Wednesday, December 28, 2011

It's been a week since the last blog post. Since then we had dinner at Silver Spring House with Dave and Donna, went back to Louisville to look at the same boat again, had a wonderful Christmas with our family, and had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's with the Cerinos, the Mayers, and the Websters. We are currently at our son and daughter-in-law's house. They are having new carpet installed today and tomorrow. There is always something going on at our children's homes. Never a dull moment when there are children around.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Since the last time I wrote, we have attended Maria, Carolyn, and Jonathan's Christmas program, babysat for a couple of our grandchildren, ate dinner with friends at the Iron Horse Restaurant in Glendale, had a massage, went to the doctor, went to the dentist, attended the Focke family Christmas party, went to see Santa a few times, and spoke at a Kiwanis meeting. We are having a great time, except for the doctor appointments. It is good to get those appointments out of the way, however. Seeing our families and friends make us cherish every minute we are at home. Wouldn't it be nice if we could clone ourselves? Then, we could travel around in our boat, and not miss a minute of time with those close to us. I am hoping to spend some one on one time with Mom, but so far, we haven't been able to hook up.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Are you all finished shopping? Time is running short. We have been so busy since arriving here. I attended a Girl Scout family game night with Gina, Jim, Clara, and Lindy. We had a "sock snowball" fight with the socks being donated to St. Vincent de Paul afterwards. It was a lot of fun. John played in a Texas Hold 'em Tournament and came in first. We went to Jeff's house to bake Christmas cookies with all of our children and grandchildren. We made nine different kinds of cookies. What a lot of controlled chaos! We all were tired, but we had fun. Saturday night we had dinner at John's parents' with his brothers and sisters. Then on Sunday, all of the Sagels got together at Jay's house so that Joe and Sally, who live in Texas, could see all of the little children.

John and I went to Louisville twice to look at boats. Today's trip turned up a possibility. It is fun to look and imagine. Who knows what will happen. Tonight, I am back at Gina and Jim's house and John is at Jeff and Susan's house. I am here to babysit tomorrow because Clara is not feeling well. It's nice to be needed. There are things going on every day through Christmas day. I will post again next week.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Well, none of them actually SAT on Santa's lap.

We arrived in Cincinnati at 12:15 A.M. Thursday morning. We are currently staying at Gina's house and enjoying the activities they are all involved in. Saturday morning we watched the Christmas parade in Delhi. Our oldest granddaughter marched in the parade. Clara, Lindy, and Kate sat on Santa's lap after the parade. Saturday night, the Rising Sun Boat Club had their Christmas party at Hueston Woods. We had a wonderful time. It was great seeing everyone! Yesterday we celebrated John's birthday (it was Fri.) with our family. It had been a while since we had been around them all at once and we are not used to the noise. It is very quiet on our both with just the two of us. However, it was a happy noise and we enjoyed every minute of the party. It seems that our calendar is filling in quickly. I will try to post once a week while we are home. Til next time.......

OOPS!

Sorry! Last night instead of blogging, I crashed and went to bed early. So, now it's Wednesday and we are almost ready to get in the car to go home for the holidays. We'll be seeing you all real soon. The refrigerator is defrosted. I was using the hair dryer on the freezer part of the frig, when this big chunk (30" x 24" x 4") fell from the bottom of the freezer onto the shelf, scaring the daylights out of me. It looked like an iceberg floating in the marina after John tossed it in the lake. I'll bet it freaked out some of the people around here to see a big chunk of ice like that just floating around. Anyway, we are all packed. It looks like we are moving back permanently with all the stuff we are bringing with us. See you soon.

Monday, November 28, 2011

We worked toward being ready to leave here on Wednesday. Two more days!!!! John washed the boat, covered the dinghy and I washed and did the ironing, so that we have clothes to pack. Then, we washed the car. While we were out, John bought and gave me a Christmas present early. He bought me Neat Receipts for my computer. It's a portable (it fits in my computer bag with the computer) scanner with software that reads and sorts receipts, documents, and business cards. I am really excited about using it. I hope to be up to snuff by the time we get back to Florida in January, so my paperwork will be easy for taxes next year. I'm hoping this makes me better organized and able to find documents and receipts when John asks for them. It should also allow us to toss a lot of the paper in our files.

Tomorrow, it's time to defrost the refrigerator. Yuck! Then begin packing. We'll be home before we know it.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

John and I got up and got ready for Church this morning. We went to All Souls, but there was one problem, we had the Mass schedule confused in our brains, and we got there almost a half hour too late. God knows we made the effort. The next Mass was a Spanish one, which meant we wouldn't understand a thing that was being said, so we went back to the boat. Later this afternoon, we went to Wolfy's to watch the Cincinnati - Cleveland game. Who Dey!!! They won. There was a couple sitting near us rooting for Cleveland. They were nice.

Only 3 more days!!!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Norm arrived back at his boat last evening. He came to our boat and we sat on the aft deck and visited for awhile, catching up. It was nice to see him. We went out for breakfast this morning with Norm. After that, we just kind of fiddled around doing this and that, trying to remember what all we have to do before we climb in the car and drive home. We had Happy Hour tonight, for the first time in a month or so. We keep meeting new people on the dock. Today we met a man (Andy) and his son (Evan). They seemed like nice people. At one point, there were more than a dozen fishing boats trying to get out of the water at one time. Apparently, there were four foot waves out on the lake and everyone decided to come back at the same time. We did not, however, get the rain they were predicting for today. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Well, the good thing about making a turkey is the leftovers. Yummy!! We should have enough leftovers to last until we leave for home. I understand that the weather is pretty nice at home, as it is here. We are expecting rain tomorrow and Sunday, but the weather reporters are right about as often as they are at home. The forward air conditioner should get fixed over the weekend. John was mistaken when he said we are leaving here on Thursday. We are leaving on Wednesday, the 30th. I guess he was thinking that there are 31 days in November. So, we get to subtract 2 days from John's countdown. There are 5 more days until we leave!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Carol and I (yes I know how to blog too, Carol just does such a good job) enjoyed a relaxing day today. Carol prepared a meal fit for a king with all the trimmings for a thanksgiving feast. The boat smelled really good with the turkey cooking in the oven. It was pretty windy today. One boat in the marina went out and came back quickly because the lake was very rough. Because of the wind, he couldn't get back into his slip and ended up on the face of the dock for now. We did hear from our kids and grand kids today and are counting the days (7) until we head back home for the holidays. Till later ......

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Today was a pretty busy day for John.  He first worked on the toilet and was successful in attaching the hoses.  Hip hip hooray! Shortly after finishing with the toilet, Al arrived to work on the air conditioner.  It turned out to be a faulty high pressure switch.  So, Al is coming back over the weekend with the switch, to fix the salon air conditioner.  Fortunately, today was very comfortable and tomorrow is supposed to be in the high 70s as well.  (Yesterday was hot and muggy, but the aft air conditioner is working and so we were able to sleep comfortably.) 

We want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. 

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The part for the toilet arrived today and John went right to work on it.  It turned out to be a hose clogged with calcium deposits from the salt / water.  He struggled to get them apart and then struggled to get the new hoses put together.  Right now a 3 piece section of hose is waiting to be attached to the toilet and under the sink, but that's for tomorrow to work on. 

You know how things go along for a while and then things break.  Well, today the front air conditioner quit working.  One minute it was working and the next, nothing.  So, I'm hoping that the usual string of three bad things happening in a row, doesn't hold true.  Two things are two too many.  It would be nice if everything is in working order when we leave to come home for the holidays. 

Monday, November 21, 2011

I don't know what happened yesterday.  Tonight when I went to begin blogging, I realized that I forgot to blog last night.  What was I thinking?  Maybe it's because I was so distraught over the Bengals loss to the Ravens.  John and I went back to Wolfy's to watch the game.  We met two other couples who were also watching the game.  They were a lot of fun and I think we'll probably see them there again next Sunday.  Both of the other couples left before the game was over.  We watched the whole thing.  The bar had a Texas Hold'em Tournament going on during the game.  John was torn between the football game and the card game, but he stayed with me and watched the game. 

Today I did my Thanksgiving dinner shopping.  It will be a very different Thanksgiving this year.  Not only aren't we near any of our family, Norm and Sue are both in Cincinnati.  So, it's just going to be the two of us.  So far, we haven't heard of anything special going on here at the marina.  They are closing the street Thanksgiving day, so we are thinking that maybe there will be a parade or something.  We need to check that out.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

This morning, John and I went to Flea World.  There are so many empty booths at this flea market.  Supposedly they are open from 9:00 until 6:00.  We arrived at 9:30, and over half of the booths that had merchandise in them, were not open yet.  By the time we left, around 12:30, the booths were just coming to life.  If we had run our business that way, we wouldn't have been in business for very long.  I went back out to Joann Fabrics for some supplies to finish making Christmas gifts.  I had a 60% off coupon.  How exciting is that? 

Last night, one of the people who live on this dock, came knocking at the door with leftover spaghetti and sauce from their Church.  He stayed and visited for about an hour.  We enjoy getting to know people on the dock better.  We were hearing rumors of a  dock party, but no particulars as yet.  Probably it will be while we are at home.

Friday, November 18, 2011

We heard from my Mom a little while ago.  She said we have a new great-nephew, born today.  His birthday is shared with my brother Bob.  That will be easy to remember.  Congratulations, Cara and Tony.

John is getting the van ready for the trip home.  He changed the oil and replaced a fuse for the inverter, so he can use his computer while I'm driving on the way home.  I spent the day working on Christmas presents.  I'm getting closer and closer to being finished.  Since we are coming home earlier than I thought, I have less time to finish all of my shopping, wrapping, and sewing.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

We had a nice visit with Jeff and Susan last night.  They left here bright and early this morning.  It was so early that John and I were still in bed.  We saw Al today. You remember Al.  He is the mechanic who replaced our fuel tank.  He was here working on a boat and stopped by to say "Hi".  It was in the 80s today and at 7:45 P.M., it's still 75 degrees.  It's nice to not have to run the air conditioner.  We have changed our plans about when we are coming home for the holidays.  Before we thought we'd come home on Dec. 8th, but we have decided to leave here on Nov. 30th. 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

John and I went for a nice drive today.  We wanted to look at a couple of marinas that we passed on our way  in our boat.  We came to the conclusion that we chose the right marina to spend the winter in.  Monroe Harbor Marina is by far the nicest marina in the area.  Not only that, but within walking distance of so many shops, restaurants, and the library.  We are happy to be here.  Now the countdown begins for the trip home for Christmas.  There is a lot of shopping, sewing, and wrapping  to finish before going home.  I'm certain it will get finished in time.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Sunset on the cruise

Ice sculpting demonstration

Atlantis

Carol singing karaoke

Friday night the water was very rough and it was difficult to walk.  That's Gina's story and she is sticking to it.

 

Today it was return to real life.  We had a good time cruising with the kids, but now it's over.  It was strange going to the same places we visited on our boat this spring.  It was a total different perspective.  Jeff and Susan are going to stay with us overnight on their way back home.  We are looking forward to that. 

Monday, November 14, 2011

Well, it's back to normal, whatever that is. We had a great time on the cruise with our children and children-in-law. We ate some wonderful food, shopped in Nassau. gambled in the casino, saw some shows, sang karaoke, watched the Bengal's lose to Pittsburgh, and read books by the pool. This was our first cruise on Norwegian and I really liked it. This cruise was called free style because there were no set dinner times in the dining room. I personally liked that a lot. You didn't have to worry about getting there at a certain time. I already miss the kids, but it won't be too much longer before we'll be home for the holidays. Here are some pictures from the cruise.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

One more day!!! Jeff and Susan are here. We are so glad to see them. Tomorrow is the day, 11-11-11. We will be on the Norwegian Sky for the weekend. That means this will be the last post until Monday.

When Jeff and Susan got here, we walked into town for dinner. The second Thursday of the month, they close the main street again for their Alive After Five Celebration. They had gobs of booths set up. Some of them had seafood for free, some had seafood for sale, some had art, or jewelry, or drawings for solar power, and there were lots of bands. They really have a lot of community sponsored events. We really enjoy all of the outdoor events.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Two more days!!! Jeff and Susan will be here tomorrow night and then we will see the rest of our children on Friday. Woo Hoo! This morning I went out and bought a new suitcase on wheels (as opposed to an old suitcase on wheels). John was getting tired of lugging the luggage. Ha! It really is quite heavy.


John and I went dock walking this evening and took these pictures of the moon and the dock. It's like Halloween revisited.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Today I spent the entire day sewing. Christmas presents are getting done. I still have about six more things to make, but I've finished eight things. So, I'm more than half way there. John walked up to the ship store and picked up our mail. It's always so much fun to get our mail. Gina boxes it up and sends it every two months or so. We pay our bills online, so most of the mail is fun stuff, like magazines, invitations, pictures from grandchildren, and a few ads that Gina thinks we might like to look at and that haven' t expired yet. We got magazines and our license plates sticker this time. It's all good. Three more days until the Cruise!!!! Watch out Bahamas, here we come.

Monday, November 7, 2011

I spent the morning doing chores, trying to get my work done before we go on the cruise Friday. We walked into town, just to walk and there was a rooster just walking around on the sidewalk. I didn't have my camera with me, so there are no pictures. Sorry. There is a new boat on the dock this morning. The people are here for the winter and from Rochester, New York. They seemed really nice. There was talk of a dock party on Sunday night, but it never materialized. It would be fun to get to know everyone better. Four more days!!!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Today is Sunday and the Bengals played Tennessee and they WON!!!!! Who Dey!!  There is a bar named Wolfy's that is right next to the marina.  They have the NFL package and we watched the game there today.  How convenient is that?  It's exciting to watch the Bengals this year.  Oh, by the way, UC won this weekend too.  They are 7 and 1. Go Cincinnati!!

Next weekend we will be on a cruise with our children.  The ship has NFL package and the Bengals play Pittsburgh.  It will be fun to watch it with the kids.We are really lookin forward to spending next weekend with them.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Mom and Dad left this morning.  We were sorry for them to go back home because we enjoyed having them here so much.  We didn't quite know what to do with ourselves after they left.  The Church we have started attending here is having a fall festival all weekend.  So, John and I went there for awhile.  They did not have nearly as many games of chance as the festivals at home in Cincinnati.  They had a 50 /50 raffle, a major award, a very small silent auction, and bingo.  However, they had many, many more rides for the kids.  It would have been so much more fun if our grandchildren had been there with us.  We would have spent so much more money if the grandchildren were there. 

We put air in the tires of the bikes we got at Palm Coast.  We pulled them out of the van and John started working on them with the WD40.  They need new seats and some oil and then we'll see how they are.  I have to learn how to ride a bike with hand brakes.  I've never ridden that kind of bike before, so it will be  interesting. 

Friday, November 4, 2011

We had a really good time today with John's parents.  We watched as Norm's boat was returned to the water and back in it's slip next to us.  It was drizzling out when Luke (the harbor master) piloted the boat just like the pro he is.  He did a wonderful job.

We walked around the harbor and watched as the Romance cruise boat pulled away from the dock for their lunch cruise.  It's amazing that this boat can maneuver in the small amount of space it has available to it.  Then after our afternoon bridge game,we walked back into town for an early dinner at our favorite German restaurant The Willow Tree.  Yum Yum!  The picture above was taken after we walked back to the boat and our guys sat down for a minute.  I guess we wore them out.  They were revived after a short nap and we played more bridge.  John and Mom played (not bid) a grand slam on the last hand of the evening.  Dad and I could not hold any good cards that last game.  Needless to say, we lost big time. Oh, well, it's just a game.  Didn't Sam Wyche get in trouble for saying that about the Bengals' football games?  Til tomorrow........

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Scarecrow, Mom, and Dad.

We are so happy to have John's Mom and Dad visiting with us for a couple of days.  We walked into town for lunch at Willow Tree (German restaurant) and then walked around town a bit. Lunch was wonderful.   We returned to the boat and played bridge.  The cards were really strange today, but we had a good time.  We had a nice dinner on the boat and now we are ready to play cards again.  So, I'll tell you tomorrow how well or how poorly I played.  Til then......

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

We are looking forward to John's parents arriving tomorrow for a couple of days.  It will be nice to see them. Late this afternoon a group of sailboats had a sailboat race.  Apparently, they do this every Wednesday.  They started out around 6:00 and got back around 7:00 as it was getting dark.  This is the last Wednesday they are doing this because the time changes this weekend and it will be dark even earlier. 

We received a video email this evening of our granddaughter Kate, who is 19 months old, jumping.  It was hilarious.  She bends over, swings her arms, and lifts one leg off of the floor.  She made us laugh really hard.  What a doll baby!  Then we got to Skype with her tonight.  She couldn't take her eyes off of herself.  She sang and danced for us.  We miss those grandbabies so very much.

On a sad note, we are sorry to say, but Norm's mother passed away this morning.  Fortunately, Norm and Sue were able to spend the last few days with her.  Our hearts and prayers go out to their family.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

John and I went to the grocery store this morning.  From the time we left "home" until the last item was put away was 4 and 1/2 hours.  Jeez!  But, we are well-stocked at the moment.

 It's cooler and windier out than it had been.  We are getting tossed about a bit at the dock.  It's wonderful sleeping at night.  It's nice to have the air conditioner off and be able to cook without blowing a circuit breaker :)  We are looking forward to having guests during the next couple of weeks and then going on the cruise.

 Looking at the choppy Lake Monroe.

 We got to Skype last night with our family.  It was great seeing the grandchildren in their Halloween costumes.  It is always great to see the grandchildren, costumes or not.  We are looking forward to the holidays and spending time with family and friends.

Happy Halloween

 A dance school performed hourly in the street.

 This was a pretty elaborate costume.  He could have been in a parade.

 It's a little hard to see, but the fountain had dry ice in it to make it fog.  Cool.

This little girl was just so cute!

John and I walked to town.  They closed the main street for about 4 or 5 blocks through the  business district from 3:00 until 9:00 for Halloween for the children under 12.  The businesses were mostly closed, but the employees were sitting at cafeteria tables in front of their shops, giving candy to the little ones.  There were lots of Halloween decorations, dancers, music, jumping / air houses for the kids, and a costume contest.  There were thousands of children and, of course, thousands of adults (their parents).  Sanford really went all out.  The longer we are here, the more we like it here.  It's so nice to be only a couple of blocks away from the action.  We walk up to town every day.  We liked the Halloween thing much better than the Farmer's Market.  Seeing all of the little children in their costumes made us miss our grandchildren so much!!  We are hoping that they Skype with us after they go trick or treating tonight.  Well, Happy Halloween!!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

We found a Church to attend today. They have both a chapel and a church. The 8:00 English Mass was at the chapel and the 8:30 Spanish Mass was in the church. We drove to the Church, thinking the chapel was on the same piece of property, but it was several miles away. We walked in right at 8:00. After spending the early afternoon on the boat, we scouted out a Sports Bar to watch the Bengal's game. Who Dey!!! Who Dey!!!!We won again. That makes Cincinnati 5 and 2. The bar we chose to watch the game was interesting. The first bartender was very attentive and efficient. When his shift was over, a new bartender took over, and I do mean new. She was nice, but this was her first day and they left her there by herself, except for the cook. Three girls came in and left without paying for their drinks. Then a guy came in, sat next to me, and told her that the other girl told him he doesn't have to pay for his drinks. I believe she went to the kitchen to get the cook out there to help her set him straight. We felt sorry for this poor bartender. It takes all kinds.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

All week we have been looking forward to the Farmer's Market in town. It was drizzling this morning, but we walked to town and spotted the booths that were set up for the Farmer's Market. Once we arrived and started walking around, we were disappointed because only one booth was selling fruits and vegetables. The others were: cheese, bread, cupcakes, jewelry, health insurance, orchids, popcorn, and shrubbery. The fruits and vegetable booth was too expensive. All we bought was a piece of Jalapeno cheese. It was fun to walk though, even in the drizzle.

Later, after dinner, we walked up to the parking lot across from the marina for a Cruise In. They had about 150 to 200 cars on display. There were some really cool cars. They weren't arranged according to car style like our Kiwanis car show, but it was fun to walk around and talk to the car owners. Then we walked the docks before returning to the boat to watch football.

Friday, October 28, 2011

We made a little noise and he / she started swimming away.

He looks like a toy in this picture.

Halloween is just around the corner. Do you have your costume yet? Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love the parties, the costumes, the kids going door-to-door, and the pumpkins. I hope that there are some kids in the marina that will go Trick or Treating here.

It drizzled all day today, so I went Christmas shopping. Then I came back and sewed. A perfect day! John went out for a walk and when he came back, he said to hurry up and come outside. There was a baby alligator in the water right next to the ramp on our dock. He was so cute. It made us think about a time when our children were small and we went on vacation to St. Augustine. We had visited an alligator farm and our daughter Gina wanted to bring one home. Needless to say, we did not bring one home and have no desire to have one too close to us. However, it was fun to see our first alligator in the St. Johns River.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

It was hot and humid today. John and I walked into town and found sugar free ice cream and fresh Bavarian pretzels. We have to pinch ourselves because it just does't get better than this. It still feels like we are not retired, just on a really long vacation.

We also shopped at a hardware store for supplies to do more projects on the boat. It seems that no matter what, there are always projects to do on the boat. You'd think that eventually we would be caught up, but it doesn't seem to work like that. It's a work in progress.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The longer we are here in Sanford, the better we like being here. There are lots of places to walk. Lots of people out walking as well. There are lots of places to shop too. This is especially good with Christmas coming in two months. Today I sewed most of the day making Christmas presents. I can't tell you what they are because it will spoil the surprise for the people for whom I am sewing. But, it was fun!!! John and I went exploring again. We scouted out two other marinas and decided we are perfectly happy where we are. The weather is great. It was in the low 80s today, no rain or wind, but overcast.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Well, they pulled "Runaround Sue" this morning and shortly after that, Norm and Sue left Sanford. We will miss them while they are at home.

John and I went exploring and found a mall and a couple of shopping centers. I did a little Christmas shopping. Well, I bought supplies to make some Christmas presents.

Tonight we had grilled shrimp for dinner. I marinated them and put them on skewers and John grilled them. They tasted really good! I don't know what took me so long to try this. I think it is something we will make on a regular basis. I hope John liked it as well as I did.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but John and I are going on a weekend cruise with all of our children and their spouses. We are really looking forward to that. We will be going to Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay. We will be very close to where we anchored out in our boat.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Both of these pictures were taken in the historic part of Sanford, Florida

St. Johns River while we were making our way to Monroe Harbor Marina

We spent the day doing chores. Norm and Sue are getting ready to go home. They are having their boat pulled tomorrow morning to have the bottom painted and some other minor work done. Then they are leaving here. What will we do without them? It will feel extremely strange being here alone. We hope they have a safe trip home and will be ready to see them when they get back.

We walked into town again today. We really like this quaint, well-kept business district. We have many places to explore while we are docked here.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

It felt very strange to not watch the Bengals play football today. Instead, John and Norm drove Norm's car back to Palm Coast Marina to get our van. Palm Coast has a bike rack in front of the ship store with a lot of rusted and abandoned looking bikes. Debbie the manager put stickers on the ones she didn't think anyone was using. Then she put flyers around the marina saying that anyone who had a bike with a sticker on it, had until Oct. 15th to tell the marina that they still wanted their bike(s). After the 15th, the marina was going to dispose of the remaining stickered bikes. Well, there were two folding bikes that were chained together with stickers on them. John asked Debbie if no one claimed those two bikes, could we have them? She said we could have them and today John cut the chain and brought them back with him in the van. They need air in the tires, new seats, and WD40. They are five speeds which I have never learned how to ride, but I am anxious to learn.

This afternoon we walked into the quaint old part of Sanford. What a neat looking town. We had lunch and shopped in a couple of stores. There is so much more to investigate. We are looking forward to getting to know our way around.

We've met several people here at the marina. All of them seem very nice. One couple had their boat at Lighthouse Point Marina (our home marina) and lived in Aston Oaks. Isn't that something? Now they live in the Villages. Six degrees of separation......What a small world.

Saturday,October 22, 2011

We left our wonderful anchorage this morning at 8:30 A.M. It was cool, sunny, and calm again like yesterday. We only saw crab pots for the first half hour or so and then the water was smooth and narrow with lots of snaky curves. For the most part, there were no buildings and just a few fishermen. Once we got close to the marina, the boat traffic picked up and there were more buildings and a park. We got here at Monroe Harbor Marina at 2:30 P.M. So far, the people we have met since arriving have been friendly and nice. We will be here for several months.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Art for sale at Outback Carb Shack. I really liked this one, but it was sold already.
This green marker is almost completely obscured by a huge nest.

This is the kind of gator I'm not afraid to meet.

Another glorious day on the water! It started out cool, sunny, and calm and ended up warm, sunny, and calm. We cruised about 45 miles today. We anchored out in an oxbow south of Lake George. It is peaceful and calm here, although there are supposed to be lots of alligators in this river. So far, we haven't seen any, but we were told that if we go outside at night and shine a flashlight around, we would see lots of alligator eyes looking back at us. I think I'll try that tonight. We have only one or maybe two days left of traveling until we reach our winter "home". We will be staying at Monroe Harbor for several months.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

We had breakfast at Outback Crab Shack before leaving this morning. Miss Margaret the owner is a delightful woman. We enjoyed the food and the conversation with her. It was cool and windy this morning. It was, however, sunny. We had a nice cruise in spite of all of the crab pots. They were harder to see today because of the wind. The water was white capping and that made the markers hard to see, especially the dark colored ones. We were fortunate enough to avoid them. We docked at Boat House Marina in Palatka, FL. The people here are very friendly and helpful.

Bob and Sally Maloney, whom we met while in Bimini in the Bahamas earlier this year, came and drove us to a restaurant called Corky Bell's. It's specialty is seafood and it was really good. They came back to the boat and visited for awhile. It was nice to see them and nice of them to drive over to see us. We will be leaving in the morning. We have about 80 more miles to go until we get to Monroe Harbor where we will spend a few months . We hope to go about 40 of those miles tomorrow. We shall see.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

The two seafood platters the four of us ordered for dinner

Sign in the Outback Crab Shack

Another sign at The Outback Crab Shack. Note: No shoes, no shirt, no problem.

It was so windy and the current so strong this morning when we were trying to leave Jacksonville Metropolitan Marina. We stopped for fuel on the Ortega River before getting very far. Then it was smooth sailing (cruising). We had a little rain and after the rain it became cooler and still quite windy. We saw more crab pots than we had seen in a long time. It was like a mine field.

We moved on to the Outback Crab Shack on Six Mile Creek. Jim and Craig recommended this place yesterday when we were visiting. What a wonderful recommendation. We are the only two boats on the dock. The bar / restaurant is something else. We ate dinner there. They have two person platters, so each couple ordered a different platter and shared. We ordered one grilled seafood platter and one fried seafood platter. The food was outstanding. We are planning to go back for breakfast in the morning.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

We are currently docked between these two bridges in Jacksonville

Last night's sunset.

We were able to get in touch with our friend Jim McGowan here in Jacksonville. He and his wife Anita did the Great Loop about ten years ago and settled in the Jacksonville area. We were so very sad to learn that Anita passed away this past summer from cancer. Jim, who broke his leg on Friday, found a friend to drive him to the marina this afternoon for a really nice visit. He is still the same smiling Jim we all remembered from Catalina Harbor. We plan on seeing him at least two more times while we are on the St. Johns River. We were glad that his friend Craig was kind enough to being him here and he also stayed and chatted with us. So, we've made another friend along our way.

We plan on leaving Jacksonville in the morning and heading for Six Mile.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Container ship being pushed into place by the tractors.

My dream house

Sunrise this morning

Lion Bridge in St. Augustine

We left St. Augustine this morning at 8:00 A.M. and headed for Jacksonville. What a lovely day to cruise. The temperature was perfect and there was a slight breeze. We saw a lot more boat traffic today. We saw this rather large container ship and a large ship that unloaded many, many new cars. One after the other, after the other, after the other, etc. We saw so many beautiful homes along the ICW. We arrived at the Jacksonville Metropolitan Marina at 2:15 P.M. This is a free marina to use up to 72 hours. If you want electric, you swipe your credit card in a kiosk at the end of the dock after putting in your slip number. It costs $8.56 for 24 hours worth of electric. Pretty good deal, huh?

We have some friends from Cincinnati who did the Great Loop several years ago and settled in Jacksonville. We are hoping to get to visit with them while we are here.

WHO DEY! WHO DEY!

Pirate Ship Excursion Boat

We found a German Sports Bar right across the street from the marina. They had the NFL Package and put us in a separate room with our own TV. The food was good and the football even better. Go Bengals!!!!!!! How lucky was that? We don't have a car here, so that was a very lucky thing. Partly through the game another couple was seated in the far corner with whatever game they were interested in on a different TV. Their team must have been losing because they left during the 3rd quarter. It was awesome.

This morning before we were dressed, our boat was majorly rocked. We both went out on deck in our robes to see what was going on. An extremely rude crab fisherman zoomed by really close, checked his crab pot, zoomed to the next one, etc. Why they allow the crab pots to be placed in a mooring field is beyond me. The harbor master said there isn't anything they can do about it. There's something wrong with that. Oh, well, we are leaving at 8:00 A.M. in the morning.

On Our Way. Hip Hip Hooray!

Debbie from Palm Coast Marina. We will miss you all.
"Runaround Sue" on the mooring ball at St. Augustine.

A beautiful St. Augustine sunset!

This morning at 8:30 A.M., we untied our lines and headed out of Palm Coast Marina. We had several of our new friends waving good-bye on the dock as we pulled away. It's nice to be moving again, but it was nice to spend time in Palm Coast as well. We had a beautiful, slightly cool day to cruise. We saw many, many dolphins along the way today and lots of pleasure boats. John pointed out that 90% of the pleasure boats were traveling south, unlike us. What's wrong with that picture? We are in St. Augustine at the Municipal Marina on a mooring ball. As soon as we arrived, we dinghied into shore to pay our fees and then took a cab to West Marine. Norm had ordered a part that was delivered to the West Marine. Then we had lunch and walked around town for a little while before returning to the boat. There aren't very many boats here on the balls, which made it very easy to maneuver around and catch the line on the ball. We are planning on staying here tomorrow as well and then, probably leave here on Monday morning. We hope to be able to find a sports bar where we can watch the Bengals tomorrow.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Today would have been my Dad's 78th birthday. I miss him so much. He was an awesome Father, extremely patient with all six of us kids. Dad, I love you.

We went for a drive today to Sanford. Norm, Sue, John, and I had lunch at Willow Tree again. It was wonderful. This restaurant has German food and at night a German band. We enjoyed ourselves. We started Happy Hour a little early tonight. We had a larger crowd than normal. That's the way I like it. You get to hear people's stories and learn from them. It's going to be a little sad to leave here in the morning, but we are planning to leave. We expect to go to St. Augustine tomorrow. We have reservations for the mooring balls at the St. Augustine Marina. It's going to feel strange to be cruising again after so long.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

We had a delightful day. The weather was wonderful again and we grilled out hot dogs for lunch with Norm and Sue. We discussed our plans to leave and decided to drop off a car at our destination harbor tomorrow. Then on Saturday, we plan on leaving this very hospitable harbor. It will be sad to leave all of the new friends we have made here in Palm Coast. We are, however, looking forward to our next cruising adventure.

We had a larger than normal group for Happy Hour tonight. It was hard to leave for dinner. We were having such a good time. Being retired is awesome!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

We spent the morning doing our chores. John did some caulking around the radar arch and I did laundry and ironing. Then we had the air conditioner repairman back to work on the air conditioner. It worked okay, but kept freezing up. It turns out that there was a freon leak in the line where he had worked on it previously. So, he did not charge us anything. He said it was part of the deal from a couple of weeks ago. That was nice. The rest of the day was spent doing easy things. John played his guitar and I read. We will be ready whenever the Mayers say they are ready to go.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Today was beautiful. This morning was grocery shopping. Trying to get ready to leave Palm Coast. Norm is due back tomorrow night late. I'm not certain, by I would think that by the weekend we should be ready to go, providing the weather cooperates. It looks like I won't be available to go to Chris' house for the stamping get together. Oh well. We still have our reservation at Monroe Harbor Marina beginning Nov. 1st. We shouldn't have any trouble making it there by then.

Monday, October 10, 2011

The winds have slowed down and the rain has stopped for the moment. It was a wild ride last night though. We were up until well after 2:00 A.M. listening to the wind, the rain, and the boat hitting the fenders against the dock. One of the boats here was only attached to the dock by two lines this morning because a couple of the cleats on the dock were ripped off of the dock. The water is still very high and it is difficult to get off of the boat. It didn't stop us from having Happy Hour in the ship store with the other people from the marina though. Chris, who works for Stampin' Up has asked me to come to a stamping class at her house if we are still here next week. That sounds like a good idea to me. Something different to do.

WHO DEY! WHO DEY!

Wow! Two weeks in a row of really close Bengal's games that they won in the last couple of minutes. Sue, John, and I watched the game at McCharacters again this week. What a fun time! There were quite a few Jacksonville fans at the bar, but we were the only Bengal's fans present. We won!!!!!! Somehow that made it even more fun.

Sue told us that it's been raining hard since Thursday night. The water is so high that John has to keep going out and adjusting the lines and fenders. It's difficult to get off of the boat, but not impossible. The weatherman says the winds are 30 to 40 miles per hour with occasional gusts of 60 miles per hour. This is worse than the weather we had when Hurricane Irene was off the coast. It's supposed to continue raining for another couple of days. It's nights like this that I'm really glad to be tied to a dock and not anchored out. With weather like this, even if Norm was back from Indiana, we would still be here tied to the dock and not traveling.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

We started back to Palm Coast this morning at 8:00 A.M., thinking that there would be very little traffic. WRONG! It poured down rain all the way home and the traffic near Orlando was unbelievable. Why would so many people want to go to Disney World in the driving rain? We got back right around 11:30 A.M. It was windy and rainy the whole rest of the day. We read and lazed around.

Friday, October 7, 2011

We went on a field trip today to the Red Barn Flea Market. The funny thing about this field trip is that John put "Red Barn" in the GPS and it took us to Red Barn Liquors. Ha ha! Maybe that's trying to tell us something. Drink more! We came home with some pretty nice treasures. We should have started our Christmas shopping, but it's still too warm to think about that. But, it's coming sooner than I'd like to think.

We went back to Mom and Dad's and played more bridge. I never came in first, but at least the last match, I didn't come in last. The cards were just weird. They were never evenly distributed. That's no excuse, of course. I just played poorly, but we had a good time. I hate when John beats me at cards, but that's the way it goes. We are going back to the boat tomorrow morning. It's been a real pleasure to spend time with Mom and Dad.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Happy 60th Anniversary, Mom and Dad! We are having a great time with you in Venice, Florida. We drove to Venice this morning. Since arriving here, we have been playing bridge and eating. Mom is an awesome cook! I was the grand loser in bridge today, so I am definitely hoping that the cards are kind to me tomorrow. Hope you all are doing well. Until tomorrow......

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Close up of embroidery on headrest covers.

Embroidered headrest covers.


Sunshade to help A/C work more efficiently.

If I could bottle weather and save it for whenever I wanted pretty weather, today is the day I would bottle. The temperature and lack of humidity were awesome! We ate dinner outside since it was comfortable out and the "love bugs" are finished for this year.

Today I made sunshades that hang outside over the salon windows. The sunshade fabric came from Lowe's ($26), and they were easy to make. Please see the picture.

One of the live aboards here was injured today. She was walking her large dog and had her wrist through the leash. The dog took off running and she fell face first, but she couldn't let go of the leash. She went to the hospital and was treated and released. I know she will be sore for awhile. Things happen so fast.

We are planning on driving to Venice, FL tomorrow to visit Mom and Dad Sagel. We are looking forward to seeing them and spending a day or two with them.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Well, Al came this morning with our final bill for the fuel tank replacement. Let's just say we will be eating Raimen noodles for a very long time. While it cost a lot to have the fuel tank replaced, John and I both feel confident that Al from Al's Mobile Marine Service is very competent and very likable. He did a great job for a fair price. I gave John a long overdue haircut this morning too. There was so much hair on the floor when we were finished, I couldn't believe it. He didn't look like he had that much hair on his head to start with. Then we went window shopping at Flagler Beach. There were some little shops and a museum about the history of Flagler Beach. If you had family that lived there years ago, the museum would be a great place to do some genealogy research. The weather is perfect, not too hot and not too cold.

Monday, October 3, 2011

We are in a holding pattern. We do our chores on the boat each morning and go to Happy Hour each afternoon. Monday is the all Marina Happy Hour from 3:30 til 5:00 when the office closes. The food everyone brings is wonderful, but then we do not feel like eating dinner. I did a little mending as well today. Other than that, nothing . We are not very exciting at the moment. Sorry.

GO BENGALS!!!!!

Sue, John, and I went to McCharacter's to watch the Bengals / Bills game. We really had a good time. The Bengals won with 4 seconds left. "Who Dey!!" We like this sports bar because they have so many televisions that you can always find your game or they'll put it on a screen near you. And the food is different from your normal bar fare. We had a mixed platter of appetizers: mushrooms, sliders, mozzarella sticks, and chicken wings. We also had a seafood flatbread, drunken potato chips, and fried Oreos. Oh my goodness. Fried Oreos are to die for! This was our food for the day. The diet went out the window, but it was delicious. So much for losing weight this week.

I know that I said we would most likely be leaving here on Tuesday morning. That is no longer true. Norm went home for his aunt's funeral and the day of the funeral, they took his mother to the hospital. He is going to stay until she gets home which we have no idea when that will be. The marina here is fine with that. They told us that we are now family and they wish we would stay forever. It's nice to be wanted, but we need to go when we can. Our prayers are with Norm's mother. Some day I will learn not to speculate about what the future holds for us.

We are waiting to get the final bill for the work Al did on the boat. We are holding our breath that it's in line with what we think it should be. Time will tell.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

It's October and it's like someone found the switch to turn off the heat. What a difference a day makes. It was beautiful today. Sue and I had on long pants and sweaters at Happy Hour tonight. We cut Happy Hour short and the three of us went to Mis Amores Mexican Restaurant for dinner. All three of us had been hungry for Mexican food and it was tasty. I felt so much better today than yesterday and got one of my sewing projects finished. Ever since we visited the quilt shops, I have been itching to sew and today was the day! Other than that, it was football, football, football all day long.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Nothing was accomplished today. Yesterday I slightly bent over to close a tray table and put it away. When I bent, I twisted wrong and now my back hurts. I spent most of the day in bed with a heating pad. And I had so much I wanted to do today. Tomorrow is another day and, with any luck, I will feel like doing all the things I want to do.

We received a box of mail today. Who would have thought that would be cause for so much excitement? We don't get too many bills in the mail because most of them are handled online. Magazines and sometimes pictures that the grandchildren draw are our favorite pieces of mail.

John took the car to be washed. The bugs around here are awful and get all over the windshield and the bumpers and the hood.... It looks so much better. Speaking of bugs, right now the "love bugs" are everywhere. They don't bite, but they are pretty big and they fly into you and aggravate the daylights out of you. They only last a short while, thank goodness.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sue and I walk most mornings along a path that runs next to the ICW and behind some nice looking condos. We see lots of squirrels, a woodpecker, blue crabs, butterflies, and other assorted animals and birds. We see a lot of the same people every morning. We are creatures of habit. It doesn't seem so hot at 8:30, but by the time we are finished walking at 9:30, we are hot and sweaty. This morning, I stuck supper in the crock pot before we walked. Shortly before lunch, John and I headed out. We went to Lowe's and Home Depot in search of Shade Fabric. We found what we needed to make a sun shade to hang outside over the salon windows. This should allow the air conditioner to work more efficiently. My sewing machine is back on the boat. I've missed my Viking. It gave me fits for the first couple of hours. Perhaps it was mad at me for leaving it in the van all of that time. The hissy fit is over and I did a test embroidery for the headrest covers. I can hardly wait to sew again tomorrow after walking with Sue.