2025 March: The Kennedys Perform at the Library

 3 March 2025

Even though Clark just performed at church yesterday, he had to run off to the church to practice today in preparation for next Sunday's service. Since he would be gone, I (Ev) decided it was a good time to update the blog. 

Later, with nothing else on the calendar, Clark spent some time with guys at the marina talking about batteries and such. Ev took the afternoon to draw some pictures in preparation for art class Tuesday morning. The instructor tends to focus on watercolor which is not my favorite. I planned to do acrylic painting instead and, given the class is only 2 hours including setup and cleanup, wanted to have a picture ready to work on. I opted to do a simple palm tree scene.

Walking through the marina today, I spied some iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks.

2 Sunbathing Iguanas

4 March 2025

While the art instructor worked with the class on layering to obtain color variants in watercolor, I happily worked on my acrylic picture focused on completing the work within the allocated time.

Palm Trees in Acrylic

I completed the picture and got some homework from the class as my friend Pat brought in her recipe for the zucchini bread that I enjoy so much. Now I have to pick up some ingredients at the store to give it a try.

When I returned to the boat, I found Clark taking care of business and emails on the computer and preparing to go out for the afternoon. Even though they had practice yesterday, band practice was scheduled again for this afternoon. John, who sings with the band, was living in a house nearby but recently moved to a new apartment. Since Clark was interested to see the vacated property, John picked us up to give us a quick tour of the grounds before practice. Clark took his guitar with him so he wouldn't need to come back to the boat after the tour.

View of rear of house from Gulf side

View of the front yard / driveway into the property

I wandered around and grabbed some pictures of the art displayed on the property.

Hanging on the outside walls of the house ...

Located in the gardens around the property ...

Besides the flowering bushes scattered around the property, there were two interesting plants in the yard.

Cactus

Plant hanging from tree in yard

I had gone along for the tour but had no plans to attend the band practice, so John dropped me off at the entrance to Marlin Bay before heading to the church with Clark for practice. 

When I walked back to the boat, I was unhappy to see that high tide had washed a pile of sea grass that had collected on the rocks into the area around our boat. I grabbed a boat hook and spent a couple of hours pushing the grass on its way across the marina. The area around our boat looked a lot better when I was done, and some poor boater on the opposite side of the marina had a huge crop of sea grass to deal with. When the wind changes direction, the grass will find a new home once again. Meanwhile, I got to exercise my upper body muscles!

Today, Clark worked on changing zincs in the engine room. The first one he removed broke off from the plug when he tried to remove the zinc from it. After a long time, the zinc was not going to budge, so he put the plug back in and placed an order for new zincs. Since it is tax season, when he's not doing band or boat chores, I find him on the computer doing electronic paperwork.

After dinner tonight, I made Clark the applesauce cake he enjoys as a snack before bed.

5 March 2025

We had the grand opening of the "laundry room" a couple of days ago, and I tried out the equipment on Sunday with sheets and towels. This morning I had a scheduled time slot to do a load of clothes. Everything went smoothly. The washroom area is positioned at the Captain's Lounge which provided a nice hideaway from today's humidity while waiting for the wash / dry to complete. 

We went directly from laundry to a bike ride for food shopping at Publix as we needed bread to make sandwiches for lunch. A walk past the pool showed us where we should, instead, be spending the day. 

Boating friends at the Boaters' end of the pool

After lunch, we had the afternoon to do whatever struck our fancies. First, though, I asked Clark to take out the garbage.  I gave him the recycle garbage can to empty instead of sending him with a garbage bag. Given that, I thought he would be right back. After 30 minutes, I got curious and decided to go in search of my garbage can (not Clark necessarily)! 

I found the garbage can lying on the dock next to Mike's fishing boat, which happens to be docked near where the garbage receptacles are situated. As I retrieved my garbage can, I heard Clark's voice coming from the stern of the boat.  Surprise, surprise, Mike had battery questions, so Clark had gotten involved with answering them.

Clark worked with Mike to help him install a battery monitor. Mike has a trolling motor for his fishing boat and needed the monitor to keep track of the remaining battery power for the trolling motor. Clark happily helped him with the wiring plan and determining parts needed to complete the job. 

Meanwhile, I decided to do more acrylic painting. I found a picture of apples on the internet and decided to try my hand at reproducing the picture. I tried a couple of days ago with colored pencils and was less than enthusiastic with the results. I felt better about the acrylic version.

As April 1st approaches, we have to think about leaving paradise. Consequently, Clark spent time today on boat chores to prepare for the trip back north. This included cleaning the sea grass out of the strainers and cleaning the sump strainer. The A/C strainer was the worst with a full basket of sea grass. With those jobs out of the way, he checked one of the engine zincs that he didn't get to the prior day. That zinc looked new. 

This evening I noticed the color of the sky as the sun was setting, so I grabbed my camera and quickly ran to the bow of the boat to capture the scene.

6 March 2025

A couple of days ago I (Ev) decided that I am tired of the NYT puzzles. Instead of fun I am finding them annoying, so I figured that after almost 3 years of playing, it was time to give it a rest. I had to do one more Wordle to see my overall stats as I knew of no other way of accessing the data.

So, instead of Strands, Wordle, and the Mini Crossword, I do the AARP daily Codeword puzzle to get my daily word puzzle "fix". I am still intrigued by the "Spelling Bee" game however. Usually I play until I hit "Amazing" then look to see how many points to "Genius". If less than 15 points, I continue looking for words; if more, I stop playing.

Where yesterday was sticky with humidity, today we returned to Florida's version of the Artic. With a northwest wind, I find getting off the boat not to be worth the challenge, so I did not even try. Instead, I spent most of the day reading. Clark claims I took a nap on the sofa this afternoon. I will have to take his word for it! I know I laid down for a few minutes with my eyes closed, but ...

Earlier today, Clark disappeared to have an in-depth discussion with another boater here, Trevor, on lithium batteries. Trevor is very knowledgeable on this subject, and for once, Clark was picking his brain for information. Fortunately, they finished their chat in time for Clark to be back on the boat in time for this morning's pumpout of our holding tank. I did not want that job.

I learned yesterday that the person that does the jewelry-making sessions scheduled one for this afternoon. She showed me the planned project that entailed bending wire to shape and adding beads, shells, or stones for color. Although pretty, the proposed result is not something I would wear, so I decided to pass this time and save my $$ for another day. 

Additional jewelry sessions will be held each Thursday this month, so maybe a later session will be more to my taste. Next week is proposed to be making a charm bracelet.

Late this afternoon, Clark got me off the boat, and we walked to the library to hear one of the band concerts offered there. Unfortunately, this month there is only one scheduled. We went to hear "The Kennedy's". We enjoyed the show very much, which was introduced as being "Jangle Pop".  

"The Kennedys" - Maura and Pete

The husband and wife team played one song after the other with barely taking a breath in between songs. After the first six songs one of the strings broke on Maura's Gibson guitar. Her husband very quickly stepped up and played a lovely solo on his electric guitar that I immediately recognized - "Alfie".  I later learned from Maura that she had never heard him play that song during a concert before!

I was amazed at how quickly she removed the broken string and got the new string in place. She said it was the first time in at least 5 years that a string broke during a performance.

Maura Kennedy replacing her guitar string

After the repair, the duo played an additional 7 songs. The energy of the performance was "off the charts". 

After the show, Clark and I talked to Maura and checked out the items on sale at the show.

CDs, Books, and T-shirts on Sale 

Two of the books on sale, written by Pete Kennedy, are of a mystery / thriller type genre. (A third book in this series will be released soon.) The other book he has written is shown below on the subject of his experiences with guitars.

I found all three books available for my Kindle via Amazon.  Instead, we bought the two CDs offered for sale. 

Prior to going to the library, I requested a trip to "Upper Crust" for pizza for dinner tonight. Clark agreed. We chose this spot due to its proximity to the library and marina.

Inside "Upper Crust Pizza"

Chicken, Green Peppers, and Sliced Tomatoes

Homemade Peach Cobbler was on the restaurant's dessert menu tonight, but we had to pass as we had not a bit of space left after finishing the pizza.

The weather had been chilly earlier today, but it was downright cold after the sun set. Clark always walks quickly, but he was pushing my limits in his desire to get back to the boat asap. The sections of the walk where we had to walk directly into the north wind were particularly brutal given the way we were dressed - shorts and lightweight jackets.

We got back to the boat just before CBS's Thursday night lineup of entertainment and spent the rest of the night "glued to the tube".

Sadly, we learned today that the drummer for the church band broke his arm. He won't be playing for a while. Consequently, yet another practice is scheduled for tomorrow with a different drummer.

2025 March: Haitian Dinner at Church

 28 February 2025

I, Ev, woke up this morning with vertigo. Lying on my back everything was normal, but as soon as I rolled to one side or the other the room started to spin out of control. Later, someone asked what me had to say about the experience, and I said, "Stop the ride! I want to get off!" It was a miserable experience that left me woozy for the rest of the day. 

I had a one-on-one photography session scheduled at the library this afternoon, but I dared not walk there on my own. I decided I better cancel. Luckily, weekly photography classes are being offered for the month of March in lieu of the sewing classes that have been in place since we arrived in December. I hope to see some familiar faces at these sessions. 

At 3:30 I had a tough decision to make - go or no go to the free concert at the library. I decided to make the effort as I would have Clark to hold on to on the walk there should the need arise. We walked into the library "concert hall" shortly after 4:00, and the duo was already performing. The tune was a lively one we both knew, and we walked in singing. The husband of the duo commented how much he appreciated the audience coming in singing to the music. 

Veronneau is a pair of traveling musicians. They perform one of two different shows - either a mix of Carole King and Joni Mitchell or one of their French songs. They opted to do the King / Mitchell version for us but ended their show with "La Mer" sung in French. They followed that with a second encore -- the Brazilian song "Girl from Ipanema". King songs they sang included "So Far Away" and "Natural Woman". Mitchell songs included "Carey", "California", "River", and "Case of You". They did one song from the Who as well as the King / James Taylor song "You've got a Friend".

Lynn, the singer, is from Montreal, Canada and French is her first language. She whistled part of one song. I have never heard anyone carry a tune so well while whistling! Ken is an excellent guitarist. He, like Clark, has a carbon fiber acoustic guitar, which of course fascinated Clark. Interestingly, the guitar can be collapsed to fit into a carry-on sized bag!

"Veronneau"

Lynn Veronneau

Ken Avis

Having enjoyed our musical outing, our next scheduled event of the day was a Haitian Dinner prepared and served at the St. Columba Church that we attend every Sunday. We have met the Haitian couple, Wenise and Joseph, who hosted the dinner at church. They are wonderful people who have turned their retirement home in Haiti into an orphanage. Children appear from out of nowhere with no adults and are taken in to be fed, clothed, and educated. 

In an effort to raise money to help Wenise and Joseph, the church offered to put on the Haitian Dinner event. For $20, the food consisted of deviled eggs as an appetizer, followed by black rice, baked chicken, fried plantain, cole slaw, and a delicious cake for dessert. The church kitchen, which had not been used to cook a full meal since 2017 after Hurricane Irma, functioned well with many hands helping Chef Wenise to prepare and cook the meal although Pastor Deb said she failed at her job of cutting up radishes. The radishes were included in the coleslaw to give it a bit of a zip!

Besides the food, we also got to enjoy a display of Haitian art. These items were not for sale. They came from a private collection just for this event.

Similar to French, but not the same

Paintings of Life in Haiti ...

Metal art ...

As part of this event, three folks from the Marathon steel band group played music in the background. Mary, on the right in the picture, attends St. Columba church.

As this was the first time with this fund raiser, Pastor Deb was concerned with how it would go and how many people would attend. She decided that if 20 people attended, she would declare it a success. Over 60 people attended the event. Tip jars were left in conspicuous places, and folks generously dropped $$ in the jars. Needless to say, it was definitely a success!

Wenise and Joseph have not been to see their "retirement home" in over 5 years as it has been impossible to travel to Haiti given the unrest in that country. Fortunately, they have family there that take care of the house and all the children.

Pastor Deb

Wenise thanking the crowd

Pastor Deb, Wenise, and Joseph

We are fortunate to have friends who attended. They picked us up at the library after music concert and drove us home after the dinner. That was extremely helpful since Ev was still not totally secure on her feet given the morning Vertigo experience.

1 March 2025

Ev woke up this morning with all signs of vertigo gone as if it had never happened. Hopefully, it will not recur! 

The marina had a surprise for the boating tenants that they unveiled today. Over the past few weeks they have been diligently working on installing a laundry facility for us. Every time someone looked into it in the past, they came back with "it's too expensive" or "someday we will put up a building". 

This year however, the person in charge of maintaining the property "took the bull by the horns" and decided to come up with a solution. He found an unlikely space, in a closet, where he could install a stacked washer / dryer combo. The staff held a grand opening of the washroom today at the boater's lounge. Clark and I wished to attend this event, which was scheduled for 1:00 in the afternoon, so we hung out at the marina until time for the big reveal.

Clark disappeared for a while to work with Steve on "Journey" to order parts for his boat. When he returned he just had enough time to eat lunch before going to the "grand opening" of the laundry facility. Had we known this even included lunch, we could have skipped eating beforehand.

The staff put on a nice display of food intermixed with laundry products. Boxes of Tide and Bounce decorated the table along with an array of Tide Pods. April came up with a way to provide mixed drinks that resembled the contents of a Tide Pod. Since we don't normally drink alcohol, we were not tempted to try the unusual concoctions.

"Tide Pod" Shots!?

Turnout at the event was far less than spectacular. The weather offered the perfect opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors.  Many of the boaters at Marlin Bay decided to take off in their dinghies to go hang out on "the sandbar". Fortunately, one of the boaters thought to tell the staff of the boating event, so they would know the reason for such a poor turnout at their big announcement.

One washer and one dryer for the whole marina may not sound like much, but it is a big deal to those of us that have been dragging their laundry a mile down Route 1 in backpacks! 

The space used for the laundry "room" is indeed a storage closet on the outside of the Marina Office building. Meaning we are doing our laundry outdoors. It is definitely an "out-of-the-box" solution, but it works. Unlike most marinas, Marlin Bay decided to offer the use of the machines at no per-use charge - no tokens, no quarters, no $$ cards!

So far all we have is the washer/dryer combo and a single rolling chair. At the "grand opening", those of us who attended gave feedback on what needs to come next. First on my list was a garbage can, so we have somewhere to dispose of the lint from the dryer. Next on the list was a drop-down table where we can fold the laundry. I also requested shelving in the closet so we have a place to set things down that is not the floor. 

As we walked back to the boat, we passed by fellow boaters carrying their laundry and proud to be the first to use the machines! A sign-up process has been set up to avoid conflicts related to using the machines.

Clark recently reinstalled his refurbished depth finder on the dinghy. The display had gone black with age.  With a repaired display in place, he wanted to take the boat for a run to check it out. Having heard about the trip to the sandbar from "Moonglade", he decided to check out the sandbar and the depth finder at the same time. 

It near 2:00 when we got underway, and we weren't sure how long our friends would stay at the sandbar. We traveled east to Vaca Cut and then out into the Atlantic Ocean seeking our friends. Searching where he thought he would find them, Clark saw nothing that looked like boats at a sandbar. He motored around for a while and then tried calling Roger to ask where they were. It took a few attempts but finally he got some instruction from Roger. We were in the wrong place and had to travel further east beyond Curry Hammock State Park! 

Sometime after 3:00 we finally spied them waving their hands while standing on the sandbar. I thought only a couple of boaters went out for the day. We found most of the marina frolicking on the beach - at least most of the crowd we are friends with. They had food, drinks, chairs, and even a game of bocce ball going on. 

We tied our dinghy onto Moonglade's dinghy, so we did not have to assemble our anchor. Roger, Barbara, and their dog Reva came out to greet us.

Roger on left
Barbara, Ev, and dog Reva on right

The assembled Marlin Bay crown

Barbara, Ev, and Melissa
watching the game
(Clark photographer)

Robin and Lou (on left of picture)
playing the game

End or round - checking results

When the group arrived around noon today, they said the "island" was very small. As the tide went out, it grew and grew!

We enjoyed the outing to the sandbar. When folks said it was time to call it a day (around 4:00), Clark and I made a quick escape. It was easy to just untie from Moonglade's dinghy and get going. We have an oversized outboard on our dinghy (left over from previous owner), and we made it back to Sunset Delight in about an hour. We had our boat reinstalled on the big boat before others got back to the marina. 

A couple of folks commented on how fast we got back. The water on the trip back was what Clark calls "sporty". We pounded over a few waves made by other boaters. I had to ask Clark to slow down because the pounding was giving me a headache. He grumbled that if he took the boat off plane we would never arrive. He did, however, slow down some. Unfortunately, my headache was already well established by that time!

2 March 2025

Today, being Sunday, we biked to church where Clark and the band once again played for the service. Normally, we stay to be sociable after church, but today they had a special event they called "Bagpipes and Bloody Marys". The bagpipes were played at the 9:00 service, so we missed that part. Neither of us drink Bloody Marys, so we had no interest in that part. 

Clark suggested we stay to be sociable. I suggested we get while the getting was good as they had a speaker that would be talking about the church and estate planning. There would be no socializing going on. We jumped on our bikes and made our exit!

I had planned on waiting until Wednesday to check out the new laundry facility. Then I decided this morning that I wanted to try it today with sheets and towels. I requested the 3:30 timeslot. I got up there a little after 3:00, and since no one was using the machines, I got going. As per usual, the machines, being designed for homeowners (not a marina), have a multitude of settings for what is being washed and how. It took a bit playing with the machines to decide how to set them for what I wanted. 

Overall, I took longer than the 90 minutes allocated for my timeslot. I guess I will need to be more efficient in the future. I had carried my laundry up in a bag. I went back to the boat to get my Dolly Trolly so I could wheel it back - much better. The marina sent out a notice that had a movie playing at the bar, so I dumped my clean sheets on the bed and walked with Clark up to the bar to checkout the movie. 

It turned out the be the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which we have on the boat and have watched just recently. We could see the picture, but with the talking at the bar, hearing the movie was nearly impossible. By going up to the bar, however, we were able to reconnect with our friends, Marcy and Jeff, who returned to the marina yesterday after being away for the past 6 weeks. 

After chatting for a while, we walked back to the boat for dinner and a night of watching television.