The month of February has been pretty mild at home with very little snow and moderate weather – except for a four day stretch that saw temperatures around minus 28 Celsius – and the last couple of days when there was an ice storm and we had some tree damage on our property 
. There might be a little snow this week and maybe some more in March, but hey, winter is almost over!! … And it was certainly warm the first ten days – we finally made it to our Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette!! When we arrived in Miami it was a balmy 28 degrees (85 F) and except for a few hours of rain in St. Kitts that was the average for the next ten days. We went to 6 ports in the Caribbean; Puerto Plata, San Juan, St. Croix, Antigua, St. Kitt’s, and St. Maarten; and had three sea days. We went to three beaches – St. Croix, Antigua, and St. Kitt’s – and strolled around the other ports. I’ll write up the ports visited on separate blogs … too much information to do on one blog. The Silhouette itself was a little disappointing. We met a lot of great people but the quality of food and the level of service was no where close to where it had been before the pandemic. Apparently it’s the same with most of the other cruise lines but in my mind they are using the pandemic as an excuse – cruises cost about $2000 more than previously but services have declined by about 40 percent!! It might have just been the Silhouette – sometimes the captain and senior officers can have a bad effect on the rest of the crew; I’ve seen it before. But a lot of this crew were rude and inefficient. So next December we are going to try a different cruise line – Holland America. We’ve booked an eleven day Mexican Riviera cruise on the Konigsdam going to familiar places – Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan – and several new ones – Manzanillo, Loreto, La Paz, and Cabo!! One good thing from the Silhouette cruise - Doug the Dog had a great time at the kennel, so at least he had a great time!!
The war in Ukraine is still dragging on one year after the Russian invasion (not ‘military operation’ ) February 24th, 2022. Estimates of casualties are approximately 150,000 on both sides. The Ukrainians have been getting ready for a big Russian offensive that should probably start in March. The Western countries are providing billions of dollars for armaments – Leopard 2 tanks are starting to be delivered from Poland and Canada; about another 80 will be provided by some other European countries – but the Ukrainians still are requesting, and hopefully getting, long range missile systems, jet aircraft, and anti-air artillery. But delivery is slow and might not be in time for the Russian offensive. China is calling for peace talks while apparently supporting Russia with lethal and non-lethal equipment and armament. Belarus is upping its’ army by 150,000 ‘volunteer’ troops. The Russian people are starting to question the news, however, people are being arrested and detained for putting flowers on Ukrainian poets and writer’s statues that still stand in Russia. Yevgeny Prigozhin – the founder and head of The Wagner Group (his own personal mercenary army) - appears to be out of favour with the political and military heads of the Russian government; they appear to fear his growing political clout, so there might be a bit of a power struggle there. I would say the next two months are going to be decisive on whether Ukraine can throw out the Russians and restore their borders back to those in January 2014. So, again, Ukraine’s best bet is to keep on the offensive, get more air defenses and military equipment from the West, and kick the Russians completely out of Ukraine. Oh, and as I have said before; have someone kill Putin … that man is insane.
… We are back to cooking on a regular basis with the occasional sortie to the Aylmer’s Farmer’s Market on Saturdays … we like snacking on ‘Uncle Dad’s Pizza’ and ‘Mr. Amish’ cheese and pepperettes 
.We’ve had beef and chicken curries; chicken and shrimp stir fries; beef stews; homemade meatballs and pasta; shepherd pies; Mediterranean chicken with grape tomatoes and olives; Szechuan omelet with green beans; and lots of steaks and burgers. Oh, and making a Pork Rendang for tonight’s supper .
We are still watching ‘Love Boat’ on Paramount – halfway through Season 7, time for Julie to go to rehab. On the weekends we watch YouTube videos of places that we will be going to next December – looks like we will enjoy Manzanillo and Loreto . I’ve Season 3 of ‘La Reina Del Sur’ with Kate del Castillo – 60 episodes – and it was my favorite season so far… they left a bit of a teaser at the end, looks like there will be a Season 4!! I watched the final season of ‘Sky Rojo’ – that was definitely the best and most action packed of the three. I watched another show – can’t remember the name and seems to have disappeared from Netflix – about a girl that was kidnapped back in 2010 from Malaga, Spain – and makes reappearances in 2016 and 2019. It wasn’t bad, but apparently it wasn’t memorable either . I just started a French series – ‘Public Enemy’ – that’s about a child serial killer released from prison after twenty years and trying to start a new life in a monastery; except someone starts killing children in the area – is it him, or is it a copycat murderer? This is one of the best thrillers – albeit a bit of a slow burn – that I have seen in the past three years. Right up there with ‘The Break’, ‘Hotel Beausejour’, ‘Tabula Rasa’, ‘Under Cover’ – all by the way Belgian series.
On the NHL front -Toronto are in still in fourth place in the Eastern Conference; Seattle Kraken were in fourth place in the Western Conference only two points behind first place, but they have slipped to fifth and six points behind. Montreal has actually won their last five home games!! … And still stayed close to the bottom with Ottawa
On to golf … The WM Open in Arizona two weeks ago had a couple of Canadians finish in the top 10; Nick Taylor was 2nd ($2.11 M U.S.) – he made more money coming in second than he has in his only 2 PGA tour wins; Adam Hadwin tied for 10th ($440K U.S.). Last weekend it was The Genesis Open in California – all five Canadians made the cut but only one finished in the top 10 - Adam Hadwin came in 9th for about $450K U.S. John Rahm won for over $3.2M U.S.!! This weekend is ‘The Honda Classic’ in Florida – four Canadians started; only two – Taylor Pendrith and Adam Svensson – made the cut. With any luck both of them should finish in the top ten .
NFL news – Super Bowl happened; Philadelphia lost – Kansas City won. That’s all I’ve got – except, don’t have Rihanna do a halftime show again; sorry . Now, just have to see what Seattle resigns Geno Smith for and what they pick at the draft in April!!
Have a great and safe week … pray for Ukraine … we will see you in a bit!!