Pelicans and Potluck

Anne, Lew and Florrie at the potluck.
This morning we watched the "pelican show" from our deck. We're at the south end of the Vero Beach mooring field, about 50 yards east of a mangrove and Australian pine island. The birds take naps after fishing in the early dawn. There was a Great Blue Heron, an egret, some smaller blue bird and an osprey, all within a few feet of each other. It is so funny to see half a dozen pelicans roosting on the same fluffy tree, making it bend almost to the water! About 8:30 they all take off and we don't see them until the next day, not in so many numbers anyway. There were over a dozen pelicans roosting in the area this morning.

We are very happy here. I love the sunny weather and all the wild life. Occasionally a dolphin comes into this mooring field to fish or just investigate us all. We are warm enough and are quite content to just hang out here for awhile longer.

Boaters are an amazing bunch of people. They really sieze the moment. In the past two weeks Lew & I have had more social life together than we have in NJ in 6 months. If anyone wants to get together, it is NOW... not two months from now, when someone's social calendar permits. We all know that we might not be able to spend more time with each other because everyone is on their way somewhere else. This morning a lot of boats left, going south. Yesterday our friends on Wilde Mathilda left. We have enjoyed their company so much and I wonder if we will catch up with each other someday in the future. I hope so. Their boats name, in German, is pronounced Vil-dah Matilda. It sounds like the beginning of an Ogden Nash poem.

The Christmas Day pot luck luncheon was so much fun! We were really lucky that the 40% chance of rain only gave us about 7 minutes of running for cover. More than 80 people from about 38 boats all brought their best recipes to share. Thanks to the folks on Kumbaya, who have a printer on board, we had an official signup sheet. That is all it takes to get such an event started. At about noon, Barbara from Laughalot, Sarah from Wilde Mathilda and Marge from Winfield Lash helped decorate and organize the varous dishes as they began to arrive.



The "buffet" was set up on the clothes washers and dryers. People could file through from one side of the building to the other. It was really very civilized. Then we all dispersed and found places to sit under the gazebos or in the lounge or on the various benches around the marina. For those of us who enjoy such marginal chaos, this was a wonderful event. A few boats had arrived the day before and were so glad to find out that something was going on to celebrate. We all miss our famiies and it helps a lot to enjoy happy company for awhile.

Of course such an event is not the cup of tea for some people. Probably less than half the boaters at the Marina participated, though some dropped in to say hello. Many flew home for the Holidays and will begin to return over the next few days. There will be a lull before whatever happens on New Year's Eve. For now, we all seem to be getting back to boat "fix it" chores.

We hope you all had a happily memorable Christmas.