San Jaun - April 2018

We were sailing in as this sailboat was sailing out. Zoom in at the end to see the fortress walls.

This time I’m glad to stay aboard. Knee pain. :-( 

We didn’t sign up for any tour, thank goodness. At 5 pm there is a show tour. Right now our plan is to show up at the starting point and see if they’ll sell us the tour then. 

Que sera sera!!  In the meantime we’ll relax on deck and read. I’ve got a good Grisham novel (The Partner) and dad has his sci-fi and earphones!!

The guitarist, Juan Carlos, was fantastic. Bought his cd for you, TR.  How I wish you could have seen and heard him. My only regret was that he used too much amplification.  It would have been so much more “authentic” without it. Hope the cd does justice to his talent. 

Check him out with google!!!  

Grand Turk - April 2018

John Glen splashed down here. 

Amber Cove:

Nice place. All fresh and new. 

Not doing much. Just WiFi-img. Couldn’t resist this shot:  

Hello from Cuba - April 2018

Cuba was interesting. Dilapidated buildings and well-preserved old cars (personal taxi business). 

And right across the street, the Capitol building.

Government buildings look ok on the outside like the National theater:

And these two security and communication buildings.

No billboards anywhere. But revolutionary heroes are omnipresent. 

Typical condition of buildings. 

Many more sights
And of course, the spiffed up cars!!

The cigar makers:

And, after a brief nap back aboard the ship, we were off to the cabaret show at the Parisienne in Havana’s famous International hotel. 

Back on the ship at midnight!! Quite a memorable day. 

Cayman Islands - April 2018

Had a nice time with the locals.  Bought the famous rum cake. Enjoyed gelato and a latte. And crossed the street so many times the traffic cop became a dear friend. 

It was so quiet . . .

Today we found one of the few places near the city where you can enjoy the sound of silence.  Just the rustle of the wind in the pines.  The buzz of a bee. The whispering, rushing cascade of the river about a hundred steps away.  Picnic time in the mountains near Boulder.

Watermelon? Cake?

I wondered what to serve my health-conscious family for a birthday celebration.

Watermelon, I knew, would be safe bet.

But a "watermelon cake" turned out to be absolutely calorific!

A little hard to push candles in . . . but the birthday girl insisted on at least one.





The "cake" sliced nicely and was enjoyed immensely--all without a gram of guilt.

I wish I could say I invented the Watermelon Cake recipe, but there's actually several on the Internet. My only advice is that when frosting the shaved melon with whipped cream is to keep plopping  dollops of the cream "frosting" on top and ever-so-gently push it--or let it slide--down the sides.

Contrary to what some recipes say, the cake doesn't need to be served immediately.  I rearranged the shelves in the fridge to accommodate the tall cake plate, and it kept nicely until party time.

He? She? It?

We have a friend who had trouble naming his dog.  When asked what the dog's name was, he would answer truthfully:  "Don't Know." In truth, that was the dog's name.

So what to name our new little smart car?  It's no longer "Don't know. . ." —at least for me.  I've just elevated his status as an inanimate noun to a higher plane.  Now when I ask Tom "Should we bike to the store or take the car?" I think of "the car" as his proper name, as in "Should we bike?  Or take The Car? The little guy who spells his brand name in all lower-case letters appears to like the proper upper-case attention.

I realize that the article "the" in English, unlike its counterpart in French and Spanish, appears to be a gender-neutral pronoun.  But in the sentences above, I --without thinking about it-- gave our little car a masculine identity.

I confess that the previous use of "his" and "the little guy" were written without a pre-determined sexual decision on my part.  But now I can't say "Don't know" about his sexual orientation.  It was determined, albeit serendipitously--by me at least. Tom may have a different opinion.

I'll agree that some cars exude much more testosterone and masculinity.  Nevertheless, from my perspective, he is what s/he is.