Bob and I awoke Nov. 7 and said we were proud to be Minnesotans!  Marriage Amendment defeated!  I ran in the Big Gay Race, we attended many VOTE NO rallies, we called, we wore our bracelets/T-shirts and gave dollars...and we succeeded!

Halloween night, two little Princesses ready to go begging for candy door to door; Amelia asked me to make a pink Cinderella dress for Evie-"like the mice made" so here are the two Cinderellas.  Ted's yard decorated with pumpkins with VOTE TED carved in them-as election day was 6 days away!

Another MN milestone...Bob got a new car!  Yay!  We love our little Mini Cooper, his former car, lovingly called "Hooptie" is in a new family that needed transportation to work and was short of funds to buy a car.    

The outcome for Teddy...Ted Wins!  A dedicated City Council person will be sworn in Jan 1, the town is excited to have Ted present fresh ideas with his passion for Stillwater.

Veda L tied to the dock at Sunrise Bay Marina in Stuart, freshly waxed, shiny chrome outside, new fridge, new microwave, new freezer and totally clean...was good to be home!

Our last night in Stuart; we celebrated getting all our provisioning done & cataloged, Bob has the boat ship shape and ready to point her south.  I was a little nervous about leaving at high tide with the current pushing us off the dock in a narrow channel lined with boats where we had to spin our 48' around, but Bob studied the situation, set lines appropriately, gave me my instructions and we left Stuart without a hitch at 7:15 am.-Pompano Beach tonight...  Oh me of little faith.  Capt knows what's up. :)

Compass Cay to Emerald Bay

"Baby Turtle" (about 2' in diameter) Bob found under a ledge near Hetty's Land (near Black Point) when hunting for Grouper,  Bob popped up and said "Quick, hand me your camera!"  Good call and Good shot Bob...  better to "shoot" a picture than a Grouper for dinner?  

 One Lion Fish down...hundreds of thousands to go!  This was our first Lion Fish dinner, Bob was carefully shearing the poisonous fins off it, once it had it's haircut it looked like a footfall with a big mouth!  A very tasty fish, looking forward to getting enough of them to make ceviche.

 Bob has been spending WAY too much time down here...our very clean engine room that has been getting a lot of attention lately.  John James, our Emerald Bay mechanic and Bob are putting the generator back together right now and we hope that very soon we will be looking at the island below shown on our chart from Fernadez Bay...  Land of Ericka Harris, new Mother of little Michael Navin Harris.  The chart shows the location of their grocery store, "Issies Store"  I have finished all but my last elective for my WI real estate license, and though all course work can be dreadful, at least my view is better than a MN classroom!

Finally...leaving for Cat Cay on Wednesday!

We left MN on Nov 2, flying to Florida to board Veda L after she had her mechanical face lift , thinking we  would go cruising; well, the Gods had other plans.  We attempted a crossing from Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove/Miami to Bimini on 12/24 only to have our radar go out, and when returning to Dinner Key we had transmission problems.  We left Veda L in the capable hands of our friend (and delivery Capt when we got Veda L) Dan Himes, so that the transmission/radar would be taken care of while we went home and took our annual Aruba trip.   Linda enjoyed Aruba for Carnaval  and Bob enjoyed a month of fabulous windsurfing.  Returning to MN I enjoyed my total immersion into my Grandchildrens lives again (God how I miss them) we left again for Coconut Grove/Dinner Key on March 22.   YAY, we actually got to Bimini to clear customs, then on to Chub Cay where we discovered that our bow thrusters were not working.  So, onto Nassau where we got "the best" electrician to work on them, the day after having them "fixed" the wiring caught fire due to an improper wiring.  Bob smelled smoke as he came out of the shower and I thought I had burned a batch of cookies....he lifted the hatch to access the batteries for the bow thrusters (under our bed) and saw flames.  Jeez Us, if the fire would have happened when we were not on board we would have lost our boat and our cat (love child) Buddy!  We were very, very lucky!  So, we then flew in a mechanic who had previously worked on Veda L from FL, he brought the proper parts and after two days, we were once again ready to try this cruising thing!

(These two photos were taken while on Cat Island a couple years ago, and we really want to get back there next week!)

From Nassau we cruised to Compass Cay, had a wonderful couple of days there seeing old friends, but wanted to get to Emerald Bay which is on Great Exuma, to ready ourselves for a lengthy cruise. Halfway to Emerald Bay our generator quit working.  (Honestly...we really couldn't even believe it!)   Once we got to Emerald Bay we spoke to a marina employee who is very well certified in marine mechanics, and he assured us that he could get us running and on our way again, so more parts have been ordered, they flew in yesterday, and as I type John James (our Hero) is down below with Bob and it sounds good......  We have been in Emerald Bay now since Thursday 4/5,  and eight days is just long enough to overstay our welcome here!  Great friends at the marina that are probably getting tired of us; but I am completing my continuing ed credits needed to retain my real estate license, a better view however than any classroom I have been in!

As John James was leaving this evening, he invited us to attend church with his family tomorrow evening, a Pentecostal Church, where he will be playing his steel drum during the service.  Another interesting night ahead!

We plan on leaving Wednesday, and with any luck at all we will stay on Cat Island for at least a couple of weeks and really explore the land and sea that comprise this little piece of paradise!  

http://stillwater.patch.com/articles/photo-gallery-the-stillwater-harvest-fest-pumpkin-regatta#comments

You might say that I am anxious to get back on the river! So anxious that I just entered a Pumpkin Regatta for our local Harvest Fest; and guess what? I won! Well, actually I called it a tie as my friend dumped his pumpkin just before the finish line but he showed perseverance by continuing on with vigor using his pumpkin for a raft! Good fun for all, and gee are those pumpkin guts slippery!

We are on our way "down yonder" as of 11/5/2010! We packed the rental car, drove to Iuka MS non-stop, arriving at Aqua Yacht Harbor a little past midnight. Veda L had an overhaul, was freshly waxed and shiny, new bottom paint, cap-rails in perfect condition, now to unload the gypsy wagon (rental car) which was packed to the hilt. While returning the car the following day I saw a sign that said "Coon Dog Cemetery"......now who could resist? BOB could! He does not share my affinity for cemeteries which I love to meander through at every chance I get. Now....a coon dog cemetery, "come on! As you can see, I did make it there, albeit the next day, sans Bob. The top tombstone was one of my favorites out of the 185, "he was good as the best and better than the rest"
Every single one of the plots had flowers on it, so it was really beautiful up on that ridge overlooking the valley below. Now getting there was an adventure, and without google maps I would not have found it as directions given also rely on road signs, which there were none. So I followed the squiggly line and when I saw my dot stray, I turned around and corrected. I passed over Lurleen Buzzard Roost Creek, which was not a lick away from a sign posted on a gate with the scrawled message of "Nothin' here worth yer life!" which did stop me from snapping a photo, keep on goin' Linda Lou... A ramshackle barn next to an almost as bad house held a beautiful metallic bass boat glittering in the sunlight; the man has his priorities. Bless his heart.

When Bob and I spotted the sign to the Coon Dog Cemetery I had commented that it was probably the ONLY one in the world, and you are going to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity? His response was "Yes" Well, can you believe it; when I arrived at the spot, what sign should I see...Yep, "Only Cemetery of its Kind in the World" It was a beautiful drive getting there, I was wishing for my Audi to take the tight turns, hills and valleys, rather than the lumbering Aqua Yacht Harbor van, but you know what they say about beggers being choosers. At least it gave me a local look! On the way back to the boat I stopped at the Piggly Wiggly for provisions, the young man bagging my groceries looked at my Beefsteak Rye Bread and said "This is sure good with gravy on it" I said "just what is not good with gravy on it? "

While Bob was checking out the new engine on the tender, he sees a 32' Island Gypsy Trawler dock three boats up from us; could it be? Yes it is! Our first boat, (my training wheels as he called it) our first boat where we had gotten married on the aft deck, sold to my Sis and Hubby, now owned by Will from Chicago, renamed her Therapy. You can imagine the fun reunion as we introduced ourselves as the original owners and showed wedding photos of us being married on her. He thanked us for having heat installed as we were experiencing 28 degrees that morning. Therapy is heading for Key Largo for the winter to have rehab work done, but will live in Chicago.

Ah, a little fall color at Midway Marina as we came in to dock, I had to hurry with the dock lines as I could see the low light hitting the trees along the shoreline, I caught this just as the sun set behind me. Then it was a rush for the running shoes so I could finish a run while I could still distinguish goose droppings from mud.....As I write this we are at Columbus Marina where we ended our trip in the spring, tonight we will anchor at Sumter Landing, if we can get in the entrance which can be silted in, otherwise we will anchor atCooks Bend, then on to Demopolis. As we say...Life is Swell on Veda L!

We are on our way "down yonder" as of 11/5/2010! We packed the rental car, drove to Iuka MS non-stop, arriving at Aqua Yacht Harbor a little past midnight. Veda L had an overhaul, was freshly waxed and shiny, new bottom paint, cap-rails in perfect condition, now to unload the gypsy wagon (rental car) which was packed to the hilt. While returning the car the following day I saw a sign that said "Coon Dog Cemetery"....now who could resist? BOB! He does not share my affinity for cemeteries which I love to meander through at every chance I get, now...a Coon Dog Cemetery, com'on....not to be missed. As you can see I did make it! The top tomb stone was one of my favorite, of the 185, "he was good as the best and better than the rest" Every single one of the plots had flowers on it, so it was really beautiful up there on a ridge overlooking the valley below. Now getting there was another thing, if it were not for google maps I would not have found it, I had directions on google but of course the roads were missing all the signs; so left on "Coon Dog Cemetery Rd" didn't mean much. So, I followed the squiggly line and when I saw my dot stray from the line I turned around and got back on track. I passed over Lurleen Buzzard Roost creek, which was not a lick away from a sign posted on a gate with the scrawled message of "Nothin here worth your life" which stopped me from snapping a photo, keep on a goin' Linda Lou... A ramshackle barn next to a almost as bad house held a beautiful metallic bass boat glittering in the sunlight; the man has his priorities.

When Bob and I spotted the sign to the Coon Dog Cemetery I said "You are really going to miss the only opportunity you may ever have to miss what is probably the one and only Coon Dog Cemetery IN THE WORLD??" His response...."Yes" Well, can you believe it, when I arrived at the spot, what sign should I see...Yep, "Only Cemetery of it's kind In The World" A beautiful spot, a fun drive...just wish I was driving my Audi around those tight curves and up and down the hills instead of the lumbering Aqua Yacht van....but you know what they say about beggars not being choosers! On the way back to the boat I stopped for provisions, bought a nice little ham to slice up for ham sandwiches and some Beefsteak Rye Bread, the darling checkout lad commented as he put it in my bag "This shure is good with gravy on it" My response "What isn't good with gravy on it?" Nice place Iuka!

While Bob is checking out the new engine on the tender he sees an Island Gypsy dock three boats up from us; could it be? Yes it is! Our first boat (my boating training wheels) our Island Gypsy 32 that we got married on, sold to my sis and husband, now owned by Will from Chicago, and the boat is renamed Therapy. You can imagine what a fun reunion we had as we introduced ourselves as the original owners, showing Will wedding photos of us being married on the aft deck. He said he was glad that Therapy was from MN and had a heater as they were sure enjoying it in our 28 degree morning. She is headed for Key Largo for the winter and rehab work, but will live in Chicago. We hope to stay in touch.

Ahhh, a little fall color left, a brilliant scene as the last sunlight hit this stand of trees just before sunset as we pulled into Midway Marina. A few minutes later I was finishing my run around the lake not knowing if I was hitting or missing the goose droppings...time to quit. As I write this we are at Columbus Marina where we ended our last trip, tonight will be Cooks Bend, then on to Demopolis. As we say....LIFE IS SWELL ON VEDA L!