Vict0riann

Good morning, Dailyites, and thanks to all for the daily news. Melissa, I'm so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Prayers that all goes well and you are in remission pdq! I took Pat to the hospital this morning, we got there before 7:30, and he waited in the admissions line while I took the car to the parkade. He was still in the queue when I got back, and I went up with him to the Cardiac unit, and I waited with him until they took him in at 8:30. We did see his cardiologist enter the unit, I wonder if he participates or does the angiogram. They said he will probably be ready to be picked up late afternoon, so I should be good for my oncology appointment, If there's a conflict, DD can go to pick him up. I think I will get chicken out for supper, as that will be bland, he may not feel like eating much, I have chicken noodle soup available, too. I haven't been to today's port, but I lived in Shanghai, too, Pennie, I think Dalian was where we went for holidays. Our Hawaii Martin Mars was hauled out of Pat Bay yesterday, tail first, (how undignified!) and will now be carefully rinsed off (salt water does not agree with her..) and then they have to figure out how to get her overland to her new home at the airport. I'll try to find some pictures on the Aviation Museum website.

Good morning, Dailyites, interesting days! Nice to hear "our teenager" is enjoying football, but I know we all worry about Tana's struggles, she is so lucky to have you, Terry. Jacqui, your house seems to be really popular, hope you get lots of offers and a real bidding war! Actually, it only takes two really keen people to bid the price up and up! And it's nice to see @atexsix back again! I was exhausted last night, went to bed at 9:50 and woke up this morning at 8:15. I did get up twice during the night, but went right back to sleep. Weird dreams. Yesterday was hectic, hospital visits to get Pat's blood work done (again!) and a chest x-ray, with, of course, long waits, and tomorrow he is scheduled for an angiogram. That will be all day in the hospital, they say, and I have my radiation oncologist appointment at 1. I'm tempted to try to put it off, but it may be too late to do that. My mind is on other things. He is also on antibiotics for a UTI, but evidently that won't deter them from doing the angiogram. Also we need to get the ostomy nurses involved tomorrow, if he's going to be in recovery for 4 hours or more. We haven't been to Road Town, the recipes look interesting for the Caprese salad, although I would leave out the pasta, too. When we were in Reykjavik my cousin took us to the Fridheimar tomato farm for lunch and we had a DIY Caprese with their beautiful tomatoes and burrata and on each table was a large basil plant. Could not have been fresher! What an amazing spot!

Good morning, Dailyites! Thanks to all for the Fleet Report and Daily News - especially to Rich, and Happy Birthday, Rich! Yesterday we had an interesting evening - the last Martin Mars water bomber came to Victoria and will be taken ashore to live out its days at the Aviation Museum. It was escorted to Patricia Bay by the Snowbirds, and there were flyovers in a number of towns and Victoria. There was a cruise ship at Ogden Point and the Snowbirds put on quite a show for it. We watched it all on my computer as we had our supper. I thought @Copper10-8 might be interestedm, as we still owe him a visit to the Aviation Museum. It will be on display after September 28. Now that it is at Pat Bay it has to have wheels put on it then it will be hauled overland to the airport where it will sit on a new pad, especially built for it. Flying over Victoria with the Snowbirds - and the cruise ship had a great show Touchdown at Pat Bay Three times they tried to snag a mooring line and dropped it - finally a little boat helped them get tied up. Evidently the pilot is 81 years old! I imagine there will be another "show" as they take it out of the water and take it to the museum. We did get a glimpse of it from our driveway as it flew over but it was very far away, and we were actually more concerned with the deer who where watching us, a mama with three babies!

Good morning, Dailyites, and thanks, as usual for all the news. Bon voyage to those travelling, how exciting! And Happy birthdays for those celebrating. I shed a few tears yesterday, too, for Sam, I'm sure we all have happy/sad memories of our beloved pets. When granddog Oskar the Shih Tzu comes for a visit he heads straight for the toy box behind the sofa, which is labeled Trapper (our chocolate Lab) and Bella (our Bichon) on two of the sides. We'll have to get Oskar's name on it now. His favourite toy at the moment is a squeaky hedgehog, which is much too big for his little mouth. He's 4 1/2 now. It is smoky here today, and the reservoir is down to 79.4% We have had some medical developments, Pat is now on the list for a new valve - but has to have a scan and angiogram first to make sure they can use an artery. The cardiologist said he hopes it can be done by November, Pat replied, good, as we have a cruise booked in October. The doctor made it clear that's not a good idea, so we are pretty sure we will be cancelling, Boo. I have had my first (phone) interview with the Cancer Clinic nurse - I am now a number, a 7-digit number! The interview was rather discouraging. I have another phone interview with the radiation oncologist next week (Pat said - now they're doing radiation over the phone?).... and then a real appointment with an oncologist. At least I will get free parking at the Cancer Clinic. So we muddle along, Pat likes to get out of the house early, so I haven't been given much time to read the Fleet Report, much less post. I'm not sure what is happening today, but Pat is still reading the paper, so I'm safe!

We have been to Corfu twice, both times with Tony and Martha, @sailingdutchy, so of course, we had a wonderful tour with them the first time, and wandered around town on the second. We visited the monastery of Paleokastritsa, and "Sissy's" palace, ate yummy feta and saw wonderful views. I remember that there were many men standing along the roadsides with guns - our guide said it was open season on the birds, and the men were just hanging out waiting to shoot them! Some views from the roadside A delicious snack At the monastery I have never seen such a brilliant bougainvillea! I think I saw the same cat as Lenda! At Princess Elizabeth's (Sissy) palace Back in the old town of Kerkira Shall we shop?

Good morning, Dailyites, or Good afternoon to those ahead of us here on the west coast. Today is BC Day here - but I think stores are open. I am working on a needlepoint kit at the moment and I don't like the background colour they have given me. I'm hoping to find something better but maybe I'll wait to go into town as the place is full of visitors. Happy birthdays (some belated, sorry 'bout that) to @puppycanducruise, @lobsternight, and @Sharon in AZ's DGD; Happy Anniversary @cunnorl, and congratulations @Heartgrove on the new granddaughter. Prayers for Tana and Chuck and hearty hugs for their caregivers! Another neighbour is very sick with Covid, so it's definitely going around. I think we will go back to wearing masks in crowded places. Just in case... I'm happy @kochleffel had his cat scan!

Good morning, Dailyites! The weeks seem to be going by quickly, I'm thinking of you all, but sometimes don't find the time to post. I wonder where @RedneckBob is, too. Annie, @marshhawk, take care of yourself while you're taking care of Chuck! And Jacqui, I'm thinking of you as you do a great job downsizing - it is a hard thing to have to do. I have taken pictures of some of my "treasures" that I had to dispose of, and hope they went to good homes. Pat did not have a good day yesterday, I had decided we would probably go to the hospital today, but he's just up and not feeling too bad, so we'll wait and see, He says it's his heart, I say it's a UTI - he's just had 10 days on Cipro, but the urinalysis showed klebsiella, too, and the last time he needed infusions of ertepenem to kill that one. Just don't want it going to his kidneys. Tuesday he has urologist and Wednesday the cardiologist, so maybe it can wait. Gerry, is your DH allowed to travel now, or is it some time in the future? I haven't heard from the Cancer Clinic, I guess they are busy and I'm probably at the bottom of the list, strange thing is though, I got my hair cut the day before my surgery, five weeks ago last Thursday and I don't think it has grown since then. Really weird, I may never have to get my hair cut again.... My hair used to grow really fast, by 4 weeks I would be feeling scruffy, and by 5 I would be desperate to get it cut. It seems to be extra curly, too, but that may just be the weather. I like watermelon, but no one else in this household does, so I just occasionally buy a pack of pre-sliced, and then I eat it all myself! I like ribs too, but they don't like me. We've been to Norway but not the port, and a DD cousin retired from the Canadian Coast Guard, so I'll think of him today. I was with him when he died in hospice, very peacefully.

Annie, you are a wonder. Prayers for Chuck and for you. I hope you can get a good night’s rest, knowing your DH is in good hands. Maybe tomorrow take him in something to distract him from those cords!

Let's all head over to Jacqui's house and help her pack up! Don't you wish we could? But we'd probably end up chatting the whole day and getting very little done... Today we are going to the mall and Pat will walk over to the lab to get his bloodwork done for the cardiologist (Monday he had bloodwork done for the urologist - but the order from the cardiologist didn't get there in time.) I can do some window shopping while he losing blood, then we'll have lunch at Timmie's and I have a stamp club meeting at 1. So I'd better get cracking. What beautiful twins! Hard to believe they are so new, they look so well-developed, and I hope their big sister loves them to bits. Gerry, I'm sorry you have lost a friend. Condolences. And Annie, I say a little prayer for you and Chuck often during the day. I'll get back later.

Sam from the cardiologist's office called - she never apologized, but Pat now has an appointment on the 7th. She wanted bloodwork, and I told her Pat was at the lab as we spoke having bloodwork done for the urologist, she said she would try to contact the lab and get them to take enough blood to do what she wanted, too! If not he'll have to go in again on Friday.

Lucky Lenda! I think Aappilattoq has not invited passengers ashore since Covid. Some of the residents came out in boats to wave at us, and I don't know if the ship offloaded some supplies for them. But how isolated an existence!

It rained here last night too, @SusieKIslandGirl, I heard it on the skylight when I got up at 3. And the deck is wet, but it's not raining any more. Hope we have more, the fire near Sooke is still growing, and our air is smoky. Good morning Dailyites, thanks for all the news! I remember butlers, and nowadays we occasionally get Miss Fisher's butler, Mr. Butler... I haven't been to the port of the day, so I will join Charlene, @cunnorl, and add a couple of pictures of Prince Christian Sound from our Viking Passage cruise in 2022, The colour of the water was absolutely amazing. Pat is going for bloodwork this morning, and I will stay home and make soda bread. We are having some of the neighbours in tomorrow for drinkies, and I thought I would serve some brown bread with smoked salmon, just wish it were Irish smoked salmon! Still waiting to hear from the Cancer Clinic, I know they are backed up, but we have a cruise booked for October, all paid for, and any treatments are going to have to be worked around it! My GP is supposed to be organizing a shot into my hip as well, and I want to have that in September. He said I have to wait and see what date they give me. Maybe I'll have to see if I can get it done in Port Angeles sooner. And Pat definitely needs his new valve, it was so annoying; we went to his cardiologist appointment on Friday, as the little card said, and they said it was all a mistake, his appointment is August 26 not July - the card was written wrong - I think the girl forgot to write it in the doctor's appointment list and gave the time to someone else.... They are supposed to call today to see if they can fit him in sooner. I like Dry Sack, that used to be our go to sherry, but now I prefer a sweeter one, maybe Bristol Cream or even Milk. No thanks to the soup, but I like tigers and chicken wings. I will be saying some prayers today for those ailing, Jacqui, Tana, Annie and Chuck, and thinking of Pauline on a sad remembrance day. Our route through the Prince Christian Sound Can you imagine living here? Amazing colours

In Tamarind, your son might like to try a couple of items off the Nami Sushi menu, if he sees nothing he likes on the regular menu. In the Nami menu, the items are individually priced.

We have just been advised that the person I sat beside at the pancake breakfast last Saturday is now in the hospital with Covid! We have Pat's cardiologist appointment on Friday, so I'm praying we don't come down with it. On that subject, Gerry, @ger_77, do you mind sharing - what kind of valve did your DH get? He seems to be doing very well? I need to know what questions to ask of the cardiologist! Pat is getting very breathless and tires quickly, so I think the time is approaching when he needs to get something done.

Good morning, Dailyites, and thank you, everyone for all the news, recipes, and other good stuff. Welcome to the world, boy twins! When DD and I went to Weight Watchers, we had that soup on a regular basis, I think it was "free" - we could eat as much of it as we wanted. But I'm not really a soup lover. We are very smoky here today, just as well we shut up the house last night and put on the heat pump. There is an out-of-control fire just west of us in Sooke, also Washington State is sharing some of its smoke with us. In the east I believe has been raining, why can't they share some of that?! So far in July, we've had no rain at all. I have many cousins, DD is in touch with most of them, and now, the new Canadian/American/Mexican? fifth cousin, she is my generation, but younger than DD. I think it's fifth - our great, great, great grandparents were siblings. She has brothers, so DD wants to get them to test. Roy, a sore/stiff neck is miserable! But the PSA is good news. Feel better soon. And, Annie, you have a big worry with your DH, hope things go smoothly for the foreseeable future. And Terry, prayers for you and Tana. Jacqui, take it slowly, and teach Ivan to fetch! I've only been to Labrador once, as a teenager, I think it was Goose Bay, and we had an emergency landing there on a flight to Europe. We had to get off the plane and one man had a heart attack it was so cold. I can't remember the time of year, but we were not dressed for it!

Thanks, Lenda, yes the nurse was very helpful and positive. She said the next step will be the oncologist in a few weeks, and there will be tests to determine what the next step will be, radiation, or possibly more surgery. She said my cancer is very low grade.

Good morning, Dailyites, and thanks for the fleet report and Daily News! Happy birthday to @summer slope, and it was good to hear from Jacqui, too. Hope you made it up the stairs! I don't know Vancouver well, I went to a boarding school there for three years, but didn't see much outside of the school. It was run by nuns, but now that there are no nuns, it is an Anglican boys' school. St. George's School (formerly the Convent of the Sacred Heart) For the gardeners - Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden (where Tony, @sailingdutchy and I worked on our calligraphy... and the Van Dusen gardens My conversation with the surgeon yesterday didn't last long, not great results on the path report, I will discuss it further with the cancer nurses. Maybe I made the wrong choice in opting for lumpectomy over mastectomy. We shall see! Anyway, then we had a nice drive up the island to Duncan for lunch with this new cousin, we talked for over two hours - DD will send her all the links to family sites. So now we have a cousin who lives in Mexico and Arizona!

As long as you stay to the right!

I figured it was a submarine! Watch out, Fred! Love Sir PMP's poster - Newcastle upon-Tyne covers all the bases... I'm sorry Jacqui is not feeling well. Hope she improves quickly. Today's the day here - the surgeon's office emailed last night that he would call me this morning with the pathology results. I'm not sure if he's the person who will say how much radiation I have to have or if he passes all that on to the Cancer Clinic. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing from him. And then I'm supposed to leave around 11:30 to have lunch with a new-found cousin (maybe 5 or 6 degrees away - our great, great, great grandparents were siblings) ups in Duncan, where she is visiting. So I'm hoping that he calls before that - or I will stay home and let DD go to the lunch on her own. Vanessa, @JazzyV, you can take my other DD off the cares list, she is back at work. Thank you for thinking of her. I would love to make the "Daily Tomato Pie" for this evening, but it depends on what time we get back from lunch. Maybe just a salad...

Good morning, Dailyites, Jacqui, I hope the surgery proves to be a great success and worth every moment of the discomfort you are going through now. Joy, I'm sorry about your sister, my mother had a double mastectomy and was put on tamoxifen for the rest of her life. (It had also metastasized to her lungs). She didn't die of cancer, just old age! I had my follow-up with the surgeon yesterday, 10 minutes after over an hour of waiting.... I am fine, no pathology in yet. He was very chatty and said that the labs are very backed up as there are so many breast cancer cases they are working on. I guess Covid put everyone behind in their mammograms! All you ladies out there, go and have a mammogram! When I got back from the doctor, the technician was at the house again, working on the fridge. Finally found a problem with the deli drawer - so he by-passed the sensor... He said he will refund the price of the new mother board. Anyway, everything seems to be working now, the deli drawer seems cold, too. I will start transferring back all the frozen stuff from the garage freezer, and see if I can figure out where everything goes. Pat has to go for some lab work today prior to his cardiologist and urologist appointments. I would like to stay home and make banana bread, but he may want company. We haven't been to Komodo Island and I don't think I want to, either! Heat and reptiles do not entice me.

We got it in 2017 when we re-did the kitchen. It has all the bells and whistles - ice dispenser, water filter, even a coffee maker built in ( not that we use it). Of course now the warranty has expired. When we got it we were told it would last 10 years…. These hi-tech appliances are prone to disaster. The technician said he will return this afternoon.

Good morning, Dailyites, and thank you all for the morning news. Prayers for Jacqui, Tana, Chuck and Annie and all with health problems. Still no fridge here, most annoying. Yesterday, the technician spent over two hours installing the new part, re-setting everything, etc., and half an hour after he left, everything shut down again. So he came back around 6 last night and spent another hour checking and re-setting, half an hour after he left, nothing! I'm wondering if the new part might be defective, Pat has texted him, and hopefully he will visit us again today. I did race out to buy ice this morning, and the cleaning lady will be here soon, so probably everything will happen at the same time. I was going to do laundry and bake some banana bread, but I think I will put it off until tomorrow. The one silver lining to this cloud is that I don't know where anything is, so I have to buy food for dinner every day! I think today I will get a couple of chicken pot pies on my way home from the surgeon. I haven't seen the pathology results on line, so I hope he has them. In 78 days, we should be boarding the Koningsdam, IF we are healthy! We have reservations at the Polynesian Cultural Centre for the day and luau, but, depending on Pat's visit to the cardiologist, I may insist we cancel. Friends who are much younger and energetic have told us it is a tiring day, although the HAL description says the activity level is "moderate". Anyway, the decision will be made after Pat sees the cardiologist. I think about St.Louis Sal too - she was very kind and offered her support when my cousin was diagnosed with ALS, I like to think they are both up there now, having a good time!

When we went to Boca da Valeria, I took hair scrunchies and other hair “ornaments” for the girls, and I bought some sheets of stickers for the boys, which I cut up into three or four stickers ahead of time. We also handed out a lot of new dollar bills. Ahead of time we had bought school supplies which the ship collected and delivered to the school. We also took an interesting boat ride as the river was very high. in Alter do Chao we also took a boat ride and then walked around the town. There is a shop where they sell souvenirs made from the rubber they get from the remaining rubber trees. Very interesting.

Re snakes, I remember one of Pat's consultants from Texas saying - "You know why Texans wear boots"...

Good morning, Dailyites, and thank you to all for the daily news. I don't mind snakes, DS used to collect them as a child, as long as they are harmless! We had a "personal chef" when we lived in Kenya, how I wish we had him now! His name was Makarios and he was a bishop in his religion, and he and his No.2 wife (No. 1 wife stayed on his farm) would dress up in long blue robes on Sundays and head for his church. He had worked for the British Embassy at one time, and knew some wonderful recipes. He could read most English recipes, although sometimes I had to read them for him if I wanted something special. I am not a soup lover, so will stay away from soup recipes, especially in the summertime. The part for the fridge has arrived, and the technician should be here tomorrow morning to install it. Then we just hope it works for a while longer. I have my appointment with the surgeon on Thursday to find out what happens next. I keep checking my health app to see if the pathology results are in, but nothing so far. Pat does have an appointment with the cardiologist on the 28th - last time he called they said it was August 28th - but now it's back to July. I'm hoping something can be done soon, as he is breathless and fatigued most of the time now. He's not even playing his beloved golf. We have been to Tonga, but not Nuku Alofa, we docked in Lautoka, just a couple of days after the king had died. The country was in mourning, and we were encouraged to wear black. I hope Tana and Allen can gain a bit of weight, and Ivan's surgery is successful. Thinking of Sam, too, our big (Alaskan) Lab would lie on the tile floor of the bathroom when the heat got to be too much for him. No fun wearing a fur coat in the summer. Pat is off to the dentist this morning, so I will do a bit of gardening, deadheading and weeding are always with us! It's supposed to get to 24 today. No rain in the offing, and the reservoir is down to 85%.