Seven weeks after his surgery, Randall has continued to build-up his strength and stamina and is now power-walking for 30 minutes a day. A painful spasm in his back muscles put him on the floor one day...which was a bit awkward because he could not easily get up. Fortunately, he was able to slide himself from the kitchen back into the bedroom and haul himself up using the bed. Since then his back has been steadily improving. The poor fellow did not really need another medical problem.



Butterfly at the Florida Natural History Museum's Butterfly Rainforest

We have continued to keep ourselves busy with visits to the butterfly exhibit at the Florida Natural History Museum, a bird-watching trip around an urban pond in which we (rather surprisingly) saw a beaver, and a day-trip to Susan's house in Cedar Key (where she and I kayaked for miles while Randall enjoyed the beautiful coastal views and reading in a very comfy chair). We were also treated to a marvelous dinner party at the home of some of Katie and David's sailing friends. One of the group, Michel, is a semi-retired chef and he prepared a five course meal that was absolutely delicious and, mostly, pretty healthy. It was great fun to be able to trade boating stories with such a relaxed group of sailors.



Sandhill cranes at Wendy and Michael's property

We also spent a lovely weekend with our friends Wendy and Michael near Groveland. In addition to the great pleasure of their company and the close attention of their three dogs (the youngest being an adorable puppy), we enjoyed walking on the nearby rails-to-trails paths, and flying Michael's remote-controlled, camera wielding, quad-copter. This may have set a dangerous precedent because Randall seemed very intrigued by the drone and was trying to think of all of the uses he could find for one around sailboats (checking the rigging at the top of the mast, for example).



Wendy and young puppy Ridley

Finally, after two months of our company, it is time to let Karen and Bill have their home to themselves. They have been supremely generous and tolerant and it has not been easy to pack our bags but we are going to impose ourselves on some other friends for a while. Thank you, Karen and Bill, you cannot imagine just how incredibly important it has been for us to have a comfortable place to stay while Randall has been recovering. We owe you...