by Judy Handley | Feb 11, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 100, Year 8: From Rialto to Bonita Springs
Date: Monday, February 11, 2013
Weather: Sunny with High in the Low 80’s F
Location: Home of Mary Ellen and Lee French, Bonita Springs, Florida
The morning started at Rialto Harbor Marina and ended in Bonita Springs at the home of Mark’s sister Mary Ellen and her husband Lee. In between, we visited with friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg. They drove down from Punta Gorda Isles where they are visiting friends for the week. They sure picked the right time to leave New Hampshire for a couple of weeks as the weather here is beautiful and we certainly have no snow. We introduced Alan and Helaine to Rialto Harbor Marina and caught the owner, Bus Hamilton, in his office and talked with him about the equestrian sport of Combined Driving. This is carriage racing involving a driver and a navigator. Bus’s wife and daughter are both drivers and Bus is navigator for his wife. We were fascinated listening to the details of a sport we had never heard about. Then we took off for Fort Myers Beach where we had lunch overlooking the crowded beach and the Gulf of Mexico. As always, it was wonderful getting together with Alan and Helaine. Late in the afternoon they drove us to meet Mark’s brother-in-law Lee who then took us to Bonita Springs. We spent the evening delving into family history and will continue that investigation as the week continues. It is supposed to be cooler with the possibility of rain later in the week, so we’ll spend as much time outside as possible while the weather is hot and beautiful and save the family history project for evenings and cooler days.
by Judy Handley | Feb 7, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 96, Year 8: Arrival in Florida
Date: Thursday, February 7, 2013
Weather: Beautiful Day, High Temp in the 70’s
Location: Rialto Harbor Marina, Alva, Florida
We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on Florida’s East Coast by 10:30 am, did some ‘nautical’ shopping, and then drove to Bonita Springs on the Gulf Coast. We visited and had an early dinner with Mark’s family and then drove to Fort Myers and then on to Alva to spend the night on Mark’s brother’s boat here at Rialto Harbor Marina. The weather was beautiful today and the it is about 10 degrees warmer here than in Myrtle Beach. So life is good.
Our ‘nautical’ shopping in Fort Lauderdale took us to Sailorman, a big warehouse-like store full of a mix of new and used boating supplies. Then we walked from Sailorman across the street to the biggest West Marine in this country.And it is huge. We took lots of photos to share with the gang back in Falmouth at our little West Marine store. After our shopping spree, we tried to head west to the Gulf Coast, but the new network of space age interstate exchanges with bridges that seem to span other bridges made for some confusion and we took the wrong exit, not once but twice. Finally we got ourselves on the right track and enjoyed the drive through the Everglades. By the time we arrived at Mark’s sister’s home it was almost 3 pm and we then had a great time catching up on what has been happening in all of our lives since we were together last in June of 2011. Then Mark’s brother drove us to his home on the water just off the Caloosahatchee River east of Fort Myers. Rialto Harbor Marina is one of the world’s hidden jewels. It is a tiny marina with docks for 13 boats.The grounds are beautifully kept and we always enjoy our time here. Tomorrow I’ll take photos of Steve’s trawler and the grounds here in an attempt to share a bit of this special place.
by Judy Handley | Jan 31, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 89, Year 8: Climbing Out of the Abyss
Date: Thursday, January 31, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Very Windy, Cooling Down
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
We are slowly climbing out the technology hole we dug ourselves into. The ‘big’ Toshiba is being converted to being Mark’s computer and the new, ‘little’ Toshiba is now ready for me to use. I have stopped cursing it and am trying to learn to adjust to its new ways. We spent most of the morning learning to use the new scanner which arrived last night without a user guide and have already scanned in a great number of slides from 1957 to 1961. Tomorrow will be more of the same as Mark will try to finish getting the ‘big’ Toshiba customized to his needs and I do more scanning. There are way over a thousand slides that need to be scanned, and after that we will start on the old negatives. So nothing really exciting is going on right now, but lots is happening.
by Judy Handley | Jan 30, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 88, Year 8: Technology Blues
Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Weather: Overcast , Warm, and Windy
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
The extent to which our lives are connected to the world of computers is pretty amazing . . . and frightening at the same time. And when the technology doesn’t work, it is truly frightening. I’ve known this, but it has really been brought home in the last few days. Trying to get a new email program on the new computer has been an unbelievably frustrating process. The first attempt to put Windows Live Email on was a disaster. So today Mark gave up on that and put Thunderbird on. I am using it, but there are just so many problems with it. More likely the problems are with me, but in any case, Thunderbird and I are not getting along. And then to add insult to injury, the new scanner arrived tonight and on the first try it doesn’t appear to scan satisfactorily. We’ll try again tomorrow and hope things look better then.
by Judy Handley | Jan 29, 2013 | Little River, SC, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 87, Year 8: Spring Preview
Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Weather: Sunny and Warm, High in the Low 70’s
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
We got a spring preview today. The sun was shining and as Patsy and I
passed a bank sign in Myrtle Beach Patsy asked, “Does that say 71 degrees?”
I checked, and indeed it did. How delightful. Joe played golf again today
and came home with a sunburned face. This warm spell is short-lived, but we
will enjoy our couple of days before the temp drops back into the 50’s.
Mark spent his day working inside at Patsy and Joe’s so he didn’t really get
to enjoy the warmth. He is still trying to get all of my programs, photos,
and documents transferred from the ‘big’ Toshiba to the ‘little’ one. He
has had a lot of difficulty installing email and getting it to work and it
took a good deal of time to transfer the files. But I am using it tonight
for the first time and hopefully it is all set now and Mark can move on to
other things. Patsy had a doctor appointment in Myrtle Beach today, so I
took her and then we can home and scanned more old family photos. Tomorrow
a new scanner should arrive. We ordered one to scan in all of Patsy and Joe’s
slides and our negatives from pre-digital days. All of Patsy and Joe’s
photos from the days when their daughters, Janet and Jennifer, were growing
up are on slides and so hard to look at. Hopefully we have chosen a good
scanner and we can get those slides turned into digital images in the next
couple of weeks. Mark and I leave for Florida next Thursday, so we would
like to get a great deal of the work done before then if possible. So
tomorrow will be more of the same.
