It's much too cold for swimming, but we can see the ocean from the condo and admire the beautiful view. I see two palm trees and sparkling water, a little sand and beach grasses across the neighbor's porch. And we walk. Yesterday, we walked down to the south end of the island, bundled up against the cold and wind. and back on the road. There was a house there for sale that we were curious about. When we got back, we looked it up on line. $750,000! It must be a lot nicer that it looks on the outside...

We sat indoors and didn't do much until we decided to go for lunch, just a couple streets down, to Bernie's Oyster House. It was good, but it was definitely a bar, with two big TV sets. I enjoyed watching the other patrons. One couple ordered a bucket of oysters, which came with towels and knives so they could shuck their own. A lot of work! My mother liked oysters. We had a pleasant lunch. I had some delicious chowder and Ray had a shrimp po-boy. Then we walked to the Marine Science Institute, a really small aquarium that cost $4. We enjoyed the fish and turtles and the gift shop. WE walked out the giant pier and enjoyed the sun, even though it was still pretty cold. There were people sitting on the beach, but they were not in their bathing suits!

We went back to the condo and Ray slept for a while. I read and played solitaire and knit. When he woke up, we went for another shorter walk along the beach in the setting sun. At the condo, we heated up a pasta casserole I had taken out of the freezer, with eggplant and red pepper and ricotta. Yum. We didn't bring much else except breakfast food and not enough of that. Somehow we haven't been to the grocery store yet. The ice cream shop is not open. And I didn't even pack a bottle of wine.

After more solitaire, we looked for something good on TV. I wanted to finish my hat, but I need to switch needles for the last few rows. I brought a hat, but it is rd and green striped. This is a more sophisticated gray hat, like the one i made for Bonney for Christmas. But I will have to wait. Patience is a virtue...

Ray's right hip was bothering him and my left one has been for a while, so we decided to try sleeping on the opposite side of the bed. It was hard. We'll try again tonight and decide if we think it helps. I woke up at 5:30, but went back to sleep and it was sunny when I woke up again!