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.