It’s been 1 month since my last update – just before departing for our last cruise. This blog is just a quick summary as our next cruise departs tomorrow – there will be more updates in about two weeks after the next cruise. The cruise onboard Zaandam was excellent – good food, good people, good ports, and almost good weather; mainly hot but with a couple of cool seadays 
. The next cruise starts on 03 January on the Konigsdam for an 11 day cruise to the Caribbean.
I’ve separated the ship activities and ports visited into separate pages:
The weather back home was … and has been … horrible 
. Most of Southern Ontario has been hit with severe weather conditions over the past month – the two weeks that we were gone saw over 1.5 metres of snow and ice accumulate and extreme sub zero temperatures and winds that caused extensive damage and numerous power outages over the region. Since we have been back there have been more snow squalls, ice storms, high winds, and more power outages. 2025 has been an extremely strange year for weather – very unpredictable with more snow than usual; heat waves one day, bone-chilling temperatures the next; extremely dry spells followed by days of flooding; crops being planted late due to inclement weather, harvests not occurring until late November – in the snow. Hopefully 2026 will be better but it looks like the first three months are going to be a repeat of last year .
And two weeks after that will be an 11 day cruise to the Caribbean on the Konigsdam . I will do an update after each cruise .
The Ukraine / Russia war continues … and continues … and continues and will probably continue indefinitely. The 28 point peace plan drawn up by the U.S. and Russia a couple of months ago and unacceptable to Ukraine has been reduced to 20 points – and is unacceptable to Russia. The main sticking points are due to what Putin has demanded all along: the Donbas (Luhansk and Donesk) turned over completely to Russia; Crimea recognized as Russian territory; reduction of the Ukrainian military to 600,00 personnel; banning of long range Ukrainian missiles; and Ukraine being neutral and renouncing it’s intention to join NATO. This proposed peace process is a joke – and everyone in the world realizes it, with the exception of Trump and his ‘advisors’. Ukraine and the European Union understand that Ukraine giving up any territorial rights and returning the Donbas to Russia would be basically capitulation by Ukraine. Putin wants the Donbas returned in order to remove the heavily defended fortified cities that are preventing him from spearheading a massive attack into the rest of Ukraine – and then using Ukraine as a springboard to attack the Baltic Countries and Poland. The Baltic Countries have estimated that this might happen as early as 2027 – Germany expects to be attacked by Russia by 2030. Meanwhile while the so-called peace process continues to be bogged down Russia keeps attacking civilian targets and infrastructure – Ukraine keeps retaliating against military targets and oil refineries. Oh, here is a lighthearted little event that occurred recently – Russia claimed on December 29 that one of Putin’s residences in Valdai in the Novgorod region came under attack from Ukrainian drones. Of course Russia immediately moved t threats, stating that Russia had already identified targets for a ‘retaliatory strike’ and accusing Kyiv of ‘state terrorism’. Only one problem, actually several: There is no evidence, no air defence footage has been released, no drone crashes were recorded, locals haven’t seen or heard any attacks, the number of drones reported were changed twice (98 to 38), and the time of the supposed attack changed. No damage was recorded, no mention of where Putin was at the time, and… strangely enough pieces of drones were found two days later where they hadn’t been before. This is the usual Russian disinformation tactic – to confuse the peacemaking process, cast doubt into the minds of Ukraine’s allies, and to give Russia a reason to continue massive missile and bombing attacks and kill innocent civilians. In other words never believe any information that comes from Russia. At least they could have made the attack more believable by setting up the attack prior to the report instead of manufacturing ‘evidence’ after the supposed incident. Breaking news: The CIA has discredited the attack on Putin’s residence saying that it did not happen – Trump now agrees with that conclusion.
Breaking news: “Intelligence services assess with high probability that there will be a transition from manipulative influence to an armed provocation by Russian special services with significant human casualties. The expected timeframe is on the eve of or during Christmas, according to the Julian calendar, on January 7. The location of the provocation may be a religious site or another facility with high symbolic significance, both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. To fabricate evidence of Ukraine's alleged involvement, plans include using debris from Western-made attack drones, which would be delivered to the site of the provocation from the line of combat.” …and so it begins… how many innocent people will be killed by Putin to promulgate a lie .
…And now, some of the latest from President Donald Trump:
- His decision to deploy the National Guard to protect Chicago has been rejected by the Supreme Court – surprising decision considering the Court usually sides with Trump. Breaking news: Trump just announced that he is pulling back the National Guard from all cities that he deployed them too – Portland, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Washington, etc. .
- The Kennedy Center board of trustees – all appointed by Trump earlier in the year – voted to rename the Kennedy Center to ” The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts”. According to Trump he had no idea that this was going to take place and is ‘deeply honored’. Right. Many performers and concerts have been cancelled in response to this outrage. ‘Hey, Donald – you can’t rename a memorial, dumbass!!’
- Trump continues to declare war on countries that supposedly harbor ‘narco terrorists. Boats have been attacked and sunk; many crew members have been killed; the CIA has conducted covert attacks against land targets in Venezuala. The US navy task force deployed to the Caribbean has been augmented to at least 8 warships and tens of thousands of military personnel. The US has also deployed F-35 fighter jets to its bases in the Caribbean and has reopened the Roosevelt Roads navy facility in Puerto Rico. Overkill? Yes … and Trump hasn’t ruled out land based military activity against Venezuela.
- Impossible to keep track of his idiocies so I won’t even try … the man is plainly crazy.
The tragedy of the war in the Middle East is still ongoing despite being two months into the first phase of Trump’s peace plan – Israel continues to violate the ceasefire – in 2025 alone Israel carried out thousands of attacks in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, with at least 10,600 attacks recorded across multiple countries including Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Yemen, and Quatar. Israel has destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in Gaza since the ceasefire levelling entire neighbourhoods. Heavy rains have flooded the Gaza plains – Israel continues to block humanitarian relief. Trump and Netanyahu insist that Hamas return all Israel’s hostages – living and dead – before moving on to phase 2 of the proposed peace plan. Phase 2 will be heavily loaded in favour of Israel – and the inhabitants of Gaza will continue to suffer .
On the cooking front over the last three weeks we have had: a lot of food on the Zaandam in the specialty restaurants and the main dining room . At home waiting for the next cruise we have had the usual: Steaks; Hamburgers; Chicken Curries; Chicken or Pastrami Paninis; and many other dishes . We can’t wait to sample the food on the Konigsdam in a few days .
On the Netflix front: I’ve watched a few series in the past three weeks - Dexter Seasons 1 -8 – American – Police/Murder/Serial Killer – Excellent, although last season was disappointing – can’t wait to watch ‘Dexter – New Blood’, and ‘Dexter – Resurrection’; finished watching ‘Landman’ Season 1 and the first 6 episodes of Season 2 on Paramount – a drama about the Texas oil industry, drug cartels, and crime – Excellent; Seasons 1 and 2 of ‘Tulsa King’ and just started Season 3 – Very good; We watched Season 3 of ‘Home for Christmas’ – a Norwegian romantic comedy that was fun to view; and there might have been others but as I get older my memory tends to slip .
On to Sports:
On the NHL front – the regular season is almost halfway over - the Toronto Maple Leafs are in second last place in the Eastern Conference but only 10 points behind the leaders Carolina Hurricanes. The Seattle Kraken are in 10th place in the Western Conference 25 points behind the Colorado Rockies.
On the MLB front – Nothing going on until April .
On to golf … Nothing much happening now in the offseason. The regular 2026 PGA Tour season begins the week of January 5-11 with The Sentry Open in Hawaii.
NFL news – The regular NFL season is almost over with only two weeks to go – the leader in the standings for the AFC is (surprise!!) the Denver Broncos and for the NFC the …get ready for this … the Seattle Seahawks !! If the ‘Hawks win their last game against San Francisco they will win the NFC West Division and will have the Week 1 Bye in the playoffs … otherwise the honors go to the ‘49’s . The Los Angeles Raiders were eliminated from playoff contention weeks ago and will have the number 1 pick in the NFL Draft in April.
Have a great and safe month … we will see you in a bit!!