I Think I'm Getting Used to This!

Would someone tell me how yesterday got away from me?  The weather was just crazy here.  Gale force winds the entire day.  We were swinging around on our mooring like a remote control car out of control!  Being on a boat in bad weather is really quite cozy.  There's nowhere to go and somehow each little thing I found to do had some degree of joy in it. 

To start with, I tried the "let's read in bed" deal which I could get really used to.  Reading when I go to bed at night puts me to sleep so fast I seem to never get through a book.  So reading when I wake is extra fun - I actually finish chapters!  I finished The Likeness, an interesting mystery lent by Bobbi Rose and started on my latest acquisition, An Embarrassment of Mangoes, a sailing adventure which looks like it's going to be fun. 

The first "joy" project for yesterday was pulling out what I brought in the way of Christmas decorations and doing what I could to liven Moonshadow up for the holidays.  I was disappointed to learn that Christmas lights don't work with our power system (sad face) but I managed to do a little creative work and came up with a respectable Christmas showing nonetheless. Afterward I moved into playing around with some other Christmas projects I've been working on.  Ho Ho Ho!
 
A little cleaning, some organizing . . . general moving from point A to B around the boat managed to fill my day.  We had invited our new friends and mooring neighbors, Kev and Judith to dinner so I busied myself cooking which is always a favorite pasttime of mine.  South African Sweet Potato Stew was smelling good through the afternoon.  When the weather was SO bad that they couldn't get to the boat, we rescheduled for tonight and I made yet another entire meal so the stew would still be the plan for our get together.  Guess it's good I like to cook!

So today dawned with worse weather than we had yesterday.  Same wind with added rain.  Lovely!  The winds weren't quite as bad so we loaded up our bags and jumped aboard the dinghy to venture ashore.  After a much needed and appreciated hot shower, we headed into town to find a fuel filter to solve the power issue we'd been having.  We walked a couple miles in the rain and then treated ourselves to some Mexican for lunch to celebrate.

In the Fernandina Beach Antique Market

We hung around at the restaurant long enough that our friends ended up joining us and we then ventured out further finding some fun shops along the way.  The favorite was a fun antique market where we found some great carved teak wine goblets for happy hours to come.


After returning to the boat I began the final preparations for dinner while Rob worked on the fuel filter.  It didn't go as easily as hoped but in the end it worked and problem is solved and we're full speed ahead!

The big happening for the day was when Kev and Judith were coming via dinghy from their boat about 100 yards upriver.  Just as they let go of their boat, their dinghy motor died and the took off in the fast moving tide.  It was unbelievably fortunate that Rob happened to be on deck because it was dark and they were totally powerless, had no radio or cell phones and were not able to row against the tide.  Rob (my quick thinker in a pinch!) threw the life line with strobe light activated and managed to work with them to get them safely hauled in to our boat.  Lots of commotion, excitement and happiness made for a festive meal together aboard Moonshadow.  And as I write this, the decision has been made that there is no safe way to return our neighbors to Viagem without a motor and it's a sleepover on Moonshadow.  Guess it's time to pull out the extra pillows!  Ah, the life of living one moment to the next!