At exactly10pm last evening, just as we returned to our cabin, the sea got a little bouncy, not bad at all, just the gentle motion that puts me right to sleep. Coupled with the mattress in our new cabin (best one yet) and our busy day yesterday, I slept well and soundly.
It was still a little cloudy this morning but grew increasingly sunny throughout the day, though the temps remained cool. In the noon report today we heard that tomorrow will be in the low- to mid-60s, so I guess it’s safe to say that we will have three days of chilly weather en route to Hawaii. Most people are wearing slacks and a jacket or vest during the day; a few hardy souls refuse to succumb and are sporting shorts and Ts.
When I woke up at 6:30am…brrrrr
Shortly after sunrise
I ordered tropical fruit and cottage cheese and received about a tablespoon of cottage cheese and a 1/4 cup of chopped fruit😳It was another busy day today. I went first to Hawaiian Ambassador Rowena’s lecture on Hilo held in Club Fusion (not nearly enough seats). I’m not sure why we have two other lecturers on board but I’m finding I get more out of Daniel’s and Suzanna’s, so I am going to attend Daniel’s in person and watch Suzanna's (usually held at 4pm which conflicts with our evenings) on our cabin TV. She actually gets into the history and ancient culture a little more than the others; Daniel covers more geology and wildlife (whales!!).
From Club Fusion I went to the Michelangelo Dining Room to learn (or I should say RE-learn) how to make a ribbon lei. I did this on the Pacific Processes years ago, but, of course, remembered nothing beyond the fact that it is very important to keep the ribbons flat and untwisted. I’m pleased with how mine turned out. (I’ll post a pic tomorrow…it’s on G’s phone and he’s asleep).
Lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room was up next, which a good thing, because that one tablespoon of cottage cheese didn’t have a lot of staying power.
And then we were off to the second progressive ukulele class, and what fun these have turned out to be. We actually studied this chord chart a little over lunch to try to improve (it didn’t help).
Hawaiian Ambassador Brian is so funny. He pointed out that our C chords are always loud and strong (‘cause they’re only made with one finger) and then we move to G and it’s barely audible (because some of us are still trying to fit three fingers on strings nearly on top of each other). G made me laugh…he says he needs more fingers and fewer strings. Harious, but true! Brian asked how many of us have never previously played the ukulele and there were several, but when he asked how many had never played a stringed instrument, there was only a large handful of us (the handful with the sorest fingertips, I’m guessing).
We started playing out of a songbook today, and I sent this pic to my guys. Our song. 😆 They want a video. I need to practice- a lot- first.
I had a short break then, and showered for the evening while G was at the military get together. Tonight was our first formal night of the cruise. He wore dress pants and a beautiful embroidered white linen shirt he bought in La Paz and looked very handsome We continue to simplify our formal night attire.
We went first to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers, but just for a few minutes. It was going to be a busy evening and we needed to get to dinner when the Michelangelo Dining Room opened (usually ten or fifteen minutes earlier than posted in the Patter). The champagne waterfall began at 6pm.
I left the waterfall before the officers were introduced to get us two front row seats in the Princess Theater for tonight’s production show, Rock Opera. G went back to the cabin to get us sweatshirts and a MUTS blanket because it is just that cold in the front row of the theater.
Rock Opera was as impressive as always, and I enjoyed it even more since we had seen tenor Connor’s own show a few nights ago.
We returned to our cabin to see a view of the moon reflected on the water on our cabin TV’s ship cam channel. I threw on warm clothing and dashed out of our cabin, intending to go out on the area above the bridge, but it was closed off. I guess that’s not a surprise, and it likely is every night. I just hadn’t noticed it before.
We move clocks back an hour overnight. The only thing better than a day on a cruise ship is a 25-hour day on a cruise ship.
Life is good. :-)
