Well, I didn’t write very much this week. Instead, here’s this week’s story through some pictures I took with a little written infill.

Happy holidays everyone!!!

 

Sunday 17 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

On Sunday Glenn and I went to the boat and took off the jib to do some repairs to it. Some of the threads have been disintegrated by the sun. Since we have access to some space at my folks home, we will sew the sail there.

 

Tuesday 19 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

Wednesday 20 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

This morning we take the sail for repair at the Irish Sail Lady. She has a great loft and and even greater dog, Jake. (Too bad I didn’t have the camera.) The Irish Sail Lady tells us that she used to live on her 30′ boat with four teenagers. We start to feel like we are in palatial conditions with only one kid on a 39′ boat.

Afterwards Glenn goes to the boat to do some work. At home he texts me with the message that the boat Kantala, the guys who gave us the bottle of wine because we looked like winos moved our boat in a storm in Charleston so we wouldn’t collide, are moored two boats away from us. “Oh,” I think, “this may be our chance to meet them.””Invite them over,” I text back.

“I can’t, they’re not home”

“Leave a note.”

Later in the evening we hear back from Michael and Sheila. They will come over to our boat tomorrow night for a drink.

 

 

Thursday 21 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

We head to Netzah early to clean the place up. It’s a bit of a wreck and we have company coming over – the Kantalas! Er, I mean Michael and Sheila. At 5 we see them in their small dinghy heading our way. When they get on board we introduce ourselves and head below because it’s a bit chilly tonight. They have brought some snacks (nice!!) We take out some cheese and crackers too and start to get to know each other. And just as we expected, they’re great: very friendly, interesting, and warm. Not too long into the evening, I confess that I did a bit of delving into their background. They seem more surprised than freaked out (whew!). “There’s information about us on the internet?” Michael asks genuinely surprised. Yes, unfortunately, I have to tell him, sympathizing with his desire for privacy and freedom. I suppose I’m not helping in this respect by writing here.

The evening passes easily. After drinks we offer up some fish stew that Glenn made at my parents’ house and a terrible baguette from a local supermarket. We brought it with us realizing we wouldn’t make it back in time for dinner. Now that we were all enjoying each other so much we invite Michael and Sheila to stay and eat it with us. Though it’s the first time for this recipe, we luck out, it’s delicious everyone agrees.

 

Saturday 23 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

I have some work to do today. While Glenn works on the boat, I walk to a café to write for a while. On my way I run into a lively, Indian wedding in St. Augustine’s Plaza de la Constitutión. There was some loud recorded music playing and some dancing, but I missed most of it. Here’s the wedding party moving to their next location. The outfits were amazing.

 

A little later Glenn meets me for lunch at Pizza Time, the 2nd best pizza place in the U.S…. that’s why he’s sad.

 

After lunch and before returning to writing letters of recommendation, I go for a short walk through an old part of town.

 

Then, in the evening, we get a return invitation to join Michael and Sheila on their boat for a drink. On board we also meet Roland, a photographer from Philadelphia (small world!) sailing on the boat Kodachrome single-handed. He is currently moored between us and Kantala. Roland is a super nice guy, but I get incredibly shy to take any pictures when I find out he’s a pro. The truth is, I am shy about taking pictures anyway, but this really makes me stop. Here are the only shots I took.

 

 

Sunday 24 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

This morning I wake up early to make Glenn’s Christmas present. A couple of weeks ago for his birthday he requested tiramisu, but I couldn’t get all of the proper ingredients and equipment together to make it on the boat. Now that I have my parent’s kitchen at my disposal I am ready. Just before I start, my mom comes in and I force her she volunteers to be my assistant. We start by making the sabayon, which is the rich custard base for the entire dessert. Because my mom doesn’t have a double boiler, I fashion my own by fitting one pot atop another one filled with boiling water. About three minutes into the process the the top pot has expanded due to the heat and has lodged itself tightly into the bottom pot. I notice this, but don’t think much of it and continue my stirring. Just then, due to the excessive pressure building in the bottom pot, the top pot explodes off the bottom one. In an instant I am on the other side of the kitchen where I jumped in fright. My mom is in the other direction. “I’m ok,” I say first and then, “What happened?” I ask very stunned. She explains it to me because she has somehow understood what I couldn’t yet. When my senses return I realize that I am burned on my face and arm. At first it doesn’t hurt at all, but soon a searing pain sets in on my entire face that becomes intolerable within minutes. We pour a big bowl of cold water and I stick my face in it. Relief. When I take my face out though the pain returns in seconds. Back in the water it feels good again. I stay this way as my mom cleans up the mess. “You know, we didn’t loose that much of the sauce,” she says, “we can still use this.” I’m skeptical, but I take my face out of the water and see that she’s right, face back in water. She supplements the sauce and starts cooking it again, obviously in a smarter way than I did, over hot water. We continue making the entire recipe this way: my mom does most of the work and, in between face dunks, I set things up for her. By the end, the tiramisu looks (and tastes) great and my face starts to feel a bit less raw. My arm, on the other hand is in pretty bad shape. I can see that over the next days it will blister and heal, but I’m glad we were able to finish the “gift.”

In the evening we have Glenn’s great fish stew and my burned face tiramisu. Delicious!

 

Monday 25 DEC 2017 – St. Augustine, FL

Tonight we go to Christmas dinner and gift exchange at Sabine and Mihai’s. The food and party is totally fun plus I get a cool bowl.