Travel Tuesday - The Man's 50th Birthday Trip - Halloween

Rather than looking back at 2024 - which was more or less an average sort of year, I thought it would be fun to look at the Man's favourite holiday, Halloween, as spent on a cruise ship.

We weren't sure what to expect as we know Halloween is different in Europe than North America. Given our carry on only, we didn't pack costumes. Some guests did. There were many witches on the ship, and a few very elaborate costumes. 

The entertainment staff and entertainers (and some of the bar staff), went all out. Here are some of our favourite moments. 

This woman did a great job at staying in character all evening

I thought they made people walk the plank on a ship?

It took forever to get this face paint off! 

Chris hates clowns so I got this clown to bug him all night. It was so much fun! 

When the cute woman asked, Chris let his face be painted! 

This is one of my favourite pictures ever of the Man. He is actually telling a story about me in a haunted house, and pretending to be me.  (in fairness, it was a haunted house done by a movie studio . . . so for someone who doesn't love scary things, it was a lot!)

This is Chris watching a family sitting next to us give their 8 year old alcohol

We had a really fun time celebrating Halloween. Lots of laughs. 

Next week, we will go back a few days, to our stop in Malaga Spain where I learned so much about Picasso. 

Mischief Monday - A Pre-Holiday Scare - by Phod

Dear pals,

You know that I try to be a very good boy and make my people's lives easier, but sometimes my old body doesn't cooperate.

On the Friday before Christmas, I was feeling very poorly. I was really struggling with my back end. I wouldn't eat. I wouldn't poop.

Me passed out in the sun

Lady suddenly was a vet and gave me some gabapentin she had.  This was the best and worst decision. It was good because it did seem to help later, but in the short term, I was so stoned I couldn't really move. I tried and got myself in a bit of a pickle and Lady had to help adjust her 80 lbs of love, completely stoned out boy, which was funny and sad, while Lee looked on (Man was at the office, Lady was working from home).  After this Lady threw the gabapentin away and switched me to medicam she had for Lee. (again, she thinks she is a vet). 

It was a stressful maybe 48 hours for the people, who really thought they were going to have to say goodbye to me. This resulted in the purchase of a chicken for me (don't worry, Lee made me share). As you may recall, I am allergic to chicken, it makes me itchy, but I love it and my Man thought if this was the end I should get a special meal. What the chicken, and the medicam and the rest did, was get me to eat, and poop and within 72 hours, I was back to my old, old self.

It wasn't the best start to Christmas, but Lady says, more time with me was the best gift she could have gotten.

Even after all of that, I still got this kind of treatment on Christmas!

Your pal, old, but still going even if he is now a little itchy, Zaphod

FFF Nature Friday - Deer

 Thanks to Aunty-Yam for hosting FFF and to Rosy and Sunny for hosting Nature Friday.

Lady was sitting at her desk last week, working away and suddenly she knew she was being watched. She looked up to see this beautiful face.

It was a healthy looking deer friend who was staring at her. Given her extra weight (which is really important right now), Lady and Man have dubbed her "Fluffanella".

To the birds- by Fluffanella

Birds with your beautiful wings

And songs that make the short days bright

Be good friends and when there is light

Drop some bird seed down for me so I can eat too, 

This is what good neighbours would do.

Travel Tuesday on a Thursday - Man's 50th Birthday Trip - An Evening in Funchal Portugal

Due to a scheduling change in our itinerary, we were only in Funchal from 4-9:30 pm. To be honest, before this trip I had never heard of these islands, and had no expectations, so it was an ok port to be short. 

Given the timing, we ended up doing the hop on bus! Unfortunately, there was no time to hop off, but we did get the 1.5 hour tour. This allowed us to see a lot of the area, and learn some information in a very economical way. 

The hop on bus map!

Funchal is the capital of Portugal's Madeira archipelago. It has a population of just over 100 000 people. It was settled in the early 1400s and was survived a lot of pirates.  Sit back and enjoy a tour around the west side of the island. 

The cable cars that take people up the mountains

                    

Pirates mean there is a lot of fortification around the island

Agriculture is an important industry on the island they maximize the space for it. 

Wish I had time to explore the cemetary

The sun starting to set on the hills

The setting sun

Hills of grapes for wine

The sun setting over the city

Plantains are one of the major exports

This statue of Icarus to honour the death of workers killed building the city

After our hop on bus, as it was getting dark and things were closing, we found a restaurant in the harbour and had dinner. Generally we eat on the ship (easier for food allergies), but given this was a short port, we thought it would be nice to enjoy some local cuisine. 

A fun sculpture made of garbage with our ship in the background

Europe does food allergy menus so much better than North America. It is so much easier to eat out, even in places where the menus weren't in English. Here is a sample. You can see it lists all the common allergens that the dish contains on the menu. 

One of the major exports of Madeira is wine. I was excited to try a semi-sweet Madeira wine. It did not disappoint. 

I tried a Portuguese steak for dinner. It did not disappoint. 

After a nice relaxing dinner, we walked back to the ship. 

While it was a short port, we did enjoy our brief time in Portugal. Come back next week when we will take a break from site seeing to share the fun of Halloween (the Man's favourite holiday) on the ship. 

Merry Christmas!

 

Twas The Night Before Christmas

And all through the house

The dogs were annoyed

They wished there was a mouse

Who would distract the Lady from making them pay the hat tax. 

Merry Christmas Eve!

Mischief Monday - The Wrong Pattern by Lee

 Dear pals,

Lady inherited a chair from Missy G, that while the frame was beautiful, the seat needed to be replaced. This chair sat in the garage for 4 years, until on her birthday this year, Lady decided to take it in to have the seat replaced.  After looking at a million different fabrics, the owner said she had some leftover material that would make this chair special. Lady loved it and said yes.

6 months later the chair was ready (with a little stool too).

At the store ready to come home.

Besides smelling weird, I wasn't impressed with fabric choice. Birds and not dogs???

Birds were one of Missy G's favourite things and while Lady is sure she would approve, and like the recovering of her favourite little stool, I am not as big a fan. All I can say is that this chair has gone to the birds!

your pal, dogs would have been a better pattern, Hailey Bug

Nature Friday - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

And it looks like I am going to get it! 

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event.