Loud “cracks” and “thuds” were the norm today as ice laden tree limbs around our yard succumbed to the additional weight. It appears the damage to the house is minimal, so far. We usually welcome additional supplies of ice (a bag or two at a time from the ship’s store), but not what we’ve seen the last few days. Even the neighbor’s hot tub is frozen over.

While watching the icicles from the roof grow, I found myself thinking (again) about the warm Caribbean and our recent vacation there. We have traveled to many parts of the Caribbean over the years, as I am sure many of you have, and it seems more often than not, the travels take us through San Juan, Puerto Rico. Usually, we pass through the airport there and don’t take the time to look around, but this trip we had an extra day to spend, so we took in some of what “Old Town” has to offer. We were advised to eat the typical Puerto Rican dish of mufungo (a plantain dish) at the Barrachina Restaurant, which is known as the place that created the first Pina Colada. The people were friendly, the food and drink delicious.

The highlight of our walking tour of Old San Juan (with our new friends Boyd and Randi from North Carolina) was the fort known as El Morro. El Morro is the older of two forts that anchored the sea and landward defenses of San Juan for more than 400 years. The earliest structures of the fort were built in 1539, and over the next 250 years evolved into what it is today. Its main purpose was to act as “Guardian of the Spanish Main”. It protected the entrance to the San Juan harbor, which was a major shipping port for Spain during its conquest of the New World. From the ancient water battery on the point just above the Atlantic, it rises 145 feet to a huge six-tiered fortress. The Fort contains storerooms, gunrooms, towers, troop quarters, chapel, ramps, tunnels, stairways and even a moat. El Morro repelled attackers such as the infamous English buccaneer Sir Francis Drake in 1595.

Over the centuries it successfully defended San Juan from attacks by the Dutch, French and English fleets and even survived a bombardment by a U. S. naval flotilla in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Renee and I both wish we had more time to explore this amazing piece of history, and highly recommend it to all of you.

Speaking of kids (subtle set-up, huh?), we are searching for a Youth Program Director (or Directors) for 2007. Anyone interested, please let me know.

Thanks again to the 2007 Executive Committee for participating in what I hope will be our longest meeting of the year. They worked hard to finalize the 2007 Calendar and the 2007 Budget. There are activities planned for every month of the year and we hope you all will come out and join the fun. The February and March calendars are included in this mailing. The new Handbook is also included in this mailing. It has full year’s calendar, and the web site will have the new calendar within days.