"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in
its net of wonder forever."—Jacques Cousteau

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.

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.

October Updates

“Golden leaves in a graceful flight, autumn whispers with soft light, nature's canvas, a pure delight.” -Anonymous

It’s been a very busy month for us...transitioning from The Pearl to Texas Pearl. The best part of having the house in Lewisburg is it gives us somewhere to hang out while we wait for the weather to cool off in Texas. It also gives us plenty of time to spend with family. Fall is a very popular season here in the northeast and the trees have been beautiful. Although fall was a bit slower to arrive this year. It’s been a wonderful October...lots of sun, warm days and cool nights.

One of our favorite places to shop is Davy's Fresh Market, and it's just a few blocks from our house.
Lewisburg is looking beautiful in its fall colors.
The view from my kitchen window.
We didn't do a lot of physical activities this fall. Stan is still nursing a hurt foot, but he's on his way to a full recovery. After returning from Madeira we enjoyed our last few days at the marina and found some great weather to move the boat from our summer slip in Ithaca to the boat's winter home in Cayuga.
We like taking our little runabout up to The Boatyard Grill for dinner. It's been a tradition to close out our summer with one last visit right before we leave. What a perfect evening.
Our last night in Ithaca.
Stan on his way up the lake to our winter home at Beacon Bay Marina.
Stan arriving at our winter home.
The Pearl's last bath before she is stored.
The rest of October was filled up with soaking up the sun and visits with the family. It's so nice to be so close. It gave us lots of time to play.

The northern lights from our front yard.
It's not quite as nice as view as we have from the boats...but it was still a beautiful sky.
One last dinner at Elizabeth's.
We've really enjoyed all the summer squash that was available at Davy's...acorn, butternut and spaghetti squash.
We even got to enjoy a friend's wedding while we were here. What a wonderful celebration. Kyle officiated the wedding and everyone else was part of the wedding party. It was a beautiful evening.

We don't have a reason to dress up very often so this was fun.
The venue. 
Everyone had a great time.
We closed out the month carving pumpkins and celebrating Halloween.