A Visit With The Queen July 4th 2010 (Page Eight)
Remember: You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombec
As they said: Enjoy a fun filled weekend of music, activities, BBQ and more aboard the world-famous Queen Mary. Commemorate independence day with a gigantic firework display at 9:00 p.m. with the best view in the city.
Remember: Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Pain
A beautiful evening on board
Let The Celebrations Begin
The day was magnificent
Remember: Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower
First Stop.... The Bar
How did Donna and Bob save three complete tables??
Did you know? - The Commodore Club is the forward facing observation lounge on board the Cunard Queens and offers sweeping views over the bow of the ship. It has its origins in the First Class Observation Lounge and Cocktail Bar on board the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
Nancy tries out a new drink
This is a postcard from The Nostalgia Postcard Collectors Club
Linda and James
Did you know? - The world's second most popular drink was born in a collision between the United States and Spain. It happened during the Spanish-American War at the turn of the century when Teddy Roosevelt, the Rough Riders, and Americans in large numbers arrived in Cuba. One afternoon, a group of off-duty soldiers from the U.S. Signal Corps were gathered in a bar in Old Havana.
Fausto Rodriguez, a young messenger, later recalled that a captain came in and ordered Bacardi (Gold) rum and Coca-Cola on ice with a wedge of lime. The captain drank the concoction with such pleasure that it sparked the interest of the soldiers around him. They had the bartender prepare a round of the captain's drink for them. The Bacardi rum and Coke was an instant hit. As it does to this day, the drink united the crowd in a spirit of fun and good fellowship.
Vinve and Donna
Vicky and Marianne trying to master the "Shaka Sign"
Did you know? - The Shaka Sign is a common greeting gesture. It is often associated with Hawaii. It consists of extending the thumb and smallest finger while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation with the back of the hand facing the person that is being greeted; sometimes the hand is rotated back and forth to emphasize the sign. Hawaiian locals use the shaka to convey what locals in Hawai'i call the "Aloha Spirit," a gesture of friendship and understanding between the various ethnic cultures that reside within Hawai'i, and thus it does not have a direct semantic to literal translation. Depending on context it can also be used to communicate notions such as "all right," "cool," "smooth," and the like.
Sue and Paul sharing a belly laugh
Hanging loose
What are these to up to????
Vince and Nancy getting ready to go upstairs
Vicky! Drop him!
Did you know? - The type of choking most commonly recognised as such by the public is the lodging of foreign objects (also known as foreign bodies, but consisting of any object which comes from outside the body itself, including food, toys or household objects) in the airway.
OK... They are friends again
Swapping stories continues all night
He took the lamp apart.. We had to help putting it back together
Craig & Marianne
The other half of our
party - Marianne & Craig and Ed & Maureen
Ed & Maureen
Marianne & Craig
Saying howdy
Time To Head To Sir Winston's
Did you know? - SOS is the commonly used description for the international Morse code distress signal (· · · — — — · · ·). This distress signal was first adopted by the German government in radio regulations effective April 1, 1905, and became the worldwide standard under the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which was signed on November 3, 1906 and became effective on July 1, 1908. SOS remained the maritime radio distress signal until 1999, when it was replaced by the Global Maritime Distress Safety System. SOS is still recognized as a visual distress signal.
From the beginning, the SOS distress signal has actually consisted of a continuous sequence of three-dits/three-dahs/three-dits, all run together without letter spacing. In International Morse Code, three dits form the letter S, and three dahs make the letter O, so "SOS" became an easy way to remember the correct order of the dits and dahs. In modern terminology, SOS is a Morse "procedural signal" or "prosign", and the formal way to write it is with a bar above the letters, i.e. SOS.
In popular usage, SOS became associated with phrases such as "save our ship" or "save our souls". These were a later development, most likely used to help remember the correct letters (a backronym). As the SOS signal is a prosign, its respective letters have no inherent meaning per se, it was simply chosen due to it being easy to remember.
We Made It To The Queen Mary Lounge
Remember: Liberty is the breath of life to nations. ~George Bernard Shaw
Sir Winston himself
To The Dining Room
Sue, Vince, Nancy, James, Linda & Vicky, Del, Bob, Donna, and Paul
Ed & Maureen
Nancy and James
No no Del.... Bob belongs to Donna
Now I am confused
"Hey... I am picking up the BBC"
Did you know? - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the largest broadcasting organisation in the world.[1] The BBC is an autonomous public service broadcaster that operates under a Royal Charter.
Outside the UK, the BBC World Service has provided services by direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts by sound radio since the inauguration of the BBC Empire Service in December 1932, and more recently by television and online.
Really really confused
Dueling cameras... Ed wants to know who belongs to who... we won't tell
Paul aims the camera
"Nancy? You ordered what??"
Craig waves from the next room over
Marianne comes to visit
Beautiful presentation
Did you know? - The visual presentation of foods is often considered by chefs at many different stages of food preparation, from the manner of tying or sewing meats, to the type of cut used in chopping and slicing meats or vegetables, to the style of mold used in a poured dish. The food itself may be decorated as in elaborately iced cakes, topped with ornamental sometimes sculptural consumables, drizzled with sauces, sprinkled with seeds, powders, or other toppings, or it may be accompanied by edible or inedible garnishes.
The arrangement and overall styling of food upon bringing it to the plate is termed plating. Some common styles of plating include a 'classic' arrangement of the main item in the front of the plate with vegetables or starches in the back, a 'stacked' arrangement of the various items, or the main item leaning or 'shingled' upon a vegetable bed or side item. Item location on the plate is often referenced as for the face of a clock, with six o'clock the position closest to the diner.
Roaming guitarists
Did you know? - Before the development of the electric guitar and the use of synthetic materials, a guitar was defined as being an instrument having "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides".
The term is used to refer to a number of related instruments that were developed and used across Europe beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas.
These instruments are descended from ones that existed in ancient central Asia and India. For this reason guitars are distantly related to modern instruments from these regions, including the tanbur, the setar, and the sitar. The oldest known iconographic representation of an instrument displaying the essential features of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard
Time For Fireworks
Donna and Bob stayed inside
Paul got the camera into action
Look carefully along the horizon to see other displays
Inside For The Entree & Dessert
I'll drink to tthat
