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.

JANUARY 31, 2008 TOMORROW PAPEETE, TAHITI

Ed was up and out by 8 am to do some exercise. This recent burst of healthful awareness has meant that he is taking less diabetes medications. He also says he has lost weight but I will require objective verification to believe this as I see absolutely no evidence to support this. He’s still enhancing his shirt supply with sizes on the large end of the spectrum.
NEEDLEPOINT: I misplaced the yarn from the needle point kit I got yesterday and spent a lot of time trying to track it down. Later in the day a lady walked up to me with it. She had seen it fall near my seat in the Lounge yesterday. So I’m pacing myself to see if I can do this bit of crafting without problems with my arm.
SUNBURN is all resolved it seems. I credit slathering Gold Bond Lotion with Aloe on it several times a day with this good news. You can bet I won’t forget long sleeves and sun tan lotion on trips ashore.
MORE ON PITCAIRN: There was a discussion this morning about Pitcairn and the trials for rape of a good portion of the male population took up much of the time. One of the ship’s officers brought along the January issue of Vanity Fair which has an article about all this. That is one of the issues I brought with us to read so I was able to get up to speed on the details. If you get a chance, it is interesting to read for many reasons: psychology, isolation, sociology, ethics, and more.
We have a family on board who are moving from one country to another and they have home schooled their children. One of the kids was interviewed as she had befriended the children who came aboard the ship from Pitcairn. I found this a delightful addition to the discussions by the adults. It was a unique perspective.
Father Cribbin enjoys these kids. He is an active participant in the trivia quizzes, where his group states that he’s valuable for many reasons not the least of which is the Latin and Greek skills he brings to the experience. Their group apparently wins the qizzes and are given token gifts such as bags, luggage tags and such. When he collects two, he gives them to the kids.
SPEAKING OF Father Austin. He did the nondenominational service when we started this trip but apparently some participants said it was “too Catholic” so now the cruise director is doing it.
LUNCH: Again an interesting group of folks at the table. One couple went to Machu Picchu so there was much discussion of that and other land tours. We are now curious to know if we can access our passports to get passport stamps at these World Heritage sites we will see on the land tours. I left the question with the Purser’s desk for an answer.
WATERCOLORS: We met Hank and Erna with their water colors in the corner assigned to the port speaker, who seems delighted to see the use they make of this space when he isn’t using it. They both make these water colors look so easy. It would take a lot for me to believe I could ever master that. Perhaps one day, providing I never get to the cartooning class I’ve long wanted, I’ll try some other form of art.
PORT TALK: RAROTONGA: This is the capital of the cook Archipelago and David was his usual excited, upbeat self. The origin of this group of islands, as most in this part of the world, is volcanic. We are there Feb. 3rd.
THE WORLD’S SECOND OLDEST PROFESSION: This is about spies and spying and the speaker recounted many names you would recognize. He also lays out the complexity of the communications—or more commonly, lack of same—between various bureaucracies and the need to address this. Later, he will be doing a presentation on “spies in high heels” where he will deal with Mata Hari. There is a separate area in the International Spy Museum in DC devoted to female spies. This will be interesting. Our British aviation speaker mentioned Tokyo Rose in yesterday’s talk.
TOMORROW PAPEETE: Let’s get the pronunciation out of the way: peh pee et ee. At least that’s what the consensus sounds like. I’m excited to see this place. We have a 6 ½ hr tour and the ship is only in port 9 hrs so we may not have much, if any, time to hit the open market that is an interesting local site to see. Much of the food and other items sent to Pitcairn come from here.
DINNER: Just Hank and Erna, Ed and I. It was food from India tonite. Erna’s husband was from India and she has written a cookbook of Indian food, so we tried to laugh at some of the representations. For example, the Nan bread was more tortilla like. Rod almost had us believing that there is curry ice cream. (Well, there’s garlic ice cream so why not?) We had a lot of laughs tonite over food and other miscellaneous topics.
THE SHOW TONITE: The second seating folks had the show while we were at dinner. The line to get into our show was long before we ever made it to our room so I suspect we’ll be in the nose bleed section for the show. Tonite is the Russian violinist and the Piano Entertainer who worked with Liberace. Should be a good show.

JANUARY 30, 2008 I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE ARE.

We both woke up before the alarm sounded at 7 am. I wanted to go to a computer maintenance (free) class at 9 am. Ed went out to walk on deck.
EMAIL: Since I was ready early, I went up to the internet café hoping that I would have an easier time getting onto email. I’m not sure it was any faster but I did get a few messages, some spam, and some unclassified. I cleaned up everything there and made it to the computer class with the laptop in hand.
COMPUTER CLASS: Some folks brought their laptops, some of which had Windows Vista loaded on them. Since we have that on our home computers, I was interested in that as well. The wife of the computer teaching team is a red hatter so I gave her a copy of our photo on a flash drive (such handy little things to have). I went so far in the clean up when I wasn’t allowed to go on because the computer said I wasn’t the administrator. This surprised me since Ed had told me I was. I checked the user groups and it lists both of us as administrator. So I made my apologies and brought the computer back to the room where I set it to defrag. While I was gone.
CULINARY CLASS: this chef is so much fun. He loves food and it’s clear you should not mention artificial substitutes. He will tell you about cholesterol and calories in general terms as he does the dish, but those considerations are not constraints for him. He also shows cute ways to decorate the food so that the presentations are always gorgeous. I took photos of each of the dishes and the sculptures of the squash on his work table.
Of course, everything had been chopped and prepared for him in advance. And there is a crew handy to take away the used dishes and utensils. We should all have such resources to cook. While he says he’ll teach you to do a meal in 20 min., clearly it will take any normal person much longer.
He will be with us to Sydney where he gets off. He will then rejoin us in Mombai and will again leave the ship in Barcelona. If you attend all his classes you get a certificate of some kind from some important sounding culinary board. If I frame it and hang it in the house, those who know me will laugh til they cry when they see it.
PHOTOS: Sofia took a picture of us at the rail at Pitcairn Island so we located it and added it to the others from which we will choose just before Sydney. They had black and white photos last night but it didn’t look like many did this.
WATERCOLORS: Hank and Erna were doing watercolors near the purser’s desk when we went down to check our bill (internet charges still aren’t correct; I’m lost but Ed seems to understand it). Since I’m using WiFi that’s one charge: 50 cents per minute. Prints are 50 cents a page. Then there’s the “free” minutes we get because of our Platinum status in the Captain’s Circle Club. We have to buy a package of time which is later offset by a credit. This is the part that I’m lost in trying to put it all together.
Well Hank was doing a painting of a Moai; his original was a post card with a row of them. Erna was painting a Helaconia (I think that’s what it’s called: those gorgeous bright red ones that you associate with Hawaii—where they are from). Absolutely gorgeous. She showed us some others in her portfolio and they are all beautiful and would do well in any show. She makes 11x17 all the way down to greeting and note card size. She had a real plant to copy from. Easy for her. My attempts would look like a Jackson Pollock at best.
LUNCH: Fr. Cribbin was again at our table regaling us with his stories. A woman with whom I had sat before, was again at this table and it turns out she is the wife of a former republican assemblyman in San Diego. We know many of the same people and it was fun to share stories of folks we know. Another couple from Canada shared a story of writing Ahrnold asking if he’d like to run for President of Canada since American law precludes him from running in the US. They didn’t get a response. That’s a shame really. At least the Republican State Committee should have given these folks a courtesy reply.
Father carries an Irish and a USA passport so we discussed the mischief he could get into with the Irish passport. So far he only has the Pitcairn stamp in it (they stamped both of his passports for the $5: such a deal). He wasn’t able to get a Chinese visa prior to the trip, so we are speculating about his luck if he uses his Irish passport. We’ll keep you posted if we hear.
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC, PART 3: I wish now I had gotten my father to tell me more about his war experiences because I do know that he was in the European and SE Asia theatres. As a child a recall a ring he brought back from Manila; no one knows where it is now. I recognized the names of the officers and of course Gen. McArthur is always good fodder for ridicule due to his arrogance and hubris. It seems that the famous photo of him keeping his promise to return to the Phillipines took 9 takes and there was a clean pair of pants available for him for each take. I should take my pocked atlas along for these lectures. The speaker has maps and they are very well done but I’d be able to see the atlas better I think.
NEEDLEPOINT: I can’t crochet or knit anymore, but I might be able to needlepoint. I saw a lady doing a small purse that I liked, so I bought the kit. It has “Princess Cruises” on it to be needlepointed but I think I’ll substitute my name. One lady said why should all your work go toward advertising the cruise line, particularly since you paid for the kit!
CERAMICS AT SEA: I still want to do this but there are conflicts in time as I mentioned before. You buy the needlepoint kits at the same location and time, so I saw four people making items, 2 men and 2 women. That did my heart good and their work is so pretty. Maybe late in the cruise, the timing will fit. ,
THE SS UNITED STATES: Even though she hasn’t sailed in many years, she still holds the world speed record among ships. She’s been passed from owner to owner without anything really being done with her. Her engines are well preserved. One of the main problems is that she uses so much fuel. She uses about 3 times as much fuel as this ship we’re on! Too bad.
CATCH UP ON FOX NEWS: Well, isn’t this political season just the most bizarre. Who would have thought 3 mos ago that we would now be down to the current field of 4 candidates (well only if you ignore the indomitable Ron Paul). There is a very congenial and very large man on this cruise who is dyed in the wool republican. He believes that GW Bush will go down as the greatest President in American History—on a par with Abraham Lincoln. Even though I fail to agree with him on most things, I do enjoy talking with him. Of course, I do have to bite my tongue when he repeats unsubstantiated rumors about the candidates, but I also know it won’t do me any good to try to neutralize all this. After all, we must always keep an open mind to hear what others think no matter how much of our character is tested.
DINNER: All 6 of us were here and we spent a lot of time recreating the old radio shows we knew as kids (The Shadow knows….The Green Hornet…) later we began with the old TV shows when the screen was a 10 inch round affair which was later followed with a magnifying device attached. Even later was the blue top and green bottom laid over the screen to mimic sky and grass.
The food tonite was exceptionally good and so we were conspicuously quiet during the entre. Tomorrow night is Indian food. One of the ladies was married to a man from India (who sadly died much too soon) and so she knows Indian food well. Ed of course, is wild about those dishes. I can take most or leave them; I did look for my favorite dish. I don’t know the name but it is okra swimming in clarified butter. This led to a discussion about some Southern dishes as one couple live in Arkansas and Padre Island, Texas (second home).
TONITE’S SHOW: Is a two parter. The first part is a program by the principal female singer in the dance troupe, a young woman from Australia who is a tour guide for mines during her non-contract months. She has a pleasant enough voice and her choice of songs was interesting and included some familiar ones, and some she seems to have successfully adapted.
The second part is a comedian – juggler. A large part of the audience beat a hasty retreat while the floor was being set up for this act. Ed stayed as you might expect. I’m not worried I’ll miss anything.
FRUITS: The real kind that is. It seems that we are so far from civilization, that the supply of berries is exhausted and bananas are under lock and key. We did manage to get fruits in our cabin: apples, oranges and two Asian pears.
The menus contain a lot of cold soups which blenderize a variety of easily accessible and long-lasting fruits. They are delicious but I can’t help but think of their high calorie count since ice cream is their base. They are sometimes listed under soups; other times, as smoothies and are served in a cocktail glass. Clever devils they are around here.
STAFF CHANGES: Those staff who leave the ship in Sydney are marking off the days on their calendars; you can hear it in their conversations and it is amusing. Still, we can all identify with their longing to get home and wish them well.
DR. BRADLEY WEBER’S MASCOT: I told you about Curious George which Bradley has attached to the front of his scooter. They have a friend who makes doll clothes and has contributed a wardrobe for this monkey that must require it’s own steamer trunk. Today George was in a ship Captain’s attire. I got a photo of course. What a clever idea. Somehow it reminds me of the first nude centerfold in Playgirl magazine (of Burt Reynolds in his better days). One fellow who was in isolation mounted it on the wall of his room in such a way that you had to gown and glove to go far enough into the room to see it. He had a steady stream of visitors for a long while after that.
POST-PRANDIAL DROWSINESS: Well I guess our nap yesterday helped after all. It certainly didn’t interfere with our sleep last nite and today we weren’t drowsy during the lectures.
TOMORROW: is a quieter day. Not much going on in the morning: cards and games, Mass, Bridge lectures, Men’s ping-pong get-together (be still my heart), tara pearl seminar presentation, discussion about the truth about Pitcairn Island, Quilling, Snowball Jackpot Bingo (pretty popular as always), Trivia---and then lunch which features a Rapa Nui (the real name of Easter Island among the locals) luncheon buffet. There are two lectures we’ll attend tomorrow afternoon.
TIME AGAIN: Tonite we turn back our clocks one hour; tomorrow we turn back yet one more hour. I’ve now lost tract of what time zones we are in but I do recall that I made the wrong connection with UT yesterday. The 2 refers to how many time zones to the international date line. At some point between Feb. 4 – 8th, we will cross it and lose a day. But then we’ll be ahead of y’all for a change.
So I’m off to upload this.