Friday night, after shopping and tackling some chores, Dawn and I enjoyed sundowners alone in our own cockpit. The sun came down to the wet horizon, with some thick "mares tale - type" clouds off to the west. As it was obviously going to be a fabulous display, Dawn readied to take a series of pictures, attempting to document how the sunsets evolve from one bit of majesty to another. With some luck, she will be able to display some of them in today's blog.
Here they are in the order they were taken:
Sleeping was a bit of a chore for me in the wee hours of Saturday morning, thinking about the various projects facing me. I have new blades to put on the wind generator, one dead interior light and one dead exterior light, a problem with the VHF radio to scope out, a failed connection system on the anchor bridle coupled with some serious fraying, and the watermaker has to be disassembled and the membrane shipped to Trinidad. I also intend to tear down the oven to see if we could increase BTUs by cleaning the jet and insulating with some panels Brian Jeffrey brought down to me. As well, between here and Martinique, I have to find and install one hatch, three swim-ladder rungs, a toilet seat, and some other small items. The hatch will be a two-day job, easily.
Above is Laurie insulating the oven. Thanks again Brian for the insulation you brought down to us. We'll cook up some lasagna this week and let you know how efficient the oven is now!
At any rate, it came to me that facing boat repairs is a little stressful, but has its advantages. My problems and responsibilities end within 35 feet of me. At times in my life, I have been faced with repairs and maintenance to a house, a cottage, two cars, a boat or two; the management of a part-time business, and the management of a career; all at the same time. (The career was one where you had limited power to tackle the symptoms of problems for which you would be truly responsible, and no power nor responsibility for the true problems causing most of the symptoms. Looking back, I realize most people feel this way about their work.) I'll take being on a sailboat a couple of thousand miles away any day, chores or no chores.
Regardless of that Epiphany, my sleeplessness is why some people got Facebook posts from me at 3 a.m.
Between chores, we are having fun. Yesterday afternoon, we went to a barbecue in the back yard of one of John Fallon's friends, and enjoyed both old and new friends and great food and drink. Today, we are heading for a lunch at the yacht club, where we will see more old friends, meet other cruisers, and also trade some of our books.
We may be heading for Martinique on Tuesday with John Fallon (s/v Stopp Knot) and his guests, Gail and Henry from Moncton, so it's possible we'll be out of email/Internet zones for the next little while.
But for now, back to the chores for me, while Dawn works on those photos.
