First, our Christmas-like European river cruise on Viking was fine.  The problem was me, for I had difficulty sleeping.   U.S. News and World Report  named Viking in their  2025 Best Cruise Line rankings  as #1 for the fourth consecutive year in: Best Luxury Line Best Line for Couples Best Line in the Mediterranean Some other rankings. For families #1 Disney #2 Royal Caribbean #3 Norwegian For money #1 Celebrity #2 Virgin #3 MSC A week ago today for us was near agony, as we left our Zurich hotel in the morning, caught a Swiss Air flight to San Francisco, and, after a long bureaucratic hassle (if our SFO-HNL flight had not been delayed, we would have missed that flight), we flew United Air, where the seats in business class were like budget tourist class.  From our hotel in Zurich, took us 27 hours to get to 15 Craigside.  While I gained 5 pounds on the trip, a couple of days ago I weighed myself and found that I was already back to normal.  M...

That fuse for the   powder keg in the Middle East   awaits a spark. Looks like Israel is paralyzed about what to do about those hostages kept in the Gaza Strip, while   still bombing targets of necessity , like a mosque in the West Bank, used by militants and two airports in Syria.   Investigatory skirmishes have occurred in the Strip, while fire is still being traded with the Hezbollah to the north.   700,000 moved to the south in the Strip. It is reported that more than 100,000 Israelis were relocated away from the border with Lebanon.  Iran keeps sending dire warnings of escalation.   A 20-truck aid convoy did make it into the Gaza Strip from Egypt yesterday, with 12 more today.  But no exit yet for those desiring to leave.  This two-day total equaled about 6% of the usual daily import to the Strip before this war.  The call is for 100 trucks/day, and release of foreigners. The death toll stands at 1400 in Israel and 46...