Mass at Cathedral Basilica St Augustine

A beautiful Mass in Cathedral Basilica St. Augustine-

Carryn and I had full intentions of attending midnight mass but turns out that taking a nap at 9pm was not the smartest thing. Bella woke us up at 1145pm, telling us she was thirsty by looking into a dry water bowl(that's another story). So as they say, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", we didn't make it to midnight mass. I was heartbroken, as this was to be the highlight of our stop here, like it was last year. Instead, we got up this morning and made it to the 11am service. It was absolutely beautiful. There are few things that will wet my eyes, but a Christmas mass in such a beautiful church will do it for sure. Carryn wanted to light a candle for Marilyn, so I gave her $20 to put in the box. She was up there for a while, and when she returned, she proceeded to tell me that it was a bargain- the requested donation was only $2 to light a small candle. So just like a kid at a fireworks stand, Carryn decided to get her money's worth and thought of all the people in our lives who we hope will be blessed with the good Lord's guidance. I won't list them here, but if you're reading this, you were probably on the list.





So...why was Bella so thirsty?? Well yesterday, Carryn decided she wanted to make a batch of her family recipe stuffing. So we got on the bikes(pulling Bella in the Burley trailer) and headed out in search of a market. It was a nice ride and we found Stewarts market, a cute little family grocer with great veggie selection (they even grew their own hydroponic lettuce). She picked up the requisite loaf of white bread and celery, along with a few other goodies. She was really looking forward to stuffing on Christmas Day. Well, Bella had a different agenda. While we fell asleep, sometime between 9p and 1145p, she decided she wanted to stuff her face with some good fresh white bread. In true burglar fashion, she quietly pulled the bread off the back of the counter, careful not to disturb anything stacked in front of it, and had her way with it. She must have filled up, because she left about 6 slices for us. What a baaaaaddddd girl. Carryn was really pissed. No homemade stuffing for her, since all the markets are closed today.

So today's menu will be: pork tenderloin, mashed potato's, green beans and BOXED STUFFING.

So, since we got out of mass at 12p, we had to get back to the boat and clear out of the marina. Kind of a bummer since the weather today is crappy, it isn't supposed to get nice until this evening. Also, we have met some nice folks in the marina and it is always tough leaving people you have just befriended. Regardless, we have only budgeted for 3-4 marina nights per month, and since this is a pretty nice anchorage, we will stick with our plan of only 1 night here. As we are readying the boat (filling water tanks, washing off the deck, tying things down, etc) the dockmaster came over and asked if we were wanting to pay for another night, or are we leaving. A polite way to say that we were late checking out. So I assured him we were hustling to get going and would be underway soon. About 30 minutes later, he came back. I thought he was upping the pressure to leave, but he says they got a call from someone about paying for another night and he passed me a post-it note with a name and number. Again, because I was so concerned about not pushing our checkout time, I said thanks for taking the call and that we would be off the docks shortly. He looked at me kind of odd and strolled off. Scott from Las Sirenas, had been standing there the entire time and realized I misunderstood the dockmaster, and explained what he meant.....
So Santa DID come to SolMate this year-
Seems that Carryn's sisters Lynn, Lisa and her dad, Pete conspired to make sure we had a good Christmas Day, by calling to the St Augustine Municipal Marina and buying us another night in the slip. It was a real treat, because just as we were figuring all this out, the weather got ugly and it began to rain. So what a treat, to get to stay another night, tied up, unlimited water, electricity and a few new friends around to share it with.


Though we wished to spend the holidays with our family and friends, please know how much we love and appreciate all the well wishes.

We wish each and everyone a Merry Christmas, God Bless-

Brandon, Carryn and Bella (our bread pirate)