Hi, everyone.

It was a chilly 54 degrees F with 79% relative humidity and a good breeze when I took the garbage to the curb at 6:30 this morning. Clad only in my jellaba and Crocs, I made the return trip in record time.

Stillwood, I already have a main lady. I can't picture having another one on the side, no matter how fetching she may be, mink stole, blue hair, peacock earrings and all. But who can blame a lady past her prime for salivating at a tasty morsel such as myself? There are gold diggers of both sexes, sugar daddies and cougars sailing on those ships. And there are ladies and men of the night cruising along, too. When a 20-something girl with 9-inch high heels tells you she has cruised on this ship over 40 times, you know she's in shady business. No, I cruise to get away from it all, not get involved in "romantic" mayhem. For me, a cruise should include the 7 Rs of a vacation: Rest, Relaxation, Reading, Restaurants, Respite, Romeo y Julietta cigars, and Rum. Actually, Claude is also partial to tequila and I am not opposed to that, either.

Joie de vivre, you say? I call myself a member of The Order Of Good Cheer. Gail and I used to cruise with another couple. We got along superbly well. We did 9 cruises together. But Lise (not her real name) spent her whole life in therapy and during our last cruise, we could tell that she was not happy. As a matter of fact, she was just plain taciturn and miserable. As a rule, Lise did not usually swing from the chandelier, but she would gladly have crawled under the carpet, had she been able to lift a corner of it that day. At breakfast that morning, she announced that she wanted to be alone and sort things out today. That's fine with me: sort away, I thought. She went on to declare that she wanted to sit in a secluded corner of the ship and reflect. Again, fine with me; reflection is good for the soul, I am told. Gail and Lise's husband were staring intently into their coffee cup, trying to think of something delicate to say. To me, it was abundantly simple. I placed my hand on hers and told her that we were sailing on a humongous ship; one of the world's largest. Just pick a corner where you'd like to isolate and tell me where that is. And I promised that I would religiously avoid that corner of the ship until tomorrow, or even the day after if need be. Hey, I had 18 decks to choose from and this ship is about 950 feet long. She finished breakfast, repaired to her secluded corner and I went on with my day, avoiding where she sat entirely. Guess whom we saw join us for lunch: Lise in person with a shy grin on her face. Her isolation time was finished and she decided to rejoin the living. Fine with me. I didn't need Lise to have a good time on that ship. Life is too short to spend a cruise day sulking in a corner.

I played with Lucy last night. She tried to rip off my new readers again. I now keep a pair of old dollar store readers by my recliner because Lucy has made it her life's goal to break my new readers. She explored a bit, slid behind my neck and sat there like a scarf. Finally, she slid her head between the corner of my eye and my readers and decided this was a good place for a pampered pet snake to spend the evening. I had changed readers by that time. I was holding her tail with my left hand and reading from my tablet. We had a good time.

I have to get prescription medications at Walmart today. I don't feel like it, but it has to be done. I'll bite the bullet and get myself over there. I also need to make a stop at the small fruit & veggie stand at the corner of our street. I have a yen for a Greek salad. I'm just missing the gorgeous red tomatoes I can only find there, year-round.

Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.

I thought you were going to say that Lise jumped ship.........literally. Glad to hear it ended happily. Is she still in therapy, or have the 4 of you parted ways?

This chair is starting to feel like the old one, same host, some of the old members and some new ones, interesting and lively conversation. It just goes to show as long as the basics are the same, any internet location will do.
Thank you Sylvain and friends!

Anna, after we became weather refugees, Lise couldn't deal with the fact that we had left friends and family behind to go live away from Winter, which basically lasts 7 months of the year in Montreal. How do I put this nicely... life separated us. We tried to stay in touch, but they didn't. So, we drifted away from them and finally parted ways without so much as a goodbye.

Lise calls here once a year for Gail's birthday, sometimes not at all if she's too sad on that day. It's always the same thing: she hates her boss, can't stand her job, life is a piece of toast with sh*%$t on it and she ran out of bread a long time ago, my life is a living nightmare, we are afraid we won't have enough money for our retirement, will the weather ever improve?, etc.

How many therapist does it take to change a lightbulb? Only one. But the lightbulb must genuinely want to change. And I believe that therein resides the problem.

Frankly, I miss him, but not her. Can anyone say drama queen? He was a good friend and we had loads of fun together. He had a wicked sense of humor and we would laugh until we cramped up and tears ran down our cheeks. Gail misses Lise an awful lot. She calls them sometimes, but nobody ever answers the phone. Such is life.

It's only 63 degrees F outside; cold as the dickens for us, now. There was a time, when we lived in Montreal, where 62 degree F was a nice summer day; not anymore. We've become Floridified, I guess. I'm going back inside because sitting out here is just plain unpleasant.

Sylvain.

As I get older, there are people that I just do not care to spend much time with anymore. I am sick and tired of toxic people that can transfer their toxicity to MY life......yes, they can, if I would let them. I do not, and I am good with the world. I do not shut them out of my life forever, I just limit my time with them. Limit it a lot!!!!!!

running out for more bread and cheese to make my sh*%$t sandwich a little more palatable

Sylvain, I am so glad you decided to pop in over here! I haven't been around DG for several years, and their loss is definitely our gain! I'm so thoroughly enjoying your take on life, the universe and everything.

Toxic people are definitely infectious. A good work environment can be destroyed by one individual who carps constantly, complains about every management decision, and spreads dissension among people who would never have gotten unhappy if not for someone saying how terrible everything is. Then instead of constructive suggestions and useful solutions to problems, you get hostile employees and terrible morale. That rotten apple in the barrel syndrome. On the opposite side a single upbeat employee who sees some good in most situations can raise the tone of an entire laboratory by pointing out what is of value to all and how problems can be worked on - not just whined about. Of course, management has to participate in this also - no Simon Legree style decisions and genuine fairness attempts to accommodate employees when it can be done without failing in the company's core mission. Management 101 - move out or on those infectious Downer Debbies (or Downer Freds).

AnnaZ said:I thought you were going to say that Lise jumped ship.........literally. Glad to hear it ended happily. Is she still in therapy, or have the 4 of you parted ways?

Holy moly, I thought the same thing! whew!
(unfortunately, I have 2 close family members who are very much the way Sylvain describes "Lise." Difficult to have a relationship... to say the least.)

" When a 20-something girl with 9-inch high heels tells you she has cruised on this ship over 40 times, you know she's in shady business."

And, unfortunately, I have been busted!

Hi, everyone.

By Florida standards, it's a frigid morning here in Delray-les-Embrums, with 62 degrees F and 63% relative humidity. At least, there is no wind. I can't help but feel sorry for those tourists who wanted to go play shark bait at the beach or toast themselves under the sun to impress the guys back at the office. Florida is tourism-oriented. This could ruin our reputation as a tourist destination.

Big brouhaha in the jigsaw puzzle room right now. Gail and dad are assembling a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of sharpened colored pencils. They have sifted through the box twice to find the edge pieces. And they can't find one of the border pieces. Dad will try sorting the whole lot again because it's bad luck (it seems) to start assembling a jigsaw puzzle without having the border all done. My advice: bag it all up and into the recycling bin it goes. Of course, I've been vetoed on that one, but that's what I'd do. Never play a game where the odds are stacked against you. That's why I don't like casinos.

When Lucy saw me coming towards her vivarium last night, she moved to her cardboard box. I respect the snake's reaction, but I find it sad that I couldn't get my snake fix yesterday. I'll try again today.

There are errands to run today. I'll get moving on that when I am done with this and while my back is not killing me too much. It seems to get worse as the afternoon wears on. Hopefully, it will be livable outside late this afternoon to enjoy a glass of rum and a cigar. We skipped the tradition yesterday. Actually, it had nothing to do with the temperature. I took something for my back mid-afternoon and I slept in my recliner until dinner time. Wasted time is not given back at the end of the day. I could have put that time to good use. Rats!

I have to plan a visit to Costco soon because I need passport pictures. I tried having them done at Walgreen's but the Canadian government rejected the pictures because they didn't meet the size standards. With Costco, they work every time. I'll start early because I will need a passport to travel in December. My current passport expires in June. It feels funny to have to return my old passport with the renewal form. Should I need to travel abroad before I get my new passport, I would have to go to the Canadian embassy in Miami to get official travel documents. I have had a passport since I turned 18. I would feel naked without a passport. The process takes 4 weeks and will set me back $260 for a 10-year passport. But that's Canadian money, so it's a bit of a bargain when you wave American dollars under their nose. The exchange rate is at 45% these days. Yep: if you go to a Canadian bank today and ask for $100 USD, it will cost you $145 Canadian bucks. Quite a few Canadian snowbirds stayed home this winter on account of that, or they shortened their stay from 6 months to 3 or 4 months. That's bad for Florida's tourism industry.

What should I fix for dinner? I have no idea. I hope inspiration hits some time soon because I can't turn bologna into prime rib. OK, to accomplish that transmogrification, I would have to turn cream cheese into bologna first, but it's still a stretch. I might as well cut out the middle man and turn cream cheese directly into prime rib while I'm at it. Come on, brain, think of something already.

Take care, everyone.
Sylvain.
edited because I can't spell this morning.

I forgot the pictures. I often forget the pictures.

One of my orchids has bloomed a few days ago.

Also, the first blooms of my golden chalice vine Solandra grandiflora have appeared. Those vines were started from pitiful cuttings a good while ago. They looked dicey for a long while but they're growing now. I didn't notice them until the blooms had started wilting, but you get the idea. Now if I could find some Hawai'ian sunset vines ( stictocardia beraviensis) to go with that Solandra, it would be a traffic stopper.

Sylvain.

Cream cheese? Stuffed French Toast springs immediately to my mind. Not quite prime rib, tho.

Hi, I am lurking. Good to see so many "Chair:" friends here. I am busy this morning, midst a snow storm, but I am making good use of my time inside. Have mended some chair cushions in the dining room, and am going to organize and put into binders all the correspondence that pertains to the church, for the historian. There is quite a bit of that!]]

I will be back, maybe only to lurk, but will keep up with my friends.

I'm wondering how big/old my chalice vine plants have to be to bloom...........any ideas, Sylvain? They're looking great in the ginormous pot with trellis, but maybe only a couple feet tall right now.

Love the color of the vanda. I guess I need to go to Florida to pick up a couple two or three different colored bloom ones. I probably could get nicer, larger ones for less down there than I could by ordering them. *sigh*.........twas ever thus.

Anna, my vines are now about 3 feet tall. Propagating them was dicey, and I only saved about 35% of them. I'll start cuttings in April for mailing when all risk of frost is gone. Would you like a few cuttings when the time comes? I seem to remember you had expressed an interest in those when I got those pitiful cuttings. Please let me know.

Sylvain.

Defoe - Hi - I am also one of those "dual" DG and ATP people from Chair. Both places have a lot to offer. I really like the graphics of ATP, the colorful photographs, and many very welcoming people. But it is great to find people I know from Chair on DG also here. I seem to post more here as there are several threads I am interested in and there is no feeling of exclusivity on them as some folks feared (people on most threads at DG were also very welcoming in the past and encouraged me to join in more often). So comfy cushions at both places (although some have had to be mended just like your cushions!).

Sylvain,
I thought Lise was going to shun everyone for the rest of the trip. I was hoping she hadn't done anything drastic. I feel sorry for her because she can't find a way to be happy and she left Gail behind who was a good friend. Not the other way around.
I am glad you always find the good things in life and the cruise sounds wonderful!
I always end up laughing about the jigsaw puzzles! I've had a few with elusive border pieces. Eventually it shows up.

Anna, I'm good with the world too.

Hi Bonnie :o)

Oh shucks! I was following this thread to hear and see more about Lucy the gorgeous pet snake and had enjoyed it very much. Very disappointed to be reading disses about other people. Ahh...my own erroneous expectations, I guess! Bye!

Rainbow, we tend to wander like cattle in a field..............go here, go there, and we eventually get back to where we started. Don't leave, please come back. Newbies are always welcome, it's how we broaden our circle of friends!


Edited to add: Sylvain, you were starting some chalice vines for me last year, but it seemed like you said that the rooting turned out to be an abysmal failure so you threw them out. I ordered 2 from..............ummmm.................I can't remember. LOL It might have been Logee's. I have had good luck getting plants from them, they are always nice sized and healthy. So, I guess, no, unless you have scads that root and want to get rid of them other than the trash bin...........I'm always game to see what more I can get of what I already have that I like.

Rainbow,
Lucy is here every day and we are generally a happy bunch.