December went by pretty fast. … we started off with an excellent cruise out of San Diego down the Baja Peninsula and up and around the Sea of Cortez. We had stops in Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan (where we spent the day at our favorite resort El Cid Marina), La Paz, Loreto (amazing town), and Cabo San Lucas😊. I had intended on doing a write up about the cruise and the ports visited in this post but I’ve decided (after filtering through 400 odd pictures) that I’m going to do a separate blog post just on the cruise itself with more details about the ship (Konigsdam) and the individual ports. Suffice it to say that we enjoyed Holland America so much that it looks like it’s going to be our new cruise line of choice. We’ve booked three more cruises within the next twelve months – a seven day Canada and New England tour in May on the Vandaam; ten days back on the Konigsdam next December; and a ten day Western Caribbean cruise on the Eurodam. …And this week we head back to Mazatlan for two weeks!! We love Mazatlan, it’s a great town, and we love staying at the El Cid Marina, good food and good people – and very relaxing. We’ll do a couple of excursions but mainly we’ll just be chilling at the beach 😊.
We’ve had some pretty cold weather over the past couple of weeks – a couple of days saw a low of -22 C with a wind chill of – 35 C!! However, we have been fairly lucky around here with hardly any snow – we only received about 4 inches total over the last couple of days 😊. It hasn’t been that great for people living to the north of us or down across the eastern seaboard in the U.S. … but that’s not our problem 😊. It’s going to get warmer around here this week, maybe up to about plus 6 C, and even warmer in Mazatlan; maybe around plus 28 C 😊.
The war between Hamas and Israel is still going on – about 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, 1200 Israelis killed in the original massacre and about 183 soldiers since then. . Israel is being accused by South Africa of Genocide. The war is spilling over to other countries in the Middle East – attacks by Lebanon in the North, Syria might start attacking; Houthi rebels in Yemen (backed by Iran) have taken to firing missiles at any shipping going into the Red Sea – the U.S. Navy has been fighting back and have bombed installations in Yemen; basically the whole area is devolving into a ‘shit show’ with really no winners or losers ☹.
The war in Ukraine is still dragging on, winter has set in and the counter-offensive is bogging down. But the Ukrainians are keeping up the defense of the eastern and southern battle grounds. The Russians keep throwing thousands of soldiers against the east but at a loss of tens of thousands of soldiers and equipment. They have intensified their drone attacks against Kiev and Kherson – about 500 drones in the past month!! However, the Ukrainians are continuing to manufacture more powerful aerial drones and are targeting Moscow and a couple of other Russian cities – Belgorod was bombed last month by Ukraine. More Russian trains in Siberia have been bombed. The Russian Engel air base was targeted last week; several Russian installations in the Crimea have been attacked and destroyed. There was a rumour on January 4th that Valery Gerasimov – the Russian general commanding all forces in Ukraine – died as a result of a missile strike; but that has not yet been confirmed. Ukraine has established permanent beach heads on the left bank of the Dniepro River – so hopefully they can retake Crimea, which would greatly protect the western part of Ukraine on the Black Sea.
… We are cooking meals as always … but as we’re leaving soon, again … we have to keep it on a daily basis so that we don’t leave too much food in the refrigerator. to fairly simple dishes in order to use up the food in the refrigerator – so grilled sausages and hamburgers; lots of pasta and meat sauces; steaks; and many paninis (roast beef and turkey with bacon and Swiss cheese, etc.). We had steak and shrimp for Christmas Dinner; I baked a Quebecois Tourtiere from scratch for New Year’s; Kelly’s Potato Soup and Onion Soup was excellent and she cooked a turkey as well; and over the past week I’ve made Beef Rendang, Pork Egg Foo Young, and Chicken Pad Thai.
Since we have been back we’ve watched a few Christmas specials; New Year’s Eve in Nashville (which was actually pretty good) and a lot of game shows. We watched Season Eight of ‘Shetland’ on Britbox – it’s been about three years since Season Seven and has some new characters on there. It wasn’t bad, but not as good as the first seven. Last night we started watching ‘Mum’ – a British drama comedy about a widow moving on after her husband’s death and the rather weird family members she has to put up with. It’s actually pretty good. On the Netflix side I watched several series in Spanish, French Canadian, Dutch, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. That can really play with your head. In Spanish I watched ‘Berlin’ (the prequel to ‘Money Heist’) – it was okay, but not as good as the original. The script felt rough and the acting kind of forced. I watched ‘The Golden Hour’ – an amazing Dutch police thriller about a Dutch Policeman of Afghan descent, in an anti-terrorism unit who is tasked with determining who or what is behind an escalating series of terrorism attacks and after his partner is killed, becomes the main suspect. Riveting, exciting, and very well acted. I watched ‘Blanche’ – a French Canadian drama filmed in the ‘90’s that takes place in Quebec in the early 1930’s about an aspiring doctor who leaves her small town to learn medicine in Montreal and her experiences as a nurse in Northern Quebec. Very heart-felt, sort of a ‘Little House On The Prairies’ experience with drama, family, and a little love. I watched ‘Gangs Of Oslo’ – an intense Norwegian police and drug gangs thriller set in the poorer areas of Oslo. A policeman of Afghan descent who is investigating drug gang activity meets up with a child hood friend who just happens to be the leader of the biggest drug cartel in Oslo. Very intense, and very well acted. I’m currently rewatching ‘Occupied’ – a what-if Norwegian series of what might happen if Norway was invaded by Russia in order to keep Norway producing oil. Full of political intrigue and drama it is rather scary to watch as it is extremely realistic in what has actually happened in Ukraine – although in the series the Norwegian Prime Minister buckles under and doesn’t put up resistance. I watched ‘A Nearly Normal Family’ – a Swedish thriller about a girl who was raped four years ago and now in the present is accused of killing the rapist. The series keeps going back and forth between the past and the present and you don’t really know what actually happened back then or who killed the rapist in present time. The best series that I have watched in the past month is ‘Dear Child’ – a German slow-burner of a thriller about a woman’s escape from captivity leads to the truth behind her unsolved disappearance 13 years earlier. …And oh, apparently she now has two children. …And oh, the parents of the girl missing for 13 years insist that the escapee is not their daughter. The mini-series follows the efforts of the police and a detective to find out what really happened, who the children really are, and who the killer / kidnapper might really be. Very well scripted and acted … but very disturbing as well. Speaking of disturbing I also rewatched ‘The Valhalla Murders’, an Icelandic police mystery drama about police investigating a serial killer who appears to be killing all the staff of a former boys reform school. Loosely based on a true story the acting is exceptional and the visual scenery of Iceland is outstanding.
On the NHL front – the Maple Leafs are kind of mehhh, in sixth place in their division (22-13-8) eleven points behind Boston in first. Seattle Kraken (19-17-9)pretty much suck – they are tied for ninth place, seventeen points behind Vancouver.
On to baseball – Well, nothing happening on the MLB front – nothing really happens until spring training starts. However, in the Mexican League of the Pacific (professional baseball) the Venados (Deer) of Mazatlan made it to the playoffs and made it into the semi-finals where they won 4 – 1 in a best of 7 series. So now they are in the finals against the Hermasillo Narjaneros (Oranges) and will be playing three of the games at the stadium in Mazatlan!! It would be great to catch a couple of baseball games while we are there 😊!!
On to golf … The regular Fedex tournaments have started. Under the new format everyone starts at zero Fedex points. The first was the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui, Hawaii – Chris Kirk of the U.S. won for $3.6 M U.S. – there were five Canadians that qualified; Adam Hadwin was the top finisher – 14th for $320K U.S. . Last week was the Sony Open in Hawaii – 6 Canadians started, only Adam Hadwin didn’t make the cut. Three Canadians finished in the top twenty - Nick Taylor tied for seventh ($260K U.S.); Taylor Pendrith tied for tenth ($210K U.S.); and Ben Silverman tied for eighteen ($106K U.S.). This week the PGA comes back to the mainland with the American Express Tournament at La Quinta, California. After 2 rounds Adam Hadwin is tied for ninth
NFL news – Well, Seattle tanked – they lost 6 out of 8 of their last games ☹. Their final record was 9 and 8; they needed the Chicago Bears to win their last game against Green Bay in order to become the final wild-card seed; and that didn’t happen ☹. Eight head coaches were let go on the following week; Frank Reich, Carolina; Josh McDaniels, Las Vegas; Brandon Staley, LA Chargers; Arthur Smith, Atlanta; Ron Rivera, Washington; Mike Vrabel, Tennessee; Bill Belichick, New England (after 24 years); and the most shocking, Pete Carroll from Seattle ☹. Apparently the owner Jody Allen (Paul Allen’s sister) wasn’t happy with the team’s performance over the past couple of years. Paul Allen would never have let Pete go ☹. I can almost guarantee that Seattle will have losing seasons for the next four years no matter who is hired to take Pete’s place. … And unfortunately I can’t see them keeping Geno Smith on as quarterback ☹. So, for the rest of the playoffs I’ll have to support Detroit – who hosting their first home playoff game at Ford Field won against the L.A. Rams and will be playing against the Tampa Buccaneers in the divisional finals this Sunday.
Have a great and safe month … pray for Ukraine … we will see you in a bit!! 😊