Jennifer
01/23/2011, Palm Coast Marina Fl

Improvements

Pictured is the new 200ah alternator and brackets that will be connected to our new batteries. Our plan is to start to traveling soon and we want to be as self sufficient as possible. We both love the peacefulness of anchoring out and keeping within the budget. We attended an MTOA luncheon at the local yacht club yesterday. There were over 50 members in attendance and we got great information and inspiration about cruising the keys and the west side of Florida. We have been communicating with a couple who now reside in Panama after traveling there in their trawler (without stabilizers). So it revved up our confidence about future destinations and Close Knits abilities. On February 4th I am heading to Salem, South Carolina to spend 2 weeks with our friends Bob & Jane (Last Dance). They will be returning to their home after a road trip to south Florida to visit friends and will pick me up en route. Jane just celebrated her 70th birthday. So I'm giving her ME for 2 weeks. They have a gorgeous home on a lake and its almost heaven. It will be like attending a knitting retreat. I introduced Jane to knitting in Nov 09 When several boats were holed up in North Carolina to wait out a storm. Over needles and yarn much more than a scarf was created, A friendship was cast on. So we will enjoy 2 weeks of yarn, chat, tea and road trips to various yarn shops. We will exchange patterns and hopefully I can help Jane with any lingering questions. And dear Bob will act as man Friday indulging us as necessary. Al and Miss B will rent a car and pick me up staying a couple of days. Al and Bob can have trawler talk time. I'm looking forward to my get away.

I.C.W

Comments [2]

Jennifer- a warm, sunny day
01/20/2011, Palm Coast Marina Fl

Gardening

I'm growing sprouts again. Its easy to do and they are a super food. Shown here is my recent crop. So delicious on sandwiches and tossed in salads.

I.C.W

Comments [2]

Jennifer- a warm, sunny day
01/20/2011, Palm Coast Marina Fl

Fair Air Time

Radio broadcasting rules in Canada require a certain percent of music be by Canadian artists. In keeping with that philosophy, I'm trying to be mindful of giving a percentage of time to real boating "stuff". The picture is of the newly installed house battery bank. These are installed on a new platform on a newly painted bilge. Al has been doing a great clean up job below, this is creating more storage space (for yarn). Thanks to a post by Nelleke, Al has been inspired to really cull through his stuff/gadgets and really pare down what he needs to have on board. Yesterdays effort left a wee pile of offerings for free in front of the office. Its true, one man's junk, is another's treasure. Our Neighbor offloaded a few items from Al before he even made it to the gate. I like the posted photo because it shows off our engine in its bright redness, my favourite colour.

I.C.W

Comments [5]

Jennifer- a warm, sunny day
01/19/2011, Cocoa village , Florida

I just had to post our dessert. Almost too nice to eat, but we did. We think the design was made on thickened cream with edible (we hope) paint.

I.C.W

Comments [1]

Jennifer - It's finally warming up.
01/19/2011, Cocoa village

The four of us at lunch at Cafe Margaux, highly recommend, the price was reasonable, the food fantastic and service the best.

I.C.W

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Jennifer- a warm, sunny day
01/19/2011, Palm Coast Fl/Cocoa Village

Road Trip

Yesterday we were invited by P&P to go on a road trip to Cocoa Village (Cocoa Beach). The boys had been told about what may be the best hardware store in the USA, and they just HAD to go there, I'm sorry I didn't get a photo, possibly because I was still delirious from the time I was allowed in Knit and Stitch where I once again got to massage the economy. I scored more yarn with a great ego. And a book on NORO yarn that I had wanted. It has great history about the fiber, its creator and 40 Fabulous PATTERNS. Some of which I'm betting my daughters will love and beg to don. Oh, Oh, back to the hardware store, I get carried away. TRAVIS is the hardware store it is huge and the outside looks kinda Tex/Mex adobe style. It is on 2 levels and very large and rambling, I feared we would lose the boys. It has just about any kind of nut, bolt, wrench you'd need. The inside copper painted ceilings reminded me of Trousdales back home. It was a walk back in time. Large sliding ladders helped you to retrieve objects really high up from inside galvanized drawers. I can't imagine doing inventory in that place. Pete was the only one who really scored there, Al showed good restraint and kept his focus on what he wanted for the stop at the marine surplus store in Daytona on our way back home. Since it was warm out we had lunch outside at Café Margaux Restaurant on Brevard Ave in Cocoa Village. The food was outstanding and the service was the best ever, seriously, the waitress even unfolded our napkins and placed them in our laps for us. Water, coffee and drinks were filled continuously, I half expected them to spoon feed me. They were very attentive but not smothering. The desserts were fabulous and the presentation/art, worth the price alone. We highly recommend it. We headed to Daytona to Sam's Club where Al got the 2 more golf cart batteries he wanted to complete our house bank which will now give us 660 amps of house power. (I wrote that like I understand it.) We got to the marine surplus store where Al was disappointed they in fact didn't have in store what he saw in their on-line store. We arrived home just before dark and collected Miss B who had hung out with Blackie and Red aboard M/V Prim unsupervised. Nothing had been destroyed and all three looked very happy.

I.C.W

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