Firsts and Lasts

As y'all know, we got back to Banana Bay at noon on Wednesday.  After five loads of laundry, the best hot shower in over a week, and a burger from Brutus' for dinner, by Weds. night, we were done in.  In fact, we all (Willis included) did the sleep of the dead- 11 hours!  The boys look so peaceful...nothing like the previous night on passage.  Love. Them. Both.

Thursday seemed to be a bit of a lost day as well.  We got off to a late start, and in the words of our good buddy Danny, we "started slow and tapered off!"  I managed to clean up the boat inside some more, put all of the laundry away, went through a pile of mail, and paid some bills.  Donnie gave Marquesa a thorough scrubbing on the exterior getting the layers of salt off of her.  Even the canvas tops needed scrubbed, from the waves that crashed over us.  She looks happily docked now :) 

Our first "last" was meeting Kenny and Fran at Salty's on Thursday night to hear Gary Bush and his band, "Just Practicing". They are really incredible, and Donnie and I had fun dancing our flippie flops off.  After the second set though, we were beat, and called it a relatively early night, again.  One night without sleep is a killer for us any more!  It takes us at least two days to recover. We must be showing our age.  Boo to that.

This morning, we got up early as we had things to accomplish before 10am...Donnie was going fishing, and I was heading to Key West for the day with Fran.  A trip to the bank and grocery was the first order of business.  I then stopped by Yanmar Diesel to see Luis about Bessie.  She's working beautifully, no problems there, but he had told us to call him once we had 50 hours on the new engine as she would require a valve adjustment.  We actually have 74 hours now, after our Gulf coast cruise, so I made arrangements to get a technician out here on Tuesday or Wednesday of this next week.  A quick stop at our favorite Cuban restaurant, and I got us both a Cuban coffee and some guava pastelos to fuel us through the morning.  I can assure you, that was not my "last" Cuban coffee- not yet!

The first "first" of the day was buying a new dinghy motor!  One Gallon Don and Kevin had a little 3.5 hp Mercury that has barely been used.  Yes, it may be a bit slower overall, than the one Cap'n fed to King Neptune a few nights ago.  However, it is very light (about 35lbs) so even I can lift it up to the cockpit where it is stored on the stern rail.  After Kevin cleaned the carburetor, it starts with just one pull and runs like a top, so we are pleased.  We really didn't need the dink to plane out.  Honestly, when we go gunkholing around in the dink, we are sightseeing anyhow, or simply using the dink to get to shore from an anchorage.  I think the new little Mercury is going to suit our needs just fine.  He just seems like a "he", so I shall name him Maynard.  And we got one major item checked off the to-do list with another trip to the bank!

At 10am, Donnie left to go fishing with Kenny and Rupert, and Frannie and I headed to Key West for a girl's day out.  Though I have been to Key West many times before, it has always been with a purpose- like going to the Kino's sandal factory.  Today was another "first"... Key West with no agenda whatsoever... just a day to stroll.  It was heavenly to have a day of total leisure.  Another "first" for me was a trip to the top floor of La Concha Hotel.  I've always wanted to do it, and just never have. Though only seven stories tall, it is the tallest building in Key West, and the view from the top is spectacular.

It was a "first" for Fran, too.  We really enjoyed it.

Around every corner was another vista of the city, and it was gorgeous.  The harbor was filled with sailboats :)

Some of my favorite things....the lighthouse, one of the many churches, and a cruise ship LEAVING, taking all the drunken, sunburnt passengers with them!  I know I breathe easier when Duvall Street isn't shoulder to shoulder with stupid drunk people. It just made the sightseeing and window shopping so much more enjoyable for me.

While I have eaten at Fogerty's many times before, I always get the Mahi Mahi fish sandwich that is as big as your head.  As a "first", I tried the Chinese Chicken salad, and Fran had some type of salad with sirloin tips. These salads were also as big as your head, and fabulous!  We should have split one.  I highly recommend this place if ever you're in Key West.

And, the biggest "first" of all....I bought ("invested") in my first piece of artwork!  Donnie and I have strolled through the many galleries in Key West, but have never purchased anything.  It is by Steve Harlan- look him up- he does beautiful work.  The painting is called Midnight, and it is a solitary sailboat, at anchor, by the light of the moon.  It is a scene that Donnie and I have lived aboard Marquesa hundreds of times.  There is something so incredibly peaceful and serene being the only boat in an anchorage, by the light of the moon, with the water lapping gently against the hull, and a breeze blowing down the hatches.  It is captured perfectly in this painting.  It is being commissioned, so I will likely wait 6-8 weeks before it is shipped to us.  I'm anxious to see which number I get out of 250!  I plan to redo the master bedroom around this painting....I'm getting rid of the excess furniture and clutter, changing the bedding, and placing this painting where we can look at it before we go to sleep each night.  It will sustain us for those eight months that we work like crazy people to have the money to come and live aboard Marquesa for the other four months out of the year.  I cannot wait to receive it in the mail :)



Now you want to hear the really craaaaaazy part to this story?  My husband was in Key West on a boy's trip last year with Kenny and his son, Ken Jr.  They went into this same gallery, and Donnie called Kenny over to see this very same painting as it is so simple, yet unusual.  The painting is done on aluminum, and it just seems to glow.  When I first saw it today on an easel, I even walked behind it, as I thought it was backlit.  No, it just seems to glow.  This very same painting that caught Donnie's eye a year ago, and now will be in our home this summer!  Life is serendipitous like that sometimes.  Donnie and I call those "Celestine Prophecy" moments.  I love it.

As for a few more "lasts"....

I had my last gelato, from my favorite gelato place on Duvall Street.  Emily and Ellen know the place- we never miss an opportunity for some gelato from there when we visit Key West.

And this evening, my honey and I took a walk on the Seven Mile Bridge to see the sunset.  I hope this isn't our last one, but things are about to get crazy busy getting Marquesa ready and moved to her summer/fall home on the canal on Angler Drive.  I have only five sunsets left to savor before we head for home this coming Thursday.  Boo to that, too.

After our sunset stroll on the Seven Mile Bridge, we went to Sparky's for the "last" time to share a plate of hot wings, have a cold drink, and dance to the band in our flippie flops again.  Dancing with my honey always make me happy.  We need to do more of that back home in Indiana.

So, Donnie and Ken caught two black fin tuna today, out in the Gulfstream.  He was hoping for a dolphin fish (mahi mahi), that would have been a "first" for him, but beggars can't be choosers.  He had a great time with the boys, which may be the "last" fishing trip he gets to take this season.

Tomorrow it's back to the grind...not that I'm complaining!  The bad news is I plan to clean and oil the teaks topside, and if I feel really industrious, polish the stainless steel all around up top, too.  The good news is I get to do it in my bikini to catch some more Florida sun :)  Not a bad way to work....

Willis is already in bed; I need to go reclaim my spot.  G'nite, y'all!