Monday, January 26, 2015.
Today we travel back to St. Augustine to the boat. We just made it out of Manchester, NH, on
Southwest Airlines, before the snowstorm began.
It snowed, off and on for 2 days, accumulating 14 inches at our house in
Meredith, NH, but, of course, we were not there.
We had a very nice Christmas at home in NH. Christmas Eve, the boys and girl friends (James
and Laura, Jeff and Carly) and Jake and wife Betsy all came to visit. Christmas
Day we went to see “Unbroken” with friends Dave and June and then out for
Chinese food.
It seems that shortly
thereafter, we had a run of events “which try person’s soul (and everything
else)”. On December 29, a woman lost
control of her car and ran into our son James’ house. He has been living in Lisa’s art studio on Meredith
Neck Road. The roads were dry, so we are
not sure what caused her to lose control (distracted?). She was 21, no insurance, unmarried, and
pregnant. She was taken away in an
ambulance, but, thankfully, is OK. Our
insurance has been great, but the issue has really been taxing on
everyone. On the same day, Lisa’s friend (whom she has known all her life),
Linda (Mitchell) Vondermuhll passed away from complications of breast cancer
(she was only 42).
We spent New Years Eve with friends Karen Durward and Niece
Colleen. Very low key, but nice. We saw
“The Imitation Machine” and then went to Patrick’s Pub for dinner and
celebratory drinks.
On January 2, Lisa drove to Billerica, MA, to attend Linda’
wake and funeral (on Saturday) and while there received a call that Lisa’s
Uncle Tom (82) (her Dad’s only sibling and brother) was in the hospital – So on
Saturday, Lisa drove the parents out to Kingston, NY. There were there 3 days and by the time they
left, Tom was much improved. While they
were driving home on January 6, I received a call from my sister. My Mom had a massive heart attack and the
EMTs had not been able to revive her. We
are glad we got to spend time with her in November. So, on January 9, James, Jeff, Jacob and
Betsy, Lisa and I flew to New Orleans and then drove over to my sisters in
Diamondhead, MS. The funeral was the
next morning and it was nice to see some relatives we had not seen in a long
time. We all flew home on January 12.
Lisa managed to get in a day of “hard water sailing” (ice boating) on Thursday,
January 22, at Brewster Beach on Wolfeboro Bay. Not a lot of wind, but she had
a great time. If you have never done this, it is a thrill, with the boats
reaching upwards of 60 miles an hour. Lisa went sailing with Charlie, Eric and
Paul. All exhausted at the end of the
day.
On Friday, January 23, we put our youngest son, Jeff, on a
plane to Aix-en-Provance, France (near Marseilles), where he is going to school
for the spring semester – along with girl-friend Carly Ward. We stopped in Billerica on the way to Boston
Logan Airport for Jeff to say good-bye to Lisa’s parents. The jet lag and
difference in culture had an affect the first few days, but he seems to be
adapting nicely. He and Carly set up a
blog site, if you’d like to take a look at www.carlyandjeffstravelblog.blogspot.com
Needless to say, we are glad the holidays are over. However, no sooner had we arrived in the warm
weather, than both Lisa and I came down with colds. Miserable.
Between fighting the colds and getting the boat ready to depart, we fall
into bed exhausted each night. The good
news is the weather has been lovely, a little cool, but nice. We rented a car to do the provisioning, which
took three days as we had little on board, and will finish up the last bit this
morning (today is Monday, Feb. 2). We have
changed the oil and filters on both engines (main engine and generator), all
the fuel filters (there are three), cleaned the main engine air filter, changed
out the #2 injector and fuel line on the main engine (it had been leaking a bit
on the trip down from Oxford) and changed out all the return lines on the main
engine as well, and tightened the belts.
Mechanically, we seem to be ready.
Thanks to the guys at The Boat Shop here at Rivers Edge Marina
(especially Tim Belangia (tim_belangia@yahoo.com)
for their help. Tim is available as a
freelance when not in St. Augustine (lives and travels by boat).
I got a new TV tested and installed and all the wiring done and the
thing quit working. Remember the days
when TVs were finally thrown out after years of service because you wanted a new one? I will send this one back to Amazon and try
again. At least all the wiring is done!
AND we found the DVDs for Downton Abbey Season 5!
Jon and Nora Mayo are here.
We met them last year. They are
from Toronto, but left their boat (Saber Tooth) here over the summer. They are headed to the Bahamas, and we will
try to tag along. We also met another couple, Bob and Judy on Greenstone, who
are also headed across.
Our plan is to leave St. Augustine tomorrow morning and make
our way south to West Palm Beach (Lake Worth), where we will try to cross to
the Bahamas as soon as weather conditions are favorable. We hope to stop on the way in Cocoa to visit
George and Bev Major and Lisa’s uncle Franny (and Virginia) and in Vero Beach
to visit Stan and Judy Hedlund. Our
colds are much better, but not quite gone yet.
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