After a few busy days provisioning the boat and getting ready to leave for Connecticut, Maggie flew home for two weeks, and Bob stayed to work on SeaTryst and commune with Rosie.
What a jolt to feel cold Connecticut! It turned out to be the coldest beginning of December on record. Bob sympathetically reported sunny 70-80 degrees each day and enjoyed wearing Bermuda shorts and no shoes.
Maggie's sisters Clara and Ellen brought her to oral surgery in Avon on December 2; the nurse was surprised at her low blood pressure - the result of three months of cruising and then laughing with her sisters all the way to the doctor's office, typical of the sisters being together. After a few days of recuperation, Maggie was ready to face the world, only to pull her back out and be laid up for yet another day. When she finally could get out it snowed. Just a reminder of what she left behind in Florida.
It was time to get busy to close the Peter Block's office on the Mystic River, celebrate her birthday, visit with friends, celebrate Christmas and visit with more friends. Not a moment was lost. A highlight was having Peter in town for a day!
While driving to her office on Water Street, Maggie was surprised and happy to see an old friend we have seen several times throughout our cruise in the Chesapeake. Sadly, she looks so different covered up in her winter slip.
The annual egrets party was held at Karin and Rod Greene's, our 15th year of being together at Christmas. The egrets started over drinks while we all worked at A&T.
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And later in the weekend, it was the annual Rogers family party, held earlier than usual so Maggie could attend. It was great to be with family and friends.
While Maggie was busy in Connecticut, Bob was busy in Florida, still at Camp Carol with the most gracious hosts Dick and Carol Tuschick. How grateful we are to have such good friends who invited us to stay at their lovely home while we prepare SeaTryst for her voyage to the Bahamas.
Bob ordered the water maker, and spent time getting the boat ready for the installation. He also scrubbed and waxed the hull, and cleaned the boat inside and out. He has also begun the art of cooking for himself and others. Thank God for Mrs. Smithfields boil-in-a-bag pot roast dinners.
Michelle and Charlie Knapp, Bob's sister and brother-in-law, came to visit him at Camp Carol. They were down from New Jersey checking on their new home they are building in Vero Beach, Florida. We were both happy to spend time with our family over these weeks.
While Maggie was gone, Bob turned Rosie
the boat cat, into an outdoor cat. During the last two months, Maggie
has gone to great lengths to keep Rosie inside the boat when we were
near a dock; Bob knew how much the cat wanted to experience freedom, and
so she did.
Well, she roamed a little further than we like, so now she gets tethered to a tree or to the boat if she wants to be outside. Every once in a while she out smarts us and we end up on a Rosie hunt. Bob's good at figuring out where she is hiding.
Maggie returned to Florida on December 13, greeted by Bob at West Palm Beach airport with a dozen pink roses, and the announcement that her birthday celebration would be a day at Epcot.
Getting up early the next morning, we
made the two-hour drive to Orlando. What a fun to be there! We rode
Mission Space, which
really makes you feel
like you're an astronaut in space. When
it was over, we were so happy to be alive and back on earth
even if we were a little disorientated; we couldn't stop laughing. We
toured Mexico, had lunch in the US and dinner in France. We went Soaring on a hang
glider all over California (Soaring ranks up there with Mission to Mars, if you go to
Epcot these are must sees), test drove a new car, saw the state-of-the-art greenhouse,
listened to the Beatles while in the UK, and so much more.
It was great to see the grounds decorated for the season, hear Christmas music, and see a candlelight procession of about 200 high school choral students.
We're
still at Camp Carol, waiting for the
water maker to arrive and getting the boat ready for it, making too many
trips to Home Depot and West Marine for parts. We appreciate generosity of Carol and
Dick loaning us a vehicle.
Bob has been very busy and doing a great job of boat maintenance, even going up the mast to repair the wind indicator. After Epcot, he said, this was nothing!
Our plan is to go further south while Maggie closes the books for Peter Block Inc., since she'll still have internet access in the US. As soon as that's done, and the weather window is open, we'll cross. We hope to be there for New Year's Eve. But... it all depends on the weather!
Till then, we'll enjoy being in Bermuda shorts, feeling warm, and seeing the Florida sun and rain ... making beautiful rainbows.
