Inspirations, the Stories Space Coffee House: If you're reading this it just might mean I'm back, sorta. If you're not reading this, well, congratulations.

Glad to see you back Ape. You’ve got me hankering to try a cruise now.

Same old thang here. Snow is everywhere, though temps are in the 40s today so a lot of it should melt. I am going to try not to walk in the slush, but chores beckon.

Rewriting chapter 5 today. Sigh.

Coffee and a…pancake?

Quote by verbal
You’ve got me hankering to try a cruise now.

Try Alaska. Those cruises run out of Seattle and Vancouver which would be closer to you than the Southern ports where the Caribbean cruise homeport. The Alaska season is kind of May-September, vs. the Caribbean season which runs from November to March (basically outside hurricane season). If you're doing a warm weather cruise, though, most are out of Florida with Galveston and New Orleans as the main non-Florida ports. I haven't sailed from the former yet, but we did the Bahamas out of the Big Easy as our first post-pandemic cruise, as much because I know what it means to miss New Orleans as for the cruise itself.😋

As for lines, Carnival is good but my boss and son have both referred to it as the Walmart of cruise lines. Cheaper, and it shows in some ways. We did Celebrity and Norwegian last year and there are some noticeable differences. For instance, Carnival only has basic black, decaf, and green teas included while Norwegian offers a great selection of Bigelow's, one of my favourite bag teas. If you want any teas beyond the basics on Carnival, it's US$3.99 PER BAG!!!! I can get top grade loose leaf for less than that. They also skew a bit younger, with more families and a bit of a party scene. Celebrity, I think we had one family on board and we seemed to be among the younger cruisers. Forget what the age range on Norwegian was like but it was a Baltic cruise which is going to skew differently from the winter vacation crowd anyhow.

Most of the differences don't bother us and Carnival offers a great selection of itineraries so we usually check Carnival first, then go to other lines if we can't find an itinerary we like with them (which is how we ended up using Celebrity and Norwegian last year). Also we are Gold members in Carnival's VIFP frequent cruiser program so now get some mild perks (one free drink on longer cruises for instance) out of that.

FYI, Carnival seems to own like half the industry now, with Princess, Holland America, Cunard, and Costa being among the lines they own. Our ship this time was actually a Costa ship originally that they transferred to Carnival and rebranded. It still had the original Costa funnel as I realized when we docked next to a Costa ship in one of our ports. Not sure if that is why, but we didn't like it as much as some of the other Carnival ships we have been on.

I can't even with the news today.

Coffee please. Black and bitter.

crickets

Okay, I guess I can get the can of Costco coffee and put it in the percolator. And we have Zoomies tea on the ready.

I hope everyone is well. My daughter has a potentially scary doctor visit today, if you wanna throw some good healing vibes or prayers in her direction, that would be lovely.

Me, I am writing, and on call if she decides she wants me to go to the doctor with her.

Sieze the carp!

Sending good, healing vibes your daughter's way.

I've been a bit absent again. My dad got the flu and it turned into bacterial pneumonia. He's been in the hospital which is a nightmare for someone with dementia. He was doing so well adjusting to being in a memory care unit. Apparently your sodium being out of whack causes havoc. He was making no sense at all and lost strength and mobility. He's improved a bit, so they are hoping that continues. But I'm back to staying with him all day at the hospital. At least I can go home at night. They watch him all the time, but he fights everything they want to do for him. Hopefully this week they will discharge him and he can get back some strength. But he's 92, so not sure how much we can expect. It's awful to watch. It's exhausting and stressful.

I hope everyone else is doing well. I'm sending positive thoughts out into the universe, it can't hurt.

Quote by gillianleeza

Sending good, healing vibes your daughter's way.

Appreciate the vibes. I'll bounce them right back at you - I know how scary a hospital ER can be to someone with dementia. It is indeed sometimes awful to watch. Thinking of you.

It is snowy and windy here - not exactly a blizzard but not far removed. Happily we don’t have to go to in it.

I guess I am making coffee now tea and treats again. The percolator is perking, the tea is abrewing, and the cats are making a nice big batch of rice crispy treats. With hardly any cat spit in them!

I only got about 500 words in yesterday. Gotta hit it hard today. I guess the weather is conducive to that.

Have great day everyone!

And it officially a winter storm warning , which makes it a blizzard in my mind!

tumbleweeds Where is everyone?

You know what they say, when life gives you tumbleweeds, make tumbleweed-ade! In addition to a large carafe of tumbleweed-ade, we have tumbleweed tea! And some tumbleweed bars! Plus our regular Costco coffee.

A warm sunny day. Should be lots of melting snow today in the street. It’ll set us up for a nice weekend.

Daughter will be going in for some major surgery soon. Sigh. Hopefully things will be just fine.

Sieze the carp!

I'll send some more good vibes your daughter's way, Jeff.

Thankfully my father's back at his memory care unit. Three patients there all in the rooms next to him ended up in the same hospital and on the same floor with him. Apparently the flu has been fairly relentless this winter. I spent the morning with him and he's doing better, so I'm going to spend the afternoon napping.

It's a good day for it because it's pouring down rain and windy here today. And I'm leaving the TV off because the news is awful. I can't even think about what that idiot said in the face of the tragedy. I live about 30 minutes from that airport and have flown in and out of there many times, you see helicopters all of the time. It's a chilling thought.

I hope everyone stays healthy and safe. I'm still sending Good vibes to everybody. I think we all need them.

Okay, sorry, I am here. Just kind of busy and still settling back into normal life.

Vibes on your dad, Gil. Dealing with that family stuff is always difficult.

Sunny here but chilly, only -9C going to a high of -7. At least the sun will make it feel warmer.

How about some nice FireRoasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe for the coffee crowd?

For teas, we got Tetley Black Currant and Organic Assam.

Hot water is always available if other teas or hot chocolate are your poison. Sodas and filtered water can be found in the fridge if you're needing something cooler.

Hello, SS!!

Yeesh, quiet. Coffee and tea are refreshed since they were getting cold and stale. Fresh hot water is out, too.

Looking at a story I was working last Fall to see if I feel ready to pick it up again.

I’m glad your Dad back in the memory care unit, Gil. That is a tough road to walk. Thoughts are with you as always. I can’t listen to the news either.

Coffee would be swell.

Gillian, of course you can count on our vibes and support. We all go through hard times on occasion.

I've put Lavazza beans in the coffee maker, and we've got Orange Pekoe and English Breakfast teas on the sideboard.

(checks cookie jars) Hmmmm… gettin' a little thin on the ground here. I'm not a baker, but I'll see what I can scare up for baked goods.

There. Sugar cookies, and cream-filled cup cakes. That should hold most people's sweet teeth (sweet tooths?) for a while!

Have a heart, eh. Good morning. Thanks for the setup, Bear.

Bit grey and meh here and I am nursing the last remnants of last night's headache. Not much else to report. No writing on the weekend, at least for here (got a poem up on another site). Not even sure what to write so maybe my resolution to stick to comps for this year will hold. We shall see.

Later, alligators.

Thanks for setting up. A coffee and a cookie please.

Boo ... I'm sorry for not visiting as much as I should, I blame that on the three year old of mine. Actually on vacation, now that the schools have gone back. Lol, we thought the Australian Alps would be a bit cooler, but it's been 37 C every day. To be fair, these Alps are nothing like those of any other country (apart from possibly the UK,) they are low as.

Cruises, I did one as a fifteen year old, from Vancouver to Alaska on Celebrity with my parents and one brother. We all loved it, the unusual animals both at sea and on land took my breath away ... like who needs kangaroos, cockatoos and koalas. Parents loved it too, and have done more cruises subsequently, and think of Celebrity as a great all rounder cruise line.

Take care, all, these are troubled times.

Quote by CuriousAnnie
Cruises, I did one as a fifteen year old, from Vancouver to Alaska on Celebrity with my parents and one brother. We all loved it

We did Alaska when our son was around that age (out of Seattle). Yeah, that and the Baltic have been my favourite cruises.

37 in the mountains? Eek. I have only been in temps like that once, SW US in August. But I preferred that to the humidity we get around here.

Good morning. Coffee is on. Deathwish Dark Roast today. For teas we have an organic Assam and Earl Grey Cream. Hot water is on for other hot drinks. Sodas are stocked.

Have a good one!

It's a bright sunny day here; I am trying to enjoy it and ignore the sadness that has recently permeated my family's life. I've been making a lot of soups these days, trying to introduce healthier meals. As part of one soup, I made cauliflower gnocchi. It was partially successful. They were tasty but too dense. Trying new things is fun, and hopefully, they work out. The soups have been more successful. I got many recipes from Half-Baked Harvest's creator and cookbook author Tieghan Gerard.

I'm still avoiding the news, but it manages to creep in. The good news is that I have managed to catch up on some reading, which was a good way to ignore everything around me.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying healthy. It's a jungle out there. Take care.

Ape here.

Fire Roasted Fireside coffee is brewing. There's English Breakfast and Raspberry Royale in the teapots. Hot water is on standby for other teas and hot chocolate. There's sodas in the fridge for those sweltering in the South.

Hm. Quiet. Brews a fresh batch of coffee. Puts on more tea.

Busy trying to sort out next vacation. Had been looking at Greece and the Aegean Islands but with the earthquake situation on Santorini and neighbours right now, we are rethinking. Hopefully would die down by the time we go, but geologists don't seem too sure where it is all headed.

(walks in and looks around)

Anyone got a cannon I can fire off in here?

Oh, well – it's Friday. Maybe everyone's out making plans.

I've got some fine Guatemalan dark roast coffee in the pot, plus Darjeeling and Matcha green teas on the side.

Didn't bring any cookies today – anyone got any goodies? Since Sara departed for parts unknown, we've been kinda hit or miss in that department.

Good morning. Thanks for getting the hot bevvies going, Bear. It's Friday and I'm feeling like a special treet is in order, so here's a pecan pie.

Well, I finally managed to get the flu. It's not a surprise considering half of my father's unit has been in the hospital and half the staff is out sick. Apparently this year has been a very bad year for respiratory illnesses. I'll be under my covers praying for a quick end, lol, until further notice.

Stay healthy everyone.

Take care of yourself Gil. Flu is one of those bugs that is sometimes mild but sometimes can really screw you up.

I have managed to avoid viruses so far this winter, which is pretty good given I managed to catch COVID on my cruise last year. But I know they is around. We've had people sick at work. Hopefully, it means my vaccinations are doing their trick but my money is on me getting sick at some point. Just have to hope it's something mild like a cold.

As the great Canadian philosopher Mike Reno once said (well, sang), "Everybody's working for the weekend."

And it's the weekend. What are you working on?

Whatever it may be, we've got your caffeine fix ready. There's Tobermory Grotto coffee. There's Canadian Breakfast and Raspberry teas. Hot water is on if some other tea or hot chocolate catches your fancy. Fridge has a nice stock of sodas if you're needing something cold.

Oh, and if you don't know who Mike Reno is, here he is from 2023, still rocking out at 68 (he just turned 70 this January). He's been lead singer of Canadian rock band Loverboy since 1979, co-founding it with guitarist Paul Dean. Amazingly, the band has kept the same lineup throughout its history save for losing original bassist Scott Smith who died in 2000 at 45.

New day, new week, new ... nah, I'm still the same old me. An ape who thinks he can write stories.

Here's some Columbian dark roast for the coffee crowd. For tea, there's Darjeeling and Earl Grey. Hot water is ready for other hot beverages.

No writing going on, just ideas floating around in my head. I may get there eventually.

Ghost town in here. I'll just do a quick batch of Tobermory Flowerpot Island and a pot of Assam tea, just in case someone comes around.

Later.

I'm here. It's cold and snowing. Sorry, I've been laying low these last few days. I'm a little scattered. But I'm still here.

Writing goes well, though it has become really difficult to listen to the news.

Coffee please.

Quote by verbal
Writing goes well, though it has become really difficult to listen to the news.

Tell me about it. It's sometimes hard to tell whether I am supposed to laugh, cry, or scream in rage. Or some combination of the three. I will be interested to see statistics on mental health when this four year term is over. 😕

I have also been trying to avoid the news, but it keeps creeping in. It's all too upsetting these days.

It's been snowing here all day. I love the snow at night when it is still untouched, and all sound is muffled. We went for a walk earlier to enjoy the quiet. Thankfully, most of my flu symptoms, except for my cough, are almost gone, so the walk was not long. Tomorrow calls for more snow, rain, sleet, and/or freezing rain, so I'll happily stay home.

I hope everyone is healthy and staying warm.