the next 2 days at sea...

The sea days were sunshine filled rather unexciting days... the first day passed - posh lunch in posh restaurant, drinks at 7.00, - it was formal night and yet another theme - the masquarade ball.... well.... what happens on the ship stays on the ship 🤣🤣 so another opportunity to embrace cruise life. My friend on board runs the drama classes. She has a bottomless suitcase which includes all sorts of goodies like masks and trimmings to make them match my 'formal' frock... we dressed up, went for dinner and in honour of the occaision we dropped into the neptune lounge where the masked shindig was happening.

We just wanted a quick looksee at the entertainment. It was packed - lots of peeps in classy frocks and elaborate masks dancing the night away.... that might even have been the track playing. We withdrew, headed up to the quiet solitude of the comfy seats aft, (latest term for back of ship) where we had a night cap before once again ( as we had to walk past) risking the mayhem of masks - still deciding not for us and finally turning in for the night.

The next day disappeared - Dr Fred had another well attended lecture in the morning - all about star formation - lots of interest and a lot of questions making him late for posh (edible) lunch... then there was an afternoon party on the pool deck side.

Live music and complementary cocktails - which got stronger at every pour....

now we are pally with some of the waiters 🤣 this was lethal. Meanwhile out at sea drama was unfolding... a ships annoucment declared we were delayed, we needed to slow down, and investigate a potential incident. It became immediately evident that there was a capsized vessel some distance from our ship. The Balmoral circled round the overturned boat to determined the situation. It wasn't a comfortable feeling... but in the end after obvious communication with the rescue services no further action was required- it appeared everyone had been rescued and the ship fired up the engines and we carried on back on course for Malaga.

Several sangrias... rum punches later plus a fabulous dollup of sunshine we had to admit to being quite tipsy and checked in for a nana nap. As I said the day disappeared - we did wake up and could have made 7.00 club but it felt like hurrying. We chilled out, had a lazy cup of tea. Decided the image in the mirror looked like we were on the space station

(Oh dear prob still tipsy) and slowly got ourselves into star gazing mode... we had nearly 3 hours to reorientate ourselves.

It was am almost full moon but a reasonabley clear night - still lots of people up on deck 11 - with a moon so bright it was difficult to see many stars bur there was still something to observe.

We need more binoculars especially for nights like this one where the moonlight obscures the stars.... Finally after a lot of questions and chatting with interested people we went to supper club - only the second time on this trip - the novelty of chicken wings has worn off 🤣🤣

Autumnal Garden Days

I love these (rare) warm sunny late summer days and there is all sorts of lovely things going on in my garden... I counted 12 red admiral butterflies whizzing around the over grown ivy which I had been about to hack down but then left until the flutterbies have finished with it... The late blooms add a dash of colour and the daisy strewn lawn is littered with autumnal leaves, debris from my brief half an hour of slash and burn and the stone wall is covered in glorious soft moss all shiny and tactile with a few late nasturtiums loitering. I've hacked out the brambles for this year, sadly I missed the fruit as we were away, ditto the strawberries, we never seem to get the fruit before the birds so I've made space and moved the plants that were getting swamped and so not performing to their potential - hopefully next year they will literally blossom now they have light and room to flourish.

Total Eclipse Spain 2026

Eclipse day!!!! Most of the photos on here were taken by friends...my phone died... I dont use names on here but you know who you are thank you.... This will be Dr Freds 8th eclipse and my 6th... I have 100% clear viewing and its continued that way. Our friends have this amazing house tucked away on the side of a hill - fortuitously right on the centre line of the 2026 eclipse. And... to make it even better they have a roof terrace which gave us an almost perfect elevation to see the total eclipse in all its glory. Dr Fred wasnt sure at first - he worried that as totality was so close to sunset we might not be high enough before the sun disappeared under the ridge. So, the evenings leading up to the night of the actual event, required a lot of balancing on the roof with spirit levels at various degrees and exact timings for exact positioning of the sun and considerable maths.... yes it was complicated but it p...

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful. There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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