2/17/16       Wednesday       Boot Key/Marathon, FL        Mary Griffin's birthday!!!


Some nights I wake up scared. Maybe a shard of a dream has sent me into gloom and doom. I start to enumerate all the things that could go dangerously wrong - the dinghy motor quits running and we're not where friends will help us/rescue us...going not so safely out to sea; there is a storm at sea; pirates really do try to board the boat; I make a misstep and miss a step and break something; David falls overboard. YIKES! What am I thinking is pretty clear. WHY am I thinking these thoughts...going down those waterways, is the question. I don't even need to answer the question. Just stop doing it. None of this has happened. None of it needs to happen. We've been very resourceful in dealing with any mishaps or engine troubles. Even my swimming lesson in the river was handled safely and w/humor.

I think, maybe, that as we get accustomed  to our place here and to Grace I might fear that we'll become lax, take our safety for granted and relax our attention. So my subconscious kicks into "pay attention/be careful" gear.The fear mongering reminds me to pay attention, remember that  anything can go wrong at any minute. Stay alert!  Okay, I hear the message and thank the messenger.  In the daylight I'm no longer fearful. Hmmmm.

Yoga today. I was so delighted to have cooked breakfast AND cleaned up after that I didn't remember to bring my yoga mat and strap. Remembered it halfway to the marina. No time to return. So yoga on the concrete sans mat..."au natural" as a friendly yogi said. All was okay except my hands felt gritty.

Our Yamaha dinghy has been colicky lately. One night it just quite while we were at the dock. David took the cover off and burped it. Nothing. Got the tools out and tightened something. Nothing. That's the night that Mike, with whom we'd rafted up in Vero Beach came to our rescue. Then last night it wasn't drawing gasoline appropriately so David took it apart and dropped a screw down into the engine. At least it wasn't dropped into the water. Troy and Lisa, and Dick and Nora, helped with that reassembly. Troy and Lisa followed us part way home just to make sure motor was running. And today David started the motor (you start it by pulling a cord, like old lawn mowers) and the cord didn't rewind. What is going on? Mercury in retrograde? That problem was solved with help of someone I don't know. We're thinking it may be time to go over this motor and tighten every last screw, similar to what we've been doing with the Grace engine over the months of travel and before we left. Tonight, no problem with dinghy motor.

Dick and Nora and we went to the Crane Museum and Nature Park this afternoon. It was so perfect. We took the trolley tour - a small electric bus - and a lovely, knowledgeable guide told us about the history and the vegetation and wildlife. The only wildlife we saw in the wild were spiders.

Gold Globe spider - color is wonderful but I don't really like spiders

The Marathon Wild Bird Rescue organization is in this park though. We re-met Becky (or Betsy) the blind elderly pelican we'd first met at the Arts Fair. There were about 20 pelicans, bunches of cormorants and some other injured birds there. We spoke with one of the rehab people who was feeding them. She'd begun volunteering there when she was 12 years old, now 25 and employed full time, having decided that child psychology was not the field she wanted to pursue after her first clinical experience. What a delight she was. Totally into her work with the birds.

Very late lunch of sandwiches in the Sombrero beach park, a little drive around to look at houses. Found a boat dock, with small land attached, for sell - $358K. We could rent the 2nd slip space to help pay the mortgage. Ironically, we pass this dock/land every time we go to or from the marina and have commented on what a good location it is. Is this another one of those pieces of real estate that we should have bought it when we saw it??? There have been several such pieces of real estate in our lives together.

Back on Grace and have discovered we have all the flares we need to be perfect legal with the boat inspections expected tomorrow. HA! Kitty snoozes beside me. I'm going to read my book and sleep early and soundly.

Continuing to feel blessed.