ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER BLOG

October 27, 2016

Sorry about yesterday’s silence.  We were tired after a fun day ashore in Porta Delgada, and I was rehearsing for today’s talk on the “Camera in Your Cell Phone”, so tomorrow’s blog did not get written (if it did, it did not get e-mailed).

Wednesday ashore started our cool and sunny.  It ended up cold, overcast, and rainy. But we had a good time.  We took a tour that included the Romantic Botanical Gardens, the Pineapple Plantation, and Crater Lake.  The PP was our least favorite, but I guess there’s not much you can do with them – green houses, green plants, gift shop, free samples of pineapple liquore.  We took a couple pictures of the pineapples and bought two souvenirs: a key chain, and something else – Bonnie will tell me what it is when she wakes up from her afternoon nap, or reads what I have written (Unlike Yul Brenner in The Ten Commandments, I have not written what I have written.  I will be corrected.  If you are too young for that reference check Netflix or Kodi).

The RBG (no rasslin fans, it was not RVD) was very nice.  I would like to see it in a different season to see different plants and different colors.  There were several grottos formed from the volcanos which built the island in the before-times, and plants from as far away as Australia and New Zealand.  One of the NewZs was toppled by a recent Atlantic hurricane and they hadn’t had time to completely remove it.  I added several shots to my Camera talk today from the Gardens and the Crater Lake.  The sky was overcast and cloudy at the Lake, so the photos weren’t spectacular like I’m sure they could be in full sun, but I photo-shopped one to good results.

The folks at our table, except for us, rotate seats.  Bonnie sits in one seat at the end of the table where she can prop her soon-to-be repaired knee, with me opposite her, and everyone else moves around.  It’s the only time we’ve experienced that.  Usually everyone stays in the same seat, but this way we get to interact with everyone.  Our fellow foodies are all retired, or at least one member of each couple is retired, and they are all Diamond Members which means they have cruised an awfully lot with Carnival and are at the top of the rewards chain, but not a snob in the bunch.  Nice.  Graham always wears a hat to supper, and his wife, Kathy wore one the first formal night.  His hats are not baseball caps, but gentlemen’s chapeaus which he always removes when he sits at the table.  William and Karen (they live in Lumberton, NC and got clobbered by the flooding from hurricane Matthew) are the ones who have the rental properties at Myrtle Beach.  They do substitute teaching to supplement their cruising habit (I would stay on dry land!).  Joe is lactose intolerant, but no one has scared him and made him ink.  Sharon has twice not liked the menu and stayed in her room ordering room service.  Her husband, Richard, takes her carry-out desserts.  Lindsay and Dee are from Canada (someone else, too, but I forget who).

Today’s talks were well attended.  The afternoon was almost a sell-out.  There were very few empty seats, and I did questions after each session for over 30 minutes each time.

Tomorrow my talks are at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., so we may miss our dinner seating, but there is another formal dining room that we can get a table for two.  We did that earlier, but if I keep to 40-45 minutes, and questions don’t run long, we should still make the regular table.

We (read Bonnie) will do laundry tomorrow.  Yours truly is down to one clean pair of drawers, and even though I could, I am not going to turn them around.

I think I have you caught up, and when Bonnie gets out of the shower (preparing for supper) I will direct her to the keyboard.  “Hey!  Is the green one shampoo?”

TTFN

Hello Everyone.

First a note to Karen you can email me by sending it to David, if you would like, he has internet.

Yesterday was a very nice day. We were up at 6:30 in order to make our tour meeting time at 8:30 in the Reflections dining room, our usual dining room. We had a bus full, but because I am hobbling we got a front seat. We had a good tour guide, she said she a typical Portugese, “Tall, thin, blonde and blue eyes”. She was being facetious. She was actually no taller than me, brunette and round like me. She was very entertaining. Our tour was about 3+ hours and a lot of riding as the 3 places were miles apart, so she had a lot of talking to do.  She was very knowledgeable about her country.

We browsed a few shops at the dock after returning but didn’t buy anything there. The other purchase we made was a small bottle of pineapple flavored hot sauce. We are going to mail it to our old pastor.

After returning to the ship, we had unch [I think she means lunch] then returned to the room to nap and then go to supper. I had buffalo chicken wings, black bean soup, and a grilled pork chop. I did not eat much of the soup or pork chop. I didn’t even eat all of the melting chocolate cake. Just didn’t want it.

After supper David said let’s go back to the room and I will work for an hour and then, we will go to the show. I knew that wouldn’t happen. Once he starts to brush up a talk, we are done! Oh, well, it was okay he got me a ginger ale and I spent a couple of hours trying to unravel my Alaskan yarn so I can work on my hat. (So far I have been working about 4+ hours and I am not done yet!!) Maybe tomorrow. We played a few hands of cards before bed.

Now, to today. Rise at 6:30, get bathed, dressed and go upstairs for a bit of breakfast, then down to the limelight lounge to wait for his talk. Spent more time here unraveling. Nice size morning crowd and they must have stayed and asked questions about 30 minutes. And, the old guy talked for an hour!! We went up to Lido and played some cards waiting for lunch time. I had a pepperoni pizza he had a bunless cheeseburger.  After lunch, I headed to the limelight and he went to get his stuff. The 1 o’clock talk was packed!! And at least they had al 3 screens working. In the morning show, the tech didn’t turn on the one screen. Same length talk and even more people stayed and talked. We had to move out into the hall because some of the crew were having a safety lecture. Have met a lot of great folks. Enjoying the cruise enormously.

Well, I have showered again because my hair was in desperate need to be washed. I am now dressed for supper and we shall head off momentarily. He is partly dressed. I will let you know tomorrow how the laundry adventure goes.