2016 Winter Holidays; Family & Friends

All through the months of Oct, Nov & December, we continued to put miles on our car, driving to New Orleans several times, to Orlando, to Chattanooga, to Birmingham & Selma AL (don’t ask), to Waco TX, and to points in between.  Our boat, meanwhile, enjoyed its stay at a nice marina, with us being aboard only about 50% of the time.

Sue's mother with 4 more generations of ladies

But we spent a lot of time with family so far this winter, with more to come.  We thoroughly enjoyed our annual Thanksgiving family reunion in Tennessee, during which Sue’s mother was the star of the show.  Each day, we drove her to the rented cabins for family time, Thanksgiving dinner, and gift exchange the next day.  Though she is now 94 years young, she was very alert and cognizant of her surroundings the entire week, even singing songs loud & clear.  She had all her grandchildren in attendance, plus all her great-grandchildren, and all her great-great-grandchildren, so she enjoyed them all!

At Christmas time, Sue & our granddaughter open
their "Christmas Cafe", with chef's hat & custom
made menus.  they do all the cooking, too!

The following week found us near Orlando at a nice resort for some sun and some R & R.  Of course, on the way down we stopped to see Ken & Betsy in Dunnellon FL, who were one of our boating buddies in 2011 when we lived on the Tennessee River.

Lynne shows off her "Lynnemas" shirt, with the
artist Madeleine standing by

Christmas time saw us in New Orleans with our kids, as usual.  The difference this year was that our side of the family celebrated Christmas on Dec 29, so that Ali & Chris could celebrate earlier with her family.  But then, there’s our daughter Lynne, who has a birthday on Dec 29, and has “complained” for 40 years that she never gets any gifts for her birthday because it is so close to Christmas.  So this year, on Dec 29, we celebrated “Lynnemas” rather than Christmas, so Lynne became the Christmas Diva!

The kids got me some diesel engine motor oil for "Lynnemas".
Is that a not-so-subtle hint that the oil needs changing on the boat?

As the song goes, "We went on down to the Audubon Zoo,
and they all axed for you"
Sue keeps threatening to buy a pink flamingo to put on the bow of the boat!

With our good friends Kurt & Susan in Panama City

Back at the marina, we’ve met a lot of current “Loopers” who stay at this marina for a night or two before continuing on their travels around the eastern US.  We’ve shared our local knowledge with them, and given them a ride to the grocery or marine supply stores.  We also drove over to Panama City to break bread with our boating friends from Baltimore, Kurt & Susan aboard “Irish Lady II”, whom we traveled with in summer 2015 along the Erie Canal & Lake Ontario’s 1000-Island area.  They will complete their Loop this summer when they get back to the Chesapeake Bay.

Other friends with whom we exchange Christmas cards include Pat from Bear, Delaware, who we met strictly by chance in the spring 2015.  We were walking the downtown area of Delaware City DE (on the Delaware Bay, natch) when Pat struck up a conversation about the history of the area & the C & D Canal.  She turned into our host and tour guide for the day, giving us a perspective of the area that only a life-long resident could provide.

Our granddaughter Maddy came to the boat for a couple days,
so she went ice skating for her first time at the rink set up at the Wharf.

On our return trip from New Orleans to the boat, we stop at
Bellingrath Gardens just south of Mobile AL.  This was one of our
favorite gardens while we lived in New Orleans, but we had never
seen their Christmas light displays.  Here, the lights are reflected
in their Mirror Lake

So now, we’re trying to get some projects completed on the boat.  Our big one for now is to strip & varnish all the teak wood on the flybridge and the sundeck.  In between the high humidity days & rain storms, we are slowly building up the coats of varnish, one by one.

The end of January we will head back to New Orleans for doctor visits, before heading north to Chattanooga (via Lynchburg TN to visit other boating friends from 2011).  While Sue stays with her mother for a couple nights, I’ll stay with some other boating friends & attend the boat show to help man the booth for the Power Squadron.  We gotta keep moving, so that we stay ahead of our mistakes!

In a New Orleans grocery store on January 1st,
they sell a lot of cabbage to go with whatever else