Sheet Music 323: Loving Florida Life; Driving Home for Christmas

To quickly catch you up on what’s been happening the past 5 weeks, we’ve been busy with friends, working on the boat, enjoying beautiful Downtown Stuart and even got some family time in.

We rented a car for Thanksgiving and drove to my mom’s house in Ocala for the night. Chuck repaired/replaced her kitchen lights and I worked on her computer. On Thanksgiving, we all went to my niece’s house in Jacksonville for a family feast. I think there were 18 of us. I forgot to take pictures! It was wonderful and we even got leftovers to bring back to the boat to enjoy for lunch.

We’ve been having a great time with our friends in Stuart and enjoying the Florida sunshine and warm temperatures.

Alan and Patti Blumberg, John and Joan Conover, and Ed and Gloria Hogan have been gracious hosts for dinner in their beautiful homes. It was great to see all of them and we look forward to having them on Sheet Music in January.

Boating friends Carl and Chris Gustavsen have made us many delicious meals in their home that we’ve enjoyed with Bill and Patti Turner. We anchored out last weekend in a raftup with them for the Martin County Christmas Parade of Lights. Some boats went all out in their decorating. We understand there was a $10k prize at stake.

Chuck at helm of Annalee.

Bill and Patti raising the sail on Annalee.

One day we all went sailing on Bill and Patti's 41 ft. motor sailor, Annalee. They have a new mast and new sails and changed it to a gaffe rig tri-sail. Chuck had the opportunity to sail it and the six of us had a great time!

We had a great visit with Jim and Angela on Dec. 5.

Our oldest grandson, Jimmy, came up from West Palm Beach with his girlfriend, Angela, and we had lunch here at Sailor’s Return. We took a long walk around the area and I had the opportunity to get to know Angela a bit. She’s a sweet girl and I can see why Jimmy loves her.

Jazzy and I take daily walks along the Riverwalk, through the streets of Historic Stuart, where there are lots of little shops and restaurants and return through Flagler Park. Of course, Jazzy gets lots of attention and she loves that. Some places even put bowls of water out for the dogs.

Our address through January.

The dog walk.

One of many picturesque views from the Riverwalk.

Another pretty Riverwalk view.

Sheet Music is moving to the seawall on Sunday for the rest of December and the month of January. We’ll pull up the dinghy and scrub the bottom. On Monday, Patti is taking Chuck to the airport in West Palm Beach to pick up our rental car. We saved more than $100 by picking up the car at an airport. We’ll drive to my sister Penny’s house to have dinner, load up our stuff that we gave her in Daytona and at Thanksgiving, then drive home on Tuesday to spend Christmas with our kids and grandkids. We expect to be home for 10 days, then drive my car back here.

I’m loving this Florida weather and hate the thought of the snow and cold, but it’s only for a short time and it will be great to see the kids and grandkids.

I’m taking on a few writing projects in January, then we’ll either head to The Keys or Bahamas, depending on how Mom Mc is.

I’m looking forward to hosting our friends for dinner on Sheet Music while we’re at the dock! It has been peaceful on the mooring ball, but I like to be able to just step off the boat and take a walk without having to interrupt whatever project Chuck is working on. And it’s hard to have anyone over for dinner when they have to get a (maybe) wet dinghy to get here!

I am (mostly) healed up from my fall off the boat in Daytona. I still have some swelling on my shin and my back is a bit tender at times, but I was really lucky! I have an appointment to see my doctor while we’re home.

Enjoyed our visit with Jim Mosher on Valinor.

We caught up with our friend, Jim Mosher, who keeps his boat in Annapolis. He is working his way to Key West for the holidays, where he has friends awaiting his arrival. The day after the parade of lights, he arrived and rafted up to Sheet Music. He came aboard and enjoyed dinner and a visit. It was great to see him.