Getting close!

What began this morning as a potential metamorphosis has dissolved entirely. Briefly our vagabond spirit had us tramping about the globe to places unknown, from Asia to the South Pacific to the Mayan Riviera and the Caribbean. The realities of geographic restyling are we've discovered not without their sobering elements. More to the point, after a day of bicycling, lounging by the pool and the sea, swimming in the pool and the sea, walking on the beach, collecting some extremely agreeable cooked salmon and beef filets at the grocery store and glancing at the setting sun over the vast Gulf of Mexico, we've succeeded to renew our prodigious inclination for Longboat Key.

Our erstwhile buoyancy for novelty and intrigue has at least for the moment completely exhausted. The evolution was nonetheless useful. One needs to reminded occasionally of the charm of one's currency lest its hackneyed details are overlooked.  Once again today I rekindled my passion for the Gulf of Mexico.  The turquoise water was salty and clear; the sea bed was visible and smooth. Facing directly southwest is an unsurpassable advantage for maritime living, quite unlike the status on the Atlantic Ocean except where one's posture is on a curved portion of an island.

Meanwhile my time was consumed by communications of New Year's best wishes with friends and acquaintances. It appears that many have endured an unpleasant 2018.  My own experience began rather disagreeably. But for those of us who are still whinnying it is useless to complain.

The best part of exchanging emails was to see and hear about what people have been doing. Gossip, I suppose. New grandchildren; growing children; vacationing old fogeys.  We're all preparing ourselves for 2019, a spiritual cleanse.