Other than a short visit with Kayt before she headed back to Saint John, today has been a pretty lazy day for me. Barb spent the morning sewing up another drogue and then was off to work for the afternoon while I made a wreath from sisal rope and seashells to send off to my folks in Ottawa as part of their Christmas package. I have also measured and cut out another drogue so sew up for our heavy weather package.

I am really looking forward to getting back to the boat. I daydream constantly about the jobs that we have to do once we get back aboard and plan for the voyage home. We should be underway by April and intent to stop off at Washington and perhaps Baltimore before heading down to Cape May and the jump to Block Island and Buzzards Bay. We will probably have to hang out in Gloucester for several days unless we get really lucky waiting for a weather window but I am hoping to be back in Halifax by some time in early or mid June. That'll give us a chance to haul Nelleke and get her bottom painted and have the stainless welder come to the dock to extend our bow roller to let us carry two anchors forward ready for deployment.

This year is Marblehead again and we are planning to be back in the water and away cruising the Maritimes well before the fleet arrives at RNSYS. They like those of us with dock space on the tender dock to vacate our spots so boats arriving have a spot to clear customs and in some cases to stay for the festivities and we are in one of those spaces.

While I am at it I should mention that the owners of the property have hired a couple from somewhere in the Middle East to be the building supers in this place, and I must say that they have made an incredible difference here. The stairwells are cleaned daily now that the winter has set in and the hallways get a scrubbing at least once a week. The lawns are mowed and cared for and there is someone here pretty much 24/7 is there are any maintenance problems. But where their presence has been particularly felt is now that Christmas is coming up. They have put garlands in the hallways - not too much but just enough; they have hung tinsel on the live evergreen trees outside the building; and their daughter has gotten busy with a paint box and put Christmassy drawing on all the glass door entryways to the building. It's really very nice.