1 January 2024
no boat travel
Although we knew Faro Blanco would have a big bash at the marina to watch the anchor drop, we opted to avoid the crowd and chaos in exchange for a relaxing evening on the boat. We stayed up so late, we got to see the new year in twice - once with the NYC ball drop and then again in Tennessee with the 8th note that dropped to announce its arrival. Apparently, we were not the only ones up late as we got text messages from our sons' heralding in the new year.
Clark stepped outside to snag a picture in the wee hours of the morning.
 |
| Fireworks at Faro Blanco at midnight |
We slept in later than usual, and instead of breakfast, we ate brunch. I got a nice long chat in with my sister while Clark went off to practice guitar. Since he decided to play at the church on Sunday's, he gets homework of songs to practice ahead of time.
Talking to one of the other "band" members after church services yesterday, we learned that he is a paid performer at Docksides Restaurant on Monday afternoons from 3:00 until 6:00. He invited us to come listen. We went!
 |
| Decorated wall at Dockside Restaurant |
The performer's stage name is "Johnny Live". He told us that he was performing somewhere in the past where the marquee read "Johnny Live Entertainment". Some women who had come to listen asked if he was "Johnny Live". He tried to explain to them that he was "Johnny" and he was the "Live Entertainment". They said, "Oh well, we'll just call you 'Johnny Live' anyway. We like that name!" and so it stuck with him from then on. He says it fits well on a business card.
We decided to ride our bikes there to hear him sing. As soon as he started playing, I knew I would enjoy the show as his first three songs were country music. He then branched into other popular songs. Clark was surprised I knew the words to the country songs. He knew the others that were performed after that.
 |
| "Johnny Live" performing at Docksides |
The place was pretty empty perhaps because it was Monday afternoon early in the season.
When we arrived, we mostly had our choice of seats as long as we did not mind sitting in an area not protected from the chilly wind. The protected area was more populated. We sat at a table near the back and soon found it too cold to be enjoyable. We moved then to a picnic table which proved uncomfortably hard and smelly due to a nearby smoker. We shifted to the other end of the picnic table to get away from the smoke. Anyone watching us would assume Goldilocks was a relative of ours as we searched for the perfect place.
Finally, earlier patrons (including the one smoking) decided to leave. As soon as they left we made one last move and grabbed their table - behind the plastic shield keeping most of the chill out of the seating area. Even so, we wore jackets to protect us from the cold breeze coming off the water.
After a while, a little old lady shuffled up to the table next to us. She had a dog with her. Every time Johnny stopped singing, the dog would bark like crazy. As long as Johnny sang, he was quiet! He became part of the show as Johnny yelled comments out to the crowd about the dog critic.
 |
| Music lover? Music critic? |
We left sometime after 5:00 so we could ride our bikes back to the boat when we still had natural light to see where we were going. Even so I had my bike lights flashing. Route 1 can be quite a scary trip. Traffic in the keys increased significantly once the calendar showed January at the top.
2 January 2024
no boat travel
Art class at the library starts at 9:30, so we were up and I was out on my way shortly after 9:00 to get a spot at the table. The art-related classes (not so much photography) fill up quickly. With January arriving the instructor has now implemented a sign-up process. Each week we will need to pre-register for a session. In December we just had to show up.
This week and next, Maria the coach, is telling us about Chinese brushes and how there are used to create Chinese characters and pictures. She handed out rice paper, Chinese brushes, and water color paints. Having never worked with Chinese brushes or water color on rice paper, it was a very new experience. I am afraid I do not have much in the way of skill, but I did produce a picture from the effort.
We were told by other boaters here that the marina planned on 15 boats coming in on 1st January. We did see some boats come in. I have no idea if it was 15 or not. One interesting boat did arrive and docked next to us. It is the same make and model as our own. We are hull #8, and they are hull #11 making them very similar in design.
The boat's name is "Dreamer". They are traveling the loop with their 14 year old Westie and have a Facebook page Sully does the Loop. I wondered if the marina folks were doing us a favor by placing our "twin" next to us. Clearly, Clark and the owner Scott have a lot they can talk about, and as it turns out, that is what they did.
After my art session, someone with a car (Pat), whom I met there at an earlier art session, took me to Publix to fill up on heavy things. Since everything we bring back is normally carried in our backpacks, being able to buy pounds of meat and canned goods without carrying them on our backs is a real boon. When I called Clark from Publix to let him know I would need him to meet me at the gate, I interrupted his talk with Scott about the boats.
As soon as I got back, I fed Clark in a hurry. Then, he was off to guitar practice at the church. It arrived a day late to be useful last week, but I got him a soft-sided guitar case that has straps like a backpack that he can use on the bike. We were both skeptical when we unwrapped it that it would be large enough for the guitar. It fits perfectly, like a second skin, and has a pouch on the front to carry his music. It turned out better than I expected as I was unsure of what I was buying. It cost a whopping great $23, so I pushed the "Buy Now" button and hoped for the best.
3 January 2024
no boat travel
Later Clark told me I was missing the show as he ran out to take pictures of the sunset.
Today, while Clark polished the fiberglass exterior of the boat, I scrubbed and vacuumed the inside. Clark worked at it most of the day. He took a break when Scott and Sully came over from next door to visit. Since our boat is so similar to his, Sully made himself right at home.
 |
| "Yo Sully!" "Who me?" |
 |
| "Hey! I'm sleeping here!" |
After Scott and Sully left, we had a short, surprise visit from our friend Kevin from "Koastal Karma". He came to get us as he and friends were sipping cocktails on the dock. He said we must hurry to join them as they planned to go to an early dinner and would not be there if we dilly dallied.
We had a very late lunch due to our morning cleaning activities, so an early dinner did not match our schedule. Although we joined them at the docks, we did not join them for dinner at the Lobster House. Next time!
4 January 2024
no boat travel
Today we crossed the street to the Marathon City park to help the folks from St. Columba Church setup the grounds for the Celtic Festival to be held this weekend. The church setup their stalls, posters, and ticket stands today. The vendors and such will arrive Friday to add their parts.
When we arrived, I noticed that the grounds were marked out with red paint showing the corners of the tent spaces to be used. Each one had numbers so vendors can identify their spots. Folks were already very busy when we arrived just after 10:00. We were told to come at 11:00 but came early and jumped right into work. On our way to the park to help, we passed Robin from the boat "Avalon" and told her we were going to help set up. She grabbed her husband, Del, and they came over and helped as well.
We had a few starts and stops with our endeavors. The pastor told us to hang signs around the area randomly. She said, "There is no wrong answer!" The event planner caught us in the act and told us to take the signs down as they were ill-placed. Fortunately, we had only hung two of them. We took them down and started over with new guidelines.
 |
| Clark and Polly hanging a very big sign over the bushes |
Even though Clark is nearly 6-foot tall and had a step ladder, he had a big stretch to connect the signs to the fencing. Besides taking some pictures, I did actually help with the signs.
 |
| One of the smaller signs |
The day's work involved a lot of physical activity, but we knew that when we signed up. We moved a lot of boxes and crates, hefted heavy tent poles out of the trucks, set up tables and chairs, and climbed over bushes to hang up signs for the big day.
Not knowing how long we would be there, we threw a couple of unadorned bagels into a backpack as a potential snack. Well, at least I thought it was a potential snack. Some time early afternoon Clark said, "Let's eat lunch." I wondered where he intended us to eat. When I asked, he said, "The bagels!" Just about that time, the pastor came by to say lunch was being brought in. I decided to wait to see my options.
The "catered" lunch turned out to be deep-fried, battered chicken patties on hamburger buns. Given the choices and the sparsity of provided food, I decided that bagels sounded delicious for lunch. I would leave the grease for someone else to consume. I peeked back a short while later, and all the chicken patties had been consumed.
Having been helping to set up in the sun for around 4 hours, I could see things were winding down. After lunch there were a lot less people milling about. Several times I suggested to Clark that we should leave as we had done enough. Each time he told me I could go, he would stay. Each time I opted to stay as well. I truly did not want to cross Route 1 on my own! Finally, at 3:00, we were told there was nothing more for us to do, and Clark agreed to leave. The setup team had completed their work in record time.
I took some pictures of the area as we worked today.
The picture below was on the side of one of the tents making it feel like Ireland!
Since the park is almost directly across the street from the marina, we decided to walk instead of bike there. Probably because of the event coming up, many of the gates into the park are padlocked shut. We had a devil of a time figuring out how to get in to help. When we left, we walked along the non-Route One side of the park to exit.
As we walked out, we could see folks playing bocce ball. Clark tried to tell me it was Canadian curling and proceeded to tell me how they do it with brooms on ice. Rolling my eyes I told him, "No it's bocce ball!" Seriously? Where's the ice? As we walked and debated, we failed to notice someone at the bocce ball court waving to get our attention.
Approaching the exit, we saw Robin waving us over to the bocce ball court. She said someone had been trying to get our attention. It turned out to be Monica and Rick whom we met while traveling the Great Loop in 2016. We stood and talked for ages. They are staying on their boat at Dockside. I told her that if we went to hear Johnny Live again, we would stop by to say hello.
We had been gone all day by the time we got back to the boat. Needless to say we were hungry (well at least I was) having only had cereal for breakfast and a bagel each for lunch. My first order of business when we got on board was to make dinner.
After that we watched the "Christmas movie" Diehard then called it a night.
5 January 2024
no boat travel
I had trouble deciding on "travel" plans today. The library offered photography at 11:00 and a resin jewelry session at 2:00. I wanted to attend both and had about one hour between the two sessions. I could ride my bike and return to the boat for lunch, or I could walk and bring my lunch with me. The weather decided me. As I contemplated my choices, it started to sprinkle rain. Walking it is!
The photography class is a bit slow-going these last two sessions. One woman has decided to join us who has an older camera she does not understand, and she is seriously technically challenged. Others in the class are expert photographers comparing shutter speeds with each other. Today's session was the first I ever attended where I was the only one using a phone as my photography equipment. I was caught between the too advanced and the not advanced enough.
Our assignment today, however, was to go outside and take shadow pictures. The sun played peek-a-boo behind the clouds, so we had to wait a number of times to get our shots.
The picture below is of me taking a picture of my shadow.
 |
| Shadows of bushes at the library |
There is no place that I could find outside the library to eat my lunch - no chairs, no picnic table, not even a decent step to sit on. I reserved one of the private rooms in the library, so I could read to pass the time until the resin session began at 2:00.
Even though I arrived at class before 2:00, the room for the resin jewelry session was abuzz with women grabbing materials to begin their projects. Since I had never done this before, I hoped for instruction. Very little instruction was necessary. 1) Grab a mold. 2) Pour in resin. 3) Heat under UV light until cooked / cured on both sides. I made heart-shaped earrings in red, a pair of violet-colored earrings, a diamond-shaped necklace, and a pretty funky bookmark.
The attendees aggressively used the resin such that when I tried to make the bookmark, many of the resin tubes I tried were empty. I used what I could grab, and it turned out abstract. No worries though as I only read on my Kindle and have no need of a bookmark!
The person sitting next to me, Linda, whom I will most-likely never see again, made a bookmark. Her project started out okay but did not end so well. She decided to make several small hearts, line them up in the bookmark mold, and pour clear acrylic over them to make the bookmark. So far so good.
Unfortunately, she then decided to sprinkle chunks of acrylic in the resin. After being cured by the UV light, the bookmark was lumpy and had sharp bits sticking out of it. She decided to add more clear resin and cure it again. The resin overflowed the edge so now the bookmark was not rectangular but more of a rounded object. She decided she would file it down when she got home to trim it into shape.
She asked me to put the ring and tassel on the bookmark for her while she washed her hands. As I did I discovered she had half-filled the hole with resin where the tassel should be added. No sharp tools were available to remake the hole. It was a lost cause. I told her to take it home and find a thin screw to drill out the hole again. Given her experience, I think I will stick with working on smaller objects again should I try it another day.
The second necklace shown below, with the purple heart, is made from a heart she gave me as a reject for her bookmark project. I quickly grabbed the pieces needed to turn it into another necklace for my set.
Meanwhile, back at the boat, Clark was busy all day compounding the boat. We planned to go to Faro Blanco for 5:00. When Clark quit working on the boat around 4 something, he was covered from top to bottom in compounding liquid splatter. He washed his face and asked how he looked. I pointed out that he better wash his knees and legs as well since they were also covered, and he hadn't looked that far down! I can only imagine how bad his work clothes look as I haven't yet seen them!
One year ago today, our friend Anne Cosgrove passed away after a battle with cancer. Her husband sold their boat and moved back to Alabama. He came to the Keys to be here today for a memorial service for Anne. The event started at the bar at Faro Blanco with a toast followed by heavy hors d'oeuvres on the docks. I saw folks I have not seen in a long while and got somewhat caught up on who's doing what. We left just before 7:00 and rode back on our bikes in the dark to our boat.
Clark took the pictures shown below. I am on the far side of the bar in my blue "cowboy" hat.
 |
| Mel |
 |
| The toast! |
 |
| Starting to set up for heavy hors d'oeuvres on the dock at Faro Blanco |
I had a piece of garlic bread and walnut brownies at the affair. Clark ate less than I did. When we got back to the boat, I prepared "Chicken Testaverde" for Clark, and I had a chicken Caesar salad. I had had dessert first and figured I better keep it simple for my dinner. Afterwards, although I was quite tired, we ended up watching two movies back-to-back and were up much later than we should have been given Saturday is Farmers Market day.
