Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our family and friends. We added a new twist to our life this year...we now have a house in Lewisburg, PA. It's a cute little town just west of Kyle and his family. It's full of little shops, nice places to eat and amazing fresh grocery stores to shop at. We still have The Pearl docked in Ithaca and Texas Pearl in Rockport so we have some great places to split our time between. 

We spent the winter visiting family and friends in south Texas and moved all our belongings to our new home in February. We spent 2-3 weeks getting settled in and even enjoyed a beautiful snowfall while we were there. We returned to Texas to wait for the weather to warm up a little in the north. We made our spring migration to Lewisburg at the end of March just in time to spend Easter with Kyle's family.  

We took lots of little vacations this year to places close to home, but our big trip was to Madeira, Portugal in September. What a beautiful island in the Atlantic. We had a wonderful time exploring every little nook and cranny this little piece of paradise had to offer...soaking in the culture, the wonderful food and the extremely friendly people. Unfortunately the island is overrun with tourists and cruise ships. Definitely worth seeing once but we don't need to go back. We love to travel...just don't like crowds. 

Our kids are doing well and our grandchildren are growing up way too fast. They are all in school now and so fun to be with. We enjoy spending time with them and love that they can now text us to share their thoughts and accomplishments with us. We hope the new year brings everyone good health, good fortunes and wonderful adventures.

Travel

I read this online and it hit me as being so true that I just had to share it. I find it's easy to tell when visiting with people who have traveled and who haven't. It was written by Gio Evan, an Italian poet and songwriter.

Try to travel, otherwise you may become racist, and you may end up believing that your skin is the only one to be right, that your language is the most romantic and that you were the first to be the first.

Travel, because if you don't travel then your thoughts won’t be strengthened or filled with ideas. Your dreams will be born with fragile legs and then you end up believing in tv-shows, and in those who invent enemies that fit perfectly with your nightmares to make you live in terror.

Travel, because travel teaches us to say good morning to everyone regardless of which sun we come from. Travel, because travel teaches us to say goodnight to everyone regardless of the darkness that we carry inside

Travel, because traveling teaches us to resist, not to depend, to accept others, not just for who they are but also for what they can never be. To know what we are capable of and to feel part of a family beyond borders, beyond traditions and culture. Traveling teaches us to go beyond.

Travel, otherwise you end up believing that you are made only to live with a single thought and instead within you there are wonderful landscapes yet to visit.

Back in Texas

"Only people who are not happy with themselves are mean to others. Remember that." —Unknown

We had a wonderful fall in Pennsylvania with perfect weather and lots of fun time with family. If we're lucky this trend will last through our winter in Rockport.

Our drive south was pretty uneventful. The only issue we ever experience is the traffic in Houston. It doesn't seem to matter when we come through...the middle of the night or rush hour...it just sucks. We took the Sam Houston toll road this time and missed some of the chaos. We stopped for dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in town before tackling the boat. 

Our dehumidifiers didn't work this year so the mildew was crazy. I had to wipe down all the walls, doors and cabinets before I could go to bed. After a few days of cleaning and doing laundry we are looking back to normal.

Our first Rockport sunset of the season.

We've been waiting since last March to have these wonderful shrimp rolls at Latitudes. We tried all summer to make them, but we couldn't even get close.

The evenings have been beautiful, but the days are still a little too warm for us.

The view from our top deck.

Our Texas home is a beautiful place...at least in the winter. These wonderful photos were taken by John Martell. Looking out into Aransas Bay toward Rockport Beach. 

Looking towards town.

Looking south.