St. Louis Sal

Good morning all!

I can’t begin to express my appreciation for all the kind thoughts and prayers so many of you shared with me over our loss of our beloved Fritz. I’m still at the tears every time I think about him stage, but being able to share pictures and memories with all of you was so comforting.

Family Caregiver Day is so apropos. My DH is going above and beyond in caring for me with my ALS (he’s doing all the laundry and most of the cooking!)  My two DD’s are making sure I can continue to do so many things I love (like the theater, the symphony and eating out). They are determined to get me on one more cruise. I know there are also a lot of caregivers among the Dailyites-kudos, love and prayers to you all!

DB Cooper has a day? How strange. Not sure what my unique talent might be and I’m afraid to ask friends and family-the answer might be worrisome.

I love today’s dish, but I usually eat scallops out. I find cooking them requires a delicate touch, overcooking makes them tough and undercooking them makes them rubbery.  Looking forward to info on the drink and wine. 

I have been to today’s destination many times. The last time was in September of 2018, when we pretty much closed everything up. It was the first time we’d been since they had added on to the McKinley Chalets and we stayed in one of the new buildings. We enjoyed our stay. Instead of taking the bus ride into the park (having done it at least four times) I decided to do a Denali flyover. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate, but we still went up and I had a great time. I will share a few pictures.

Prayers for all on our list of cares and concerns 🙏 (thank you fir including Fritz) and a lovely toast to all the celebrations 🍷. I love that @kakalina is on a cruise. 
 

Take care all!
 

St Louis Sal

P.S. I was in the co-pilots seat for my Denali flight. Fun, but scary as we kept running into cloud banks. At one point as we were turning around our pilot said “our co-pilot Sally agreed with me, we need to turn right NOW”. 😳

1 hour ago, trivia addict said:

St. Louis Sal, so sorry to hear about Fritz. I understand completely. We lost our little daschund  4 years ago and still feel her missing. She died in  my husbands arms, but unfortunately not naturally. We had to put her down because she was suffering terribly. I kept wishing she would go in her sleep, but did not happen that way.

😢

Good morning all

I am way behind and need to catch up. It was not a good weekend at our house. On Friday, Fritz our mini dachshund was not feeling well. By evening we needed to take him to the emergency vet. He was diagnosed with pneumonia (impressive they had a radiologist to read his X-rays at 9 at night, better than some of our experiences at human ERs.) He spent the night on fluids and antibiotics. He was better on Saturday and we were able to bring him home. On Sunday though, he took a turn for the worse. We jumped into the car to rush back to the emergency vet, but Fritz died in my daughter’s arms on the way 😢. He was 15 and had the sweetest dachsie personality.

Rest In Peace, Fritz Erdnusse (2006-2021)

43 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Thanks, especially @richwmn and @kazu.  Not a good night.  I think I pulled a muscle in my chest and didn’t sleep well.  Hoping the culture results come back early today.

 

Roy

You are in my thoughts this morning, praying that this gets resolved quickly for you. And those hospital meals you are getting just add insult to injury!

I am missing your sunrise/sunset pictures; I have been totally in awe of your extensive ship travels. May you be back to posting them very soon.

St Louis Sal

21 minutes ago, summer slope said:

Quick post for the drink of the day;.  Although I wouldn't like it with Worcestershire sauce in it.

Bull shot:

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
Ice cubes
1/4 cup vodka
3/4 cup chilled double-rich double-strength canned beef broth
Lime wedge
Preparation
Step 1
Mix Worcestershire and salt in glass. Add ice cubes. Pour vodka, then broth over. Garnish with lime wedge.

 

This drink? No, just no. 
 

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

Interesting days.
 

I remember how my elementary library kids used to love the Guinness World Record Books (especially the boys).

Rural Health is an issue here in Missouri. I am spoiled in St Louis with doctors all around (my primary care physician is practically within walking distance) and we have some world class medical facilities  (my DH can attest to the greatness of the Siteman Cancer Center). Some of us had a taste of the difficulty of accessing medical care when the Covid vaccine came out. Due to our governor’s decision to distribute few doses to the big population centers and send most of the doses to rural counties (where sadly they weren’t wanted), many of my friends drove 1-3 hours to find a clinic with vaccine available.

As for Occult Day, I admit to having had a few experiences that make me wonder. This one is for you and Pauline @grapau27: many years ago I read an article in our newspaper about the death of a famous actress. This was on a Friday morning and I told DH about it. In the Sunday newspaper,  he read an article about her and it said she died on Saturday. My husband asked me how I could tell him she was dead on Friday when she didn’t die until Saturday. I dug out the old newspaper and looked at every page and that article was not there !??!
 

Thanks to all of you that make this Daily special. Rich and Roy, our food and wine “staff”,  even when I don’t post, I usually find time to check here. You are all amazing.

Haven’t been to the days destination. I noticed there are two ships at Half Moon Cay today. I have never been there with more than one, although the lower passenger numbers may make it doable. 
 

Prayers going up today for all on our concern list 🙏 (especially for Roy). And 🍷 to our celebration list, especially those who are cruising. 
 

Take care all,

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!

Been lurking a lot, responding-not so much. To all of you that may just read the comments and not post, hi!

A good collection of days. America doesn’t take recycling seriously enough; our motto should be Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Cleaning out my refrigerator-never a favorite thing to do, but very necessary. And we should all practice philanthropy.

I love the Tom Stoppard quote. He wrote one of my favorite plays, “Arcadia”, but also one of the strangest I ever saw, “Jumpers”.

I will skip the meal and the drink, but look forward to the wine description.

Haven’t been to today’s destination. 
 

Have good news/bad news on the concern front. My friend with the liver transplant posted on Facebook and as another friend said, “it sounds like typical Conway.” So I think that is good news. But on a sad note, a member of my church, a young man 49 years old, died of Covid last week. He was convinced he just had a cold and put off treatment. By the time he went to the doctor, he had pneumonia. He ended up on a ventilator and did not make it. This is a hard time for his mom and sister, his dad passed away last year. So prayers for those in need 🙏 and always a toast to all the celebrations 🍷.

It was a busy weekend for me. I had tickets for the symphony (if you ever have a chance to hear Vikingur Olafsson play the Grieg piano concerto, do not miss it!) and then I preached at our local retirement home. (Everyone there is vaccinated and they are wearing masks in the public areas, but they grumble a lot about it.)

Take care all, have a great Monday.

St Louis Sal

Lucky enough to have had a NS several times and yes we have tipped the concierges for their wonderful service. They are just doing their job, but they make the cruise extra special. From greeting you by name from the first encounter to assisting in so many ways, they can be a lifesaver.
 

One instance-I had a freak mishap, the screw from my glasses fell out as I was leaning over the railing. The glasses flipped off my face and landed on the top of the lifeboat below. Our concierge dispatched a worker to get them, but he said he couldn’t find them. A little later in the cruise I again saw them on top of the lifeboat, mentioned it and when we got into port she sent someone out again who found them!

Another concierge discovered my fondness for the cinnamon roll from the Explorations Cafe (they only made a dozen each morning and they were hard to get). She took to fetching one herself when they first put them out. It would be waiting for me when I came in to the lounge for my coffee!

So tipping is not required, but if you get this kind of service, you will probably want to. 
 

St Louis Sal

I’ve done them both and you can’t go wrong with either. Maybe Nieuw Amstedam has a slight edge as it’s a little newer and has been refurbished more recently.  They both have Tamarind which we love. My husband loves the SS for the extra space (if they offer any upgrades/upsell to a Neptune, I’d take it if it’s in your budget.)

St Louis Sal

@kangforpresI was curious about the menu, so I flipped it. What a fun cruise. 

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!

Just a quick visit this morning with celebratory news. Yesterday was my last follow up visit for my drug trial and hopefully my last (ever) lumbar puncture. I’ve now had 10, one diagnostic, one donation of spinal fluid for research, 5 drug doses and 3 follow ups. Also donated some blood for additional genetic testing research yesterday. Next up-possible drug that is close to being approved by the FDA, I would be in their last testing phase. I do sound like a guinea pig, but maybe all of this will help lead to a breakthrough for future patients with ALS. 
 

Crammed a lot in yesterday because I had an eye doctor visit first thing in the morning, and followed my hospital visit with a celebratory dinner-filet mignon, sea salt caramel creme brûlée and wine. Today will be a crash day; my stamina for these full days is low. 
 

Take care everyone!

St Louis Sal

18 hours ago, HELENPSL said:

Hi Betsy - we are also in an ocean view.  For us the price difference would be $900 per person to go to a verandah.  We would also have to give up some of the perks that we were able to get when we first booked this cruise.  When we first started cruising we always took a balcony cabin but we then realized how little time we actually spent out there.  That's why we now always book a mid ship ocean view.

Helen

You bring up an important point. What kind of cabin you book depends on how you use your cabin. Choose wisely.

After our first balcony, we never went back to ocean view. My husband is not very sociable and adored sitting on his own balcony. He doesn’t do many shore excursions either and now he does his people watching from HIS balcony. While others complain about docking in container ports, he is always delighted and can spend the entire day watching the activity. He always shakes his head when people say they only use their cabin to sleep and change clothes. To each his own!

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

Having an early morning here; getting used to riding into my family room in the new wheelchair. Has good points and bad points and some interesting bells and whistles (headlights!). 
 

I love nuts. Some people think I’m nuts 🤷‍♀️. There isn’t a broom big enough to clean up the world. These days people seem to prefer people who aren’t smart; what’s that about? I have always gotten a kick out of John Cleese. 
 

I don’t dislike corned beef and hash, but I think I’ll skip it. The drink-have to see how it’s made. Chile has some good reds.

I have been to Huatulco, but I don’t have pictures on my IPad. I once bought a paper sack of coffee beans from a little boy in the street there and they turned out to be some of the best I ever ground and brewed. 
 

DH has a dentist appointment today and I need to sit at my desk and catch up on bills and a few other things. Yeah, not much fun today.

Yesterday was fun as my oldest DD and I went to the Missouri History Museum for lunch and to see two exhibits-Beyond the Ballot (which highlights not only the women’s suffrage movement in St Louis, but the important contributions of women to the history of St Louis) and The Sounds of St Louis (music in my city from Josephine Baker to Scott Joplin to Tina Turner to Nelly). 
 

Prayers for all on our concerns list 🙏. And raising a glass to celebrate with everyone 🍷

Take care,

St Louis Sal

Good morning all! 
 

Lovely morning here. Fritz and I are cuddling; he needs extra loving as he went to the vet yesterday for his shots, although he seemed quite proud of his blue bandage. The vet will be mailing his rabies tag as they are out of stock! What a weird thing to be short of.

As for the days, I’m sure I babble even more than I realize ☹️. I love nachos, yum. As for buttons, my grandmother had a button jar and I used to string them on thread when I was little. So now I too have a button jar. I keep it with my collection of antique sock darners.

I have never made lobster mac and cheese although I’ve had it when eating out. Love the wine description, but I think I’ll skip the drink. It did remind me of my favorite coffee from Ketchikan: Deadman’s Reach-served in bed, raises the dead.

Haven’t been to Australia, probably my biggest regret travel wise. Appreciate the lovely pictures. The concept of a “green ring” around the city of Adelaide is a fantastic idea.

Today my full size electric wheelchair arrives. I’m most excited about it’s elevator seat which will allow me to navigate my kitchen without having to stand and hang on to the counter and do everything one-handed. A special thanks goes to the foundation “Team Gleason” who provided a grant for that, because Medicare doesn’t consider it a necessity. Team Gleason is out of New Orleans and was started by Steve Gleason, a former New Orleans Saints football player who has ALS. They also provided the recorder that is allowing me to bank my voice.

Continued prayers for all those on our concern list 🙏. And a toast to the celebrations and a special thanks to all the many posters doing live threads from the HAL ships. 🍷

Take care all,

St Louis Sal

Good morning all! 
 

Since going out to eat is one of my favorite activities, I will wholeheartedly celebrate chefs and waiters today. One of the things I hated most during the pandemic was not going out to eat. We did a lot of carry out and delivery from all our local restaurants, but it wasn’t the same. Branded fruit I must say is a take it or leave it thing.

Love the quote for it’s humor and for it’s truth.

As I recall a B&B is pretty potent. Curious to hear the reviews on the wine suggestion. Does that really say Beet Reuben? Oh well, I don’t like reubens at all, so probably wouldn’t matter what you stuck in it. 
 

I have been to today’s destination, but I don’t have any pictures on the IPad, so I will just enjoy others.

Prayers for all on the concern list 🙏. And so much to celebrate in cruising, especially as the Rotterdam sets sail from Amsterdam! 🍷

Take care all!

St Louis Sal

Bon Voyage!

Good morning all! 
 

I never made it back yesterday to post (too bad, I would have sung praises for a good meatloaf 😂)

I like the days today. The Rainforest is essential to earth, it’s continued destruction is a threat to us all. I have made many new friends here on the Daily!  I am big on evaluating my life-I have always made 1 year and 5 year plans. That has been a big issue with ALS, it required major reevaluation of my one year plan and my 5 year plan had to be scrapped and I will just have to wing it. The quote from Sowell fits nicely.

Love baked pasta dishes, not sure if it’s the melding of the flavors in the oven or the extra cheese I sprinkle on the top that hooks me 😉.  Looking forward to a new recipe or two. Haven’t had a Blenheim, curious about the ingredients. A Washington State Riesling-yum.

 Haven’t been to Norway, I’m betting the pictures shared will be spectacular. Love that the NA is in Aruba. Years before I cruised, a church friend shared pictures of her cruise to Aruba, I wanted to go there so much. I was thrilled when I finally made it!

Nothing too exciting happening today. I thought I had a zoom meeting last night for church, but then I realized it was in person. They wore masks and distanced, but I decided to just send my report-I’m trying to keep my trips down, as DH has to put the scooter in and out of the car. The heaviest piece is 38 pounds and when you are 82, that’s a lot of lifting.

Continued prayers for our concern list 🙏. I still have no word on my friend with the liver transplant. We have a mutual friend who I know is closer to them, I may reach out to her today.  And here’s to all the celebrations 🍷.

Take care all,

St Louis Sal

1 hour ago, aliaschief said:

Good morning! It’s going to be another beautiful day at sea. We had a beautiful sunrise and another great Pinnacle breakfast. 
 

Thanks for for the Daily and all who contribute.

 

That is such a gorgeous sunrise. (Friends have pointed out that 99.9% of my pictures are sunsets, never sunrises. 😁)

2 hours ago, aliaschief said:

Entering Gatun Lock. Morning rain stopped and now some blue skies. Best of all not oppressively hot.

 

Always a great experience. We are so fortunate to be able to travels and see all these wonders.

Thank you for sharing this experience; it has allowed me to relive my cruises through the Canal. Only a little jealous right now 😉

St Louis Sal

Thank you for all the lovely comments about my award! 
 

I have to say that I am most proud of how those trips pushed me to my limits. I am not a very physical person (sitting and reading is my favorite thing to do), going on those trips was completely out of my comfort zone. In fact I turned down the first one I considered. It was in Mexico, building a church camp for the children of Ciudad Juarez. I thought I was too old (52), it would be too hot and since I knew nothing about construction, I would be useless. But a friend went and said I could do it! She told me the weather was not bad (the camp was in Pittoreal close to Divisadero in Copper Canyon.) She was a go-fer and cut piles of rebar (the camp buildings were made of logs and 6 inch pieces of rebar were used as the pegs). So fir two years I went and cut rebar, installed drywall, and also worked on the roofing crew 😳.
 

The next two trips were in Piedras Negras where we cleared ground for a new church and laid a sidewalk. The motto is: if you haven’t carried cement blocks or ridden in the back of a pickup truck, you haven’t been on a mission trip. 

My trips to Louisiana (UMCOR Depot) and Appalachia (Henderson Settlement) were more my strong points. Organized and packed relief supplies for shipping (although we did get evacuated for Hurricane Ivan one year, stayed long enough to board up the dorms and got going). Working at Henderson Settlement had been a dream since I first heard of it in high school; I helped in their thrift store, cleaned the daycare center. My friend went to the home of a gentleman named Hatfield (yes, one of those Hatfields) and helped replace his windows and install a generator (he had no electricity).

In Joplin I helped paint a newly built house for a woman who lost hers in the tornado of 2011.

My biggest project was in Crisfield Maryland. Three of us women volunteered (all of us over 60) to remove the soggy, moldy insulation in the crawl space of a home. The woman who lived there had COPD and her doctor said she could not stay there with the mold. We suited up and wiggled in to the crawl space. My friends used box cutters to slash the netting and drop the insulation, I would grab it, crawl and wiggle back out and stuff it in contractor bags. My one friend suffers from claustrophobia and needed take breaks when the enclosed space got too much for her. We were proud of ourselves for our accomplishment. I have a few pictures. The sunset was taken from close to the restaurant where we had a fantastic crab dinner on our last night (it’s not all hard work, 😉)

St Louis Sal

p.s. Sorry for the long post.

Good morning all!

Looks to be a lovely day here. Our food pantry, Feed My People, is having their annual fundraiser-The Manna March-so I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed for good weather.

I am not into gaudy, although I did wear a pair of dachshund socks yesterday, does that count? No ex to forgive. Confess that although my dad was a golfer, I somehow missed the term “mulligan” until I played trivia?? I grew up on red sauce pasta (meh), never understood the attraction, until I had Fettucine Alfredo; at last I found pasta heaven. Of course things like spaghetti carbonara have wayyy more calories and tomato based sauces are healthier, but that’s probably why I love the cream sauces 😉.

I wonder if P.J. O’Rourke has ever had a desire to take a hammer to his PC?

The food and drink are winners today!  I have not been to Ireland, I am expecting some beautiful pictures.

Continued prayers for all on our concern list 🙏. I have talked with my friend Steve’s wife and she has offered to be my mentor as I progress with ALS. Still no word on my liver transplant friend 😢.  And raising a glass for all the celebrations 🍷. I had a celebration yesterday.  I attended our church women’s district meeting where I was honored as “Mission Woman of the Year”. I was so touched to receive this award. I have done mission work for many years (11 mission trips including 4 to Mexico, two to Appalachia, 3 to work in a disaster relief warehouse in Louisiana, one to Joplin after their tornado, one to Crisfield Maryland after Hurricane Sandy).  Along with serving on the Board at Feed My People food pantry, I’ve been more of a hands on person. Now I need to find a different outlet for mission, one I can do from a wheelchair and maybe on my computer (providing I haven’t fought and killed it 😂).

Take care all, and have a beautiful Sunday,

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

Between my various electronic devices not working on CC and being busy (just got back from trip to Branson last night) I have mostly lurked the last days. Couldn’t sleep this AM so got up, made some coffee and doing some cuddling with Mr. Fritz (who snores gently).  I can hear a train whistle in the distance, always a kind of lonely sound at this hour. 
 

Thank you Rich for your faithful posting each morning and to Roy for our cares and concerns list and to the food & beverage department.

Of the days, I probably celebrate Dictionary Day the most. I love words and hardly a day goes by that I don’t look up a word. So handy to have multiple dictionaries right here on my IPad. In honor of Global Cat Day I will give a shout-out to my grandcat Iggy who has a schizophrenic relationship with me, alternating between laying on my lap and attacking my ankles when I walk by. 
 

I love black bean soup, curious about the drink, love a nice Sauvignon blanc. Haven’t been to today’s destination, excited for any pictures.

Prayers for all those on our concern list 🙏. Asking for some extra prayers for my friend with the liver transplant. He returned home almost two weeks ago and neither his wife nor daughter has posted an update which is not like them. I don’t want to call if this is a bad time. I’m hoping he’s just super busy with rehab. Also a friend from my ALS support group lost his battle. He was 11 years younger than me; when I think of all the fantastic trips I’ve experienced these last 11 years, my heart weeps for everything Steve missed while fighting this horrible disease. Prayers for his wife Carolyn who was a battle angel for him. There is much to celebrate as well 🥂and for that I am grateful.

Take care all,

St Louis Sal

p.s. The grandcat in a favorite photo

My DH considers breakfast at the Pinnacle Grill one of the best perks of a Neptune Suite (he’s not as much of a fan of the Neptune Lounge as I am). We like the atmosphere and service, (however we have occasionally had very poor service which seemed odd given the ratio of waiters to guests). Still quite worthwhile and it figures that NOW they would have free mimosas, not a thing in the past ☹️. My daughters want to take me on a cruise in January, but with the progression of my ALS, I’m not so sure. I would be interested in hearing your experiences with a wheelchair in traveling @510picker

St Louis Sal

23 minutes ago, smitty34877 said:

Last night DS sent me a picture if DGD in her bilateral splints. She is being quite a trooper  about this.I hope there is less pain once she has casts.

 

 

Feeling for your DGD. I broke my right wrist when I was around her age, but at least I was able to learn to use my left hand for some things. I will be praying for those bones to knit quickly! 
 

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

I think I will give a pass to the days today. Cone and Get It has bad connotation in my head because of gun activists. Kale is meh. I love Alice in Wonderland, but I was surprised many years ago when I found out the meaning behind being a mad hatter: 
 

“the expression is linked to the hat-making industry and mercury poisoning. In the 18th and 19th centuries, industrial workers used a toxic substance, mercury nitrate, as part of the process of turning the fur of small animals, such as rabbits, into felt for hats. Workplace safety standards often were lax and prolonged exposure to mercury caused employees to develop a variety of physical and mental ailments, including tremors (dubbed “hatter’s shakes”), speech problems, emotional instability and hallucinations.” Sorry if I spoiled what was supposed to be a light-hearted day.

I love the chicken recipe and the wine, but I’ll skip the drink. Been to so many places in Mexico, but not that destination, pictures should be wonderful.

Prayers for our cares list 🙏 and joining in celebrations, good news and happy times 🍷

St Louis Sal

p.s. Any tips on changing the font of my posts? I have not been able to change mine, but obviously, once I pasted something, the rest of my post stayed in that font. No IT talent here.