Day 176, Year 10: Happy Anniversary, Justin and Jo
Date: Saturday, April 4, 2015
Weather: Sunny, Temp in the 80’s
Location: At Anchor in Palm Beach, Florida

Our son Justin married Joanne Elizabeth Hunt from Haslemere in the county of Surrey, England, on Wednesday, April 4, 2007. They met at Double Edge Theatre in Ashfield, Massachusetts during the summer of 2006. Jo had to return to England in the late fall and they quickly learned that they just couldn’t live apart. Justin flew to England in December and Jo returned to Massachusetts in early January. They were married atop Eagle Rock in the Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles on April 4 and the rest is history. Eight years later they are still passionately in love and that passion spills over into everything they do. And one of the most important of those things is being the parents of two of our adorable grandchildren, Ziggy Milo and Coco Annabelle. Happy Anniversary, Justin and Jo!

150404 Day 176a Florida, USA–Happy Anniversary, Justin and Jo

Today was all about doing photos, taxes, and taking a little urban walk and ride. We are still anchored on the Palm Beach side of the Waterway and I think we will be here until we leave on Thursday afternoon. The anchorage between the city docks on the West Palm Beach side of the Waterway is still filled with temporary docks and pilings from the recent boat show. And after watching them work yesterday, we realize just how slow the dismantling process will be. But we are fine here. The Royal Palm Bridge with its colorful night lights is just to the south of us. The Society of the Four Arts with its 20-foot silvery pyramid on the waterfront is to the east, the waterfront of West Palm Beach is across the Waterway to the west, and the beautiful Flagler Museum is to the south. If I don’t look down into brown water, the location seems fine. But the brown water of the Intracoastal is a constant reminder that we are no longer in the Bahamas!

150404 Day 176b Florida, USA–More West Palm Beach

I spent my entire day working on organizing and uploading photos to our website while Mark worked out the mystery of why our boat would start and did our taxes. It turns out that we really didn’t need the new battery. The problem was corroded terminals, so now we can turn the key and start the engine, and we have a spare battery if we need it. In the late afternoon we went to shore in West Palm and walked the mile to City Place. This is the upscale shopping area and the location of the only grocery store within walking or trolley distance. We bought a few things, had a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and hopped on the trolley back to the waterfront.

Tomorrow we have been invited to my sister-in-law’s home for Easter dinner. We will take the train there and back and Brad will pick us up at the train station. We were also invited to Bonita Beach to celebrate Easter with Mark’s whole family. It would have been wonderful to see all of Mark’s family again while we are here in Florida, but we were just too afraid to leave Windbird here at anchor with no one to watch after her. But how nice to have two invitations. We won’t have to spend the day alone here on Windbird with just the Easter bunny to keep us company! And speaking of the Easter bunny, we had a Skype video call with Heather and her gang this morning and got to see the Easter eggs that they had just finished decorating. The sun was shining and it was 50 degrees there, so they had all the windows in the house open pretending it was summer. After the miserably cold weather they have been having, I’m sure 50 degrees F does feel like summer.