Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Two

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! And so it has begun.....had to turn the furnace on yesterday morning as overnight temperatures dipped to 3 C. Way too early for me to start shivering! I am NOT looking forward to winter!

 

J.... that video was awesome and a wee bit terrifying! I was white knuckled on the mouse!

 

JP...that e-mail is a classy touch! We did one river cruise with Uniworld and loved it! Sounds like it will get even better!

 

On another note.....I feel the shadow of "old age" peering over my shoulder. I now have a pair of "loaner" hearing aids to test out. I found on our grand adventure that sitting at a table of 8 people in the restaurant was a challenge to my ability to hear the conversation. My family was also getting frustrated with my requests to kindly repeat although my dear Myster has been extremely patient. I am finding the hearing aids a mixed blessing as all sound is amplified. I'm not sure I really enjoy hearing the ticking of the clock in the family room. Being able to hear Myster from his perch in the living room while I am at the computer in the family room is worth the downside!

 

Have a great day all!

[spinnaker2]

JP

Egads and gadzooks. That letter just proves how incestuous the cruise biz is. I find it slightly off putting knowing the history of ms B.

 

Mysty,

I am sure your slight hearing deficit came from sitting too close to the speakers at Woodstock. You ain't old honey.

 

Jeff,

Video was awesome.

 

Carpe diem!

Edited September 25, 2016 by spinnaker2

[mysty]

Thanks spins!!!! I did like my music loud! There are consequences for all our choices and I guess this consequence is more easily addressed than some!

 

Ego cum te. Carpe diem!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good afternoon all.

 

Wifey is very clear that the bulk of my hearing issues are 100% due to standing on stage in front of the Status Quo stack for far too long,and too often ... and for record playing. As all of Quo are deaf she may be right.

 

Still hanging on in there though .. I can still hear pretty reasonably ... in my view that is.

 

Spins, being close to the stage, you would probably have seen my cousin fiddling with the microphones at Woodstock - as he recorded it all .... and it's his name on the Woodstock album if you have it. Oddly, he claims he is deaf in one ear and missed the US military service as a result. How one of the worlds top recording producer/engineers can be deaf in one ear .... who knows. It certainly didn't hold him back.

 

I share your cynicism re EB, in fact all of them. It is interesting to me that there rarely seems any correlation between what any of them claim are their aims and missions with their actions or what they appear to achieve.

 

Treated myself to a Nordic Shortbread Snowflake shortbread pan which just arrived and I cannot wait to try it on my next batch of stem ginger shortbreads.

 

Have a great Sunday all. :)

 

 

Jeff

[TLCOhio]

Just got this e-mail...

I am humbled and honored to be writing to you for the first time as Uniworld's President & CEO. I can't express enough how amazing the Uniworld brand and product is. From ships that are a work of art on the water, to the personalized onshore experience, to an onboard team that places guest satisfaction and personal relationships above all else, Uniworld is the pinnacle of river cruising.

I will be onboard several cruises in the future, and I'd love the opportunity to meet you in person. Be sure to come say, "Hi!"

Ellen Bettridge, President & CEO

 

UKCruiseJeff: I share your cynicism re EB' date=' in fact all of them. It is interesting to me that there rarely seems any correlation between what any of them claim are their aims and missions with [b']their actions or what they appear to achieve.[/b]

Jeff

 

spinnaker2: Egads and gadzooks. That letter just proves how incestuous the cruise biz is. I find it slightly off putting knowing the history of ms B.

 

Sorry been busy and not on this thread recently. Appreciate these comments on "Ms. B". Have no personal knowledge nor have had any contact with her. BUT' date=' these types of "Giant Ego Puffing" letters leave me cold and unimpressed. Do they think people are so dumb? Her recent "job-hopping" says lots!! Any other details or specifics that can be shared? Is this just[b'] typical "sales hype"??[/b]

 

Been jammed and a little over-programmed lately. Had two visitors from Russia staying at our home for five days during the previous weekend+ period. Now down in Virginia with our two grandsons for this long weekend period. Been very busy with work, doing TV tapings, etc. Plus, college football fun, etc. More later, including some pictures.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 156,452 views for this posting.

[jpalbny]

Terry - welcome back!

 

EB did get one part of the letter right...Uniworld does indeed deliver an amazing river cruise experience. I hope that things don't change too much under her leadership. We have really enjoyed our three cruises with Uniworld in Europe. We are booked to go to India with them in February.

 

**

 

Less than two weeks until Madagascar. We watched part one out of three from a 2011 BBC documentary on Madagascar tonight. It was narrated by David Attenborough. This episode was entitled "Island of Marvels" and we're looking forward to watching the other two episodes. The DVD that we have now also has the second episode "Lost Worlds" so once we watch that, we have to return it to Netflix, and hope that the third episode "Land of Heat and Dust" arrives before we depart.

 

**

 

mysty, I feel your pain with this cold weather. Thanks for sharing the cold Canadian air! We're going down below 40F (4C) tonight so I fired up the furnaces to test them out. Both of them worked with minimal tweaking, happily. We'll make sure they are both running well before our trip.

 

Because of the way our house is built, we actually have two furnaces (and two AC units) with separate duct work. In the basement, there is a very large metal I-beam that divides the house in two parts. So it was easier to run the ductwork as two separate circuits. Though it was a pain to build it that way, the redundancy is kind of handy if one system goes on the blink.

 

**

 

Jeff, I just got note on Friday that our hospital has the Flu vaccine in stock. Guess I'll get my shot this week. Fun times!

 

**

 

My little sister (age 41) just ran the Berlin marathon this morning. My other sister went with her for company, and my brother took the train down from Denmark to join them. We were chatting by WhatsApp all day and I am feeling more than a little disappointed that we couldn't join them there. Not for running, mind you, that's crazy. But it would have been fun to hang out there. We still plan to get to Berlin next year if all goes well.

 

**

 

Dinner tonight was a veal shoulder roast, stuffed with bread crumbs, onion, garlic, capers, and sundried tomatoes. It went well with roasted potatoes and a California Pinot Noir. I have to admit that it actually felt good to have to oven on for an hour or two to roast dinner! :)

 

 

**

 

We were in Pennsylvania earlier this weekend and had a few hours to kill before taking Chris' Dad out to dinner on Saturday night. We went to a local park where there were ruins from a iron smelting furnace. It looked very interesting - almost like ancient ruins, though the plant went defunct only in 1920, making it relatively modern by comparison to the European ruins that we like to explore.

 

 

For Saturday's dinner we took Chris' Dad to a German restaurant. They had a special Sauerbraten that we enjoyed. It was mouth-puckering sour, because it had been marinated for 12 days, but it was served with a sweet gingersnap gravy that made for a very interesting flavor. Not something I'd seek out every day...I really like vinegar but this was sour even for my taste! In fact, the meat was so sour that the pickled red cabbage in the picture below actually tasted sweet in comparison! It was impressive.

 

Nonetheless, it went well with an Oktoberfest beer and the three of us had a nice meal together.

 

 

All for now. I am on call for work for the next week starting tomorrow. Have to start thinking about packing soon!

[specialcruisegirl]

Hello Coolers......great to be catching up with all the news and scrummy food pics....seems a few of us are holiday planning, just five weeks for me so the countdown is on!

Have been busy sorting my second bedroom out and also enjoying some rare evenings out...today is a wet and dreary day so I'm being a real couch potato!

Thinking hot dogs for lunch with some fried chicken and BBQ sauce....autumn comfort food!

 

S [emoji5]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[spinnaker2]

Jeff,

Drats, I can't find my Woodstock album. Found lots of other stuff, but not that one. Wonder if one of the kinder borrowed it.

Which Nordic baking pan did you get? The square or angled one?

 

JP,

I can only see one picture of the food you made. It looked yummalicious. I made fish tacos yesterday. Used air fryer, lots of fun. It's still ridic hot here but we are getting nuance of weather change.

 

Sophia,

Yes the countdown is on! Won't you be just ahead of us in the ocean? So looking forward to seeing vastness.

 

Tonight the circus comes to tv...Terry give us your political thoughts in advance!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good afternoon Coolers ...

 

Had a lovely long walk this morning .... brisk out and leisurely return. Autumn is arrivng down the drove road and there were many squirrells going out and aboutwith their pre-winter stocking up work today.

 

JP that meal looks lovely. It's odd how some of these places go just a touch too far and can make something intrinsicly delicious to a new place. The over marinading and an overly chefy sauce can detract from a simple overnight marinade and a reduced jus. Those spuds are the star .... Good luck with the jab.

 

Soapy ... not long now I do so hope it is a brilliant experience.

 

Hi Terry ... good to see you keeping yourself busy.

 

Spins, yes the debates tonight seem pivotal but to an ill-informed Brit like me it seems that H has it all to play for and the tougher task. So little seems to be expected of Trump that even if he does what would in previous times seem unacceptable now it seems will receive a rousing round of applause. You sort of also hope that she simply doesn't faint. What a choise you Americans are faced with and how do you tell which candidate will do most harm in office. I certainly cannot make any sense of it.

 

Woodstock was really good for my cousin. He became producer and engineer for many of the top talent after that event and with one actually went into a sort of partnership and opened a world class set of studios in NY where much great music has sincebeen produced. He was always a very enthusiastic photogrpaher and much of his photographs of people he worked with has become an archive and a decent selling book. He has very kindly given me some odd bits of memorobilia some of which has extraordinary cash values to them. If you ever see the Woodstock DVD/Film he is often seen crawling around and adjusting things. I have a diverse family. :)

 

It was the square tin I bought and I have been thinking about making some orange zest and stem ginger shortbread to see how it turns out.

 

Food not very photogenic but comfort food. Today chicken in a red wine and mushrooms sauce with some stuffing and mash and peas .... and yesterday was veal scalopina.

 

Jeff

 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

[spinnaker2]

Cool snowflakes!

 

Luscious green PEAS!

[TLCOhio]

Tonight the circus comes to tv...Terry give us your political thoughts in advance!

 

UKCruiseJeff: Hi Terry ... good to see you keeping yourself busy.

 

Yes' date=' Spins is correct as to how the [b']"circus" is coming to TV tonight[/b]. It's Presidential debate time. Ninety minutes in length. All of the major channels carrying this latest edition of "reality TV".

 

Thursday night I taped a show that aired Sunday morning in Columbus talking about what to expect. Both candidates have very, very different "styles" and approaches for their preparation, presenting pattern, etc.! Lots of hype and questions.

 

My prediction? Neither one will make any major goofs. Neither one will land any major "knock-out" punches. The fans/lovers of each candidate will claim that their favorite won and did much better. Things will move on and people will start preparing for the next two debates. It usually takes a few days for the "dust to settle" and to get some polling by next weekend to better determine who won that debate and is gaining the most "traction" or momentum.

 

In history, there a few times when a Presidential debate is the deciding factor, but in most cases, things keep moving ahead without a decisive turn from these events. NOR, will there be a dramatic twist! That's my best guess right now.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 42,913 views for these postings.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Perhaps ... optimistically probably .... the support for Trump is a public stake in the sand by people totally fed up with what they have been served up and the status quo. Perhaps it is a kick in the pants. Each new President brings so much hope almost always followed by inevitable dissapointment. I remember so clearly Obama's "new beginning" speech in 2009 in Cairo which frankly moved me to a tear or three. I thought here was the absolutely right man, at the right moment in time, with the right heart and courage to make changes that would effect us all for the good. But what has he done? If not him, then who?

 

Perhaps .... hopefully ..... they do not actually want Trump to be president but want to show the politicians that they could make him one if they wanted to. "So you politicians had better shape up". Perhaps there are a large number of people who say now that they support Trump but will stop short of actually giving him their vote. Anybody who increases their popularity by appearing to be stupid, racist, sexist etc would need a majority of stupid like-minded people to seek them as leader. Is it too much to believe that the great voting American citizen is actually smarter however frustrated they are? Otherwise and alternatively, many American's might soon be saying "Après moi, le déluge."

 

It doesn't look like there need be too many in that category to swing things back to a lessor evil.

 

Bon chance mes amis. I'll be with you tonight.

 

Jeff

[specialcruisegirl]

For sure it's all going to be interesting.......circus is a very appropriate term.......

Spins, we sail before you on the fifth.....

 

S [emoji5]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jpalbny]

*averts eyes*

 

I don't think I can watch... Not without heavy doses of medication, and unfortunately I am on call this week. So I must not medicate myself. If it were at all funny, maybe I could bring myself to watch for amusement. But the joke has long passed.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Forums mobile app

[UKCruiseJeff]

Wifey has said she is going to watch it with me. It has sort of taken on the feel of "X factor" where they do their turn and people vote.

 

Jeff

[spinnaker2]

Just poured a glass of wine.

[spinnaker2]

Just chilled a bottle of white. A little ETOH might help or I go to sleep.

[jpalbny]

Just chilled a bottle of white. A little ETOH might help or I go to sleep.

 

Not helping! :(

 

I think I will watch Dancing with the Stars. Much more enjoyable.

[spinnaker2]

with that swimmer?

NAY.

[UKCruiseJeff]

[spinnaker2]

And the elephant in the room???

 

 

Nice food Jeff.

[ShotsnCruises]

Been awhile but I am back!

Had a relaxing weekend at the cabin "up north" this past weekend. So nice to get away (no internet and no phone service!!!!).

 

There is not enough alcohol in the world to make the debate "watchable" in my eyes. Circus is a great word for what is going on in American Politics these days. I'm totally fed up and wish there was someone else to vote for. However, I will vote, because only when one actually votes does he/she have a right to complain afterwards! :D:rolleyes:

 

Our Boss Mare is doing much worse this week. Under the care of a vet for the past 9 days her shoulder muscle has split where she was gouged. The vet estimates a 10 inch deep split that now has a drainage tube to prevent further infection. Poor girl. The vet is convinced she will recovery fully, so I am trusting that she is correct. However, at 29 years she has had a nice (spoiled and pampered) life, and I hate to see her going through this. Hoping for some improvement this week because I can't stand to make those hard decisions for my pets.

[spinnaker2]

Sorry to learn of mare, such a traumatic wound.

Hoping for improvement.

[ShotsnCruises]

Sorry to learn of mare, such a traumatic wound.

Hoping for improvement.

 

Thank you!