12/26/15    Saturday   Moon still mostly full    A sun dog this afternoon  Hot, humid night

We just celebrated Christmas w/Sharyl, Shannon and Maggie via skype. Not the same as being there but good enough in a pinch. Great to have this technology that keeps us connected even when far away. Our family is so generous. I have beautiful earrings from Sharyl, a Sunsmart shirt from Shannon and Maggie, yoga classes when I get back to Maine, movie tickets for anywhere we find a movie we want to see; David has Sunsmart shorts, a wind shirt; there is CHOCOLATE, sunscreen, chocolate, brownie mix, a new, heavy duty bottle opener which can also be used as a weapon, plus our mail and magazines and the camera David wanted picked up from our Maine house...and cards expressing love. Thank you all, our family. Oh, and the annual calendar Shannon puts together of photos she has taken through the year of the family. Perfect! and so looked forward to each year. Fun to watch us all grow and change, especially Maggie.

Much of this day was devoted to engine work for David. The stuffing box that was repacked on Thursday is still leaking more than it should with new stuffing. Barbara was going to come over and bring our Christmas mail (from Shannon, Maggie and Sharyl) but Sheldon decided to come too, to help David diagnose engine troubles...if there were any. Excellent! They arrived around 9 AM. David and Sheldon started opening the engine compartment around 10. Barbara and I took a drive to the beach,

Portuguese Man of War, we saw it on our beach walk

to the Thrift Store, to her friend's house and finally to the food store for sandwiches for the men and us.

David and Sheldon discovered that the engine was mis-aligned. Don't know how it happened...if we bought the boat that way or if it was pulled out of alignment when we wrapped the prop with line or...who knows. But we've researched a yard near Stuart that is recommended so will likely spend more time than expected in Stuart. B.O.A.T. = Break Out Another Thousand ($$$). We won't know until we get a more specific diagnosis what the exact problem is and the solution and cost. Does seem something we want to fix though. A man on the dock mentioned that apparently God has been with us. Yep. And now that we know there is difficulty, best to address it.

So, we're still in New Smyrna tonight and expect an early start to travel more conservatively (slowly) tomorrow, hoping the get a lift from the tide.

Two fun things: My cousin, Kathryn, and her family live in Stuart. Her sis (also my cousin), Nancy, and her family live in Jupiter about 20 minutes further south...so, we'll get to see them both/all, perhaps more than expected....and Nancy says it is fine to bring our laundry to her house AND to have a shower. I like that we're relaxed about the timeline and we're fortunate that we have no responsibilities that demand we be anywhere at a specific time.

And, we met a young, rather poor couple with small children on the dock here the past 2 days and were able to gift them some things that we no longer need for our boat...they live on a small sailboat that is anchored on the other side of the channel. Feels good, the gifting. The young man, Shane, clearly has a dream and is working that dream...make the boat safe for traveling, home school the children, cruise. We're appreciating his working toward his dream and wish him very well.