TODAY'S MEMORY JOGGER: "Describe the perfect winter day. Tell about an activity you would do on that day."
But they weren't just "perfect winter days . . ."
When I think of the word "contentment," I see myself in that chair, my stockinged feet on the wall just above the heater vent to catch the flow of warm air, a stack of books beside me, and my yellow-and-white stuffed bear with the button eyes, Christopher, under an arm. Deep into a book this shy little girl raised a pig named Wilbur, rode ponies on Chincoteague Island, and solved mysteries with Nancy Drew while my brothers and sisters roller skated or played games in the basement, my mom baked bread and made our lunch, and my dad worked a job (or two) to provide for our family.
At nine years old it didn't take much for me to feel completely happy and content.
It still doesn't.
And that, by far, is one of the greatest blessings I've been given in my life.
FOR NEXT WEEK: "For how long did you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy? How did you feel when you learned the "adult truth" about each of them? Do you still retain some of that magic feeling as an adult?"
There’s no village here in Bahia Santa Maria. Some fishing camps are established along the beaches, but they are only occupied some parts of the year. We stayed here two days and on the second day “Mag Bay Outfitters,” from nearby Bahia de Magdelena, trucked supplies over and put on a catered lunch for us. They erected shade awnings, utilized a few small buildings built for just this type of event, put up some tables and chairs, and even brought in a local band. It was all very nicely done. Lunch was a foil-wrapped & steamed combination of fish, lobster, and shrimp served with rice. Everyone agreed it was delicious and it was, especially so, to Mike and I since it was our first hot meal in several days. 
Mike and I spent most of the day walking the beaches & shallow pools, exploring the deserted fishing camps, and taking photos. We came across lots of blue crabs and boy, were they ready to put up a fight when threatened! Here’s a photo of Mike offering one a beer – he didn’t want it!
We also found a whole herd of fiddler crabs. These guys are only about a couple inches across and have only one claw – hence their name. I enjoyed watching them scuttle in and out of their tiny holes, and engage in battles with each other; seems they are very territorial.
The tricky part of Santa Maria was the variable (and often treacherous) surf, and a sand-bar a little ways out from shore, that made it often very exciting (or terrifying) to go to shore. We were advised not to try it in a non-planing dinghy (that is, a dinghy without a motor strong enough to get the dinghy’s bow up and over a breaking wave); in fact, we were told it was best to use the pangas. Well, we don’t have a motor at all on our dinghy, so we hopped into the first panga that came by and had no trouble getting to shore for the lunch. The surf wasn’t too bad early in the day and everyone got to shore just fine; only one or two dinghy’s tipped over and the worse that happened was people got a bit wet.
Mike and I were lucky. We got in the last panga that made it out. After ours, the panga drivers said it was just too dangerous to continue taking people to their boats. The chances were too high that a panga would flip and people would be swimming in the dark. The result was that around 72 of our people were stranded on the beach overnight! One person had a portable VHF radio so our fleet-leader, Richard, was able to do a roll-call to determine who was left on the beach, who had made it back to their boats, and to make sure no one had gone missing. The stranded people ended up spending a rather uncomfortable night on the floors of the few buildings without much in the way of blankets or pillows. But it would be a story to tell!
Enjoying the sun, waves, and a book....my kind of sailing!
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