12/24/15    Christmas Eve      Full Moon     Warm temperatures      Healthy     Happy

TODAY was a BEACH day! We stayed at 7 Seas Marina last night, slept well at the dock. Up at the regular time of around 7:00 AM, coffee on the foredeck. Then, to the BEACH, about a 2 block walk through a residential area. Swimming by 9:30 AM. Love it!!

I keep bumping into childhood memories. Being on the beach that went on forever. Shallow water for such a long way, scooping sand, making castles (well, plastic bucket shaped piles of sand), digging motes and watching them fill w/water...and later as an adult, sitting under beach umbrella and reading for hours. When I got too hot, a dip and a run of body surfing, eating sandwiches and hoping  there was no sand. I LOVE the waves, the constant motion which seems constant but is, of course, ever changing. The beach...the water...the waves feed my soul.

Happiness is!

Another memory bump is the small-house developments here in some parts of FL. The neighborhood we walked through today reminds me of the kind of neighborhood my grandparents bought into when they moved to FL. I must have been about 11 when they moved to Port Charlotte on the west coast of FL. I visited either w/my family or another aunt or uncle family at least once each year. I really like the size of these houses - probably 2 small bedrooms, 1 bath (I'll take 2, please), living room, small kitchen, screen porch, carport or garage, yard. Usually made of concrete blocks, maybe stucco over. My size..especially if only 2 blocks from ocean or from the boat in the other direction.

Ibises....

....as lawn ornaments

Even though I talked about the houses I have photos of the birds. They were eating something in the grass. I wonder if the white one which is slightly bigger is the adult with her brood. The other 9 were mottled. Wonderful to watch in their concentration on whatever they were catching and a wary eye on us humans.

Following the beach David climbed the mast to make a repair...

hanging from his safety harnesses

and I made a screen for the forward hatch. We've not been bothered too much by biting bugs but are expecting to need screens everywhere. Projects complete enough for the day we headed back NORTH! to hang out with our friends. We're anchored in just about the same spot as two nights ago, just across from the Loggerhead Marina. We dinghied/dinghyed (new word, dinghy as a verb) over to the park on "our" side of the ICW and walked to the Daytona Beach North. Sketchy neighborhood with a mix of one high end clothing store, a strip club, a tattoo parlour, couple of bars, etc. We made it to the beach by walking through a hotel parking garage. I think this beach was probably perfect. The high rise condos are closer, rather looming, but the neighborhood to get there was off-putting. So, we went, we saw, we left. Won't go to that beach for Christmas morning meditation.

Back at the boat, dinner, then I was totally ishkabibble about leaving again to visit w/Dan and Wendy before we separate until next year...okay two plus weeks since they leave the country for a couple of weeks. Yep, next year! I was, I am trying to figure how to get to another beach tomorrow morning for my own personal Christmas celebration. I'd love to go back to this morning's beach but don't think that will be possible. Sigh. So I was disappointed and distraught not knowing if/how I get to the beach tomorrow. Decision - go enjoy our friends. We went. We enjoyed. We said goodbye/see you next year. We came home...to Grace and Amelia...who is snoring and dreaming beside me.

Christmas eve.    Full moon.    Warmth.      Health.      Happy.