Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Two

[jpalbny]

Is everyone else in London? No fair! :(

[TLCOhio]

I think it was this guys girlfriend that jumped over the hood of my car on the highway this morning! After my heart stopped pounding in my ears, I was ever so grateful that it jumped OVER instead of INTO! 202 days to go!

 

Sunday, Monday – wine tasting with Vineyard Ventures (thanks Terry for the referral) for two full days. Try to avoid buying several cases of wine. Tuesday – Stellenbosch on our own.

 

UKCruiseJeff: lovely lunch today of paella and Bredon

 

Lots of busy' date=' active discussions and share today at the Cooler!! Fun!!

 

For our Michigan "neighbor" to the north, I am kind of in doubt that "my" male deer shown int he pictures from our backyard and around the ravine has a girlfriend in your state up north. BUT, yes, understand how when deers and cars on highways mix, it can be [b']rather "heart-stopping"[/b]. That was just a little too "exciting", right?

 

YES, for J.P., look forward to hearing and seeing lots of details (and pictures!!!) from your upcoming Africa adventures. Enjoy those amazing Wineland areas near to Cape Town. Glad that things are working well with Vineyard Ventures. Below are a couple of my Stellenbosch area visual eye-candy samples to help build up your excitement.

 

Loved Jeff's paella visual. Looked great and very tasty.

 

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 151,835 views for this posting.

 

 

Here are some Winelands previews from our visiting there near Cape Town earlier this year. This includes my wife and super guide Glen Christie as we toured various wine, dining, garden, etc., areas there. Second, as I recall, is the La Motte dining room that you will be visiting when there. Is this a unique lighting style/design touch? Third is a historic, 1777 church in Stellenbosch. Fourth is a typical view/experience as people are outside enjoying the history, architecture, wine, etc., at these many, different and enjoyable locations.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the V&A Waterfront of Cape Town at the perfectly-sited Den Anker, are you going to try this below seafood dining treat that I enjoyed in January?? Look good??:

 

[mysty]

Beautiful pictures spinnaker2 and Terry!

[TLCOhio]

Is everyone else in London? No fair! :(

 

We are here in the Midwest. No London, unfortunately, for us. Appreciate the great London area pictures. Keep 'em coming. Love to see more. Much fun!! Wonderful.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 201,622 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

Edited August 4, 2016 by TLCOhio

[spinnaker2]

No, I am not in London. I wish I was. Instead I am in my backyard trying to fix a wooden gate, but a) the bolts holding the hinge are rusted, easy fix, but the wood is rotted around the bolts. Not sure what to do to fix, ?Bondo, anyone know?

It's ridiculously hot here and the sweat is pouring down my face and into my eyes.

Those photos were of the Cloud sailing in last summer.

I was clearly slacking and not working before when I posted them. Anything to not have to work outside right now.

We have had several days of rain, and outside chores have been languishing.

 

Trying to get this done before we leave.

:(

[jpalbny]

Hm. Bondo or other plastic wood substitute may fill the hole, but might not adhere well to the rotten wood. So you'd have to make sure it's dry and possibly drill or scrape the rotten wood out, making the hole bigger, so you get to intact wood on the edges.

 

Alternatively, if the rotten area is not too big, can you use a bigger bolt and/or a large washer to cover the bigger hole in the wood?

 

Can you attach a piece of new wood to the board to reinforce it, making it a little wider, but allowing you to drill a new properly sized hole?

 

Last resort of course is to replace the whole board.

 

Nasty work, being outside on a hot day. Hope something works for you!

[spinnaker2]

Thanks JP,

I have determined this is no quick easy fix.

The gate is almost as tall as I am, 5'5 and heavy. I can just about see the three holes in the wood, but doubt I can even get Bondo in them without some surgical tools. I braced it up with bricks for the moment. The gate screws I bought are quite big, to get them to bite I would need longer as well as wider.

The gate is being held up by the lower hinge. It already has cross braces.

Thanks for the consult.

I will give it some more thought.

It's a challenge.

[jpalbny]

It's wood screws? Not bolts? And the screw holes have rotted out and expanded so you cant get a new one to bite? Yuck.

 

If you can drill a bolt hole completely through, replace the screws with bolts.

 

Would you be able to drive a lag shield into the hole so you could get a lag screw to bite? That might be an easy fix. Or drill new holes.in the hinges, in a different spot, so the screws bite into intact wood.

 

If you cant do either of those...then get a drillable, sandable 2-part epoxy cement with a long plastic mixing nozzle so you can apply it directly into the screw holes with a caulking gun. Fill the holes, let it set, and drill new pilot holes for your screws. As before, you may need to drill out some of the rotten wood first.

 

These epoxy cements are ridiculously strong...my deck is attached to my concrete foundation by threaded rods that are epoxied into holes I drilled into the foundation.

 

Or get some galvanized metal construction ties. You could get a simple 90° ell strap which you could anchor to the post with a few drywall screws, then attach the hinge to the metal. Would be a strong hold.

 

If I'm not picturing the problem correctly, upload a photo. I love trying to fix stuff...

Edited August 4, 2016 by jpalbny

[spinnaker2]

JP,

I like the idea of bolts through and through. Since it is a gate there is more stress on the area.

Will have to work on this upon my return.

Seems as if someone has borrowed my drill. Arghhhhhh

[spinnaker2]

And thanks again for the help JP!

[les37b]

It was in the link I posted earlier .....

 

Jeff

 

Yes I'd read the email beforehand.... I was talking about specifics in the rooms. What is coming out and whats it being replaced with. I expect they wont know... but they might. The wooden stuff in the rooms does look a bit 60's So I wonder if they will make it more modern or just a spruce up and similarish style.

 

Rather annoyingly, they didnt let anyone out on the veranda at Sky Garden for me to be able to film as I'd wanted. (It never seems to go to plan!) I did think about leaving the building and filming from the embankment, but I'd not brought tripods or other gear that would have been more suitable.... And I cant believe I left the telephoto at home! No close ups! Unbelievable!

 

Anyway, I had to settle for using the side of the building at a slight angle... the net result of which picks up reflections of or people moving past. It looks good.... or rather it would have! Will be returning up the sky garden in the morning before a tour and lunch on the wind

 

 

 

 

[UKCruiseJeff]

Nice piccies Les.

 

Is your office where the Bowering building is/was? ie Tower Place?

 

Jeff

[les37b]

Nice piccies Les.

 

Is your office where the Bowering building is/was? ie Tower Place?

 

Jeff

 

No. In between Hays Galleria and London Hospital. These photos were from Sky Garden.

 

[les37b]

This is the view from my desk this morning... (please excuse the quality.... not much you can do through glass into the sun on a phone!)

 

 

Tour and lunch awaits. :D

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! Thanks for the picture posting Les! Enjoy your tour and lunch!

 

Have a good one all!

[lincslady]

spins - hope you have got your gate sorted, with the help from jp. You probably know Venice better than I do, but I wonder if you have been to Burano, as against Murano - much more attractive in my opinion and no hard sell, though I don't suppose all the expensive lace is actually made there. The buildings and setting are lovely, though. No doubt Venice will be hot and heaving during the day, but it does improve a lot after all the ships and tours have gone by 5 p.m.

 

Once again, hope it is all wonderful, and keep us posted after if not during. Looking forward to reading about it all.

 

Lola

[spinnaker2]

Thanks Lola.

Gate will have to wait until I return.

Big project and will need DH help because it's heavy.

 

I am excited about the trip...thanks for the suggestion of Burano.

 

I know it will be hot and very crowded in Venice. We will be jetlagged too.

 

A nice problem to have.

:-)

[Carolfay]

Burano was one of my favorite stops on my last visit to Venice. I remember beautifully colored houses and a wonderful fish lunch. We also visited Torcello the same day and loved it . . .

[jpalbny]

Good morning and Happy Friday to all. We are working this weekend but luckily we both are working so we'll get that out of the way and then have the next three weekends free.

 

Slightly better weather the past few days - mid 80s and pleasantly dry so cooking hasn't been a horrible chore, and we can actually go outside without sweating to death. I've been cooking a few more summery dishes.

 

Here's a piece of halibut, pan-seared then poached in broth with lemon and garlic. I served it over some leftover couscous. Light enough for summer eating.

 

 

Last night we made a version of eggplant parmigiana on the grill. I am not a big fan of the "traditional" version, which takes a healthy vegetable that actually tastes OK on its own, and adds breading and tons of oil by frying it. When I make eggplant parm I actually don't bread the slices at all. I made this version on the grill - a little olive oil, salt and pepper, then grill the slices a few minutes. Finish with chopped tomatoes, cheese mixed with a little bit of breadcrumbs to keep the pieces from sticking together, and fresh basil.

 

 

The eggplant was tasty with a wine that we picked up last weekend. Finger Lakes red wines are generally light which is good for summer drinking. Save the heavy California reds for winter.

 

 

I wanted to share our latest portrait with you. We had a get-together last weekend with (almost) all of my brothers and sisters. The only one missing was the brother who lives in Denmark; he'd been in town the weekend prior. While we were together, our niece drew pictures of everyone. Here are the pictures that she drew of Chris and me.

 

 

Not too bad for nine years old. :) I will have to frame these somewhere.

[mysty]

Delicicous looking meals JP! Yum! The portraits done by your niece are adorable! Definitely frame-worthy! :)

[Fletcher]

Burano is exceptionally pretty and in January last year there was hardly anyone about -

 

Venice, Italy by UltraPanavision, on Flickr

[Catlover54]

This is technically a SS forum, and my cruise was with Seabourn. . . . BUT as this is also the "anything goes" place for pictures, here are the favorites (all but a few pix were taken by DH with his D500 camera). On the SB site I also posted a link to my official cruise review about the ship F&B etc.

 

With DH, as long as he has something fun to photograph, food and beverage and service deficiencies do not bother him very much.

 

 

http://s1354.photobucket.com/user/randomguy60/library/Norway%202016?sort=9&page=1

Edited August 6, 2016 by Catlover54
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[spinnaker2]

JP, lovely pictures.

Better check your bilirubin level though.

;-)

 

I hope that Burano looks that uncrowded Fletcher, but I somehow doubt it.

Webcams from Venice yesterday showed rain and plenty of tourists milling about in rain ponchos and with umbrellas.

 

I haven't looked yet today.

 

Watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics, don't know if other watchers outside the USA were subjected to the barrage of tv commercials every other minute, but it definitely interrupted the flow of the performances!

 

Let the games begin!

[Randyk47]

JP, lovely pictures.

Better check your bilirubin level though.

;-)

 

I hope that Burano looks that uncrowded Fletcher, but I somehow doubt it.

Webcams from Venice yesterday showed rain and plenty of tourists milling about in rain ponchos and with umbrellas.

 

I haven't looked yet today.

 

Watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics, don't know if other watchers outside the USA were subjected to the barrage of tv commercials every other minute, but it definitely interrupted the flow of the performances!

 

Let the games begin!

 

Let's hear it for having a DVR. At least we could fast forward through the commercials though it did mean some of the performance was left out.

[jpalbny]

Yeah, we DVRed the ceremonies. We're both working this weekend so we were particularly annoyed at how long and late they milked the coverage of the ceremony. :mad: Wanted to get some sleep but stayed up until almost midnight...and they still didn't show the lighting of the flame! Woke up early and watched the DVR of it this morning before work.

 

The commercials were merciless. Would go crazy without DVR.

 

Nice one about the bilirubin! Guess I have to watch the wine intake...

Edited August 6, 2016 by jpalbny