1/11/16    Monday, Stuart, FL        my BIRTHDAY!!! 68th trip around the sun! Looking fwd to more.

What a terrific birth day celebration. Long sleep, as desired. Coffee. Chilly morning so I put on my jeans, long-sleeved shirt AND fuzzy for the dinghy ride to the dock. We boarded our bikes (I have a new berrrinnnng bell on mine now) and took off into town for "breakfast out." The omelet was less than stellar but the "out" part was terrific...and we biked there and enjoyed all the other folks in the cafe'.

Our spiffy Dahon fold up bikes. I figured out how to use my backpack as a bike pack. Comes w/68 yrs of cleverness.

Then off to the Lyric Theater to take some photos, hoping to keep inspiration high among the Freeport Players Board for obtaining our own theater space...showing what other people have done in their communities. Then, off in search of bicycle baskets. We rode and rode and rode...to lots of places we'd passed, individually, on our various bike trips this week. Finally, the baskets in the first bike store we visited a couple days ago (and decided to NOT by those bikes which, it turns out, were about 3Xs more expensive than the ones we bought!!!) are the least expensive and so close to exactly what we want that we'll go back tomorrow and get two. David and I had split up by this time and I hung out in Shepherd's Park near the marina to make some phone calls and enjoy the sun.

Regular lunch crowd of ibis(es?)

I talked w/our renter, Kathy, who seems comfortable and delighted with 7 Lavers Pond Rd. Maine has had a week of winter and now January thaw but really high winds yesterday. Glad to have responsible folks in the house. And I made a couple phone calls to uNCSA to chat with Admissions and Drama folks about Ella Werner who is applying to the senior h.s. program for next year. Fun to talk w/ the admissions guy. I've never used my "status" as alum. I still don't take my various status(es) and credentials and various employment titles as seriously as others take mine or theirs. Just can't quite wrap my head around the power/influence that comes with that sort of positioning. It's a bit of a deficit, as I'm sure I could have much more influence for good if I DID know how to use my/those credentials that others put store in. My friend, Phil, who is on the Freeport Players board w/me, tells me how impressed he was that the President of the Board (that would be me) interviewed him as a potential board member. Really?!? Shoot. I was just nervous that my questions would seem trite. It might be that knowing the Principal of my elementary school so well (my mom taught there) has stunted my growth in the influence peddling arena. Similarly, some friends are impressed with my courage of leaving home and traveling down the ICW on a boat for 8 months. I'm impressed, too, but not THAT impressed. Just doing it, day by day. As everyone does their lives, day by day.

After the park I moved on to the Marina to read my book and, finally, get a photo of the lizard, the 8" one with the orange head. There are smaller ones w/out orange heads. The orange head one stands up high on her four legs. Lizards move the legs on one side together then the other side together - homo-lateral(?), unilaterally (?) then do a kind of plie' bounce w the front legs, sort of like a pigeon walking except the lizard is standing still. Such interesting movement!

Little Lizzy - 4" - check out the toes!

Orange head Lizzy on Plam

Lizzy coming out of the (probably propane) Fire Pit that is lit at night.

Had a great long phone visit with NYC dear friend, Diana, while I was sitting on the dock in the sun. I gave myself the present of talking to several friends today and so enjoyed all the Facebook wishes. Cousin Kathryn's husband, Lew, played Santa Claus and brought mail that we'd been waiting for that had been forwarded to their house here in Stuart. We got the boat parts from American Diesel and a BIG envelope from Shannon which included Christmas cards, a Delorme gazette of Florida we'd requested and a couple of zines. Perfect timing for a birthday.

Tuna casserole for dinner. A birthday phone call from Maggie and Shannon in which I learned about Maggie's role in the Freeport high school One Act Play, among other things. Great, long conversation. And now....what a terrific day. Appreciating all my turns around our Sun and looking forward to many more. Probably will accelerate even more as the years wobble on. Loving my life, my friends, my challenges, my accomplishments, my family, ALL my travel companions on this journey on earth. Blessed, I am.