When you cruise, someone wonderful comes in twice a day and makes the bed and cleans the bathroom, makes little towel animals, and leaves clean linens. Someone else wonderful makes too much food…. and well, for those of us who imbibe… someone else wonderful provides too much wine. Coffee, lemonade, and soft ice cream are self serve. When you get home and get hungry about noon, you look around for that special someone who is going to make amazing salads, salmon with cream cheese, chilius maximus hamburgers, pizza… oh and he’s not there. Someone else is sitting on my chair, chaise, bar stool, in my bed. OH sigh. As "warm ups" go, this was wonderful. it of course is a warm up for May. Will we be able to survive this over indulgence for 29 days as we travel to England and Scandinavia without changing cabins? We decided to take some elastic waist pants… I carried a sketching book, colored pencils and a third graders paint tin of water colors and one paint brush that shed all the time. I sat and drew and colored and shared the tablet with a lovely little three year old named Olyvia. She can’t speak yet but she just got cochlear implants and her Mom expects her to catch up with speech by the time she is 5. She had the biggest smile and loved drawing!!! Aside from the fact that my water coloring skills are on a third grade level (matching my tin water color box and shedding paint brush) I created a fun little diary!
Dec 6 we started the cruise and I drew from the TV screen. They run music and pretty scenes 24 hours. Light delicate music makes up for the roucous music of the bands in the bars…. Now: every day started with coffee and rolls on the balcony! you can put out a little "wake me up sign" and magic happens with a quiet little knock and "room service"
Dec 7 was a sea day with beautiful flat seas and sunshine and white clouds (we ate eggs benedict with salmon)
Dec 8 – The Feast of the immaculate Conception. We celebrate Mary on a feast day because it was her "Yes" that enables us to make Paradise a reality because Jesus, a man, ended sacrifice for us! Mary’s grace was received before she was born as she was chosen to be the tabernacle of God. Our grace is received all our lives! Maximillian Kolbe called Mary "the Immaculate" and he stressed that Jesus recognizes himself, human, in us. Isn’t it amazing and wonderful that God sees his own eyes, heart, and spirit in us? We walked all around Cozemel and then we found a cute little bar on the water and drank local beer and painted 2 sailboats. Pray for a lovely lady named Carol I met who is taking care of her husband who is fighting ALS. His name is David and he is cruising and working hard to live.
Dec 9: Belize. Found a cute little bar named the Rum Shack and drew some ships that mysteriously either crashed into rocks or just were only 1/2 there. I’m not real good with drawing yet…. "Soup of the Day: Rum" The ship had great art so I spent some time guessing the price of a peter max and just looking at art. Also went to a Thomas Kincade seminar and an auction.
Dec 10: Roatan… a wonderful little beach where I sat and got a wet bottom from the wet deck chair, and drew and painted and drank beer in a little bar that might have been called "the mushroom garden"… I’m not sure if Chuck was teasing and meant my little grass huts I was drawing looked like a mushroom farm…
Dec 11: The 50th anniversary of the day Chuck and I met! Wow and wow – great day. Grand Cayman. Met Guy Harvey who was painting at his studio. I stalked him and watched over over an hour! He uses the same paints as I do and he paints with a tin pie plate as his pallette! uses water as his wetter. he answered all my questions and wished me luck with my painting. Chuck bought a painting on canvas and a shirt! Here’s some notes I wrote in my little book: 7 day cruises are too short. don’t have 3 regular beers and 2 helpings of lunch at 2pm and expect to be hungry for dinner. (take Tums). Formal night is still observed, and Chuck is still cute! Go to all the comedy shows; they are much better than stage productions.
Dec 12: a day at sea. Packing is the worst part… I went to an art auction and to Bingo where they drew for a free cruise. I didn’t win. boo hoo. Inspired by the art and a bottle of wine on the balcony I painted a hibiscus and the sunset. Thanks to God for our health and the good time! Love Susie
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