Spectacular Sunday

January 13th dawned like one I've not seen since 2010 when we were aboard For Us at the Harborage Yacht Club here.  It felt like Christmas morning (when I still believed in Santa Claus)!  The sun was so bright, you couldn't go out on deck without sunglasses.  After breakfast al fresco (is there any other way to have breakfast on such a day?), the first order of the day was to head for provisions - food and the liquid kind.  Since men don't shop well, not even for their favorite spirits, I hopped in the car and found my way to a lovely Publix and $200 later, headed to Total Wine, a panacea of a wine store.  Before going to the wine store, I wanted to be sure it was open.  I had to ask 3 people before getting the answer I was looking for - "yes".  It was a bit dicey trying to appear nonchalant at 9:45 on a Sunday morning asking about an open wine store.

Mission accomplished, I headed back to Serenity with what turned out to be 2 wagon loads of food and spirits.  That's the one inconvenient thing about shopping and boats.  In our case, the lot and boat are about a 1/4 mile apart.  Not only are the lot and boat far apart, but the marina shares the lot with Sailor's Return, a lovely dockside restaurant.  Due to its fabulous location, the restaurant is busy from brunch through dinner.  Luckily for us boaters, the marina and restaurant owners work together to ensure parking for everyone.  This little yellow certificate was our ticket to happiness all week.

Once I secured a parking spot, I had to first walk to get the cart, then load it up in the parking lot and make the trek to Serenity.  After handing the bags to Tom, I headed back up the dock to the car for load 2.  This load included a very heavy carton of bottles in addition to several more bags.  After CAREFULLY handing over the box and bags to Tom, back up the dock I headed to put the cart in its place.  Whew, only noon and I was in a full sweat!

Today we entertained a couple we had met at the October Rendezvous.  This is a football-crazed group, so instead of chatting in the breezy cockpit, we sat inside and cheered on our favorite team.  Tom made us dinner aboard - pasta since it was Sunday.   Doesn't matter where we are, it's pasta o Sunday!  Something I rarely get to do - reading, then up to the flybridge to end the day with a magnificent sunset.  Actually, the couple who was aboard called me to remind me to watch the sunset.  I'm so glad they did - and understand now how Sunset Bay Marina got its name!

Each morning I wrestle with myself - stay in bed an extra 1/2 hour or get up to watch the sunrise?  At the end of the day, the battle still rages on - stay up late and enjoy the soft Florida night and the way the lights reflect on the water, or turn in at a reasonable time in order to get up and watch the sunrise.... round and round I go.  By mid-week I compromised and did a little of each.

 There's always a way to have it all in my book.