Tuesday, February 19, 2008

second stage sea days

A new pattern is emerging on sea days since we left Sydney which marked the beginning of the second stage of the cruise.  Some people left the ship and new folks came on.  We have changed dinner table assignments and are now setting with 3 new couples.  Randy and Dottie are from North Carolina.  Randy is Arleen's gambling buddy and is driving her crazy because he keeps hitting big jackpots.  Ken,known as Z from his last name is a retired policeman from Minnesota. He  and Vicky his wife are living in Phoenix.  Hew and Hellen are the patriacrhs of the table.  They are a delightful couple from Kingston, Canada, who have been married 57 years.  He wrote the prize winning poem for St. Valentine,s Day.  We are really enjoying their company.
 
Choices of what to do during the days have also changed.  Duane has started taking Bridge lessons at nine in the morning andtwo in the afternoon. At 10 am he then goes to a round table discussion entitled Mystries & the Scriptures.  The current discussion is on the meaning of faith.  The group includes people of various persuasions including Jewish,Catholic, Protestant, atheist, agnostic and skeptic and a lot of unidentified.  The discussion have been really good.  This will be his pattern on sea days for quite a while.
 
Arleen is still deciding an a daily basis, choosing from the smorgsasbord of activities.  The reality has set in that we still have almost two thirds of our trip left to go and it feels good.

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