Greetings to everyone. We skipped the summer with our Community News, seems like a certain Sysop was to busy getting ready to retire. Congratulations!! I am sure there is more about that somewhere in these pages. For those of us that have retired early, we have this vision of leisure and fun, I have found there is not enough time in the day to accomplish all that needs to be done.

In the last issue, I mentioned granddaughter # 1 was going to New York City to sing at Carnegie Hall. The concert was outstanding and I was so proud of Katie. A memory that will last forever. NYC was amazing and we covered a lot of ground in four days, needless to say I was exhausted when we flew home. The highlights were Central Park, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Time Square, Ground 0, Bloomingdales <LOL> just had to see it, of course Macys which covers an entire block, and especially the stop at Tiffany's where I called Techie and told he "we were shopping" I think he checked his credit card daily while I was there. The hotel was right over Grand Central Station, what a huge place and we did take the subways to most destinations. I think Starbucks is on every street in Manhattan.

The summer went by so fast; Techie was at it again planting another gorgeous lawn. I think this is the last major project for a while; at least that is what he says yeah right!! We have not done any motor home adventures this summer however we did go on a 15 day cruise to Hawaii. Not sure what we were thinking, like this was our first cruise and we are out that long.

We had a fabulous time, a few rough days at sea but I had every sea sick medication known to man. Techie and I are not "formal" people but he did agree to do at least one formal night. Well, if and when we go on another cruise, I shall be packing for Techie for the formal night! We made five stops around the Islands, Kona where we did a tour, Hilo, we went to the Volcano, Maui, <my favorite>

We took a trolley to a beach and went snorkeling, something I have never done before since I don't swim well but it was so awesome.

We then stopped at Hawaii and went to Pearl Harbor, rained like the dickens and did a city tour that was useless. We did make it down to Waikiki beach for dinner before the ship left for Kauai. We did a snorkel tour there and it was fabulous. This trip gave us an overview of the Islands, then five days back across the ocean, which I enjoyed, there is always something to do on a cruise but Techie was getting antsy and wanted to get home to check his "lawn"

We have changed a few of the game/event listings in the forum over the summer so please check for new listings. Joan has joined staff this summer, a special welcome to Joan, and Natra has just started a new game for Casual that is fun and a bit spicy. Come and join staff for the events, they work hard to make this a fun place and hope you all drop in.

Click here to see a list of Casual Chats and Events.

I would like to thank this volunteer staff for all the effort and work they put into making Casual Chat a friendly and safe place to be on this wide world web. Trisha, Lynda and I appreciate all you do and so many have been with Casual for years, and to new staff, we welcome you and glad to have you join our online family. Just to mention, Becca who has been on Casual staff for many years, left over the summer. We wish you well Becca and hope you drop in from time to time.

Well, that is it for now, until next time, have fun, stay safe and thanks for being part of our Casual Chat Family.

~Ma'am~ aka ~Maureen~