Swan_of_Tuonela: Inside the boat, friends at ORYC, Val's view, etc.

My very good friends, Val and Ray from north of Huntsville, Emsdale, Val help me out here. Where exactly are you from? My very good friends, Val and Ray are coming to the Bahamas for 3 months and this is their view from their upstairs bedroom. The water in the front is the canal and the water on the horizon is the Atlantic Ocean facing south. They are staying near Xanadu Beach. It's very beautiful spot. It'll be great having them here.

This is the sea wall near Gary's property. As you can see this is a small sail boat that has sunk. Gary rescues boats that have been abandoned on the ocean or boats that have people on that need to be rescued. This was one of his boat. We kayaked by it on our way to Island Seas Beach.

The next day we kayaked to Island Seas Beach they had brought the boat up. So this was what was at the bottom of the mast. Nice little boat. Amazing!!!

Often we make good friends with the people who come to Ocean Reef Resort as Timeshare owners. Here we are at Monday Night Madness in Groupers with Bill and Lucille from New Jersey and their family.

Bill was a great singer and loved Karaoke on Tuesday night. He was singing "O Danny Boy" and two men from Scotland joined him in the song. They were great.

These are the people that attend the Educational and Learning Centre for Blind People in Freeport. From left to right: Ruddy, Carolyn, Shavago and me. Thanks again to everyone who donated materials to me for them. There are a few other students but they need money for transportation for the students and money to pay for the slates and stylus' I bought and to purchase a few more Perkins Braillers. There are people in other small towns on Grand Bahama who need a ride to Freeport to attend the school. I'm going to work harder on Fund Raising next year. I have ordered a Braille Bible for Carolyn from The International Bible Association and Carolyn and I have registered with Hadley for an online course in Beginners Braille. We're anxious to get that started.

I went to Annie's for a visit and these are two of her dogs on the couch, Gigi is on the left and Stella is on the right.

This is her new dog, Jones, a German Shepherd.

These are the cockatiels. Two of them went to a new home for Christmas.

This is a chair at Annie's that I really like. Isn't it cool?

This is the back door at the place where Val and Ray are staying.

This is their front yard on the canal.

It's Christmas Eve Day and I thought I would show you around our dock and our boat. This is me in front of the Swan of Tuonela.

I just finished "Christmas in Cedar Cove" by Debbie Macomber. It was OK, sweet but not very deep.

I read "Water for Elephants" earlier and it was great. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie to compare it with the book.

This is the Mail Boat office, where you catch or deliver parcels to the Mail boat that goes to Nassau and then it goes to Eleuthra, I think. Annie sent some of her coin sets to Nassau for sale.

This is Annie's Gigi in her SUV. Gigi loves to travel around with Annie. Sometimes Jones comes too.

This is Isabella at Monday Night Madness with her grand daughter, Carolyn. Isabella and Andy are cruisers on a sail boat. They are from Peterborough. Their daughter, son-in-law and grand daughter are here for Christmas.

Last night we went down to Count Basie Square to hear Christmas Carols, dance in the square, etc. We ate pasta at Capucino's. It was very good. There were fireworks too. It still feels strange not to be with family or have cold weather for Christmas. This is Mike. He and his wife Carolyn are on a trawler at Ocean Reef. They have been cruising a long time. They are from Brockville. Their daughter, Catherine, is visiting for Christmas.

John went with us. He is a cruiser too, with his wife, Bridget and they are from Brockville. They have a sail boat called Mystic.

Me.

This guy is the limbo guy. The pole is 8 inches off the ground. It's on two beer bottles. Woooow.

Carolyn wasn't feeling well so she didn't come and Catherine is at Rum Runners Bar. These are the boys, Anthony, John and Mike.

This is the front or fore deck on our boat. Annie gave us the beautiful hammock.

This is the poop deck or aft deck. This is where Anthony and I sit and have morning coffee and read for an hour or so before...we do something else.

There is our coffee tray and our seats.

Here's Anthony trying to fix the line that goes from the gas tank to the outboard motor on our dinghy. The people that worked on it for us put in on backwards sooooo we didn't get to go snorkeling on the reef today. Maybe tomorrow we'll kayak out and snorkel on the canal wall.

This is our Christmas Tree, I just wrap some green stuff around the support for the mast and then hang ornaments on it. This is my salon area, the table where we eat sometimes. Most of the time we eat in the aft cabin in front of the TV.

This is the aft cabin where we sleep, I crotchet and we watch TV. Anthony does his writing back here and reading.

This shows our hanging cupboard and the TV in the aft cabin.

This is the passage way from the aft cabin to the main salon.

These are the wire drawers where I keep my clothes.

This is the main salon...the settee...I have all my art stuff out so it's pretty messy.

This is the V-berth where our guests sleep. Deb Houston slept here.

This is the wet cupboard where we hang our wet suits to dry and jackets.

Shells we have collected over the years.

This is one of my favourite pictures.

This shows one side of the salon with our book collection and a clock that tells you what day of the week it is.

This is a Christmas Card that Dave Cook painted...isn't it cute?

This is the baby blanket I made for Rich and Kate's baby to come.

To the right is the galley and Anthony is standing at the bottom of the stairs that go up to the cockpit.

This is my galley. I have a built in fridge and freezer, a propane stove and oven, a pantry, a double sink and shelving for food supplies and dishes, and a microwave.