November 7, 2023

A short blog tonight, very short.  Blogging Bonnie is in bed.  She was nodding while playing Scrabble on her Kindle, and asked me to tuck her in (we are not night owls – it is only 9:30 here, 7:30 on the Atlantic coast).

We are having some higher waves than at any point in the cruise, by my guestimation they are running 5-6 meters or 15-18 feet.  Even at that it is not too rough up here in 10502.  We are high and forward so it is not as smooth as being at midships and down lower.  But being rocked to sleep is good.

The only event of note today concerns the shower and hot water or lack thereof.  I showered first and the water started out very hot, gradually cooled and ended up luke warm or cooler.  When Bonnie got in it was luke warm and got colder.  There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.  She decided to get the better of it and shower tonight.  And lo and behold she had a hot water shower.  It will be interesting to see what awaits me in the morning.  Oh, and we’ve had two people look at it, do some mumbo-jumbo and pronounce it fixed.  Nope.

Good audience today for “Democracy and the Pirate Republic, but the theater was, as Col. Sherman T. Potter used to say on M*A*S*H, as cold as a witch’s thorax.  Two people commented on it to me, the second asking if I could do anything about it.  Well, Dr. McCoy in the original episode, “Devil in the Dark” said that he thought he could cure a rainy day.  I told him that I was hired to give the talks, and the control of thermostats was not in my resume.  But I told him I’d tell someone and see if the message could get passed on.  I did, and we’ll see tomorrow.  

“How cold was it?” you ask.  

It was so cold that mom returned to our stateroom and got her sweater.  And there were people in the theater with blanks and at least one person in a parka (and I am not making that up).  I know they keep it cold for when the house is full for a show, but with 300-350 people, warm it up a bit.

And that’s that for tonight.  Look for another blog tomorrow.

TTFN 

November 6, 2023

A short blog from me tonight as this, our second formal night wraps up.  Interestingly on neither formal night were guests in the dining hall offered lobster or steak.  You could buy them – $35.00 for lobster, but I don’t like them that much and Bonnie doesn’t like them at all.

I don’t remember if I’ve told you this (raise your hand if I have) but after my first talk, a woman came up to me and asked if I knew a store called Taber’s Jewelers.  Well, yes I do because that is where I started my career in jewelry.  She is a close friend of a young man who worked with me and was in and out of the store.  She also worked at Walden Books in the mall.  Taber’s was 30+ years ago and she, and I are not the same looking folk we were back then, but when she told me her name, I remembered her.  Small world story number one.

SWS #2 and 3 occurred today.  I start my talk on John Harrison, the creator of the chronometer which allowed for the possibility of determining longitude with 3 vignets from Garrett County and Loch Lynn.  A lady came up to me and said she has a house on Deep Creek Lake.  We talked about the Lake, the Wisp ski area, Herrington Manor (the one in Garrett County, not in Evans, GA), and Swallow Falls.  A few minutes later a man approached and asked if I know where Grantsville is.  Absolutely, I said, our first apartment was in Grantsville, directly across the street from the hardware store.  All together now, “It’s a small world after all.”

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for!  Heeeeere’s Bonnie!!

Yes, I am still alive and have not fallen or been thrown overboard, though tonight I fell like it very tired.

Only positive things my husband says so I shall leave the other stuff for later.

Our day starts with Room Service, continental breakfast because his talks are all but one at 9:30. Any other type of room service is $7.95 per person plus 18% gratuities. Then, we get ready he rehearses once more and we are off. The Catholic morning Mass is from 8 to 9:15 and is still in progress when we arrive. Then he does his thing. As usual he is loved and adored by everyone. People just love his talks and continually thank me for lending him to them.

First I should tell you how we get to the theater and to lunch. Our room is at he very front of the ship! We have a huge window which overlooks the helicopter landing sight. One slight disadvantage is the wall containing the window is slanted in. It has a large curtain which is electronically raised and lowered. It must be raised at night because it’s inside lights affects the bridge at night, otherwise nice room. But it is ALL the way forward on Deck 10. Now going to the theater is no problem. You walk down the LONG corridors to the elevators and ride down to deck 4. However, the Windjammer and the dining room for supper are both at the back of the ship all the way on the other end of the ship. So to go to the Windjammer for lunch, after returning to our room after his talk for him to change and drop off his stuff, we walk down the LONG corridors to the elevators, ride down to deck 5, walk the whole length of the ship(almost) and then ride the elevators to deck 16 for lunch. If it is supper time we just have to walk to the end of deck 5 to the dining room. 

In the dining room we are seated at table for 6, beside a table for 13, all women there. Though a majority of the time it is just the 2 of us at the table. One , young couple moved off to a table for 2 to be alone!, the other couple is one of the speakers and they kind of come and go. We have very nice waiters, Rosa and Kelson. Very attentive. They also have the table of 13. 

There are very few offerings during the day for entertainment or for things to do. There are 5 main shows and we have seen 3of them, they are by reservation only. We have seen the water show, divers swimmers and a lot of drum ming and very noisy. It can also be very wet if you sit in the first 3 rows, and it was very cold the night we went. We also went to the ice skating show and tonight one called the history of Flight. A very interesting show all about famous times in history about flying. We enjoyed it.

We sat on deck 5 of the theater. When we sat down we sat behind 3 seats at the rail. We started to set in the first two seats of the next row. I told David that would be good if a tall person didn’t set in the seat in front of me. The lady sitting in the first of the three seats said her husband was VERY TALL. So we sat in seats 3 and 4. She wasn’t kidding when this guy came in he was well over 6 feet. He finally moved to the first seat and his wife sat in the second seat so the lady who sat by your Dad could see.

Well, we have turned our clocks back again and tomorrow will only be 2 hours ahead of you. I have no device that has the right time for home. My phone is on airplane mood so it doesn’t know anything.

Well, he says it is time to go to bed and he is correct.

Love you and  miss you all. Yes, Karen I am okay I will write you a long email when we get home.

Love Mom, Granny and Bonnie

November 5, 2023

Interesting Sunday at sea.  Before we left our stateroom to go to breakfast there was an emergency call: “Alpha, alpha, alpha.”  That is the signal to the crew to get ready for action.  The call sent the team to a stateroom on Deck 7 for a medical emergency.  Then after we came back to the room from supper there was another call and this was by an elevator on Deck 8.  We have prayed for the folks involved, because we are in the middle of the ocean and no land is close enough for a helicopter to come.  Serious enough situation and the captain would change course towards land so a helicopter could come and we’ve been on board when that has happened.

My talk today was at 10:30 so we took breakfast in the Wind Jammer instead of room service, and after changing clothes and rehearsing one more time, we went to the theater where the interdenominational service was still in progress.  It was to have concluded at 10:15, but they were having Church.  Led by the Catholic priest who does the daily masses, he was laying on hands, there was praise singing, and speaking in tongues.  I’ve never witnessed that at sea, and it was a powerful service.  When the singer stopped I went quietly to the front row and sat while the service concluded.  I actually got on stage about 10 minutes late, but as Jennifer says, “It was all good.”

And speaking of church, in 14 days, Sunday, November 19, 264 churches seeking disaffiliation from the United Methodist Church are praying that the journey to independence will be complete.  A total of 19,981 votes were cast in those 264, and the average percentage passage rate was 87%.  Every successful church achieved the supermajority 2/3 requirement.  In any election (presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, etc.) those results would be considered a landslide.  These results beg the question how anyone can justify voting against the ratification of any of these churches.  The vote will be taken on the 18th. 

To wrap up for tonight, I sent a picture of my appetizer last night to Luke and Matt (we exchange food photos, no idea why, it’s just something we do).  I labeled the photos “escargot,” but I had forgotten to take the picture before I consumed the snails, so all that was left was the rich garlic butter covering the plate.  Luke replied, “It looks more like escargone.”

See yinz tomorrey.

TTFN

November 4, 2023

At 5 o’clock this morning I was wide-awake.  There was an awful noise in the room.  I thought the ship’s gears were grinding in a forbidding fashion.  Either that or a wild animal had gotten loose in 10502.  It was neither.  It was my beloved wife.  She had gotten awake at 1 o’clock and moved to the couch.  She said somewhere around 4 o’clock she heard a horrible noise and thought a creature of monstrous proportions was about to consume her.  Well, you know that the noise was emanating from first one of us and then the other.  So at 5 o’clock we just got up.  I rehearsed my talk while she played scrabble.  Then our room service breakfast came – because my talks are at 9:30, except for tomorrow at 10:30 – we don’t have time to go to the Wind Jammer.  Today I had a croissant and grits.  Mom had two chocolate donuts.  We are exciting.

After supper – we both chose tiger shrimp, which were not real tiger shrimp, but tiger cubs – we strolled down the promenade to Serento’s, the pizza place, where we selected a table for our nightly game of Casino.  I was the first over 100, but tonight’s shuffle up and deal ended with Bonnie holding the lead 151 to 148.  And there was music again tonight, this time Big Band Music, another favorite, and this time the music was at a tolerable level, still a touch loud but nothing like last night.

There is a magician performing tonight – one of my favorites, not so with my beloved – but he goes on too late, way past our bedtime.  He performs at 10 p.m.  It must be the sea air or something because we are under the covers much earlier than we are 233 Woodland Drive.  He’s back on tomorrow night at 8 o’clock, so we will catch him then.

Because my talk tomorrow, “Are We There Yet?” is at 10:30, we will have time to go to the Wind Jammer for breakfast, and pass on a continental breakfast via room service.

We fall back an hour tonight, which would make us 2 hours different from you, but you will fall back an hour also, which should make us 3 hours different.  I guess we’ll figure it out tomorrow.

Until then.

TTFN

November 3, 2023

Before we go any farther (or is it further) let us pause to wish Carey Sisler a Happy Birthday as she celebrates another anniversary of her 29th birthday.

At 0900 this morning we went into The Attic for “Alexander Selkirk: The Real Robinson Crusoe” and lo and behold all of the alleged art work was out and all of the seats were back.  When Bonnie and I got there, people were waiting in line outside to get seats – after yesterday’s fiasco.  Someone is going to ask if my arm is sore from patting myself on the back, but it was very gratifying that by the time I started the talk, there was not an empty seat, and people were standing as well as sitting on the floor in places where they could see the screens.  Mom says there were 250 people in there, and still some left because there was no room for them in the inn.  When I told them that tomorrow we would be back in the Royal Theater, there was universal applause.

Today has been a slow day.  We played cards twice.  On this trip we are playing Casino with a running score.  The winner will be announced as we leave Nassau.  Right now it’s 97 to 90 in favor of me.  Yesterday was tied at 55.  The day before mom was ahead 35-31.  And so it goes.

The only other thing we did was nap and eat.  Breakfast was room service – muffins, yogurt and such.  For lunch we both had cheese burgers.  Mine was accompanied by macaroni and cheese.  Bonnie’s with French fries.  And soft serve ice cream for dessert.  Supper was roasted tomato soup, tempura vegetables, with steak Diane as the main course.  I had strawberry ice cream for dessert and she had a caramel flan.

We stopped at Sorrento’s (the pizza place) to play cards, and all was well until a band and singers started doing 60s music.  Nothing wrong with 60s music.  It’s our music.  But the VOLUME!!  I’m surprised you didn’t hear it.  After a few hands we gave up and came back to 10502 where we are getting ready now for bed.

We do not fall back tonight, so tomorrow we will remain 3 hours ahead.  See you then.

Oh, there are a couple of pictures to share.

The white dot is the moon, and the pink is sunrise. Both together. Neat.

And a towel mouse wearing my sunglasses.

TTFN

November 2, 2023

November 2, 2023

Back to WordPerfect.  The Lenovo doesn’t like Word any better.  Oh well.

This is the first formal night of the cruise and there is about an hour until we change into our glad rags and go to dinner.  Tonight’s offerings are iceberg wedge salad, escargot, seafood linguini, and warm apple cobbler with vanilla ice cream.  At least those are my choices.  Children, your mother will take my first and last selections, substitute French onion soup, and chicken cordon bleu.

At lunch today we had (this is starting out to be a culinary blog) we had cream of vegetable soup (leftovers whirled in the blender) and egg salad or chicken salad.  Egg for me.  Chicken for her.  And we took two selections of potato chips, bought ashore.  Pringles for me, and a local brand for Bonnie.  One of the servers in the Wind Jammer, Janeta, stopped by our table and commented on the chips.  She said that in her home in Indonesia, they eat potato chips with avocado.  Typically they mix the avocado with milk and fruit.  On her last contract, her room mate was from Peru and she ate avocado toast.  Janeta discovered she like it and took the recipe home.

Today’s talk.  Oh my goodness!  The name of the venue is The Attic.  It fits for the size.  It could easily seat 150, maybe more, but not today.  If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you have been assaulted by Park West Galleries, and their “art auctions” which are no auction at all.  Well, today they had one at 12 o’clock.  I was in there at 9:30, Ellie at 10:30, but when I arrived, fully one-third of the room was filled with “art.”  At least 50 people stood 2 deep in the back in order to see the screen.  We guesstimated that 75 people left because there were no places to sit – other than on the floor – or stand.  Park West has no manners.  On one cruise several years ago they had taken over the whole venue where I was to do a talk.  I called the cruise director, woke him up, he said a bad word or two, called the PW manager and made him personally move all of the art work out so I could do my talk.  But anyway, the crowd was understanding and appreciative.  The Cruise Program Administrator was more upset than anyone who had been in the Attic and assured me it would not happen tomorrow.  After tomorrow, my talks are all in the Royal Theater.  Life on the high seas.

Captain Rick, the captain of the beautiful Symphony of the Seas, has set a course south towards Madeira to dodge a storm.  Glad he did because as it is we are having swells of 4-5 meters or 12-15 feet.  A lot of wibbiling and wobbiling.  Makes for good sleeping – it’s like being rocked to sleep.

After supper, and it was very good – mom pronounced it the best meal she’s had on board – we went to the ice show, “1977" – set in London, and about a time-traveling jewel thief.  With the motion of the ocean, we weren’t sure if the show would go on, but it did.  With all of that there were only 2 falls, and they did some dramatic pieces on ice 1/4 the size of an Olympic rink.  One of the performers we had seen on another ship.  She skates and twirls hula hoops, as many as 20 at a time.  I got some pictures, surprised that in the dark arena I could stop the motion.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

To give you the size of the skating rink

Olga with her hula hoops and her partner in a roller wheel

The Finale

I booked our shuttle tickets today to take us to the Fort Lauderdale airport on the 12th.  So that detail has been taken care of.

Well, tomorrow my talk is “Alexander Selkirk: The Real Robinson Crusoe,” so I need to get rehearsing.

More tomorrow.

TTFN 

November 1, 2023

I had a great opening line for today’s blog, but I forgot what it was.  Maybe something I write below will be it.  Good grief!

Before I forget this, we are falling back one hour tonight, so we will be 4 hours ahead of you.  Several more changes to come until we are back on Augusta time.

We got up at 7, and after showering (with hot water today), we dressed and went to the Wind Jammer for breakfast.  I had two fresh fried eggs, Mom had a bacon sandwich.  We ate in a leisurely fashion, then she went for a sweet roll and a donut, circling the entire Wind Jammer before she found 3, and only 3 donuts.  Then back to the room to get our gear and head out into Cadiz for a visit.  In my talk yesterday about Cadiz, after I finished with some history highlights, I talked about some things that we enjoy seeing in the city – the Cathedral of America and the Torre Taveria (a tower with a camera obscura) – and how to get to them. 

Well, we headed off the ship and promptly did not follow my directions.  There was some kind of race with streets taped off, and we walked around the race course, getting to our first landmark by a circuitous route.  Turning up a street we could have gotten to earlier, we passed the first gelato shop we’ve seen on this trip, but it was not yet open.  We made a mental note to stop on our way back.  Then we came to the Cathedral, walked through a perpetual flea market to the Tower.

The Cathedral of the Americas (at sunrise, viewed from our stateroom window)

The Cathedral

Another view

Yesterday all of the English language times were booked.  Sometime in the early evening I got a Whatsapp from them saying that they had a cancellation and 2 English spots had opened up at 11 and did I still want them.  I said, “Yes,” with the full intention of finding the young couple who had sat at our table the first night and giving the tickets to them.  This was their first visit to Cadiz, and they expressed a big interest in seeing it.  The Tower is one of 160 built as lookout towers so merchants could watch for their ships returning and the captains could find the people who had financed their voyages.  At about 140 feet high it is the tallest tower in the city.  Only 133 remain today and in 1972 a law was passed forbidding the building of any more.  The main attraction is the Camera Obscura, an optical system that reflects imagines on a white screen of the scenes outside.  A periscope-like device is used to gather the images.  From there you can see live scenes all around the city.

Well, we looked in the dining hall at their new table.  We hung out in the promenade for an hour or so looking for them, but they – Matt and Adriane – were no where in sight.  But then maybe they were.  Last night there was a costume contest with 170 adults in costume to be judged, and they were in costume.  They stopped at our table tonight to talk to us, said they had overslept and missed my talk, and spent a couple hours looking for us so we could get them some tips about the city.  Matt said when they didn’t find us, he looked for an app to help and found something called “GPSmycity,” and it mapped out a route for them based on their selections.

When I couldn’t find them, we took the tour ourselves, and climbed 176 steep steps, back and forth to the camera room.  My beloved wife said, “Never again!”

It's not Chick Fil A, but we did see this cow.

After that we went shopping, bought a sweater for each of us (mine was left by yours truly in the closet at 233, and she just wanted a new one).  The first sweater, beautiful, was wool and as soon as she got it on she took it off.  We bought some snacks, had gelato, came back to our cabin and took a nap.  Supper tonight was a Chinese menu and we cleaned our plates.  Now we are chilling out, and when I post this, and some pictures, I will rehearse my Magellan talk for tomorrow (at 9:30), put out the room service menu, set my phone clock back, and catch some shut-eye.

I still don’t remember what I wanted to tell you.  But I am sure it was good.

Oh, this isn’t it, but writing this blog I committed a sacrilege – I used Word.  My new computer, that I bought from a very reliable eBayer, hates WordPerfect.  I touch keys or sometimes just wave my hand over them and the cursor jumps to a new location, the screen collapse to a small size, sections are highlighted all by themselves.  I think Bill Gates has bought out Corel and is messing with me.  But do not fear.  When we get back to 233, I will return to WP.  OH!  Rassen-fracken fricken-bricken!!  It just did it to Word!!  It is not WP!!  I have a very new Lenovo computer with Windows 11 for sale for a very good price!!!!!

Sunset over the ship's bow,

Until tomorrow.

TTFN