Day 9, Tuesday April 24, At Sea, Smart Casual

Meg, I almost didn't see it but they did have a session on scrapbooking
today at 2PM.

When I woke the TV display showed winds of 13 mph but there were
warnings of high winds. A look at the smokestacks indicated we were
facing directly into the wind adding 20kt to the apparent wind speed. I
finished my walk a little after 7 and there was moderate cloud cover for
sunrise at 7:20.

Beyond the Podium continued today with a 9:30 presentation by Marc
Kaufman on "Space Entrepeneurs", and the continuing efforts to explore
the universe after the retirement of the space shuttle. This was
followed by a presentation on the last 3 ports and in the afternoon by a
talk by Fred Bronson on "The Sound of Music", followed by a screening of
the movie.

By my GPS we were nearly equidistant between Tenerife and Lisbon at noon
although Captain Berdos had us closer to Lisbon. I am using straight
line distances between docks while the Captain took into account having
to go around the island and probably ended his calculations at the pilot
station. There is still a gusty wind on deck and it feels cooler than
the actual 66 degrees. The seas are rather smooth.

Celebrity Today listed a passenger talent show at 2 and Stars of
Solstice in concert at 3. The 2 have been combined into a single 3PM
show. The passenger show included several singers, a pianist, and a
song and dance team. The Stars of Solstice show included singers
Jessica, Hannah, and Philip. Thomas, officially a dancer, performed
extremely well as a singer.

There was another lovely dinner in Blu with corn fritters, cornish game
hen, and mango upside down cake. After breakfast I realized I was
missing the camera I usually carry around. I checked at dinner and they
had not found it, but it was in lost and found when I checked after dinner.

This evening's feature show was pianist Brooks Aehron, playing a mix of
classical, rag, and rock. By the end of the show the seas were getting
a bit busy and after leaving the show I never stepped on a stairway
without a hand on the hand rail. The sun set just as I returned to my room.

Today's parting shot comes from Fred Bronson's talk on "The Sound of
Music". In art we try to be careful and true to life but often the
little things come back to haunt us. Fred's case in point was a crate
of oranges shown in the movie labeled "Product of Israel". Of course,
at the time of the story action Israel did not yet exist. I also
experienced a taste of fallibility today. A great thank you to the
person who found and returned my camera.

Roy