I hope everyone had a really wonderful holiday this year. I still prefer white Christmases, even after all these many years in my beloved California and now in the tropics. I have spent the last four Christmases as follows; 2010-Ensenada, Mexico 2011-La Cruz, Mexico 2012-Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, and 2013-Isla Espiritu Santo, Panama. Who knows where I will be next year?
We had what is called a "pavi-pollo." I have no idea what it really is - the locals told me it was a cross between a chicken and a turkey. It looked like either the world's biggest chicken or the world's smallest turkey. It did taste like a turkey-ish chicken, and came out beautifully if I do say so myself. The gravy was world class. By the way, "pavo" is Spanish for turkey while "pollo" is of course Spanish for chicken. Our friends came for dinner and it was really really nice to have them as guests. They have been in Ecuador for several months, so it is great to reconnect and catch up.
There were about ten boats here for awhile, and we were invited for little soirees on two of them. One of them is a large catamaran with ten people on it - and that includes six kids under eight years old. They are all siblings, too. They have an older sister who is like a junior mother to them, and it is wonderful to see everyone getting along so well. The kids are fearless in the water, and really know how to handle themselves on the boat. The parents are home schooling them, and there is a grandmother and uncle aboard as well. We have met a bunch of boats with kids on them, and the kids all seem really well adjusted, smart, and friendly. I have been impressed. It seems like a good life for a kid.
I have been really reflective lately, because it is the end of the year and I always use this as a time to think about stuff that happened during the last year, what went right, what went wrong, what I want to change, what I want to stay the same. All and all, things have gone well this year and it has been a good year, boat repairs notwithstanding. Mike and I were talking about how there are some things that used to send us into tizzies, and now we do them without any drama or even thinking about it. Things like anchoring are now second nature. If the boat gets turned around when there is no wind, we can easily fix it. Reefing the sails is nothing to us. I am at the helm all the time, no problem.
I miss everyone especially at this time of year. Maybe someday I will be able to time it so I can spend a Christmas with family somewhere. Too bad everyone is spread out geographically. That makes it hard to plan so as to see everyone, without spending the gnp of a small country to fly around the US. However, where there is a will there is a way, however cliched that may be, so if I want to do it bad enough I will come up with something. However, visitors are always welcome!
Ever since I saw it, I have been trying to get that Mickelson 50 footer out of my mind, to no avail. I want that boat. Even Mike wants it. We are trying to talk ourselves out of even considering getting a bigger boat. But it was really something, a fabulous boat in every way that we could tell, and we want it. I love this boat, and I feel guilty towards Magda Jean for even considering this. The only good thing is that we could not do anything about it for at least a year, and so that prevents any precipitous actions, at least I hope so. It gives us time to think about what we really want to do. After all, we have just gotten MJ right where we want her, and I hate to think of starting all over again - but I do have a year to ruminate about this, so get ready, the whining and fussing and obsessing will not stop any time soon.
Although I am not using it now, I am really enjoying playing with my new Galaxy computer - it is a notebook, and all you have to do is touch the screen or swish your finger over it to get it to do things. However, it has a small keyboard, and for lots of hardcore typing, this traditional laptop works better. At least until I get used to using the new one.
Well, I had better get going and start getting things together for supper later on. We are having soup made from the mystery bird (I would love to see one running around the barnyard) with dumplings. The soup also came out wonderful, and that has not always been the case with making soup out of the spent turkey carcass. It seems like a lot of cooking things came together this year - a million ways to cook fish, never failing bread, new vegetables, and now the soup. Now all I have to do is not get fat.
"Happy happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!" (Charles Dickens)
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