yesterday 2 77 yr. old men were arrested for lewd behavior on the beach at night, the beach i usually go to. they were soliciting for sex. the county deputies go out undercover to find them. i just can't get that image out of my head. it can't be a pretty picture. i keep wondering how there could be any real harm in sad old gay prostitutes doing it on the beach at night except for the fact that it's not something you would really want to come across if you were out walking the dog. i think they do it in the dunes under the mangroves anyway. oh well.

we plan to move eleanor rigby to her new home on the first of march. there was room for another big boat there so i talked my friends at the anchorage, kim and gary, into moving their boat there too. i took them out there on tuesday and they liked it. they have a little house in jensen beach but i suspect kim will probably be out there fairly often to hang out. we like to do the same kind of stuff, thrift shopping, beaching, hiking with the dogs and doing crafty whatnots. we're going to the local outdoor arts & craft show in downtown hobe sound this weekend. hobe sound is small, very small, mostly little art galleries and funky junky cafes, weird little shops and places to just sit. the rest of jupiter island, well actually the incorporated city of jupiter, is known as the "richest city" in florida. if you walk up and down the island along the beach you don't see anything really, just miles and miles of barren beaches. no condos, no houses, no nothing. but sitting back from the beach out of plain sight are all those hidden "estates" of the elusive rich and famous who are never there such as tiger woods. they're not so bad really especially since you can't really see them and you don't even know they're there.

the final city commission meeting for the anchorage was monday night. it was agreed upon by the new owners and the city that the anchorage will officially close down on may 1st. the plans are to have it up and running again by july 09. i'm having certain internal issues about going back to work there once it reopens due to the fact that it will then be run by "the corporation" that seriously no one i've ever talked to has any respect for. i really don't know if i want to collect a paycheck from these people. it's a dilemma for me. i realize that i mean nothing to them anymore than the old parking lot that they're going to tear out. what i do know is that they are rapidly developing a very negative reputation among the very people they intend on making their profits from. maybe this will sound a bit pompous but i believe i've helped to make a difference here and that people flock here because they know they will be treated well, that we all care about each other and such. i don't know if i can do that with this new owner running this place and always having to defend myself about who i work for. i just don't know.

in the meantime there is the always something new lurking just lurking around the corner. it's kind of cool actually to be moving, to discover new places, meet new people, find things you've never seen before. gary says i should open my own little impoverished sidewalk bohmemian cafe/gallery. a sidewalk hot spot with broken down old chairs and tables, espresso and an outlet for my nonsense. heh. and music....there has to be music playing at all times. i can picture it in my head.
this it the time i am living
and i'll face each day with a smile.
you set the scene
do you like the part you're playing?

i think i might make a big pot of bean soup for the super bowl party. no doubt it will be the only food there that doesn't cause heart disease. heh.

my new fancy pressure cooker will be just the thing for the bean soup. i've learned that if you add some kombu seaweed to the pot the whole thing becomes even more very super nutritious especially if you don't eat animals. it provides alot of b-12 and all that good stuff. also, if you cook brown rice with this kombu seaweed you seriously increase the nutritional value as well.

"Kombu is a sea vegetables of the "Laminaria" family, of which there are more than ten species. EDEN Kombu, "Laminaria japonica", is a dark greenish brown sea vegetable, with thick, wide leafy fronds, that grow in the waters off the coast of Hokkaido, the northern most island of Japan. This type of kombu referred to as "Ma-konbu," is prized not only for its abundance of essential minerals, vitamins, and trace elements but also for its natural glutamic salts that make it an excellent flavoring agent. The white powder on the surface of the dried kombu fronds contains the amino acid glutamine, a natural, sweet, superior flavor enhancer to monosodium glutamate, which is artificial and potentially toxic. Kombu has been used for thousands of years as a flavor enhancer and health food."

cooking the bean soup is simple. beans are best when soaked thoroughly. soaking dry beans in water overnight re-hydrates them before cooking, and with the addition of kombu seaweed, makes them more nutritious and much easier to digest. begin by rinsing the beans well in water to remove any debris. place them in a bowl and fill it with about twice as much water as beans. let sit overnight. Rinse the beans again and place them in a pressure cooker or pot (depending on the bean). rinse 1 piece of Kombu seaweed per 2 cups of beans (if you are making less, break the kombu in half). place the kombu in the beans, and fill pot with water, about 1 inch above the level of the beans. cook according to bean type.
another way to re-hydrate the beans, if you need them faster, is the quick-soak method. rinse the dry beans well and place in a pot with about 1 inch of water above the level of the beans. bring to a boil, then turn off the heat completely, cover the pot, and let it sit for at least 1 hour (longer is ok, but 1 hour is the minimum). when soaked, rinse the beans again and place in pot with kombu and water and cook according to bean type. of course i add lots of chopped garlic and chopped onions, carrots, celery, basil, oregano, lots of fresh ground pepper and some cayenne or red pepper or hot sauce. i like it that way.

here's another recipe i found using kombu.

brown rice cooked with kombu seaweed.

1 cup organic brown rice

1 1/2 cups of spring water

pinch of seasalt

1 strip of kombu about 8 cm. long.

two drops of sesame oil
wash the rice and place preferably in a pressure cooker. if not in a stainless steel pot, or earthenware. add water, salt, kombu and oil. cover. bring to a boil on high fire, and then lower the flame and place a heat difuser underneath the pot. (i don't have a heat diffuser?).cook for one hour (i never cook rice for that long). do not uncover the rice while cooking. when its ready, remove the cover and stir softly with a wooden spoon. cover once again and let the rice sit about 5 minutes before serving.

this would be good with steamed veggies, broccoli or something.

the downtown waterfront seafood festival in port salerno was once again a beautiful day of fishy delights.. food and crafts and tons of people. i wandered around the street eating steamed clams, oysters, mussels and shrimp out of little paper bowls with my friends, gary and kim. they should have sold t-shirts that said "my fingers are stinky".

afterwards, kim used her birthday gift certificate for the beauty/health spa next to the anchorage to get a full fledged 2 hour facial thing. she wanted me to join her but i couldn't justify spending that much $$ on my face. she had her face massaged, grinded, vacuumed, steamed, mud packed, infused, oiled and who knows what else. i think they took the first 10 layers of her face off. i didn't know they could grind off just about anything, sun damage, sun spots, and all sorts of bad stuff. they told her to use lots of organic almond oil everyday since she lives on a boat and is exposed to the weather. actually the results were quite amazing. her face looked like baby's skin when they were done. i might save up for something like that. my face takes a beating and i don't take very good care of it.

january is almost over and it's almost time for the super bowl party at the anchorage once again. it's been a little chilly in the morning, sometimes all day. this morning it's about 50 outside but the cabin is nice and warm. i can't complain. for the rest of the week it will be up to 80 or so and sunny by early afternoon. one of our french speaking guests from quebec, who i can barely understand, was in a panic to convert a "large" sum of canadian currency to u.s. before he left the states by boat for the dominican. he had no car or transportation to the airport so i told him i could convert it for him at my bank where i have an account. i took his money, made the transaction at my bank and brought it back to him. he was seriously thankful and tipped me a whopping $100. thank you very much. i think i make a very good concierge and i'll do just about anything especially when they tip that good. hehe.

i'm not sure what i want to accomplish this week besides the usual work and stuff. there's a final city commission meeting tonight between the city and the new owners of the anchorage. it's an open meeting so i might go over and sit in for a while..see what they have to say. i don't plan on opening my big mouth though. john will be heading back down to homestead for the week for work as he has been doing since last august and i will be home alone on the boat again as usual. i'm never really alone though with all these people here. it's kinda nice. there are always people and friends to hang with.. sometimes though i wish there weren't especially when i'm in one of my "i just want to be alone" moods. ah well.

yesterday i had my final appt. with the coast guard down in west palm to be fingerprinted and sworn in as an official member of the u.s. coast guard merchant marine. i've never been fingerprinted before so i guess now i'm in the "system". as usual i was the only female in this compound but being being around men most of the time is something i've gotten used to. by the time i left i sort of felt like i just got married. it must have had something to do with the captain's oath of alliance i had to pledge to my country. anyway it went smoothly and i didn't do anything stupid or break out laughing.

across the street was the homeland security compound. thankfully i had no wmd's in my van, only a small dull pocketknife and a boston terrier.

on the way home i took the scenic route along a1a. i decided i would stop at anything that struck my fancy. when you're alone you can do whatever you want and if you get lost it doesn't matter. you just turn around and ask someone or drive around until you find what you're looking for without anyone in the seat next to you yelling that you drive like a crazy woman.

i stopped at the old jupiter lighthouse and museum. i think i'll go back soon and climb the stairs to the top. lighthouses are always cool.

i found the famous "square grouper". it's way off the beaten track down some little lane. they have no signs. you just have to know where it is. the woman at the lighthouse told me how to find it.

i've talked about the square grouper before. it's been here for ages.. a run down bar right on the jupiter inlet where bales of pot used to wash up on shore after they were tossed off the boats who were running from the law. the local fisherman would snatch up them up probably before they even made it to shore.

back on the road again i spotted this paris cafe. i bought a double espresso and 2 mini bagettes hot and fresh out of the oven. i ate one on the way home.

i also stopped at the hobe sound wildlife refuge. they have a good reputation here for taking in and rehabbing any kind of injured wildlife. i imagined that i might like to work there this summer when the anchorage shuts down.. or at least volunteer. it's just a few miles south of where we are going to keep the boat when we move.

i saw several other interestingly funky marina type places as i drove back.. places to keep in mind when i need to go looking for another job.

it was a good road trip...and such a pleasantly enjoyable day.

today is the annual seafood festival in town. i went last year. i love seafood festivals and it's going to be another warm and beautiful day. oh boy.

gross national happiness (gnh)
if you google “antidepressants” you will get more than six million pages.
you do the same for "depression prevention" you will get less than 50 thousand.
if you google "happiness education" you will get less than 500.
1. economic wellness - how many people do you know that wish they had more money? no matter how much they have they always feel as if they don't have enough and they blame their lack of enough money on everyone else but themselves. this is a national past time. these people lack a purpose in their lives. they were raised to envy those who "were doing well".. to envy those who had more than they did. is this the way we should raise our children?
2. environmental wellness - your environment can make you or break you. have you ever seen an animal taken out of it's natural environment and forced to exist in an unnatural state?
3. physical wellness - have we taken the time to learn how to take care of ourselves? have any of us actually taught our children how to take the time to nuture themselves? or have we left this up to the corporations of america to do the job for us because we're all just too busy, don't have the time, just don't have the time....
4. mental wellness - millions and millions of people are stuggling with depression. they medicate themselves with whatever they can get their hands on. alcohol is easy. doctors write prescriptions. people are paranoid and insecure. no one has a purpose other than to greet each morning with another worry instead of embracing the day as if it were a beautiful gift. another day another dollar is the status quo.
5. relationship wellness - it's frightening to watch sometimes... how we treat each other... how we treat the very people we are supposedly "in love" with. kindness and thoughfulness are often non existent. and then of course there's the "blame game"... always blaming always accusing always expecting perfection. is there no such thing as blind love anymore?
6. workplace wellness - i don't know anyone who can honestly say that they love their job. there's something very wrong with that.
7. social wellness - how we interact with each other, in our daily lives, in our communities and beyond. we are all here together yet many or most are constantly trying to "one up" each other for some reason.
the pursuit of happiness is not taught to our children as if it is shameful to actually be happy. if you're happy then you must not be doing your job. if you're not obsessing about your future and your lack of whatever it is that you don't have then there must be something terribly wrong with you.

if you look closely you can see toby sleeping way up at the bow of the boat. this has become her favorite spot to hang. i don't like her up there. i keep thinking that she's going to fall overboard and i know she can't swim against this current.


never the less this is where she likes to be. she's like the boat's figurehead.

the new anchorage owner v.p's and their project manager have been milling around lately. yesterday the project manager spent most of the day here talking to buzz and getting his input about the expanding the main building. i don't think they've actually thought this out or finalized what they're going to do with the expansion of the anchorage building so i think it would be a good idea to give them something to go on...such as some sort of rough draft of what we need here and how the people flow in and out. a larger office, a larger community/common room, a kitchen area, a tv room with comfortable seating and a relaxing reading room and an outdoor covered community/common/party space with plenty of seating. these are important. they are expanding the building out 3o' and expanding the laundry and showers.

in the past 2 1/2 yrs. here i've become accustomed to our visitors and residents telling us how much they love it here. they like the close knit community feeling, like a home away from home. i want to keep that. i want them to be able to hang out, make themselves a cup of tea or a bag or popcorn and watch tv or a movie or use their laptops and feel at home and comfortably laid back here... barefoot if they feel like it.

buzz told me that he's going to keep me on for as long as possible past the closing date since we'll have so much to do in clearing out the building, the office and securing and closing down the mooring field. i guess i'll still have my job way into the summer. maybe if i make myself really useful i'll just never leave. ha. either way he's going to try to get me back in here as soon as they are ready to reopen.

yesterday i visited one of the new marinas that recently opened last year. it's fancy and overly elegant and with all it's gated piers out to the docks, it's fitness center, jacuzzis, saunas and upper crust yachty pretentiousness it was empty and silent. i commented to the guy who was showing us around the club about the lack of noise and actual people. he said something about how they must be at work or something. i knew really what was lacking there but i didn't say anything.

friday i finally have an appointment to go down to west palm to be sworn in and fingerprinted at the coast guard station for my captain's license. government sure does know how to drag.. but i'll finally be official and be done with it.

and now to plan the super bowl party.

there's something strange going on in this boat. things keep disappearing right out from under my eyes.

just yesterday i noticed that all john's white socks have disappeared and somehow all these empty beck beer bottles appeared. i'm not sure what's going on here. socks and beer bottles. it's just freaking me. i had to run to the store to buy more white socks and beer for john. at first it was just one sock and maybe 1 or 2 empty beer bottles. then it started to escalate and escalate. more and more socks disappeared and more and more empty beer bottles kept appearing. everyday i take the empty beer bottles to the recycle bins and everyday another sock or two disappears. i was thinking that the missing dirty socks were somehow turning into empty beer bottles but now finally all the socks have vanished and strangely the empty beer bottles just keep appearing. it's just freaking me out.

i wonder how it would feel to sail around the world solo. i think i'd rather have someone along for the ride. the world record was just broken by a french guy. 57 days. that's amazing. he built this cat from old salvaged boat parts.

i, on the other, hand like to race my 10' dinghy to the shore. with total abandonment and a lack of self respect i run it full throttle often making erratic left and right hand turns just for the heck of it. it's quite fun actually. i love my dinghy.

every so often someone asks me how i like living on a boat. i think i like it just fine. in fact i can't imagine living anywhere else. i like the constant sounds of the water all around me and the way it's always gently rocking with the wind. i never think about someday moving back on land. i think this is the way things were meant to be for me. i feel very "grounded" here...at home and at peace with myself. i have a man who loves me and a funny little dog. who could ask for more?

wednesday was the day i was told the bad news..that the anchorage was closing down, that i was losing my job and that john & i would have to move and find another home for eleanor rigby. as i sat in my office chair i began to feel some sort of emotional internal combustion going on inside me. the paperwork i was working on suddenly seemed worthless so i crumpled them all up and threw them across the room. i fought the urge to cry. dockmasters aren't supposed to cry. i looked around the office and out into the anchorge and was reminded of all the wonderful things we've done here in the past 2 1/2 yrs. i don't get mad very often but this just made me madder and madder. i was angry at the "man behind the curtain", the one who only sees the "project" and the "profit" and not the faces, the real people who live and work here and the ones who made this tight knit community and this successful marina what it is.
so now for the next 3 months we'll continue to do what we do best and continue to care for each other and for those who stop by knowing full well that it doesn't really matter any more. 3 months of people complaining and bitching about it, 3 months of explaining to people why they have to leave, 3 months of bullshit. it's going to get very old.
if i didn't love this place so much i'd leave today.
in order to soothe my anger i've begun a little project, a project of closure which is to collect and organize all the photos and such i've taken of all the happy days we've had here and make them into a giant scrapbook that will remain with the anchorage. maybe i should make an extra copy to send to the "man behind the curtain" so they can see just what they are about to unravel.

jeez it's foggy out this morning.

ok so we're not going to the keys right now. just by shear dumb luck i found an ad in the newspaper yesterday for dockspace behind a house in hobe sound which is about 12 miles south of stuart on the intra-coastal waterway.

the old fella who lives here is only here for the winter and leaves in april so we'll rent his dock for $4oo a month and have electric and water and use of his garage. there's a workshop area that john can use whenever he wants. the owner said we can have access to the pool shower and bathroom and i guess the pool but whatever. it's nice and quiet and we'll be able to get some work done on the boat that we couldn't do in the anchorage. cool.

the canal behind his house is right off the main waterway and easy access to the inlet and the ocean.

actually it's quite lovely here and the town of hobe sound is sort of quaint, laid back and artsy with funky little stores and beachy restaurants.

i'm going to look for a job nearby maybe in one of the marinas. in the meantime i'll be right down the street from the bridge that goes over to jupiter island and the nature preserve, blowing rocks.

that beach is awesome. i'll have a new beach to explore...good snorkling too.

and life goes on...
someday we might go back to the anchorage..maybe, maybe not.

who knows. it's all an adventure.

life is a journey.

don't forget to enjoy the ride along the way........

they say "all good things must come to an end". well in a couple of weeks it will be closing time for the anchorage. that's the final word i was told yesterday. the huizenga holding group will be taking over the anchorage to build a bigger and "better" marina and i guess sometime within the next month or so they will close down the entire anchorage to start construction. i was told that it will be closed for at least 1 1/2 yrs.

• my job here is over and we are losing our home here on the water.
• i feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me and the thought of leaving here and leaving this job i love so is breaking my heart.

but... there's nothing i can do about it. this is progress at it's finest. the "holding company" is just another word for a total lack of understanding of what when on here for the last 7 yrs. they have no need to care about the close knit community or reputation that was build here with dedication and compassion for those here who call this place home. they have no idea what they are breaking up here. their only concern is profit. i should have known this would happen but somewhere in my heart i thought there might be someone who cared and understood enough to keep this community together.

so like a bad storm.. it will all be gone in a short time and we will all have to vanish somewhere. to the "holding company" it's more or less like emptying out an old parking lot so they can repave and improve it. little do they know how many lives here are going to be turned upside down. last night my boss took me out for pizza so we could talk. the "holding company" has told him that he can stay on while they tear his anchorage apart, they will "let" him stay on to supervise the area..whatever that means.. i guess be more or less like a guard dog of sorts. he terribly upset about it all and for some reason is overly concerned that i am losing my job here. i told him that i'll be just fine and that i guess it's time to move on.

the past 2 1/2 years here have possibly been the best years of my life. i've learned alot and i will miss this place. i will miss this comfortable life we've built here and i will miss all my friends here who no doubt will scatter like the wind. i will also miss my boss. we worked well together and understood each other's all too frequent senior moments with humor.

last night i felt very sad and i still do today but it's time to shake it off... make plans and move on. after talking to john last night i've decided that this is our cue to head south, head for the keys somewhere maybe find a spot in that crystal clear water to drop a hook and stay awhile, find a new job, find a nice new home for eleanor rigby and tobysue. i have a couple of ideas in mind already. i'm not worried. hey.. this might turn out to be a good thing.

livin' in the keys....hmm.. doesn't sound too bad really.

earth-ling n. One who inhabits the earth.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1282796533661048967&subtitle=on&pr=goog-sl

ok. it's all set. i've got a ticket to ride to austin to see the city lights, maybe some ufo's and of course the golden boy...who stole my heart many moons ago.

i shall bring my sleeping bag and my moka pot.

see ya on march 13th.

the annual boat show.

unlike the miami boat show it isn't very big and it's all power boats but it draws about 20,000 people mostly guys with big beer bellies.

the show organizers like to hire local boat people to work the show so i decided to give it a try this year. they gave me the service gate guard duty and paid me $100 a day to check security passes and open and close the gate all day long for 3 days.

i don't mind odd jobs and the extra money was good. a couple of old geezers who had too much to drink told me i had nice legs. hehe. 3 days was about as much as i could stand though and it will be nice to get back to my regular job at the anchorage.

typical boat show... lots of greasy food and booze. oh and of course some guy playing jimmy buffett songs.

there really isn't much more to say about it. it wasn't that interesting but if someone wants to pay me to be outside in the warm sunshine all day and stare at people that's just fine with me.

today is our anniversay. 28 years. i add 5 more for the time we lived together in sin. that makes 33. sometimes i can't believe i've been living with the same person since i was 23. who would have thought that someone could actually put up with me for that long. years seem to pass by so quick.

we ate bluefish for dinner last night. needless to say, it was very fresh.

today i think it's time to stop and smell the roses. i am very lucky. thank you my dear husband.

the boat show is in town this weekend. it's being held just across the bridge from the anchorage. i took a couple of days off work at the anchorage and signed up to work at the boat show all day today, saturday and sunday just for a change of pace. they like to hire boat people so most of the people working there are from the anchorage. the pay's not bad and you get to be outside all day. i can handle that. not sure what they are going to have me do. i'll find out this morning.

the surveyor's have been all over the anchorage in the past week doing their surveying thing or whatever it is that they do for the new owners. i've been told once again that we may have a meeting with them soon about our employment. the city has offered me a job in the parks and recreation dept if i don't go with the new anchorage owners. i couldn't do that.. it would mean a cubicle with no windows more than likely. i didn't move to florida to sit in a cubicle all day.

that's all for now. off to the boat show.

have a happy day.

living here on the boat in the anchorage during the busy season has started to get on my nerves. that's not to say i don't like it here.. i'm just getting tired of so many people. thankfully most of them will be gone in a couple of months.
this is one of the drawbacks of living where you work. i knew that and i sort of expected it.
i like this job. i try to put on a good show but then there is the real me who is basically anti-social and prefers to be by myself or at least with someone who has something other to talk about than boat stuff. i do not really care to engage in conversation every minute of the day with everyone who crosses my path.
good morning, how ya doing, what's going on, where's this, where's that, where are you going, blah blah blah.
i think i need a private entrance to this place... a secluded place to go where i don't have to see anyone or listen to anyone gossip or talk about whatever boring thing it is that they just can't shut up about.
i've thought about how i could solve this problem. the obvious answer is to find some outlets for myself..something productive and creative and meaningful and definitely not boat related.
maybe i just need a new project. i don't know where i'm going with this.
end of rant.

me, john & toby just relaxing and chillin' and acting all cool.

i was waiting for this film to come out in dvd but then i found the entire film here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-415225042902855442&q=science+of+sleep&total=769&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

for free. saa weet!

we may go to see "the bucket list" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825232/ this week mainly because i love jack nickolson and morgan freeman. i'm still reeling and suffering odd dreams from seeing the weird and oh so wonderful sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street. i can't get that image of the lovely mrs. lovett being thrown into the blazing furnace out of my head.

i guess my recycling program at the anchorage is finally taking hold. it's been over a year since i tried to start something but at that time the city didn't yet have a recycling program. imagine that! a city in a popular tourist destination without a recycling program.. well anyway they have one now and the they are going full force with it. i keep in constant contact with the department head of the program to let them know how our end is progressing. so far, i would say about 90% of our boaters are actually participating. we produce alot of trash or so it seems. i guess that's because this is our high season and with an average of 150 people in here a day..well it gets busy with trash each morning as they arrive at shore on their way now to the recycling bins instead of the dumpster as they did in the past. i've even gotten my hands on some cute little recycling bags that i give out to all the new tenants as they register. the sacks are washable cloth bags that the city has just begun to distribute so i grabbed several cases of them and brought them to the anchorage.
everyone seems very happy to get involved. florida landfills are hideously overfilled. recycling at this point should be law... it should be mandatory like it is in most other countries. the canadians and australians who are staying here now have told me that they have had mandatory recycling programs for years and years and are surprised to find the u.s. still lagging behind.
actually it's quite amazing once you really get into it. i have been able to recycle almost everything that comes off our boat except for the small amount of garbagey kitchen leftover stuff which really amounts to next to nothing compared to all the paper, aluminum, cardboard, glass and plastic. at the end of the week the garbage bag full of stuff that i can't recycle is about the size of a small plastic grocery bag. that's pretty darn good i think. all the rest goes to shore into the recycling bins.
now... a compost pile would be nice.. but that's another project to tackle someday soon.

in the next couple of weeks i'm supposed to meet with the new owner of the anchorage. we do not really know anything at this point.. concerning their plans for the staff and so on. all we know is that the anchorage was leased to the huizenga "family". huizenga is very well known as the "king midas" of florida and is the only person in history to have founded 3 fortune 500 companies, blockbuster, auto nation and waste management. anyway... as it turns out it is his daughter, pam, who is the new owner of the anchorage and here is the strange part... pam, as it turns out, is also an animal rights activist and a sort of tree hugger. she is the founder of "floridians for humane farms" and through her political action committee and her organization was instrumental in getting florida to ban those horrible and cruel gestation crates for factory farmed hogs in 2003. she is on the advisory board for the animal rights foundation of florida, chairperson of petset, a fundraising arm for the humane society of broward county, and is a director of florida wildlife care. she is also working with an organization called the global awareness institute and is involved in recycling programs in south florida and.... she's a member of the vegan society. what's this world coming to???
now.. this is all just terribly too weird. it almosts seems like one of my strange dreams. never the less i am really really looking forward to this meeting. i may just want to hug her. any daughter of a multi billionaire who cares so much about animal suffering and our environment is alright in my book.

good morning. i woke up to a very chilly 41 degree cabin. i couldn't get the coffee made fast enough.

within an hour i had the cabin temp up to 70 just by turning on all the burners on the propane stove. actually it got too hot after a while which is just fine by me.

outside it is around 35 degrees and very very windy so it feels more like 20 something.

toby is still half asleep. i'll be taking her to shore soon to go potty. it's gonna be a cold cold ride. i found a little blanket i can wrap her in when i drive her into shore.

most mornings i spend browsing the internet and listening to the xm radio until the sun comes up and it's time to get busy doing whatever it is i have to do. the xm was playing really good music this morning... "nature's way" and a song by midlake called "head home" so i turned the volume up really loud. i hope i didn't wake anyone nearby although i'm sure the roar of the wind outside drowned out any noise coming out of my cabin.

i also lit a few candles and burned some incense. it just seemed appropriate for this chilly weather. well... it just doesn't get any better than this.

soon it will be warm again or so they say. i don't mind a little chill. by saturday it will be back into the 80's.

sigh.................

last night we secured everything on deck, ate leftover pasta, watched the end of the rose bowl football game and crawled into our warm cozy bed waiting for the prediction of gale force wind gusts and a very chilly chilly morning. here it is just like predicted, about 40 degrees outside, blowing like crazy and i need to get to shore this morning to do laundry. it's still dark outside so i guess i'll wait a bit til the sun comes up. i doubt that the wind will actually get to gale force, more likely it will just be 20-25 mph for the rest of the day and night.. but that's enough to rock this old boat pretty good making it a bit more difficult this morning for me to make my espresso. good thing i don't get sea sick. i don't really look forward to loading the laundry into the dinghy in this weather and driving the dinghy in this wind and choppy water is always a challenge, usually a very wet one. normally i start laughing about half way to shore, once again amused by it all and this crazy lifestyle i lead.
new year's day i arrived at work at 6:3o am to find the remains of the party all over the porch and picnic area. i found wads of money, 2 cell phones and a disturbing trail of blood splatter that lead from the picnic tables, up the stairs to the porch and into the laundry room along with a mess of spilled food and empty liquor bottles. it took me an hour or more to clean it all up and hose down the porch and picnic area with bleach and water. ugg.. but whatever. it really wasn't too bad and hey i'd rather be the one cleaning it all up than the people who had to wake up with miserable, nasty hangovers. i found out later that day that sometime in the wee hours they were chopping open the champagne bottles with a hatchet or something or other. i don't know exactly why.... but at least that explained the bloody crime scene mess.
the rest of new year's day was full of happy people, many with hangovers, all piling into the lounge off and on all day to wish each other a good new year. it was nice. the day was warm and partly sunny. john and i went to the beach with toby after i got off from work and layed in the sand. i feel alseep for a while dreaming about something until i woke up to realize that toby had disappeared. the crazy dog had spied 2 guys with a soccer ball and of course she, being the soccer ball queen, stole their ball and was pushing and humping it down the beach.
well, time is short, life is big. i've got lots of things i need to do.
have a good day.

yesterday morning as i "drove" to work i thought about this new year. along the way i chuckled to myself, as usual, wondering how i ever wound up in such a cool place. i have set goals for myself for this new year and to be honest i've never really done that before.

i got to work before dawn and set up some little breakfast foods for the crowd.

this place has become my home and all the people who will soon be getting up and coming into shore have become my friends, even the ones who are only passing through.

i had a feeling about this day... however crazy busy... i knew it was going to be was going to be a good one..

i always open all the doors up and play music every morning.. oh and make several pots of coffee of course.

after i finished getting all my ducks in a row i sat at my desk and just smiled.

people came and went all day, all seemed to be in very good moods, smiling and laughing and waiting for the new year's eve celebrations to begin. 2 boats, amy & scott's and david & laura's, came to the dock towards the end of the day. a party was planned at the end of that dock which turned out to last way into the night.





we also have a new young couple from belgium who joined the celebrating. they fit in here well as if they had been here for ever. i overheard them say that they had heard about the anchorage and how nice it was all the way back in their home country and that is why they choose to stay here while they were in florida. that's pretty cool.

after work john and i rode out to charlie & lexie's boat to join them for new year's eve dinner on their boat. we had pasta and salad and i made some of my raw cocoa coconut balls for dessert. it was about as peaceful as it gets although i think charlie had too much to drink and to be honest drunk people tire me anymore. the conversations just seem pointless and silly.

the evening ended fairly early for me since i had to be up again this morning at 5 to get ready for work again. i though about my goals once more. if all goes as i plan, my plan being to beat the system and pack away the almightly dollars instead of wondering where all our money goes, we should be on our way a little faster to the point where john can retire a whole lot earlier. that's a good plan and i will enjoy the challenge.

happy new year and please let it be known that i will not be available anymore to be the "lending tree" as i have been in the past.

peace.