Fresh water springs and the Goodbye Party

6 April 2015
Yesterday was Easter Sunday.  One of the Dutch boaters in the marina announced on the VHF net yesterday that the town would have a 'parade' of sorts in celebration of Easter.  Supposedly they carry a coffin around the narrow winding streets as part of this Easter celebration.  She said the whole town participates and it would be interesting.  But we were too lazy to walk down to the town square so we missed it.  In honesty, we missed it for a couple of reasons.   We had no idea what time of day this 'parade of coffin' would occur.  It was a beautiful sunny day with still more wind than we would have liked.  That wind was really the reason we did not seek out that coffin parade.  It was far more pleasant to stay inside the boat.  This middle area of the Med sure is a windy place!  At least during winter and early spring, maybe it is calmer here during summer months; but we will never know because we will be long gone from here by then.  Three boats have already departed to start sailing season early.  It is still much too windy and cold for us but each day does seem ever-so-slightly warmer.  

This morning on the marina liveaboard VHF net 2 people announced that their folding bikes had been stolen overnight from the main center dock.  Apparently neither was locked, according to the owners.  Bill suggested that the habit of tying the gate open rather than keeping it locked might have contributed to these thefts, but his idea was poo-pooed by the net controller.  We all have transponders to gain access to the showers and toilets and to the gate that is supposed to control access to the docks.  The gate is supposed to remain locked but many of the bike riders like to tie that gate in open position so they can more easily ride back and forth.  I would prefer the gate remain locked to discourage local teenaged kids from coming onto the docks where our boats are berthed and where dozens of bicycles are kept on the docks.  But, hey, we don't own bikes so not our problem.  We leave nothing out to tempt theft. 

7 April 2015
The wind laid down overnight so early this morning we got the genoa back onto its foil.  It was so much easier to do in this 60F temperature than when we have had to do it in 85F.  I will be glad to have that sail bag out of the forward cabin where it has taken up so much space.  We bought a new bimini from Amel but we will continue to use the old one for a while longer and save the new one for later.  The new one needs zippers added to make installation on the frames easier.  Maybe we can find a canvas guy to add zippers when we do the routine haul-out next month in Malta. 

Note the 3 pale tan spots sanded smooth by our fenders

Fender board now in place

We had removed the fender covers when BeBe was moved to this berthing spot just before we left for the winter.  We were afraid that the fenders would rub the dock and destroy the fabric fender covers.  Turned out to be the right decision.  As you can see from this photo, our 3 fenders 'sanded' the wooden side of the dock smooth in a few places.  You can tell by the lighter color of the wood. Those fenders have much thinner sides now due to the rubbing motion all winter. We should have put up the fender board before we left for the winter to save wear and tear on the fenders.  It is up now though. (Now that it is no longer needed.)

When we moved the dinghy stowed on the foredeck in order to raise the genoa, we discovered that the hypalon tubing was rubbed raw in several places from the high winds all winter causing the dinghy to move slightly against the textured coach roof, even though it was securely tied tightly down with 3 lines.  Wore a hole in one tiny spot and roughed up the texture in numerous places.  That poor dinghy looks every day of its 12-year+ life span.  It truly looks sad.  We have always stowed the dinghy on the foredeck during winters and never had a problem of any kind doing so.  Just shows how nasty the winter winds are in this particular area of the Med.

8 April 2015
The marina diver was in the water for another boat this morning so Bill asked him to come to our boat when he finished there.  What a deal that turned out to be!  Instead of the usual minimum hour for 90 Euros, the diver charged us only 40 Euros for the half-hour that he cleaned our prop.  And he found a line wrapped around the prop and removed it!  That would have been a rude surprise when we leave the dock in a few weeks.  That line would have prevented the blades on our Auto-Prop from opening and spinning, resulting in not being able to propel the boat just when needed most in the confines of the marina.  Very thankful to the diver for his work this morning in the very cold water beneath our boat.

15 April 2015
Today was outboard day.  Last August or September when in Mljet, Croatia, our outboard quit.  After removing and inspecting lower unit and middle unit, we discovered that the allen key for the impeller had completely disappeared.  So Bill fabricated a key from a stainless steel bolt.  He ordered every part imaginable for that outboard while we were in Texas and we brought back bags of parts.  Today we once again disassembled the lower unit to replace the impeller, add correct rings and gaskets and replace the caveman key made from a bolt with the correct key.  All done and works like a charm once again. 

3 underwater springs.  Can you spot them?

2 of the springs are aligned with that stick marker between
them.  The 3rd is over at right edge of photo.

Marina di Ragusa has pretty clean water.  Much cleaner than most marinas this age.  I talked with the women in the office about this one day and was told that there are 3 underwater fresh water springs inside the marina that help keep the water so clean.  

A closer look at the 3rd spring which is closest to the dock.

Obvious 4th spring on western side of marina

One can easily see the 3 springs that the office staff mentioned.  These 3 springs are located on the eastern side of the main pontoon dock in the inner harbor area. 

These are small springs; nothing like the one we saw in Greece that was well over 100-ft diameter with very distinct edges. That one was really cool! 

Seriously!  How could we not have seen this spring earlier!

But there also is a 4th underwater fresh water spring.  I did not see this 4th spring when we were here in the autumn; I noticed this one right after our return arrival last month.  It also is located in the inner harbor area but on the far western side, opposite side from the marina office in the small boat docking area.  It is a 1/4 mile round-trip walk from our boat to the toilets and showers which are situated on the far western wall near where we were first docked, and we walk right past this spring daily.  



One day when the winds were relatively calm and waters flat inside the marina, this underwater spring was very noticeable.  

Since first noticing it, I cannot believe we had not noticed it earlier.   

Actually kind of hard to miss it.

Beginning to set up for B-B-Q

Last Saturday the marina hosted a 'Goodbye Barbeque' for all the yachties berthed here. They really did it up right, as we might say in Texas.  They set up on the ultra-wide main floating dock.  The big umbrellas were much appreciated on this sunny day.  (Although I still managed to burn a bit because it is so early in the season and we are still winter pale.)

Beer keg under this umbrella. It was the most popular
place on the dock.  Until about midnight!

Tables were set up for the food; even had fresh flowers on the tables.  

A keg of beer along with bartender to man the keg.  

Wine served and poured freely.  Along with bottles of water for those who did not imbibe.  

Almost finished setting up.  Just add the tables & chairs.

The marina provided the meats for barbeque as well as several other types of foods, including beautiful little pastries.  Everything was delicious.




Our contributions for the event were a couple batches of brownies to share, one batch made from Cadbury's cocoa and one batch from Italian cocoa.  The Italian cocoa is far superior!  Much darker and stronger rich flavor than the tasteless Cadbury's.  Also baked some cranberry/oatmeal bars to share, a new recipe that I will be baking again as these were surprisingly tasty and I have a few more bags of dried cranberries and plenty of pecans that I brought back from Texas.  And I made some deviled eggs to share.  Figured these things did not require cutlery or plates so would be easy to eat at a barbeque on the dock.

Judy chatting; having a good time

A great time was had by all, I think.  I talked for hours with a lovely woman from Cambridge. She taught English in Cambridge and now is teaching English as a personal tutor to the man who is in charge of this marina.  She introduced us to Julio.  I am not certain of his title but he is the man in charge of everything at this marina complex.  A nice man and his English already is good enough for conversation.

Had a good turn-out!

The marina surprised us by distributing door prizes.  I think there were 4 door prizes, the least of which was a dinner for 2 at the marina restaurant.  The second prize was 300 Euro discount on berthing here next winter season.  And first prize was 500 Euro discount on a haul-out here.  First Prize was won by Mario on Maltese Falcon. Those were some really nice door prizes!!  Many thanks to Julio!

And a great time was enjoyed by all.  Good food;
plenty to drink; and enjoyable conversation.
Photo taken from our mizzen deck.

At one point when people were beginning to clean up I was shocked to see a woman from one of the boats berthed here scrape food off a plate into the water!  I do not know who she was; but she was a yachtie and not an employee of the marina.  This absolutely shocked me; not surprised but shocked!  One does not throw food into the water in a marina.  How could anyone do that!!  We do not even pour the liquid from a used jar of pickles down the galley sink into the water in a marina.  So to see someone scraping parts of sandwiches and other partially eaten food directly into the water was positively shocking.  Please do not do this!  Marina waters get filthy fast enough without deliberately throwing garbage into the sea.  And do not think, "oh, I'm just feeding the fish" as that is not what you are doing; you are disposing of garbage into the sea.  

As noted previously in this blog posting, this particular marina has those fresh water springs and these help keep down marine growth on boat bottoms and propellers.  The clean water of this marina is one of its best assets.  Please do not throw garbage into the sea when within 12 NM of land as per international law.  Within 3 NM is okay only if the garbage is ground into particles less than 1-inch in size.  

The 3 parts of AeroPress coffee maker

On a few of the online sailing forums there have been discussions of what is the best coffee maker to have on a cruising sailboat.  Based on numerous glowing recommendations, I purchased an AeroPress while we were in Houston over the winter.  This is basically a tiny 3-part plastic device that makes individual cups of brewed coffee.  One places either a paper filter (required for the ultra-fine ground coffee sold here in Italy) or a metal disk filter (works well with normal grind versions of coffee sold elsewhere) into the tiny bottom part and screws it onto the main part.  Then spoon coffee into the top.  Place device over a coffee cup and pour in boiling water.  After 10 seconds, insert the plunger piece into the top section and press down to force any remaining water through the coffee grounds.  This is supposed to make up to 4 cups of espresso-level strong coffee.  For American style coffee, just add boiling water to each poured cup to desired strength.

This little contraption does make surprisingly good coffee.  Bill and I each drink one large mug of coffee each morning.  This little AeroPress makes exactly 2 large mugs following the process I described in the previous paragraph.  Having the used coffee grounds pressed into a small disk also makes for easy clean-up, something always appreciated in a boat galley.  I would recommend the AeroPress to any sailor looking for an easy way to make really good coffee.

Plunger section in place.
Be careful about that.

Just be sure you are awake and thinking clearly when you make that coffee.  One morning Bill let me sleep late and he made coffee.  Then he awakened me asking where I had put the top plunger part.  He had already taken the entire galley apart twice searching for it before he woke me up.  I looked in the normal places and still could not find it.  And then I looked at the AeroPress sitting on top of a coffee mug...with the water NOT dripping down into the mug.  Uh-oh!  Something was wrong.  Turned out that Bill had inserted the paper filter and screwed on the bottom piece.  Then put in a large scoop of grounds into the top and added the boiling water.  Except that the plunger section was in place!  So he had mistakenly added the coffee grounds and boiling water to the inside of the plunger section rather than into the main section.  

That water was not going to ever drip down into that mug.  

Poured it all out and started over the correct way.  

Another one of those things that I love about Amels

Yesterday, I tried to help someone with a refrigeration problem on a name-brand yacht. I was unable to get to the Danfoss compressor controller to do basic tests. The access panel the yacht builder provided was not big enough to get my hands through. I think that you probably remember my write-up on how to access the Amel refrigerator on a Super Maramu. One thumb nut and slide the entire thing out!

Today, our VHF radio suddenly quit. A check of the voltage, reflected no current going to the radio. The Sailor 6216 VHF radio is only about two years old.

\


I went to the DC-DC 24V to 12V Sailor transformers which I could access by removing two thumb nuts. They are mounted on a finished piece of mahogany plywood, with a long enough pigtail to set the entire thing on the nav-station stool. I noted the spare fuses Amel placed on the case of the first transformer, in case a fuse is blown. This is inside a fabric lined locker behind a mahogany door beneath the nav-station...open the door, remove two thumb nuts and pull the entire thing out to check fuses. Amel, yes...other boats, HA!



I opened the transformer labeled VHF. I found the fuse to be fine, but one of the power leads to the terminal-block was loose. The screw was tight and the wire-end properly soldered, but apparently when this was installed at Amel, the technician did not insert the wire-end under the screw before tightening. Clearly a mistake, but also easy to find and easy to fix.  I secured the wire and tested everything...OK. It took me a total of 5 minutes from start to finish. WOW!

Henri Amel is no longer with us, but the culture he instilled at the Amel yard will last forever...I hope! None quite like it!

Back at the boat

 After our last blog posting there was more of the same.  Just the things one does when visiting 'home' once per year.  We drove to Galveston several times for a night or 2 in a hotel and that is always fun.  

There was a really nice reenactment in period costume of Texas artillery during our war for independence from Mexico.  This was held on the dock next to the tall ship Elissa on the day of the opening of the new Texas Navy exhibit at the Seaport Museum.  Attendees were treated to a most informative speech and presentation by a historian about the ships of the Texas Navy.  Next year, for the very first time, information about the Texas Navy will be added to the history books that every 7th grade student in Texas is required to study.  About time!  And we also learned that during the Texas war for independence that the Yucatan peninsula sided with the Texians.  They did not want to be ruled by the Mexicans.  Two of the Texas Navy ships sailed down to Cozumel.  One of the captains went ashore and planted the new Texas flag, claiming the territory as property of the new Republic of Texas.  Wow!  Wonder how it ended up back in the hands of Mexico.  I assume because Texas did not push the matter and insist on their claim to this land after winning independence from Mexico.  We took a lot of photos of the costumed men and women firing the cannons but for some reason I cannot find any of those photos.

Bill and Elisabeth.  She is wearing flats and
he is 6-ft tall.  She is still only 13.
Going to be a tall woman.

We drove down to Corpus Christi one weekend.  That was fun, of course.  But someone in Corpus shared their upper respiratory virus with me.  On top of the bronchitis which I had enjoyed for several weeks prior to this trip.  After Corpus we drove up to east Texas to visit friends Barbara and Bob Bradford; and I then shared this virus with Bob.  Apologies to Bob.  We thoroughly enjoyed visiting with Barbara and Bob for a few days.  And especially enjoyed the fabulous steak dinner to which Bob treated us.  The restaurant owners must also own their own cattle ranch because the quality of that meat was way above prime.  I was so sick with the bronchitis and the added head cold that we cut our visit short and returned to Houston several days earlier than planned so I could visit my doctor.  Little good that did; the meds did not help much.





It was a good l-o-n-g visit to Texas.  Thanks much to Aaron and Lynn for putting us up and for putting up with us.  Very nice of them to open their home to us for 3 1/2 months.  We extended our visit for an extra couple of weeks so that I could be available to babysit the infant granddaughter, Rose, while her nanny took a holiday.  Since Rose is still too young to receive vaccinations for measles, she should not go to a day care facility.  There are just too many people not vaccinating their kids these days and measles is too contagious to take any chances.  Much better to keep the baby at home.  So we stayed a bit longer.  No hurry to get back to the boat anyway since we will remain docked until the end of April.

Rose Annette Rouse
Baptized Lutheran March 2015

Just before we left Houston Rose was baptized.  She wore the same baptismal gown as her elder sister.  None of us realized how much Rose resembles her sister at that same age until we pulled out photos of Elisabeth (BeBe) in her baptismal gown.  They look almost identical.  

Baptism naked

This church does baptisms differently than where the other grandkids were baptized or christened.  At this church the baby is stripped and dunked naked into the baptismal font.  Mom lowers the baby into the font and then the priest (or I guess he should be called the pastor?) uses his hand to pour water over the baby's head and face.  The water is heated and Rose loves baths, so there was no crying.  I sort of expected her to wave her hands and splash water all over everyone, but she did not.  She was a doll during what must have been a strange experience for her.  

Priest, Lynn, Rose, Aaron, Damien, Elisabeth (BeBe)

Afterwards a large group of us, mostly maternal relatives, went out for a celebratory lunch at a nearby restaurant.  I am glad we were able to share this day.



This turned out to be a perfect time in infant development for us to get to know Rose.  When we arrived she was sitting up.  During the time we were there she learned to crawl, pull up and walk, feed herself, wave bye-bye, and several other things.  She was not truly walking yet at 9 months of age, but she was taking a few steps when we left and you could see improvement in movements by the hour daily.  I was very glad to share those times with her.  Even though she will forget us long before we see her again in a year to 18 months or so.  At this time we have no idea when we will return to the states again; just know that we are crossing back to the Caribbean early January next year.

My baby turned 40 yrs old right before we left Houston

Travel back to Sicily was awful.  The worst travel experience thus far.  We bought tickets from Luthansa from Houston to Rome, with separate tickets from Alitalia from Rome to Catania.  Luthansa then changed our itinerary to be Houston to Washington DC to Frankfort to Rome.  With the first segment partnered to United.  When we checked in with United in Houston the counter agent said that United does not interline baggage with Alitalia, so our 3 overweight large bags could only be checked to Rome.  We had paid $100 for the extra 3rd bag and had weighed each bag to be sure each was 50 lbs or less.  Well, guess what.  Those bags weighed slightly different on the United scales at the counter.  One was 50.5 lbs; one was 52 lbs; and one was 54 lbs.  United wanted to charge us $108 per bag for being over 50 lbs.!  We balked at that and rearranged contents, ending up with 49 lbs in one bag; 50 lbs in second bag; and 61 lbs in the third bag.  Where that extra 3.5 lbs came from, I cannot fathom.  At any rate, we were only now supposed to pay $162 for the one overweight bag.  Why the overweight charge was now $162 rather than the $108 stated five minutes earlier; no idea.

Then the fun began.  I checked in with the two 50-lb bags and got a boarding pass.  But Bill could not check in because he was no longer shown as a passenger on the ticket.  An agent tried to fix the problem and was unsuccessful.  Another agent tried to fix it.  And then another agent tried.  Eventually they managed to print a boarding pass for Bill, but just for the first flight.  We would have to deal with Lufthansa in DC for the other boarding passes.  The good news was that during all this confusion, the agents forgot to charge us for the overweight bag.  Lucky us.

When we got to Luthansa gate in Washington DC, the Luthansa agent said that they DO interline with Alitalia and she re-checked our bags all the way to Cantania; and gave us new baggage claim check tickets.  She also encountered difficulty because Bill was no longer shown as a passenger on our tickets.  He showed up on the ticket and we had a printed copy of that, but in their computer system he was no longer shown as a passenger.  After much hassle they eventually got boarding passes printed for him for the flights to Frankfort and onward to Rome.

When we landed in Frankfurt, Luthansa was on strike.  Isn't that just great!  There were lists of flights that had been canceled due to the strike.  But we again lucked out.  An airline called German Wings (never heard of them) took over the Lufthansa flight to Rome on which we were ticketed.  We arrived in Rome right on schedule.  The Alitalia flight to Cantania also was right on schedule.  

We arrived as scheduled but our bags did not.  Not a single one.  We had arranged for a driver with an oversized vehicle for transportation from Catania airport to Marina di Ragusa.  This is a 2-hour drive and the large vehicle and driver cost 150 Euro.  Had we known there would be no baggage then we could have taken the bus for 10 Euro each.  And everyone knows how I hate to waste money.  The next day all 3 bags were delivered by courier to the marina.  And all 3 still had the original baggage claim tickets affixed.  The Lufthansa agent in Washington DC had failed to attach the new baggage tickets sending them onward to Catania.  We were very glad these bags were found so quickly because there were many boat items in those bags that we cannot purchase locally.  We would have been hard pressed to replace those lost items.

31 hours travel time from door to door, Houston to boat, for this trip.  Glad we will not be doing that again.  Ever.  Travel back home from the Caribbean is so much easier, and that will be our future.

BeBe was much cleaner than we expected to find her after such a long absence.  That was a nice surprise.  I felt like being on a charter boat at first.  Could not remember simple things like where I keep the salt and pepper.  Maybe it was jet lag.  We are settling back into boat routine and already looking forward to end of April when we will get moving once again.  I am ready to begin our passages towards Martinique and end of April seems a long time off.

And I already miss the kids and grandkids.  

BeBe docked at L2 berth in Marina di Ragusa

Back in Texas doing the 'time out' required by Schengen Treaty limitations

DIL Lynn and newest granddaughter Rose Annette Rouse
Christmas Day at home.

On 3 December 2014 we flew from Rome to Frankfurt to Houston to begin our mandatory 90 days out of the EU Schengen area.  Looking backwards 180 days (the requirement on any given day for Americans and most other foreigners visiting most of Europe), we had been within Schengen territory for a total of 87 days on the date of our departure in early December.  It was a good thing we did that little week trip to St. Petersburg, Russia, in October for our friend's wedding or we would have been a couple of days over the 90 day Schengen limit.  I thought we were being very careful about keeping the total number of days below 90 but we must have miscounted somewhere along the line.  But all is good that ends good, and our final count was 87 days in Schengen countries during the previous 180 days; so we were legal. The officials at the Frankfurt airport where we were officially stamped out of the EU did check my passport for dates during which I had been in EU.  I do not know if Bill's passport was also checked or not as we were in different lines and did not clear out together.  Europeans honestly have no idea how stressful this nonsense is for people like us who strive to always obey laws, even the silly ones.  I am so tired of dealing with and worrying about this.  It will be wonderful to say goodbye to the Med later this year and be done with it.

Us at the Texas Navy Admirals Ball

So we are in Texas until sometime later in the spring.  Not sure at this time of our exact return date to Sicily.  We had originally planned to return as soon as our 90-days out was up and then do some land travel around Italy or other places in Europe.  But after our Rome trip both of us have kind of lost all interest in doing the previously anticipated land travel.  Rome was fabulous and we are thankful for having the opportunity to visit that famous city.  But flying to Venice or taking the train around to various cities has just lost the appeal that it once held for us.  Guess we are just getting tired.  After all, we have been doing this for almost 9 years.  We are both really looking forward to a year from now when we will once again be back in cruiser friendly Caribbean.  With things like pot lucks and Mexican Train games and friendly socializing.  Something that does not happen in the Med with so many people who are not actually cruisers but more like local sailors.  After all, a Brit or German sailor in Italy is like a Floridian or Texan sailing to Maine or Maryland. Not real cruisers in my opinion. It is a different attitude entirely.  Merely sailing in an area of their home country.  Since the EU is supposed to be a country these days and those 'countries' we previously knew as countries are now merely states of the EU.

A few of the dancers in front of band at Admirals Ball

Bill has had numerous medical appointments the past month.  Gratefully, he continues to remain 100% cancer free.  We were not worried about a recurrence but it is wonderful to have confirmation that he remains healthy.

Me, towering over 2 of the other guests.  The woman
on the right also is an Admiral in the Texas Navy.

I celebrated another birthday a few days after we arrived home.  Unlike some of the folks back in the marina where we left BeBe for the winter, I have no hang-ups about getting older.  As Bill's step-mother was fond of pointing out, there is only one alternative to aging and it is not desirable.  People who think getting old is a bad thing need attitude adjustments.  As part of my birthday celebration we decided to attend the Texas Navy Admiral's Ball.  As some of our readers and friends might or might not know, Bill was appointed by the Governor to the position of Admiral in the Texas Navy several years ago. Each December there is an annual black-tie ball which is held in Galveston.  This is the first opportunity that we have had to attend one of these balls.  As Bill said, we were celebrating my birthday, Christmas season and breathing -- and not necessarily in that order.  We stayed the weekend at Moody Gardens Hotel.  A lovely weekend vacation.

Bill on left chatting with fellow Admirals.

Did I hear someone say: "Texas has a navy?"

Well, yes.  Yes, we do.  Because when Texas was a sovereign country prior to joining the United States, the country of Texas had a navy.  When Texas joined the USA, that navy was never formally disbanded.  Therefore, it continues to exist today.  It has no ships anymore.  And is not supported by taxpayers.  Today it is a volunteer organization which strives to educate about the Texas Navy and its importance in Texas gaining independence from Mexico to form the Republic of Texas in 1836.

"The Texas Navy...It's no exaggeration to say that without it there would probably have been no Lone Star Republic and possibly the State of Texas would still be part of Mexico."

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. 1936

More info here:   https://texasnavy.org/

The first afternoon we just drove around Galveston revisiting memories and enjoyed good seafood.  Checked on the house we purchased last year and leased.  We did not bother the property manager or the tenant; just drove by to confirm it looked okay from the street.  We learned a few days ago that the tenant has decided to renew his lease for another year.  Yay!  One less thing to think about while we are off cruising.

The next day we toured the tall ship Elissa once again and visited the Seaport Museum.  Before we began cruising Bill volunteered and crewed about the Elissa.

http://www.galvestonhistory.org/attractions/maritime-heritage/1877-tall-ship-elissa

If one volunteers a certain number of hours each year, then that volunteer crew member gets to sail on the Elissa when she goes out from dock into the Gulf of Mexico, usually once per year.  At least that was the program back when Bill crewed on that 1877 barque and climbed those old masts to bend square-rigged sails.  Again, fond memories.

The board of directors held the annual meeting for the Texas Navy at the Seaport Museum.  It was our first time to attend one of these meetings.  It afforded us a better understanding of the organization and how it is operated.  During that board meeting we also learned of a museum in Austin with which we were not familiar.  It is a museum honoring Texans of various military forces.  We hope to make a trip to Austin to visit this museum soon.

http://texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/

The ball was fun, good band for dancing, delicious meal, enjoyable conversation.  I got a kick out of some of the 'admirals uniforms' worn by a few of the men.  Each admiral can design a uniform to his/her liking and some of them were eye-catchers!  There also were a number of men in Naval or Marine formal uniforms.  Bill wore his regular tuxedo, like most of the other guys present.  It was a nice evening chatting, eating, drinking and dancing. 

The man seated to my left at the dinner table was a Marine officer.  I am terrible about not remembering military ranks and remember neither his name nor his rank.  But...man!....did he get hot under the collar when the flags were presented by the local branch of the Coast Guard cadets.  One of the event organizers told the 4 flag bearers to change positions for some unknown reason.  The flags were presented with the Texas Navy flag to the right, with the Texas flag to its left; with some other flag to the left of that; and then the US flag on the far left.  Oh boy!  That is wrong!!!  No flag is EVER supposed to be presented positioned to the right of the American flag.  Never.  Under no circumstances.  Anywhere.  Period.

And, oh, did those seated at our table hear the venting from this Marine officer about this breach of protocol.  He was very upset.  Later, he sought out the cadets who presented the flags and dressed them down harshly.  Then he sought out the organizers for the event and vented further.  I would not be surprised if he did not follow up the next week and contact the commanding officers of the 4 cadets who presented the flags.  He made it his mission to make sure that everyone involved in this faux paus never does something like that again.

Admiral Nick Ricco performed the formalities for the 'Table for One' ceremony.  This is touching ceremony.  It is also called the Missing Man Table Ceremony.  Here is a link which provides an example of this ceremony.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YMgkqJ1skc&feature=channel&list=UL

Sunday morning after the ball there was a brunch for the members of the Texas Navy which was held at The Artillery Club in Galveston.  Oh my!  Of course we had to go to that function too!  The Artillery Club is the oldest private club in Texas.  It is oh-so-exclusive!  Only 100 members are allowed.  I do not know if one also must be a BOI but would not be surprised if that is a requirement for membership.  For those unfamiliar with eccentricities of Galveston, a BOI means 'Born On Island' --- one is inconsequential if one is not a BOI.   At least in the eyes of all the other BOIs.  Obviously, we are not members of The Artillery Club.  That is another world from our lives.  Scroll down in this link and read the marker text for an explanation of this exclusive club.  http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM15M5

Brunch was good; not at all what we expected.  They served cheese grits (delicious!!!) and a type of steak and gravy dish, accompanied by various types tiny biscuits and fruits and a few other things.  I do not remember ever being served cheese grits and steak with gravy for a brunch.  We were seated next to a nice couple from Houston who had lots of funny stories to tell.  The brunch surprisingly turned out to be more fun than the ball the previous evening.

Duane, Lauren, Trey, Theo's back, John, Boyd, David.
With Zachary barely visible on other side of Theo.
And Bill seated in chair on far right.

Christmas came and went.  

Once again we had 26 people gathered for a too-loud, too-crowded, and too-quickly-over holiday dinner celebration.  There are still children in the family so Christmas still is a magical time.  This was first Christmas for our 7-month-old granddaughter, Rose Annette Rouse.  

Duane, Lauren and her mom Teresa

It was over too fast and I did not get to visit with everyone as much as I would have liked.  Maybe we can get together with a few of the people on a quieter, less crowded, level before we return to Sicily in the spring and enjoy visiting and catching up on each other's lives.

Bill's brother John.  My brother Boyd and his wife Cheryl

Last weekend we once again went to Galveston, just for a night to get away by ourselves. Yesterday we attended a memorial service for one of Bill's lifelong friends.  He was a high school classmate who will be missed.  One of those people who everyone loved.  A special guy who died far too young.

DIL Kristina on right.
 Her sister Krystal on left.
With their mom Keena in center.

Abigail on left.  Her mom Krystal in center.
And granddaughter BeBe (Elisabeth) on right.

Our elder son Trey
carving beef roast

Grandson Sebastian.  All grown up and almost finished
with that college degree!

Grandson Zachary as
Batman

They are all fascinated by something on that TV or computer.
Younger son Aaron, grandson Zachary, grandson Damien.
With Daniel, Zachary's maternal cousin, standing behind them.

This weekend our brother and sister-in-law are hosting several of us at the Houston Symphony for a Mozart operetta.  Bill detests opera but he is going to placate me.  And the early teen-aged grandkids have never attended an opera, although they both enjoy symphonies.  I'm looking forward to this event.  

And that sums up the first 6 weeks of this visit to Texas.