In my last blog post of October 12, 2019, I mentioned that on the first day of fall it was cold with a morning temperature of 53F. Now when I go at 5:15AM to the swimming pool I don't even dress warm with this kind of temperature. But on November 19 it was 28F and I tell you I was very warmly dressed but with the 25/30 knots of wind from the north it felt like I was naked when I walked on the parking lot of the health center.

When I was young and living in The Netherlands where I was born this kind of temperature was nothing for us and I was looking forward to winter when the canals, streams and lakes were frozen and we could ice-skate. Snow skiing was for many years besides waterskiing my favorite sport. Even after I moved to tropical countries like Suriname (SA) I returned in the winter to Europe to go snow skiing in Switzerland and Austria. The last time I went snow skiing was in 2010 in Park City Utah and I had a great time skiing with my son Robert and his two boys Jack and Max. We sold our Ski Nautique waterski boat in that same year and put all our entertainment into sailing with our beloved sailboat Island Girl which we purchased in 2009. This also marked the time that I started hating cold weather and we were fine living in Miami Beach, Florida. We had one car for Dorothy and I drove a small scooter except on the few days the temperature was below 65F then Dorothy had to drop me off at City Hall.

I hope that I made my point that I hate being cold or to be in a cold environment. On "Island Girl" I always sleep under a blanket even on hot days. We left Texas for Miami Beach, Florida in September 2006. The summers in Texas can be brutal hot and the winters are typically mild with mostly nice and warm days and this was how I remembered it while living for 22 years in Texas. So, it was a shock for me that since half October we have had so many cold days. But it is Texas so it happened a lot that the mornings are cold in the low 40's and the afternoons nice and warm up to the high 80's and sometimes even the mid-90's.

We spend a little over 6 months in the USA to watch and work on the completion of our new house in the Historic District "Gruene" in New Braunfels, Texas. Although we don't want to repeat it, we had fun doing it. Only 3 weeks ago we had the last inspection by a city inspector for our backyard patio and the fence. It was long process but compared to our neighbors in our small neighborhood it was the fastest. We love the house and we are feeling at home.

We experienced also how fun it is to live in a small community where you know or at least have met your neighbors. We had afternoon get-togethers along the river where the neighborhood association created private access to the river with a small picnic area. With Christmas time some of our neighbors organized Christmas get-togethers and the first one was a "Progressive Dinner". We started in the first house with drinks and appetizers, then we moved to the second home where we had the main course and in the third home we had deserts. The choice of drinks and food was overwhelming and it was all very good and tasty. I keep a pretty strict food intake, but it was impossible to stick to this with all this great food. Our neighbors are great and easy to communicate with. Of course, we all have the same interest in how our small subdivision is developing, but besides that it was great to share stories and life experiences. After this great evening we also spent a very nice and sunny Sunday afternoon in one of the largest homes in the neighborhood which is built on the cliff along the Guadalupe river. The view from this house over the river is great and we had a nice afternoon. Our last get-together on Friday night before Christmas was with a smaller participating group but it was still a lot of fun.

This is the first time since we left on our Caribbean tour 7 years ago on December 6, 2012 on our boat "Island Girl" that we stayed this long in the USA. We decided to stay this long to make sure that our new home was complete with no open issues that could cause problems in our absence. We also wanted to be with our family for Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas realizing that it was 13 years ago that we had done this. We had great get-togethers with our family on the two holidays and on my birthday. Experiencing the Christmas shopping craziness in the USA is something we are completely grown out of during the time we spent the holiday season in the Caribbean and South America. Earlier in the year we celebrated the 21st birthday of our granddaughter Kristin and the 50th birthday of our daughter Dominique. Both milestones in their lives.

To prevent having to buy in every country we visit a new SIM card for our phone and thus having a new phone number over the last 7 years we obtained a "Google Fi" SIM card which can be used in 100 countries in the world while keeping the same phone number. We purchased an unlimited plan for data, phone and text and used this on Christmas day to contact our overseas families in Grenada, Colombia, Guatemala and The Netherlands. It worked great and now we hope that we can make and receive calls in our sailing destinations this season. We also replaced our old Satellite phone we have used over the past 10 years on the boat for a new product called "Iridium Go". Iridium GO is a small but powerful satellite communication device allowing multiple users to connect and use voice, text messaging, map and weather data as well as SOS and GPS navigation. The system is an internet router which allows you to use your cell phone, tablet, computer etc. to communicate. Although we have VHF and SSB radio onboard, Satellite phone communication is a very important safety feature. Last year we used it intensively when we had a non-working engine and no wind while we were slowly drifting to the reefs of Belize.

All the needed parts and tools are shipped. We packed our last belongings and remaining parts we need on board and we are ready to go back to our beloved boat "Island Girl". We will leave on December 30, 2019. We will miss our family and friends and our new house but we will be happy to go to a warmer Guatemala and new adventures in the Caribbean.