Vict0riann

We got our RSV vaccinations this afternoon. The pharmacist said it is a one-time vaccination - I wonder how they know that? I think it is a rather new vaccine. He suggested our daughter who lives with us (and is 60) get it too, as she is an asthmatic and lives with us. He said that way she will protect us and we will protect her.

Good morning, Dailyites. Good day for us dragons! My mother was born in the year of the dragon, as were I and our elder daughter. With three dragons in the household, you can imagine the fire-breathing going on! Fortunately, Pat was born in the year of the rat and rats and dragons are compatible... Now I will be humming Puff all day. Pat has gone to get some bloodwork done for the cardiologist and run some errands. We will be making appointments to get the RSV vaccine. The skies are blue today, with a few wispy clouds. We are threatened with snow, but it does not look like a snow sky. Temps around freezing. We were in Papeete in 2016 with Jacqui on Westerdam, we had had a lot of itinerary changes due to weather, and we just walked around during the day and visited the church and the market. That evening we went ashore, too, to see all the night market food trucks. It was bustling ashore, but we had eaten on the ship. One of our favourite Tamarind servers, Apinya, sent us a picture yesterday of herself with Tony and Martha on Rotterdam. Now we are so envious and want to join them! I also checked on the wandering AirTag on Sunday and it was in Fort Lauderdale, but is slowly dying - it is calling out for a new battery. So sad... I have enjoyed following it around as it cruised. I called Guest Relations yesterday to ask (again) about our refund for our Covid expenses in September 2022. A very helpful agent said he had approved it and would be sending an email. The email eventually arrived and all it did was ask for the same information - for the third time. It's never going to end!

Good Monday morning, Dailyites, and thanks for all the news of the day. Martha (Mrs. @sailingdutchy) sent me a picture from Rotterdam - they're having a good time! Our weather has warmed up a bit, but it's still frosty, and I didn't go to exercise this morning, Pat did and said there was a good crowd. The hummingbird feeders are out today without the hand warmers to keep them from freezing - we'll see how it goes. Just hope winter is over! Pat has booked flights to England in June to visit his favourite cousin on his 96th birthday. I hope it will come to pass. He has an appointment to see the cardiologist January 25 - our doctor had said it would take 6 to 9 months to get the referral, but it has happened very quickly, and we're hoping he says Pat is fit to fly. And who knows how long it will take for him to have the surgery to replace the valve.

Robin is probably drunk! Here the robins are gorging themselves on the berries that froze overnight and are now alcoholic. Lots of robins and other small birds, juncos, etc. eating berries suddenly palatable.

Glad the nosebleed sorted itself out although it took a long time, Roy. Pat has been having bad ones on a regular basis, and the doctor gave him the name of a nasal gel to use daily. It’s called Secaris. Do you think it has any connection to the radiation treatments? on a happier note, the lunch of the day at the grocery store was - wait for it - butternut squash soup!

Good morning, Dailyites! Will I make it on page 2 for a change? Probably not... I was up early to put out the hummingbird feeders, with new hand warmers attached, they were waiting for their breakfasts. In 2016 we visited Nuku Hiva on Westerdam, we hit a lot of strange weather and ports were missed or changed, but we did make it to Nuku Hiva, and it was probably Jacqui who organized a wonderful jungle tour, with an interesting lunch and hike. I'll see if I can post pictures today or if I have to change over to my phone. An amazing day!

I remember when they used to check the outsides of the plane for leaks- they would find them by the nicotine stains. See, smoking was good for something. we are also playing hummingbird bingo. This last time I took one out, “our” little male landed on it before I could get it hung. Even with the hand warmers attached the one in the shade is freezing within an hour, the other, in a sunny spot, is taking a little longer to freeze(that’s the one the girls sit on, the male hogs the other).

There was another thread about Stockperks that said after being approved, you had to go one step further and "redeem perk" - did you do that? Perhaps it's not too late, if you can still get into the Stockperks app.

and, strangely enough, posting them from my phone, some were just black.

We are also in the midst of a record-breaking freeze, it's down to -10 , with a wind chill (they say) of -21. So I'm not going anywhere, I think Gerry should stay home, too! The poor (stupid) hummingbirds are having a difficult time. Pat brought in the feeders last night to keep them from freezing and the birds were waiting for him to deliver their breakfast as soon as it was light. They (the feeders...) are freezing in less than half an hour, so I have attached some hand warmers to the bases, in the hope that helps. They are frantic to get at the feeders and buzz around his head as he hangs them. I'm sorry there are not-so-good happenings in Dailyites' lives. I enjoy Annie's posts so much, she seems to be such a compassionate person, I don't like to see her in a funk. Cheer up, Annie, we all love you! And Terri, I'm so sorry about your DH,I'm praying the Cymbalta will help. I hope Ren had a happy birthday yesterday, and good luck today on your drive to Toronto, @sailingdutchy! I like butternut squash, although we don't have it often, we did have some last night, so I will curry some chicken thighs instead. Good idea for this evening. I would like to give my ginger DD a kiss, but she is on the other side of the country. We have been to Sitka a few times, it's such a nice spot for DIY, but the last time we were there we took an interesting ship's tour to the raptor centre, the aquarium (science centre) and the bear sanctuary. My laptop got a new OS last night, and I don't seem to be able to add any pictures. I'll try from my phone.

Our new PCC mentioned on one phone call that she had noticed that our account was marked "Do not Upgrade" - I guess done by our previous PCC. We had her remove that!

The news this evening was that we have experienced high winds, ferries cancelled, etc.

Good morning, Dailyites. Sounds like a good day, no minestrone here. I might open a tin for Pat but I am not a fan of soups. Sorry about your beautiful cat, you'll miss her, @Crazy For Cats, but what a wonderful way to go! Every pet we've had I've been the one who has had to make that awful decision and take the animal to the vet the last time. We had neighbours in Virginia who had a little dog they had rescued and didn't know how old he was - he loved left-over shepherd's pie and one day they found him lying dead with his head in his empty dish - I'm sure there was a smile on his face! We had rain and lots of wind during the night, the paper says the reservoir is at 84%, but after this storm I imagine/hope it will be at 90%! We sprang a leak in one of our skylights and will have to get on to the strata to get that seen to. It had a leak when we moved in and was repaired once, Hopefully it will just need re-caulking. We are threatened with a deep freeze and the possibility of snow in the coming days, so, @VMax1700, warn your DS! We were in Corinto and took a tour to Leon with Jacqui, I remember the heat, but Jacqui had such a great group on that roll call, and the tour was interesting, there was lunch with dancing and we had a lot of fun. I mentioned in the previous Daily when Corinto was the port that someone sitting on the steps of the cathedral offered me $100 for the umbrella I was using as a sun shade - no way I was giving that up! Arenal Volcano? seen from the van. There was a map! The cathedral Inside was cooler We visited the market, too

Good morning, Dailyites, another Monday here... It is finally raining hard, but we are threatened with wind and snow later in the week. I will be happy to just stay indoors if that happens. I had chicken for us and a piece of fish out for DD last night when she said she would go and get fish and chips from a place near where we used to live which is reputed to be the best in Victoria, so I immediately agreed, and we will have the defrosted chicken and fish today. Later this month we will compare the fish and chips with a place nearer where we are now, which claims to be the best in Victoria... Hope all goes well with Roy, and no aftereffects, except good ones! I will be having two "bumps" removed next week, which the dermatologist says are squamous cell carcinomas. One is on the back of my right hand which I seem to be continually bumping so it is sore. The other is on my left wrist, so gets in the way of my watch. I'm looking forward to getting rid of them both! I have already primed the household that I will have to keep the areas dry, so I won't be washing dishes. I wonder how long that will last! We have been to Napier, on a driving trip in NZ, I remember enjoying the Art Deco streets, but they interfered with them by shading the sidewalks.

I wanted to add my bit to the Antarctic saga! When we visited South Georgia, the beaches were littered with "weaners" - young elephant seal pups which had been weaned and whose mothers had left them behind to head out to sea again to mate. The poor (not-so-little) pups were very curious and looking for love in all the wrong places. We were not allowed to approach them, but if they came close to us, we were allowed to stay still, and of course the official guides could do what they wanted! (Guide in red jacket - not us!) Of course, once they got to full size, you wouldn't want to go near. One big guy decided he was in love with one of our zodiacs, and had to be persuaded to move away.

Well, now it's afternoon, so Good day, Dailyites! I hope Paul has a great cruise, and that Roy doesn't find it too difficult tomorrow. Thanks for all the other news, always something interesting going on. On our way to church this morning, there was a dead deer by the side of the road. It is cloudy today, but I don't think it's going to rain. It's pretty cold, something like Ireland, @VMax1700, but going to get colder, so warn your DS! We have been to Tunis twice except once we couldn't dock, so only visited Carthage and Sidi BouSaid, the beautiful museum, carpet shops and souk once. In the market one of the vendors offered us 300 camels for our red-headed daughter. We decided it was a good deal but they wouldn't let us take the camels back on the ship (not service camels....), so we kept her. She made a big purchase of a carpet in one of the shops and didn't have enough cash to pay, so the vendor went back to the ship with us, and she got money on board and took it back out to him. He had let her take the carpet on with her, so she could have just not gone back out, he was very trusting! We really enjoyed what we saw of Tunisia. Ancient Carthage Underground water supply for the baths The museum had beautiful mosaics Sidi Bousaid - a blue and white village, kind of like Santorini, with an Arab flair In the souk Carpets!

Thanks, all. Fun sailaway - 3 nice toots from NA.

That's my Covid ship, but we are booked on her again in 2025... I don't hold it against her.

Big toots! Low and gruff.

Haha! Now I mentioned it, it's behaving better!

Finally! I was getting ready to give up. My PTZ screen keeps freezing - anyone else? It was okay to begin with, but only lasts a few minutes now.

Is that paddleboat a tour?

Apex has to get out of the way before NA can move...

I just see a dot for SP, the others all have ship shapes - I wonder if that is telling us something?

3:13 and I don't see any movement... but I guess Sky Princess is around the corner.