2026 January: The Odd Couple at Marathon Theatre

 25 January 2026

As today was my birthday, we decided to get tickets to the play showing at the Marathon Theatre - "The Odd Couple". The matinee for today started at 3:00. Since today was a Sunday, we started the day with our weekly bike ride to the church. I was happy to see my friends from Haiti, Winise and Joseph, today as they have been away for several weeks getting to know a new grandchild. 

I bike to the church with Clark for 10:00 even though the service does not start until 11:00 because he goes to practice beforehand, and I prefer to bike on busy Route 1 with a "buddy". I was surprised to see that Winise and Joseph were already there. It made the time before services started pass very quickly. They are interesting folks with a home in Haiti where they help support a number of orphans. A fundraiser is coming up mid-February to help them raise funds. Winise will put on a Haitian dinner. We went last year and plan to attend again this year.

After church we biked "home" to grab lunch and hang out for a bit until it's time to leave for the play. Neither of us had seen "The Odd Couple" play previously. I, of course, had seen many episodes of the TV show growing up. I found it interesting to get to know the back story as to how it all began for Oscar and Felix. 

The room outside the theatre stage area was decorated with handmade quilts for sale for anyone interested. Each table had a centerpiece of a poker hand. The aroma of fresh popped popcorn greeted us as we came in to grab a seat. 

We saw two folks waiting for the show to begin, Roger and Stephanie, that we know from St. Columba. They said they came to the show to see Nancy (also from St. Columba church) who was playing one of the Pigeon sisters (Cecily) in the play. We, on the other hand, had come specifically to see our very own Grace who works at Marlin Bay. She had the role of the other Pigeon sister - Gwendolyn. She had demonstrated her British accent to us at the marina to give us a preview.

After the show we got to see "Gwendolyn" for a photo opp.

"Gwendolyn Pigeon" 
aka Grace

Grace & Ev

Grace & Clark

We have gone out to dinner a couple of times recently - quite unusual for us. We dined out tonight but chose the less expensive option of hitting the "Coast to Coast" pizza place.

Later, on the boat, I enjoyed a delightful "Happy Birthday" phone call with my son, Jeff, and his daughters. Zoe made me laugh repeatedly as she wished me Happy Birthday probably 100 times as she ran by the phone. That was the entire "conversation" between the two of us.

26 January 2026

Today the weather was beautiful until around 3:00 when a cold front moved in. Given that we knew the cold front would arrive mid-afternoon, I suggested that we (Clark and I) bike to Publix before if rolled in. We grabbed our bikes and hit the store. We planned on having dinner guests the next day and needed food supplies for the menu we decided on.

As predicted the cold front rolled in about the same time we got back to the marina - good timing. Knowing that I had a full day planned for Tuesday, I decided to prep all the food this afternoon.

In the afternoon I got a call from my other son, Chris, calling to say Happy Birthday. He was taking advantage of all the recent snow to ski in Vermont over the weekend. We talked until he reached a "road closed" sign and had to get off the phone to find an alternate route home. I checked in with his wife later in the day to verify he got home safely.

27 January 2026

Today started as a typical Tuesday with me heading out to art at the library and Clark getting ready to head off to band practice at the church in the afternoon. Since I had art in the morning and crafts in the afternoon along with a nip in the air (northerly winds are 20 mph give or take), I decided that I would stay at the library and not come back to the boat for lunch. When I did get back around 2:00, Clark and his bike were gone - off to the church.

Art in the morning consisted of a lecture on the color wheel - primary, secondary, and tertiary. She had us paint a color wheel. After that she had us paint a picture of a piece of fruit we had brought in specifically for this class. Fortunately, I ran into someone in Publix yesterday who told me I needed fruit today since I missed class last week and didn't know. 

I brought an apple (and ate it for lunch after class). Today was the first time I painted a watercolor picture and not wanted to throw it away as I walked out of class.

Color wheel and apple pictures

I hung out in the library for the hour between classes and then went upstairs for crafts. 

Two weeks ago we poured paint to make a picture on a canvas.

We collected the drippings of the poured paint on wax paper. This week we selected components - necklaces and earrings - to make jewelry from the drippings. We examined our paint results and cut out the sections we liked best.

I grabbed pictures of some of the results of the class.

turtle necklace fob and
matching earrings

Dragonfly

Plain (non-animal) option

Butterfly earrings

When I got back to the boat and found Clark gone, I set to preparing the boat and food for our dinner guests this evening.  Our friends, Nancy and Steve, came to the boat for dinner. Clark managed to get back from guitar practice about 5 minutes before our guests arrived at the marina. He had just about enough time to drop off his guitar before going up to the marina entrance to greet them. 

I made dinner, and our guests brought dessert of brownies and ice cream! Yum!!

After dinner, Clark learned all about building bridges from Steve while Nancy, and I shared more personal experiences. The evening flew by and it was quite late when Clark walked them back to the marina exit. 

28 January 2026

Today, being Wednesday was laundry day. The "hot" topic this week is the very chilly weather across the country and even in the Florida Keys. We spent the morning in the boaters' lounge waiting for the laundry to finish. Then we moved to the boat and stayed there for the rest of the day. While I worked on logic puzzles, Clark sorted his music for church on Sunday,

Clark even turned on the heat in the boat! 

The picture below gives an idea of the weather in Marathon today. Cloudy, gloomy, with occasional rain.

2026 January: Hungrytown Concert and more

 18 January 2026

Given the weather up north, we really cannot complain too much, but ...

Today we begged a ride from our friend John to get to church this morning as rain was predicted. We don't like to have our bikes out in the rain, and the other option was walking a mile in the rain. Thank goodness for good friends. It never rained although we did hear a couple of claps of thunder at the beginning of the church service. 

While I had time before the church service began, I walked around and "hid" the rocks I painted at Marlin Bay this past week. 

Normally after church we hang out and chat, but today, we had to get going right after service for two reasons. First, the person driving us back to the marina, not the one who took us to church, had to be at work by 1:00. Service ran over time, so we had to get moving. Secondly, our friend Deanne put together an MTOA gathering at the marina this afternoon, and that was scheduled to begin at 1:00. 

Many more MTOA members showed up at the marina than I expected. We were so busy talking and getting to know people, we forgot to take any pictures of the gathering. It was a warm sunny afternoon and the boaters and MTOA members were really enjoying themselves talking, swimming, visiting the boats and enjoying the band which brought their own groupies. Around 4:00, some mean looking dark clouds appeared advancing southward from the north. There was no rain shown on the radar, but in just seconds, the sun was replaced by a strong cold gusty wind. Things were flying across the bar. A napkin landed on a lady's face as staff and boaters went running to nail things down. This quickly ended the beautiful afternoon as everyone scattered.

19 January 2026

It is a good thing that the MTOA gathering was yesterday because we woke up today to a strong wind and the thermometer showing 55 degrees in our stateroom. Compared to yesterday, when I took the lovely sunny day picture shown below, today I did not even want to get off the boat.

20 January 2026

We had wind and chilly weather again today. I decided it was the perfect day to work on a project on my PC. I never got off the boat. Clark, on the other hand, decided that he would do some chores today starting with going to the NAPA auto parts store to return the coolant pressure testing kit he picked up on our shopping spree a couple of days back. Unfortunately, the NAPA test kit did not work with our engine.

Fortunately, a friend with a car drove him to the store this morning to make the return. He picked up a better one from the Advanced Auto Parts store nearby. The person working at NAPA used to work at Advanced Auto Parts and knew they had a better test kit to lend out.

In the afternoon, Clark went to guitar practice in preparation for church on Sunday. He was gone the entire afternoon and only got back to the boat around 5:30 or so. While he was gone, I continued to work on my PC project of purging a ton of old pictures that are leftovers from  years of blog updates. 

With him coming back late afternoon and me heads down working on my PC, we both totally forgot about the MTOA meeting this afternoon until after 6:00 (it started at 5:00). Honestly the 20+ mph wind and "cold-for-Florida" temps did not motivate me to want to go to the park, so we let it go this week. I later learned that at least 30 people braved the wind and chill to attend the gathering. Apparently, the park is just far enough away from the open water that wind was not an issue there.

Meanwhile, my friend Cathy texted me a picture of New Jersey of deer and a fox walking in the snow. I found it interesting that these animals were spending time together.

21 January 2026

Every Wednesday morning I have a reserved slot for doing laundry at our one and only washer / dryer ensemble. While I was busy with that chore, Clark decided to return the pressure testing kit. It was a good test with the engines holding pressure for more than 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, Clark did not get a ride today and had to fight the brutal winds to get to the auto parts store to return the kit. The test kit was too large to fit in his backpack, but I figured out that we could use the carrying pouch for one of our folding chairs as a satchel. 

While out, however, he visited Advanced Auto Parts to pick up some parts for a leaking head. Besides pressure testing the engines, Clark has been working on the toilet in the master head that seems to have developed a leak of smelly water. He found out that there is a hose that was leaking that could simply be capped off to stop the leak. Finding a plug to close it off has been no easy feat.

22 January 2026

Today, Clark had to return some of the parts for the head repair. The hose spring clips for a 1/4" cap are not 1/4" but the next size up. While I relaxed on the boat doing art and reading, Clark rode off on his bike to visit some stores. We still had high-volume winds today, so Clark said the bike ride east was brutal. At the easiest gear setting, he was moving slowly towards his destination. Besides going to Advance Auto Parts to return the parts, he stopped at Publix to pick up some food items we needed, hit Walgreens, and then Home Depot. I was glad he went without me!

The weather improved as the day wore on, and I decided I had been on the boat far too long. I noticed the sun would be setting shortly and went out to get a good view. Many folks had the same idea as I found a crowd gathering at a popular sunset viewing site. As I stood talking to friends watching the sun go down, Clark came riding up on his bike having just returned from his shopping spree. 

The sunset was impressive.

View to the east 
from the stern of our boat

Views to the west as the sun sank in the sky ...

We had a nice group to watch the sunset with.

Note Clark still wearing his bike helmet!

A wedding will take place this weekend at the marina. While we watched the sunset, a man with a drone was busy taking pictures of the sunset. We boaters figured he must be related to the wedding.  Whoever he was, he got some great sunset pictures with the drone.

As the party broke up, we got an unexpected invitation to go to the recently-opened "Key Colony Inn" with boaters Donna and Lou. We have not had the pleasure of a dinner date with this couple before though we have known them for several years. We gladly accepted the offer. 

The old "Key Colony Inn" closed and the restaurant recently reopened with new owner / management and a new menu. The food was excellent and the staff attentive.

Mirrored wall

Dining area

Colorful Liquor Bottles on Display

Clark at the bar

We shut the place down from a food point of view as they stopped serving at 10:00, and we walked out the door around 9:50. We were joined at the restaurant by friends of Lou and Donna, so we were three couples for dinner. Then at the bar, we met two folks that knew Donna's friends, so that made 8 at the bar together. Clark and I were not drinking alcohol, and the others were - some quite heavily. It made for an interesting evening.

23 January 2026

Once again, Clark and I went our separate ways this morning. He went off to practice guitar with his band member, John, while I  walked over to the library for sewing class. My friend Pat told me that today's project would be a Japanese Knot Tote Bag which sounded intriguing. The class started at 11:00 and we had to be done by 12:45, so we had to work fast if we wanted to complete the project. I managed to get about 90% done before I had to pack up sewing equipment. I later finished the project at home.

I had to hurry back to the boat from the library to meet up with Clark, make and eat lunch, and get back to the library by 2:00 for the live concert there featuring the duo called "Hungrytown". We heard them last year and loved their tunes.

A cartoonist created a moving picture to go along with one of their songs called Tuesday Sun. They are also on Spotify. I "followed" them and listened to more of their music when we got back to our boat.

The performers have great voices - she is an alto and he is a tenor. They harmonize very well and sing some songs acapella. She plays the guitar; he plays multiple instruments. 

He's playing the banjo

He's playing the guitar and 
harmonica for this song

Of course they had a display of t-shirts and CDs for sale.

Clark and I stayed after the show was over and talked with the performers was quite a while. Clark and the male musician got into a long technical conversation about the production of music. Much of their tech talk went way over my head, but the two of them truly enjoyed the conversation. 

The library has two performances in February. We have not seen either of these folks before. Gladius is on a Thursday morning right when we get the holding tank pumped out. Not sure we will make that show.

In March, The Kennedy's will be performing. We saw them last year at the library and are looking forward to seeing them again.

When we finally left the library, we walked back to the marina passing by the Keys Fisheries site where men were busy loading a lot of netting onto a boat.

There seemed to be no end to the netting being loaded onboard.

While I finished sewing my mini tote bag, Clark had his head under the toilet putting a spring clip on a recently installed plug. I finished my bag and decided to go check out tonight's sunset. I found some folks there (not as many as last night) to watch the sunset with. 

Glowing clouds to the east

To the west ...

Next week and into February looks to be a busy schedule for the church with lots of good activities coming up.

2026 January: Arts & Garden Club & More

 

Sweet Savannah's Ice Cream - Yum!

Since the Celtic Festival ended, we have been extremely busy with a variety of activities / events going on in Marathon. This past week, we have had rain and windy conditions with temperatures dropping down into the 50s. We threw a blanket on the bed and even ran the heat on the boat! The palm fronds in the pictures below tell the wind story as they are all pointing in the same direction!

12 January 2026 - Monday

Most of the Celtic Festival from the weekend was just a blurred memory, but Clark had one last job to address this morning. The "castle" entrances were left until today to be removed. Everything had to be off the fields so they could once again be used for other activities, but the gates could wait. So, Clark grabbed his backpack filled with tools to meet a couple of guys over at the park to take down the last reminders of this year's big event. 

Two of them were put up and two of them had to come down. They are made of a wooden frame with a painted canvas castle "wall", lots of staples and some screws. It is a process to put them together and take them apart.  With this task completed Clark's festival obligations are done until next January!

This afternoon the library had a traveling musician that we saw last year and went to see again - Sean Gaskell plays a handmade 22-string instrument that originates from Africa.

The instrument is unique. It is played with both hands - two thumbs and two index fingers combine to make the chords. 

In between songs he gives the history of how he discovered this instrument and changed from playing the clarinet to the Kora instrument. The one shown below was handmade in 2018. I asked him about traveling with the instrument, and he said he leaves this one on the east coast. He has another one that he uses in Washington state where he calls home. The first Kora was made in Africa circa 1720.

The library has a series of performers coming in this season free of charge. We bought a CD to support Sean.

The next show of interest to us is "Hungrytown" whom we enjoyed immensely last season.

13 January 2026 - Tuesday

This morning I ran off to the library for art class. The instruction was on how to layer watercolors to build a landscape. I failed! I am fine with a pencil or acrylic paints but I am totally ready to give up on watercolors. I threw my efforts in the trash as I walked out the door!

In the afternoon, however, the library offered a crafts session with poured paint. This was a new experience for me, and I really enjoyed it. 

The instructor showed us the "Ready to Pour" paint she bought at Michael's. The picture below shows what she managed to buy with $150 - not much product. 

So, she showed us the products from Home Depot to use to make our own pourable paint. Unfortunately, she struggled to remember the ratio of each product to the others. 1 to 1 to  1 maybe?!

We were given an aluminum tray, a wax paper liner, a metal frame to rest on the tray, and a canvas for our creation.

Ready to create!

We then selected our colors and poured paint into a plastic cup - lots of white followed by whatever colors we liked. I chose shades of blue and turquoise with a touch of silver.

We then poured the paint over our frameworks to create our masterpieces!

My finished painting

Another person's color choices

Depending on the colors chosen, the artworks came out very different from each other. The person next to me had chosen very bland colors. The instructor suggested she get some darker paint to add to the picture and then use a straw to blow on it to move the paint and blend it in with the already poured paint. This gave the resultant picture some texture as well as spruced up the color.

The paint takes at least a week to dry, so we stacked our artwork in the corner of the art room to come back to at the next class in two weeks.

For once Clark did not have guitar practice today. It got moved to Thursday this week. Instead he was on the boat working on our autopilot problem. We have the new autopilot pump sitting in a box in the salon (living room basically) while he figures out what hydraulic connection parts he needs and how to assemble them into hoses for the unit - a real "head scratcher"!

14 January 2026 - Wednesday

Today was laundry day as is every Wednesday. I have the same reserved slot each week to get the job done. Clark and I agreed that after the laundry was done and he had eaten lunch, we would go together via bike to the supermarket in search of bagels and some other items we needed. We picked up various things we needed from Publix but they had no Killer Dave Bagels. We decided we would go to Winn Dixie after leaving Publix to see if they had any in stock. 

When we left Publix, I wasn't thinking about bagels so much as watching where Clark went and trying not to get killed by one of the drivers in the parking lot. We got almost to the marina gate when I remembered we had forgotten to go to Winn Dixie! I told Clark our error.  We decided to go to the boat, put away what we had bought, and then go back out to WD! Of course we got there and they too had no KD bagels! It was not quite a wasted trip, however, as I remembered that I also needed wraps. I had no idea where to find them in Winn Dixie, so we went back to Publix, grabbed them, and headed "home". At least we got a lot of exercise on our bikes - about 4 miles instead of 2!

Later in the day, Clark went up to the Club House area and called me to say there was a Chamber of Commerce "shindig" going on with food that had been brought in for the event. By the time I got myself together and off the boat, there was no food left other than ice cream. I grabbed some of that, hung around for a while, and then headed back to the boat to make dinner for the two of us.

I later learned that the food was meant for the participants of the CofC meeting, but they did not discourage the boaters from sampling the goods.

15 January 2026 - Thursday

We started off today as we do with every Thursday with a pump out of our waste holding tank. After that, Clark had his guitar practice postponed from Tuesday while I decided to partake of the bi-weekly offering of rock painting. It's free so why not!

I did some online research to get ideas for my rock painting artistry. I found a bunch of gnome and mushroom suggestions, so I decided to use those ideas for my rocks. 

The weather today was a mix of wind and rain, so I walked up early for the 11:00 start time. It is normally held by the bar at the pool, so I hung out there. About 10 minutes before 11:00, it started to pour, and I thought about the leader of this project, Grace, coming out to set up - she would be soaked.

Next thing I see a text that the painting has moved into the club house, and so now I am the one to get soaked as I change to the new location. However, at 11:00, the rain stopped long enough for me to move inside! 

Here comes the weather!

Grace was not busy at the front desk, so the two of us painted rocks for slightly longer than the one-hour scheduled. I managed to complete 3 rocks.

Grace had stickers to put on the rocks for anyone who finds one of my masterpieces in the future.

The front that come in with the clouds brought some rain, but it also brought with it a significant drop in temperatures. We went from the 70s down to low 60s and into the 50s overnight.  Given the weather, it was a perfect day for me to dust and vacuum the boat especially with Clark gone. That kept me busy until he returned later in the afternoon. 

The skies went from cloudy ..

to complete fog cover ..

to a sunny day -- all within about ten minutes!

16 January 2026 - Friday

Today did not turn out as planned. The art group I meet with in parks around Marathon was supposed to gather at Safe Harbor Marathon Marina this morning at 10:00. On a nice day it is a very doable bike ride of no more than 2 miles. However, on a cold, windy day, it would be a miserable trip. Well, even those folks with cars decided that they did not want to sit outside today. I had to laugh as the main organizer of these gatherings texted, "Bitterly cold ...". That felt pretty extreme for temps in the 60s!

I had given up on the art session when, at 10:00, I got a text. "Meeting at the library! Now!" I decided to pass and kicked back with my current war novel starring Viking marauders! I guess I am a bit bloodthirsty in my book choices. 

Clark went to the church to practice songs with our friend John. He was gone a very long time as they worked through a lot of details on the songs including figuring out timing, etc. for one they were not familiar with. Between boats and guitars Clark is constantly busy!

17 January 2026 - Saturday

Clark and I decided to spend the day together for a change. Usually I am off to arts, crafts, etc. while he is busy with boat work or guitar. We had an agenda for the day. First we would stop by the Garden Club Show to see what they had to offer, then go to Walgreens for vitamins and Publix (to look for KD bagels). After that we would head east beyond the Marathon airport to visit the Dollar Tree and Bealls. 

Figuring how to dress was a bit of a problem. Being in the outer basin at the marina, it is always colder due to a lot more wind. We sometimes find ourselves in long pants and a jacket while folks at the marina pool are in bikinis. That is not an uncommon event. 

The weather today looked quite ominous in the morning, we decided on shorts, because long pants are a pain on the bike, and layers up top. We carried backpacks for whatever things we might buy along the way.

I specifically wanted to go to the Garden Show because I knew some folks from my art groups would be at the show selling their handcrafted wares. We found a place to stash our bikes and then went to see my friends Pat and Libby at their booths.

My friend, Pat, with her handcrafted and designed jewelry...

Her booth was next to Libby's where she was selling epoxy creations as well as handcrafted greeting cards. 

We walked around and checked out other booths as well. Outside we found a variety of bottles with lights inside,

more handmade jewelry, 

a collection of crazy frogs,

a variety of crosses,

artwork including some "poured paint" options, 

and, of course, a lot of plants!

The hanging air plants shown below are growing in coconut shells!

Also outside, we found "the Pretzel Bar" - a food truck that was also at the Celtic Festival. The variety of flavors was interesting to see.

I wandered over to check out "Juanita's Orchids", which were stunning.

Surprisingly, afterwards, I found Clark going row to row through a number of herbs and plants. 

I thought I would have to drag him away. Meanwhile, I noticed a butterfly busily flying from plant to plant. The vendor informed me that the butterfly was busily laying her eggs in the Milkweed plants.

She was a beauty and very very busy laying her eggs all over the plants there.

When we finally left there, we went inside to see the rummage sale portion of the event.

They were doing a good business

although no one seemed to be pouring over the Christmas table.

They had a table of hardcover books categorized by type - cookbooks, travel, etc. I found that impressive.

Naturally, they had a bake sale table. (I later heard that this table brought in several hundred dollars all by itself!

Having seen all there was to see, we took a quick look in the gift shop and then made our way to our bicycles which we had left hidden in the vegetation. Plants, plants and more plants! I had no idea that the Garden Club was surrounded by a "jungle"!

We left the garden club show at 11:00 and headed over to our next stops. Fortunately, we found KD bagels at Publix this morning. Yay! Now Clark has something quick to eat for breakfast!

Our next stop for the day was unplanned. As we biked past "Specialty Hardware", Clark asked if I wanted to stop in. I replied, "That might be fun". Those turned out to be "famous last words" as once Clark got in the store, it was hard to get him out again! 

By the time he finally did walk out of that store, it was 12:30 and I had to find food for lunch. 

While I waited outside for Clark to exit the store, I checked out the food places nearby. I was feeling a little light-headed and needed something quickly. Next door was a place selling hot dogs - hard no, and next to that was a Cuban restaurant - harder no. Across the street, I could see Driftwood Pizza, checked out the menu, and decided we should go there. 

Almost $50 later we walked out with two wraps, a bottle of water, and 3 cookies. 

I have wanted to go to the Dollar Tree store since I went to a Library Craft session a couple of weeks ago to look at what the Dollar Tree had on hand as art supplies I might want. Sadly, I did not find anything of interest. The one thing I did want I did not find!

Next I wanted to go to Bealls to check out their discounted clothing. Clark wanted to go to the NAPA auto store over the Vaca Cut bridge. We decided to divide and conquer. I bought some clothes and he came back with a coolant pressure testing unit that he has to return when finished using it. 

With our shopping done, we decided to head back to the boat on the shadier side of the highway. We had shed all our extra layers of shirts and jackets and were down to t-shirts at this point and still looking for the cooler side of the street. I suggested to Clark that since we were this far east, we should stop by Sweet Savannah's on the way buy for some ice cream. 

Cupcakes were  also an option, but we came for the "good" stuff.

By the time we got back to the boat, I had biked about 7 miles and Clark, having gone over the bridge to NAPA, had biked about 8 miles. We found some leftovers in the fridge for dinner and then relaxed for the rest of the evening. With Clark and I going our separate ways so often, it was lovely to spend a full day together.