Well, it's been quite a while since our last post and, yes, we're still in Vero Beach. The time has vanished. The lure of this place is easy to fall into and while we planned to rest here for a while, it's been 12 days since we arrived!

So, what have we been doing? Well, let me outline a typical day. I wake around 6:30 and read usually until 8:00. Judy and Chopin get up after I've got coffee and tea made. A light breakfast then usually into the marina and pick up the bus to the shopping district. Visit supermarket and usually West Marine, then back to boat by noon. Lunch, then to the beach which is about a mile away. May have a happy hour with other cruisers then fix dinner. Around 8:30 (cruisers' midnight) we turn in. Sometime in this busy day, we would have done a few chores. Laundry is a big undertaking and I have boat maintenance to do; it's ceaseless.

We had dinner with Gerry Milburn, a long-time sailor from Fredericton. Gerry's boat, Katie, is "on the hard" (for landlubbers, this means stored on the ground , out of the water). He had cruised extensively with this boat and his wife (she passed away several years ago), throughout the Caribbean, primarily the Bahamas since it was launched I believe in 1992. He is very knowledgeable and shared with us and our friends Cathy and Darius from Breeze Hunter, many suggestions and recommendations for our upcoming passage to the Bahamas. We appreciated his counsel.

Another highlight was the cruisers' potluck on Christmas day. Probably 80 people contributed and attended and it was a very collegial event.

We've met lots of people and made good friends. The weather has been superb (around 80 in the day and not cooler than 60 at night).

While we've been really relaxing and enjoying this fine place, it doesn't feel much like Christmas for us. We did string lights up our mast and have lights in the cockpit, but the fine weather is so different than our winter weather that it doesn't really feel the same. We're not lonely as there are lots of folks around. We do, of course miss our family and friends.

So today is New Years' Eve. I spent the morning fixing our propane system. The stove would not work this morning so I had to trace down a fault in the wiring, which took all morning. This afternoon, I'm catching up on emails and this blog. We've been invited to another boat this evening and we'll probably stop in to see some others.

It is with very mixed emotions that we bid farewell to 2008. It's been a bittersweet year. What started out for us to be our long planned inaugural cruise was so cruelly interrupted by John's death. We miss him badly and while the mourning is easing, there are still hard times. The counterbalance, however, has been the great friendships, both old and new.

So, dear readers, Judy and I and Chopin wish you a very happy New Year!