We're Booked! Ciao!

The Lirica has Itallian officers and a Balinese crew

Click on Pictures to Enlarge
Back row: Pete, Wendy, John, Barry and Me
Front row: Donna, Cheryl and Holly
Taken in Curacao (before the blog) on the Volendam cruise March 2006.
The gang has managed to come together again for a Caribbean cruise. There are eight of us signed up. If you check the blog archives from last March, you'll see the exact same "motley crew" in Hawaii. Before that we all went around the Caribbean on the Volendam. This time we are traveling aboard an Italian ship (the Lirica) registered in Panama leaving out of Fort Lauderdale. It visits 4 places that Wendy and I have never been to before. (Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Antigua, and Dominican Republic) The ad says "With Sophia Loren as Godmother to its ships and a theme of "Beautiful! Passionate! Italian!" MSC is known for celebrating its Italian heritage. Onboard, you'll find cuisine inspired by Italy, not to mention sophisticated decor."

ITINERARY

DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART Mon Feb 18 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00pm Tue Feb 19 At Sea Wed Feb 20 At Sea Thu Feb 21 San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00am 5:00pm Fri Feb 22 St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles 7:00am 4:00pm Sat Feb 23 St. Lucia 8:00am 5:00pm Sun Feb 24 Antigua 8:00am 5:00pm Mon Feb 25 Tortola, British V.I. 7:00am 2:00pm Tue Feb 26 Dominican Republic (Cayo Levantado) 7:00am 3:00pm Wed Feb 27 At Sea Thu Feb 28 Fort Lauderdale, FL 8:00am

Truth In Politics – An Oxymoron.

This being US election year, a candidate decided to go out to the local reservation and try to get the Native American vote. They were all assembled in the Council Hall to hear the speech.

The politician had worked up to his finale, and the crowd was getting more and more excited. "I promise better education opportunities for Native Americans!"

The crowd went wild, shouting "Hoya! Hoya!" The politician was a bit puzzled by the native word, but was encouraged by their enthusiasm. "I promise gambling reforms to allow a Casino on the Reservation!"

"Hoya! Hoya!" cried the crowd, stomping their feet.

"I promise more social reforms and job opportunities for Native Americans!" The crowd reached a frenzied pitch shouting "Hoya! Hoya! Hoya!"

After the speech, the Politician was touring the Reservation, and saw a tremendous herd of cattle. Since he was raised on a ranch,
and knew a bit about cattle, he asked the Chief if he could get closer to take a look at the cattle.

"Sure," the Chief said, "but be careful not to step in the hoya."

With The Forthcoming US Election, I Couldn't Resist This:

Shhhhh ... I said - NO QUESTIONS!
A man walked into a cowboy bar and ordered a beer just as Bill Clinton came on the TV. After a few sips he looked up at the screen and mumbled, "Now there's the biggest horse's ass I've ever seen." Immediately, a customer at the end of the bar got up, walked over, decked him, and left. A few minutes later, the man was finishing his beer when Hillary Clinton appeared on the TV. "She's a horse's ass too," he said. A customer from the other end of the bar got up, walked over, and knocked him off his stool. "Damnit!" the man said, climbing back up to the bar. "This must be Clinton country!" "Nope," the bartender replied. "Horse country!"

I actually really enjoyed listening to Bill Clinton when he came to London at the John Labatt Centre a couple of years ago. He seemed a very clever person as is I'm sure, his wife Hillary. Of all the candidates likely to be President, Hillary may have the best insight into our Canadian situation through her husband's extensive travels in this country. (and he may still enjoy a good Cuban cigar!)

Obama is from Illinois and that's not too bad either since he may understand a bit about us up here in the north. Mitt Romney (a Republican) has a cottage in Grand Bend Ontario, so he has spent some time in our beautiful country and liked Canada enough to invest here.

Whatever the outcome, I hope they elect a President that is a little more savvy about the part we as Canadians play in the make up of the North American continent. A Texan, it would seem could never be very closely aligned with our views or be able to truly empathize with our needs. North America is ONE continent and I believe all it's citizens should be working together to make it better. Instead of putting up barracades between countries, we should all be working to protect the perimeter and partnering to promote the common good for everyone who lives here. Whether we like it or not, Mexico, USA and Canada are all on the same body of land. It's like we're all in the same boat together, so let's get along shall we?

Today is Maintenance Day - BORING!

1) Do up a strap that came loose on the pool cover.
2) Replace the pool perimeter lights' photoelectric switch ('electric eye' as the old timers called it) that was blasted by lightning in the fall.
3) Re-fasten a loose black plastic piece flapping in the wind and protruding from the bottom of Wendy’s car before she loses it.
4) Connect wires to her 'new' replacement power antenna that I partially installed last summer and never got around to looking up the wiring diagrams.
5) Clean garage floor oil spots with varsol to see any lingering leaks from a recent brake line replacement on Wendy's aged Cadillac.
6) Replace the battery in Wendy's car door lock key fob. Check tires/fluids.

Up Around The Bend For My Birthday

Birthday Boy.

Doug's lovely wife Laura

Linda and John invited Wendy and I to come up to Grand Bend and stay over night. Our good friends Doug and Laura live in Grand Bend now too, and they came over to join us. Linda bought not one, but two lamb roasts and they were roasted to perfection for the Staurday evening dinner. She had somehow found out that lamb was one of my favorites. (Wendy?) As hard as it is for me to believe, some of them had never eaten lamb before. I brought a bottle of mint sauce with me, so I was also able to demonstrate that taste experience to everyone. Linda prepared an elaborate and lovely dinner as usual, with spaghetti squash and other treats as well as a decadent dessert.

John and his best friend Monty

Linda looks at an old photo with Doug

We always have a great time with these people and this night was no exception. Later the old photo albums came out from which we all recalled some memories of our younger days. All too soon, the evening ended, but I will always remember it as my best 59th birthday! THANK YOU LINDA!

Birthday Club at Tony Roma’s

Notice the BBQ sauce on my face and fingers as I enjoy the “Classic Back Ribs” with the “Tony Roma’s Red Hot Sauce”.

Today for lunch, Wendy took me to Tony Roma’s Restaurant. I don’t know if anyone actually goes there if they are not members of the Birthday Club, but for the past few years the $18.99 voucher towards any entrée has lured us there the week within which a birthday falls. I suppose in a city like ours pop. 400,000, that adds up to a lot of potential birthday celebrants. We took Wendy’s Mom there in November and cashed in Wendy’s voucher. We both thought that the place had improved significantly lately. The portions seem to be more generous and there were quite a few people there.

Lake Wistful

Our side yard now has a lake due to the melting snow and rain! Too cold to go fishing though. Click on the picture to enlarge

Did I mention, we now live on beautiful Lake Wistful? Too bad it can't last. Look how green the grass is on the golf course beyond the lake. Usually things look pretty brown and dead in January.

High Winds, High Rains, High Temperatures.

A tree in our back yard toppled down in the high wind. (I had previously marked it as dead with blue paint) Saved me cutting it down!
Extreme winds of 40 to 50 mph that sounded like a jet plane, and flooding rain, roared in overnight and closed some roads. The day before yesterday we set some new record temperatures up to 60° F which caused the snow to melt at a lightning speed.

January Blahs

The Holiday season is barely over and already the blahs are starting. I don’t want to sound like I’m kvetching but I guess it’s the letdown after all the hype, although this year I tried not to get caught up too much in the hype. This can be proven by glancing at my MasterCard balance which is not noticeably higher than any other month. Still, the holidays; even though I don’t go to work anymore, seem to evoke a feeling that I don’t feel guilty about not working. I suppose years of ingrained perceptions, conditioning the brain to feel obligated to work, gives a subconscious reprieve at that time of the year. Oddly, I get a similar feeling every weekend; a feeling that I don’t need to feel guilty about not working on those two days. I’ve even used that feeling to procrastinate on other jobs that need doing around the house. I’ll call it “The Weekends Are Mine Syndrome”. I’ve often said to myself “I’ll do that on Monday”. How weird is that? And that’s after a dozen years of retirement! I still feel like, beginning in January, I should be ‘getting back at it’ but of course there is nothing there.

Happy New Year!

Picture of fireworks used with permission Click to enlarge.