May 1

 

It is all Park West Galleries’ fault!  Under oath, I would repeat that statement: it’s all their fault!  So what am I yelling about you ask?  I’m glad you asked.

Well, we had consumed our breakfast (assorted vegetables for her, salami and a hard roll for me – that’s from Star Trek – bonus points for knowing the episode, and let’s not always see the same hands), I had returned to Stateroom 8469 for the last rehearsal of “Red: the Color of Desire,” and Bonnie had gone for her morning stroll around the deck.  I finished my wrap up, changed from breakfast clothes to show clothes – astronaut cat t-shirt off, Augusta Nation shirt (purchased at a 2^nd hand store) on; computer loaded, and I headed for Deck 5 and the Star Lounge.

I walked in and HALF OF THE THEATER was taken by easels and crappy, constantly duplicated art work, to be sold at a fake auction by the above-mentioned slugs: Park West Galleries.  It happens every cruise.  The slugs come in and completely take over a venue, turning half of my audience away (and any other speaker scheduled for that spot) because they cannot find a seat.  The young man helping me set up gave me a weary sigh and said, “There is nothing we can do about it.  They take over the whole place to sell their junk.”

Anyway, I smiled good-naturedly (I’m only growling to you) and the show went on.  Red was well received and I closed with a picture of a fire engine red 1959 Chevrolet.  It was a 4-door Parkwood, I couldn’t find a 2-door Brookwood (and that’s been the story of my life since Dad junked mine for $35 – and don’t raise your hand if you’ve heard that story).

So here is what I’m complaining about.  I know, it took me a long time to get here, but this my half of the blog.

Coming back to our stateroom, I got off the elevator, turned the wrong way, and got lost.  As the sign on the door said, “Not all of us are wandering.  Some of us are just trying to find our staterooms.”  I’m now on a 5 mile hike with a 15 pound pack, and as I’m huffing and puffing down the hall, a cabin steward asks, “Can I help you?”  I pant, “8---4---6---9.”  He points in the same direction I’m walking, so I smile and go on.  But the numbers keep going up, not going down.  8-4-?-? is no where in sight.   All around me is 8-5-?-? 

“Curse you PWG!” I shout to the air.

Then I come to a cross-corridor and take it.  I look at the numbers.  They are now odd instead of even.  I look at 3 cabins.  They’re going up that way, and down that way.  Victory!

Well, dear hearts, we is in the realm of the celestials (Brother Dave Gardner) and it ain’t over yet.  I get to the room and set down to study for “The World’s Most Stolen Artwork.”  It is part 1 of a 2 part talk, and so I open the notes on my tablet for part 1 and it’s part 2.  To shorten this story, I knew had made a goof back at 233, and thought I had corrected it.  Nope.  It took me about 15 minutes – tech  support was no where in sight, and no longer a phone call away – but, you’d be proud Michael.  I got it.  Change that patch cord.  Don’t use one with two C-usb ends.  Use one with a standard USB and a C.  Delete.  “Are you sure you want to do this?”  Yes!  Just do it!  Copy.  Paste.  “This file already exists” (no it doesn’t!  I erased it!) “Do you want to copy over it with the same file?”  Yes, you ninny.  And all was well.

Study time wasted for tomorrow’s Part 1, so I went down to Deck 5.  Found Bonnie.  Went to lunch.  Then we went to the Library and played 3 hands of auction rummy and I am proud to say, for the first time in 2 cruses, I am ahead.  We came back up for nap.  And now I have shared my adventures with you and I will turn to The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 1.  Bonnie will blog later.

And now, hereeeeeees Bonnie

Well, let me start with yesterday at breakfast and give some highlights of Monday and Tuesday before I do Wednesday. On Monday I brought my air pods and my phone to breakfast planning to listen to my book on the phone. It worked perfectly well at home. However, when I put my air pods in my ears and went to the phone, it said you will have to have the internet to listen. YUCK! So I went off on my walk with nothing. On Tuesday morning I brought my air pods and the kindle and had no luck getting them to connect either. YUCK!!  So off I went walking.  On Tuesday after I got out on deck the wind was blowing so hard it was cold, so I went back to the cabin and got a sweater and then proceeded back out to walk. I am using Deck 4. Nice walk. On Monday night they had told us we would have to move to a different table, 515, for supper. So were went to supper Tuesday night heading to the new round table for 6 and not the rectangular one. It was fine but the waiters were not as attentive as the old ones. Supper was coconut shrimp for an appetizer and grilled tiger shrimp for supper. They were the same size though tiger shrimp as supposed to be larger. All very good to eat.

After supper on Tuesday there was a show of a tenor singer. I am pretty sure he said he was from Atlanta. He was a little larger than all of the photos of him in his videos on the tv screens. Neither of us could understand a word he sang. It was English but not understandable. He was more interested in telling us about all the famous people he either knew, or sang with, or wrote music for than actually singing. He showed the same pictures over and over again of all the famous people. Not a very good show.

We had turned the clocks up again on Tuesday night and are turning them up again tonight. So tomorrow we will be 3 hours ahead of you.

Now for the adventures of today, Wednesday. Well, we were up by 7, showered and dressed and headed for breakfast. Today I splurged I had two thin slices cut from a large baked ham, an English muffin and 2 small slices of cantaloupe. All was consumed and enjoyed. David yesterday had suggested we buy some headphones to try and get my kindle to work. I said no I wasn’t spending the money. But before I went to bed Tuesday night I remembered I had a pair of headphones we had gotten from somewhere on one of our trips and they were in my backpack down in among other left over junk from other trips. So I had found them last night and brought them with the kindle to breakfast. We shall try again. Well, I put them in, clicked on my book and the book wouldn’t turn on, YUCK!!!. I played with it but nothing doing. He had to get back to the room so I told him to go and I would mess with it. Well, after he left the table I looked at the book I was trying to listen to and realized it was a book to read and not a book that had audio, DUMB! So I picked a different book that had audio and amazingly the headphones worked. Off to deck 4 and my walk. It was still breezy but the walk was very nice. I was little late finishing up the walk so when I got back to the room it was time for him to go his talk. So we went together.

WE went down to 5 and walked across to the Star Lounge for his talk. SURPRISE it is Park West Galleries show today and it is at 1:30 pm (it lasts 2 and half hours) and it is only 10 am but they have set all their art in the lounge and blocked off at least half of the seats. His tech was changed, also, and he did not bring David his water. So I needed to go all the way back up to the room and get his water. There were a lot of people who came and left because they couldn’t find a seat. Sadness. Talk went well.

After the talk he headed to the room and had his adventure and I found a seat near the elevators across from guest services and did some crocheting. (Up date on crocheting: I have now finished 3 of the 5 projects I brought. Almost rang out of yarn for the one I worked on yesterday. I had about 12 inches left.) He came down about 12 and we went up to lunch. There were a lot more people there than yesterday because a lot of people got up late and didn’t make it to breakfast. So they were having a brunch.  I had a salad and a hotdog, no bun.  He got 4 of the little desserts and we sampled some of them. Then, we went to deck 7 to the library and game room and played  cards. Then, off for a nap.

Short naps and he worked on his talk and I crocheted on project 3. About 5 we dressed for supper and headed to our table. Tonight I had shrimp cocktail, a turkey pot pie and an apple cobbler. The pot pie would have been better if there had been more vegetables. 90% of it was huge chunks of turkey. I ate about half of it.

On the way back from supper we stopped at the t shirt sale and each got a nice shirt and got a couple of souvenirs for those back home. There was a show with a magician, which I don’t care for, so we didn’t go to the show. Then, because getting off the ship to come home, comes all too soon, we stopped at guest services, where the line was very short. We inquired about and bought our shuttle tickets from the ship to the airport in Barcelona at the cost of $30 each. I like to do this early because one time when we had waited they said they had sold them all and it was oh “so sorry”. It is funny because when we got back to the room there was a circular on our bed  telling you to get your shuttle tickets now.

Well, it has been a fun 3 days and tomorrow the talk is the “Ghent Altarpiece” which is one of his favorites. The art should be gone but it will be back at least 2 more time. Haven’t read my Compass yet to see what tomorrow has to hold. I get a paper one, by requesting it from the steward, because it is on the app and half the time mine does not work.

Hey everybody say a short prayer for Jack’s Mom.

Well, he has work to do and I have crocheting to do. Please everybody be safe. Miss you all. Love you all. Mom, Granny and Bonnie.

PS:  Karen and Frank I hope you are safely home and had a great time. Looking for ward to seeing you soon!