ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR

March 9, 2020

This was the day when we transited the Panama Canal, sailing from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, thanks to President Teddy Roosevelt – in what some called an act of war on Columbia, principal engineer George Washington Goethals, and 56,000 workers.  Sailing through the locks is fun, watching the swing gates or the slide gates (depending on whether you are in the old locks or the new) but sailing in the Culebra Cut, which slices through almost 8 miles of mountain terrain, is the best part.  What was once the top of the Culebra mountain is now barely 30 feet above the water level, less in some places.  An amazing feat of engineering, one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

The title of today’s blog is based on the pay of the workers – another day, another dollar.

We went to breakfast in the Bacchus Dining Room, our first sit-down, waited-on breakfast of the cruise.  The menu selection was good, the food was excellent, but our waiter Renaldo was the best.  He asked me if I wanted coffee and I replied, “Decaf, please.”  He asked Mom if she wanted some and she waved her hand in a negative fashion over her cup and declaring, “No!”  A few minutes later Renaldo brought my coffee and she asked if she could have hot chocolate.  He waived his hand in a negative fashion and declared, “No!”  He gets a great tip!

After breakfast we found a place to read and play cards and were joined by trivia players competing for a “Ship on a Stick” (most of you have seen one sitting on the mantle at 233).  The first trivia was general knowledge, and we scored 15 out of 20, good enough for third place.  Here’s one we missed: out of 10 M&Ms, how many are brown?  We guessed, incorrectly, two.

The second trivia was about the universe and we again scored 15 out of 20, this time earning first place and another SOAS.  While I was claiming our prize, Bonnie heard a young woman sitting near to us say that she so wished she could win one, she had missed out in one trivia by one answer.  And we made her day when we gave her ours.  She said her mom would be jealous and we told her to take total claim for the win.  She stopped by our table at supper, told us she had kept the ruse going for a while, but finally had to tell her mom the truth.

The spirits of the day were dampened when our cruise director, Adam, came on the PA system while we were sitting in the final lock on the Pacific side.  He told us of a medical emergency affecting one of the guests who was being disembarked – an ambulance was standing by – and taken to a local hospital.  He said he firmly believes in “The Man Upstairs” and asked us to pray for the guest and her family.  So, when you pray, please add these folks to your conversations with Father.

Well, she is fading fast, so I’m going to wrap my part up and let my cruise buddy have the keyboard.

TTFN

I did not get a nap. He did. I couldn’t sleep but at least I didn’t get up till 7. Now that our clocks are being turned back I will have to subtract 2 hours from my phone to know what time it is here but I will know what time it is there whenever he asks.

Today was a fun day. Watching ships beside us in the locks, watching the rope throwers get off our ship (there were 30 of them)after we got through the first set of three locks, and all the great sites along the canal. We had really good views out our window in our room. Even though our view is surrounded by 2 life boats you could see very well. Also, we turned on the TV and watched the progress on the forward camera. All in all great fun. And the weather was beautiful, sunshine and warm.

Lunch was a hot dog and supper was just so-so. They didn’t even have a dessert I wanted. Tomorrow night is elegant night.  The show tonight was heart and soul and it was okay. Mostly songs from Motown including James Brown’s “I Feel Good”. Tomorrow night is Consuela Ivy, a singer with a great voice, but her show is not one we like so we will go to 2 PG rated comedy shows. She does more talking than singing.

Tomorrow he has two talks. The one in the morning is “Social media” ,how to do a blog. The Dr Suess parade etc is at the same time so attendance may be low. The afternoon talk is his first talk on Art and is Part I on the Ghent altar piece.

Well, I am very tired and am off to bed. Love to you all.

Mom, Granny and Bonnie