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Clockwise from upper left: (1) Bob the Pirate Dog; (2) I read 100 books in 2018 as part of the Goodreads challenge!; (3) Having German food and beer in Portland; (4) The annual good luck New Year's pig gifts from my mom; (5) the line-up at the Christmas Eve potluck at the marina; and (6) Tickety Boo being moved into the workyard. What can I say about December. It was a month of highs and lows. I got to visit my family in Portland for a week - that was a high. We hauled our boat out of the water to assess the crack in our hull - that was a real low. It's bad. We had some cool weather in Florida - a high. I had freezing weather in Portland - a low. My sister has adorable cats that I got to play with - a high. .  .well, let's just leave it there with a crazy cat lady high, shall we? Okay, so onto the recap of last month in numbers. Basically, the really random numbers that pop into my head as I write these monthly posts. 4 - How many quarts my slow cooker holds. I made baked b...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - While I was in Portland visiting my family, we went and saw the annual Christmas decorations at the historic Pittock Mansion . 2 - Every year they pick a different decorating theme. This year it was hobbies and pastimes including such things as knitting, stamp collecting, hiking, puzzles, card playing, painting, and my favorite pastime - drinking and eating. 3 - We don't decorate for the holidays on our boat, but if we did I think I'd do something with a bookish theme. Or maybe a Crazy Cat Lady theme. What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi! The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boa...

Things have been crazy since my last Life Lately post . Let's see. . .when I last left you it was the end of November. What's happened lately since? After all of the Thanksgiving festivities, we tried to cut back on pigging out so much, but then we went for Ethiopian food in West Palm Beach. How can you not pig out when you're eating delicious sambusa , doro wat and miser wat ? We took a bunch of people with us who had never eaten Ethiopian before. Thankfully, they loved it. Or, at least they said they did. Then I took off for Portland, Oregon to visit my family (mom, sister, and two nieces). I made it out of the Charlotte airport in the nick of time before everything shut down due to a winter storm. Thankfully, I had packed lots of socks, mittens, and a hat. Once you get out of southern Florida, it's pretty darn cold. We went on several fun excursions, including one to the Mt Angel Abbey and Seminary . If you're ever in that neck of the woods, definitely go pay th...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - Since the weather has cooled down a bit, we've been trying to go for walks in the morning. There's not a lot of places to walk to in Indiantown which is why we found ourselves walking up a dirt road to the local scrapyard. 2 - Humans throw away a lot of stuff in their lifetime. 3 - Did you notice the picture of the saddle in the dumpster?   4 - What's the most interesting thing you've disposed of or recycled lately? What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi! The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at: Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | ...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - We've been trying to go for a walk every morning. Along the way, we often run into the neighborhood turkey vultures. 2 - I always think of turkey vultures as the thugs of the avian world. Not the type of bird you'd want to run into in a dark alley. 3 - Here's a bit of strange trivia about turkey vultures that Google offered up: " Nestling Turkey Vultures projectile vomit to defend themselves." Gross, but I guess you got to do what you got to do to defend yourself. What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi! The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at: Amazo...

It's been ages since I've done a "Life Lately..." post. I'd say it's about time we had one, wouldn't you? so here's a few pictures and a few words about what's been happening lately at Indiantown Marina. We had a fun Women Who Sail get-together on Halloween (the guys joined later). I was in awe of the culinary creativity of the ladies. Why yes, that pumpkin really is vomiting guacamole. The bats on these deviled eggs are adorable. Just make sure you don't think they're edible. A couple of people made that mistake. Our marine toilet is broken and we've been trying to decide whether to switch over to a composting one. Our friend Sandy on s/v Ragtime Gal built one and gave us a demonstration of their system. Yes, this is the kind of thing cruisers talk about. Just normal chit-chat about pee and poo. Boat projects are in full swing. We've in the process of redoing our portlights (three down, one to go). Goodbye leaky boat. This guy'...

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words: 1 - Say hi to Chloe, an adorable chocolate Labrador retriever who belongs to some friends of ours. Or should I say they belong to her? That's how it works with pets, isn't it? You belong to them? 2 - Chloe loves husking coconuts. I think she looks forward to coming down to Florida from Canada to get her paws on some coconuts. 3 - I'm not a big fan of coconut in cookies, cakes, and the like, but I do like it in curries. What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it? For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here .  Thanks for stopping by our blog - we love it when people come visit! We're also on Facebook - pop by and say hi! The latest Mollie McGhie cozy sailing mystery is now available! Pick up a copy of >>Bodies in the Boatyard<< at: Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | Barne...

Flashback Friday takes place on the last Friday of the month. The idea is to give a little more love to a blog post you've published before that maybe didn't get enough attention, or is something you think is still relevant or even a something that you really love and want to share again. Many thanks to Michael d’Agostino for starting Flashback Friday and inspiring me to go back and revisit some of our earlier blog posts. * * * This is a flashback to our time camping across the States while in search of our next sailboat, which ended up being a Moody 346, Tickety Boo , which we found in Florida. It's been ages since we've gone camping and I've enjoyed looking back at some of the pictures from our travels on land, as well as reading my strange observations on life - in this case, about being cold blooded and possible UFO sightings. This post was originally published in February 2015. You can find the original post here . * * * Not too long ago, I was complaining...