Quartzsite Cruiser

That fire still looks big and scary. Stay safe and don't take any chances. Still, sending positive thoughts for your safety and the safety of your town and everyone there. Lenda

There's always tomorrow when you can get some. Lenda

Like @RuthC . DH and I were 4 star in 2009 when the star system was instituted, and we were 5 star when that level was added. Our first HAL cruise was a 25 day b2b in 1998 when I was 51 and DH was 55.

The level for a new faucet sounds fair. I have no doubt you'll find the perfect house. In the meantime, relax with some cardbordeaux. 🍷 I'm sorry the insurance denied the botox. I hope the doctor can appeal. Lenda

Our visit to the Tex/Mex restaurant did not disappoint. We've been going there ever since they opened, and the food is consistently good. Joy, I feel your pain. I've been bitten by fire ants 🐜 more times than I want to remember. Debbie, to quote my favorite line from A Christmas Story, "Oh, fudge!" on both counts. Could you, if you wanted to continue dealing with that jerk, make a new offer? On the other hand, your realtor may find you an even better house. While this is not nice, hopefully the jerk will do business with someone who treats him the same way. 👿 Can you get the inspector to pay to replace the faucet he broke? I'm sorry your cruise was cancelled. Lenda

Good afternoon. Things did not go exactly as planned, and I had to make two trips to the store. 😒 At least, I got everything on my list, for once, nothing extra! Unfortunately, that made me later doing the outside chores than planned, It was already warming up, but they are done. That was followed by some more paperwork. The good news is, we decided to go get an late lunch/early dinner, at our favorite Tex/Mex restaurant. It sounds like your trip is set, and will be a busy one with lots of good visits. Bruce, thanks for the recipe. It looks good. I'm sorry about your DH's father nearing the end of his life. Safe travels to you DH as he heads to NC. I hope the situation with your father improves. We have both lost our parents, and know what you are going through. I'm glad you felt comfortable sharing with us, and we're here for you whenever you feel like sharing. That is good news that the Junior Cat asked to be fed. Sending positive thoughts for continued improvement. Hope you do not have a bad reaction to the third booster. I'm sorry they have not found Nimbus yet. Hope he turns up soon. Lenda

Melisa, that is the best possible news under the circumstances. I'm happy for your DSIL, you, your DH and the rest of the family. While she has a long road ahead, there is a much better outcome in sight. Lenda

Good morning from central Texas. I have an errand and also a few things to do outside, and I want to get them out of the way early. It will be in the 90sF later today, but nexxt week is supposed to be cooler. International peace day and world gratitude day are worth celebrating. We have a lot to be grateful for. I think the last time we played miniature golf was more than 20 years ago on a RC ship I really like the John Lennon quote. We'll pass on the meal, drink and wine. We have not been to Townsville, Australia. @Crazy For Cats HAPPY BIRTHDAY to two cute kitties. @kazu Jacqui, I hope you can get evrything done today. Great you have your car back. I also hope the cool water will lessen Fiona's intensity. @dfish Yeah, Debbie, on the dry basement, and for your neighbor Trevor. @smitty34877 Terry, I hope there are no surprises at Tana's apointment. You also have wonderful neighbors. @HAL4NOW Hoping that you and the town are spared be the fire. Lenda

Thank you for the update. I hope you got some sleep. Continued positive thoughts that you and the entire town stay safe. Lenda

Oh, no! Stay safe. Debbie, like you I hope the plumber's fix solves the problem with the water. You've done your best and everything that could be done. Now, for the hard part, relax and get a good night's sleep. Ann, another great installation to your travelog. Lenda

Terri, it was good to see that progress is beginning to be made. Lenda

I hope the flight is going all right today. Still, good wishes to them for save travels from Baltimore tomorrow. Lenda

Good afternoon. It's been a busy day trying to catch up on paperwork. 🤕 At least, I'm caught until new mail or email comes in. Susan, I'm glad you got the smoke detector replaced. I'm found that sometimes the "helpless, little old lady" routine can work wonders. 🤣 Glad the pain form the lower back surgery is getting less intense. Ann, enjoyed another great report. In June, 1992, we drove along the highway by the Chilkat River and through the bald eagle preserve. At that time, the trees were full of eagles. June must have been the nesting season. Jack, I hope Sue and DSIL have better luck with their flight tomorrow, and good wishes for safe travels for them. Lenda

You will get a letter a few days before your arrival in Ft. Lauderdale with the information for the turnaround day. You will wait in either one of the lounges or the showroom depending on how many are in transit. Once the departing passengers have cleared immigration, an officer will escort you to the terminal, where you will go through immigration and be allowed to reboard the ship. When we did it in 2019, we were also given the option to go to a waiting room where they had free wifi. We chose to return to the ship.

Good morning from a pleasant but warming central Texas. It was so nice early this morning that we decided to put the top down on the convertible and go for a drive-thru breakfast. When we finished, since there was not much on the agenda today, we decided to take a ride. We headed toward the dam, but took a side road which turned into a dead-end a few miles later. After we turned around, we found a road that branched off the first one, and we followed it until we came to the dam. From there, we headed back home. We saw areas we'd never seen in the 23 years we've lived here. Once home, I took the car up to the gas station across from our little community to get it inspected. It passed with no problem. Pepperoni pizza is my favorite, but I usually get it double pepperoni with onions and mushrooms. Punch is all right at a party depending on the punch, but it cannot have Hawaiian Punch as an ingredient. Get ready day is interesting. I found this explanation of Get Ready day on line: "The American Public Health Association's (APHA) Get Ready Day is on the third Tuesday in September, coinciding with National Preparedness Month. The campaign's aim is to prepare American citizens and their communities for emergency crisis situations like natural disasters or hazards." The Dalai Lama's quote is very true. I will take the chicken salad with out the quinoa. I know it's healthy for you, but I just could not like it when I tried it. The wine sounds good, but we'll pass on the drink. We have not been to Trieste. In 2019, when the Veendam stopped in Rijeka, Croatia, we had a tour schedule to go to Trieste. A few days before we arrived in Rijeka, the tour operator informed the ship they were canceling the tour. It seems there were problems with the border crossing in both directions with long delays. The operator could not guarantee he could get the tour back in a reasonable time for the ship to arrive in Venice the next day at the scheduled time. @dfish Debbie, I have my fingers crossed 🤞 today's fix does the trick. The one "good?" thing about a roof leak is you don't have to go into a basement to see it. @kazu Jacqui, I hope you get your car back today. @aliaschief Bruce, thanks for the awesome picture of the eagle. @ger_77 Gerry, welcome home. I'm glad you got most of your hugs. @Cruising-along Thank you for your pictures of Trieste. The day in Rijeka was rainy, so that might have been our weather in Trieste, too. Lenda

Debbie, I'm going to add my two cents worth of advice. Since this is the apparently first time it's leaked, it sounds to me like your neighbor has the correct solution, which shouldn't be too expensive to fix. If it was me, I'd do that, then, if it turns out to need more done, I'd give the buyers the money to fix it. Now, I'll shut up and mind my own business. Lenda

Oh, Debbie, just what you didn't need. The good news is your neighbor will be able to fix it for your and at least, the rain let you discover it in time to remedy the situation. Than goodness for good neighbors. Fingers crossed 🤞 that this is the last surprise. Lenda

It is now quiet again. The two guys finished replacing all the screws on the house side of the metal roof about two hours ago. They found at least two, maybe more, bad screws. Hopefully, this will fix the leaky roof problem. Of course, now there is no rain in the forecast, and our rainy season isn't until next spring. Maybe, we'll get a couple of good rains sooner, so we can determine if the work today solved the problem. DH and I are working on cleaning up my computer and removing outdated programs and files. He just finished with the big stuff, and now I'm going through files to see what I can get rid of, too. @Cruising-along Welcome back home, and I'm glad everyone had a good time. I hope your DGS's cat is found soon. It sounds like your DS and DDIL's new house is coming along. @aliaschief Welcome home, Bruce. Good to know you had a great time with the grand kids. @durangoscots Susan, we also watched the Ken Burn's Holocaust special last night. It was disturbing in many ways. Lenda

If the turnaround is in San Diego, and you're not getting off the ship, you will go to the World Stage. CBP officials will come to there and scan your passport. At least, this was the porcedure last April. Customs and Immigration set the rules for each port, so whether or not you go through immigration on the ship or in the terminal depends on the port. If you are changing cabins, the only things you will need to pack are those things not on hangers. The srewards who move your things to the new cabin will hang your clothes on a trolley to move along with your luggage. There will be a quiet lull between the departing passengers and the arriving passengers where you'll feel like you're on your own really big private yacht.

This is for all the cat lovers. And I didn't for get the dog lovers. I think this covers most cat and dog lovers. Any polka lovers out there? Lenda

These pictures were not posted last year. They are from our stop at Dynjand Waterfall. The waterfall is made up of a series of cascades. Lenda

These are the pictures I posted from our 2017 drive in the countryside. As we were driving toward Dynjand Waterfall, there was a lot of fog, but it did not affect the visibility. This was the best of the fog pictures. The remainder of the pictures are from Sudavik. This is the remains of an old whaling station. Sudavik is home to the Artic Fox Center. It was closed, but we walked around outside and saw this cutie. Sudavik from a distance. Lenda

This is the first of two posts of our visits to Isafjordur that I shared on May 6. 2021. We have been to Isafjordur three times. In 2009 on the Tahitian Princess, and 2016 and 2017 on the Prinsendam. We were fortunate to dock every time. The dock is located at a narrow point in the channel, so larger ships may not be able to dock. The first two times were were in Isafjordur we walked around town. The last time, we rented a car and drove west to see the waterfall, Dynan. We also drove around the fishing village @StLouisCruisers toured. Once back in town, we followed the highway around the inlet to Sudavik, another village. I'll post my pictures of town first, then in another post the ones of our day touring the countryside. In 2009, the modern church was open. The interior was as modern as the exterior. This is a statue that a cruising friend told us not to miss. It's a little further from the church and the community building. Looking across the water from the statue toward the dock and the Elegant Explorer. Like most northern towns, flowers are everywhere in the summer. A short walk from the dock is the Westfjord History Museum. After our day touring the countryside, we stopped at the bakery for a snack and a coke. (No Dr. Peppers in Iceland, but we did find them in The Falkland Islands). This is looking from the bakery back into the business district. I couldn't resist including the bakery truck. Looking from the Prinsendam back toward town as we were anchored in the channel. More on that in a minute. During her 2016 drydock, a rotating, retractable propeller was added to be used as a stern thruster. In leaving the dock, the ship was also using a tug to help us away from the dock. We were never totally sure what happened, but the story we heard was the tug let go the line too soon, resulting in the line wrapping around the "stern thruster". They had to bring in a diver to try to free the line, which took two dives as it was really wrapped around the prop. After several hours, the line was free and we were on our way to the next port. Lenda

Good morning from a calm and comfortable central Texas. Unfortunately, later today, it will be in the upper 90sF. The noise of replacing the screws is about to begin. The good news is the two workers were only 10 minutes late, which I would say was on time since they are 30-60 minutes away from here. DH and our neighbors would probably think I'd lost it if I talked like a pirate today. Someone else can have my butterscotch pudding while I dance. I like the Mitch Albom quote. Again, we were a day early since we had fajitas on our fajitas last night. I like bananas and daiquiris, but not mixed together. Just give be a frozen strawberry daiquiri, and I'll be happy. The wine sounds like one I want to try. @grapau27 Graham, I'm also thinking of you and Pauline on this sad day for your country. I confess that while I would have liked to have watched the funeral, I did not get up that early. @dfish Debbie, I hope the son does not come up with anymore contingencies. Buying a house should not be this difficult. I hope he accepts the offer soon and waits patiently until your house closes. @cat shepard Ann, I think I might try that exercise block. 😄 @kazu Jacqui, I hope the parts arrive and you get your car back today. @smitty34877 Terry, I'm happy to see you are all managing better. I hope there are more ups than downs. Now, I'll look for the pictures I posted earlier from our three stops in Isafjordur. Lenda

🎉 💞 HAPPY 63RD ANNIVERSRY CAROL AND SAM! 🥂 🍾 Lenda