FEBRUARY 9, 2008—AUCKLAND TODAY…WE HOPE

WRITING FOR EFFECT: HOW TO WRITE A COPY THAT MAKES YOUR AUDIENCE RESPOND. This was an unexpected add on given by the ship’s current resident spook. I’ll let you know how it goes in my next blog.
Boo Hoo: no fish on the balcony this morning.

FEBRUARY 8, 2008
WE’VE CROSSED THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE

So we’ve lost February 7th.

FISH ANYONE? There was a poor little fish on our balcony when we got up this morning. Poor dear had been there a while. I don’t know fish so I can’t guess what it is. S/he had been there so long he was gone. I pitched him back anyway to be food for another animal.
This evening after the show, Roy told me Frankie (one of the cruise staff) was looking for me to interview me about the fish. It seems that someone I told, told someone else, and so on and the size of the fish has grown exponentially in the retelling. So we found Frankie at the Karaoke event and he brought Ed and I up to tell our fish tale to the assembled.
I’m constantly amazed at the rumor mills on these ships. The knitting and crocheting crowd are a reliable source of much of it but the Laundromat is also known on this ship as the place to catch upon the “latest news”.
A POOR LITTLE BOAT ALL ALONE ON THE SEA: We still have not seen one other vessel on this trip unless we were near port. For they past few days we’ve been expecting the sea to get calmer as we tried to move away from “cyclone” Gene. However, we still tossed around last night. Ed and I clung to each other and the mattress edges so we wouldn’t be rolling around in our cabin. We have battened down everything a la our Prinsendam experience. The other Prinsendam veterans were recreating their efforts to assure no flying objects in the night.
The sea this morning is a little calmer but it’s all relative. At least I’m not afraid to put a breakable down for fear it will become a flying object. The roped off areas around the Promenade Deck have been removed but the barf bags are still taped everywhere. Lots of folks are staying in their cabins because of sea sickness. Thank God Ed and I have iron guts. Never a problem for us.
YOU KNOW WHAT? I WAS RIGHT. This is a favorite expression between Ed and I and we used it when Romney put his campaign on hold. Such a silly way to do it. Just drop out, period.
Sooo. Now we’re down to the die hards. I find it hilarious that so many Republicans are threatening to vote Democratic if McCain is the nominee. It’s usually the Democrats who shoot themselves in the foot.
The vote on the ship was overwhelmingly for McCain with small mentions of the other two; the Democratic ticket had Obama in a very slight lead over Clinton. As a reminder, you could vote for a candidate in each party, you didn’t have to have an voting screen so non-Americans voted too.
COOKING AROUND THE WORLD: We had another demonstration from the Executive Chef. This time the decorations he put on the plates are some that any of us could manage. He makes it seem so easy.
Today was especially funny because of the pitch and sway of the ship. Liquids were sloshing out of their containers, Pots were sliding around on the cooktops, fancy carved watermelons had to be laid down as they were falling… you get the picture. We heard a lot of Ooooo Haaah (a la Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. Is this an Italian expression?), Holy Smokes (when something was boiling too much), and some words that you’d recognize but which were truncated since this is being videotaped for later broadcast.
As always we learned a lot and had a good time in the process.
TRIVIA: Ed and I went up for this and we got 16 out of 20; the highest score was 19 out of 20. However, the group next to us felt we did darned good for a group of two; most are six or more. Anyway, it’s fun and it taxes your brain.
QUILLING: I saw some ladies in the bathroom with their projects. This isn’t what I thought of as quilling; it’s more like paper cutting, assembling and pasting. Still it’s very creative and pretty.
LUNCH: Again, a nice group with which to visit. A Couple from Palm Springs shared many stories from that part of the world.
UNDERDOG: Because of the weather and other factors, they showed the movie “Underdog” in the Cabaret Lounge. It was cute. It ended just as Ed headed off for his appointment in the beauty spa. They cut his hair pretty close but then how could they know what he likes. He almost always claims it’s been cut too short. Anyway, he returned beautified and lighter in the pocketbook. I have my appts on Sunday.
READING: A lady passed her book “Eat pray love” to me to read so I feel obligated to read it quickly and return it to her. I am almost finished with another Vanity Fair to pass to Ed. And of course, I continue to move forward in Iberia. If you’re a fan of Spanish flan, here’s a recipe from his book: In each of six molds, put a spoonful of sugar and melt it over the fire until it covers the bottom and almost reaches the point of caramelizing. Take it off the fire. In a bowl beat three whole eggs and the yolks of three more. Grate some lemon rind. Mix one soup spoon of sugar, not too full, for each of the egg yolks, in this case, six. Add milk sufficient to fill the molds, which you now put into Mary’s bath.
Mary’s bath: the molds are put into water enough to cover the “feet” with the heat not too high, it should be low. When it begins to form gelatin, that is, after about an hour, put the molds in the oven or even better in a little electric oven so you can brown the tops. Then move them to the refrigerator.
TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Finally we saw Yacov Noy who really was very funny. And he had such a bad case of laryngitis that the deputy cruise director narrated his mimes. This fellow also lost his luggage in Papeete! Next was Eve Sherratt the fantastic singer from the other evening. As expected, she is superb.
The Cruise Director is challenged to find the right mix and times for lecturers and entertainers considering unexpected sea days, inclement sea conditions, and illnesses.
And speaking of illnesses, there was a message from Dave that he’s in quarantine for 48 hours. That means he can’t go out in Auckland.
AUCKLAND: At this point, we are scheduled to arrive at the pier at 5 pm. The original plan was 7 am to 10 pm. The Captain has agreed to give us two more hours on shore—this feels like I’m in a dorm with a curfew—so the ship will now leave at midnight. Sunsets after 8:30 pm so we might be able to get some sightseeing in before then. Fortunately, the pier is very close to the downtown area and on a Saturday night, perhaps we’ll be lucky with businesses being open.
We are now the farthest south we’ll be on this trip and the outside air temp is colder than the water temp! What an odd phenomenon and it probably explains some of the storm conditions too. Some folks are thinking of getting off the ship and flying to Sydney to meet it there. We have several days at sea and the flight is 5 hrs. We’re staying put. It takes a lot of luck to make that work just right. Not worth the hassle.
The Captain is running the ship as fast as it can comfortably go on these seas which are so much better than the last few nights but which still have considerable swells.

FEBRUARY 6TH CONT…

NEWS FROM HOME: Ed’s brother Mike sent us a wonderful, newsy email telling us just what we needed to know about how well Mom’s doing with explicit examples, and updating Ed on the UCLA sports news. Other family news brought smiles to our faces.
AUCKLAND: Because of this “cyclone”, which they still assert is over 250 miles away from us, we will have much less time in Auckland. We had a 12 ½ hr tour which will now be cancelled. I don’t feel bad about this as there is much to see near where the ship will be piered and they have an on-again, off-again trolley which we may be able to get for a few hours before sunset—it is their summer down here.
The seas continued to have huge troughs with many white caps and a steady wind. You simply must hold onto the rails when walking around the ship or you’ll wind up with bruises here and there, assuming of course that you remain upright. The airconditioning keeps our room cooler than the outside temp and you can feel the radiation of that heat when you get near the seam of the patio door.
BALLROOM DANCING? Are you kidding? They’ve cancelled that and any activities that require one to stand. And today’s dance was to be the meringue. Wouldn’t that have been wild. We women would have been flying all over the lounge!
HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE: This was the final lecture by our resident spook, Gelnnore Trenear-Harvey. He discussed what he could of the British security and intelligence service. This is such a black box for all of us that he has us spellbound.
When he discussed spies in high heels, he finished by reading a poem written for a woman spy. He had read this poem at his wife’s funeral. It is special and I’m including it here hoping there’s no copyright conflict.
Violette Reine Elizabeth Bushell Szabvo, G.C., M.B.E., CdG (June 26, 1921 – c. February 5, 1945) was a World War II secret agent. Her wartime activities in Occupied France were dramatized in the film “Carve Her Name With Pride”. During her time in the special Operations Executive (SOE) she met Leo Marks, who gave her what is now thought of as the definitive World War II code-poem “The Life That I Have.”
The Life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours.

The Love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours
And yours and yours.

TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Comedy showtime starring Yacov Noy. “The look of Danny Kaye….The Charm of Red Skeleton….The Wit of Victor Borge and the Timing of Charlie Chaplin….They are all in one artist.” Well, it turns out he was ill so the ventriloquist was asked to go on. We passed on this and were in bed at 9 pm to sleep.

FEBRUARY 6, 2008; AVOID TYPHOON GENE

SLEEP? What’s that? We got almost none due to the howling winds but more importantly because of the pitching and swaying of the ship! I saw the Captain outside the Internet Café and asked how he slept last night. He said he’d been on the bridge all night long. I can imagine. Because of this diversion, and the need to go very slowly through these high waves, we will be late getting into Auckland. We’ll have to see what this does about tours. I wouldn’t mind just doing the “on-again, off-again” trolley now that we know there is one there.
INTERNET PROBLEMS: If you sent me an email in the last few days and didn’t get a reply from me, it’s probably because the terminal I was using kept bumping me off unexpectedly. No one else seemed to have this problem. It was during the computer guy’s consult time but he just stared blankly as I demonstrated it for him twice. He tried something different and the same thing happened to him. Finally I said I needed to stop this because it was eating up too much time. He didn’t off to make my time good.
So I’ll put some brief notes to people in here on the hope that I can upload the blog easier:
Nancy: sorry about your cold. We hear of tornados in your area and wanted to be sure you were not affected. School will work out.
Lisa: Given your interest in Spain and perhaps living there one day, you should see if you can get James Michener’s book Iberia to read. It’s older but still has much good information about the history and culture of Spain.
MA$: Love getting the political perspective to offset the “fair and balanced” drizzle we’re getting from Fox News, which even in the middle of this typhoon, continues to come in without a hitch.
Queen RazzMaTazz: I didn’t know g’child #2 was on the way! Send me the details: due date and such. You must be thrilled.
PORT TALK: AUCKLAND: the speaking pattern of this speaker is beginning to get to many of us. Ed mentioned it at the end of today’s talk about Auckland, and I overheard others talking about it on the stairwell too. Still, his information is good to have even though he kept referring to the kiwi bird on his screen as the dodo bird.
SPECIAL STAFF: There is a gorgeous blond woman who serves drinks for many of the venues and we have come to feel so fond of her. She’s from the Ukraine and is married but her husband is on another ship. She leaves us at Sydney to go visit family. She has very long hair that she fixes differently each day. So many of us wait to see what it’s like. And she is always smiling and is just simply gorgeous.
These people work so hard, much of it behind the scenes. This cruise is particularly hard on them since it is an around the world cruise. It means more days at sea and more special events in addition to the regular schedule. At least one who’s contract will soon expire says he’ll never sign a contract for this kind of itinerary again. I can understand. Often they are up late and have to start again early the next morning. Their sleep is disrupted and they can only rest in short bursts.
LIZARILLA: My sunburn on my left arm has just finished the reptile skin shedding stage. It was mild actually which I attribute to slathering it with Ed’s Gold Bond with aloe lotion.
DOZING: I looked over just now and Ed is “napping”. Not fair!
GAZPACHO: In the book Iberia, Michener gives a recipe for gazpacho, that wonderful cold, Spanish soup. I’m putting it in here so I’ll know where to find it as I’m passing this book along to Dave when I finish it; he’s also a fan of Michener’s books.
Take two stale rolls and reduce them to crumbs. Soak in water until they form a thick paste and set aside. Into your blender put two pounds of tomatoes, one large pared cucumber, two large green peppers, a quarter-cup of pimientos and two small sweet onions. Season with pinches of salt and pepper. Now comes the tricky part. To this mixture hyou must add olive oil and vinegar, which are the heart of the soup. A Spaniard will use one cup of the former, a tablespoon of the latter. Americans, of whom I am certainly one, prefer not more than a quarter-cup of oil and four tablespoons of vinegar. Reduce all ingredients except the bread to a liquid then mix it in the bread by hand and put the results in a covered wooden bowl and place in the refrigerator for six hours. Serve ice cold and pass with a serving tray containing separate dishes of chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and small cubes of bread.
Bon Appetite!s
CAPTAIN’S UPDATE: We will be very late getting into Auckland. Going only 8 knots at the present time.
At lunch, when you looked out the back of the ship from the dining room (5th deck), all you could see was the foam on the waves—no horizon until the ship dipped forward again.
LUNCH: A new couple: he a former corporate lawyer, she a retired MD. The first spouses of both died of cancer. They are now married 3 yrs. Delightful conversation.

FEBRUARY 5TH CONT…

WEATHER: Well this was the big story of the afternoon. While they told us they were changing course to avoid the “cyclone 500 miles away”, I think we didn’t get the whole story. They roped off the doors to the outside. All they actually did was to put a theatre “rope” in front of them. On the ship last year, they literally tied the door handles shut with ropes. They didn’t forbid us on the balconies and frankly they were probably pretty safe by comparison. The ship’s info says the wind is at 30 mph and the seas are high with swells. I’ll say but I think they haven’t updated their stats for a while. The temp is 79; water is 77. Very different from Cape Horn in that respect. The howling of the wind by our balcony is such that we have to turn up the volume on Fox (non)News so far I’m concerned about our neighbors in adjacent cabins.
Bulletin: Water sports in the pool were cancelled. I’ll say!
AND SPEAKING OF FOX NEWS: I find it absolutely amazing that Fox News is coming in almost flawlessly during this horrendous storm but they can’t get any other source of news? What’s wrong with this picture?
LUNCH: We went up to the buffet since it was Chinese today and we sat with our table mates from the Galapagos. Linda is still black and blue from her fall there, but she is otherwise fine.
GALAPAGOS PICS AND VIDEO: The ship’s staff who accompanied us to the Galapagos, but who is not a professional photographer or videographer, showed us some of his photos and a video the cruise staff has put together from his video takes. It was fun to see it, especially for those who were there, but none of it will get me to buy the DVD. There was no footage showing some of the funniest events we experienced such as the landings (I will not label them wet, or, dry; they were all wet), animals barking to us to get out of their way, being hosed down as we returned to the ship… But the product shouldn’t offend anyone either.
It appears that Princess is going to start featuring cruises with several ports before and after the Galapagos, but particularly marketed to those interested in seeing this World Heritage Site.
HISTORY OF NAVIGATION, PART TWO: As you may recall, we saw this series of 4 lectures on the Diamond Princess in December. We stayed through almost all of this lecture but were curious to see what was happening with Super Tuesday.
SUPER TUESDAY: I’m only interested in the results but one must endure the lip flapping and speculation of mostly folks paid to “analyze.” The speculation and “fill-in-the-blanks,” “don’t report the news, create some,” approach to reporting is very annoying.
The “vote” on the ship is very funny as anyone can vote and you vote for candidates in both parties. It’s as much fun to see people come up to give their vote to Frankie, the staff assigned this job, as it is to see the results. He was outside the dining room this evening taking more votes. I asked him if this was Chicago style voting: Vote early and vote often. He hadn’t heard that before.
We may see a brokered convention at this rate. It is interesting to see how interested folks are in the candidate(s) of the opposing party. And I’m amazed at people who seem to be otherwise engaged, who don’t bother to vote in a primary! Indifference is the only thing I’ve ever heard anyone cite.
As we see the remarks made by the candidates, I’m interested in seeing the faces of their family members, especially, the spouse. Rumor has it that Mrs. Romney advised him on a limit of money to spend. Rumor also says he’s decided to ignore that. At this point, I wonder what “prize” he wants to be able to exact in a new (Republican) administration. An Ambassadorship isn’t big enough; a cabinet position perhaps? But which one?
And who will the VP candidate be? Good money is on a Clinton/Obama match up but I’ve heard no speculation about the Rep. possibilities.
And again I’m struck by the unexpected twists and turns of politics.
CRUISE CRITIC GROUP: The Patter lists a get-together for this group. This sparks my curiosity and I hope I find out what’s up with them.
DINNER: It was just Ed and I tonite. Erna and Hank had told us they weren’t coming this evening. We haven’t seen Dave or Twyla all day. Many folks aren’t moving around the ship because of the bouncy ride.
You may remember the couple who spent 6 yrs going around the Pacific in a 50’ boat. I asked her if they had anything like this. She said Yes, and right in this exact same place. This time she’s glad she’s on a large ship. I’ll bet.
I was surprised that for some of the staff, this is the worst weather they’ve encountered. We are now 250 miles from the “cyclone” and winds are at 50 knots. The Captain has slowed down even more; probably much less than the 19 knots of earlier today. We are headed northeast to get away from it. We heard the crashing of some dishes in the dining room with a big sway; I’m surprised there aren’t more such episodes. Someone facetiously said that the disco would be closed this evening. Our waiter suggested we stay in our cabin and watch a good movie. The one for today is Hoax; not exactly one I’ve been dying to see.
It’s quite amazing to watch the ocean in such a frenzy. I wonder what it’s like for the animals below and what a mixmaster it must be for all the suspended things in the sea.
ENTERTAINMENT: Was a cabaret singer from Wales. She was terrific; did her performance barefooted because of the pitch and sway of the ship.

FEBRUARY 5 – SUPER TUESDAY
M A R D I G R A S !

Ed was up early and took the computer to clean out the thousands of emails of spam in his accounts, and to send out some emails. When he returned the computer to the room, he went to exercise. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for this cruise if I came back with a new man? Of course, that works both ways you know.
WEATHER: It is sometimes slate grey and overcast on the sea, and then the sun begins to hint that it will come out. {See notations later: obviously this was written early in the day.}
LAST NIGHT’S LAUNDRY: Well my sleeves were dry but that’s about it. So I put my top out on the balcony with it’s jacket and hung the other stuff on knobs around the room. Since it’s pretty humid outside, I don’t have much hope for those two pieces and the moisture is wetter as you go toward the dependent areas, so this will take a while. We’ll move it around in the open until it’s dry. The others we’ll hide in the closet until the room is made up and then put them out to dry again.
SUPER TUESDAY: Fox is full of it and since we are very much earlier than the US, we are hearing all the catty remarks about the various snipping going on, real and imagined. Poor Bob Dole has been misconstrued as only Fox can do.
The ship is having it’s own “super Tuesday” on board. We can vote for ONE Democratic and one Republican candidate; Obama, Hillary, John, Mitt, and Mike are the choices.
ELECTRONICS: I’m enjoying the iPod Ed got me for Christmas. I’ve finally figured ut the ear phones, blue tooth gadget for the iPod and how to charge up all these things.
The ear phones seem to turn themselves on with a whisper of a breeze, so I’m recharging them more than I would have thought necessary. And boy does it take a long time to charge these things up. Further, the iPod and the blue tooth gadget must be recharged while the computer is on. Since we have the computer set to turn off automatically when it’s not used for a while, it means we have to watch it all until the charging is finished.
This doesn’t count the cameras and such that I have to recharge. In addition each of them has their own unique cords for recharging and downloading. It’s all so silly; why can’t these manufacturer’s get together and standardize this stuff? Well, we all know why: they can make more money this way.
ED’S MOM: We were delighted to get a newsy email from Ed’s brother, Mike, updating us on how his Mom is doing. She’s adjusted to the nursing home quite well and her mental status is actually much improved since she’s been in there. This flies in the face of what we teach in gerontology where you always opt for the least restrictive environment. I think the daily decisions had just become too much for her to deal with mentally. In the nursing home, she has to make very few decisions. There is a routine there and she knows what to expect. While her memory isn’t what it should be, it is definitely improved since she’s been there. We are all amazed and grateful. Her basic personality has re-emerged.
THE FALKLANDS WAR: A PERSONAL VIEW: If we had not visited the Falklands, I probably wouldn’t have had an interest in this lecture. However, having been there, and hearing some of the history from the rugged individualists there, Vice Admiral Dick’s take on it was fascinating. He dealt with the politics, both in the UK, Argentina, and the US (he was stationed in DC at the time) in a very laudatory manner. The remaining land mines have no easy resolution and the numbers of them on the islands mean that large swaths of land are unusable by anything except light weight animals such as the penguins there.
OUR WEATHER: The sun is out, but the sea is rough—hang onto the railings—and there is speculation about storms nearby. The bridge announcement says that the Typhoon Gene is 500 miles away but the ship is slightly changing the course to get clear of this tropical cyclone. They are also roping off the doors so you can’t go onto the promenade deck. They need to protect folks from their own foolishness. And they will be draining the swimming pool so it doesn’t slosh out.
After our 3 hurricanes of our trip last year, Ed is exclaiming: “Yippee, here we go again!”
PHOTOS: We picked up the accumulated photos from this trip so far, and sorted through to select the ones we want to keep. They will be thrown away before Sydney and the process will begin anew after Sydney.
And speaking of SYDNEY: Gwen, who is from Australia, has given us some great ideas for a self tour when we are there. The ship berths right downtown and not far away there is an “on-again, off-again” trolley. The ship is in town from 7 am to 10 pm, so we have time to risk getting lost. She also recommended going to Man(n?) Beach.
T-SHIRTS ON SALE TODAY: And the theme is the lost day on this cruise: February 7, the day we cross the international date line. No, we haven’t been tempted…yet. Maybe they’ll mark them down after the fact. Hee Hee

FEBRUARY 4, 2008

Ed was up and shaving before 7 am. I showered, checked my email, tried to upload my recent blog (unsuccessfully), and started on today’s blog. He went to exercise.
LAUNDRY: I couldn’t let it go any longer. I had two days of hand laundry but since I had changed out of sweaty clothes, I had more than that to do. I did manage to find enough hangers and other methods of hanging the clothes. There’s a reason I do the laundry each evening. It is definitely punishment when I wait a day.
WEATHER: It was gorgeous all day: sun and moderate temperature.
COOKING AGAIN: Alfredo Marzi is so amusing. He had more than his share of equipment that was missing or not working. When he wanted to carmelize the top of a dish, he had a huge flame thrower, probably over a foot long. He couldn’t get the flame to take, so he used the starter spark until the top was done. He made some sea horses and birds out of daikon to decorate some plates casually mentioning that you could make these to use in the presentation. Some folks stopped breathing and others laughed hilariously. Still it is fun and you come away feeling you could manage at least one of the dishes. The recipes he uses in his classes are not in the cookbook, so he passes out a very nice flyer with them on it.
READING: I’m moving along in the Vanity Fair issue with the Pitcairn article so I can give it to Ed and forget about it. Along the way, I’m plodding through Iberia; I enjoy it but I need ideal reading conditions because of the font and the small book size. I have two books in reserve and 2 more issues of Vanity Fair. I remarked to another passenger that I had been interested in reading a book she had, so she’s passing it on to me when she’s done. So I’ll need to make that one a priority so I can return it to her.
LUNCH: We had a nice group; we knew 3 of them and met some new folks. We discussed Hawaii (one lady’s home state) and Australia (one of the ladies was originally from here so we got some good ideas from her about our time in Sydney. More later about this).
MORE TALL TALES OF AN AVIATOR: Ron Dick used this session to show photos where he told a unique story. It is fun to hear his perspective on how foolish he and others were as young aviators and how lucky they were to be alive. It’s not possible to recreate them here but some Hollywood type should grab him for a script. He’s very tall and thin with a wry humor so I’d have to think long and hard about who would play him. His topics are not those that women would automatically gravitate toward, but he is so amusing and engaging that the audience is equally sprinkled with women.
SPIES IN HIGH HEELS: Again we were spellbound by these stories of female spies past and current. He included Edith Clavell, a nurse who was executed for her activities—she’s was on the side of the good guys just so there’s no question. Dr. Donna Ver Steeg and I used to have discussions at UCLA about who the statue in the foyer of the School of Nursing might be. She’s a great historian and convinced me that it is of Edith Clavell, a little known hero of nursing history.
He also included his take on the Valerie Plame affair and provided more depth to one’s assessment of this tawdry affair.
FORMAL NIGHT: I pulled out an outfit I hadn’t really worn before. It was on sale at JC Penney’s and was a tall so I got it and had the pants altered to fit better. You can imagine my relief to learn that it fit just fine. Ed decked out in his penguin outfit and we pranced down to dinner.
DINNER: All 3 couples were there, in our best of course. We discussed the day’s lectures and events and some books we had read. The couple who does water colors are moving along on their creations. They are also from Hawaii and so we discuss topics local to that state.
TONITE’S SHOW: The band often plays dancing music for a while before the show. There is one couple, probably in their 50s, who often taken up the whole dance floor and their movements are very dramatic with lots of flung arms around the body and head. I’ve about decided the man is her Svengali. It’s all about him. A lady we have had lunch with several times said she loved to watch that couple, didn’t I too? Uncharacteristically, I said: “no I don’t”. I didn’t explain and she didn’t ask but I did smile and say “different strokes for different folks.” Pretty lame actually but I’ve spoken with her enough not to say the politically correct thing.
Tonite I was ready to cheer when an older couple got on the floor to dance followed by several other couples. When the aforementioned couple is on the floor, no one else ever goes out to dance. If nothing else, there’s no room! The older couple clearly had done a lot of ballroom dancing in their day. But they were matter of fact about it and seemed to enjoy what they were doing, as did the other couples, rather than showing off for the crowd.
Just my “meow” for today.
The youngsters put another amazing show titled “I’ve got the music.” I had heard from one of the dancers that this show was licensed just for this cruise and would be performed only one night and then the costumes, choreographer, 2 seamstresses, and other props would be sent back. Their level of energy is astonishing and they are clearly great athletes. There’s one very skinny fellow, who’s name is Patrick, and you wouldn’t think he could lift these girls but he does it effortlessly. None of them are extremely thin; in fact, I’ve seen some love handles on a few. How refreshing. The main singers are very good and pleasant to listen to.

FEBRUARY 2, 2008 – TO RORATONGA

Ed was up before 7 and shaved, put his shorts and T-shirt on and went to exercise. Unquestionably, the exercise helps immensely. I got dressed and tried to upload the blog unsuccessfully as it turns out. So I went up to the internet café and cleaned out my emails. There were some newsy emails from friends telling me of their lives and the weather and political reports. Well, one included details of the Britany Spears debacle. These emails are all enjoyed very much.
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC, PART 4. Vice Marshal Dick discussed Kamikaze and firestorms in Japan. I learned a lot of new information I had not previously heard. Ed and I had a discussion about the dropping of the A bombs in the face of the cities in Japan that had been devastated by fires and the decimation of the Japanese navy and air over time. Of course, it’s all 20/20 now but this British soldier’s research and his personal perspective leave you on the edge of your seat. He also remarked that he had met many veterans on this ship who were involved in many of the fights he has described. I’ll bet those discussions were merzmerizing. I wish I had asked my father many more questions about the war (assuming he would have answered them because like many WWII vets, they talked among themselves about war experiences, but rarely volunteered to others) because I know he was in the European and the Pacific theatres. Beyond that I know very little. It is complicated by the fact that his service records were among those destroyed in a fire in St. Louis in 1970. The Army has reconstructed some information via secondary sources so that his veteran status was proven for the VA.
From this event, I went to upload my blog, successfully this time as it turns out. Hank and Erna were at their usual place working busily with their water colors. Both are onto new pictures now: Hank with something to do with trees, and Erna of a flowering plant she was allowed to take from a garden on a tour yesterday. So she must work quickly before it wilts.
I went to the library to read the paper and look for the John Jakes’ books Dave has mentioned. So far no luck but I did find a paperback exchange book titled Killer Doctors: The shocking true crimes of medical deviates who practiced in murder by Colin Evans. So that’s a backup to read when I don’t want to concentrate too much.
IBERIA: I’m about a third of the way through this fascinating book and I am struck again with the writing talent of James Michener. I am learning so much about Spain, it’s people, it’s flora and fauna. I did not know that the World Wildlife Federation was created to protect a site where migratory birds from all over the world stop to rest up before moving on.
LUNCH: I’ve become a little concerned that I’m eating too much when I go to the dining room, so I went to the buffet on the 10th deck and got rabbit food (only seasoned with balsalmic vinegar) and fresh fruits. I visited with a couple from Massachusetts who did not volunteer much about Milt Romney but who did talk about the impending crisis in unfunded pensions for public employees. I haven’t a clue as to their backgrounds other than what I’ve said. He was clearly impressed by CalPers performance in terms of investing and often follows their lead.
DANCE CLASS: There was a review of the waltz today and we started out but Ed wasn’t feeling well, so we sat out most of it. There was a jolly fellow who’s wife was elsewhere, who was dancing with various unattached ladies, and he asked me to dance with him. I was anxious as you might expect since I dance with Ed and that’s about it. This fellow was fun and easy to follow and I’m no Ginger Rogers but it was a fun experience.
HISTORY OF NAVIGATION: The Drs. Weber are doing this series of 4 lectures on this ship. We heard them on the Diamond Princess in December but were anxious to hear it all again. There’s a lot that clearly didn’t register with me the first time round.
LAUNDRY: It’s about that time again, so we’re discussing a plot to be successful in the least amount of time in the laundry room. Yesterday’s outfit is finally dry after I clipped it onto some of the deck furniture. You aren’t supposed to do this but I put it in such a place that you couldn’t see it unless you came into our room. As one woman said today: the only thing you see out there are occasional flying fish. Certainly I wouldn’t do it if we were in port or there were other craft nearby where it could be seen.
SUPER BOWL wins out. We have tickets for a tour tomorrow afternoon but Ed has opted to stay for the Super Bowl testosterone-enriching experience here on the ship. We dock at 8 am in Roratonga tomorrow and the ship sails again at 5pm. This is a tender port. Our tour isn’t until 12:30 p so I’ll probably see if there’s anything to do on land in the morning. As you may guess, I don’t have a frame of reference to explain this choice but I’m sure he’s not alone.
DINNER: Twyla and Dave were our dinner companions this evening. We discussed the political arena now and through history. Also, shared names and details of some books we’ve enjoyed related the various topics we discussed.
The Matre ‘d stopped by to ask us if we’d be interested in having dinner with the Captain (Twyla and Dave had already done this). It’s a small group of folks and will be a first for us. Let’s hope our manners are fresh in our minds and they don’t serve drumsticks or buffalo wings. We’ll be told the night before the dinner.
PHOTO CONTEST: Dave entered a photo of Twyla and the Captain, mostly because they will print the photo for the contest at a very reasonable price. There are some interesting ones but some would benefit from some cropping. You notice I’m critiquing all this but I’m not entering it, though I can immodestly say some folks have encouraged me to do so.
There is a machine near the photo area where you can put in your flash card and print photos there (for a price of course). Dave forgot to take his flash card out of the machine – with over 300 photos on it – and so he’s now posted a sign asking for it’s return if someone finds it. I’d hope someone would but it’s now over 24 hrs since he posted that notice.
TOMORROW’S EXPLORING: I tried to find out if anything would be open tomorrow since it is Sunday. The information I’ve found is not encouraging. There are only 19,500 people on the islands (15 of them) and they are very religious. As I’ve noted before, the majority are 7th Day Adventist and thus celebrate Friday/Saturday Sabbath. However, there are other religions represented who observe Sunday. Church going is a big deal so I don’t expect there will be anything to check out other than the tour we have already signed up to do. The ship docks at 8 am and leaves at 5 pm. The tour is a 3 ½ hr tour that begins at 12:50 pm. And Ed has decided not to go so perhaps I can find someone else who would enjoy going.
TROPIC OF CAPRICORN: I found this information interesting; perhaps you will too. The Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. This is the parallel of latitude that runs 23o 26’22” south of the Equator, and is the farthest southern latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead. It is the southern equivalent to the Tropic of Cancer. Below this line is the Southern Temperate Zone. North of this line are the Tropics.
This line is called the Tropic of Capricorn because about 2000 years ago, wen it was named, the sun appeared directly overhead, at this latitude, during the winter solstice, it was entering the zodiac sign of Capricorn. In fact, in the intervening 2 millennia the position of the sun at the December Solstice has moved to the West, into Sagittarius. The change is due to precession of the equinoxes. It will not be until 23000 years time before the tropic is again true to its name.
SHOWTIME: Another new entertainer tonite. The Patter lists Mark Newsome as “From Whales the Land of Song.” It made no sense until the Cruise Director explained that he is from Wales: big difference.
EMAILS: It isn’t very fast so I’ll respond to emails when it is speedier.

FEBRUARY 1, 2008-PAPEETE, TAHITI

This place is as lush and gorgeous as you see in the movies and the photos. Papeete is a modern city, at least by the standards of what we’ve been seeing for the last week. The weather is moderate but the sun is still brutal. This time I did the whole sunblock routine.
Text messaged the kids this morning as we were coming into port. It’s amazing to me that we may have problems telephoning with our cellphones (probably because we have not yet mastered the prefix numbers before your home number), but we can text message comfortably from any place that has a good cellphone signal and Ed says the cost for texting is the same everywhere in the world.
I love getting the text messages even if they are short as we feel isolated from family contact. I’m glad the blog keeps folks up to date on our experiences, but we don’t have any similar thing to see how all of you are faring. Thus we really appreciate the news from you even if only a few sentences.
WIRELESS: Just as I search for a cellphone signal when we get near any land mass, likewise I search for wireless connections I can access from the ship. Apparently there is an internal, computer to computer, wireless network on this ship so I’ve learned to ignore that one. In Papeete, I picked up two wireless networks, one low strength, one moderate, but alas, I wasn’t able to connect to them. The laptop is too heavy to carry on our tours; that and the fact that we’d have to lug it everywhere with us. We can usually leave our stuff on the bus without fear of stealing but this would be more than I’d be willing to risk.
LAST NIGHT’S ENTERTAINMENT: Was delightful. Our Russian, new American citizen, violinist, and the piano virtuoso did single performances and then some together. This was a real treat and they ended with our almost-chubby violinist appearing in a sequined red white and blue vest while they played God Bless America and some other patriotic tunes. What a talent to be able to entertain like that.
UPDATE ON (FORMER) TABLE MATES: We see the wife around ship and she is delightful; such a sweet lady. If we see the husband, I don’t notice. I do see that she attends many lectures and performances alone.
UPDATE ON LAUNDROMAT: I overheard a lady saying that the Laundromat is now open from 7 am to 11 pm. Now you must understand, this is important news for those of us who don’t have free laundry. Yet one is left to find out via rumor.
AND SPEAKING OF RUMOR: Occasionally the cruise director, who is probably the best we’ve ever seen on a ship, will address incorrect rumors and ask again for folks to refrain from speculation. I see both sides. The ship needs to provide us with more information at times. Vacuums demand to be filled.
EQUIPMENT UPDATE: Computer still does some peculiar things, but overall it serves the purpose. I went to the maintenance (free) lecture the other day and did some of the things it recommended. Now I’m paying the price. When I download photos, the software doesn’t automatically load, so I’m searching for the right one each time now. I’ll get used to that eventually.
Our duocam, the camera that takes both video (cassettes) and still photos has not been operating the whole trip. The icon indicates it had moisture in it. I checked quickly last night and it looks like the icon is gone, so I’ll lug this heavy one around today and see if I have better luck. I am determined to master the beast but I’ve come to the regretful conclusion that it is a good idea that doesn’t work well in the execution.
OK, I’VE GOT IT STRAIGHT…I THINK: We are now on Honolulu time. But I wouldn’t take that to the bank if I were you. So most of you are later than we are, time wise that is.
WHAT WE SAW ON OUR FIELD TRIP TODAY: Tahiti (pronounced by the locals as tie (as in the neckerchief) hee tee. Our guide was a local woman named Patricia. She was in pareo and with a crown of spiky leaves on her head. She learned her English in England though it sounds more American. She lived in France for many years, so her speech has a delicate background of that language—just enough to be enchanting and not enough to be distracting.
This was titled a “circle island tour” and that’s just what we did eventually with stops along the way. The vistas glorious here—you’ve all seen the travel posters. But this place does not disappoint. We saw waterfalls, gardens, and many traditional Tahitian religious sites. They have stone lava carvings here too and they are called by a name that sounds similar to those on Easter Island, but these are spelled marae. These sites include other upright structures which look like giant forks plunked into the ground and with faces and other glyphs carved into them. You see sights recounting the exploits of Capts Cook and Bligh of the Bounty fame.
At the lighthouse, I was watching where I was going but still managed to take a great fall. Mostly my dignity was hurt but I was concerned with my right arm. There was dirt under my gauntlet but no significant breaks in the skin so I’ll just watch it carefully. It turns out that there are crabs in this area that dig holes in the earth; one particular crab dug his hole at an angle so that grass covered the hole itself. So many folks inquired to see that I was OK, even my dyed in the wool, to the bone, Republican friends. (We are all astonished at Ann Coulter’s assertion that she’d vote for Hillary before John McCain. She’ll say anything to get attention. These Republicans are as embarrassed by her as anyone).
One of the ladies shared that she had fallen in the tub in her room and ripped the shower curtain down with her. She’s fine but it brought home to her how unpredictable our balance is as we get older.
One of the sights that turned out to be an unexpected bit of fun was the Arahoho blowhole. There are actually several blowholes at this site including crashing waves that come up to the roadway. A group of folks were standing watching the waves when all of a sudden they all got totally drenched! One fellow got his camera wet: a very expensive one too. Let’s hope it can be salvaged. That’s the second camera we know of that has been savaged by salt water contamination. I’d love to have a really fancy camera but the weight and the cost if one is damaged are sufficient deterrents for me.
We stopped at the Gaugin museum which is more a recounting of his life. It is in a peaceful setting; they believe that he lived on that spot for 5 yrs. There are none of his paintings on display however. The insurance companies refused to insure these valuable paintings in such a humid environment and insisted that a dedicated facility be built to house them. Since their governor’s seem to last only about 6 mos., the funds have never been assigned. Thus, the private owners have taken them back until such time as a proper site has been built so that they can be preserved.
There was a small selection of touristy things at this site. Often I don’t mind picking up something as an indirect way of supporting museums, but the prices were really unrealistic. Pareos and sarongs were made of a fabric that wasn’t much above gauze that you use in the kitchen and small table cloth sizes were $35 USD. Some folks did buy prints and books (all softcover) about Gaugin and his paintings.
Then we had lunch at the Gaugin Museum Restaurant and Bar which is actually a way down the road. This was an interesting site also. The owner raises prize fish and so you can walk on ramps and see these gorgeous fish in shallow salt water areas fenced off from the ocean by chicken wire. It was a very Polynesian setting to eat. And the selection of foods was interesting including star fruit, bread fruit made in various ways, taro root and it’s derivative, poi. There was an ample supply of papaya, watermelon, pomelo (This is like grapefruit but not as sweet as they led us to believe), and scrumptious plantains (a banana like starch). There were seafood salads, poultry in various forms, and desserts made out of pineapple and other island fruits.
The ship had a local Tahitian group coming on board to provide a show of Tahitian dances at 3 pm so the bus delivered us promptly at 3 to the gate. Ed and I zipped over to a few streets nearby looking to see if we could find anything to bring back. We found the huge open air marketplace but much of it was shut down. We do not eat anything off the ship unless the ship has cleared it, so we just enjoyed looking at the piles of food stuffs and local crafts.
Most of the islanders are Seventh Day Adventist, so they shut down around 2 pm on Fridays to prepare for the Sabbath. There are also a smattering of Protestant, Catholic and Mormons here, the result of early missionaries. So we mosied on back to the ship in time to catch most of the Tahitian show. It wasn’t as good as the ones at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii and while the women were very pretty and with lithe figures, none of the men were very good looking and most were obviously out of shape.
SHOWER…aah. We’re in hot weather during their summer with high humidity so we aren’t very pleasant when we return from these outings. Showers are especially appreciated. And why is it that the locals seem not to break out a sweat in these places?
CAMERAS: I hooked up all the cameras to download today’s photos and recharge the batteries. I took the DuoCam (it takes video cassette and still photos) and used it a couple of times, but alas, there are still problems with the outcomes. I can only correct so much of it with the photo editing software I have. So I made an executive decision to store the DuoCam away and stop trying to work with it. Ed has his Elph which serves him fine, and I have my reliable Olympus (which is moisture resistant so hope if I get it wet with salt water.
DINNER: Hank and Erna joined us just about the time we figured we’d be dining alone. We laughed ourselves silly about the Indian food last night. Erna was married to a man from India and she has written a cookbook for Indian food. What they served us last night didn’t pass muster with anyone who knows Indian cooking. Several ladies had determined to send recipes to the head chef (the one we’re having the culinary classes with). This chef also said if anyone wanted any recipe, to email him at Princess HQ and he’d get it to you.
As you recall, last night Rod tried to convince us that they served curry ice cream (well, after all, they do have garlic ice cream!). Eventually, he brought out two scoops of vanilla ice cream with curry sprinkled on top to prove his point. It’s much funnier in person. Basically we decided some of us would send an email to the head chef asking for the Princess recipe for curry ice cream. Rod keeps telling us “don’t mention my name.” Ed promised him we wouldn’t mention his name,….just table number 45.
ENTERTAINMENT TONITE: We have new entertainers on board for the next 8 days. A comedian/ventriloquist was tonite’s program. I stayed for about 10 min. and then managed to escape to the room. Ed stayed to the bitter end, enchanted as always with these types.
TRAVEL READY ATTIRE: Thanks to the TravelSmith outfit I wore today, I was able to wash all the dirt out of it along with my daily hand laundry of medical attire. How nice it is to have such forgiving clothing.
FORMAL NIGHT: coming up soon, so I have to dig through my thrift shop finds to see what dazzling delight I’ll wear tomorrow night. Ed’s all set with his penguin outfits. Renting that package was a smart idea.
TOMORROW: At sea. Next day: Roratonga. Cook Islands. Ed is in crisis as that’s Super Bowl Sunday. I still don’t know if he’ll stay on the ship to see the game (the ship is taping it also) or go on the tour we planned ages ago.
Then two days at sea during which time we cross the international date line. I think this is just the 4th time I will have crossed it. It takes some getting used to.
JUPITER KISSING VENUS: Apparently last night between 2:30am and 5 am, you could see Venus and Jupiter kissing, an event which happens only once every 14 yrs. I briefly considered seeing this stellar event, but when the cruise director said it would be cloudy with only a small chance of seeing it, I decided I needed my sleep more. I’ll find a picture of it somewhere.
IN MEMORY OF my Dad who would have been 84 today. May he rest in peace.