11:00pm Christmas Night, December 25, 2008
I had a really good Christmas Day.  I don’t do anything commercial for the holidays, so I escape the flurry of decorating, gift shopping, and card sending and it all stays pretty peaceful.  I did a dawn patrol surf check at the boardwalk in Indialantic this morning, then came back to dry off and have some hot and sour soup for breakfast.  Afterward, I took a walk through Turkey Creek Sanctuary, and then headed toward downtown Melbourne to watch the manatees off riverwalk park for awhile.

My friends Jimmie and Susan drove by and had their kayaks with them, on their way down toward Melbourne Beach.  They saw me and pulled over and I followed them down and went out on the Indian River with them for a couple of hours.  It was very calm, there was no one else on the water and it was pretty foggy and misty.  It was very ethereal.

I much prefer a kayak over a canoe, it feels much safer and more easy to balance.  I like hearing the paddles hit the water and the sounds of the hull as it makes its way along the river.  The birds were just getting active and beginning their dances.  The sun was making its way heavenward, but it was overcast and only occasionally breaking through the clouds.  We weren’t doing much speaking, just taking in all the nature sounds around us.  It was very magical and the perfect way to spend a Christmas morning.

We went back in and I got in my car and left the two of them for their own adventure.  I headed south toward Sebastian Beach Inlet and there were some waves happening by this time, and a half dozen surfers out there catching them.  There were a few dozen people on the pier, it was very misty and drizzly and approaching from the bridge you could see the entire pier covered with salt spray.  The park itself was almost empty.

Driving south along AIA toward the Wabasso causeway, typically cars line the highway left and right as people park to walk the public access trails to the beach.  Today it was empty, it was like old time AIA, before it got real touristy.

I had the windows down and was listening to Fred Migliore’s FM Odyssey on 89.5 FM WFIT and he was doing his live show, always a treat to hear Fred on a day off when I’m just cruising and relaxing.  It makes it feel more like a holiday.  He’s got a great archive of shows you can listen to online; he has done some good, good interviews with interesting and talented musicians, singers and songwriters.  Fred gets it.  He gets it that our words make a difference to the people who hear them.

As I drove north on US1 toward home, once again all the streets looked freshly washed and sparkling, and there were very few cars on the road.  As I drove high over each causeway and alongside the river, I could see very few boats out on the water, and no tents pitched on the barrier islands.  It was a nice drive, I had fun and actually got some work done also.

Back at home, my brother Jerry had set up the software for my new Horizons Magazine Newsletter, and gave me the instructions to begin using it.  At last count he had 1659 email addresses on my main list and 291 on my drumming list.  Once it is set up, I will send an email out to everyone asking if they’d like to be on the list to receive the newsletter.  And the newsletter isn’t going to be a bunch of marketing solicitations either.  It will be good, useful and free stuff that will enhance your life and/or your income (without selling you something).

Publicists send me advance trailers of upcoming movies and dvds and I will include free links to these in the newsletter.  The same with various freebies like e-books from new authors.  Sure, they will also try to sell you something somewhere on their site, but each newsletter will have several free, useful items.  Do as I do and learn to navigate through the useful information on a page while ignoring the ads thrown all over the place.  But I promise, the newsletter is going to be more of a resource for free info than a marketing pitch once a month.

I have lots of friends who have newsletters and many of them are blatant pitches for their latest products or workshops.  Which is fine, send me one or two a year but not monthly.  I know their feelings are not hurt when I unsubscribe even though we are friends.  It’s a matter of I support them in the work they do, however I am not their target market, so I don’t need the sales pitch.  Just to let you know, it won’t be that kind of newsletter.

Tonight’s dinner was a vegetable fried rice, using fresh scallions, zucchini and corn.  A side salad was of fresh tomato chunks mixed with red onion, about 30 fresh basil leaves and capers, with lemon juice, pepper and salt.  That salad I also like to have with a breakfast egg sometimes, with sliced avocado added.