THE GREAT KONINGSDAM RUMMY TOURNAMENT HAS BEGUN

November 1, 2019


Yes, folks.  You read that correctly.  The score is tied at one square.  There was plenty of trash talking and shady dealing, but it all ended up even for the first two games.  We will keep you apprised as the competition, deepens, steepens and reaches for new heights, avoiding plunging into the depths.  Stay tuned.

I did my first talk today, “When Pirates Ruled the Atlantic.”  It is one of the first talks I wrote when we started cruising ten years ago.  It has undergone constant revision – including rehearsal this morning – and it remains one of my favorites.  I especially enjoy telling the audience what nationalities produced pirates and after flashing a list of a dozen or so countries, telling them one of the greatest pirates of all time came from Puerto Rico.  And I show a picture of Roberto Clemente.  The Great one got a very good reaction today.

It is rare, it seems, that I set up for my first talk on a cruise and my computer talks to the ship’s system.  Koningsdam is a relatively new ship, having made her maiden voyage in May 2016.  We did our first sailing on her in October 2017, and I don’t remember a problem then – maybe it’s just old age creeping up on me.  But as you’ve guessed, there were complications this afternoon.  I brought an HDMI adapter which did not adapt.  It works at home, but not at sea.  Go figure. 

So tomorrow I am meeting with the tech people and we are going to experiment with the new back up computer we bought for this voyage.  The problem was the audio portion – actually once they got it figured out (I have my program on a flash drive and they plugged it directly into their computer, bypassing mine) they didn’t turn the volume up enough, and I had to provide the narration for the first clip.  I can do them all that way, but I’d rather have my computer there and everything work.  We will see tomorrow what happens.

I am off for the next two days as we stop tomorrow in Cartagena and Sunday in Malaga.  We’ve purchased hop on hop off bus tickets for two cities we’ve visited before, and are looking forward to our return visit.  My traveling companion is especially excited about Cartagena because we know where there is a yarn shop (it’s beside the flea market and close to the camera obscura).  After toodling around on the HOHO, we will make the proverbial bee line for the woven textile purveyor.

Well, by popular demand, and with no excuses tonight, here is your favorite lady blogger.

TTFN

Well, Tate so far there are four pieces of chocolate in your stash. If Granny and Pappy are good you should get 28 pieces when we get home, though Pappy will often eat a piece. 

When we woke up this morning the captain had found some waves. There were swells about 5 or 6 feet. One wave even came up past our window on deck one , yes we have a big window and not just a port hole. Well, considering this is a room for 5 people    ( there is a bed, a full size couch with a pull out bed and a bunk that comes down from the ceiling)it should have a window. There are two bathroom areas, one has a tub and shower combo with toilet, sink and vanity and the other just has a  large shower stall and a sink. It is quite a large room with more drawers and shelves and closets than we have ever had. It even has a fridge. There is a nice chair and desk area for your Dad to work at.

Well, we had a leisurely breakfast and then it was a little cold and rocky so we went to deck 3 at the café area and found a nice little table. I sat and read and crocheted and he went back to the room to rehearse. He said he would be 45 minutes but he was an hour and a half. After he came up we played some cards and then got a small lunch, sandwich for me and a bowl of pea soup for him. Then as it was almost one o’clock and we were going to go to the other speakers first talk we went to the room so he could dress. Then, headed to the Stage. The first speaker is a doctor and professor at a large university with all kinds of this and that and was talking about how the Mediterranean sea was formed and did a kind of quiz as he identified all the countries which surround it. He did have some beautiful slides from each of the countries. He was okay but a little above my head with some of the stuff.

Dad’s talk was about 5 minutes late starting because of the computer trouble but he finished well on time. I went and disassembled his stuff as he was answering questions from people. The first guy was doing a second talk at 3 so we had to get off the stage.  He wanted to listen to the second talk so after he was finished meeting and talking to people, we went to the room where I stayed to hope fully nap. No chance of that. We are at the very bottom of the levels of cabins and they were doing some kind of metal work right below our room. Grinding, sawing and banging, so no nap.

When he returned they had quieted down and I dozed for a couple of minutes. Then, I dressed for dinner and we went early because we wanted to make the 7 o’clock show. At 5:15 we got a table and an hour and half later hurried out to the Stage. It was already packed but we got seats down on the floor, where I don’t like to sit because I for the most part can’t see. But it was okay tonight because it was four singers called, Spanish Rumba Kings. They sang everything is Spanish and each played a guitar. Impressive music. They showed still pictures from Spain through out their performance. Magnificent pictures. There music was good and they could play the guitars. Luke you would have enjoyed watching. They only played two songs that I recognized, “Hotel California” and Frank Sinatra’s “ My Way” , they were in Spanish too.

Well, we are back in our room and the old guy is fading fast. So I will say goodnight.

Love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie