DAY 46 FRI JULY 28 AT SEA

There we are- chugging our way to Greenland...off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea-the outer Hebrides.







































Rockin and Rollin on the Ship
The Sea was rough all night.  Have to get used to the tough seas after the very smooth Mediterranean.



My dear friend from Scotland is watching our ship via a very cool web site...

http://www.sea-scanner.com/ships-position-seven-seas-explorer


Boca up an at'em and went to turn on the light next to her night stand and boom.  The night stand implodes and next thing you know Boca is down.  The nightstand won.




That's what ya git for reading the NYX barked Bubba.


Attached to the wall by a bracket that wasn't working, nor the little dowel pins supposed to hold  the marble top on to the stand.  Bam.  Scream.  Cursing.  Boca  said probably best to call the front desk and let them know and not only fix it but that they should see exactly what happened.  So here comes the Concierge Manager (did she want to sell tickets?  Yes, Boca in pj's with bed head is quite a site), the Security chief (he has to write a report) and the maintenance man (repair).  Boca tells them she is ok.  They bring her ice to put on her leg.  Do you want to go to the doctor?  No need, Boca is is a tough Serb and can take a licking from a night stand.  But hey  how about that design?   Has this happened before?  No.  Ok



Then later in the afternoon, the leg starts hurting like heck.  So Boca hobbles. down to the medical center.  Wow, they are set up to do surgery on this ship.  In fact they do stitches all the time.  A lady from LA I met today, took a header in the Pacific Rim restaurant and voila- a bunch of stitches on the forehead.  They were very nice in the medical center- when they took the brief medical history, they couldn't believe ol"boca took NO medicine- as she prayed, "don't make me get on the scale!"   So the doc (all Philipino staff) checked Boca out- nothing broken.

Then here comes the Security Chief.  Must make a report.  You mean you didn't make one this morning? Nope.  Now the paper work.  In fact he did a breathalyzer on Boca.   Hmm- the incident happened this morning at 9:00 and now it is 3:00 and they want a breathalyzer?  Does it work that far back?
Having never had one- why not.  Yes, hard to believe never had one.



FYI-A breathalyzer or breathalyser  is a device for estimating blood alcohol content (BAC) from a breath sample. Breathalyzer is the brand name (a genericized trademark) for the instrument that tests the alcohol level developed by inventor Robert Frank Borkenstein.  It was registered as a trademark on May 13, 1954, but many people use the term to refer to any generic device for estimating blood alcohol content.  And here we thought a breathalyzer was developed in recent times   

Boca passed with flying colors-  0.0000000  Glad it is not measuring a cumulative rate.

The very sweet doctor said, "Here are some anti inflammatory pills and ice it or it will feel worse tomorrow".  Boca couldn't see sitting around icing and missing all the fun on a sea day, so she gimped up and down the ship and used her medicine of choice, vino, to deal with the owie.   Bingo.  Is there a moral to this story?  Yes, Bubs we heard you- don't read the NYX.

Sea Day-Bubba's favorite day on a cruise.  Gets to ramp up his nap taking.




Saw this in the gift shop-would have been the perfect purse for my dear Mom +.  She so enjoyed giving her money to Regent via the casino.



My  pal, Dotty, sent info about the Toilet Paper Competition for Wedding Dresses.  Huh?

Here comes the bride, all dressed in ... double-ply?

"Not all wedding gowns are traditional, but few are made out of toilet paper. In a recent contest, people with some serious creative flair were asked to whip up bridal attire using basic bathroom TP. 

The rules are simple: Contestants obviously must use toilet paper. They can use any type of tape, glue, and/or needle and thread. The dress must be able to be worn and taken on and off. The model can't be sewn, taped or glued into the dress.

And the results are ridiculously amazing.

Instead of swathing their models like mummies, these toilet paper artists have crafted delicate masterpieces ranging from form-fitting numbers with intricate cutouts to retro designs with capes or tassels.

There were more than 1,500 entries in this year's Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest. The 13-year-old competition is presented by Cheap Chic Weddings and Quilted Northern (of course).

Take a look at the awe-inspiring gowns, including the 2017 winner:

It took Kari Culetto,Las Vegas actress and mother of two, three months to craft her winning entry, which she calls "Quilted Enchantment." The gown's 1,500 hand-cut butterflies and a six-foot cathedral train earned the raves of judges and the $10,000 first prize.

"It kind of feels like I'm dreaming right now," Curletto told Reuters after her win. "Halfway through I was going to quit. I was crying and thinking, 'Well, I just can't do it. It's too much,' and a butterfly flew into my yard and landed on my hand."

Carol Touchstone's vintage creation includes 135 tassels, more than 6,500 strips of twisted toilet paper, and 6,000 beads. She used nearly three dozen rolls of two-ply toilet paper and two rolls of "vintage peach" Quilted Northern that she found online for the accompanying headpiece.

And how bout this beauty?!!

Each year Ripley's (of "Believe it or Not" fame) displays a number of the finalist dresses. This year, the company will donate about 20 of the gowns to brides whose plans are in tatters due to the surprise bankruptcy of wedding dressmaker Alfred Angelo".

Bubs is hoping this will make Alex want to head to the bathroom and see what she can do.

They do have a Culinary Kitchen on board- where folks can attend a cooking class or two.    Boca peeked in...once in a lifetime, more than enough, thank you very much.




While right next door setting up for afternoon tea.  Now that's more like it.

PRIME TIME FUN
Back to the Prime steak house for dinner.   We met a couple of gals from Southern California (via Northern England 33 years ago)at the bar and joined forces for supper.  Thank you for teaching Boca about the Hugo (drink).  Quenched the thirst for sure.  Bubs, the never ending ladies man.  Maybe in another life he was an escort?



Guilty as charged!



Oh joy, more food!



Pleep went straight to desert.



So enjoyed a fun evening of meeting 2 most fabulous babes and swapping some stories.  Who have you met that has an 89 year old tortoise that can open the screen door to get in the house?  Now that's a first for Boca and Bubs.  And best of all for Bubs - they are both CONSERVATIVES (and you thought it was going to be something else, get your mind out of the gutter!).



Meanwhile Boca continues to be fascinated with the prayer wheel...and based on today's debacle with the night stand decided to go to the prayer wheel and give it one more spin.  Maybe she did it incorrectly?



So what exactly is a prayer wheel?
According to the lineage texts on prayer wheels, prayer wheels are used to accumulate wisdom and merit (good karma) and to purify negativities (bad karma). In Buddhism, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have created a variety of skillful means (upaya) to help bring practitioners ever closer to realizing enlightenment. The idea of spinning mantras relates to numerous Tantric practices whereby the Tantric practitioner visualizes mantras revolving around the nadis and especially around the meridian chakras such as the heart and crown. Therefore, prayer wheels are a visual aid for developing one's capacity for these types of Tantric visualizations. The spiritual method for those practicing with a prayer wheel is very specific (with slight variations according to different Buddhist sects). The practitioner most often spins the wheel clockwise, as the direction in which the mantras are written is that of the movement of the sun across the sky. On rare occasions, advanced Tantric practitioners spin prayer wheels counterclockwise to manifest a more wrathful protective energy. As the practitioner turns the wheel, it is best to focus the mind and repeat the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra. Not only does this increase the merit earned by the wheel's use, but it is a mind-stabilization technique that trains the mind while the body is in motion. Intoning the mani mantra with mindfulness and the "Bodhicitta" motivation dramatically enhances the effects of the prayer wheel. However, it is said that even turning it while distracted has benefits and merits, and it is stated in the lineage text that even insects that cross a prayer wheel's shadow will get some benefit. Each revolution is as meritorious as reading the inscription aloud as many times as it is written on the scroll, and this means that the more Om Mani Padme Hum mantras that are inside a prayer wheel, the more powerful it is. It is best to turn the wheel with a gentle rhythm and not too fast or frantically. While turning smoothly, one keeps in mind the motivation and spirit of compassion and bodhichitta (the noble mind that aspires to full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings). The benefits attributed to the practice of turning the wheel are vast. Not only does it help wisdom, compassion and bodhichitta arise in the practitioner, it also enhances siddhis (spiritual powers such as clairvoyance, precognition, reading others thoughts, etc.). The practitioner can repeat the mantra as many times as possible during the turning of the wheel, stabilizing a calm, meditative mind. At the end of a practice session, there is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition of dedicating any accumulated merits that one may have gathered during practice to the benefit of all sentient beings. Then Om Ah Hum 3 times. This is customary with Tibetans upon completing any Buddhist practice, including the practice of the prayer wheel.

So much for the prayer wheels effects- between Boca's event and the nice lady falling in front of it- maybe it is turning out to be an interesting piece of art after all.

DAY 45 THURS JULY 27 DUBLIN, IRELAND

Yes Bubs you do have some Irish DNA.  I know you and President Bush like to claim you're an "Merican" but we all came from somewhere.  In fact Bubs did his Ancestry DNA saliva test a few months back.  Findings:
33% Irish
41% Western European
11% Great Britain
7%  Scandinavian
2% West Asian
2%  Middle Eastern
less than 1% Pacific Islander

-trace element going back 20 generations?  huh?  have you tried this test for Ancestory.com?

And all these years Boca thought he was mostly Martian.

DUBLIN,  IRELAND



More texting and driving.




Rain, then sun, then rain and lots of  young people on the streets.



And many many cranes sprinkled throughout the city- lots of building going on here.  Good to see this because after the housing crash of 2008 many of the young folks left the country due to lack of  work.  Looks like things are back on track.

















1st stop St. Patrick's Cathedral-been here before but we all know Boca never misses a chance to visit a church.



Pondering, something Pleep is learning to do.


Alter glowing- did Boca hit the maximum church visits allowed?



No Pleep, you cannot pontificate at the pulpit!



Yup, that's probably what my wife would want....a coffin up on the wall....at Saks.

The Grave of Jonathan Swift, Dublin

The grave, to the right of the entrance to the cathedral, is very simple, consisting of a gated off area on the floor, with little to distinguish it other than two plaques, one for Jonathan Swift and the other for his life-long companion and friend, Esther Johnston, or “Stella” as he called her. To the left of the entrance there is a bust of Swift and his epitaph, which he wrote himself.   He had a strong sense of justice and his satirical essay “A Modest Proposal”, in which he suggests that the children of the poor be fattened up for the rich to eat, was an attack on the heartless attitude of the Irish rich towards the poor.

He was a writer, poet and a priest – serving as Dean of St Patrick’s between 1713 and 1742. A lot of his work was published under a pseudonym; e.g. Gulliver’s Travels was first published under the name of Lemuel Gulliver.

Swift had a great fear of death; it was thought that for most of his life he suffered from Méniére’s disease, and it is possible that towards the end of his life he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease; many considered him insane, with his outbursts of violence and his sudden speech problems. He died in 1745 and left his money for funding an establishment in Ireland for the mentally ill, for, as he said: “If there was ever a country in need of such an institute, it is this one”.

You will be happy to know Boca and Bubba FINALLY updated their wills before they left on this trip after many months of having it sit on the lawyers desk.  Can we call that a little too much pondering Bubs?

The cool air and wind feels so good after the the heat of southern Europe.  And lots of tourists here as well.

Oh joy, another church.



Loving those oh so colorful doors.



And no Boca, we are not going to try the hanging basket gig again.  Enjoy'em while you're here!



Getting her Irish on?  Green corn rows will do it.





THE GLORIOUS DOORS OF DUBLIN

So how did these colorful doors come to be?

The history behind the Georgian Doors

The story of how these doors ended up splashed with rich colors, bringing the perfect dose of effervescence to Dublin’s street scenes is an intriguing one in and of itself and one that really resonates with Pleep as he is a big believer in-individuality. Dating all the way back to the 1700’s during the Georgian Dublin time period (1714-1830), an era that describes the architectural style of the city’s buildings and also marks the beginning reign of King George I to the death of King George IV, Dublin became very prosperous while also rising to become the largest city in the British Empire after London. As the city’s affluence built, so did its elegant style of architecture. 

New chic Georgian homes were being developed beyond the medieval town and initially were given strict architectural guidelines. At that time, each building maintained the same uniform look and lacked any originality. Eventually, to break away from the strict structural rules, residents began adding their own personal flair to their doors. Colorful painted doors with ornate knockers and elegant fanlights above the door was a result of this push for individuality.  Wonder if this would fly at Quail West?

Pleep's personal favorite-fabulous fuchsia.  So what does your front door say about you?

TRINITY COLLEGE OF DUBLIN- been here too, but Boca can't get enough of the learning scene.
Per Wiki:

Trinity College is the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin.  The college was founded in 1592 as the "mother" of a new university, modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and of Cambridge, but, unlike these, only one college was ever established; as such, the designations "Trinity College" and "University of Dublin" are usually synonymous for practical purposes. It is one of the seven ancient universities of Britain and Ireland, as well as Ireland's oldest university.

Originally it was established outside the city walls of Dublin in the buildings of the dissolved Augustinian Priory of All Hallows. Trinity College was set up in part to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, and it was seen as the university of the Protestant Ascendancy for much of its history. Although Catholics and Dissenters had been permitted to enter as early as 1793, certain restrictions on their membership of the college remained until 1873 (professorships, fellowships and scholarships were reserved for Protestants).  From 1871 to 1970, the Catholic Church in Ireland forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without permission. Women were first admitted to the college as full members in January 1904.

Trinity College is now surrounded by Dublin and is located on College Green, opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament. The college proper occupies 47 acres, with many of its buildings ranged around large quadrangles (known as 'squares') and two playing fields. As of 2016, it was ranked by the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings as the 96th best university in the world.  The Library of Trinity College is a legal deposit library for Ireland and the United Kingdom, containing over 6.2 million printed volumes and significant quantities of manuscripts (including the Book of Kells), maps and music.

Some historial architecture around campus....



The square in front of the library and The Book of Kells exhibit.



Hey Pleep, didn't we see that same sculpture at the Vatican?  So much for one of a kind.



And there we are lining up to see the Book.



Per Trinity's info on the book:

What is the Book of Kells?

The Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin MS 58) contains the four Gospels in Latin based on the Vulgate text which St Jerome completed in 384AD, intermixed with readings from the earlier Old Latin translation. The Gospel texts are prefaced by other texts, including "canon tables", or concordances of Gospel passages common to two or more of the evangelists; summaries of the gospel narratives (Breves causae); and prefaces characterizing the evangelists (Argumenta). 

The book is written on vellum (prepared calfskin) in a bold and expert version of the script known as "insular majuscule". It contains 340 folios, now measuring approximately 330 x 255 mm; they were severely trimmed, and their edges gilded, in the course of rebinding in the 19th century.

Where and when was the Book of Kells written?

The date and place of origin of the Book of Kells have attracted a great deal of scholarly controversy. The majority academic opinion now tends to attribute it to the scriptorium of Iona (Argyllshire), but conflicting claims have located it in Northumbria or in Pictland in eastern Scotland. A monastery founded around 561 by St Colum Cille on Iona, an island off Mull in western Scotland, became the principal house of a large monastic confederation. In 806, following a Viking raid on the island which left 68 of the community dead, the Columban monks took refuge in a new monastery at Kells, County Meath, and for many years the two monasteries were governed as a single community. It must have been close to the year 800 that the Book of Kells was written, although there is no way of knowing if the book was produced wholly at Iona or at Kells, or partially at each location.

Why is the Book of Kells famous?

The manuscript’s celebrity derives largely from the impact of its lavish decoration, the extent and artistry of which is incomparable. Abstract decoration and images of plant, animal and human ornament punctuate the text with the aim of glorifying Jesus’ life and message, and keeping his attributes and symbols constantly in the eye of the reader.

There are full pages of decoration for the canon tables; symbols of the evangelists Matthew (the Man), Mark (the Lion), Luke (the Calf) and John (the Eagle); the opening words of the Gospels; the Virgin and Child; a portrait of Christ; complex narrative scenes, the earliest to survive in gospel manuscripts, representing the arrest of Christ and his temptation by the Devil. The Chi Rho page (folio 34r), introducing Matthew’s account of the nativity, is the single most famous page in medieval art. There are portraits of Matthew and John, but no portrait of Mark or Luke survives. These were probably executed, like other major pages of the manuscript, on single leaves and they are presumed to have become detached over time and lost. In all, around 30 folios went missing in the medieval and early modern periods.

But the upstairs Long Room is one of Boca's favorite libraries.  This will be Pleeps first visit so she wants to make sure he takes it all in.



Bubs can't stop sneezing- mold and dust abound.  And Pleep is able to see ALL of the books.




Yes, Socrates is one of  Boca's favorites.  Asking a lot of questions seems to run in Boca's DNA- maybe related?  Note to self:  get your spit analyzed when you return to Naples.




Yes Bubs, must exit through the gift shop.



Since he saw the grave of Jonathan Swift, Pleep insists that we purchase  a Gullivers Travels.  Did you read Gulliver's as a kid?



YEAH, WHAT ABOUT THOSE IRISH WRITERS?



Per Français Powell explanation:

You have to go back in time to discover the origins of Ireland’s propensity to create great scribes. Ireland can boast that it has one of the oldest forms of vernacular literature in the world, with only Greek or Latin rivaling it. The Irish could claim to be literate from the very earliest centuries, making use of a simple writing system called “Ogham” which was a way of communicating by way of inscriptions on little stone tablets. “Tain Bo Cuailnge” also known as “The Tain”, a story of a battle between the Queen Medb and her husband was written around the sixth century is widely regarded as one of the first major epics in literature and storytelling and is still published in various translations for a modern audience. The tale itself was written in classical old Irish and later into a more recognizable form of Gaelic called Middle Irish more readily understood for those wishing to keep the language alive.

Put aside the ancient roots of Irish literature, some might say it is the intervention of alcohol that has contributed a lot to Irish literature. Take James Joyce for example, accredited as being a “functioning alcoholic”, able to work and write to the best of his ability despite being known for being a heavy drinker (something that ran in the family, his father equally liked to drink). Joyce, seemingly quite a wild man, could be found in the streets, going on binges and getting in fights. It was only the “morning after” while recuperating with friends that he would set his mind to writing great literature.
Samuel Becket led a colorful life, his writing is known to express a bleak outlook on human life and culture while incorporating gallows humour and black comedy, Becket slurped red wine every night until the early hours of 5am, did his drinking habit impinge on his writing?

One undeniable fact is Ireland steeped in a rich cultural history which sets it apart from many others. Significantly it’s also a history that is chequered and turbulent continuously up to the present day. A close look at their history reveals they have been conquered and repressed and made to suffer at the hands of invading tribes, from Celts, the Angles and Saxons, followed by the Vikings who came to rape and pillage and finally the English left their mark on this country. All these incursions igniting ideas for meaningful literature, a culture desperately fighting back against perceived Imperial suppression.

SO WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE IRISH WRITER?




AND SPEAKING OF WRITERS AND DRINKING :   SO MANY PUBS, SO LITTLE TIME

But the really good ones in Dublin are still kind of quiet. People will drop in once, twice, three times a week, just to see who's around, what's going on. They might have traditional music, guitars and fiddles and all of that, but the conversation has to flow. You can't be in a place where it's too noisy to talk, because the talk and the drink go together.  Don't forget the joke!

A lot of the pubs in Dublin that are really good pubs, the decor hasn't changed at all-I guess it's  worked for 150 years, why change?  They're like museums, they curate them. And in a place like that, you find staff that's been there for 30, 40 years. A lot of pubs in Ireland are being taken over by corporations, but the good ones are still owner-operated, by a real "publican".  Pleep can't stop saying the word...so close to his political party and he says a much better descriptor.

What difference does the owner-publican make?
The old idea of the publican living over the pub is mostly gone, but in the country the pub used to be the post office, and still is the mortuary--there are a couple places around Ireland where they have the mortuary or funeral director sign up, where there were no hospitals or morgues nearby. If you had to wait three days for the family to claim the body, you would take it to the local pub and take it down to the cellar with the beer.

And the publican, he oversees people holding christenings there, or wedding receptions, funerals, wakes. In the old days, he was kind of like the banker, too, if you needed a couple hundred bucks till payday, you'll get an advance.

There's a place called the Gravedigger's near Glasnevin Cemetery, and when the publican there was a boy, and they still had real gravediggers, not machinery, his job was to listen for a knock on the wall. If he heard a knock, one of the gravediggers wanted a pint of beer, so he'd go up to the bar and pull a pint, and he'd have a little notebook that he'd bring out with him to the gravedigger, and at the end of the week they'd settle up, if they had the money, or would carry them over till they did.

Why are those places disappearing?
Dublin now is a modern city, and the people are way more sophisticated than their grandparents, or even their parents.  Now many of the young people are staying home for wine, or going to cafes. Guinness is perceived as an old person's drink, the young people stay away from it.

The real old-fashioned workingman's drinker, those people are vanishing. Dockworkers were among the most famous pintmen, and I met one man who would put away 15 to 20 pints of Guinness in the day. Starting in the morning, he'd have one or two for breakfast, and then they had a break around 10 o'clock called "the bureau hour," where he'd have a couple more pints. Then on lunch break, you were supposed to go home, but most of them just went to the pub, then another break in the afternoon, and then go to the pub after work. "You just sweat it out," he said, but those kinds of drinkers, 50, 60, 70 years ago, they were in the pub all day every day, spending their family's money, and the kids didn't have shoes.

Are those old pubs going out of business?
The owners all moan and complain and do have much more difficulty than they used to have, but they just have to adapt--it's very hard to get a license for a pub in Dublin, because it's a gold mine. No matter how much they complain, it's like the oil companies complaining about taxes.

Boca's personal fav...2 for one.

Pleep's personal fav.






Dublined out, it's back to the ship.  Pleep is so pleased his Tequila has arrived...along with his Pops supplements.  Now that's quite the combo- supplements and Glenlivet.



Let's try the Explorer's lounge Bubs...



How did they know I insist on 3 stuff olives?



Cheers to you to Bub.



This boat is surely filled with a lot more "elderly" crowd than the Seabourn Encore making Boca feel ever so young.  Is it because the length of the cruise?  The itinerary?  The cost?  Enjoy the moment Boca.  Don't forget you are turning 65 in November.



Come on Bubba- one more twirl around the Pacific Rim prayer wheel!  Keep that Karma flowing.



Pleep so enjoyed the tempura lobster.



Topped off by some entertaining Irish Dancing...


Pleep thinks he should join a dance troupe when back in Naples as he remembered one performed at Quail West last season.  Right.  Boca needs more klikitey klak around the house.




HOW ABOUT THAT NEW YOUNG (38) PRESIDENT of Ireland- on the cover of Time this week?  AND HE IS ALSO GAY, LIVING WITH A PARTNER-and elected in Ireland??

They say the 2nd most important export (1st being Guinness of course) is U 2- Bono and the boys.  We missed the jumbo concert they gave here last week.  As Bubs remarked, "he's the only one on the planet with more sunglasses than you Boca."  Hmmm a girls gotta keep up her image you know.

Looking forward to our next visit to Ireland.  Bubs plans on driving the ring road around the island.  Left hand drive and all.