well, I did buy a suitcase online from Kohls and  I will go and pick it up today.  The store by me didn't have the one I wanted so I have to go across town.  Today will be a nice day with the temps reaching 80F.  Presently it is 46F and feels like 42F. It is predicted to cool down Wed with a slight chance of showers.  

 

 

Got to start packing today or at least gather my stuff.  Since there are 2 holidays for this cruise, I will take something a little more dressy for those nights.  I am more of a jeans, t-shirt and barefoot person as I never grew up with fancy clothes.  I find them so uncomfortable.  And forget about heels, even little ones.  Flats work just fine.

 

 

I have decided I have a cold but I am on the downhill slide.  Tested for Covid several times which were all negative and it didn't "feel" like Covid.  

 

 

Thoughts for all of those suffering loss and those on the care list.  Cheers to those celebrating and starting their cruises!!

 

Have a great day everyone!

[smitty34877]

38 minutes ago, marshhawk said:

Good Sunday Morning Dailyites!  It's 46 and very cloudy again today.  We are not expecting the rain that we so desperately need.  The coast is getting the rain.  We are just getting clouds until the wind comes in from the west later tonight, and drops our temps by 20 degrees.  Yay?  

 

At Christmas we usually put up a strand of lights along the garden wall, and while I did get the snowman out, and the topiary tree, and the wreath, I am still fighting with the ants along the wall.  I put poison down, and they moved to the right.  I put more down, and they moved to the left.  I think my ant killer is too old to do anything but scare them.

 

Today is grocery shopping day.  The cats pointed out to me, that they are almost out of food.  Almost, but it's getting low, and so off we go.  We will do the grocery store, and then the farmers market. I've been wanting something besides frozen food.

 

@grapau27Thank you again, for bringing us Father David.  It makes my Sunday!  

@smitty34877How many houses are left before the beeping stops?

 

One of the roads in our neighborhood was closed for a week to be repaved.  I'm wondering if all the roads will be repaved, or did someone special live on that particular road.  We had a state rep live on the road behind us, and when we had a big snow storm several years ago, her road was the only road in the subdivision that got plowed. 

 

about 8 days ago I did some online shopping.  There were two things in particular that I actually really wanted to order for two friends.  One who is always cold, and the other loves to curl up in front of the tv.  I ordered each one of them a "sherpa" throw to curl up in.  And then I saw a couple of shirts that DH needed, and some Christmas pins for my friend with dementia, and when I was checking out, the store offered me a pair of diamond earrings for 35. I have never owned anything so fancy so I ordered them.  (I told DH that was what he was giving me for Christmas)  Everything has shown up except, the two throws that were the original reason for the order.  Guess it's time to do a search, as they are both shown as shipped, but who knows from where...

 

 

 

I counted three houses that require hook ups. These are big old places divided up into two and three family homes. One family waited overnight on Friday to be restarted and inspected. It was good that it wasn’t too cold that night.

[Haljo1935]

Good days - I can certainly understand celebrating maple syrup. Not sure about the quote; pass on the meal; yes to the drink and wine; Ocho Rios was a port on my first cruise in the early 90s, but I have no pictures to share (all printed in a book); important days in history for sure.

Currently 46° headed to sunny 70° and 66° on Travel Thursday. 

Got registration renewed on the cars - DH will have to check the mail for the physical stickers while I'm gone.

Of course, I did not get the suitcase task accomplished yesterday, so it's a must for today.

Prayers and positive thoughts for all.

[summer slope]

The rain is over and we have blue skies.  Putting the finishing touches on our cruise next month.  Finding flights going west to east is a pain unless you want to land at midnight.  So we are staying in San Diego another night and flying out at 8am the next day.  Then on to booking rental cars to get home.  I don't think we will cruise out of anyplace other than Fort Lauderdale from now on.

[kochleffel]

Most of the maple syrup in stores is from Canada, but we produce plenty in New York.

 

The lamb would be OK, but dinner will actually be leftover turkey stew. Pass on the cocktail. I lived in the Willamette Valley a few decades ago and Amity was nearest winery in that direction, but they didn't produce white Pinot Noir then. Pinot Noir is the fourth most-planted variety in the Finger Lakes, and some wineries make a rosé from it but very few make a white Pinot Noir. This one from Fox Run is sold out at the winery but available in stores. I haven't been to Ocho Rios.

 

The furnace that should heat the main floor of my house is on the fritz (the one for the bedrooms and bathroom is working). I don't want a Sunday service call and we can manage until tomorrow, especially if the cats use their heated beds. I took it as a sign to roast more vegetables, carrots today.

 

One, and only one, of my shore excursions for January appears to need hiking shoes and a stick. The shoes are comfortable and would be OK to wear for all the excursions.