No boat travel.
Busy, working friends of ours, that date back to our early days as Mainship owners, Dave and Michele, traveled to Key West for a weekend getaway.
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| Dave and Michele, "Uptick" |
On their way back to the airport, to return home to chilly New York state, they stopped by our boat for a quick visit. We enjoyed a very talkative lunch at the marina restaurant. Our visit was way too short as they needed to catch their flight!
While in Key West, Dave went deep sea fishing, had a wonderful time, and caught some great fish. Over lunch we discussed his boating trip to catch the fish in rough seas! Their captain was the only one willing to go out that day, and he warned Dave and his buddy that it would be a wild ride. Regardless of the high waves, the trip was successful, and Michele told us, "Dave came back with a big grin on his face, so I knew he had done well!"
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| Dolphinfish #1 |
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| Dolphinfish #2 |
Dave gave us a gift of some of that fresh-caught dolphinfish (what the restaurants call mahi-mahi), which I cooked up fresh for dinner. Having never prepared this before, I got expert advice from my boating neighbor, Sandy, on the best way to cook it. Later, Clark asked me if I Googled it to get a recipe. I said, "No! I did better than that. I asked Sandy!" The food was delicious - maybe the best I ever had!
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| Coat with flour |
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| Sautee; Remove immediately when a fork goes through without resistance |
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| Enjoy! |
21 January 2020 -- Key Colony Farmer's Market
No boat travel.
Besides the usual trip to the Marathon Farmer's Market across from Publix, the last couple of weeks my friend Beverly has driven a couple of us lucky ones to the more elaborate Key Colony farmer's market. Besides a vegetable / fruit stand, the market has vendors of crafts, cheeses, dog treats, and international cuisine. On each of the three times I have visited, I have not come away empty-handed once.
Like the rest of the east coast, we are having a cold spell here in Florida. I am grateful that our low temperature in the Keys is only in the 50s. The continuous north wind, however, makes it feel a lot colder. Given the cooler temperature, it seemed like the perfect day to take a walk out to the 7-mile bridge. It is a little under 3 miles round trip. I wander in circles around the marina at the beginning and end of the walk to get in the full 3-mile distance to keep my phone app happy that I completed the full goal!
Having gotten my exercise for the day, I decided to spend the afternoon painting. I worked on two different pictures simultaneously.
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| Queen Conch on Beach |
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| "Fred" on the old 7-mile bridge |
22 January 2020 -- Painting Class and MTOA Happy Hour
No boat travel.
Since I enjoy the acrylic painting so much, I offered to hold a demo session here at the marina to show people my technique that I learned from a very skilled artist at classes taken at Michael's in Middletown, NJ. It took several weeks to get agreement on a date for when I could use a room here for the session, but finally, the day came when I could demo my artistic style.
From the time I advertised the session to the time the class began, I had so many yes replies that turned to no, I had no idea how many people would attend. I went from 12 definite to a room of 4 by the time the session actually occurred.
Lynn on the boat "Fins" came by early to assist with set up. It helped a lot as we had to move tables and set out the supplies. I had allocated 3 hours and worried it would not be sufficient time to complete the artwork. However, after only an hour and a half, we were basically done and cleaning up. Overall, it went well, and I have had requests to offer a second session.
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| Display of pictures I have done |
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| Starting the sky portion ... |
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| Adding trunk of palm tree ... |
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| Ann and Angela working ... |
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| Faith and Lynn in progress ... |
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| Lynn's Masterpiece |
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| Angela's beautiful work |
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| Ann's Great Picture |
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| Faith should be teaching the class! |
Since the session ended much earlier than expected, I was still itching to do some painting. While I worked on my art, Clark decided to walk to the Marathon City Marina to attend an MTOA Happy Hour gathering. While they all huddled around in the chilly air, I was warm and happy painting on board our boat.
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| MTOA Happy Hour gathering huddled together at Marathon City Marina |
Wow, looks like you had a busy few days. Dave's fish looks amazing, and I see it tasted great too.
ReplyDeleteNice to see Faith with her masterpiece, awesome job Evelyn with planning the painting class. Annika would have loved to participate, she has her own collection which I bet she would love to show to you.
Looks like way too much fun at the MTOA happy hour (not jealous).
Thanks for the updates Evelyn. Greetings Clark.
Regards, Vik.