Hello from Sonoma!

15 May: a bit later than I usually visit my folks in Sonoma, but quite nice. Fire season should not start for another couple months, but we've only received 7" of the normal 19" of rain last winter and things are dry, dry, dry and the first major CA fires have popped up. We've been enjoying strawberries from the local farm that has been growing them for the last couple decades: definitely the best strawberries I've ever found for sale. And some of the grafted oranges I started a year ago are progressing nicely: the blood orange graft has grown long and healthy and the little green fruits studding the multiple Cara Cara grafts swell noticeably by the week. Zero clouds (except for "coastal low clouds"), 50deg at night, 80deg by day.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday and, coincidentally, Cynthia is flying in with Lucy. On Saturday May 26 we will take the red-eye back to NC and our floating home and wend our way north.

Speaking of sailing, family finally visited while I was in FL: my brother Peter and his two children came to visit for a week. Sadly, Angela had to remain behind to tend to Bailey, their canine family member, as he recovers (fingers crossed!) from back surgery. 

Peter and the kids seemed to enjoy the trip. Alex and Rory paddled the kayak and poked around the mangroves where Alex photographed lazy lizards.

They testing out various masks, snorkels, and fins in the murky waters along the local breakwater (Peter found the biggest queen conch I've seen in years). 

Another day we moved to the clearer water along a local sunken sailboat (numerous fish and dozens of lobsters). 

On the final day we sailed to a nice dive around an old lighthouse at the edge of the Florida Bank, gentle winds and small waves making for a perfect dive day.

It seems like a VERY long drive for them (18 hrs each way) for a mere five days aboard with me, but I certainly enjoyed having them visit.