All the sewing is done, all the gifts wrapped, AND they've been shipped. Praise the Lord!!! Now I can do a little baking, enjoy the Christmas parties, visit a couple friends and get packed for my trip north.

Last night I volunteered at La Taberna with Josh, and it was fun chatting with folk who came in from the Christmas bustle on St George Street. Some were taking a break from shopping, some had come to St. Augustine for a little vacation before the holiday, one couple had just gotten married, some had kids who enjoyed playing Shut the Box. Josh was serving up some mighty fine hot chocolate along with the seasonal hot sangria. You should stop in some evening and enjoy the ambiance along with a glass or mug of your favorite brew.

I've been doing a lot of sewing for Christmas and to keep myself company while I do it, I've been watching a DVD set of Bob Hope's USO Christmas tours in Vietnam. I always enjoyed watching Bob Hope's tours on TV back when they were originally aired and I miss them now that he's gone, so it's been enjoyable to see them again. Most of the time, I'm busy sewing so I'm just listening, not watching, but one thing stands out and I find myself putting my sewing down and stopping to watch. In the midst of all the humor, the pretty women singing and dancing and commentary on the war itself and the sacrifices the soldiers make, Bob Hope ends every show with the singing of Silent Night, inviting the soldiers to join in. That's when my hands become idle as I listen to thousands of men singing one of my favorite Christmas hymns. In the midst of everything they are living through, they come together in this one moment. I know that it's a Christian hymn and our military is made up of Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics and even atheists, but somehow, that moment still feels like a moment of unparalleled unity. Vietnam is a long time ago in a distant past most would like to forget, but our young men and women are still out there defending what so many of us take for granted, in places just as hostile and far from home as Vietnam was in the 60s. Right after they sing Silent Night, the tape ends with visits to the wounded men, and the price our young people have paid then and are still paying now is reinforced. On one tape, Bob Hope comments that the tour was finally headed home in a convoy of three planes: theirs with the USO troup, followed by one carrying the wounded, and lastly, by one bearing those who will never feel pain again. It's a sobering moment. I know that this year, as I kneel in a safe, warm church on Christmas Eve and hear the congregation join in the words of Silent Night, I'll be thinking of our soldiers, airmen, Marines, sailors, coast guardsmen and reservists. I'll be thinking of how far they are from home and that they are there for me, preserving the freedom and the way of life I enjoy. I'll be thinking of their families who are missing them and of those who won't be coming home again. God Bless you all and thank you for your service.

You just never know who you might meet on a Saturday night at La Taberna del Gallo! This is Captain Mayhem, one of  St Augustine's better known pirates. We also had live entertainment this Saturday - a Spanish guitarist and his son on drums. It was a busy night, what with the parade of boats all lit up for Christmas in the harbor and all. Some Saturday, you should come on down and check La Taberna out.

Somehow, on my way back home, I managed to drop my wrap and when I remembered it, late LATE at night, I went back to see if I could find it. Didn't luck out there, but it was interesting having St George Street all to myself . . . well me and the resident ghosts that is.
 

 
Two weeks ago, St Augustine began their Christmas festivities with a night of turning on the Christmas lights. St George Street is bustling with folks on holiday and locals shopping in all the neat shops. But one of the best places to hang out is La Taberna del Gallo - lit at night with candles and lanterns and serving up a great sangria along with selected beer on tap, wine and cider, the place has the greatest ambiance. And if you're lucky, you'll pick a night the Bilge Rats are singing.

Last night I dressed out and attended a lovely dinner put on by the folks from the Spanish bakery, then watched the Grand Illumination - British Night Watch parade which commemorates the years 1763 to 1783 when St Augustine was under the rule of the British. Playing tavern wench at La Taberna is always fun, but last night was especially exciting with standing room only most of the night capped off with the singing of the Bilge Rats. One of these nights, if you've never been to La Taberna, come on by and experience tavern life as you would have had you lived in 1740.

Me with Theresa, Jacqui, Juliana and Lynn

I had a marvelous trip to Maryland to spend Thanksgiving with my children and grandchildren. Lots of good food (of course) but even better company.

               
Lynn, Jack,               Philip                     Kit with his girlfriend Nara
Natalie,
Juliana & Jacqui

Fortunately, I'd finally finished my current work in progress and since I have a editor critique lined up, I now have to get my synopsis in order and get it off to her. Maybe this will be the one to get me published. Or perhaps it will be the single title I just sent off a partial to an agent on. Either way, both of my 2011 projects are done and out the door so now I can focus on a mountain of sewing projects for Christmas gifts, get my shopping done, the Christmas cards and the wrapping. And there is always the lure of the sea and the beach to walk every day. Life just doesn't get much better than this. And lurking in the back of my mind is the next writing project. I'm just getting to know my characters and the plot comes in bits and pieces. Come the start of the new year, I'll be ready to begin writing again.

So get busy everyone - lots of shopping to be done, Santa's visit to prepare for and family to enjoy. And for those who have no family, I pray the season will bring you some other blessing. One last thing, for our soldiers serving here and anywhere in the world, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families too.

MacDuff and I went to the inland waterway side for our walk this evening and watched the sun go down. Summer Haven is a pretty special place to live: sunsets over the ocean in the morning, sunsets over the river in the evening and half a dozen different beaches to walk on depending on my mood, the weather and the tides. What more could I want?

Well, for one thing, I could be published in novel length fiction by now. I do want that, and I'm working hard toward that goal. I just finished by latest WIP and I'm feeling a little bereft. It's like these really neat people I liked a lot and who's company I enjoyed every day have suddenly pulled up stakes and moved to California. I know they're still there, but I'm not going to see them any more. Of course, there's the synopsis to write and the book itself to edit and peddle, but the story's been told and at the moment, at least, until I begin the next one, I'm feeling a little sad.

I read a quote today I wanted to share with you, by William Arthur Ward.
"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

I used to walk along a little road down the middle of the dunes toward that little round dome of a house. You can see a bit of the road just across the NEW inlet to the river (the river is to the right, out of sight), but the rest of the road has been swallowed by the sea just as the dunes were. This photo was taken from where that road used to be, well above the reach of the sea, but my feet were in the water today.
When I first moved to Summer Haven this little house was completely buried in the dunes. Then a tiny bit of the front wall began to show. First a few feet, then more. Eventually the whole front wall higher than head height showed and the front stairs appeared. This past summer parts of the sides of the house began to show as unusually high tides swept away sand and dune. Then we had one northeast storm after another. The first uncovered the old septic tank. The next tumbled the front wall onto the sand. This last one completely destroyed the house and carried away all the dune that once surrounded it and this is all that's left. I wonder how long it will be before the dome house and the dunes around it are swallowed by the sea or washed into the river beyond?

Someone suggested downloading Angry Birds to my new phone. Didn't do it - at least not yet, as I've heard that really REALLY takes over your life. But I did sync the new gadget with my Kindle so I can read books on it. And there's the scrabble games I've got going and the endless chat with my kids. Seems to me, before long they will pack so much into such a small item that we can do away with computers, phones, books, the TV and who knows what else. I wonder if I could teach it to drive the car so I can nap on long trips?

I got my new iPhone yesterday. Wow! What an amazing little gadget. And what a huge learning curve for the technically challenged like me!  I blew away half the morning in a chat with my kids while they coached me on a bunch of stuff like adding emoticons, figuring out how to access the family website, playing scrabble and a number of other things. And that was after I spent the entire afternoon yesterday just setting stuff up. I think the passwords are going to do me in, though. If only I could just establish ONE password, but NO! Everyone wants different parameters so they are all different. And if I write them down and carry them around in the case, what good is that? Anyway, I expect that very soon, I'm going to wonder how I ever lived without the thing. Whatever happened to the Pony Express? In the mean time, learning how to use this is taking over my life. That and all the fun chatting with my kids I can do now.

A gray rainy day here in Summerhaven. Good day to get caught up on all those indoor chores. Better, however, than the snow I'd have been shoveling if I still lived in New England. Some of those folk are still without power and the kids are going to be trick or treating in the snow.