Season's greeting from Trinidad

This is being started on Dec. 24 to wish you all the merriest
of Christmases, but you will probably get it sometime in that
dull week between Christmas and the New Year.

For Horizons, December 23rd brought the amazing breakthrough
that all the projects that had begun in July were largely finished.
There is mopping up to do, after the New Year, but we are no
longer a construction site.

The new generator, the new autopilot, the new mainsail are
all on, and sea trials for the last two will be the first week
of January. We also found the cause of our failure to start
after our second trip into the water: we needed a new starter
battery to go with the new house bank of golf carts that Sparky
installed in early December.

The reason for the two trips into the water was that during the
first one, we took on water (at the prop shaft), but Jack de
Plumber was able to figure out the cause and fix it with the
help of another cruiser, a former blacksmith.

The year since June, when we returned to the US, moved very fast.
We were out to the Midwest twice, once for Laurie's 45th HS
reunion and once for her cousin's 70th wedding anniversary party,
which they hosted in their own home. The DJ said he would be
back for the 80th. We also visited Jack's family, who still
live in West Lafayette IN.

We went to MA ME to visit friend and family. We went to see
Nova Scotia to see if we would want to cruise there when we return
to the States.

We babysat. Our DC kids lost their nanny, who had cared for
Nico and Quincy three days a week since they were one and zero.
She opened her own in-home daycare, but it was an impossible
commute for our kids. This left John and Cheri to find a Chinese
speaking au pair before we left in late November. Both of their
kids are Chinese speaking because Pei Xing, their much beloved
nanny, spoke only that to them. We can do child care. We can't
do Chinese.

Fortunately, they were able to find an au pair who not only speaks
Chinese, because she is, but is an English teacher for early
childhood classes in China. She hopes to improve her English,
which is very good, and John and Cheri now have a better idea
of what goes on all day. Nico is in preschool at a Chinese/English
immersion school and Quincy will follow in two years.

Our Massachusetts kids are fine. Our son in law has started
his own business around his principal interest, rare books.
Our daughter continues to send us our mail when we request it
and manage worldwide book shows for Wiley, the company that bought
her old company. We are thrilled that both are happy with what
they are doing and that we get our mail. It is much easier being
in Trinidad than Turkey in the matter of mail. However, both
of our MA kids said they enjoyed vacations in the Med much more
than the Caribbean.

We are happy to be back in Trinidad, where rainy season looks
like it will finally end. Last week we had three days without
rain, so we were able to get a lot done. We doubt we will get
much liming done before we leave, as so far it is hard to get
organized for dominoes on Sunday./

When we leave our intentions are to do nothing HARD. The Med,
as lovely as it was, was always hard. We intend to go no futher
north than Guadaloupe, so that we will always have an easy sail
back down to Trinidad next June. There are a few things left
to do to Horizons that our budget this year didn't allow, and
Trinidad is a great refit and repair place.

We are looking forward to a lovely Christmas dinner with some
of the folks here at PowerBoats. El Lobo will have a duck in
the oven; Horizons, a large piece of beef; and others will bring
assorted sides. Christmas crackers will come direct from the
UK, as one of the cruisers made a quick trip home last week.

We hope you and yours have all enjoyed a splendid holiday and
are reading this in contentment wherever, boat or condo or house,
you reside.

Our very best wishes for the New Year,
The Horizons Crew