Our masks are all hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicolas' vaccine soon will be here

And so the year passed … so quickly yet slowly, oddly yet with familiarity, fearfully yet hopefully. For those who might enjoy reading the original 'Twas the Night Before Christmas poem, here you go.

We had a very busy summer and fall working our various jobs and are thankful for the work. Mike taught a lot of sailing classes at Passion Yachts each month and did other boat work. He turned plenty of people on to the world of sailing, sharing his experience and skills with patience. I also worked at Passion Yachts, doing lessons coordination which entails lots of logistics and wrangling of resources. With my project management background, it’s was a good match.

We just completed another season stint at West Marine every week, taking advantage of our discount. Having jobs on the island meant short commutes for both of us. My marketing client base shrunk this year due to Covid and I made the decision to change from a corporation to sole proprietorship: open for business, just fewer taxes and less paperwork.

Christmas runner from Salzburg Austria -
waiting for years to be used and our
light from Loreto illuminates the office

We are still in Oregon – all geared up, literally, with the purchase of additional cold weather gear, to survive these cold, rainy and dark winter days. It’s been 10 years since we spent Christmas in Portland! For Christmas, we had to buy a few strings of lights to decorate our space and the archway on the dock out front. Since we have to do everything in moderation in our 658 square foot space, I also scored eight carefully placed ornaments and picked some greens to spark up our small living space.

My cherished prizes from 2 years at
Carnival in Guaymas 2017-8

Christmas ships passing
by our moorage

Mt Hood on one of our walks along the Columbia

We’ve enjoyed the Christmas ships that come by our moorage three times this season. It’s a wonderful bit of cheer.

On the river we get cooler winds and with no insulation, the house gets rather chilly. Our pot belly gas stove and space heaters are running constantly. It’s a good thing we are comfortable living together in small spaces and it doesn't take much time to heat up!

In September, we celebrated our 13^th wedding anniversary in style at the Michael Jordan Steakhouse north of Vancouver WA. A big outing in these times, on our day worth celebrating. In October, we spent two lovely days at the Oregon coast - midweek so very quiet. Got a room with a fireplace and mini kitchen, so we were isolated and set.