St. Louis Sal

Good morning all!

It’s been a busy week and this coming week is no different.

I met my boyfriend, (eventually my DH) when I was 20, he was 30. I was too young to drink so he would buy my wine at dinner 🥰. Blessings for all the fishing fleets around the world. We were an inter generational household, my grandmother lived with us from the time I was 4. She was born in 1896 and had such great stories to tell. 
 

I have been called a know-it-all in my life (as well as a lot of other things 😁).

I will gladly have a mudslide, the wine sounds luscious, but pumpkin should be confined to pies 😉.

I haven’t been to Saint Lucia, know the pictures will be beautiful.

Last night I went to dinner at a local restaurant called Small Batch. They are quite interesting as their specialty is bourbon, but their menu is vegetarian. I had Pad Thai with tofu, a cauliflower appetizer and a drink called a Seelbach, which was a mix of bourbon, brandy and champagne. I only took a picture of the drink (when it was almost empty 😂). Afterwards we went to the symphony.  Yefim Bronfman, the pianist, was the soloist. He played Rachmaninov beautifully but his encore was Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” and it was heavenly.  This afternoon my oldest DD, a good friend, and one of the flutists from the symphony are doing a program they’ve dubbed “concert in the backyard”. The audience will be spread out in my DD’s backyard, the three flutists will be playing on the deck above. Keeping my fingers crossed the weather will cooperate. 
 

Prayers for those on our cares list 🙏 and the celebrations are a delight 🍷. My friend, whom I’ve mentioned in the past who had a liver transplant, went home this week! That is a celebration, but also a concern. His transplant was 5 months ago, he went through kidney shutdown and Covid! He had the biggest smile in the car as he left the hospital, but now his wife and daughter will be taking care of him at home. Prayers for their strength and his continued improvement. 
 

Take care all!

St Louis Sal

On 9/29/2021 at 10:08 AM, kazu said:

 

LOL - We’ve usually looked at the menu in advance so have a good idea 😉 

 

We do too. Now we look at it on Navigator, but before we’d either get it in a Neptune suite or, without that, we’d take a stroll past the dining room to look. But sometimes there are several choices and I can’t make up my mind until I’m sitting down! 
 

St Louis Sal

Celebrated Coffee Day with a late breakfast at Denny’s.

St Louis Sal

4 hours ago, dfish said:

For Come From Away fans, it is now streaming on Apple TV.   I have a free year with the last purchase of an iphone, so I am planning to watch it this week.

Thanks for the info! I too have a new IPhone so I will be watching this.I have a friend who landed there-when the musical played at the Fox Theatre, she was their special guest..

St Louis Sal

On 9/27/2021 at 2:51 PM, kazu said:

 

We’ve always done that too with a we need our wine first while we contemplate the order 😉 

I am the exact opposite! I don’t know what wine I want until I know what my entree is going to be.

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

What a wonderful collection of days! Coffee is my thing, never start the morning without it. I love Broadway musicals. Although I haven’t been to New York in quite a few years (not since 2014 when I saw Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch), we are lucky to have Broadway tours here at the Fox Theatre (a rehabbed old movie theatre known for it’s “Siamese Byzantine” architecture, will share a picture) plus our local Stages Theatre which is where I saw “Jersey Boys” the other night. It’s hard to know what Confucius actually said as people attribute just about anything to him.

I love the Martin Luther King, Jr. quote.

Toasted ravioli is a St Louis tradition, but not at all healthy. It’s on the menu at many places here, but the best locations are on “the Hill” where the good Italian food can be found. That is where baseball catcher Yogi Berra (“it’s like deja vu all over again” and “when you come to a fork in the road, take it”) grew up and played sandlot baseball (along with Joe Garagiola and Jack Buck, who both became broadcasters).

I love Margaritas and I bet I will love today’s wine.

Haven’t been to today’s destination, I bet the pictures will be gorgeous.

Prayers to all on the care list 🙏 and here’s to everyone with something special to celebrate 🍷.

St Louis Sal

Good morning all! 
 

World Tourism Day is kind of ironic. Most of us haven’t gone very far in the pandemic and I miss traveling beyond my own borders (this is the longest I’ve gone in over 40 years without flying somewhere on a plane ☹️).  Family Day and Ancestor Appreciation Day kind of go hand in hand. I have not done any genealogy (my great great grandparents were named Smith 😉, not sure how easy that research would be). 

Looking forward to the wine and drink info. The pork sounds good and easy; I think it’s a dish where you can be creative with whatever seasonings you like (never thought about Dr. Pepper for the liquid). 
 

Haven’t been to the destination, but I bet the pictures will be awesome.
 

My afternoon yesterday at the symphony was fantastic. It was wonderful to see people showing their vaccination “passport” or negative Covid test at the door and then willingly wearing their masks for the afternoon. One of the pieces was called “Dance” by Anna Clyne, it had the most beautiful choreography AND the dancers performed it wearing masks!  If they could breathe during all that strenuous movement, people can sit in the audience wearing them. I thought all the performances I saw this weekend were wonderful although a part of it was the excitement of once again seeing and hearing live performances.

I am off to a planning meeting at church and then a hearing test this afternoon for both me and DH. He lost one of his hearing aids, he pulled it out taking off his mask, stuck it in his pocket and it disappeared. And one of mine died (of course after the warranty expired) so we will be getting new ones.

Prayers for all on the cares list 🙏 and here’s a toast to celebrations everywhere. 🍷.

Take care,

St Louis Sal

Good morning all! 
 

What an interesting collection of days. We celebrate World Rivers everyday here as I live very close to the Mississippi River and the Meramec River and not terribly far from the spot where the Missouri and Mississippi converge. Needless to say, floods are a thing around here. I now have the Johnny Appleseed song from Girl Scouts stuck in my head 🎶.

I will take the wine, but skip the drink and the turkey roulade (I am a purist, like my turkey roasted with traditional accompaniments). 
 

Something was up with my church livestream, it wasn’t working this morning. I had several other churches to pick from though, lots of good services out there.

This afternoon we head to the symphony for the first time since February 2020. My Friday/Saturday nights were awesome-two great, but very different dinners & two wonderful, but very different theatre productions. Today we will skip dinner & rush home so youngest DD can catch the Tony Awards. I think we’ll order in. (Both theatres and the symphony require everyone to wear a mask and to present their vaccine card or proof of a negative Covid test. It was good to look out on the audience seeing everyone masked. I know all that is not foolproof, but I felt pretty safe and so glad to be back in a theatre.)

Prayers to all on our care list 🙏. And I will grab a glass of champagne from the symphony bar to toast all the celebrations. 🥂

Take care everyone,

St Louis Sal 

3 hours ago, aliaschief said:

Same here! We had several folks we know get them. Many got them at a Infection Control Clinic whom must determine each individuals risk factor. So your right and it was confusing and contradictory.

So much of everything around Covid has been confusing and contradictory. You don’t even know state to state or even county to county what the restrictions are. We just wear our mask, wash our hands, avoid crowds. My DH and I each got an email concerning the booster from the hospital which has treated me for ALS and DH for leukemia. But after reading it I didn’t think we qualified at that time (August 20) because DH was not actively receiving chemo and ALS isn’t mentioned at all. However DH questioned Walgreens when he went to pick up a prescription. They said it was walk-in and just a questionnaire to answer. So we walked in, read the form (wish I had snapped a pic), and one of the questions was whether you had a chronic disease where compromised  immunity might be an issue. Since most ALS patients end up on a ventilator I decided I could answer yes to that. Since DH is a leukemia survivor plus with Severe CAD he only has one fully functional artery, it was a yes for him. A yes answer wins you the booster. As it turns out CDC has outlined the requirements a little better so I think many people past 65 that have any health issues of heart or lungs or have had chemo in the past would qualify.

St Louis Sal 

Good morning all!

Fritz and I are in our favorite chair cuddled under an afghan because it’s only 49 degrees outside this morning 😳.
 

I vote for dogs in politics. In fact Fritz threw his hat in the ring during the last election and in the interest of diversity promised to choose a cat as his vice-president. He actually had quite a few votes committed. Checkers might have been a more honest president than Richard “I am not a crook” Nixon. As a game, checkers was not a favorite. Congrats to the UK for recognizing the importance of fitness. Love the Fierstein quote.

My kids would love today’s entree;  I would put the onion jam on a nice steakburger 😉. I love a daiquiri, I remember my dad ordering one at a restaurant in Florida back in the 50’s; he’d never had one and was curious. Will be interested in the wine description. Have never been to Fiji, bet the pictures from the lucky ones who’ve been there will be gorgeous.

Prayers for all on our care and concern list (thinking about you @grapau27this morning) 🙏. And celebrating with everyone today 🍷.

With theaters and our symphony reopening, I have planned a strenuous weekend! Friday night is a play by our local West End players (a semi-professional theatre group); the director is a friend of a friend. Saturday is “Jersey Boys” at Stages, our professional music theatre (just announced they will be doing the world premiere of “Karate Kid” in 2022).  And Sunday afternoon is the symphony. Along with dining out all three days, I will need to spend Monday in bed. My kids do all the wheelchair pushing, but getting up and down from the seats is a real workout for me (my version of fitness exercises). 
 

Take care all, 

St Louis Sal

p.s. Here is Fritz’s campaign picture. He had sort of promised the VP spot to my grandcat Iggy.

Good morning all!

Just popping in for a moment this a.m., having my sorority sisters over this afternoon.

I love autumn, but I know some people just feel it means winter is closing in. I was a stay at home mom for many years, didn’t join the business world until quite late, but enjoyed those years immensely. In honor of elephant appreciation day I will share a pic from my friend JoEllen Toler who is a volunteer photographer at the St Louis Zoo.

Wine sounds good, first ate lamb on a HAL cruise, usually don’t fix it myself. Not sure I’ve had the drink before. 
 

I have been to the destination today, but those visits were on my earliest cruises, so no digital pics. We loved visiting Costa Rica. I often say that back in my elementary school years, when I was coloring maps of Central America, if you had told me I would be visiting those countries one day, I would never have believed you.

Prayers going up today 🙏 for all who need them, and cheers for the celebrations 🍷! 
 

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!

I will pass on the days and the drink and the dish (my DDs would like it though, being vegetarians, they frequently cook with tofu). The wine sounds good (although the fermenting in concrete was new to me).

Didn’t realize there was more to that famous quote.

Haven’t been to our destination, waiting for the pics.

I am off to the St Louis Repertory Theater this afternoon with my youngest DD. They are requiring a vaccination card or a negative Covid test, and masks are required in the theater. I can handle that. My daughter will be pushing me in my travel wheelchair; that seems to work best. This is my first time back to this theater since my mobility has changed, it will be interesting to see how this theater works. Our play today is Dreaming Zenzile which is the story of Miriam Makeba.

Yesterday was our annual Forest Park Balloon Race. I was hoping the winds would carry them south by us, but they went west instead. The hare balloon (it was a hare and hounds race) dropped his “X” in someone’s backyard. And he clipped a tree landing in another backyard! I am always amazed at the balloons navigating and landing in the congestion in the city. One year I saw a balloon land in the side yard of a house!  Of course one year they went directly east and one pilot ended up in the Mississippi!  It was a beautiful day this year and everyone landed safely.

Prayers for the many on our care and concern list 🙏. And I will grab a glass of wine this afternoon in honor of all the many things worth celebrating 🍷.

Take care everyone,

St Louis Sal
 

13 minutes ago, mamaofami said:

So happy to be celebrating 62 years of marriage today after a rough 3 months

Congratulations on this wonderful milestone, especially after the recent trying times. 62 years! You must have been babies when you got married. 😉💐

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!

Gorgeous morning here, but yesterday was strange. At one point late afternoon it was mostly blue skies and sun in my backyard, but in the front yard it was raining!  I looked at the radar and sure enough, there was a small cloud edging over us 😳

Our St Louis Zoo takes part in a program with endangered species. We have two red pandas at the zoo, Pistol Pete and Izzy.  Love cheeseburgers. I have been to lots of local Oktoberfests, but never the real one.

Wish George Carlin was still around to do a monologue today, bet that would singe our ears.

Our family are “purists” when it comes to mac and cheese (never, ever out of “that” box). We all follow my grandma’s recipe: cook macaroni (however much you want), don’t rinse, tip into greased casserole dish, add whole milk until it looks right, add in cubes of cheese (whatever you’ve got, however much you’ve got), salt and pepper it, stir gently, bake in moderate oven, stir again before serving. My grandma’s recipes are all fun. Once when I was young we were talking about pies, asked her about the recipe for the crust, she said, “who needs a recipe for pie crust?”

The wine sounds wonderful. Is it bad luck to drink a Hurricane during hurricane season?
 

I thought I had been to Curaçao, but I have no pictures, perhaps it was earlier before my digital pictures or else I just think I’ve been there. I never thought I’d reach a point in my life where I’ve visited so many islands, I get some of them confused. How lucky I’ve been to cruise to such beautiful places.

Prayers today for all on our cares and concern list 🙏. Thanks for praying for my friend. Two broken wrist bones led to a cast all the way above her elbow. Two weeks from now she will find out whether it’s four more weeks with the cast or surgery instead. Thankfully we can balance all those concerns with happy news 🍷

St Louis Sal

p.s. Not sure if this is Pete or Izzy. 

Sounds like fun-love that ocean motion (as long as I don’t fall out of bed).

I remember our first September Alaskan cruise with our DDs. Leaving Ketchikan we hit some majorly bumpy seas all the way down to Victoria. Just walking down the corridors was an adventure. Our visit to Victoria, which was supposed to include a late afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel, became a late evening tea. Our tour of the city became an in-the-dark description of what we might have seen in daylight (our bus driver/tour guide was a hoot). 
 

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!

Waking up to 64 degrees and sunny. ☀️
 

I once had the honor of sitting alongside the Mississippi watching a group of new citizens take their oath on the steps of the Gateway Arch. Very moving. And I suspect they knew the Constitution a lot better than most, the citizenship test is not easy.  I’ll skip apple dumpling day, not a favorite dessert. 
 

Cod is okay, the wine has possibilities, but I’d be a disappointment at the Kentucky Derby, I don’t care for mint juleps (although I’d love wearing a fancy hat).

I guess for Heyerdahl, sailing a handmade raft in the Pacific was simple, however I prefer the “progress” of a cruise ship.

My last time in San Diego was getting off a cruise ship in the rain and having two cabbies argue which of them got us as passengers 🤦‍♀️💦. I do love San Diego weather normally. Favorite experience was leaving biggest snow ever in St Louis for a day of sunny skies, 72 degrees and beautiful flowers in San Diego, great trade off.

Prayers for all on our cares list 🙏. (A good friend posted a lovely picture from her dog walk yesterday; less than an hour later she posted a pic from the hospital. She slipped on fresh mown grass and broke her wrist in two places 😱) Even with trip cancellations and other disappointments we still have a lot to celebrate 🍷.

Take care all,

St Louis Sal

p.s. Got an email yesterday from CC-Jennifer, Senior Community Support Specialist:

Hi There,
My apologies for the delay
Your email has been updated as requested.

I had been checking periodically; glad this got done. 

Good morning all! (Let’s see if this posts this morning?!?)

Thanks to all of you who keep this Daily going. I love celebrating with you all, as well as commiserating when health problems, big disappointments and little annoyances slam us. So I’m starting this post off with 🙏. And I’ll raise a 🍷in celebration, but not for breakfast 😂.

I appreciate our local American Legion; they have a very nice hall they rent out to our community. I’ve attended quite a few events there. They serve drinks from their bar and while they don’t do Negronis, they do make a darn good Amaretto Sour for $2!

I collect rocks on every trip. I have glass bowls of them decorating just about every room. My favorite is a fairly large, flat, smooth one that my husband got me by wading out into the freezing cold water of Lake Superior when I saw it in the waves. True love. (DH not the rock 😉). 
 

My DS has what I call her “his, mine and ours” family. All boys, blended. 
 

Love the quote, didn’t realize it was from Cicero.  In fact it’s surprising how many quotes I know,  but misattribute them. It’s sort of like people quoting the Bible except it turns out to be something from Shakespeare!

Haven’t been to today’s destination. Bring on the pictures. 

DH fell on our patio and has a banged up knee and shoulder. Didn’t break anything, but bruised and feeling the pain. He had a 2 hour dental visit scheduled this morning which we cancelled, but couldn’t reschedule until the end of October. 
 

I was extremely lazy yesterday, which means I’m really way behind on my to-do list so off to my desk to hopefully accomplish a few things. 
 

Take care all.

St Louis Sal

Oh no! So sorry to hear this. Praying for answers and quickest return to health and strength for you. 🙏

St Louis Sal

4 minutes ago, garlictown said:

👍Thank You for The Daily Rich @richwmn and to Roy @rafinmd for both the Care and Celebration Lists.😊

I know if we could go back to Australia, we'd jump at the chance....been to Cairns both by 🚢 and ✈.Last time we picked up a car and drove to sites..1st time driving a 🚘 on the 'other' side.😯🤓

🙏Prayers for all in need and stay safe!😷

Katie

Thank you for this map! It’s always easier for me to visualize locations if I’ve been there and sadly, I have not been to Australia.  Now I can see where Cairns is in relation to the other wonderful places people talk about. 
 

St Louis Sal

5 hours ago, NextOne said:

We were on the Inaugural visit of the Eurodam to Fanning Island in March 2019. Our Cruise Critic Roll call, along with crew members, collected school supplies and other items for the children on the island. Here is a Powerpoint presentation that one of the CC members made after the cruise.

A Fanning Island donation presentation 2019.pptx 19.35 MB · 15 downloads

Wow! What an impressive donation (and great PowerPoint). We brought a lot, but I’m   sure it was nowhere near that much. I wish I could find my picture of the teacher and her students whom I got to meet and give them my bag of school supplies. 
 

St Louis Sal

7 hours ago, john2003 said:

So sorry about this. At this late stage. So many unknowns and unpleasant surprises at the moment. I was so disappointed when we cancelled last month. 

Our trip Tuesday on the Rocky Mountaineer is our consolation prize but with the overloaded hospital in Kamloops and the out of control 4th wave in Alberta, I even have concerns about that.

I have friends from here in St Louis taking a tour including the Rocky Mountaineer next week.  They are leaving on September 23, flying to Vancouver, then flying home from Calgary on September 30. Like the cruisers, they have to be vaccinated and have a negative Covid test. I was amazed this tour is actually still on. Your comment about Kamloops is worrying, they will be staying there on the 24th. This is a group of people mostly in their 60s, 70s with a couple in their 80s. 
 

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

I’ve never made a hat, but I do love to wear them. I searched a long time for a good one to wear while cruising, always afraid mine would blow off and become ocean pollution. I have one really beautiful felt hat with a veil, very 40ish. 
 

I like the Emerson quote, I think our travels have greatly added to the depth of our life.
 

Meal and drink sound like keepers. I would appreciate if someone would make me a dark chocolate mousse to have with the wine.

I have been to Fanning Island. Thanks @StLouisCruisersfor those wonderful pictures. Not sure if I have any pictures on my computer as my trip was in 2010. In fact I was on the very first stop at Fanning Island HAL made. And I was on the first tender (with the crew) to dock. Our CC group had brought school supplies, dental supplies, soccer balls and someone had an entire suitcase of Crocs, so we received permission to ride over on the first tender. The weather was really bad, we were rocking and rolling so much I slid off the seat onto the floor (only bruised my pride). It was a long tender ride and visibility was so bad our pilot stuck his head out the window on top to see where we were going. I wondered if we would find the island! We did and I got to meet with one of the teachers and a couple students to give them the school supplies I had brought. I took a walking tour that was offered and then just wandered around. At one of the houses I met a family, mom was fixing lunch, dad was opening a coconut, little ones were playing. We had a nice “conversation”  by hand gestures and smiles. I bought a lot of items at the “mall”, enjoyed the entertainment from some of the children and adults. It was such a fantastic experience to stop at this tiny island so far from my home and so totally different from the life I lead. 
 

Offering some prayers this morning for all on our care list 🙏. And here’s to the celebrations and good times in life 🍷. 
 

St Louis Sal

p.s. Thought this had posted this morning 😳. Lo and behold, here it sat. Better luck this time and better late than never 😂

12 hours ago, aliaschief said:

I’m not trying to hype Hal but in our experience the service and the food were great in specialty restaurants. Should I lie about our experience I think not. Just telling like it was and we can be pretty described as foodies. We did not have mediocre service or dining experiences. 

 

Not arguing if  others had a lesser dining experience just saying we did not experience bad service or food. 
 

 

I envy you your good Pinnacle experiences. I’ve only tried it three times, but none of my experiences were stellar. And after the last time, I probably wouldn’t go back. This experience soured me, but to be clear this was a charter cruise and the night I dined there were several well known performers eating. I felt some of my bad service was due to staff being attentive to them, but really the rest of us should not have been overlooked. Since my DH doesn’t drink wine, I ordered a glass rather than a bottle. I practically had to stand on my head to get a second glass from the wine steward. But the worst was after dinner. At a wine tasting the day before I had had a port that was fantastic. I decided I wanted a glass to finish off our meal. Again I couldn’t get the attention of our wine steward. I finally asked our waiter if I could get a glass of port. Whoops. He drew himself up and very haughtily informed me that was not his job, I would need to order that from the wine steward. Well good luck with that. So we left the dining room (without enjoying my port) and agreed that we would not do the Pinnacle again. And we haven’t. I would echo others, the Pinnacle, to maintain it’s reputation, needs to be consistently good, not hit or miss.

St Louis Sal

Jim, my prayers are with you tonight. May tomorrow’s surgery go smoothly with the best possible outcome. 🙏

God bless and keep you safe,

St Louis Sal

Good morning all!
 

I have been busy and so have only peeked in once and awhile and not posted, so I am far behind on what is going on for everyone here.

Interesting days. I am mildly superstitious 🤞😊. Like @HeartgroveI once got an empty fortune cookie causing me to wonder, superstitiously, if it was a sign!?! Concluded it was just bad quality control at the fortune cookie factory. I love peanuts, especially in a Peanut Buster Parfait from my local Dairy Queen.

I’d heard this quote before, thought it came from a comedian, embarrassed to admit I didn’t remember who Claude Pepper was right away. 
 

I will probably skip the meal and drinks today, prefer my quiche with a crust, not a Jack fan or a Rose fan.

Haven’t been to the destination today, pictures will have to suffice.

I made three presentations (sermon, a program and a talk on our local food pantry), went to Branson and came back in time for my 9th lumbar puncture (one more to go). My DH bought me a new toy, a Pride mobility Go Chair. I used it on Friday to visit the Missouri Botanical Gardens, go out to high tea, and on Saturday to have a luncheon with some girlfriends (we hadn’t been together since September of 2019). Today I have nothing on the calendar so I will tackle my rather long to-do list. ☹️
 

Prayers for all on the cares list (especially for Sam and for his battle team of @mamaofami and DD) 🙏. And a toast to celebrating the good times for all of us 🍷

St Louis Sal

p.s. Not a very flattering picture, but here I am with wine at the Garden.

p.p.s. I received a booster shot of Pfizer vaccine!!