Several sailboats in view through the window. Was out on the deck with Steve's binoculars to see what the deal was out by "my" island. There is a tiny island in the bay right in front of us that no one goes to, but somehow there is a white plastic chair on it. I want to go out there and just sit and read, but no way to get there. Anyway, some small power boat must have been having problems as a dinghy was out there too. No boat run up on the reef like before. If you don't have the reef charts, it looks like a great little short cut between the shore and the island, but the reef is very close to the surface there. More than a few rental boats have discovered that too late.

We went to Bottom's Up for the Wednesday spaghetti special last night. I have enough left over for two more meals. Sure was quiet in there - not high season yet. The big change was the new chairs - more comfortable that the plastic ones they used to have, but these new metal and mesh ones make it even more difficult to get near the bar so you don't slop spaghetti sauce all over you while you eat. We were the only non-boat people in the place. I envy them being able to just sit back and relax while watching a movie in the bar and then amble down to their boat for the night. I have never ambled anywhere in my life - I am too hyper. I was good - I didn't go through the books in the "library" there - I have more than I know what to do with. Looked like someone had brought in a whole box of them that there was no room for on the shelves. Most of it is really old stuff that has been gathering dust there for who knows how long.

Headed to Montessori tomorrow and will bring more books with me. Still have a bunch of them on the shelves in the apartment. Need to decide what I want to send back to NC. Guess I will send my cookbooks, though I am not sure why. We had to buy pots and pans so Steve and I could make spaghetti for dinner while he was in Greenville. Cooking for one is not my cup of tea - heck, cooking for more than one is not my cup of tea either! I just love to browse cookbooks and on a rare occasion, bake. Made brownies the day after I got down here.

I loved the movie Pay It Forward although I have not read the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde. But, when I saw The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, a 2007 Knopf title, is writeen by Hyde I dove right in. It is not a happy book, but like so many of YA novels that address problems, this one has a light at the end of the tunnel. Thirteen-year-old Cynnie has been taking care of her little brother Bill, who has Down's Syndrome, for so long she sees herself more as his mother than older sister. Cynnie loves Bill more than anything else in life and clearly he feels the same - her name, well almost her name (Thynnie), is all he can say. Their mother spends her days in her robe, with a bottle of booze of one type or another at her side and cigarette hanging out of her fingers. Cynnie is afraid she will burn the house down so she is the mother in this situation as well. Since her dad died, a steady line of boyfriends have made their way in and out of their home and her mother's bedroom. It isn't until Zack, who was much younger than her mom, moved in that Cynnie started drinking and smoking on a regular basis. You could say that Zack got her started, so she is more than a bit surprised to see him in the mandated AA meeting she attends after smashing a car into a guard rail, while trying to run away with Bill. Cynnie becomes Cynthia as she works her way through the AA program - a young woman whose goal is to gain custody of her brother when she turns 18. This is a must have for any YA collection. Teens are becoming heavy drinkers at an earlier and early age - 13 is no surprise, sadly. They need to know there are people out there who can help them, even if their own family members cannot.

Okay - now to pack up those cookbooks before we lose power. It is thundering like crazy out there and getting dark.