36 35.998N 030 34.293E Back in Kemer
Pipedream
Sat 19 Mar 2011 10:10
If you do not want me clogging up your computer with my musings please send me a quick return with the word 'stop' in the subject line and I will take you off the distribution. Or just route this to junk mail. I will understand, I get a lot more email than I can ever read.
We had planned on making a swing of the Eastern Med this year but with events in Egypt and Libya my crew decided that viewing the pyramids through a port hole just was not worth the risk. (We are getting reports here that tourists that do make Egypt are practically by them selves at many of the tourist hot spots and have had a great experience.) So we will be heading north up the Turkish coast to around Troy, and driving into Istanbul for a few days to pick up Mary around Mid June. From there we'll sail south through some new Greek Islands stopping in Crete. Then on to Malta, Southern Sicily where we will try to find some of my mother's cousins. (roots..) We'll pick up Michael in Sardinia, then on to Formentera and the coast of Spain which will put us in position to sail back toward the Barbados this winter.
My sister, Karen, is taking a tour from the US to Cappadocia, Turkey and Katie and I are planning to rent a car and drive up to see her for her birthday and do a little inland site seeing. Lots of early Christian churches and whole cities built underground in caves there.' cave persons in blue jeans'. A couple from California staying here in the marina is going with us so it's got the making of a regular road trip.
Our trip home right before Christmas was really great with lots of Americana. It is pretty special to see the US again with a renewed perspective after being 'off planet' for 3 or 4 months. We did Christmas around the tree and carols in church. Live at the Gator bowl with battling marching bands, hot dogs and beer, cow bells. there was even a bunch of guys playing 'American' football. Disney at Christmas, decorations, animal kingdom, and the hall of the presidents has turned into a family tradition. The Super Bowl, the Pack is back, and the TV commercials, a true American art form, and the best of the best! Went up to Minneapolis to visit John and see some snow, They have so much they are worried about the spring thaw and massive flooding. It was 25 below zero the first day there and my first time snowmobiling. "If you hit a slushy spot on the lake just gun it . you shouldn't fall through if you're going more than 50.". right. The day after I got back home I was cruising around in 85 degree sunshine with the top down.
Being home with no real job was interesting. fixed a lot of stuff around the house and farm, put a new air conditioning compressor in Katie's car (in Florida cold AC is right up there with breaks.) Put my ham radio antenna tower back up - a big deal. Built a new computer and watched too much Netfix TV. (Bones, Weeds, Sopranos) Watching a season of TV soap in one sitting is like doing a really long movie. I got a smoking deal on a Sony PS3. Katie's friend Bryan works at EA games in Orlando, so I was almost a gaming beta test site. I also managed to cycle through two kegs of Fosters draft beer from the keg-or-ater on the back porch. I also learned how to make pie dough from the Julia Child's cook book. Can't imagine where the extra 15 pounds came from.
I re-connected with some Republican politics. I have been gone long enough where I notice some changes, or maybe I am the one changing? The big picture appears to be we are spending too much on everything and need to get things back under control. hard to disagree with mom and apple pie? Then there is the 'but'. Cutting all funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, and National Public Radio? Maybe we should look at a little redirection of priorities first? Anyone ever heard of Cosmo Medici? Then there is the assault on public education and teachers. You can cut anything for a while but at the end of the day a democracy only works if most of the people are smart enough not to get fooled all of the time. Wait, who said that. George Orwell?
Lots of folks are returning to the marina, new faces every day. The boat yard is running at a fever pitch launching boats out of winter storage. Boaters are working hard putting back all the stuff they took off three months ago before winter storage. and managing to break about half of it. 'Day camp' activities are revving up again as more boaters arrive. We did movie night on Wednesday, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 41 boaters signed up for the St. Patrick's Day Party - no green beer or corned beef, instead roast lamb and green pasticcio ice cream over fruit for desert and singing and dancing to live Irish music. We went to the symphony last night in Antalya - Romeo and Juliet. Tennis tournament runs today, West Side Story is coming up. Market day is Monday. we are looking forward to doing some cooking on the boat again but with the Turkish Lira moving in the right direction we got the Blue Plate lunch of two roast chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, broccoli, bread, tea, and a salad for about $6.50.