life in the old lane

The orchids make me happy. They require some attention. But not too much. The other foundling orchid has buds. I wonder what it will look like. And I have two more getting ready to bloom. They were a gift in 2022. They were on notice. Bloom this year or you become compost. 

Gratitude

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Grateful that my income taxes are such a big hassle. That means I have enough money to support myself in the style to which I am accustomed. Always remember what Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr wrote in 1904: “I like to pay taxes. With them I buy civilization.” However, I am not sure I am getting my money’s worth these days

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New Rule for The Old Bat: No using screens for non-productive tasks until after dinner. This includes online shopping, doom scrolling, social media, and YouTube.

Got back into the Old Bat’s Cave well before noon. Getting off the boat, grabbing luggage, going through passport control and customs was quicker than simply getting off the plane if flying Economy.  

Would I do another cruise? At this time of my life. Yes. 

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Cruise – Day 8

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Cruise Day 7 

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Time to plan my next escape from The Asylum. 

Nice start but there was too much wind and chop to dock. So we hung around offshore for a while and docked a couple hours late. By then it was cloudy with sprinkles. You take the weather you get. 

I head off the boat with no plans or expectations. 

Time to head back to the ship. I don’t have a lot of stamina these days.  And they don’t have Uber on Bimini.

This is it from me until I hit the old bat’s cave. Ship will start hauling ass north around 7PM tonight.  

It’s not noon yet. But there’s some cell signal. It is 77 degrees and windy. 

I picked watching the contain ships

Spent the morning lounging around in and out of the pool. Japanese is scheduled for dinner this evening. The adventure is halfway over and I doubt that there will be sufficient cell service to do anything until Friday and the asylum. 

Charleston is my kinda town. I walked about 6.5 miles and discovered that I was still two miles from the ship.

As I was considering Uber or a bus, a studly young man piloting a pedicab pulls up to the stop sign. And that’s how I got Back to the ship. He is a student. Studying black smithing. 

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Day 3

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We had an excellent Japanese dinner. That was the highlight of the day. I rested more than anything else. 

This cabin has way too many mirrors. You can’t get away from your self.

Port Canaveral tomorrow. But after today. I might need another rest day. 

Oh tonight there will be a Thomas Kinkade seminar. Pretty sure I will be busy then washing my granny panties. 

Like this passenger, The Vision of the Sea is showing her years.  The ship is 25+ years old and is about 10 years since it’s last dry docking. But it’s restful enough. At least while it’s tied to the dock.

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Time to get ready for this cruise.

 

And I am pretty sure that these clothes are totally inappropriate for “cruising”. I don’t want to embarrass my friend. I don’t mind embarrassing myself. 

Leaving Baltimore on the 8th. Returning on the 16th. Feb 10th in Charleston. The 11th outside Orlando. 12 and 13 in the Bahamas. I will have cell service in Charleston and Orlando. There might be service in the Bahamas. Will just have to see. 

I am considering this trip a “digital detox”. 

Wonder – should I take my computer? Maybe I could get caught up on photo editing. No. Not happening. I plan on reading. 

While I was away this wonderful invite to a lunch hosted by our local crematorium at a pit barbeque joint arrived in deadtree mail. Talk about synergy! There’s no free lunch. 

I did shit stuff today. Like completely empty my inbox. Also did an inventory of all of my digital subscriptions and canceled some. They get to be like blood sucking leeches. 99 cents a month here, 124 dollars a year there. After a while it adds up to real money. Oh and I tweaked my investments a little. (I gave some financial advice and decided that I should follow it myself.)

And tomorrow. I really have to get ready for the cruise I am going on come Thursday. 

Too many of my favorite images.

I know. Too many photos. But 10,095 miles and 54 hours. A few too many photos is OK. 

And I feel pretty good today. 

Made it back to the Old Bat’s Cave at 5:30 pm today 54 hours after I left on Friday.  In time for dinner with my friends. Absolutely everything that had to go right did. 

My body held up. The only plane that was late was the one from SFO to Kona. It was an hour late due to headwinds. And that one didn’t matter. I didn’t get rained on.  All good.

0630 Saturday morning. I’m in pretty good shape. It’s windy here this morning but I don’t think it’s going to rain. Which is good because the event is outside and provisions for rain are never made. 

I am all checked in for my midnight flight back to SFO. Time to get set for food, music, and laughter. And another travel day.