Merry Christmas Folks. Also, here’s a little reading about an unfortunate sinking of the schooner Rouse Simmons on the Great Lakes over 100 years ago. 17 Great Lake mariners lost their lives delivering Christmas trees.
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Merry Christmas, gonna be 80°F here today. Did a couple of Christmas tree runs with Matson long ago. Much better scent around the ship than livestock.
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We don’t beat that at this latitude, but 10C is not conducive for a White Christmas here in Ålesund.
How often has there been a white Christmas in Ålesund in recent decades? What will it be like in the future? And how important is snow to the Christmas spirit?
Over the past 30 years, there has been snow in Ålesund on average every third Christmas. In the future, it may become a rarity. Photo: Archive/illustration: Knut Arne Aarset
Source: Ålesund: – Ser mørkt ut for hvit jul i framtida - smp.no
PS: I remember that some years go when we were here for X-mas it was 15C on Christmas Eve.
That time caused by the Fønh effect:
View from Aksla this year:
Here the same view when there were snow:
Photo: Ålesund Winter Wonderland: Production of Omega-3 Fish Oil | Norway Omega
PS: Not sure if this is at X-mas, though.
No matter where in the world you are, or the temperature you are having.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
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No snow here either. The gremlins have already snatched the presents from under the tree making a mess & the area unpresentable for photos. But the 18lb turkey smoking on the grill looks delicious. 2 more hours before she’s done.
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MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
To help digest all that fatty Christmas food it help to have some good Aquavite handy. SKÅÅÅÅL!!!
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Who needs snow at that temperature? Just throw a cup of water in the air. The wind in Poland makes the temperature feel much worse. I was there in February once, like a fool, and walked backwards often to get a break from the wind.
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As an added bit of Christmas Tree Ship lore, the USCG continues the tradition as both the old (WAGB 83) Mackinaw and the New Mac have carried trees to Navy Pier in Chicago.
Also, upper 30s (F) today in Toledo. We did some baking last night and the guys will get rolling on the prime rib, ham, and other goodies shortly.
White chocolate/cranberry/orange cookies, maple gingerbread, cranberry torte, and a pecan pie.
Merry Christmas, all!
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Christmas here yesterday in Western Australia was pretty normal. 41C so nice and hot. Cold beer, AC, cold prawns and salad, but also plum pudding.
We get snow here every year at Christmas …. fake stuff on the Christmas tree.
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My first trip on this ship was just after Christmas
When we got to the Trident Seafood plant in Akutan Alaska we were 'stuffing" the two reefer containers welded to the aft deck and I noticed the bottom of the container had a lot of fir tree needles under the grating .
I asked the deck hand what that was about. He told me the previous mate had figured he could make money buying Christmas trees in Seattle and selling them in Dutch Harbor. When the ship arrived in Dutch however he couldn’t sell any of his trees, even at a heavy discount, nobody wanted one.
The mate finally gave up and decided to see if he could trade a tree for a drink at the Unisea Inn. When he got to town he hauled the tree through the door but when he approched the bar the bartender spotted him and yelled “Get that f*cking tree out of here”.
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Fake Christmas tree too I presume? (They are popular even here these days)
PS: We have a REAL one
He should have done market research before investing in the Christmas tree business.
PS: Maybe not so easy before the internet was commonly available.
An ex-girlfriend of mine moved to Dutch Harbor, got a job at Unisea as an outside sales rep in the mid-Eighties. She would send me photos of their soggy Mardi Gras parades.