Holiday Inn Express Clearwater-Gateway Area, Fl

... even ate warm smoked mullet for lunch today - yummy! It was a long day but we think tomorrow we should be able to move aboard. The forecast is for 80% chance of showers so we'll see but we should be able to dodge the showers for the last remaining things to be loaded on board. We ate in tonight having picked up some take-out salads and flat breads at Crispers. That's another chain I wish we had at home.

... fancy new "Masquerade II" graphics on. And today we ordered the wooden plaque that needs to be mounted in the boat to display the official registration number and net tonnage. There is a Manta 42 sailing cat in the yard with us. The couple live in Punta Gorda but are having some work done on their boat bottom here too. Coincidentally they also have a sailing cat in the North Channel so we were able to compare stories about sailing there ...

... worked with Jimmy to position the dinghy davits on the swim platform and later Richard and I assembled the bimini cover. Twenty box loads and assorted bags have been stowed and tomorrow the carpets get cleaned. Jodie from Cortez Cove Boatyard thoughtfully put together a package of local restaurant menus and walking tours of Cortez for us. The current schedule calls for ...

... of the hotel. We picked up nuts, salsas, relishes and sauces in Georgia taking advantage of Georgia’s bounty - peaches, Vidalia onions, pecans and peanuts. I even saw cotton and cotton plants up close.

The Thanksgiving weekend traffic really slowed us down and reminded us of Hwy 400 at its worst. We were so happy to see the familiar territory around Tampa. As Richard remarked we have now traveled I75 from end to end (Sault Ste Marie - Miami) and everything in between.

Trin-i-tee 5:7 As In T57 Did A New CD!! Call Love, Peace, And Joy At Christmas And It's Excited!! I love The Trin-i-tee Look With There R&B Style And The Soul Look I Love Many Of There Songs Like The Christmas Song And This Christmas Those Are My Favorties.

Arriving in balmy Florida to familiar faces was fantastic! After a long long time of not knowing anyone or anything, the comfort of a beautiful South African accent face to face was music to our ears (never thought I'd say that)

Being met at the airport by my family and being driven in an actual car with actual airconditioning was the next marvelosity! To be driven to a clean house with clean bathrooms and hot showers and SPACE was almost too much to bare...only copious ...

Visited Fort San Marcos.,an old Spanish Fort.The guards have Spanish costumes.
Some of the walls are made of coquina.(shells and lime)
Visited again the Lightner Museum and visited the floor we missed yesterday.
Drove to Sun City,Florida.Ate at Sonny's Barbecue restaurant.
Stayed at Dr T's house in Sun City,Fla.

... in, in America. I gave my children 20 dollars each so they could buy them self something. T is the one who always know how to use money, her own and others too. Then we have C she always find something too. JM always use several hours to find something and if he could he would have taken the dollars back home and change them to Danish kroner. So after they had shopped T with a tinker bell glowing long sleeves t-shirt and Barbie jeans and some underwear ...

... a woman named Jana Hunter, who is one of the owners of the school where I was employed. She was part of a fledgling photo club named 7,65 and invited me to meet them one fateful weekend at a country cottage that belongs to one of the other members. The rest, as they say, is history. Or at least history in the making. I was part of their photography exhibit at a local gallery in Liberec in December 2005, and I sent some photos to be in ...

... and Sign cards in hand. We were then instructed to wait in the boarding area in a large room with at least 1000 other guests. The room was kept cool and there were plenty of drinks and snacks available if you wanted them. We kept ourselves amused and in no time our group number was called to board the ship.

When we made it on board, the first thing I wanted to do was see my ...