......It wasn’t all that cold, it was just cool and damp from the rain that began at five o’clock this morning. Chilly rather than cold and we got our water tanks filled up.

Looking at the long range forecast it doesn’t look like it makes a whole lost OS sense rushing to get to the mouth of the Delaware only to wait at anchor foot three days to get a weather window after The effects of Epsilon pass by. So, we will stay here another day and perhaps get some Christmas shopping in, if any of the stores are open, before heading up to the west end of the Canal tomorrow.

By the way, if anyone reading this wants to contact us, don’t telephone. Send us a text and we will call you. Our iPhone is forwarded to the Google Fi Android phone and we don’t always have that with us, plus the ring isn’t always obvious to us.

Every time we get to Annapolis Barb makes a bee line for the Sperry store right down on the waterfront. Every time we do she manages to score a good if not great deal on deck shoes. Yesterday was no exception. Two pairs of Sperry deck shoes for $68 or $34 each. An excellent deal. 60% off! Hopefully some of the other stores will be open today and we can get similar deals for Christmas gifts.

At the risk of jinxing myself, I really believe that I have shaken off the flu that I had. The really insidious part of any cold, flu, or influenza virus is that you don’t know what it is that you had. Take my case. Did I just have a bad cold or flu or did I have a mild case of the dreaded COVID? I did keep myself isolated from everyone, everyone that is except my beloved. She slept in the main cabin but we were still in close contact otherwise. I would not want her to get any virus but especially not COVID.

We took the water taxi into town to pay for another night and to look and see if we could safely have brunch at Chick & Ruth’s, an Annapolis institution. This place is normally all packed to the point that if you are two you can sit at a four place setting if you are prepared to sit with another couple. Obviously that wouldn’t work in COVID times so we were wondering how they would handle it. Well we were answered. Every other table was either taped off or removed. The staff was all masked and customers were expected to mask except when seated. Each table was wiped with disinfectant between clients. Great to see!

After brunch we grabbed an Uber so Barb could go to a knitting shop that she knows about to get some needles. Damn expensive needles! Cost of the needles plus two way Uber fare! Regardless it was an outing. We also did some shopping to buy some Christmas Knick-knacks so all in all a worthwhile day.

The day was overcast so the solar panels weren’t at their best and the wind generator wasn’t getting enough wind to do much either so we ran the engine for a couple of hours to heat up some water and to put some amps back into the batteries. We had spent 24 hours on the house bank and still had three quarters of a charge left. Pretty good, I think.

This time of year the moorings are full over the weekend but during the week there seems to be space. Indeed, when we got up this morning it was obvious that some folks had left last night. I hope they weren’t too hammered when they slipped the moorings.