Jan’s father used to say this and we always thought it was original with him but recently someone told me it came from Bette Davis. Whichever it is, it is so true. Today after routine chores we took out our folding bikes and began the trek to visit Jan’s Aunt Anne who is in a nursing rehab facility here. She had a fall and broke her arm and is dealing with other problems that many face when they live a long life. It was about 4 miles distant and a pleasant ride and good exercise.
We had been given to expect her to be in much worse shape and were pleasantly surprised to be able to converse with her for a nice visit. She had some memory issues but some days I cannot remember what I had for lunch. Our brain’s filing cabinets are about full and papers are falling out every time we stuff in a new idea. She was so pleased to see Jan and they shared a few old stories. If you could have seen this lady even 10 years ago she was a classic beauty. She is about to turn 80 next month and still looks pretty good I thought.
On our return to the boat we stopped for a nice lunch at Panera Bread Company and then a quick run to a Publix. This Publix was two stories tall. Parking in bottom floor and escalators and elevators to second floor grocery store. I stayed outside to guard the bikes. Jan would not let me fold them up and put them in grocery carts to walk throught the store. I have done this before on my own and it is a good icebreaker for conversations with fellow shoppers who I can then convert to readers.
On the way back to the marina I passed a mooring field and what to my wandering eye should appear…
No it was not the Chicken Boat but it made my heart jump when I first saw it from a distance. As I got close enough for a photo I realized that this was a luxury craft compared to the real Chicken Boat. I could not have imagined how they would have beaten us to Sarasota under any circumstances other than beaming them up.
Lastly the story of two boats or should I say one ship and one boat. Lady Pamela is here. The Winsteads are members of our home yacht club LGYC. They are not here as they have returned home for awhile. Lady Pamela will travel down to the Keys with her crew and they will rejoin her there for a month or so. The center door on the stern leads to the crew quarters. I am not sure how big the crew is but probably around 5 if the chef is on board. This is the life. I am pretty sure they do not ride bikes to the Publix.
The next three pictures are of Passage. It is a ground up custom built by JZ. He is pictured in the galley. He designs boats, builds them in a barn and uses them a little and sells them to start another. The woodwork in this boat is from trees all cut on his property in Indiana. I have never seen finer joinery on any vessel at any price. If you are interested you can own this one of a kind for arounf $750,000.00. Let me know and I will ask him to hold it for you.
