Good Morning from 36 North and 12 West
As we slowly (16 knots) approach the Iberian Peninsula the temperatures are getting a bit warmer (63 deg @ 9:20 AM). The seas are so calm, it hardly seems like we are moving, a gentle breeze of 4 knots is arriving on our starboard quarter, backing around to almost abeam. You are still asleep snuggled in your bed as we are 8 hours, soon to be 9 hours ahead of you (yes we set our clocks ahead one hour @ 2 PM today, and that is the last time change until we get it all back on our flight home). The sky’s are threatening – SUNSHINE 
Tomorrow we are scheduled to arrive in the Port City of Cadiz at 7 AM. Barbara and I have arranged for a car rental so that we can explore our old home town of Jerez some 50 odd miles to the north and the surrounding countryside. Pray for SAFE Spanish drivers!
The food onboard the Noordam is wonderful – too wonderful if one is determined not to gain weight (of course there is always a wonderfully equipped gym……) We usually start our mornings with something light – dry cereal for me and OJ for Barbara. For lunch and the evening dinner we have four courses available; Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Entrees, and Deserts.
All items on the menus have very fancy, sometimes mouth watering titles, with a broader description explaining what it really is, immediately below. For instance:
Grilled Four Mushroom Crostini
Grilled portabella, shitake , oyster, and button mushrooms served with a toasted baguette point
The dish which is elegantly presented, takes about a minute so consume, so there is not a lot of food there. All dishes are magnificently “plated” and the portions are not oversized. You can, however, order several of the same dishes or multiple selections. If one is an “All You Can Eat” there is always the buffet bar in the Lido dining room.
Last evening Barbara had “Carpaccio of Beef Tenderloin” and I had the “Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail” as appetizers, “Dutch Green Pea Soup”, and “Alaskan King Crab Legs (Barbara) and “Fillet Mignon” (Jack) as our main entrees. followed up with “Black Forest Cake” (Barbara) and “Passion Fruit Mousse Torte no sugar added” (Jack). Barbara always tops her evening off with a cup of decaf Cappuccino Coffee.
I have purposely not posted any photos of our meals, as I did not want to ruin your evening of “chips and salsa”.
That’s it for now, if anything monumental happens today, I’ll be back.
Cummings Family Adventures 
I was looking forward to the pictures of what you had for dinner last night. 🙂
Jack and Barbara:
Testing to see if we can connect.Al.
How scary!!!! I don’t think I would like cruising along and then hearing (and feeling, I assume) a loud bang. I probably would say, “I don’t like that”, and hope to find out that it was nothing serious real soon. Before 20 minutes. Oh well!!! An old sailor like you, Jack, would just know it was nothing!!!! And Barb would know that “Jack will take care of it!!!” Do I have that pretty close to right?
We are having another day of clouds and drizzling rain. I need a couple of days of sunshine. Order that up for me – O.K.?
I have been invited to my daughter Connie’s home for Brunch tomorrow. So, no church for me. Brunch is at 11:00 a.m. I am hoping all goes well.
That is all I can think of for today. Back to paying my bills, or finishing my book. Johnie would just love this book. It takes place in Georgia back in 1906. Sometimes I have a hard time figureing out the words, but mostly I can. If Johnie were here, I would be reading it to him while he grinned a lot, or maybe correcting the pronounciation of the words. Or maybe he would stop me so that he could tell me a story I had just reminded him of. That would be fun. I sure miss him.
Happy Mother’s Day, Barbara. Love ya, June