Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[DaniDanielle]

Sigh

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Andrew - Your use of VS triggered one of my current pet peeves...people saying verse instead of versus.  I see it in a sports context a lot, with someone saying team A "verse" team B.  Or someone even saying we "versed" them.  Mostly younger people.  I've not seen this described as grammatically correct anywhere, other than saying that anything can be considered grammatically correct if it's commonly used for a while.

 

I've not seen @Merion_Mom on this thread but adding her for her comments on the subject.  I'd also invite our UK friends here to comment in case there is a difference between British English and American English on using versus/verse.

 

I need to settle this in my mind so that I stop yelling at the sports talk shows on television. 😁

We’ve avoided turning this thread into a COVID19, smoking, dress code, DL/CL/SL discussion. Hope it doesn’t swing to a spelling/grammar check. 😇

[mo&fran]

42 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

 

Looks like a cruise ship in the distance.

There are several Disney ships parked off shore.

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

One of the things that I missed the most was the  beach. I haven't seen the sea for almost 3 years now. I really want to enjoy myself on the beach next year. It  might even be a black sea. I heard its quite cheap out there. In any case, I love relaxing times on the beach 

 

I'm really lousy with the I

phone, but my designated photographer went AWOL... At least I've got the noise right...

 

[island lady]

21 hours ago, davekathy said:

Happy Christmas to you and Bucky. I hope Santa was good to you. Cheers ( I've got a free moment from other duties assigned) I'm enjoying a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. 🎅🍷

 

 

Nice!  Had plenty of Christmas cheer last night.  😄 Hope Santa was good to you as well.  🤶

[voyager70]

25 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

I'm really lousy with the I

phone, but my designated photographer went AWOL... At least I've got the noise right...

 

 

Looks beautiful Dani !

 

 

[island lady]

21 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Merry Christmas Dave & Kathy.

Merry Christmas also to 

Pat & Bucky 

Best wishes for 2021 for 2 lovely couples.

Graham & Pauline x.

 

Aww...thanks my friend.  And a Happy, Healthy New Year to you and Pauline as well!  ☺️

[bobmacliberty]

54 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

We’ve avoided turning this thread into a COVID19, smoking, dress code, DL/CL/SL discussion. Hope it doesn’t swing to a spelling/grammar check. 😇

 

Fair point.

[island lady]

18 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Never heard of....

DH is cooking road kill potatoes"... I assume the "funeral" comes after the "road kill"😁

 

I've looked at the recipe -- we'll try it -- sour cream, chicken broth -- seems like a "sure thing" with which you can't go wrong 👍

 

 

OMG...what funny names!  Sounds like something we would proudly serve in here in the swamp!  😮😉 

[Milwaukee Eight]

5 minutes ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Fair point.

I would have said “fare”. Lol

[island lady]

3 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

It was a glorious visit to the beach. Time to head back north. 

 

North as in back to Ocala??  Saw on the news this morning it was 25 degree there.  😮 😮 

[island lady]

3 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Less than that. I’m guessing about 135 miles the way they are likely to travel. 

 

I had the cruise control set on 80 on I-95 south...on the way down to my sister's last night.  (And yes she worked yesterday and going back in early today. 😞 ).   

 

Even breaking the law at 10 over...I was the slowest toad on the road!!  Everyone was zipping by me like I was standing still.  Yikes!!  😮 

[island lady]

3 hours ago, Lionesss said:

Good morning all, and glad to see all had a fun safe Christmas.

 

Well Andrew you got us beat, we only got 11.8 inches of snow here in the snow belt region of O-H-I-O.

 

I'm laughing about the funeral potatoes.

We do something similar, but it is called something else.

 

Here we call it coast guard potatoes and I have no clue why.

 

Recipe:

One bag of Ore Ida potatoes Obrien thawed

one container 16 oz. sour cream

one can Campbell cream of celery soup

two cups special K cereal 

2 cups taco mix cheese

One medium onion diced

one bell pepper diced.

salt/pepper

one stick butter

 

Directions

In a small skillet melt butter and place onion and pepper in to quickly saute

add salt and pepper (just a pinch of both)

set aside

 

Combine and mix well potatoes, sour cream, soup , cereal and 1 1/2 of  cheese

 

Then add butter and onion/pepper mixture.

 

Spray a 9 x 11 pan thoroughly with PAM

 

Cover with non stick aluminum foil and bake for 90 minutes at 350.

Turn oven off.

Uncover

Sprinkle with rest of cheese and put back in oven for 10 min uncovered  (oven is off)

(makes it crispy)

 

Makes about 10 servings, but in our house goes quickly, serves 6 .

 

Enjoy

 

Making this Sunday, with an eye of round.

 

Tonight our DD's 26 birthday dinner.  (Turkey with all the trimmings).

 

She was born 12/26/94

at 12:26 am.  

 

Yes years ago I played that number and won, but that's old news.

 

Be safe

 

 

 

That sounds delicious!!  😋

[grapau27]

27 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Aww...thanks my friend.  And a Happy, Healthy New Year to you and Pauline as well!  ☺️

Thanks Pat.

Hope you both have a happy new year.🍷🍷

[mo&fran]

13 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I had the cruise control set on 80 on I-95 south...on the way down to my sister's last night.  (And yes she worked yesterday and going back in early today. 😞 ).   

 

Even breaking the law at 10 over...I was the slowest toad on the road!!  Everyone was zipping by me like I was standing still.  Yikes!!  😮 

Bet they had out of state tags.

[voyager70]

17 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I had the cruise control set on 80 on I-95 south...on the way down to my sister's last night.  (And yes she worked yesterday and going back in early today. 😞 ).   

 

Even breaking the law at 10 over...I was the slowest toad on the road!!  Everyone was zipping by me like I was standing still.  Yikes!!  😮 

 

I-95 in FL is downright scary!  I-75 on the west coast isn't much better.

 

[grapau27]

29 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

I would have said “fare”. Lol

Fair point would be correct in England.

When you pay a Fare to a taxi or bus driver in England it is the price you pay for the journey.

Graham.

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Andrew - Your use of VS triggered one of my current pet peeves...people saying verse instead of versus.  I see it in a sports context a lot, with someone saying team A "verse" team B.  Or someone even saying we "versed" them.  Mostly younger people.  I've not seen this described as grammatically correct anywhere, other than saying that anything can be considered grammatically correct if it's commonly used for a while.

 

I've not seen @Merion_Mom on this thread but adding her for her comments on the subject.  I'd also invite our UK friends here to comment in case there is a difference between British English and American English on using versus/verse.

 

I need to settle this in my mind so that I stop yelling at the sports talk shows on television. 😁

I am happy to give the UK version if asked.

Graham.

[dani negreanu]

 

 

On 12/19/2020 at 9:45 PM, ReneeFLL said:

Mike had to fly to Port-au-Prince yesterday. While they were loading the plane the fork lift driver hit the antenna and scrapped plane which is carbon fiber. $$$$$ 

 

On 12/19/2020 at 11:05 PM, Domino D said:

Okay, that is a new one.  I often think (like anyone who flies a lot), I have seen it all.  

 

On 12/19/2020 at 11:59 PM, ATG said:

 When we left to fly home we were on a 747.  Unfortunately, the door was an escape with the big orange slide which inflated.  .... So, I agree, anything can happen to a plane.

 

On 12/20/2020 at 1:20 AM, sgmn said:

It happened a few times when I worked at Heathrow, usually the catering or baggage trucks. 

 

@bobmacliberty

 

Renee, your picture of Mike reminded me of the time when my son's plane (FA) had a close encounter with an unlucky bird, just when they approached landing in Paris (CDG).

 

The crew got an unexpected 2 days layover in Paris (usually Paris is a "quickie"😁)...

 

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by dani negreanu

[bobmacliberty]

We managed to have a nearly normal Christmas this year, following most of our family traditions.  Our younger daughter is living with us in Ohio while going to grad school and our older daughter is living with her boyfriend about 15 minutes away.  We needed to juggle the timing of meals/presents since both daughters also spent time with their boyfriends' parents, who also live in the area.  It worked nicely in the end where both daughters and both BFs spent time with us.  Here's our typical Christmas eve/day.  I don't recall how any of this became tradition.

• Christmas Eve - Crab legs for dinner.  A bit of a splurge when you're about as far away from an ocean as possible in Cincinnati.  We usually watch either A Christmas Story or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Went with the later this year.  Can't go wrong with Cousin Eddie.
• Christmas morning - Big brunch with eggs, bacon, hash browns.  The stars of the show though are Krispy Kreme donut holes.  Not sure if Krispy Kreme is broadly available, but their donut holes are addicting little sugar bombs that are sadly no longer part of our regular diet.
• Presents - We open little things that are in stockings before breakfast, but force the kids to wait until after breakfast before attacking the real presents.  They hated that when they were younger, but as they've grown and like to sleep in the morning, breakfast has shifted to brunch and they're OK with waiting a bit.
• Christmas Day - Some combination of family games, football on TV, and eggnog.  There may or may not be some napping.  We like playing Mexican Train with dominoes.
• Christmas Dinner - Traditionally a ham or turkey but this year we went with a beef tenderloin.  We cut it in half (too big to fit in one vacuum bag) and used the sous vide method followed by a sear.  It was good but given all of the BGE/Kamado Joe videos that I've been watching, cooking on a Kamado grill may have been better.

We were very fortunate to be able to make everything work as this will be our last Christmas together in the house where our kids were born and grew up.  Between us moving to Florida and the kids potentially moving for jobs, we know that future family Christmas celebrations will be very different.  I'm sure many of you have already been through that transition.

[bobmacliberty]

25 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

I am happy to give the UK version if asked.

Graham.

 

Thanks Graham.  I think I'll respect Rory's point about keeping this thread upbeat and just drop the topic.

[island lady]

42 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

Bet they had out of state tags.

 

90 % of them...yes.  😉  All heading south.  

[island lady]

39 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

 

I-95 in FL is downright scary!  I-75 on the west coast isn't much better.

 

 

I think I would give I-4 and I-75 the higher up on the scary scale IMHO than I-95...but indeed all three are scary!  Yikes!   

[grapau27]

17 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I think I would give I-4 and I-75 the higher up on the scary scale IMHO than I-95...but indeed all three are scary!  Yikes!   

Only ever drove on I-4 and agree it is like a race track on certain sections.

We have always stayed in the Orlando area and went to WDW and Universal or to the shopping malls.

Edited December 26, 2020 by grapau27

[voyager70]

14 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I think I would give I-4 and I-75 the higher up on the scary scale IMHO than I-95...but indeed all three are scary!  Yikes!   

 

My parents had a home in Punta Gorda for years and the drive from RSW airport to PG was horrible!  I would get passed like I was standing still going 75.