Saturday, December 1, 2012 – Cocoa:

            We woke up this morning to a beautiful rainbow!  It was a lovely prediction of the day ahead.  My cousins who live in Orange City were coming to spend the day with us.  With all the gizmos people have to help them get around nowadays, I didn’t worry about them driving here, but I forgot to take into consideration that there was an arts and crafts festival happening in town today and tomorrow, and most of the streets were closed off to traffic.  But not to worry, they made it here without a hitch or a detour.

            I was bemoaning to Bob about the fact that this marina, even though it is lovely and is one of the nicest marinas we have stayed at, seems to have an “odor.”  Frankly, it has been driving me crazy.  I didn’t think it was coming from our boat, but I was becoming more unsure of this everyday.  Yesterday, I noticed some workmen feverishly digging a hole by one of the condominium units, and logically assumed  that the “odor” may have had something to do with something under the ground in that vicinity which is right next to our boat.  I’m thinking I will just apologize to my cousins for the smell, but, hey, it’s boats.

            Jim and Pam came bearing gifts, which was totally unnecessary, but one of the gifts they brought us was a co-axial cable about 100 feet long!!  It was the best Christmas ever!  They also brought pictures of their brand new “land yacht (RV),” and we compared adventures - past, present, and future.  I had planned for us to walk into town and have lunch at one of the little cafes we had discovered, but with all the goings on, we decided we would never get a table, and decided instead to hit the Olive Garden on Merritt Island.  After lunch we headed back to the boat, and I am thinking to myself that I am sick and tired of that awful smell.  So through the security gate we go, and I am holding the gate for everyone, and I happen to look over at the boat next to us, and lo and behold, on the swim platform of that boat there is this humongous dead fish!  Eureka!  If we can get rid of that fish, I bet we will get rid of that awful smell or at least put a major dent in it!  I guess a bird must have caught the fish, but for some reason couldn’t hold on to it, and thoughtlessly dropped it on the boat next to us for it to putrefy and rot under our noses.

            Anyway, after that joyous discovery, Jim and Bob hooked up the TV cable, and Eureka Again, we have TV!!  I don’t think we have hundreds of channels, but just the fact that we have any channels makes us deliriously happy! 

            So after many hours of catching up with family news and events, the cousins had to go back to Orange City.  I was sad to see them go – we don’t get together but once in a blue moon – but then we have lots to catch up on.

            But as they left, and drove out of the parking lot, there was another sprinkle of rain mixed in with sunshine, and another rainbow arched over boat to mark the end of a delightful day.

Our token Christmas decoration

Lena Victoire in her slip at Cocoa Village Marina

Lunch with cousins