In the beginning of March I was getting ready to head back home to Rhode Island for five weeks visit with our son, Chris and our daughter-in-law, MaeSue and in particular to be at hand when our very first grandchild would be arriving! Dan and Duke stayed on the boat in Almeria, Spain until I returned.

I arrived at Logan airport in Boston in the early hours of March 10, and my son and daughter-in-law were there to greet me. It had been about nine months since I saw them last, and it was just wonderful to see them again and to be able to hug them. My daughter-in-law had gained some weight of cource, and so had my son. He said it was sympathy for MaeSue that made him put on a few pounds! The very first day I was back, MaeSue's family had planned a baby shower for her. She got so many nice presents for the baby, and I got to meet so many friends and family members.

My days soon became occupied with visiting doctors for yearly checkups, and since one tooth had broken while I was still in Spain, that had to be taken care of also. The most traumatic experience during my visit home, was when I went to the registry to renew my license. Never did it enter my mind that I might not pass the eye exam, but that's exactly what happened. I strained my eyes to see and guessed at most of the letters, but finally the man said: "Mam, when was the last time you had your eyes checked?" I really didn't think it was more than one year ago, but when I got an emergency appointment with my eyedoctor, I found out it was almost two years ago. My distance vision had deteriorated quite a bit in two years I guess! I did get my license renewed, and I am also the proud owner of bifocals.

I didn't have much time left over for visiting, but my friend Maria and I managed to sneak off to dinner alone twice, while her husband, Tom went to his monthly fishing meeting. Great catching up on what's been happening around Coventry and Taft Street since our departure last year! I was also invited to dinner at the Ferreira's house one Saturday night, and as usual Maria had put on this huge spread of delicious food. Another night I was invited to dinner at the Rossi's residence, and besides a great meal, we had a very enjoyable visit. Most of my time was spent with Chris and MaeSue, and since they had decided to prepare their house for sale, it was a lot of work that needed to be done before that could happen. They were going to move into our house at Taft Street for a few years instead, and that worked out great, as our tennants were moving to Arizona. By the end of March our house on Taft Street was empty, and we thought ready to move into! Chris and MaeSue decided that a bit of sprucing up would be needed first, and as all projects, it soon became a huge project. New sheet rock was hung in the ceiling in five rooms, with lots of help from the Ferreira clan and Chris friends. Taiping and joint compound to cover all nail holes and seams needed to be done, new paint over everything, and last Chris wanted to sand and polyurethane the wooden floors. Needless to say, it didn't get close to being finished while I still was at home. During all this work and confusion we expected the baby to arrive, but the days went by and MaeSue became more and more uncomfortable, but still no baby!

Finally, early in the morning to March 31 Tyler Christopher made his debut into this world, with both his mom and dad present. His dad was allowed to sever his umbilical cord from his mom, and Tyler was weighed and measured. His official birth weight was 7 pounds 12 ounces and I believe he was 20 1/2 inches long! Soon his grandmothers were at the hospital for their first visit with Tyler, and then he was inspected from top to bottom again! The nurses had put a yellow knitted cap on top of his head, so that was all we could see of Tyler at first, where he was snuggled up in his bassinet! Soon Tyler was unwrapped, and we could feast our eyes on this perfect little human being! What a wonder! His hair was thick and very dark, and when Tyler tried to open his eyes, they also looked dark. His fingers were very long and slender, and his feet seemed too big for such a small body! He was very quiet and hardly made a peep, except when his daiper was changed; then he tried out his lungs and this faint little cry escaped! When Tyler was in the middle of his daiper change, he almost always took the opportunity to let a stream go, narrowly missing his father's shoulder the first day! His mom got wise to his tricks and from then on he was covered! Two days after his arrival, Tyler was allowed to go home for the first time. How would the big dogs take to Tyler, and how would Tyler do during that first night? The dogs were curious over Tyler of course and wanted to sniff him, but in general they took the competition pretty well. When Tyler cried and neither Chris nor MaeSue did anything about it at once, Kahlua got a little antsy. She would then find Chris, put her head under his arm and try to get his attention! Hannibal couldn't care less about the cries; he just continued what he did best, and that was sleeping! Tyler wasn't too eager to go to sleep that first night at home, and after several feedings and daiper changes, his mom didn't know what to do with him. It was a new experience for them both, and it can be overwhelming at first! After Tyler was wrapped tight in his blanket, so his arms couldn't escape and wake him, the light was turned on in the bedroom, and soft music played on the radio, he settled down and slept for quite some time! Evidently he needed light and noice to be able to sleep! From then on he slept pretty good during the night, and he could go as long as six hours before he woke up and was starving!

Of course Tyler became a filmstar at once, as those would be my only memories of him for at least one year. Two weeks after Tyler was born, it was time for me to return to Spain, to Dan, Duke and the boat! How heart wrenching it was to hug my son, my daughter-in-law and my little grandson at the airport, but eventually I had to let go and disappeared into the waiting airplane. I can't say I was happy about leaving them behind, but I knew Dan and Duke were waiting for me, and by then Dan would surely be anxious to continue our trip!

Once I was back with Dan and our boat, Dan filled me in what he had been up to while I was gone! He and Duke had been out sightseeing on his new Honda scooter, he bought, and they put on quite a few hundred miles. Even so he had time to do a lot of polishing on the aluminum frame in the stern, and the same to the stainless steel rails in the bow. Even our stainless steel grill was shining! The boat was nice and clean and Duke smelled good; a nice return to the boat!

Provisions now had to be bought for our upcoming departure, and since our friend, Tom, had given us permission to use his car to get groceries, we stocked up on a lot of dried stuff. Of course I didn't want to think about leaving this safe and secure harbor at Almeria for unknown places, but at the same time I knew it was time. The friends that had spent the winter with us in the port, had already continued on, so Almeria wasn't the same any longer. During our last two weeks in Almeria, we met and made friends with a family from Sweden, who lived onboard their boat "Discovery", and it so happened that we got ready and left the harbor the same day! They are basically heading in the same direction as we are, so we hope to run into them again soon!