Music and so much More

Just another sunrise somewhere at sea

When not in port, doing an excursion, you have a day at sea. Starting with a beautiful sunrise, the days were filled with entertainment and activities.

A Stairway to Heaven

The entertainment varied all day long from concerts, comedians, singers and magicians.

The Lincoln Stage Center music was amazing. Violins, Viola, and Cello accompanied by Piano.

Inspired by their pop performance of Stairway to Heaven. In my drawing I depicted, Violinist Jiyeon Klarfeld of South Korea. Creating a composition of her expressions as she played. I was proud to gift her this drawing.

Computer painting

Or you could take a Microsoft 10 class. Here I got to discover an amazing painting program. It may not replace the real thing but it could save you a lot of money in art supplies.

Sunrise Port Entry

The main cruise event was the narrated passage through the Panama Canal. One of man's wonders of the world.

Gatun Lake along the Panama Canal

We passed through from the Atlantic to the Pacific in about 7 hours, Rising and dropping 40 feet.

 A bit larger than the lock and dam system of the Mississippi and at a greater cost. Our ships passage fee was $250,000. roughly.


Only the tops of mountains remain in this dammed man made lake, which provides the water to fill the locks and transport passage.

Photo of Pilot coming aboard

The art of navigating was apparent at each port.

The ship was always escorted by the local harbor pilot, who had to nimbly jump on board. Skillful driving and a leap of faith in the early morning hours. I hope he had his coffee already.

Aztec Goddess of Death-Mictecacihuatl

Another favorite program was presented by a cultural ambassador from Mexico. He covered everything about Mexico in a nutshell. What a lovely country of traditions and people.




Drawn image from Day of the Dead presentation and photos of workshops creating paper flowers and paper banners.

Paper Flowers

Paper Banners

 


















Of course the best part, is always the people.

The service crew was primarily from the Philippines. They worked an eight month contract. Every day, 14 hours a day. Some have been working on a cruise ship for 30 years and can still smile about it.













They graciously repaired, replaced, cleaned and prepared for our daily needs. Thank you to the services provided by these people keeping us safe.












The ship catered to 1500 passengers, mostly the US and Canada, with a staff of 800. Every meal we had in the main dining room we would sit with different people. It was very enjoyable hearing about where they were from and the adventures they had.

At each port my big souvenirs are magnets. It makes life so much more tidy.

I also have over 2000 photos and 32 drawings to remind me of our latest adventure.
















Along the way we (myself but mostly Yogi from Oregon) collected bottle caps for friend and philanthropist Kayla's artistic efforts for fundraising Heart2Heartpet.org, she makes key chains and jewelry among other creative crafts.



So it's back to painting. Where do I start?