Whoomph week finally arrived – it was very busy; the final total from Kelly and I bagging was 128 bags brought back to the recycle😊 … There will probably be another 15 more bags or so but there is one stubborn maple tree that is slow to give up it’s leaves so far 😊. So another year of bagging leaves almost done… and just in time; the (un)trusty tractor broke down again and won’t be back for another week so any remaining leaves will have to be raked by hand 😊. One good thing about raking – it keeps you in good shape (apart from the sore back that you get from bending down all the time to pick up the leaves and bag them) – lost 10 lbs over the last week; but might have put them back on snacking on chips and cookies afterwards 😊The weather has continued to be strange for this time of year – warm days (20C) followed by cold and wet ones (wind chills of -5C), but at least no snow, yet!! The forecast is for some wet snow the week of November 25th … hopefully it won’t impact our vacation plans!! …Kelly and I started going to the Legion on the weekend to play a few games of pool – 6 times so far - Kelly kicks my ass on odd numbered weeks; I get even on the even numbered weeks 😊. The rest of the time is mainly spent on cooking and watching Netflix / Prime series; Game shows on regular TV; and keeping up with the ‘Golden Bachelorette’ – finished last week, still think she could have done better 😊. … And of course, walking Doug the Dog and keeping him well fed with snacks and people food 😊. The Mexico Riviera cruise out of San Diego starts in two weeks time!! Really looking forward to it – we have already booked the specialty restaurants (for our birthdays in Loreto (Kelly) and Mazatlan (me) and a couple of excursions in Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas 😊. The other three ports that we are going to -La Paz, Loreto, and Puerto Vallarta – we will just wander around and enjoy the sights – such beautiful places to explore and relax!! …And of course, being on the Holland America Konigsdam will be an amazing time the service and the food is fantastic 😊!! … and then we come back for 18 days of rest back home..and then go on a New Year’s cruise on the Holland America Eurodam!! What a way to bring in 2025 – at sea 😊!!
The American elections took place last week - Donald Trump won the election and the Republicans managed to take control of both the Senate and Congress giving them a gigantic advantage in ruling the U.S. for the next four years ☹. Trump has already started to select members of his cabinet - Marco Rubio for Secretary of State; Elon Musk (really, another sociopathic billionaire in government) and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency; Matt Gaetz as Attorney General; RFK Jr. Health and Human Services, Doug Collins for Veteran Affairs, Doug Burgum Interior Secretary, and Tulsi Gabbard (a former democrat) as Director of National Intelligence. There will probably be more surprising picks as the week goes on. It will be interesting to see what Trump plans on doing – until the inauguration the Democrats are still in power. He has been floating a tentative peace plan for ending the Ukraine – Russia War – however, it’s pretty weak; a 600mile buffer zone between Ukraine / Russia, Russia gets to keep the territories they invaded and annexed, and Ukraine not to join NATO for at least 20 years ☹. President Zelensky will never go for that – all annexed territory has to be returned, and Ukraine needs to join NATO as soon as possible. Any other solution will find the Russians reinvading Ukraine within a couple of years – and this time they won’t stop at Ukraine; the rest of Eastern Europe will be at risk as well ☹ So, Trump will have to provide a new plan – he probably imagines that if he can broker a negotiation between the two countries that he will win the Nobel Peace Prize – good luck with that!! The inauguration will take place January 20th – what will happen after that is anybody’s guess – mass deportations of illegal immigrants; overhaul of the health plan; abortions being illegal; huge tariffs being imposed on other countries imports; who knows what other restrictions Dictator-Elect, uh, President-Elect Trump will do☹.
The war in the Middle East is still ongoing – apparently there is no stopping Israel from trying to eradicate Hamas and Hezbollah from the Middle East. …And now with Trump coming into power – a staunch ally of Israel – they will probably get full support from the U.S. ☹
The war in Ukraine entered the usual autumn / winter slowdown – both sides were waiting on the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections to determine how to proceed. I still stand by my last prediction – ‘If the Democrats win I figure that the war will be over by late 2025 – in Ukraine’s favour. If the Republicans win Ukraine will lose, more wars will break out in Europe, China will invade Taiwan, Iran will declare war against Israel, global chaos will ensue; … and you might as well kiss your ass goodbye – the world will not be a happy place ☹’ – well, we know how that turned out; the Democrats lost and Dictator Trump will be in power in January ☹ After the election both the Russians and the Ukrainians started increasing their attacks against each other – the Russians have made significant gains in the East and South, and have increased their daily bombardment of cities and towns by hundreds of drone and missile attacks ☹ The Russians have an objective – to successfully counter the Eastern resistance by January 20, 2025 – before Trump comes into power; this will give them bigger bargaining chips for encouraging the adoption of his peace plan. The Ukrainians continue to have success with the destruction of ammunition facilities and military installations deep into Russia – the other day saw over a hundred drone attacks – including 38 in and around Moscow!! The Ukrainians are beginning to develop their own cruise and ballistic missile program – it should be ready by spring 2025 – which will enable them to strike deeper into Russia without needing permission from other countries to do so. So right now it’s a close race between the two powers – and the finish line is 20 January, 2025 – inauguration day ☹
A lot of home cooking has been going on as usual – pasta dishes; Beef and Pork Roasts with roast veggies; Ham and Cheese Quiche; Chicken and Beef Curries; Shepherds’ Pie; lots of Paninis – Pastrami and Montreal Smoked Meat; Chicken, Shimp, and Sausage Paella; Steaks; BBQ hamburgers and sausages; and many other dishes. My plan is to go back to trying new recipes and food ideas. We will see how that works out 😊.
On the Netflix and Prime front: We have watched several series in the past two weeks: Two seasons of ‘The Law According to Lydia Poët ’ – an Italian historical crime drama loosely based on the life of the first modern female lawyer in Italy. Although Lydia solves a crime in every episode there is a running story line throughout the whole series focusing on Lydia and her fight for equal rights for women. Excellent series – lots of humor, well-scripted, and beautifully filmed with stunning scenery of Turin and it’s countryside. ‘The Cook of Castamar’ – based on a novel by Fernando J. Múñez – a Spanish period romance about a woman, who after the execution of her father, takes refuge in the kitchens of a Ducal estate as a cook and ends up falling in love with the Duke of Castamar. Lots of intrigue, romance, and plot twists😊. Beautifully filmed and well acted. Just started ‘The Empress’ – a German historical drama based on the Austro-Hungarian Empire around 1854, just before the Crimean War. Duchess Helene of Bavaria is to be engaged to young Emperor Franz Josef, but the Emperor chooses her sister, Elisabeth, instead. Beautifully filmed on location in Vienna, well-scripted, and well acted, lovely costumes and beautiful architecture . I am in the process of adding more reviews to the website – and will update the links to this blog this weekend.
On the NHL front – The regular season continues to plod along – the Toronto Maple Leafs are 18 – 10 – 6 tied for 3rd in their division with Carolina, and the Seattle Kraken are 4 – 4 – 1 in 11th place in their division; still too early to say if this will be a good season or not for both teams.
On to baseball – The World Series Championship completed with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the New York Yankees to win the series 4 - 1.
On to golf … The Fedex Cup Fall Series are into the last two PGA tournaments for qualifiers to earn enough placement points to retain their PGA cards for the upcoming season. Those players finishing in 51st to 60th in the rankings will also receive invitations to play in the special events that have larger payouts and more points to be earned. Mackenzie Hughes is currently in 51st and Nick Taylor is on the cusp in 59th position – they are both playing this week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
NFL news – The Seahawks after Week 10 are 4-5 having lost 5 out of their last 6 games ☹ Metcalf was out injured the last two games and it showed – the offensive side played horribly and Geno Smith made a lot of rookie mistakes☹ Last week was their bye week so hopefully they will be more rested and have players come back from the injured list but their first game back will be against San Francisco – they need to win this one in order to have any chance of making the playoffs ☹
Have a great and safe month … pray for Dictator Trump not to destroy the world through stupidity … we will see you in a bit!! 😊