Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Two

[UKCruiseJeff]

Shots, .... hope things improve .....

 

Spins, really don't know what to say other than we watched it and felt an increasing sense of bewilderment, confusion and today despair tinged witha degree of terror.

 

The debate was not worthy of two people wanting to reassure the free World, let alone the US that either was the calibre to lead us into greater understanding, tolerance and a "good life".

 

We did learn however that he does not want to release his tax records for fear of appearing "bragedocious" a word yet to reach these shores.

 

What has saddened me today is seeing the response by many Americans being interviewed, many of them feel that they thought he came out on top because he put forward very specific policies. One answered when probed to give examples that Trump had said he would build a wall and get the Mexicans to pay for it and that he has promised that he would stop "bad things happening".

 

:mad:

 

Jeff

[spinnaker2]

Yes Jeff.

Thanks for the validation.

We really have sunk to a new low.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Spins, I do hope my comments didn't offend any of our American coolers ... it was only my intention to respond to your "elephant in the room" comment ... no more.

 

This evening I felt a bagel or two would lift the spirits so I made a few for supper. Nice and rustic and very big. There is nothing that raises the spirits more than a big bagel. :)

 

Jeff

 

 

[jpalbny]

Jeff...your comments don't offend us. They may well depress us, but what can we expect?

 

At least the bagels will cheer us up. :)

 

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Edited September 27, 2016 by jpalbny

[spinnaker2]

And now for a nice schmear...

Beautiful bagels!

 

No offense taken by me.

I asked for thots.

 

This is the cooler.

[tgh]

If the wound is difficult to cover , gobs of New Zealand Manuka Honey can work miracles in closing big wounds.

She is just a baby , my oldie is rising 35.. :-)

 

 

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.

[ShotsnCruises]

TGH, I will keep that in mind. Right now I am letting the vet make all the decisions.

[jpalbny]

ShotsnCruises, good luck with your mare. Sounds uncomfortable. We had a few horses on the farm back in the day (mostly cows) so I know how much work it can be to nurse them back to health. That's why I didn't become a vet!

 

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[specialcruisegirl]

Good Day Coolers........

 

Tis turning rather cool here in North Wales and also very windy.....time to get my walking hats and wellies out!!

 

Just been browsing through the 2018 voyages.....quite a lot of changes with nothing right now catching my eye....although I'm sure l will find something eventually...[emoji6]

 

Interesting US election debate....didn't watch it all so have no particular views...problems here are just as bad with Corbyn et al.....so it's a Fred Carnos on both side of the pond!

 

Shots.....do hope your mare recovers.....l do miss having horses but not the work that goes along with it all.....!

 

Happy Day......

 

S[emoji4]

 

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Good afternoon Coolers. Yes, cold and wet here as well .... it will be log fire night tonight.

 

Today was crispy duck and pancakes and veg and I've just made some nice big bagels. Bagels get a bit of a bum deal I think. People thinking they are complicated and not worth the bother. I wanted to make it a bit of an automatic ritual and that is what I now do. So today's bagels are just plain sweet chewy and rustic and misshapen and large and just enough for a day or so ie four. I am sort of now doing them every other day. Easy.

 

 

 

 

Jeff

[ShotsnCruises]

TGIF!

1 more hour of work and I am OUTTA HERE! :D

Chili Cook Off this weekend with some close friends. I almost always win, but we will see this year!

 

Tonight we are home-security shopping. Our current system is "outdated" and we are looking for something that can connect to our cell phones and have more camera monitoring. There have been a lot of horses stolen about 20 miles South of us, and that terrifies me. Our horses are micro chipped, but that is only useful if they are found.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Shots,

 

Home security is an area that really justifies a lot of thought before you buy stuff. You need to know what it is you want to do rather than call in a specialist company who sell you what they have.

 

Personally I think it far better to put your own bespoke system together yourself eg an IP camera based system rather than buy a package. We secure two homes with permanent IP camera systems that provides instant intrusion alert plus live stream feeds to pc/ipad/phone so we can check in when we feel like it and reassure ourselves including even cameras on the door mats of both properties to see how our post is stacking up whilst either away or at the other property!

 

You will also absolutely need to take the trouble to put up night vision cameras where your horses are so you can see what is happening at night whenever you want and on access points.

 

Good luck and ask any questions you want.

 

Jeff

[UKCruiseJeff]

[jpalbny]

Yum!

 

Working this weekend. Last week before Madagascar. Time to get packing and finish up with some last-minute preparations. Hopefully work won't interfere too much with that.

 

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[Catlover54]

Jeff, that crispy duck looks good enough to have me break my diet. I have been trying to get rid of the 5 lb I gained on my recent MS Europa cruise where I ate crispy duck thrice in 13 days, though mostly with dumplings and red cabbage, and your pictures are risking triggering relapse of excessively caloric feeding behaviors

 

Did you eat the bagels with the duck? :)

[TLCOhio]

Yum! Working this weekend. Last week before Madagascar. Time to get packing and finish up with some last-minute preparations. Hopefully work won't interfere too much with that.

 

YES, lots of good food shots. Looking forward to hearing lots about Madagascar. Should be a super great adventure. Our grandsons love the lemurs and mentioning about Madagascar. Hope to visit Madagascar at a future time.

 

Been busy this past week with travel back from being the grandsons in Virginia, plus work and being slowed down somewhat with a bad throats that limited my talking abilities. My wife enjoyed the "Sounds of Silence"!! Lots of good college football today in the USA.

 

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 43,122 views for these postings.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good afternoon Coolers!

 

JP ... getting so close ... and looking forward to hearing about the trip. So hope you find some places where the locals eat so I can enjoy eating vicariously with you!

 

Catlover, no the bagels were for supper, but sad to say I have joined the very small group of people in the world that have been injured by a bagel. I purposefully took the hydration rate down very low to make them chewy. I was concerned my wife might hurt herself when she split one and offered to do it for her, but she said she'd be fine and she was. I went to split my own but managed to give myself a nasty cut. Poetic licence. They were lovely though. I thought your blog about Monaco was wise and I think anyone doing a Monaco cruise would be best only taking a package if they knew very explicitly what they were buying because once the lines have the cash they can basically salami slice what they do and make a packet whereas if you but what you want directly you know exactly what you are getting and there is one very large greedy margin and placement of trust eliminated. The best Monaco we had was Seadream and the walks followed by staying at the Carlton and watching it on TV!

 

 

Last night was bought in Chinese ..... I always buy far too much ...

 

Jeff

 

[Catlover54]

Morning walking on California's Sonoma coast:

 

 

 

Storm clouds coming in, time to head back:

 

 

 

 

 

Enchanted forest:

 

Edited October 2, 2016 by Catlover54

[jpalbny]

Chinese food and Sonoma Coast...both look lovely!

 

Preliminary scouting report on the packing. Looks like we'll have two rollaboards (one each) for Madagascar trekking clothes, and another smaller rollaboard with nicer clothes for the week in South Africa. We laid the clothes out tonight and did some test fitting. :D

 

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[ShotsnCruises]

Jeff, Thanks for the security system advice. Being that the hubby is retired law-enforcement, we have a lot of "tech support" available to us. We are having 3 night vision, motion activated cameras installed on the house and one on the barn. These are a closed looped system that cannot be accessed or have "wires cut". We can see the 180 degree 1080i pictures from our phones or TV system anytime we want. We can record as we want and take still images. We will have motion alarms on the property and glass break sensors. We have 22 windows and 5 doors to alarm as well (big house). LOVING the technology that allows us to access the whole house from our phones. We talked with a forensic tech guy and he helped us set up a sophisticated encryption software so we are much less vulnerable to hacking! Can't be too careful these days.

 

Food pictures look great.

 

I love the "trial run packing" experience. As I am transitioning out summer clothes to fall/winter, some of the summer things are being sorted into "cruise" piles! :D It will be here sooner than we think.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

JP...Have an awesome trip!

 

Spent the weekend entertaining the grandkids and their parents. Today I am putting the house back together.

 

Have a great day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Afternoon Coolers ... from a sunny autumnal day here. A lovely walk this morning, crunching all the dropped conkers underfoot!

 

Booked a five day trip to Vienna for the Christmas Markets. I guess the short break from travel was long enough. Wifey requested Business Class and no early morning starts or late backs so it's lunchtime out on Monday 5th and Friday lunchtime back and I've booked limmos all ends so I can drink as much as I want at both ends and in all lounges and not worry.

 

I thought the IC in Vienna might not be as helpful as when we were taking three or four visits a year but the welcome was exactly what I hoped for with bags of gemütlichkeit and hospitality on offer - with our favourite suite and lounge access offered. We are lucky bunnies.

 

So several days of lurching from punch stall to nussen stall to sausage stall to cake shops to schnitzel houses.

 

It goes without almost saying that any Coolers at a loose end and nothing better to do and fancying wasting a few days with wifey and me taking them on a Christmas safari for a few days around the Christmas Markets in Vienna will be welcomed. The only exercise are optional morning walks around Schonbrunn gardens possible brekkies of sekt and salmon in the Gloriette ... and the walks between stalls and markets! Transport within Vienna will be trams. It will be memorable if such things are possible when it all just becomes a wonderful haze with a lunch that lasts for ever. Etc. ;)

 

We're really looking forward to it.

 

Jeff

Edited October 3, 2016 by UKCruiseJeff

[mysty]

J..Glad to hear you are getting back in the "travel" saddle again! Your trip sounds magical! Have an awesome time!

[jpalbny]

I like the term...Christmas Safari! We will be hunting for fondue et chocolat suisse, I think!

 

Hopefully by going a little earlier than in prior years, we'll see a bit of (pre)Christmas markets as well. In past years we've left on Christmas Eve so no markets. Jeff, your safari sounds like a lot of fun too.

 

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[Fletcher]

Jeff - I love Vienna, especially all those coffee shops which are still slightly formal despite the hordes of tourists. I was there last year at the start of a River Cruise and took this photo of the most famous doorway in the city -

 

Vienna, Austria by UltraPanavision, on Flickr

 

Enjoy your week there.