Season's Greetings!

Season's Greetings to all our family, friends and fellow travelers,

The last six months have been very quiet on the sailing front.
Except for the kindness of our neighbors, we wouldn't have been
on a boat at all. Fortunately on the few days that it wasn't
too hot to sail this summer, neighbors took pity on us and took
us out for some very lovely evening sails. We are, sort of,
looking forward to bringing Horizons back to the Chesapeake next
year to explore the local cruising and become, sort of, landlubbers
once more.

The icy weather reminds us that we are usually some place warmer
than this by December. This summer was actually hotter than
we remember in the Med, but perhaps our memories, like our joints,
are failing.

We did have a very good time on land the past five months. We
have had the chance to explore more of the community around us
and we are increasingly happy that we drifted into this quiet
little out of the way place. We spent a bit of time trying to
figure out what we would do next, since the active cruising part
of our lives is winding down, and then decided to table that
research and just concentrate on the NOW.

Because of our location midway between New England and Florida,
we had visits from some friends who still live only on their
boats and could offer them a rest on our dock. For friends who
make that drive by car, we can offer you a rest in a bed—we're
only about an hour out of the way between Fredericksburg and
Richmond on 95.

In November 2009, we were able to assemble our whole family for
a group photo in our daughter's back yard, fitting for the Christmas
season. However, because we left the US in very early Dec, we
didn't get it sent out. So please imagine that the children
are one year older and leaner and all the adults look slightly
more middle-aged.

We are heading back to Trinidad to begin the trek back to the
US in mid-January. We have now almost finished our transition
to being full Virginia residents, so our official address is
164D Mariners Point Lane Hartfield, Virginia (we're no longer
living in a PO Box), and our residential phone is 804-776-0490.
We're on the road through New Year's and our cell is 340-227-0559,
a Virgin Island phone that will work again next March when we
are in the Virgins.

We wish you all the best for a wonderful and prosperous New Year,
wherever you may be.

Jack and Laurie