I love those clear winter days here in the Bay when the visibility goes on for miles. You can see all the way to San Jose if you have the stamina to hike to the top of Mount Livermore on Angel Island.

I'm usually content with the view from the fire road, but have on occasion made the trek all the way to the summit. Even the winter birds are more interesting than the summer regulars, however I do miss the diving terns. Seeing the scaups, scoters, loons, mergansers and the little buffleheads make a boating trip across the bay an interesting lesson in botany.

We usually try to come home with the current. It makes the long trip back to Oyster Cove a lot shorter and saves money on fuel.

Sometimes that means getting up early, even before dawn. One winter morning, we were motoring along just a mile or so north of the Bay Bridge. The water was smooth and flat and steel gray. The sun was just starting to rise over the hills of San Leandro. It was cold and clear, and I was down in the galley, just having made a fresh pot of coffee. Sweetie called me on the intercom to point out what must have been 250 or 300 cormorants riding the current and fishing for their breakfast. They were a magnificent sight and that's just one of the reasons I love boating so much.

I just want to tell you a little story about one of my neighbors on Oyster Cove, a fellow we call Bread Bob. Bread Bob is as bald as a cue ball with a giant, black handle bar mustache and sparkly eyes. He works for one of the big bakeries on the Peninsula and often comes home with bags full of fresh bread, cakes and cookies that he passes around to the neighbors on Dock 3. We all love Bread Bob, and not just because he feeds us.

Last week there was a note pinned up on the bulletin board by the washing machines at the harbor office that said: "Money Found. Call and Describe" with a phone number to call. I thought of various ways to finagle the money for myself, and then promptly forgot all about the note.

A few days later I was following Bread Bob down the dock when one of the neighbors came out with a huge bouquet of flowers and presented them to Bread Bob with profuse thanks. It seems that this was the chap who had lost the cash in the parking lot and Bob was the fellow who had found it. Instead of pocketing the money and keeping a low profile, Bob went out of his way to return the cash. But the story doesn't stop here...

Bob told me that less than a week before he had found a jacket, complete with wallet, keys and credit cards laying in the street in Brisbane. After some phoning around, Bob found that they belonged to a young man who had been playing basketball. When the young man went to pick up his things and go home, everything had disappeared, probably stolen by kids who took the money and dumped the rest. Bob returned those items to their grateful owner.

One month prior to that, he had found yet another wallet full of big bills and returned that one too!

I told Bread Bob that it seems as if he is being tested. and passing those tests with flying colors. So you see, there is good will on Earth. Believe and trust in your fellow man.

Merry Christmas!