Home for the Holidays - Baltimore, MD

I left Houston on December 18th at 6:00 am and landed in Baltimore/Washington International Airport at 10:30 am.  My oldest daughter, Jessica, and her husband, Joe, live in the Mt. Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore.  In the summer Bob and I moor the boat in a marina in Baltimore so it was almost like going home.

Jessica and Joe at Lexington Market in Baltimore.

On Monday we celebrated the holidays with friends at
Lexington Market where we ordered the famous
Thanksgiving sandwiches from Krause's Lite Fare
and enjoyed the caroling of a local school chorus.
It was the best turkey sandwich ever!

Jess had to work all day so Joe and I prepared the
 "Christmas Dinner." Joe made the fillet mignon 
and brussels sprouts while I made the
 wilted spinach salad and potatoes au gratin.

Later in the week we visited Longwood Gardens 
and met my sister Laurie there.

Longwood Gardens is located in Kennett Square, PA and is the living legacy of Pierre S. du Pont who purchased the Peirce family’s arboretum in 1906 to save the trees from a lumber company.  Mr. du Pont continued to add gardens, green houses and a conservatory throughout his life and today this 1,077+ acres estate is one of the premier gardens in  the world.

The conservatory contains multiple rooms of gardens. 
Each room contained a Christmas tree 
matching the theme of the room.
This tree was in the succulent garden and is constructed
of a wide variety of succulent plants. 

In the evening the gardens came alive with millions of lights.

Since my sister, Nancy (in the center), lives right behind
Longwood Gardens we all stopped in for a visit.

On my last night in Baltimore we saw the play Dot at
the Everyman theatre.

After the theater we opened presents by the tree.

Leaving the next morning was difficult after such a wonderful visit with Jess and Joe.  Pittsburg here I come.


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Home for the Holidays - Katy Texas

December 12, 2016

Before I left Folly Beach (where we are staying while our boat is re-powered) I baked all of the of the Christmas cookies that I bake each year in hopes that I would be able to get them through security at the airport and safely into my children's hands.

This is definitely the 1st time I've made Christmas cookies
when it was 70 degrees outside!

I packed each type of cookie (I baked 9 different kinds)
in a rigid plastic container with wax paper between layers
and placed them in this duffle to carry on to the airplane on Tuesday.
Thank goodness they arrived in Katy safely.

 

Katy, Texas December 13-18

I visited my son and his family in Katy, a suburb just north of Houston for the first leg of my journey.  My grandson, Acen, has a birthday on December 14th so I wanted to be there for his party as well as visit with the whole family.

I had not seen my son for almost a year.
It was marvelous to reconnect.

My son, Karl, (on the far right) cooked us a delicious
dinner one night.  Seated from left to right are
Maddix (my son's stepson),
Terry (my son's mother-in law),
Acen (my son's son), and me.

I spent many joyful hours playing "animals"
with Acen.  His favorite right now are
dinosaurs and jungle animals.

I was able to create this" Noturo" type
costume for Maddix while I was there.
He will be wearing it at a convention in
San Antonio in January. It also gave me a
chance to spend some quality time with him.

On Saturday Afternoon we set up for Acen's
third birthday party. This is my daughter-in-law, Brandy.
As you can see she planned for a dinosaur theme.

Acen and all of the other guests were thrilled with
the party venue.  It had giant bouncy play areas,
a section for "crawlers", and games for older children.
It was a big success!!

    

It was difficult to leave everyone that evening, but I have three other children to visit  for the holidays.

I had to be up at 3 AM in order to catch my flight to Baltimore.

My next blog will be about that leg of my journey!

Thanks for reading my blog.

Folly Beach, SC

Since our  boat (s/v Rainy Days) is being re-powered we can't live aboard so we rented an ocean front apartment in Folly Beach, SC for 6 weeks.    Folly Island is a barrier island in the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina. It's long and thin with approximately 7 square miles of sandy beaches, beach houses, cottages, a population of 2,749, and a small centrally located town, Folly Beach.

Folly Island is a retro style beach area that welcomes everyone - surfers, retirees, families, tourists, freaks, fishermen, and beachcombers with:

beautiful beaches,

aa

a picturesque lighthouse,

two custom surfboard shops (no pop outs here),

seven t-shirt shops,

the requisite ice-cream shop,

numerous restaurants and bars,

A fishing pier,

a crazy Christmas parade,

a county park,

and beautiful sunsets. 
That's me on the left beach combing.
My husband, Bob, took this photo.

Thank you for reading my blog.

From Baltimore Harbor to Folly Beach, SC

Just to bring anyone who might be reading this blog up to date with where we are and why: We left Baltimore on October 5, 2015 with the goal of arriving in St. Augustine, FL by November 28, 2016 and then after the holidays continue on to the Abacos in the Bahamas.  Our voyage was smooth sailing (actually motoring most of the way) with  stops at charming towns and anchorages along the way.  Unfortunately, we hit a glitch when our engine seized up about 20 miles north of Isle of Palms (IOP).  IOP is a barrier island just north of Charleston, SC.  We were towed to the marina in IOP on October 28, 2016 hoping to quickly diagnose and fix the problem and be on our way.  Well, we stayed at IOP for 4 weeks waiting  to have the boat towed to Marine Propulsions in Rockville, SC.   Our stay at IOP was long but enjoyable with mild temperatures and sunny skies.  We rented bikes to get around the island; to the beach, grocery store, and local restaurants.  On the weekends we rented a car to visit Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Sullivan's Island, Beaufort, SC, and various other points of interest in the area. On November 29th our boat was towed to Rockville, SC where it will be re-powered at Marine Propulsions. The next day we moved our household to a beach side cottage in Folly Beach, SC and will be here for 4-6 weeks while our boat is re-powered.

Here's a picture of s/v Rainy Days docked at IOP Marina

Here I am on one of our weekend excursions to 

The Center for Birds of Prey in Awendaw, SC

Here is Bob (captain of the vessel) as 
he sits at the helm early in our trip

Joining us on our adventure are our two cats.  

Lizzy, the dark haired Maine coon and 
Captain Jack, the orange domestic long hair

Now that I've made all of the introductions I can focus on our experiences in Folly Beach in my next blog post.

Thank you for reading my blog.