I try to dive once a month, but it’s been tough since I was out in October. It’s a combination of available time and conditions. While weather conditions are the driving factor, there is also the matter of how crowded the boat is. Even though it might seem as if people wouldn’t be here diving, there are a couple of reasons the demand has been steady. First, it is an outdoor activity and the dive shop is taking all required and recommended safety measures. Next is people who would ordinarily go to other places in the Caribbean are restricted in travel to many of those places. While we have more “winter” than somewhere like the Bahamas, it’s still better than in our northern states. So, on those days when I can get away, the weather, boat situation, or both have kept me out of the water. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for February. That traditionally is a month I can’t get out and I’ll have to make an extra effort.

Speaking of scuba though, I just sent the manuscript for Idyllic Islands to the company I use for interior and cover design. Once they do their thing, and I make whatever corrections are needed, it will go to Amazon for self-publishing. The release date should be late February or early March. This is in the Chris Green mystery series. The book opens with her in Fort Lauderdale where she completed a “slam dunk” investigation. She and “Captain M”, a friend who owns the dive shop she uses there, are having drinks together before she leaves the next day to return to  the Bahamas. A guy comes up to say hello. He’s Conrad Langston, someone she worked with in Australia, and they haven’t seen each other for more than five years. He’s on his way to a meeting and they don’t have much time to catch up. He’s now with the company, Idyllic Islands, and is the Director for a private island that features a large resort, some private residences, a village, and offers all sorts of water-based activities. He invites her  for a visit to see what all they do.

She doesn’t think much more about it, goes back to the Bahamas to be with Jeff, and continue their work. Some cool things happen, then Jeff gets a telephone call from someone from his past with some shocking news. It’s nothing bad, but Chris decides he needs a couple of weeks without her and going to visit her friend is a good excuse. Everything is terrific the first few days on the island and it is impressive. I created some great characters and situations. An unfortunate fatal accident her fourth day there, is of course, not as it appears. It turns out a great many things are not as they appear. No spoilers here, but I will say unlike most of my books, the clues as to what might be going on are not as straightforward as usual. The second POV is also from her friend Conrad, who like Chris, isn’t aware of what secrets are being kept from him. Okay, that’s enough for now.

Ah yes, the phrase spoken by millions of fans as the end of each sport’s year nears. In fact, I use this in my short story, “Midnight Pumpkins”. https://charliehudson.net/stories/story200703.html (It’s a fun read).

Anyway, I had so hoped my Saints would maintain the lead last night and pull off the win. The problem though is when one is in a playoff game against what is basically an equally matched team, mistakes will cost you. One or two are the most you can hope to recover from. There weren’t many more than that, but enough to mean the Saints’ season is over for the year. Now, I’m old enough to remember when making it to the playoffs was almost a dream – just having a winning season was considered something to celebrate. I sometimes wondered if part of the reason was New Orleans is a party town. One parties for a win of course. On the other hand, one can party to commiserate as well. There can be no question that Drew Brees as the quarterback has been the linchpin in turning the team into a contender for most seasons. With his injury earlier this year there is question as to if he was really healed enough to be playing last night and it is difficult to know what effect that might have had. There has also been a level of talk that this would be his last season in light of the age and injury. Ah, for those who don’t follow football, with Brees (age 42) and Brady (age 43) this was the first time two quarterbacks “that old” went up against each other in a playoff game. And the fact is, 40-anything is “old” in football years. While there will definitely be a “next season” for the Saints, we’ll have to see if the same is true for the player who has had such a major impact on the team.

With Three Kings day behind us, the tree is waiting for bulk pick-up and I’ll put the ornaments away later this afternoon. It turns out brie does not freeze well and Hubby wasn’t thrilled with the idea of brie stuffed pork tenderloin so I scratched that idea. Ah well, he did like the leftover lemon chicken topped with Havarti and dill. In other words, leftovers are just about under control again.

Being asked to do an extra article again this week for the local paper kept me extra busy and that doesn’t count extra tasks I’ve had with a couple of the non-profits I work with. On the other hand, I don’t ever have to worry about being bored. The big thing for many of my older friends now is hoping the supply of COVID vaccine increases soon to allow them to be seen to. Most have been severely restricting themselves since March. The issue here of course is the large population of older people as Florida is very much a retiree state. Hubby and I qualify to be in a higher priority, but will hold back for a while to let those who are both older and in more vulnerable health get the shots.

I am in the final stages of editing Idyllic Islands before contacting the same publishing group I used for Shades of Deception. That should put me with a February release. This is one of the books where the reader doesn’t have as much information as usual about odd goings-on, however, I have been assured by the two people who have read it there is enough to pick up on. Unlike many of my mysteries, the second point of view is not told by the “bad guy” (okay, it was a “bad girl” in the last one). I do have to get Hubby to go through his underwater photos and pick one to be incorporated as part of the cover.

Okay, let me close this out before I fail to post again. And no, I haven’t seen able to go diving yet. Sigh!

Comedian George Carlin did have incisive wit. I essentially no longer watch comedy sketches as they all seem to be either mean-spirited or so vulgar as to be disgusting. Don’t get me wrong – I curse profusely  – in fact I can’t think of a day that goes by that I don’t do so. Nor do I mind the use of profanity in a witty fashion. When one can’t manage more than two lines of dialog though or have a focus on sex and bodily functions, I do not find that to be clever.

Anyway, notwithstanding Carlin’s famous, “words you can’t say on TV”, (for those of a certain age), one of his funniest segments was about getting “stuff”. The idea is that most of us don’t have much “stuff” when we go out as adults. Sure, we may have left things with our parents, but we generally don’t initially move into a place that will hold much stuff. As we obtain stuff, we suddenly think/realize we need a bigger place. Ah, we have more room. Well then let’s buy more stuff. Setting aside the multiple sizes of clothes many of us have as we age, it is not always us simply getting more stuff. Items from other generations may begin to come our way, too. Although moving on average every two years in the Army had definite issues, there was the tendency to clear things out in conjunction with a move. In the same way, when we had to clear out the front room and kitchen during the remodel of our current home, I did give away a number of boxes of household items and few pieces of furniture. While I have held the line somewhat, I once again look around and know there are probably things that can go.

On a related note, and a topic I have posted about before, is the matter of books. None of us can bear the thought of throwing away a book, but finding a place to give them to is very difficult. This is one of the major reasons we have two Kindles. This allows us to get lots of new books with no shelf space required. What to do about the seven crammed bookcases we own is another matter entirely.

I have previously posted about how years ago Hubby and I agreed the easiest way to do presents was not to try to surprise each other per se. In some cases – such as the most recent  drone acquisition, the research he completed about what type he might want coincided with upcoming birthday and anniversary. Easy choice there. Mostly though when it comes to Christmas, we each buy whatever we want for ourselves, and the “surprise” is the other individual doesn’t know what it is. The only rule is the item must remain wrapped and placed under the tree until Christmas. This is a very workable system although there was one year when I found the lovely pendant I wanted like in October and had to remember where I had it tucked away until December.

As it turns out, this year, I purchased an item for the guest bedroom – not to be revealed in this post – to use in anticipation of the kids coming for the holidays. In helping set it up, Hubby commented it seemed like a good thing. Ah ha, I later thought. Even though it is practical and somewhat mundane, that can be okay. This is assuming he was being serious in his comment, which I suppose I’ll find soon find out. In my case, I bought the new Escape and there is an item – technically a set of items – I wanted and again, yes, they are practical and also somewhat mundane, but I will enjoy them (at least I think I will). In all fairness, they have been advertised on television so I won’t be the only person getting them. Speaking of the Escape, I really liked my Fusion, and while there are a couple of features I do miss, those are  offset by others I didn’t have and things about the Escape I appreciate more. I have indeed become accustomed to some of the technology although I still have to learn to use a few other things.

I knew the odds were Hubby would eventually want a drone. I suppose we loosely categorized it as his present for his birthday/our anniversary since the two things are about a month apart. You probably can’t see it well in the photo, but I can’t find the shot he took of just it. So, as it turns out, not surprisingly, there are all sorts of different license categories. In his case, since he will use it at times in a commercial capacity, he fell into whatever category that is. It included him having to take a particular test that was administered at our small airport at the Executive Jet Center.

There are all sorts of restrictions – as there should be – about heights you can fly the drone and obviously places. Interestingly, they are prohibited in National Parks. Apparently, when they first became easily accessible, there was real or perceived  harassment of wildlife to bring about the rule. He studied up for his test and of course did well and his real card came in yesterday to take the place of his temporary. His first “commercial” use of it was for the December 5th, Holiday on Krome Ave Drive-thru Parade where he did get some great aerial shots.

Roughly speaking, he can shoot from I think it’s 400 feet and down. Because of our closeness to Homestead Air Reserve Base (HARB), large sections around here fall under extra restrictions, but as with so many things these days, there in an on-line form to fill out to receive permission to still fly within certain parts. Downtown Homestead falls into that sector. It is several miles from HARB, so permission is pretty routine. It really is too bad the kids aren’t coming this year for the holidays; I can just imagine how much drone flying would be going on. And no, I have no interest is messing with this thing.

Hubby with drone; Nov 2020

I’ve posted before about NASCAR, but also about how Homestead Speedway has lots of other activities that aren’t as well known. One of those is the FARA races that come I think twice a year. Hubby was at the track all yesterday afternoon. FARA is Formula and Automobile Racing Association and there are different classes of cars and types of racing. Some have the potential to go on to the higher level circuits of Indy, NASCAR, and so forth. In other cases, people have the resources to be part of racing at this level with no expectation of anything else.

Something special though has to do with a program called Shift Up Now. Hubby discovered it back in February and included this in his overall article: “Arguably the most well known racer to participate in the Miami 500 was Pippa Mann. She is an Indy Car Racer who competes regularly in the Indy Car Series and finished 16th in last year’s Indy 500. She now also works with Shift Up Now as a driver coach.

Mann was in Homestead to coach and co-drive with Kristina Esposito, a 17-year-old New York racer.

Shift Up Now Founder and CEO Lynn Kehoe was also on hand to support Kristina. Ms Kehoe summed up the mission of the organization as “We’re all about helping racers and non-racers by inspiring and instilling confidence in women and girls.”

With their partners such as TLM Racing, Shift Up Now will be supporting Kristina as she competes in the FARA series of races with her goal being a class championship.

Kristina also uses her racing to raise money to support the New York Fire Department’s Widow’s and Children’s Fund.”

Both women are here in Homestead this weekend, still doing well in their racing and promoting interest along the way. Hubby’s article will probably be in next week’s paper.