Paradise: day 4

"Whatcha got there?"

 

It's an origami parrot, and I made it!!! My first niece had joined me briefly at breakfast, as the rest of her group were still asleep. It was after 10 AM! I was dining with a Jamaican couple. Then she came up and they talked about being parents and teaching and her being a Pisces. Their teen daughter joined us, too. Then Christina left to wake the family, and I went down to the Euphoria to watch more of the Jimmy Buffett concert.

 

"Well, it looks like you had 'Arts & Crafts' today."

 

I did!!! Jason had already started showing some others how to make the folds. He backed up to show me and the others had a chance to repeat. I was the first to get the knack for the little legs!

 

"Joe Guy would have been pleased as punch with you!"

 

I know, right? I even showed the others how to hold the parrot so he looked like he was perched on your finger.

 

"And just where are y'all?"

 

The ship is docked at Freeport, Bahamas. I thought it was funny that the sand mounds looked like the snow-capped mountains in Marcia's pics of Alaska! That's where she was last week. 

 

"Ummm... is that a duck??"

 

It is! A Lady Liberty rubber duck! That's the first duck I've found on Paradise, and I only have the one Jesus. The girls have gotten quite a collection of ducks!

 

"Hahaha! I see that the room steward made you a duck, too!"

 

Mohamed said he was inspired by the ducks I had on my little nightstand. Isn't that sweet of him? I refer to this as "having my ducks in a row". Nice to have another inside joke!

 

"Yes, dear."

 

The tiny duck is one Chloe gave me, and the one wearing shades belongs to Anthony. Chloe had been playing with it nonstop at dinner last night, so I put it in my pocket. I gave it back to him tonight, and gave her the Jesus she found on the ship. It has a red sash.

 

Christina's quartet missed the origami session, as they were at breakfast. But when they all joined me for the onslaught of trivia games at the Euphoria Lounge, her hair was different! It was loose earlier, at coffee with me. Mine had been different, too, in just the one braid on top of my head. Now, with no coordination at all, we both had twin braids, down low!!! That's how Mama wore her hair, too, when I was growing up! 

 

"That's very cool! Y'all's telepathing link is still working! Hooray!"

 

Right? I had changed my hair when I put the green parrot in my cabin.

 

"I wondered when you got the pigtails. Now, talk to me about the trivia."

 

There were only the three, but they were right in a row! First was "Landmark Landshark Trivia" with Jason hosting. I got 15 out of 20; Christina had 17. Mohammed hosted the next two games. "Slogan Trivia" went pretty far back for some of it's 'mercial jingles, but I still managed to score 15 out of 21. I'll take that, gladly! She did better again, of course. The last game was "Guess The Young Celebrity Trivia", and I absolutely sucked at that! I think I had 5 correct out of 14. Yikes! She did better than me again, but neither of us won any of those. That's okay, we still had fun!

 

"And what did Miyah and Chloe do during that time?"

 

A woman with a bag of little ducks gave the bag to the girls, as well as the children in the family from Nicaragua, and asked that they hide them for her. The kids were only too glad to do so!!! LOL!!! That's how I got that teensy blue one.

  

"Great googly moogly! LOL!!!"

 

After all that, we bounced back to Deck 10 for lunch. I went to Frank & Lola's Pizzeria and had an entire Paradise Pepperoni pizza!!! So delicious!!! She got Cheeseburgers for her and the girls... and none of them liked them. They weren't "like Mom's" - hahahaha! Nothing wrong with the chocolate ice cream, though, and they each ate every bit of that! Then they went down to 4024 to change into swimsuits. I headed up to Deck 11, to the License To Chill pool, and snagged a table for us, then relaxed and grooved to the music of DJ Decibels as the "Sail Away Party" began. Ah!!!

 

There was just one snag... I never saw them come up.

Maybe I was too busy singing along with the music, or watching the tugboat that escorted out of the harbor...

or maybe it was because they exited the elevator on the other side of the ship than they usually did.

I waited for them for almost an hour, then I went back inside.

Emmanuel was strumming his guitar again in Euphoria, so I hung out there with him.

I knew they would eventually show up for dinner.

When the Philippine guitarist saw me, he played "Pretty Woman", again - nice of him to do that!

I sang along, of course!

And, sure enough, I caught my girl and her peeps when they showed up for Fins Dining!

However, it was already 7 PM and there was a dinner rush.

We were given a pager and then waited at least 30 minutes for a table. 

Then the maitre d' took us the long way around in the vast dining hall, with Christina speeding along pushing Anthony in the wheelchair as he was too slow with his hands on the wheels.

I could not keep up...

and the sun was setting...

and I didn't want to miss this final sunset on Paradise.

So I left.

I took the elevator to Deck 11, then walked past the pool to the open metal staircase that led to the 12th floor, with nothing but open, darkening, sky above me.

That's where I remained for the next thirty minutes, enjoying the music and the soft sea breeze and that lone star (upper left corner) as the sun kissed the world good night on its rouged cheek.

Yes, others were out there, too, but they were staying in the moment, as was I.

Bliss...

even though it meant I missed dinner.

Renewed in spirit, I knew it was time to head for the Stars On The Water Theatre to snag a table!

Mohammed, the emcee, had said to hit him up for a seat, so I did, getting a fourth row table in the reserved section.

Then Auntie Terry saw me and moved me up to the front row, right where we all sat that first night!

No extra charge to gaze up at Tevin the steel pan man and that scrim of parrots!

Just before the 9:30 PM show time, Christina and her merry band joined me, just in time for the "tourists" checking out the "fishing shack". 

LOL!!!

A fish go snagged and flew up past them, making us all laugh out loud!

What a fun way to start off "Caribbean Heat"!!! 

More music, more acobatics, more twirling on the Luna!

With all the music being played on stage, some of my favorite Bob Marley tunes got mixed in there, too.

I managed to catch the scrim for "Three Little Birds" before they flew off!!!

"Singing, don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is gonna be all right, yes, don't worry, about a thing..."

I just love that song!!! 

Then the show was over... but not the fun!

 

Mohammed was there on camera duty, taking photos of folks with the cast after the last twirls had been done and the last notes were played.

Such patience he had!

He had to traipse over to the right to get the person's phone, go and get in the middle to live up the shot, then given them their phone back...

over and over and over!

Miyah and Chloe were the first to get their photos taken, then they went over to Auntie Terry and burst into tears while hugging her...

oh, poor dears!!!

She even had tears in her eyes!

But that wasn't the last time we saw her... oh, no!

Even though it was already after 10:30 PM, we headed over to the Euphoria.

 

That's because Cruise Director Terry was the emcee for the game show, "Lip Sync Or Swim" and we had been invited to come!

Christina even managed to grab us some chairs, as the former occupants were up there trying to win free margaritas... or a free cruise!

The game ended in a tie, with both men winning cruises - wow!

Then the girls went up to dance with Terry, and get one more hug, before going back to the cabin to pack and sleep.

Me?

I found out the pizza joint on Deck 10 was still open, so there I went!

It was too late to eat it tonight, but the two slices of Paradise Pepperoni would be perfect for a quiet breakfast tomorrow.

And when I returned to 4089, I still had time to pack my suitcase and sit it outside the door for pickup.

i thank you, God!