Season’s Greetings

IMG_9964Although we knew this would be a very different Christmas for us away from family, friends, and familiar surroundings, we had expected that any longings for those would be more than offset by Ariose having carried us to a palm-fringed beach to celebrate the holidays.

Well, with our (mis)adventures and delays, we’re not where we hoped to be. We are, though, just over the South Carolina border and are enjoying temperatures that permitted our 1st breakfast-in-the-cockpit on this Christmas Eve morning. We do miss being with loved ones, but are ever so grateful for all that we have and for the people in our lives (and for what lies ahead!).

So, with this Ariose Note, we would like to wish you and your loved ones season’s greetings and may 2017 bring you fair winds & kind seas.

Shirley & Tim

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18 thoughts on “Season’s Greetings”

  1. Thanks for the holiday wishes! Glad you’ve hit warmer weather! I’m in Toronto and counting the days till I return to Florida… Jan 11th!
    Wishing you a great 2017!

    1. And a great 2017 to you too, Jo. Sounds like we’ll both be arriving in Florida about the same time, albeit one of us via a quicker journey than the other! I forget your destination – will you be on the Atlantic coast?

  2. Merry Christmas! Cheers to even more adventures in 2017!
    I very much look forward to hearing about them! All the best! Sue

    1. Thanks, Sue, and all the best to you in 2017 too! We’re looking forward to whatever is in store for us, but are hoping that the adventures are the lower-case kind. 😉

  3. Merry Christmas to you and Shirley! Thank you so much for always keeping us informed to your whereabouts and how you are doing – we feel we are on this journey with you 🙂 God bless you both.

    We had a lovely evening with some of our family – we went together to a Christmas Eve service and then back home for treats and a cozy fire! Today we will be enjoying brunch at around noon and opening up some gifts and exchanging hugs and kisses no doubt! Tomorrow we all head to Heather and Mike’s new home in Delaware to have Turkey and more hugs and kisses!! So looking forward to playing with the little ones – Anthony, Jack and Charlie are becoming such wonderful little people and we love them so!!

    We wish you a Happy New Year and God’s blessing for safe travels!

    With our Love – Glen and Christine

    1. Hi Christine and Glen, Sounds like you have a nice visit planned. Shirley and I woke up to the weirdest Christmas ever….tucked away in a very beautiful Cypress Swamp with morning sun and temperatures that had us in shorts and eating pancakes in the cockpit! We both took Poco, our dinghy, to explore the edges of the swamp which were loaded with bird life and plants that I could not identify! Today, we awoke in Georgetown where we were able to anchor in the harbour along with many other sailboats. This is the first time we were able to leave the boat in the harbour and use poco as our tender to get groceries and explore the town. Hope you enjoy the holidays! Tim

  4. Merry Christmas, you two.

    Tim, I’m sure you’re missing the great snowshoeing and skiing season here so I’ll do some extra km for you. 🙂

    1. Yes, for sure Kevan, we both miss the Canadian winter! I thought of you a lot though, as I pushed my way through the edges of the Bald Cypress swamp Christmas morning, into a jungle-like forest with so many trees and shrubs I couldn’t identify to species I ended up with a bag full of plants awaiting the next wifi connection! And the birds…..well…..Ariose was surrounded by brown pelicans, great egrets, cormorants, gulls of all sorts and I heard Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Goldfinches, not-to-mention all of the other birds I’m not sure about. Have a great time skiing and all that fun stuff! Merry Christmas to you and Rhoda from Shirley and me.

  5. So glad you are getting closer to your destination! You know that adventures often don’t turn out exactly as we plan, but your smiling faces are evidence that you’re enjoying the journey… May you welcome unexpected pleasures and continue to travel safely! Merry Christmas Tim and Shirley 🙂

    1. Thanks Daria, ‘The Journey’ is definitely a very big part of the satisfaction on this trip. On New Years Eve, we came upon a family of four in a very lovely sailboat that were stuck in a shoal caused by shifting sands from a nearby inlet to the Atlantic. We stopped to offer assistance and although they were able to free themselves, we made instant friends and shared information as we motored side by side down the waterway! Merry Christmas to you and your family. Tim

  6. Dear Shirley and Tim! We follow your adventures with admiration and even a little bit of “sailor’s jealousy”! So glad you got to celebrate Christmas in a place without cold weather alerts. Best Holiday wishes and a Very Happy New Year!

    1. Nice to hear from you Serguei and to have a fellow Alberger along. Yes, we are so relieved to be out of the cold conditions, and whoever first complains of the heat once we get further south gets tossed overboard. We’re just writing up our first through-the-night voyage, figure that may be an effective antidote to any case of “sailor’s jealousy” you are experiencing.
      All the best in 2017!

    1. So nice to hear from you Carol. Any forward movement on your thoughts of perhaps cruising someday? Lots and lots of powerboats out here too, just so you know, in case your hubby isn’t able to convince you to cross over to sailing. All the best to you in 2017, and may you have lots of special times on Lake Temagami.

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