It’s Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas!

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Christmas Eve and it’s 83*!!! What??? Our 3′ tree, aft deck lights, cookies, and Santa hats are signs of Christmas but we are missing family, oodles of Christmas decorations, and playing Christmas carols on the piano with daughter, Cassandra, singing. All in all, we are so grateful to be in sunny Florida with flowers, beaches, and friends. Tomorrow’s chilly high of 58* will be warmed by cinnamon candles burning. Online church and zoom calls with loved ones will fill our spirits and all will be merry and bright!

It’s been a busy few weeks since I last wrote. We managed to time our getaway from Eta perfectly as we headed south and the storm turned east. Pulling into Stuart was just like pulling into Solomons, MD, last July…it felt like we were coming home. When we became liveaboards we assumed we would be traveling all the time. Instead, we have spent a substantial amount of time in these two cities, especially this year due to Covid, and we have grown quite fond of them both.

Since we are not traveling back to Missouri to visit family and friends and for annual doctor visits we are finding doctors and dentists here this year. Between the two of us we had a list of appointments with doctors that were within walking or biking distance. Shortly after arrival, Scott visited the periodontist regarding gum graft surgery and he said there was no way Scott could ride his bike or walk after the procedure! Boy, was he right! We rented a car to facilitate our appointments and it was eye-opening driving through town. I hadn’t been in a car since July and it was visual overload, especially since Stuart is a colorful town.

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Back to Scott’s surgery…it was a doozy! After 2 valiums he was a mess and I required help getting him onto the boat. He couldn’t eat acidic or spicy foods and it had to be mushy! Thank goodness I have a good blender because I used it at least 4 times a day! It was a challenge planning a healthy variety of dishes sans spices and acids. Thankfully, he didn’t experience pain and the surgery was a success.

Our refrigerator was at least 17 years old and worked fine except it used a lot of energy, sweated on the outside, heated the the wall behind it which permeates through to the headboard of our bed. If you haven’t purchased an appliance lately you may not know that there are often long backorders. Very few refrigerators can fit into our limited space and we wanted something simple without a door dispenser which is one more challenge. Thus, we decided it would be most wise to replace ours while we were here rather than risk living without a refrigerator in an inopportune location. The new one is nice, lots of space in the refrigerator portion but 2 cu. ft. less in the freezer which will require some adjusting, especially when provisioning for trips to the Bahamas. Where will we put the big fish that we catch?

Highlands Hammock State Park, near Sebring, was a lovely place to spend a day with old friends from Punta Gorda, (George, Carol, Barbe and Paul). Outdoor picnics under the trees are a safe place to socialize and enjoy nature. Scott entertained us while practicing his drone skills. This was my first time watching him fly and the tiny machine is rather impressive.

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After much deliberation we have decided to head to the Bahamas as planned. There are so few Covid-19 cases and isolating there is a breeze. Luckily, we can stay off shore for a long period of time if there should be an outbreak. To us, this makes more sense that staying in Florida where we rarely see people with masks, people cluster as if they’ve never heard of a pandemic, and we observe folks touching all types of surfaces without using sanitizer or washing. Now we are EXCITED! Scott has several projects to wrap up and I have loads of provisioning to do but hopefully everything will fall into place by Jan. 15 and we will cruise into the clear blue Bahamian waters !

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

May your jingle bells rock in 2021!