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One Thing or Another: Cruise Control (All Aboard!)
It’s always One Thing or Another… a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.By Mark McNease
“There’s something very depressurizing about boarding a cruise ship. The daily, mundane, pressures of life that bear on you the rest of the time are suddenly lifted, falling away like a jacket let slip from your shoulders.”
Spending time on a floating hotel was never high on my wish list. I no more imagined going on a cruise than I imagined climbing the pyramids at Machu Picchu or hiking the Appalachian Trail. I didn’t have anything against them, they were just things other people did, feature stories in travel magazines I read when I was still flying by choice and not necessity. Then I met the man I’ve spent the last twelve years with, and cruising entered my life. That can happen when we enter relationships: if you enjoy the unexpected, meet the person of your dreams.
My first cruise was just three nights over a Labor Day weekend, out to some cay and back. I didn’t just like it. I loved it. Cruising quickly became a favorite way to vacation for me. I also like spending nights in hotels for some of the same reasons: no chores, no clean up, no appointments, unless it’s a massage or a shave/facial combination. Cruising is that times twenty, with the added bonus of feeling young at fifty-nine on a ship of retirees.
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Dave Hughes: Confronting the Realities of Retirement Travel
Guest Column by Dave Hughes
RetireFabulously.comOne of the greatest benefits of retirement is that it affords you the opportunity to travel more than you could during your working years, when you are limited to a fixed number of vacation days each year.
While it’s true that you will have more time to travel after you retire, there are a number of realities that could impact your ability to spend your retirement years exploring the world.
None of these considerations are show-stoppers. This article will help you anticipate these issues, plan your travel realistically, and manage your expectations for what traveling after you retire will really be like.
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The Twist Podcast #74: The Cruise Life, Miss National Sweetheart, Oktoberfest in Wisconsin, and America’s Supreme Side Show
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we share reviews of a Canadian cruise, happenings in Madison WI, the National Sweetheart Pageant, and the Brett Kavanaugh Sideshow.Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher,YouTube, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing
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‘Black Cat White Paws’ Audiobook Now Available, Read by Holly Palance
The audiobook for Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery, is now available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. Narrator Holly Palance does an amazing job of bringing to life Maggie, her sister Gerri, the world of Lambertville, New Jersey, and the mystery that lies hidden at the heart of this riverside town. Are you listening?
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Birthday Dinner Somewhere Off Nova Scotia
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Good Morning, Portland ME
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: There Is No Place Like Home
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
I was recently contemplating my shoes, which, along with clothes and boxes of books, are the only closeted things in our home.
That morning I’d noticed my sweetheart had attached a magnet depicting Dorothy’s ruby shoes to our back door. Now, I’m as big a fan of The Wizard of Oz as the next gay person, but those shoes were never particularly significant to me. Which might be because, as a little kid, I read and reread the 1903 edition of The Wizard of Oz handed down to me from my considerably older brother and, perhaps, from my father before him. The inscription from Grandma and Grandpa Lynch is: “To read on train to North Dakota. March, 1939.”
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Book Review: Whiskey When We’re Dry, by John Larison
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Whiskey When We’re Dry” by John Larison
c.2018, Viking $28.00 / $35.00 CanadaIt was right here a minute ago.
You saw it, but now it’s gone and you have to find it. Beneath a newspaper, atop a shelf, under a blanket, wherever it is, it was just right here – and as in the new book “Whiskey When We’re Dry” by John Larison, you’d search years to have it back.
Jessilyn Harney never knew her mother.
She died in childbirth, leaving Jessilyn’s father to raise Jessilyn and her brother, Noah, who was five years older. Noah took care of Jessilyn when their father drank too much syrup. He was a good brother, making sure she was warm, dressed, and protected – until the year she turned thirteen and, as young men are wont to do, Noah had a fight with his father and he rode away.
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Book Review: The Royal Art of Poison, by Eleanor Herman
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“The Royal Art of Poison” by Eleanor Herman
c.2018, St. Martin’s Press $27.99 / $36.50 CanadaIt must’ve been the salad.
You had three helpings of Aunt Rudy’s famous family reunion contribution and it sure tasted good. Until later that night and then… not so good for the rest of the weekend and into Monday. It must’ve been the salad because, as in The Royal Art of Poison, by Eleanor Herman, you spent awhile on the throne.
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Author Michael Nava Discusses Character Portrayals with Actors in ‘Henry Rios’ Podcast
Author Michael Nava’s iconic and seminal Henry Rios mystery series is now a podcast. In this clip you can see Nava interviewing actor Cameron LaBrie.
Watch all of the author’s interviews with series actors at his YouTube channel.
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The Twist Podcast #73: Binary Shaming, Public Grooming on the N Train, and Omarosa, Evil Genius
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we take a look at the headlines, the rise of binary shaming, makeup application as public grooming, and the evil genius that is Omarosa.Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher,YouTube, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2018 MadeMark Publishing
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Dining Remains an Event at Marsha Brown: 5 Yums
This marks the return of my popular restaurant reviews that ran for several years on my original blog.Reviews are based on a 5 Yum scale, 5 being must-go, 2 being save your money, 1 being call an ambulance.
Where: Marsha Brown, New Hope, PA
Price: $$$$
Fun new word: Housemade (my use, not theirs)My husband Frank decided to surprise me with dinner the night before our 5th wedding anniversary (I usually say marriage, since we didn’t have a wedding). I thought we were going to a Cuban restaurant in New Hope, but he stopped in front of the large sign outside Marsha Brown and said, “Here we are.”
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Surprise Anniversary Dinner at Marsha Brown (New Hope)
