Apparently about the same amount are getting on later the same day, as the ship changes position to do Alaska cruising for the season. [Does that mean that some strange people will be using our bed Thursday night, and horror of horrors, using our toilet?]
These last few days have been a bit of a holding pattern for some of us who are anxious to get home. Some seem to pretend that it will not end. I suppose that it depends on your make-up. Fellette is both, anxious to get home but cherishing every moment on board. The sign of a well adjusted person. I have done a good job in making her what she is, haven't I? [My mother used to say that God would get me for saying that!]
One thing that these long cruises have taught me is the differences in the lives that people have. I am going to tell a little story, a true story, that happened on this ship on this cruise. There was a couple that got on in Fort Lauderdale the same as we did. We met the lady a few times and went on a couple of tours that she was on, alone. Her husband did not seem to go on that type of thing. The lady was about 65? fun to be with and very pleasant. Her husband died on the ship just before India. A massive heart situation apparently. He was a very large man and I only saw him twice, sitting at the bar.
The lady had her husband cremated in Mumbai and she continued on the cruise, alone. Apparently the couple had no children and she had 'nothing to go home to'. She has more acquaintances on the ship than at home. I almost cried when I heard that.
We are so fortunate to have a fulfilling home life and can also get away and do such things as we have been doing on the trip.
Change in subject:
Tonight was our last formal night. The end of the 'dress-ups' that I actually enjoy. I rarely wear a tie at home and it is a bit of a treat to put on some fancy duds once in a while. The ladies of course always look smart but on formal nights they really do shine. The attached photos do not really convey the merriment of the night. needless to say it will be a very long time before we have the pleasure of such an evening. The food was great and the conversation was lively and stimulating. After dinner I wanted to get a photo of Fellette, Moe and Barbara. That seemed easy enough but they would not stop laughing and being silly. The pictures I hope convey some feeing of merriment as we approach Bermuda, North America and home.
New Subject:
Tomorrow is Bermuda. We are going to do a little family tree research tomorrow. Well, no research, just a sentimental journey. My grandfather, on my fathers side, Herbert Henry Robins, had a brother that spent the last few years of his life here and his daughter spent all of her married life here. My Mom and Dad, [Frank and Wilda] visited them here once only I believe. I remember the pictures that Dad came home with of their place on the beach. Apparently they had a tea-house and ran a 'changing room' facility for people to put their 'swimming costumes' on.
Son Craig has sent me a map with their exact location so we hope to try and duplicate the photo my Dad took about 50 years ago. Cousins Peggy and Gordy were also helpful in filling me in the details. [Peg is the daughter of Frank's half brother, Bob Graham].
It is sometimes hard for me to grasp that we are 'the older generation'. Our parents are gone and we are the ones who are supposed to know all this 'stuff' about our family that the youngsters may not have an interest in, if ever, for years. How often do I wish I could phone my Mom or talk to my Dad, or an aunt, now gone. At least by putting some of this stuff down in print form it may fall into the hands of an interested ancestor years from now. I find that I think more now of long gone relatives that did not apparently mean much to me as a child, but I wish I could turn the clock back and talk to them now. Wow, the questions I would ask! I remember once my father telling me that his father knew a man who had seen Napolean! WOW.
TRIVIA: Bermuda was first 'occupied' in 1609 by an English settler's ship 'Sea Venture' that grounded on the island that would become Bermuda. They were on their way to the colony in Jamestown, Virginia. Some of them decided to stay there and the rest is history as they say. It is interesting how fate and history work. They were all English obviously, but the ones who went to Virginia turned into Americans and the ones that stayed in Bermuda are still English. Could be a family or two that split up then, who knows?
We have some new friends on board that have relatives that were on Bermuda for some time in a rather precarious way and in threat of live and limb before being allowed to carry on to what is now America. All this about 400 years ago. Their task tomorrow is to find a Square named after them.
By the way for my Acadian relatives, [Deagles etc.], the settlers that came in 1609 were Johnny-Come-Lately compared to our ancestral Acadians who arrived in Canada five years earlier in 1604, albeit it a bit further north.
Calm seas today and a bit hazy, but temperate. 10 Hours till Bermuda.
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