March 25, 2015
Maps
The days of March have somehow wandered by and we are still in the marina and still chained to the hurricane moorings. I thought we would be sailing by the middle of the month, or April first at the latest. Now it looks like at least May and maybe later. It is just too hot to do anything. We cannot turn around until the box is done because the new starter switch will be in the box and the box is far from done. The pieces are cut out and sanded Apparently at least part of the 150 lbs of gear that I brought back was parts for the box, so now he has those. Eventually it is all put together. Now it has to be varnished, that takes several days. And now it is time for the electrical work. installing all the switches and gages and wiring them in. Of course this requires trips to the hardware store and several days with pencil and paper sketching wiring diagrams. Little by little it is coming together but oh so slow.
I have made numerous trips to town. I have wanted good map of Fiji since we got here, not a chart but just a map with the names of villages and islands and the major roads Up until now, it has been impossible to find one. Finally someone suggested that I try school supply stores since the kids need to study their country. Still no luck but eventually someone suggested that i go to the “Land Commission” office. I had no idea there was such an office but it makes sense. They are in charge of real estate transactions and obviously would need good maps. Real estate in Fiji is very complicated and political and I will not even pretend to know much about it. What I do know is that most land is owned by the villages and non-fijians ( which I think includes indian-fujians) cannot own the land except under certain circumstances that are constantly changing according to the most recent legislation.
Anyway, I make my way to the appropriate building and office and discover that they do indeed have a wonderful set of maps covering all of Fiji. There is just one problem, the maps are in locked cabinets and they cannot find the key. They all think the key must be here, but it is not. The entire office is in an uproar. It is finally suggested that we go and have lunch and come back later. Surely they will have found the key by this afternoon. The afternoon is no better. No one knows what happened to the key. Two of the maps that we want are in unlocked cabinets, so we take those and promise to come back the next day.
The next day the office is noticeably cleaner that the day before. Numerous piles of paper have been sorted and filed, but the key has not appeared. “So sorry. Give us another day.” The problem with this is that the bus only runs every tow hours anti takes an hour to get to town so any trip to town uses up a whole day. By the time I get back I am too hot and tired to do much of anything else. By the next day the key has finally shown up. Apparently it had taken a little trip to the head office in Suva. The drawers are unlocked and unchained with great aplomb. Indexes are consulted. One by one the maps are produced. There are seven all together. We got one the first day four of the remaining six turn out to have been in the unlocked cabinets all along. Number six comes out of the formerly locked cabinet and number seven is nowhere to be found. This is the map of the southern Lau group, a small scattering of sparsely inhabited islands. Paperwork is filled out and we are escorted out of the office and across the waiting room to the cashier to pay. Once that is done we take possession of al but one of the maps with promises that the final map will be ordered from Suva and will be here soon. Unfortunately it is now Easter week, Thursday to be exact and the rest of the week and Monday will be holidays so it will be Tuesday at least before it will arrive.
Meanwhile i take the six maps back with me and lay them out at the bar that night. “OK, which one of these is what you call Castaway? Bounty? Treasure Island? Where are the good dive spots?. Which way did you go to the Yasawas? Which islands have fancy hotels? “ Eventually we get most of the close islands labeled with their common names and identified the places where the staff grew up. After several more trips to town I finally got the last map. Now we are set. We use the IPad when we are sailing but it is hard to get the big picture on that. These are lovely.
Eventually I went back and bought another set of large scale (or is it small scale?) maps of the Yasawas. They do not show depths but they do show the reefs. These are the official maps that the government uses for ownership and disputes so anything that someone might lay claim to is going to show up.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
March 25, 2015 Maps
March 25, 2015
Maps
The days of March have somehow wandered by and we are still in the marina and still chained to the hurricane moorings. I thought we would be sailing by the middle of the month, or April first at the latest. Now it looks like at least May and maybe later. It is just too hot to do anything. We cannot turn around until the box is done because the new starter switch will be in the box and the box is far from done. The pieces are cut out and sanded Apparently at least part of the 150 lbs of gear that I brought back was parts for the box, so now he has those. Eventually it is all put together. Now it has to be varnished, that takes several days. And now it is time for the electrical work. installing all the switches and gages and wiring them in. Of course this requires trips to the hardware store and several days with pencil and paper sketching wiring diagrams. Little by little it is coming together but oh so slow.
I have made numerous trips to town. I have wanted good map of Fiji since we got here, not a chart but just a map with the names of villages and islands and the major roads Up until now, it has been impossible to find one. Finally someone suggested that I try school supply stores since the kids need to study their country. Still no luck but eventually someone suggested that i go to the “Land Commission” office. I had no idea there was such an office but it makes sense. They are in charge of real estate transactions and obviously would need good maps. Real estate in Fiji is very complicated and political and I will not even pretend to know much about it. What I do know is that most land is owned by the villages and non-fijians ( which I think includes indian-fujians) cannot own the land except under certain circumstances that are constantly changing according to the most recent legislation.
Anyway, I make my way to the appropriate building and office and discover that they do indeed have a wonderful set of maps covering all of Fiji. There is just one problem, the maps are in locked cabinets and they cannot find the key. They all think the key must be here, but it is not. The entire office is in an uproar. It is finally suggested that we go and have lunch and come back later. Surely they will have found the key by this afternoon. The afternoon is no better. No one knows what happened to the key. Two of the maps that we want are in unlocked cabinets, so we take those and promise to come back the next day.
The next day the office is noticeably cleaner that the day before. Numerous piles of paper have been sorted and filed, but the key has not appeared. “So sorry. Give us another day.” The problem with this is that the bus only runs every tow hours anti takes an hour to get to town so any trip to town uses up a whole day. By the time I get back I am too hot and tired to do much of anything else. By the next day the key has finally shown up. Apparently it had taken a little trip to the head office in Suva. The drawers are unlocked and unchained with great aplomb. Indexes are consulted. One by one the maps are produced. There are seven all together. We got one the first day four of the remaining six turn out to have been in the unlocked cabinets all along. Number six comes out of the formerly locked cabinet and number seven is nowhere to be found. This is the map of the southern Lau group, a small scattering of sparsely inhabited islands. Paperwork is filled out and we are escorted out of the office and across the waiting room to the cashier to pay. Once that is done we take possession of al but one of the maps with promises that the final map will be ordered from Suva and will be here soon. Unfortunately it is now Easter week, Thursday to be exact and the rest of the week and Monday will be holidays so it will be Tuesday at least before it will arrive.
Meanwhile i take the six maps back with me and lay them out at the bar that night. “OK, which one of these is what you call Castaway? Bounty? Treasure Island? Where are the good dive spots?. Which way did you go to the Yasawas? Which islands have fancy hotels? “ Eventually we get most of the close islands labeled with their common names and identified the places where the staff grew up. After several more trips to town I finally got the last map. Now we are set. We use the IPad when we are sailing but it is hard to get the big picture on that. These are lovely.
Eventually I went back and bought another set of large scale (or is it small scale?) maps of the Yasawas. They do not show depths but they do show the reefs. These are the official maps that the government uses for ownership and disputes so anything that someone might lay claim to is going to show up.
Maps
The days of March have somehow wandered by and we are still in the marina and still chained to the hurricane moorings. I thought we would be sailing by the middle of the month, or April first at the latest. Now it looks like at least May and maybe later. It is just too hot to do anything. We cannot turn around until the box is done because the new starter switch will be in the box and the box is far from done. The pieces are cut out and sanded Apparently at least part of the 150 lbs of gear that I brought back was parts for the box, so now he has those. Eventually it is all put together. Now it has to be varnished, that takes several days. And now it is time for the electrical work. installing all the switches and gages and wiring them in. Of course this requires trips to the hardware store and several days with pencil and paper sketching wiring diagrams. Little by little it is coming together but oh so slow.
I have made numerous trips to town. I have wanted good map of Fiji since we got here, not a chart but just a map with the names of villages and islands and the major roads Up until now, it has been impossible to find one. Finally someone suggested that I try school supply stores since the kids need to study their country. Still no luck but eventually someone suggested that i go to the “Land Commission” office. I had no idea there was such an office but it makes sense. They are in charge of real estate transactions and obviously would need good maps. Real estate in Fiji is very complicated and political and I will not even pretend to know much about it. What I do know is that most land is owned by the villages and non-fijians ( which I think includes indian-fujians) cannot own the land except under certain circumstances that are constantly changing according to the most recent legislation.
Anyway, I make my way to the appropriate building and office and discover that they do indeed have a wonderful set of maps covering all of Fiji. There is just one problem, the maps are in locked cabinets and they cannot find the key. They all think the key must be here, but it is not. The entire office is in an uproar. It is finally suggested that we go and have lunch and come back later. Surely they will have found the key by this afternoon. The afternoon is no better. No one knows what happened to the key. Two of the maps that we want are in unlocked cabinets, so we take those and promise to come back the next day.
The next day the office is noticeably cleaner that the day before. Numerous piles of paper have been sorted and filed, but the key has not appeared. “So sorry. Give us another day.” The problem with this is that the bus only runs every tow hours anti takes an hour to get to town so any trip to town uses up a whole day. By the time I get back I am too hot and tired to do much of anything else. By the next day the key has finally shown up. Apparently it had taken a little trip to the head office in Suva. The drawers are unlocked and unchained with great aplomb. Indexes are consulted. One by one the maps are produced. There are seven all together. We got one the first day four of the remaining six turn out to have been in the unlocked cabinets all along. Number six comes out of the formerly locked cabinet and number seven is nowhere to be found. This is the map of the southern Lau group, a small scattering of sparsely inhabited islands. Paperwork is filled out and we are escorted out of the office and across the waiting room to the cashier to pay. Once that is done we take possession of al but one of the maps with promises that the final map will be ordered from Suva and will be here soon. Unfortunately it is now Easter week, Thursday to be exact and the rest of the week and Monday will be holidays so it will be Tuesday at least before it will arrive.
Meanwhile i take the six maps back with me and lay them out at the bar that night. “OK, which one of these is what you call Castaway? Bounty? Treasure Island? Where are the good dive spots?. Which way did you go to the Yasawas? Which islands have fancy hotels? “ Eventually we get most of the close islands labeled with their common names and identified the places where the staff grew up. After several more trips to town I finally got the last map. Now we are set. We use the IPad when we are sailing but it is hard to get the big picture on that. These are lovely.
Eventually I went back and bought another set of large scale (or is it small scale?) maps of the Yasawas. They do not show depths but they do show the reefs. These are the official maps that the government uses for ownership and disputes so anything that someone might lay claim to is going to show up.
March 15, 2015 Cyclone Pam
March 15, 2015 Cyclone Pam
Most of the time I was home, the weather in Fiji was beautiful, although excruciatingly hot. but the last week I started to see warnings about a tropical disturbance building. Gradually it gained strength over the warm waters in the southern ocean. It moved a little one way and then the other, trying to decide what to do but it was definitely looking like a threat. By the time I got on the plane it was a category 3 cyclone and heading towards Fiji, expected to hit a couple of days after I landed. The in-flight movie screen showed 50mph head winds and the fasten seatbelt sigh stayed on the last several hours. A cyclone, by the way, is simply a hurricane in the southern hemisphere. The weather was cool and overcast when I arrived, a relief actually from the heat of the previous weeks.
While I was gone, a cyclone preparation meeting was held . This marina is specifically designed to be as cyclone safe as possible. The entry channel turns trice to deflect any waves and a gate can be moved across the channel to block the surge. Almost all of the boats have been turned bow out and chained front and rear. All loose gear is off the decks and now it is a waiting game. We check the weather sites several times a day. It is now big enough to have a name and growing daily but it is barely moving. Each weather service seems to have a different prediction for it’s path, The dozen or so remaining sailors gather each evening in the bar to share war stories of pervious storms and give their own predictions as to whether or not Pam will hit. . By and large, most do not think it will hit, or if it does, will not be too bad. I am not sure. It looks huge on the null school wind website. When I take the bus into town there is a lot of wind and sudden bursts of rain but people seem to be going about their business with out too much concern, although the fishing fleet is staying in port.
The barometer is dropping day by day and there is a heaviness and stillness to the air. The sea is surprisingly still and Pam it just sits there, growing and growing. At the bar we are treated to sudden downpourings of rain, causing the staff to close the shutters for an hour or so until it clears up again. Little by little it becomes clear that it will miss Fiji but hit Vanuatu. And indeed, it does slam into Vanuatu as a category 5, one of the biggest ever. Boats are sunk, home blown apart, trees uprooted and crops destroyed. People are posting real time videos onto you tube and several of the weather sites. And then it is gone, moving on south. There are a few more days of nerves until it is clear that it is so far south that it cannot suddenly turn and come towards Fiji.
As the danger passes, I find myself wondering what would have happened if it had struck here. Alan’s plan was to stay on the boat and ride it out but it would have been a wild and dangerous ride. Once the warning is given, the boats are pulled out to the center and it is no longer possible to get off. The marina has thought very carefully about how to minimize danger to the boats but as far as I can tell, very little had been done to provide safe shelter for any crew that are here. We had no back up plan, except to try to get into town and find a hotel if it started to look really dangerous. By that time the buses would probably have stopped running. None of the buildings on the grounds seem very strong. We will be here through at least one more season and next year is supposed to be worse because of the El Nino conditions. We obviously need to give this some more thought.
Most of the time I was home, the weather in Fiji was beautiful, although excruciatingly hot. but the last week I started to see warnings about a tropical disturbance building. Gradually it gained strength over the warm waters in the southern ocean. It moved a little one way and then the other, trying to decide what to do but it was definitely looking like a threat. By the time I got on the plane it was a category 3 cyclone and heading towards Fiji, expected to hit a couple of days after I landed. The in-flight movie screen showed 50mph head winds and the fasten seatbelt sigh stayed on the last several hours. A cyclone, by the way, is simply a hurricane in the southern hemisphere. The weather was cool and overcast when I arrived, a relief actually from the heat of the previous weeks.
While I was gone, a cyclone preparation meeting was held . This marina is specifically designed to be as cyclone safe as possible. The entry channel turns trice to deflect any waves and a gate can be moved across the channel to block the surge. Almost all of the boats have been turned bow out and chained front and rear. All loose gear is off the decks and now it is a waiting game. We check the weather sites several times a day. It is now big enough to have a name and growing daily but it is barely moving. Each weather service seems to have a different prediction for it’s path, The dozen or so remaining sailors gather each evening in the bar to share war stories of pervious storms and give their own predictions as to whether or not Pam will hit. . By and large, most do not think it will hit, or if it does, will not be too bad. I am not sure. It looks huge on the null school wind website. When I take the bus into town there is a lot of wind and sudden bursts of rain but people seem to be going about their business with out too much concern, although the fishing fleet is staying in port.
The barometer is dropping day by day and there is a heaviness and stillness to the air. The sea is surprisingly still and Pam it just sits there, growing and growing. At the bar we are treated to sudden downpourings of rain, causing the staff to close the shutters for an hour or so until it clears up again. Little by little it becomes clear that it will miss Fiji but hit Vanuatu. And indeed, it does slam into Vanuatu as a category 5, one of the biggest ever. Boats are sunk, home blown apart, trees uprooted and crops destroyed. People are posting real time videos onto you tube and several of the weather sites. And then it is gone, moving on south. There are a few more days of nerves until it is clear that it is so far south that it cannot suddenly turn and come towards Fiji.
As the danger passes, I find myself wondering what would have happened if it had struck here. Alan’s plan was to stay on the boat and ride it out but it would have been a wild and dangerous ride. Once the warning is given, the boats are pulled out to the center and it is no longer possible to get off. The marina has thought very carefully about how to minimize danger to the boats but as far as I can tell, very little had been done to provide safe shelter for any crew that are here. We had no back up plan, except to try to get into town and find a hotel if it started to look really dangerous. By that time the buses would probably have stopped running. None of the buildings on the grounds seem very strong. We will be here through at least one more season and next year is supposed to be worse because of the El Nino conditions. We obviously need to give this some more thought.
Mar 10, 2015 Back to Fiji
Mar 9, 2015
back in Fiji
The flight from LA was relatively uneventful although at one point i saw that we were facing 50 mph headwinds. Despite that we made good time and actually landed early although the last hour was so bumpy that they were unable to serve coffee. An overnight flight landing at 6am and no coffee! On the ground, I collected my 3 fifty pound bags and put myself into the “stuff to declare” line and finished up my last banana. Customs actually went quite smoothly. I showed the paperwork stating that I was joining a “yacht in Transit” and was waved on through. I had arranged for the taxi to pick me up before I left. I did not expect Alan to meet me since it was 6am and he never gets up before 8 but there he was with a cup of coffee in his hand. It is so good to be back. The weather is warm. People are friendly. There was a band playing fijian songs and singing as we came through customs. There is my wonderful husband and the smiling taxi driver. Life is good.
Back at the marina there are greetings of “Bula” and “welcome back” everywhere. It really feels like coming home to a small community where everyone knows you, quite different from life in the big city.
Back on the boat the first job is obviously to up pack and stow the contents of my 3 bags. It is like Christmas for Alan as one thing after another comes out of the bag; things that he had ordered, treasures form Minney’s boat yard, goodies from the 99 cent store including 25 bard of wonderful sea salt chocolate. Of course once everything is out of the bags the boat is a mess, especially since sails, dingy, etc are stowed inside because of cyclone threats. I had figured it would take me a week to get everything put away and it does. At least the weather is cooler, thanks to the cyclone threat. One section at a time, everything comes out gets sorted and repacked,under the bed, in the closet, behind the cushions, under the seats. Three large bags of old stuff go out to be replaced with the new. Andi it all fits, better than before. All of the cabin stuff that is. We are left with a pile of tools and boat parts that need to go into the engine room, which is Alan’s bailiwick. Of course, since they are all things that he needs for the project that he is working on, they can’t be put away yet so they sit around for weeks until they are gradually used or put away as the projects are completed.
Speaking of projects, as far as I can tell very few of the 117 jobs on the list actually got done while I was gone. The two big “must be completed before we can go sailing” jobs are still only partly complete after 6 weeks. Job one is a box for the cockpit to get hold the switches and gages . We had a number of problems on our crossings because these kept getting soaked when waves filled the cockpit. After years of talking about it, Alan had actually designed the box, bought the wood and cut out the pieces before I left. It is almost put together. It will have a place to hold the iPads, a spot for coffee cups and a fold out shelf that can be used as a table. The pieces are all sanded and smooth and look beautiful and the basic parts are to gather but as far as i can tell it is going to take 2-3 more weeks to finish it. His excuse is that he was waiting for the parts that I brought back.
The other must-do project is the mizzen boom. About half way to Tahiti on our long passage we noticed that long cracks had appeared in it. Alan put a couple of clamps on it to keep it from splitting further until we could get it fixed. Since we kept hitting our heads on the clamps, he replaced them with smaller, better clamps. And there they are, all these miles later the boom still has the clamps on it. He did take the boom off the mast but nothing further has been done. It needs to have some kind of glue injected into the cracks and then be clamped together until it dries. Then it needs to be painted and put back together. So that’s one more project that will take a couple of weeks. It is starting to look like it will be well into May before we are able to go anywhere. I could have stayed home and spent some more time cleaning out the house. Although it is fairly clear that not much was going to happen as long as I was gone so it’s a good thing I cam back when I did.
back in Fiji
The flight from LA was relatively uneventful although at one point i saw that we were facing 50 mph headwinds. Despite that we made good time and actually landed early although the last hour was so bumpy that they were unable to serve coffee. An overnight flight landing at 6am and no coffee! On the ground, I collected my 3 fifty pound bags and put myself into the “stuff to declare” line and finished up my last banana. Customs actually went quite smoothly. I showed the paperwork stating that I was joining a “yacht in Transit” and was waved on through. I had arranged for the taxi to pick me up before I left. I did not expect Alan to meet me since it was 6am and he never gets up before 8 but there he was with a cup of coffee in his hand. It is so good to be back. The weather is warm. People are friendly. There was a band playing fijian songs and singing as we came through customs. There is my wonderful husband and the smiling taxi driver. Life is good.
Back at the marina there are greetings of “Bula” and “welcome back” everywhere. It really feels like coming home to a small community where everyone knows you, quite different from life in the big city.
Back on the boat the first job is obviously to up pack and stow the contents of my 3 bags. It is like Christmas for Alan as one thing after another comes out of the bag; things that he had ordered, treasures form Minney’s boat yard, goodies from the 99 cent store including 25 bard of wonderful sea salt chocolate. Of course once everything is out of the bags the boat is a mess, especially since sails, dingy, etc are stowed inside because of cyclone threats. I had figured it would take me a week to get everything put away and it does. At least the weather is cooler, thanks to the cyclone threat. One section at a time, everything comes out gets sorted and repacked,under the bed, in the closet, behind the cushions, under the seats. Three large bags of old stuff go out to be replaced with the new. Andi it all fits, better than before. All of the cabin stuff that is. We are left with a pile of tools and boat parts that need to go into the engine room, which is Alan’s bailiwick. Of course, since they are all things that he needs for the project that he is working on, they can’t be put away yet so they sit around for weeks until they are gradually used or put away as the projects are completed.
Speaking of projects, as far as I can tell very few of the 117 jobs on the list actually got done while I was gone. The two big “must be completed before we can go sailing” jobs are still only partly complete after 6 weeks. Job one is a box for the cockpit to get hold the switches and gages . We had a number of problems on our crossings because these kept getting soaked when waves filled the cockpit. After years of talking about it, Alan had actually designed the box, bought the wood and cut out the pieces before I left. It is almost put together. It will have a place to hold the iPads, a spot for coffee cups and a fold out shelf that can be used as a table. The pieces are all sanded and smooth and look beautiful and the basic parts are to gather but as far as i can tell it is going to take 2-3 more weeks to finish it. His excuse is that he was waiting for the parts that I brought back.
The other must-do project is the mizzen boom. About half way to Tahiti on our long passage we noticed that long cracks had appeared in it. Alan put a couple of clamps on it to keep it from splitting further until we could get it fixed. Since we kept hitting our heads on the clamps, he replaced them with smaller, better clamps. And there they are, all these miles later the boom still has the clamps on it. He did take the boom off the mast but nothing further has been done. It needs to have some kind of glue injected into the cracks and then be clamped together until it dries. Then it needs to be painted and put back together. So that’s one more project that will take a couple of weeks. It is starting to look like it will be well into May before we are able to go anywhere. I could have stayed home and spent some more time cleaning out the house. Although it is fairly clear that not much was going to happen as long as I was gone so it’s a good thing I cam back when I did.
Feb 20 Midway of Trip HOme
Feb 15-Mar 5, 2015
Half way through my trip home several impressions stand out: the plethora of things, the busyness and the noise. There is so much to choose from. 20 stores selling 30 styles of jeans each, even the thrift shops are overwhelming. Full of things that people got rid of to make room for more things. People rush from place to place frantically, rush to yoga class to relax and then rush home. People jog or power walk . No one strolls or wanders along just looking at things. And everything is so noisy, restaurants, gyms, malls are blasted with jarring music. It is lovely to be home again and see old friends and visits familiar places, but…I think I have been spoiled by long days at sea with only the wind and waves.
It has been a whirlwind trip. I feel like I have put 1,000 miles on my car. The weather has been wonderful, warm and clear and dry, perfect So Cal winter weather. I know we need the rain but I am loving the warm. Our house is the same and yet has been transformed by my son and his girlfriend with new paint, new lighting and new furniture and now it looks like there will be a further transformation as they look for their own place and we look for a renter for this house. I am once again going through boxes, trying to get rid of things. 2.5 years on a small boat has made me recognize that we don’t really need so many things. And yet, they have been collected, or acquired, over 60 years. If/when we come back to live on land again, what will we really want and what is easily replaced? Alan says to keep only those things that make me smile or are useful and difficult to replace. Much of what I had was passed to me as the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter. I loved having things that dated back 3-4-5 generations but I never felt as if they were mine. I was just the caretaker. It is time to pass them on. Audrey and Chris have already taken everything that they want. The rest can go to Steve for his kids. The things that I want to keep are quirky; my collection of chopsticks and teapots, my stained glass tools, my chinese painting supplies, the Murano glass bowl from Venice, some books but not many. almost all of my jewelry.
I am realizing that we have never really cut the dock lines. We have always had the house and all of the stuff as a fallback. It is different and odd but also freeing to think of someone else living here and taking care of my wonderful garden. Hopefully they will have as much fun with it as I did.
Half way through my trip home several impressions stand out: the plethora of things, the busyness and the noise. There is so much to choose from. 20 stores selling 30 styles of jeans each, even the thrift shops are overwhelming. Full of things that people got rid of to make room for more things. People rush from place to place frantically, rush to yoga class to relax and then rush home. People jog or power walk . No one strolls or wanders along just looking at things. And everything is so noisy, restaurants, gyms, malls are blasted with jarring music. It is lovely to be home again and see old friends and visits familiar places, but…I think I have been spoiled by long days at sea with only the wind and waves.
It has been a whirlwind trip. I feel like I have put 1,000 miles on my car. The weather has been wonderful, warm and clear and dry, perfect So Cal winter weather. I know we need the rain but I am loving the warm. Our house is the same and yet has been transformed by my son and his girlfriend with new paint, new lighting and new furniture and now it looks like there will be a further transformation as they look for their own place and we look for a renter for this house. I am once again going through boxes, trying to get rid of things. 2.5 years on a small boat has made me recognize that we don’t really need so many things. And yet, they have been collected, or acquired, over 60 years. If/when we come back to live on land again, what will we really want and what is easily replaced? Alan says to keep only those things that make me smile or are useful and difficult to replace. Much of what I had was passed to me as the oldest daughter of the oldest daughter. I loved having things that dated back 3-4-5 generations but I never felt as if they were mine. I was just the caretaker. It is time to pass them on. Audrey and Chris have already taken everything that they want. The rest can go to Steve for his kids. The things that I want to keep are quirky; my collection of chopsticks and teapots, my stained glass tools, my chinese painting supplies, the Murano glass bowl from Venice, some books but not many. almost all of my jewelry.
I am realizing that we have never really cut the dock lines. We have always had the house and all of the stuff as a fallback. It is different and odd but also freeing to think of someone else living here and taking care of my wonderful garden. Hopefully they will have as much fun with it as I did.
Feb 1-10 WSA convention and Santa Anita
WSA and Race Track
Feb 1-10
Arrived in Burbank On Wednesday afternoon. The kids have done a great job with the house. It is open, airy, with all of our junk cleaned out. The living room is freshly painted in blue and white. Molly’s antique furniture looks wonderful. The cats come to meet me, not sure if they remember who I am. It is so nice when one of them comes to sleep with me at night. It is just impossible to have a cat on Rhapsody, but I miss it. Chris old room has been turned into a charming guest room and it does not take me long to have stuff strewn all over, presents, stuff I need to get rid of, clothes, electronics, boxes of stuff that we ordered for the boat with all of the accompanying packaging. Need to get out the clothes I left here so I have something warmer to wear. It is not really cold but definitely not Fiji warm.
And there is my little red car, ready for me to drive. Friday morning I take off for the beach. The woman’s sailing convention is on Saturday and I have been invited to spend the night with Holly Scott and KC on Mahalo. I am so excited. Last time i came to this convention was almost a year before we left and I had hardly ever sailed anywhere. Now I am a certified blue water sailor, all the way to Fiji. All of the members of the Facebook page “women who sail” are to meet at the yacht club bar Friday evening. Meanwhile I have some shopping to do. First stop in Minney’s, beloved nautical resale shop in Newport. I have a list of what we need but mostly it is a matter of wandering and digging through bins to find some important and valuable thing that I did not know we needed but is obviously important. After an hour or so of happy digging I have assembled a pile of possibles. Alan (still in Fiji) had been warned to be on standby for a call. iPad in hand I placed the FaceTime call and there he was, in Fiji. One by one I moved the camera over my assemblage of treasures and he said yes or no. From there is was off to West Marine except that, surprisingly, they do not have wifi so I could not call and consult. Treasures stowed in the car, I headed down the road to the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, hosts of the WSA Convention
So much fun. Old friends, new friends, facebook friend who I now get to meet in person. Beginner saiilors and master captains. All there to support and empower women sailors They could easily support 3 days of classes but it is only one day, Saturday, a day packed full of classes and sailing and meals and drinks and fun and meetings and conversations.
After a full and exhausting day, I headed to Audrey’s. Even though it was late, the boys came staggering out in their pjs to give me hugs. I haven't seen them for a year and they have grown so much. Before dawn the next morning we bundle into cars and head for Santa Anita Race Track. Breakfast and morning workouts has been an Audrey birthday tradition for about 30 years. The horses pass, walking, racing, in ones or groups, prancing, skittish, several red lights and horns for loose horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, bettors all mingling as the sun rises over the San Gabriel mountains, the air warms and the day begins.
Feb 1-10
Arrived in Burbank On Wednesday afternoon. The kids have done a great job with the house. It is open, airy, with all of our junk cleaned out. The living room is freshly painted in blue and white. Molly’s antique furniture looks wonderful. The cats come to meet me, not sure if they remember who I am. It is so nice when one of them comes to sleep with me at night. It is just impossible to have a cat on Rhapsody, but I miss it. Chris old room has been turned into a charming guest room and it does not take me long to have stuff strewn all over, presents, stuff I need to get rid of, clothes, electronics, boxes of stuff that we ordered for the boat with all of the accompanying packaging. Need to get out the clothes I left here so I have something warmer to wear. It is not really cold but definitely not Fiji warm.
And there is my little red car, ready for me to drive. Friday morning I take off for the beach. The woman’s sailing convention is on Saturday and I have been invited to spend the night with Holly Scott and KC on Mahalo. I am so excited. Last time i came to this convention was almost a year before we left and I had hardly ever sailed anywhere. Now I am a certified blue water sailor, all the way to Fiji. All of the members of the Facebook page “women who sail” are to meet at the yacht club bar Friday evening. Meanwhile I have some shopping to do. First stop in Minney’s, beloved nautical resale shop in Newport. I have a list of what we need but mostly it is a matter of wandering and digging through bins to find some important and valuable thing that I did not know we needed but is obviously important. After an hour or so of happy digging I have assembled a pile of possibles. Alan (still in Fiji) had been warned to be on standby for a call. iPad in hand I placed the FaceTime call and there he was, in Fiji. One by one I moved the camera over my assemblage of treasures and he said yes or no. From there is was off to West Marine except that, surprisingly, they do not have wifi so I could not call and consult. Treasures stowed in the car, I headed down the road to the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club, hosts of the WSA Convention
So much fun. Old friends, new friends, facebook friend who I now get to meet in person. Beginner saiilors and master captains. All there to support and empower women sailors They could easily support 3 days of classes but it is only one day, Saturday, a day packed full of classes and sailing and meals and drinks and fun and meetings and conversations.
After a full and exhausting day, I headed to Audrey’s. Even though it was late, the boys came staggering out in their pjs to give me hugs. I haven't seen them for a year and they have grown so much. Before dawn the next morning we bundle into cars and head for Santa Anita Race Track. Breakfast and morning workouts has been an Audrey birthday tradition for about 30 years. The horses pass, walking, racing, in ones or groups, prancing, skittish, several red lights and horns for loose horses, jockeys, trainers, owners, bettors all mingling as the sun rises over the San Gabriel mountains, the air warms and the day begins.
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