October 22, 2010

Well, hello!

What I said about that frost on the pumpkin is really true---if you aren’t in Hilton Head...

I’m not.  Family matters have caused me to take a little detour from cruising, and I’ll be bundling up in the increasingly cool weather of Newburgh, NY,  for the rest of Oct. and a good portion of Nov.   Life, I heard someone say, is what happens while you are making other plans.....

Fred, on the other hand, continues to bask in the sunny 70’s at Shelter Cove.  Maybe  bask isn’t the best word.  He’s doing one of the things he loves best---crossing items off the To Do list.  Some are paperwork (not so much fun) and some involve tools (Way Better!).

This week, in addition to taking these photos of foggy mornings and sunset over the dinghy, he installed an echo charger for the parts of the dinghy that can fade away without electrical input.  So there now is a new panel (with, of course, indicator lights) on the console.   No more wondering if the dinghy motor will start when we hit the water.  The inverter will, I’m told, keep that puppy up and running!

As in Fred’s adventure behind the navigation screens where miles of extra wire were found to be just hanging around, inside the dinghy’s nether compartments Fred discovered no less than 65’ of unused wires. Makes you wonder.  He has now removed the excess, installed what was needed and is happy with the result.  It is not, however a project that was taken on lightly, nor would it be repeated.   A lot of up and down-ing of ladders,  muttering, and spending time in physical positions more appropriate for a well trained contortionist.  Best part?  The job is off the list!   Next???

With Fred moving about on YOUNG AMERICA, the graceful heron has moved across the inlet, and now stands on the stern of ALLEGRO TOO  patiently watching and waiting for his meals.  Or maybe he’s just relaxing and enjoying the view.  Who knows?

That is it for this edition.  Do remember to breathe in, breathe out, and repeat endlessly, thereby bringing a measure of inner peace that can be passed on to others.........

Linda and Fred

October 5, 2010

Almost Monday.  Hey, it takes a bit to get back into the groove!  

We did stay in Newburgh until, Wed., and  Thurs., and  Fri., and Sat., and Sunday...  On Monday Sept 27, we dropped the VW Eos off to get a minor repair.  Daughter Molly generously offers to pick it up on these occasions--note to Klaus and Betty,  Molly likes that little car a lot, too!

We headed south in the Burb, and what  a day it was!

We routinely head west to I-81 to get to the south USA. It’s a much more pleasant ride than I-95--ususally--and bypasses all the metropolitan bru-ha-ha  in the Baltimore-Washington corridor.  On this day we could have been anywhere.  The rain poured down and did not wash away fog so thick that we were the only car we could see most of the time.  Not that there wasn’t traffic--we weren’t the only ones slogging along, but a slog it was--and like PA,  it went on and on and on.

We finally reached, and stopped in, Winchester, VA where we slept the sound sleep of people who’ve bumbled through fog all day.  Happily, we awoke to a much clearer day on Tuesday.  VA, like PA, takes forever to cross, but it’s a beautiful ride and by evening we’d put NC behind us and were settled in near Columbia, SC.  Rode over to Aiken in the morning to have breakfast with Ted and Rita---the brothers certainly do look alike, don’t they?  

From Aiken, we rolled into Charleston and once again stopped at our new favorite hotel, the Historic Embassy Suites, or as then 3 year old Becca called it, the Pink Castle, site of the Mangelsdorf family reunion in April, ’09.  We returned to the Cold War Sub Memorial, as Fred 1) has been authorized by his shipmates to fund raise for a bench to commemorate the Cutlass 478 at the memorial site, and 2) he has a new camera to try out.  It’s a pocket digital--a very light weight replacement for the bag of camera equipment that went missing in GCS in June.

By 5 pm on Thursday, we were once again ‘Back in Boat’ (Did you watch “All of me” yet?  GO rent it!!!)  YA was happily awaiting us in the  tranquil waters of Shelter Cove.

The rest of the week has been a little bit of Paradise.  We have tasks every day, and we regularly invoke the ‘rule’ given us by Joan on FOREVER 39 when we were first looking at Great Harbour Trawlers.  She said that for a cruiser, a day with two tasks accomplished is a good day.  Talk about maxing retirement!  We find that we are very, very good at this, and thank you, Joan---you may not have realized that you were offering life-altering advice!    :-)

My high school classmate, Paula, brought her traveling companion, Patsy to visit  (from their home in Sumter, SC) on Saturday.  Was a fun time, a beautiful day, and we walked a couple of miles around the Cove--Disney has an island just over the bridge, and we wandered by to watch the crabbers and fishermen on the dock.

So I looked at the clock today and realized that Monday had passed us by---something to do with new tires for the Burb, taking the boat to the Marina office for a pump out (Yes, we are still cruisers, so to speak!) and  then having to check out the delightful restaurant above the Marina store, and sitting on a bench while the guitar player at San Miguel’s restaurant strummed some of our favorite oldies...a busy day!

Onward and upward!

Be well, and, as Garrison Kielor says in his daily 5 minute Almanac, Keep in touch!

Linda and Fred