Wednesday, May 1, 2013 Ft Lauderdale
I need to get a quick note off before we head out to sea
after we head out then at&t gets more difficult. 2870 miles to the next stop. We arrive next Wednesday at Ponta Delgada,
Azores. The ship is beginning to untie
lines and fire up the engines. I have
about 4 books on my iPad to read, with only a couple of hours of internet
connection each day I may go into withdrawals.
I have been following a blog on tiny houses; our cabin
reminds me of that blog. It amazing how
you can be totally comfortable in a small space. Kind of makes you wonder why we have such a
big house.
This cruise is full of people who have made multiple
cruises. I was looking around at the
muster drill and I saw only about a half dozen couples younger than us. I think there are about 6 kids on board.
Tuesday, May 2, 2013 at sea
What would Columbus have done?
We are about 400 miles from Florida and about 2500 miles
from our next stop. How do I know that;
I looked on my phone. Poor old Columbus
left Spain thinking he might fall off the edge of the earth. When he got to where he was going he didn't
know where he was. He had to abandon
part of his crew in this new place and then couldn't find them on the next
trip. He may have been called the great
navigator but if he was alive today his wife would make him stop and ask for
directions if he was driving. Today all
we have to do is look at our phones and see where we are in the world with
about 6 ft accuracy. I think it is
totally amazing. It has made it where
any fool can cross the ocean (as long as their batteries last) without any
technical knowledge. I don't know if
that is a good thing. (BTW, Carole still
wants to make me stop and ask for directions. She doesn't trust Google.) It is also possible to connect
with people all over the world from the center of the ocean with an internet
connection. Although I must admit it
isn't quite as easy as it is from streets of Pell City. Posting the blog thru the ship's wireless
system is somewhat of a hassle and is expensive. I may have to go to posting every few days
rather than each day.
Our course is 75 deg with a speed of 19 knots. (My phone told me.) We are currently in to an 18 knot head wind
which puts the apparent wind at 37 knots on deck. (I had an engineering course in vector
analysis that taught me how to do that calculation.) For anyone who doesn't deal in knots that is
about 42 mph. Either way if you are in
an exposed area it makes walking difficult and cool since the air temperature
is 72 deg.
Tonight is formal night, so it is put on the tux and look
like someone important.
Friday, May 3, 2012 at sea
It is Friday and how do I know that? My phone told me! Otherwise I wouldn't have a clue. The days are running together. The view well it hasn't changed much in the
last couple of day. We are in the
"shipping lanes" so you do see ships from time to time. We spent most of the day passing a cargo
ship. I first saw him around 9:00 this
morning and he disappeared about 4:00.
We must have been making about a half a knot more speed than he was
making. And that my friends, was the
total excitement for the day.
We had a very unique dinner tonight. We have two other couples we share a table
with at night. One couple is from
California and are a lot of fun, the other is "interesting" and I will leave it
there. The interesting people were no
shows at dinner. The California couple
had been to the Martini Bar. You know
they say martinis are like boobs. You
really need more that one, two is perfect and three makes you really
strange. The guy had enjoyed at least
three before the meal and had one waiting on him at the table. He may have been one of the funniest drunks I
have been around in quite a while. He is
a retired mechanical engineer (he is not prototypical). After he retired he went to school and became
a hair dresser, then to school to become a furniture maker. Now he is just retired. His wife worked in health care for her
lifetime and recently helped establish a clinic for children with a very rare
disorder. It is the only one like it in
the US. They have children from all over
the world come there for treatment. I
told them we would meet in the Martini Bar tomorrow night before dinner so we
could be entertained again. Pat the wife
vetoed that idea. Arlen was led away to
bed at 8:00.
The entertainment other than Arlen was a piano
player. The guy had the largest hands of
anyone I have ever seen. His playing was
amazing. He will do another concert
tomorrow at 2:00. I will be there to see
him.
I bragged on the internet at sea too early. Tomorrow I will take the iPad to the Internet
cafe and see if I can get a connection.
So far I can't get the wireless to recognize me. Where is Mike Ash when you need him?
Saturday, May 4, 2013 at sea
I looked out the window and saw ocean. OK that is all I have to tell you. There is just ocean and more ocean.
This internet thing just isn't working for me. I was able to download email today but then
when I started deleting them it locked up the iPad the connection on the uplink
because it was so slow. I guess I am
going to have to wait until I find at&t in Europe to upload the blog.
I had gumbo for lunch.
Bless the cook’s heart he would have been killed for calling that stuff
gumbo in Mobile. The same is pretty much true for grits. I was afraid to try
southern fried chicken after those experiences.
I guess you have to have been raised in the south to understand how to
fry food and cook BBQ.
Sunday, May 5, 2013 at sea
There is a nice swell in the ocean this morning. The boat has a nice rocking motion, so much
so Carole isn't having anything to do with getting up. It is like rocking a baby to sleep.
We have gone thru our forth time change so we are officially
four hours ahead of Alabama time. Carole
struggles each year when we change to daylight savings time and this is really
giving her a hard time. So when I wake
her up at 8:30 she reminds me her body thinks it is 4:30 but then I have to
point out she went to bed at 6:00 last night.
Yea, I know never argue with a woman, the only way you get in the last
word is to say "Yes dear".
I have been reading Rick Bragg's book "It is all
over but the shouting". It is a
book my mother wanted me to read. It is
unusual for her to ask me to do something so when she does I generally do what
she asks. Besides, the book looked
interesting. It is autobiographical and
based on his life in the Jacksonville/Piedmont area. I think mother had ulterior motives for
wanting me to read the book. It is very
much like the lives we had growing up.
OK I want to qualify that real quick, my father wasn't a drunk who abandoned
the family. He did drive a truck in his
earlier years and would be gone from time to time for several days. We didn't have indoor plumbing until I was
eight years old. I do remember taking
baths in the wash tub and having a pee pot under the bed so you didn't have to go
to the outhouse in the middle of the night.
The book is an accurate view of the south during that
period of time. If you grew up in a
southern mill town then it describes your life, your relatives and the people
you grew up knowing. It has everything
from the town drunk, town idiot, to the uppity white ladies who had maids’
everyday to clean their houses and take care of their children. It deals with the prejudice we all have. If you live in the south yours are just
different than people in the north or west.
We are, I think, just more willing to be open about them than they
are. If you want to understand the rural
south you should read this book.
Rick was driven by his fear of failure. I can certainly identify with that internal
drive that forces you to work harder and longer than anyone else. I discovered a long time ago that if I wasn't
the smartest or best at something, if you worked hard enough you could
certainly get about 95% of the way there.
The best part was when he discussed his aunt Edna which
was pronounced Edner. My mother's name
on her birth certificate is "Edner".
They spelled it just like they said it.
While she has always used her middle name of Dean there are a few of the
great aunts who always called her Edner.
When I want to make sure I have her undivided attention I will call her
that now.
I officially gave up on posting a blog until I get a good
connection. After 45 minutes I finally
got my mail to sync with the office. I had to do it early this morning when no
one was on the Internet on the ship.
Monday, May 6, 2013 at sea
OMG. Will the view ever change! I am not a very relaxing person; I have to be
doing something every day. So the fifth
day at sea is getting to wear on me.
Carole and I took a vote last night and decided to limit further trips
to no more than two days at sea. I think
I will ask the captain if he has any woodworking projects on board that he
needs help completing. If I get truly
desperate I might even volunteer to paint something. At least we are down to about 800 miles to
the next port.
This morning around 9:30 the boat took a right turn of
about 110 degrees and headed due south for about 2 miles, reducing speed to 12
knots, then back on course and speed. I
don't know why but it makes you wonder.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at sea
There is nothing but ocean out here, maybe I am not made
for long ocean passages. I have always
wanted to cross an ocean on a ship; I will officially be able to cross that off
my list and don't think I will ever want to do it again. Our table mates, the interesting
ones, do it twice a year. There are
several places we have been that I like to go back to see again. Virgin Islands, Wooden Boat School and Alaska
but to spend six days crossing the Atlantic twice a year for ten years, it
would make me interesting too. Hell no
it would make me the town idiot!
