Dear Readers;
Some of you do not know of my beginning introduction to this blog!
Therefore I go back to my first one...Sept. 8, 2002 and republish my...Welcome!
Link #2 to your left......will give you information for feed back WHICH I LOVE!
Link #1 connects you to my Photo Album page which changes from time to time.
For many of you who are from out of the state of Florida....some of our nautical/tropical antics
may seem....weird!
I challenge you to start your own 'free' blog and tell us of your 'Good Life Living'.
Contact me(Link #2) and I will tell you 'how'.
It is simple, easy and free!
Here's to.....THE GOOD LIFE!!!


Sept. 9, 2002

Welcome to my new Web Site called...a blog.
Blogs are simply web logs....in this case a kind of personal journal that is made public.
Since many of you have read my little books of inspiration in the past, you will find yourself mentioned from time to time
as we experience life together. I will include daily happenings of interest to my family, our nautical friends, my prayer partners, and any and all who are like minded souls.
You will see that our Southern/Spanish flavored family is quite 'crazy' and the abnormal becomes normal to us.
Adventure, Fun, Faith required Challenges, local home grown 'heroes' will become the norm as I present to you
some of the most fascinating people on this earth....my family and friends....
Look carefully....for you will surely find....YOURSELF!!!

Delete

I love the ‘delete’ key on my computer!
It is a much-used key on my keyboard as I can, at a single stroke....throw absolutely anything into the garbage can.
Delete to me, also, has a spiritual connotation!
Delete is the FORGIVING key.
It ’forgives’ mistakes, errors, wrongs, goof-ups, human error, etc.’......
It allows for ‘changes and other options’.
Delete is a blessing to me.....Forgiveness is a MUST among family and friends! Were it not for delete/forgiveness, none of us would be acceptable to each other.
Approaching the holidays.....it is mandatory to the heart.....to delete all grudges, resentments, bitterness, and unforgiveness to our family members and friends.....in order to enter with real, genuine Thanksgiving for the wonderful privilege of being loved and accepted as we are.....faults and all!!
It is only then that we can enter, fully, into the true spirit of Love and Joy....and Peace on Earth....Good Will To Man!
This is the ‘greatest of ALL gifts’ that we can give ........this Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2003. It is the True Meaning of....LOVE!
Yes, The Good Life begins with me......and YOU!
Happy Holidays!

Decadent

Yesterday I had lunch mid-afternoon with Lynn and Chad.
We went to P.F. Chang’s Bistro at Westshore Mall.
Lynn insisted on ordering dessert.
The menu called it...The Great Wall of Chocolate....
described as...Six layers of rich chocolate cake frosted with semi-sweet chocolate chips and served with raspberry sauce...$6.95
See Link #1....Family Zoo Album...last entry....
Three of us ate all we wanted....and there was plenty left.
The absolutely, crazy, insane thing about this incident is.....
.....I have been dieting for two weeks....doing wonderfully well to be prepared for all the holidays to come...and BOOM....out of the blue came this awful...sinful....decadent piece of chocolate...
....and it tasted like...HEAVEN!!!
I think it tasted especially good because I was so ‘deprived’, needy for a fix, or absolutely starved after all the salads of two weeks.
At any rate....I am guilty of succumbing to temptation....
Could you have resisted?
Please e-mail and tell me how!
I would LOVE to know!!!
Have a wonderful....temptation free day!!!

Small Boat Warning!

On Saturday we did a short boat trip with our friends, Kurt, Melissa and Pammy Collins. They brought their new 17 ft. center console, Key West, down from St. Cloud and we took our ‘Go Gator’ , putting in at Davis Island again.
Did a beautiful tour around the Harbour Island area and then headed to our favorite Marina in Rukin.... Bahia Resort and Marina.
Taking Cut C south in the Cruise Boat channel in 17 and 19 ft. boats is quite an adventure. The wake level from all the big vessels could be dangerous to ones boat health! Cpt. Kurt did a bit of playful running at 45mph.....actually chasing the sea gulls that were trailing behind some of the big vessels.
We plotted along at 28 to 30 mph....staying at the peripheral of the big wakes...enjoying the perfect weather of the day.
We cruised around three Marinas...checking facilities and doing boat window-shopping.
Saw some beauties that’s for sure.
Ate delicious blackened grouper at the Captains Quarters Rest. on the Bahia Marina docks and put our names on the ’wait list’ for permanent slip dockage. New Resort owners are doing some renovation therefore it will be early 2004 before we can make our big boat moves from Kissimmee River Park to the ’West Coast’...
Having perfect weather and a delightful day we returned back to Davis Island and loaded out.
Grilling steaks at home tasted wonderful after a day of salty sea air..
Yes, we really enjoy The Good Life small boating adventures with nautical family and friends....and MORE to come!!!
See pictures on Link #1.....Small Boat Trips Album

Zoo Sunday

Yesterday was a.....Zoo!
My husband, Charlie, had a bad cold/flu like symptoms.
We decided to stay home from church and watch our service, live, on the Internet. We go to ‘The River’ in Bradenton and both services, 8:00 and
11:00 a.m. are beamed live on Revival.com every Sunday AROUND THE WORLD!
Fine and good.....along comes Matt and Ashley around 9:30 a.m.....to check on Pops. We had wonderful ‘spiritual’ conversations and special prayers with the two of them that really blessed our hearts.....
They had just left when the phone rang announcing that Chuck and family were in town for their Marine’s Military Ball and Family Day week-end and that they were coming over in a couple of hours.
Pops in the meantime is feeling....’worse’.
Put him to bed, again, with a football game and checked the food supplies...food for an army! For you see there was also....friends with Carla, another ’girl’ friend with Pipo....etc. Sad to say....the cupboard was inadequate...except for the makings of ‘tostones‘, which is always our Spanish treat.
Britt ,too, arrives along with all the other ‘herd’. Joshua is home sleeping but will come later.
The party begins!
Cars need ‘fixin’....phones need comparing....tricks need to be played....and since poor Pops....the ‘go Gators’ guy is ‘defenseless’... the time is taken advantage of in order to remind him......on his bathroom mirror...that there is at least one FSU fan in the family....‘come hell or high water’....
Joshua soon awakes and joins in the fun...taking great delight in wrestling that great big Marine!
Poor Pops.....can you imagine being’ sick in a zoo’?
Finally.....around 6:00p.m. they all leave....Chuck & Family heading to a church they want to check out in our area and the others going elsewhere.
The wind blew them in....and the wind blew them out!
Yep, that’s our Family......or part of them anyway.....
Chad was in the Caribbean and Lynn was “sleeping off Joshua”!
See Zoo pictures...Link #1....Family Zoo!

$1.00 Missionary

Every day practically, all of America sees.....without seeing really.....
a ’Dollar Missionary’......
For you see the One Dollar Bill carries a ’spiritual message’!
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing says the design on America’s One Dollar Bill....the reverse or spiritual side, as it is called.....
has this meaning....
The 13-step pyramid symbolizes strength and durability.
It is unfinished to indicate that the country is always growing.
The eye represents the eye of Providence, (God) and rays of light around it illustrate...”spiritual above material.”/
The words “Annuit Coeptis” above the pyramid translate as:
....”He (God) has favored our undertakings.”
“Novus Ordo Seclorum,” under the pyramid, means...
“New order of the ages,” heralding the beginning of the
new American era in 1776....
Of course, the...In God We Trust....is self-explanatory from our forefathers
point of view....
How can America or ‘true Americans’ possibly deny our priceless heritage?
Yes, God does “Bless America” and our “Land of Plenty”....
For you see.....our ‘Silent $1.00 Missionary’ ....goes to church EVERY Sunday!

Boating Enemy

At 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, Charlie and I.....along with Britt, Joshua and Chad....put our little 19’ boat, Go Gator, in at the ramp on Davis Island.
True it was a little ‘choppy’ and the winds were predicted to come up after lunch but knowing that the ’Gators’ were playing Georgia at 3:00 p.m., Charlie felt ’safe’ to take our mornings planned excursion.
Our destination was to be...http://www.bahiabeachresort.com
or in plain English.....Bahia Beach Resort and Marina at Ruskin.
It is approximately 20 miles south on the Tampa Bay waters.
No problem....an easy run going about 25 mph..(GPS speed)
Except.....upon entering totally open waters....the wind picked up...slightly.
Charlie had done his ’navigation homework’ and we knew when to cut east out of the main ’Cruise Boat’ channel.....
Thinking we had made a slight error as we were nearing our ’land sights’ we found that the cut we took right..... took us to the Bahia Del Sol Marina but we were still in sight of our chosen destination...
Cruising each marina was fun just seeing all the ’boat window shopping’!
As we entered our marina a fisherman gestured for us to look to the port side of the boat.....to Joshua’s delight several Dolphins were happily diving up and down right beside us. While docking, Joshua kept saying, “More Dolphin, more Dolphin”.....
Bahia is the Marina that we are contemplating moving the Milagro to in the near future. It is a full resort marina, pools, restaurants, hotel, beach etc.
The Dock Master, Mr. Gibson, told us that since we had been there the facilities had sold to a new owner on Oct. 15 and that changes were in the offing.
Charlie put our name on the list for ‘permanent dockage’ that being by the monthly rates rather than ‘transient’ per night rates.
Having an early lunch, 11:00 a.m., at the Outrigger Restaurant, we loaded up and headed back. We began fighting the wind as soon as we came out of the safe harbor of the marina. Choppy and rough caused us to drop our speed considerably. Our enemy - the wind had arrived!
Brittney insisted on sitting on the bow of the boat. She had to hold on to the front lines at all times and looked like a cowgirl riding a bucking bronco. See pictures Link #1 Family Fun album.
Loading the boat out once we arrived back at the ramp is another story.
High winds....low tide....boat ramp horror show!
Others were having the same problem...
Once we were loaded out and had taken the boat back to our Coast Guard storage lot, it was 3:30 p.m. before we arrived home to watch the Gators WIN!!!
Yes!
Brittney had the nerve to call and say....”That was so much fun! When can we do it again?”
Despite our enemy.....a good time was had by all!!!

See Link #1 Family Fun album

Do You Know....
The Ten Commandments

Yes, the Capitol building that houses the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. has the Ten Commandments prominently and publicly displayed...
The Supreme Court doors are engraved with.....The Ten Commandments.....
If these ‘Laws’ were obeyed in our land.....morality, ethics and peace would rule supreme in America.
Yet some people do not even know what ‘they’ are.....
The Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God, Himself, writing them on a stone tablet....
It is God’s Law for a civilized race of human beings and their conduct toward Him and each other. They are found in the 20th Chapter of Exodus as well as in Deuteronomy 5.
I am listing the Commandments ....along with the ‘Southern Paraphrase’ below each one.....for my southern family and friends...

1. I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before Me.
Southern: Just ONE God!
2. You shall not make or worship any idol or graven image.
Southern: Put nuthin’ before God!
3. You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain speaking.
Southern: No ‘cussin’ God, telling tales or gossipin’.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy.
Southern: Git yourself to Sunday meeting!
5. Honor your Father and Mother, so that you may live long lives and
all will go well with you...
Southern: Honor yer Ma & Pa...live right and long!
6. Thou shalt not kill.....you shall not murder!
Southern: No killin’....No how.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Southern: No foolin’ around with another fellow’s woman or another woman’s fellow!
8. Thou shalt not steal!
Southern: Don’t take what ain’t yers!
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Southern: Watch yer mouth....
10. Thou shalt not covet..... your neighbor’s house, wife or anything that belongs to your neighbor...
Southern: Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s ‘stuff’!

Plain and simple isn’t it?
What in heaven’s name.....is wrong with these important reminders being made public and taught to the youth of America?
Decency, honesty, integrity.....ethics of good moral character are all instilled in the living of these laws of ‘governing’ a large society of civilized people....
What is ‘wrong’ with that?
God help us all.....and may God continue to Bless America despite her faults and failures......
It is for this I pray....