2025 January: Ev turns 70

 24 January 2025 - Friday

Weather in Marathon has not been as bad as elsewhere in the country, but it has not been pleasant. Every day we have a wind chill from the north winds. I feel sorry for folks who traveled to Florida for this week expecting to sun bathe. Some folks must be desperate, however. As I walked past he pool bundled up in a jacket and long pants, I passed by 5 women in swimwear lying by the pool trying to get a tan. 

I spent several hours in the club house working on the current jigsaw puzzle yesterday. When I walked back to the boat late in the afternoon, I found two women in the hot tub. That is the only place to be near the pool until it is time to get out and get dressed. 

The Marathon library has not been offering the photography educational sessions I enjoyed last year. Sewing classes are offered instead. I still attend Art on Tuesdays, but I miss the photography instruction. The photography instructor, Maria, offered me an individual session this afternoon. Given the weather, instead of going in search of pictures to take of the area, I came prepared with a bunch of pictures I have taken locally requesting input from Maria on how to improve my photography skills.

We discussed some of the pictures shown below. Others I took today on my walk back to the boat.

"Mirror Image"

Holding the Line

Fishing behind our boat

Hunkering down against the wind

Waiting for the fishing boats to come in

We learned from someone at church who works on the lobster boats that lobster season is over. Given that all the traps are being brought in for cleaning and repair. The stacks of lobster traps keeps growing and growing. Each time I walk past to the library, the walls made by the traps keep getting higher and higher.

Boat on trailer parked in front of lobster traps

Stacking up!

Traps are definitely in need of scrubbing

Of course many of the floats for the traps are draped around the grounds. Mostly, I see the "balls" stored inside the lobster trap ready for next season.

Some traps across from the entrance to our marina, Marlin Bay, have been in place so long that they are growing lovely flowers on top. The wind and cold weather have lessened the usual heavy fish smell in the area. On a hot day the odor emanating from the traps can be overwhelming.

Flowery traps

Morning Glory??

With the wind and wave action, trap floats sometimes appear caught up in the rocks near the Marlin Bay docks.

Between a rock and a ... rock?

25 January 2025

Today I, Evelyn, turned 70 years old. Folks I have not heard from in a long while popped up on Facebook to wish me well. We spent the majority of the day on the boat. The weather just does not invite folks to wander outside. Clark did convince me to walk the docks just for something to do and to get some exercise and fresh air. 

On our walk we saw a very tall egret roaming the docks. He paid us no attention as he was busy with eyes on the water.

Views not too good from here

Moving to a better spot

Strutting down a finger pier for a 
closer look at the water

I told Clark that he had a 20-minute limit on discussing batteries with anyone we met along the way. I should have timed him as we found ourselves stopping by Jean Marie and discussing electrical / battery issues for at least 20 minutes, perhaps more, with Bill. I finally dragged him away from there only to come upon our friend Steve who works at the marina whereby Clark proceeded to fill Steve in on our discussion with Bill. I did drag him away from there!

We have become good friends with Steve and his wife Nancy. Nancy had her birthday on the 20th of this month. Clark and I decided to invite them to join us for a joint birthday celebration. Having enjoyed it so much earlier this month, we once again opted to go the the Butterfly Café for dinner. The food did not disappoint. Nancy mentioned to our waitress that today was my birthday, and boy did we get the royal treatment. 

I was surprised twice during our dinner. The first time was the delivery of a complimentary bottle of wine for our table. This may have been (or not) due to the general manager at Marlin Bay putting in a good word for us to a friend at the restaurant.  We told him earlier in the day that we planned on going there for dinner. He said he'd let his friend know we were coming.

Knowing that the cheesecake here is scrumptious I saved room from dinner to be able to order it. When it appeared it was decorated for my birthday. I was too slow on the draw to get a picture of the "piece of art" with the sparkler embedded in the slice glowing. It burned out before I could get the camera aimed on it. 

Getting picture of burned out sparkler

Clark likes pigtails

Ev, Nancy, and Steve

Work-of-art dessert

The cheesecake was just as marvelous as I remembered only better for the extra effort they put into sculpting it! It had extra strawberry flavoring due to the words written on the plate! I wiped the plate clean.

We arrived at 6:00 for our reservation and did not leave until 9:00. Fortunately, they did not appear to be swamped with customers and ignored the fact that we occupied a table for much longer than usual. We had a good discussion going on and had no desire to leave earlier.

I had warned both my sons that we had plans for the evening until 9:00. My Idaho grandkids called me just after we got back to the boat, and we talked for over an hour until they had to say goodnight to go to bed. My oldest granddaughter turns 11 next month; her sister, my youngest granddaughter, turns 5 next month. We talked a lot about birthdays and gift ideas.

26 January 2025 - Sunday

Today, it was back to "business as usual" as we biked to church for service at St. Columba church. We enjoy the Contemporary Service where Clark plays the guitar along with our friends Steve (on banjo) and Nancy (on fiddle). Johnny Live sings along with the band. Jacob plays drums in the background, and Tom, the music director of the group, plays guitar and sings.

During today's announcements of coming events, Pastor Debra said she had a very serious activity coming up for the church. She walked to the front of the church, reached behind a podium, and pulled out a hat which she placed on her head. As she did this, all members of the band reached under their chairs and pulled out hats of their own. Next weekend is the Tea and Fashion Show. The hats were used as a prop to advertise the event. I really, really want to know how they got Clark to wear the hat they chose for him!!!

Could that possibly be my husband???

After church we stayed to talk for a while before leaving to go back to the boat. Nancy noticed that we had both chosen sunny yellow for our attire today.

Members of the church had their annual meeting today after the service, so Nancy disappeared back into the church rather quickly for that. Meanwhile, we ended up staying for an hour after service concluded to sit and talk with Johnny live about living and working in Marathon.

Although it felt warmer biking south on Route 1 at 1:00, when we headed back to the boat, than it did biking north at 10:00 when we went to church, the weather was still not conducive to hanging around outside. The wind hit us in the face as soon as we got on marina grounds.  Clark spent time in the pilot house this afternoon talking to a friend about, big surprise, batteries. I spent a lot of time in the salon drawing pictures to send off to my grandchildren. 

They love getting mail, and it gives me opportunities to practice drawing. The pictures are just goofy things for them to color, which apparently they enjoy more than pictures that I have drawn and colored for them.

2025 January: Clark calls 911

 

23 January 2025

We have had the equivalent of an arctic chill here in Marathon the last couple of days. Yesterday, I never got off the boat due to it being a cold, windy day. Today was better. After pumpout, Clark spent the morning trying to get our new Nest thermostat from yesterday's service call at our house connected to our account. Unfortunately, there's no way to set it up remotely as it requires someone on the same local network. To get around this problem, he was working with a neighbor to get it connected, but the Nest kept going dark as if there was a loose connection.

I spent the afternoon at the club house working on a nasty, difficult jigsaw puzzle in the company of the bartender who had no customers to speak of for most of the day. While I was hovering over the jigsaw puzzle, Clark was on a friend's boat working on his battery problem. He found a lug on the alternator that had a bad connection and was getting hot. This prevented his alternators from charging his house bank, which is now suffering from chronic undercharging. That kept him busy until almost dinner time. After that, he spent a lot of time on the phone working, once again, on the Nest thermostat problem at our house with a repairman on site. This is the third service call in a month. Now, we have a new Honeywell thermostat that we control remotely. We'll see how this one works out. 

We have our own boat problems. When I used the washing machine onboard earlier this week, I found a large puddle of water under the machine afterwards. Somewhere we have a leak. Clark pulled the top and the back off and found the connections and the water fill hoses to the tub were all dry. This leaves the pump, the tub seal and the drain hose connection on the bottom as possible sources. This requires removing the washing machine which requires removing the hand rail, the steps to the pilot house, the steps to the engine room, an ER closet, the doors and front panel to the washer, and the front and hold-down trim around the washer. At that point, the unit can be raised up to the hallway where it is possible to access the bottom of the washer. Hopefully, it can be fixed there. If it needs to be replaced, it would have to be hoisted up and removed via a fixed front pilothouse window. 

Weather, washing machines, and other people's battery issues seem like nothing compared to the action we had this evening. As I worked on making dinner, Clark came flying through the boat and then raced back outside again. It was almost dark. Clark was outside taking out some recycle cardboard as he heard people yelling "HELP"! 

A boat had overturned and people were in the water calling for HELP. He quickly dialed 911 to call for assistance. He tried to find someone with a dinghy already in the water to help, but he found no one on the boats he tried; it would talk another 15 minutes to lunch our dinghy. He thought he saw 4 people in the water - 3 hanging onto the overturned white hull and a 4th one drifting off to the SE. 

The Coast Guard came quickly and picked up two people. The overturned boat was left to drift to shore. From the USCG, we learned that there were only two hanging onto the boat, and the "person" drifting away in the dark was just something floating away from the overturned boat. 

Clark estimated the water temperature to be around 68 degrees. It is a real good thing Clark heard their call for help and even better that the USCG station is in close proximity to the marina.

24 January 2025

Picture of boat next morning

2025 January: Library Free Concerts

 13 January 2025

Today, being the Monday after the Celtic Festival, we relaxed to recover from all the work we put into putting it up and tearing it down. Clark walked up and took advantage of nice weather and the marina pool, but I basically sat on the boat and stared at the walls. I had no energy to even put on my swimsuit and walk up to the pool. 

14 January 2025

Tuesdays the library provides art instruction, which I attended today. The instructor insists on having all instruction somehow revolve around watercolor painting. I have no talent in the area and no interest in improving. Consequently, I brought my own colored pencils to class in case I wanted to do my own "thing". Today was surprisingly interesting as we learned how to draw stick figures!

Action Stick Figures 

Ev's Watercolor Stick Figures

After class, I did not want to walk back to the boat because I planned to attend the Resin Jewelry class in the afternoon. In between the two sessions at the library, I sat in a friend's car with her and chatted.  We had both brought some food to eat, so we snacked and talked for the 90 minutes between classes. It hardly makes sense to walk back to the boat as, by the time I get back, I need to turn around and walk back to the library again. Talking with my art friend, Pat, was a fun way to pass the time. 

Resin Class is crazy. Most of the tubes of resin, that I get a hold of anyway, appear to be empty. No one seems to want to throw them away, so it is very frustrating. I had decided to make leaf earrings and wanted green. I ended up using a mix of colors just to have enough resin to fill the mold. Regardless of the frustrations, I was happy with my end results. 

The class is 45 minutes long, so I had to work fast with the materials I could get my hands on. I did okay. It is free, so I should not complain too loudly or really at all!

Gold glitter in center of green leaves
plus a few more bits of resin jewelry I made

Today turned out to be a full day of activity. I had hoped to return a novel to my friend, Deanne, at art class, but I did not see her there. So, I biked to Banana Bay Marina (with Clark) to give her back her heavy, 650-page book. Clark and I had decided to bike to Winn Dixie for a few food items, so it was basically on the way. While there, she reminded me that the MTOA meeting was this evening at 5:00. I had completely forgotten about it. At least Clark had remembered. 

I had a relatively short list of needs from the food store, so by 4:00 we were back on the boat and preparing to go to the MTOA gathering at 5:00 at the city park across the street. MTOA is the Marine Trawler Owners Assoc. We never seem to be in the right place at the right time to attend most of their gatherings up and down the east coast. However, it is quite convenient to walk across to the park here in Marathon.

Mid-December I decided to wordsmith my "Anchor Abandoned Ship" blog story and submit it as an article for the "Turtle Times" MTOA newsletter. I had been asked to submit a story on boating travels once before and thought the anchor incident might prove to be another interesting read for MTOA participants. 

At the meeting tonight, I got a surprise. I received a turtle pin and a scribe pin for my contribution(s) to the newsletter. I now have more than one turtle lapel pin as I received one for my prior submission as well. It is so nice to know that my writing is appreciated. Apparently, my anchor article missed the deadline for the December issue, but they included it anyway. I have received a few compliments on the story.

MTOA Pins of Recognition

16 January 2025

On occasion, the Marathon library has free concerts demonstrating the talents of traveling performers. At 1 o'clock today, Sean Gaskell played a 21-string instrument called a Kora. In between songs he explained the construction of the instrument, provided some information of the African people who build and play these instruments, and talked about his path on learning how to build and play this complex harp-like instrument.

As one can see from the picture below with Sean, we had to wear warm clothes for the walk to the library due to the windy weather.

Clark, Sean, and Ev
at Kora Concert

Sean explained that the bottom of the instrument is a dried gourd. Cow hide is very tightly secured to the gourd. Posts are passed through the gourd, and cowhide strips are woven around the center post and used for tuning.

Sean Gaskell explaining Kora construction

Strings are made from different
weight fishing line for high and low notes

This rawhide rings are pushed up or down
the post to tune the instrument.

Finished product - played 2-handed
with 11 strings per side

The hole in the side of the instrument is traditionally where the musician receives payment for their work. The African Kora musicians are the keepers of their history. When a song is performed related to someone's long-passed relatives, that person is expected to put money in the Kora as a tribute to the song and their ancestors. 

Concert attendee putting money in the Kora

This instrument comes from The Gambia area of Africa on the western side of the continent.

17 January 2025

For the second time this week I was feeling sluggish and did not feel like getting off the boat. We had rainy weather and cloud cover that convinced me to stay put. However, at 4 o'clock Clark said he was going up to the pool area to hear "Johnny Live" perform and asked me to join him. I declined so he went on his own. He stopped by to say hello to John and then, just before 5:00, he left to head to the library to hear today's free concert.  

Marc Berardo and Grace Morrison performed today.

Clark liked Grace Morrison's humorous, story-telling songs and came back having bought two of her CDs. 

Marc Berardo

Grace Morrison

After the library concert, Clark stopped back at the pool bar to listen to "Johnny Live" until he finished his set. Finally, at 7:00 Clark texted me "on my way back". I put dinner on the table in anticipation of his arrival. By the time he arrived back at the boat, I had already finished eating. Naturally, he got distracted along the way. John was taking down the equipment and said he'd be there another 45 minutes. Clark asked, "45!!?". John told him, yes, 30 minutes to talk to you and the rest to load up. Turned out, he had some news to tell Clark.

18 January 2025

Today, being Saturday, I considered the items on the Farmer's Market produce list and decided to pass. I did not feel like racing there for 9:00 only to find that what I most wanted was already gone. Instead I convinced Clark that we needed to go to Publix to stock up on some essentials. By the time I was done there, we had no more room in the backpacks or bike bags. Clark asked if I wanted to stop at the Farmer's Market on the way back to see what they had left, but with a full load, I did not bother to stop. 

19 January 2025

With Clark playing in the church band, we have to leave reasonably early to bike there. We arrived slightly before 10:00. Service starts at 11:00. He practices in the time before service starts with the other members of the band. I generally find a quiet place somewhere and either read or work on the NYT Wordle, etc. We are getting to know a lot of folks via the church, so I chatted with various people as well. 

Service ran a bit longer than usual today, so it did not end until sometime after noon. Then we adjourned to the eating area where some food had been set out for us to enjoy. I thought we would be eating our regular lunch on the boat sometime soon, so I did not partake of the offerings. That was a mistake as, at 1:30, we were still sitting there talking with various folks. Clark had met a couple with an airplane and was gung ho on that conversation. Meanwhile I was catching up with our friend Zoe. 

Suddenly, I realized that I was getting light-headed from lack of food and told Clark we had to leave immediately. I grabbed a roll from the kitchen to hold me over until I could get "real" food. I was afraid I would faint on the bike ride back to the boat if I didn't get something in me.

After lunch on the boat, Clark went off to work on a friend's boat to look at, you-guessed-it, a battery issue. I decided that it was a lovely day to jump in the pool. I found fellow boaters at the pool and chatted with them until we all decided it was time to call it quits and dry off. 

The Buffalo Bills seem to be extremely popular with boaters here. Many folks planned to hang out at the bar to watch the playoff game together. They asked the marina to turn on the bar television and keep the drinks coming. I had no interest in hanging out at the bar, but I was interested in a good football game. 

When the game started, I turned on the television in the salon on the boat to watch. It did not disappoint in excitement. Football in the snow makes for an interesting, slippery football game. Phew! The Bills won the game! So happy for my son who has been a Bills fan all his life.

Clark disappeared into our stateroom where he found a movie to watch. Fortunately, we have a setup where we can watch different shows on the two televisions. We generally try to come to an agreement on something we can watch together, but I guess football was not getting on Clark's list tonight.

2025 January: Marathon Celtic Festival

 9 - 10 January 2025

The Celtic Festival hosted by the St. Columba church is a big attraction in Marathon and requires a lot of helping hands to make it a success. Last year, Clark and I helped with the set up and tear down of the tents as well as the hanging of the banners surrounding the field. This year we once again volunteered for set up and tear down on Thursday before the event and the teardown afterwards. 

We biked to and from the boat to the field. That in conjunction with the five hours I spent on Thursday hauling folding tables and chairs, buckets of waters to hold tents down in a wind, and helping to assemble tents and the pub bar, I was done in. Clark, however, wandered over again on Friday and found himself directing vendors on where to park their vehicles. 

In between toting tables and helping to put up tents, we did manage to take a few pictures.

Clark digging for tools in the backpack

Clark climbing out from under the tent
as it is being raised.

Children's tent fully assembled.

Pastor Debra nominated Clark to be in charge of building "the castle". I thought this was something for the children's tent. Boy was I wrong! The castles are the structures at the entrance gate. Unfortunately, the person in charge of this activity every year retired from the job. At first no one seemed to have a clue of how it was even supposed to look let alone be put together. 

Finally, someone found some pictures and a man who had some knowledge of previous work done to make this happen. First they laid out 3 wooden frames and placed the painted tarps over the frames.

Initially, some guys helped Clark get started with attaching the tarps to the frames using screws. Eventually, they all got called away to other tasks and left Clark to complete this part of the project.

Clark caught me taking a picture of his work!

Once the canvas was attached to each frames, the frames had to be attached to each other to form an entryway. By the time this was done, a crew had gathered to help stand the castle wall up to rest against the fence. The "castle" was then fastened to the chain-link fence via lengths of rope. Voila! One done and a second one to go. 

Entrance at Gate 1 completed with
help from the team of volunteers.

Signs are posted all over the park advertising the event and promoting the sponsors who help make the festival a possibility. 

Pastor Debra with an 
armload of banners 

As the Festival banner was hung over the stage, I was asked to be the eyes to tell them when it was centered. 

"A little more to the left, please!"

Besides set up and tear down of the field, I got volunteered to work at the Pub Tent on Sunday. I helped build it on Thursday. With the help of the Pub Tent Manager, my friend Nancy, we built the bar at the entrance where orders and money would be taken. We put up a plastic sheet on one side to protect against wind and rain. We laid some faux carpet as well as a banner looking like the insides of a pub.

The blue-topped bar at the entrance to the pub gave Nancy and I a very hard time. The base is fat PVC pipe. The zip ties we had were not long enough to go through the wooden top and around the pipes. We fought long and hard with joining zip tie together and then feeding them through the wooden panel and around the pipes. What would have taken Clark seconds, quite literally took me minutes! 

Pub tent assembled, but not quite ready for
business yet.

While we were working at the park, Clark got a call from his friend "Johnny Live" who said he was at the church and needed some help with the sound equipment / mixing board. After five hours on the field, about 3:00, we rode our bikes (about a mile) to the church. I sat doing nothing while Clark worked with John. When done, we biked almost a mile back to the boat. We certainly got our exercise for the day. Somehow I managed to get enough energy to cook some food and get it to the table!

On Friday morning around 10:00, Clark went over to the field to see what he might do to help. He got assigned parking duty for vendors. When not busy directing traffic, he got to catch up on his email, etc. on his phone. 

Meanwhile, I rested on the boat and played with some new pastel pencils I got from Amazon. I have not worked with pastel pencils before. I am not a great artist but I do enjoy being creative. 

My first ever pastel-with-pencil picture. 
A fox in case there was any doubt!

When Clark returned from the field on Friday, he brought back a picture of the further progress that had been made to bring the field to life.

Big tent for church service on Sunday at 9:30
plus viewers of the performers on stage throughout 
the festival

One never knows what one might see in Marathon. Just by happenchance Clark got to observe a parade of "Wounded Warriors" traveling from Key Largo to Key West. The line of participants went on  and one.

Wounded Warrior truck in the lead

Too many participants to capture them all in the picture!

11 January 2025 - Saturday at the Celtic Festival

A benefit of being a volunteer is free entry to the event. Clark and I received our workers' t-shirts and wrist bands for admittance to the park. With a brief rainstorm predicted for Saturday at noon, we decided to go over after the rain and the cold front had come through. At quarter past 12:00, the skies darkened as the cold front approached. 

First appearance of dark clouds

Five minutes later, the clouds had covered the area, and the deck in the cockpit was starting to get wet. As the wind picked up, I worried about all the tents on the field hoping that the ropes tied to the buckets-of-water anchors around the tents would hold everything in place as the blow passed over.

Clouds moving in and settling

Complete cloud cover

We had bright sunshine and warm temperatures before the front came in followed by a brisk chill in the air as it passed through. Knowing what to wear in the Keys is a definite problem. On Friday I had on long pants and a jacket while others, by the pool, were more-reasonably dressed in bathing suits and shorts. The wind on the docks frequently fools us into believing we need warmer clothing than necessary.

By 12:45, the front had passed over. Had I wanted to, I could have counted the number of raindrops that could be seen on the cockpit deck. A little after 1:00 we walked over to the park. Half way there, it started to rain again. We got a little damp from the quickly passing shower. 

I mentioned to Clark that we needed a picture of the Castle Walls he built, so we went to Gate 1 for a photo opp.

Clark's Castle  (wall)

The events were in full swing when we arrived. We decided to wander the vendor stalls as our first order of business. The people reflected the change in the weather. We saw folks shivering in sleeveless shirts, and others, who had become creative, wrapped in whatever they could find to keep warm.

As this is a Celtic Festival, we admired the attire of the vendors and visitors alike.

This man walked around introducing his live owl 
to all the attendees on both days.

This shirt - too ugly to pass up on 
taking a picture

Scottish Gentleman

Food vendors sold beer, kettle corn, and a multitude of Celtic-styled cuisine such as haggis and shepherd's pie. Some of the stalls had brochures on such things as animals in need of adoption at the local shelter, and skin cancer awareness. The dolphin research center had a stall as did the Turtle Hospital who had brought a recovering turtle with them to display. 

Souvenirs of all sorts could be bought from works of art to garlic pickles and a myriad of things in between. 

I just had to point out this opportunity to Clark. A friend of ours, Allie, brought a bunch of coconuts to the boat, and we painted them for free! $25 to paint a coconut felt outrageous, but we saw folks partaking of the offer.

The festival presented opportunities for the children including a petting zoo, bouncy houses, and games.

The Children's Glen

Flamingo Ring Toss game

Jenga

Petting zoo for toddlers

Petting Zoo for older children

A variety of live animals penned together

I saw a man sitting in a tent by himself and wondered what was what until I saw the rest of the bivouac area that had been set up on display.

Staffed in period costume --
Hospital tent, sleeping quarters, and mess tent

The festival offers a Tea Party and at 3:00 on Saturday (special tickets required) visitors can have lunch with the Queen of Scots. 

Queen of Scots 
at the Tea Tent

The festival offered two full days of entertainment with lively bands including Screaming Orphans, Albannach, and Jamison. Each group performed three times during the festival. 

Screaming Orphans video

The Drake Irish Dancers kicked up their heels on stage. 

Several times the Police Pipe and Drum of Florida made their way to the stage. 

Young boy enjoying the music of the
Screaming Orphans

During one of the performances, we caught Pastor Deb up on stage singing into the microphone. Afterwards, she gave a blessing and a prayer for the festival.

Pastor Deb having a good time

Albannach is a Scottish band and includes bagpipes and a digeridoo.  Nancy told me that the player of this instrument never breaths in through his mouth. Air in through nose and out into instrument is all he does.

DigeriDrew on the Digeridoo

Albannach Band

The lively energy from this band and the great sound they produced made this performance very enjoyable and very difficult not to get hands clapping and feet stomping along with the songs.

Police Pipe and Drum
preparing to perform

Police Pipe and Drum performing

The group called "Jamison" participated in the festival for the first time this year. They came all the way here from Philadelphia to participate in the show. They asked if people though it was cold today. Everyone answered "Yes!" Then he said that it was 28 degrees in Philadelphia when they left, and they were happy to be in Marathon.

All of the groups had merchandise for sale.

The festival had a good turnout of attendees on both days. Measured in beer kegs, the show did better this year than last. 22 kegs kicked in 2024. 23 kegs kicked this year!

Some of the crowd listening
to the performers on stage

Throughout Saturday, "Ladies of the Keys Highland Athletics" athletes displayed their strength during a variety of competitions. Tossing poles the length of telephone poles took tremendous strength. The women's version was skinnier than the ones I have seen men throw. Still it is unbelievable that they can lift and throw them any distance at all. They also had various heavy objects that were thrown, and the distances achieved measured out with a tape.

When the athletes were between competitions, the dogs came out to show us how to herd goats.

The shepherd worked with two dogs (brothers) simultaneously. By the tone of his whistle, the dogs knew who was to lay down and who was supposed to herd. He directed them in both direction and speed just by blowing the whistle. Amazing to watch!

Knowing we would be back on Sunday, I managed to coax Clark into leaving so we could go find some dinner. On the way back to the boat, we got to see the sunset.

Sun setting over the lobster traps

Sun setting at Marlin Bay Marina

12 January 2025 - Sunday at the Festival

St. Columba, who hosts the festival, holds a contemporary church service in the park on the Sunday of the festival.  The service started at 9:30, and since Clark was part of the band for the service, he had to be at the park at 8:30 this morning. I stayed in bed until the last possible minute and then walked over just before the service began. 

At the beginning, we had a few minutes of bright sunlight but then the sun hid behind the clouds. I had on 4 layers of clothes and was happy for all 4 layers. The pastor made a joke about us all shivering in our boots when it was almost 70 degrees out. There is something about that north wind that makes even the 60s feel chilly.

Pastor Debra and visiting pastor

Clark, John, and the rest of the band
getting ready to play

The service was lovely, as usual, with a good sermon and nice familiar tunes like "Morning has Broken". 

We checked the festival program and the weather for the remainder of the day and decided that we would go back to the boat to put away guitars, etc. and then head over to the park again around 1:20 in time to get there before my assigned duties began at the Pub Tent. 

The plan for me to tally up the bill and take payment for food changed in a hurry. When faced with a hoard of waiting customers, my heart raced and I just could not do it. The prices were unknown to me. The procedures were unknown to me. The pressure overwhelmed me. Thank goodness a talented young man stepped in to take the orders and tally the bill. I helped take money, ran the credit card swipe, and was the runner to get the food. It all worked out well in the end. All I can say is, "Thank God for Jacob!" He was not even scheduled to work. He just showed up and said he would like to help.

Very happy to have Jacob with me at 
Nessie's Pub

I had a good view of the stage, and when not busy, could enjoy the performances. Several folks I know came by to buy something or just to say hello. I saw folks I know from the marinas here, from the church, and from art class. Sometimes it gets confusing to remember names and how I know them.

The Pub sold wine, soda, water, pretzels (with cheese optional), hot dogs (chili and cheese optional), and cinnamon rolls. White wine seemed particularly popular. The wine bottles were ridiculously hard to open. Thank goodness there was a man working with me that could do the job of opening the bottles for me. 

At 4:30 someone on stage announced "last call for beer". We had a few stragglers after that and then it was time to get to work at 5:00 closing down the tent. Everything we had assembled on Thursday had to be torn down now that the festival was over. I helped with the Pub tent for a while doing what I could. Since there were four others doing that job, I left after a while to go find Clark. I knew he had the hard job of tearing down the "castle" walls that he built on Thursday. That was definitely not a one person job.

I knew where Clark would be and as soon as he saw me he said, "I could use some help over here!"  He was busy removing all the screws that had been used to cover the wooden beams with the canvas and then connect the frames to each other. Someone showed up to collect the wooden frame for storage and helped us get the canvas off the frames so he could cart them away. 

Thank goodness Clark had thought to bring a headlamp or we would have been working in the dark. Still it took a good long time to complete Gate 1 and then we had to walk over and disassemble the wall at Gate 2. When we finally finished that task, we were asked to take down some banners attached to the fence. 

By the time we walked back to our boat, it was full dark, and my legs were beyond tired. I was never so happy to climb onboard the boat. I managed to heat up a frozen pizza for dinner and then relaxed with a novel. I finally managed to finish the 630-page book loaned to me "Winds from the Carolinas" (a family saga). While I did that, Clark watched two related movies that held no interest for me whatsoever. 

When I finally climbed into bed, I turned down the volume on my phone happy that I did not have any alarms set to go off in the morning.

13 January 2025

Clark and I both slept in. I stayed on the boat all day as I had no energy to even walk around the marina. It  felt good to do basically nothing.  In the afternoon Clark went out and found folks by the pool, so he decided to go for a swim. He had a message for me from other boaters to come to the pool. I declined. 

We were too busy tearing down castle walls yesterday to see the sunset. Clark captured pictures of the setting sun this evening.