Holiday Greetings - 2025

Original artwork and poetry to usher in the new year

CONNECTIONS #4 - An original watercolor with embroidered embellishment. - Original Artwork by LJ

Who are your friends when
You are traveling far away?
Every star above.

Over space and time
Our thoughts connect, our minds touch
And there is magic.

Each year, I create an original piece of art and write a poem to share with friends and family as we celebrate the holidays and welcome a new beginning.

In years past, I would create an image and write a poem, and have it printed and mailed as postcards. Then, as we went full nomad and started sailing full time, I dropped the snail mail distribution, and sent the greetings by email.

I’m never in a place anymore that printing and mailing is convenient, and even if it was, I don’t have physical addresses for many people on my list. Some of you don’t even have one. Who knew that not having a permanent home would become a badge of courage?

There is a special group of friends that have been on my holiday card list for years, all of whom I imported to Substack to get my publication started in August of this year.

Not one of you unsubscribed, and I appreciate that very much. I am so grateful to all of you. I apologize for you having to see a duplicate greeting this year, but sending you a direct email version was still special to me. 💙

Now, after 5 months on Substack, there are hundreds more people in my universe. It’s amazing, and I’m still astonished.

I hope you all enjoy seeing this greeting as much as I enjoyed creating and sharing it.

I wish all of us a joyful, prosperous, and adventure filled year in 2026.

Sail on fearless crew! LJ

PS – for another fun read this week, check out Two Boats, One Horizon: A Pen Pal Log Between Two Sailors. It’s a four-week exchange of letters between me and my friend Cory, on the sailboat Chérie at Radical Paths.

Week 2 Letters: Fear, Weather, and Braving the Elements just published. I think you’ll like it.

We sail very different boats at different stages: a larger, more-seasoned expedition yacht and a smaller boat in its first wild year at sea with two humans and a cat. What we share is a love of the freedom this life brings — and a willingness to write honestly about braving it.

Read, like, comment, share. 🌏💙

About Shellphone Chronicles: We are about two people exploring the ocean on our 80-foot sailing yacht, without a full-time crew or a fat wallet. To all my constant readers, thank you for coming along on this voyage with us. It’s so much fun for me to share our adventures with you.

You can support me by sharing, commenting, and liking my posts— I genuinely love your feedback and engagement draws more readers to my work.

If you are new to the crew, there is a Start Here page on my Substack website. This roadmap guides you through some of our most popular essays and provides a few binge-worthy series suggestions. It’s a fun introduction to the themes that we weave through our life of adventure on the deep blue sea.