Musing, blogging, reflecting, affirming, complaining, documenting
Our Mostly Social Book Club has been meeting for 32 years. We all worked together (at IBM) when we started the group, so now we’re all “of a certain age”—let’s just call it “retirement age” since we all are now. We read 16 books in 2023, and at yesterday’s meeting, we thought about picking our … Read more
My top-ten books for 2023 with my 10-word summaries and 6-word reviews of each: ???? ??? ???????? ???? ?10-word summary: Three sisters reconnect facing the unresolved loss of their sibling. ?6-word review: Compelling unraveling of familial emotional trauma. ???? ?? ??? ???? (16 dark, dark short stories) ?10-word summary: Dark short stories exploring poverty, addiction, … Read more
Connections In June of 2023, the New York Times introduced a new game called “Connections.” I started playing it in July. Here’s how it works and how the July 9, 2023 puzzle worked out for me to give you a feel for how it works if you’re not familiar with it. Here are the rules: … Read more
It’s Tuesday, June 20, 2023 and our 11-hour port call today was from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Olden, Norway. 6:00 – 8:00 am: Sailing the Norwegian Coast. Enjoy scenic views from Observation Lounge (Deck 17), Surfside Café and Grill (Buffet, Deck 17), Sun Deck (Deck 18 forward), or from your own balcony cabin. … Read more
It’s Monday, June 19, 2023 and we had an 11-hour port call from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Ålesund, Norway. 9:00 – 11 am: Sailing the Norwegian Coast. Enjoy scenic views from Observation Lounge (Deck 17), Surfside Café and Grill (Buffet, Deck 17), Sun Deck (Deck 18 forward), or from your own balcony cabin. … Read more
It’s Sunday, June 18, 2023, and today was an “at sea” day, which means no port call—and extra BearCruise-organized activities! We were en route from Iceland to Norway. Noon: If you are looking for someone to join for lunch, meet at The Indulge Food Hall (Deck 8 Aft) or the Surfside Café and Grill (buffet, … Read more
It’s Saturday, June 17, 2023 and our 10-hour port call was from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Akureyri, Iceland. Until 4:00 pm: In port. 6:45 am – 2:00 pm: Tour of North Iceland excursion – Meet on the dock at 6:45 am, and look for our group. Excursion leaves promptly at 7 am and … Read more
It’s Friday, June 16, 2023 and our port call to Ísafjörður, Iceland was canceled due to an expansion project to the port, which didn’t finish in time. So we’re going from Reykjavik directly to Akureyri, Iceland, which would have been tomorrow’s port call, and we’ll stay there overnight. Happy Birthday, Paul Henfrey! 8:00 am – … Read more
It’s Thursday, June 15, 2023, and we arrived at 6:05 am in Reykjavík, Iceland on Iceland Air Flight 630. 8:00 – 9:00 am: Transfer from Keflavík Airport to Skarfabakki Harbour cruise port. Our friend Cronin arrived within minutes of us (on a direct flight from Raleigh), and we caught the same bus provided by NCL … Read more
It’s Wednesday, June 14, and our long-awaited cruise to Iceland, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, and England leaves out of Reykjavík, Iceland tomorrow afternoon. center We usually get up between 3-4 a.m. to catch an early flight to our vacation destinations, so it was nice to have a mid-morning flight for a change. Our itinerary: Upgrade to … Read more