ANNIVERSARY DAY

Today would have been my 43rd wedding anniversary, but a little over two years ago She finally lost out to the long illness that had made her a virtual shut in for many years. I miss her very much and I will not find anyone like her in this world. I would like to ask all those who follow this blog, mostly my family, to remember her on this day and to say a prayer for us and particularly for me.

Fortunately, I have my family to comfort me and to give me a reason to travel and visit and to carry on. So I am continuing my plans for the year and trying to decide what I will do for the next 35 years. During the next few posts I will list some of the ideas that I have considered and discarded. Please wait until I ask for suggestions so I can tell you what I won't consider.

Last weekend I went to Annapolis to visit my new friends at the Annapolis Sailing School and Tiller Club. I also visited Chris Bea and the Harbormaster in Annapolis. The only possible glitch in my plans for my reunion in April is that the renovation of the harbor may not be finished in time to bring my boat into the inner harbor. They assured me that I could tie up any time after April 15. But that is a government project and who knows.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES

Today is the birthday of my youngest child who is supposed to fly home from San Diego today. The weather is not cooperating. That is not unusual in February. There is fog on the west coast and snow everywhere in between, but I am sure he will make it for the weekend.

I am recovered now and getting about, catching up on the mail and tasks that I left undone when I went on vacation. One thing is to buy another car. The one I'm driving is almost 20 years old and is not reliable. I don't want much, just a reliable, comfortable car.

I have to go through the storeroom and give or throw away or use up most of that stuff.

This summer I will be looking for part time work on the many boats that operate out of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach waterways.

I am not looking forward to another long trip before at least next summer.

I voted for Romney yesterday because I wanted to send McCain a message. I will say more about him some other time. I don't want this to get too political.

RECOVERY ROOM

I left home the day after Christmas and got back last Saturday morning at 3 AM. Aside from a few days in airline Hell, I had a wonderful time and was tempted to stay for a few more weeks.

There were several reasons why I came home. I had run out of the prepaid part of the trip, the Windjammer Barefoot ships are no longer sailing the Caribbean, I was totally exhausted and I wanted to come home to watch the Giants play the Super Bowl from my reserved seat at my local.

So the Giants won the game. It was a great game! Many of these games turn out to be anticlimactic. This was worth the effort to watch it with my friends.

I had three weeks in Jamaica of non-stop partying and then a week on a 43' sloop in the British Virgin Islands. Then we went to a villa on the mountain in Totola to unwind for a few days and then I took the ferry over to the American side and spent a few days on St. Thomas and visited St. John's. They are all beautiful Islands and there is no real estate bust in those islands.

When the superbowl was over, I went into a collapse and I finally have gotten to the point where I feel a little rested and ready to go on. I have a lot of pictures that I have to sort through. Some of them didn't work out and need to be deleted. Then I have to figure out how to get some of them into this blog and in e-mail. I have tried before with lack of success.

I will post more often but for the next month or so I will be sticking close to home.

So my apartment will be my recovery room for at least another week.