Since last we met...

Vero's city marina is different from most marinas.  It's funky chic.  It has a dash of delightful Florida moldiness and a canopy of ancient, gnarled Live Oak trees dressed in Spanish moss.  

So, what's it like living in a marina?  It has "A Little House On the Prairie" feel.  Like living life in miniature. The sink in the bathroom is only thigh-high.  The distance between the galley and sitting area means turning to your side to get by the other person, something that doesn't work well when you're in a sh*tty mood. 

However, I have to admit like this kind of living, although it pains me to say so since I'm a registered cynic.  (Looking into leaving Balboita here over the summer, but that's this week.)

More marina scenes....

Waiting for the free bus to go shopping

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Some Vero discoveries....
    

1.  Havana Nights, a Cuban restaurant with an entrance like a speakeasy...

...and a piano bar for Barry

2.  Int, which stands for international, a Latin fusion restaurant   decorated by a South American artist who did all the murals, the chairs, the bar, everything.  

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And now, the gratuitous boat wreck video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euAR...ature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euARI7PkOiA
(copy and paste url into browser - it's a good one)

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My art class    ..

I'm taking encaustics, which is not a disease.   You melt wax and then brush it over a substrate -- in my case, a photo -- and then you add stuff, and brush with some more wax which ends up shiny, and I'm not sure why else you would do this than to get it shiny.  With each layer of wax, you bond it with a hot gun, add some image, cover with wax, bond with hot gun.....Pretty messy.  It's basically a class in how to play in a sand box. 

It's also how to be an instant abstract artist including all the cliches of being an instant abstract artist.  "I just do a little bit of marking here and then if I don't like it, I rub it out, but sometimes it ends up working, and then I try some of the white (I like white a lot) over the top and the pigment goes down into the markings and then I put some more wax, lots of wax, on it and if I don't like it, I rub it off............................." says the instructor.

An unexpected entertainment part of the class is the circuits regularly get blown because 16 students are using 16 electric frying pans and 16 hot air guns and 16 hot trays to keep the wax melted and the building workers are running around pushing reset buttons.  Love it.

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Unrelated postscript...

Trip home last week...

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That's all folks,

Two little piggies went to the market....

Vicki and Barry ventured out to the Vero Beach farmers' market

Looking like fraternal twins...

Why do all farmers' markets look alike?

We bought a Bahamian dinner from Bahama Mama who is definitely not dressed for the Bahamas

We also bought some acid-free coffee (what else at a farmers' market?)

Where there was a memorable sign...

And, I like this one too...

 

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Unrelated post:

Barry's photo while bringing the car down to Vero from Annapolis.  Barry is a naughty, distracted driver, but he takes some cool pictures.

That's all folks...

Storm day at Vero.

Small craft advisory, seas 8 to 10 feet.

That's all folks...

Marina Medley

Midway down the east coast of Florida, the Vero Beach Municipal Marina is unusually rural for being in the heart of Snowbird-ville.  In addition to about 100 slips, the marina has 57 moorings on which they put up to three boats each.  You do the math, but thems a lot of boats.  Some stay on a mooring all winter, some stay all year, and some are passing through on the way to the Bahamas, the Keys or the west coast.  It's an adventure being on a mooring, because you never know who's going to be your neighbor

Being only a limited adventurer, Vicki is holding forth with Barry at Slip 16N for the winter.  We are the trawler in the middle.

Getting a slip here is no slam dunk.  I sent a check one year ago to reserve the space.

Living in a marina is basically like living in an RV on the water.   Being Florida, it's warm and has an outdoorsy feel.  It's not as social as I expected, although they say that everyone is home for the holidays and there will be a surge after the first of the year (when I go home).

This occurs each Thursday...




Marina office and dock....

The Campus...

Spanish Moss.

Crab holes are made by crabs (and what is the color of George Washington's white horse?)

Marina lounge with showers and laundry...

A free bus comes by every hour to take people to downtown and groceries.

Gayle and Bill, spending a day at the lounge.  Lots of boaters on moorings dinghy in for the day.  This is a plan that would drive me crazy, but it works for those who like being dirtless.

Dinghy dock...

Sidebar...

A retrofit to stay cool

Balboita album...

Gratuitous beautiful dog pix

Gratuitous happy hour pix. Balboita's back porch.

That's all folks  :)

Vero and other things...

As reported, we arrived in Vero yesterday.

and,

guess what?

Our former buddy boater Tom Butz greeted us with "Hail to the Chief" playing on his Bose speaker when we pulled up to the fuel dock.

and then we went for happy hour...

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Along the way:

More dead boats...

This bugger was in same place when we passed in 2014...which shows you that boats never die, they just slowly fade away.  .

A totally adorable ICW restaurant...

A mansion and an ugly duckling...

Something my mother, Yuba, would design on a napkin

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I forgot to mention....

We came to a place that looked something like this and realized that.  We are lost.  Yes, lost on the Intracoastal Waterway.  Thoughts of the African Queen.   When were we going to run out of water and find ourselves in the weeds?  "Mr. Allnut, where, indeed, are we?"

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This is son Jim's contribution for the end of a long journey (as in two months to get to Vero)

And, then there's this...

Sign in a local wine store:  No good story starts with a salad.

That's all folks...

We are freakin' here!

Vero, we love you.

that's all folks...