Skip to main content

Food for the soul


Good Morning. The sanders have finally been put to rest for a short while.It's been endless days and hours with Mr. Makita. Time for him to take a break and bring out the ole Mrs. Chinabristle to let her play. Today's the day we start to paint the galley and main saloon. A welcoming job (one of Mary's favorite places to paint!)as this is our last for this season on the boat. The temps are getting chilly on the boat, only getting up into the 40's. The shop with the woodstove seems to be calling us from afar...

Every year when I, and I'm sure this goes for Mary as well, work at an endless sanding task (which there are many!) my mind keeps me occupied with flashbacks from the summer. I remember the beautiful sunsets, the whales that graced us with their beauty, the eagles that soared overhead, the smell of the pine forests on shore, the mossy fairy houses found, the list goes on and on. And with the sights I'm seeing I can still hear the laughter ringing throughout the boat, the songs gently making their way from the main saloon to the foc'sle, the funny stories told and the funny games played on the "quarter" deck. The smells from the galley are long gone, but memories of endless mouthwatering desserts that I said no to and ended up eating anyways are still here. And with all that running through my head I see flashes of people, with warm hearts and souls that shared it all with us. So as I sit and sand and sand some more, I'm kept busy and happy throughthout the day. It's the food for my soul that makes the day complete.

At the end of the long day with very little said to each other, we just coil up our sanding cords, dust ourselves off and head up the dock with a quick, "thanks and see ya tomorrow". And yet a glance from with a twinkle in her eye lets me know that we both just finished a day of sailing throught the past, not another day of sanding.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hail Mary

My heart is heavy with sadness as I write this particular blog. Since the beginning of August our dear friend and cook for the last 12 years, Mary Barney, had been struggling with cancer. I have intentionally respected Mary’s privacy and I apologize to you for not sharing any news about Mary’s health sooner. On Monday afternoon Mary passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by friends and “family”. Her departure was as graceful as the rest of her life. Many people, including Jen, have been doing heroic work to support Mary these last few weeks. Oddly enough Mary was never very excited about transitions though this was about the fastest transition she ever made. And as I struggle to let go of Mary I realize I am terrible with transitions as well. We used to joke about how we liked things just the way they are, thank you very much, so why change what is working already even if it might be less labor intensive. Hard works is its own reward. I used to joke about getting Mary a Cui

Fall Maintenance

Good morning everyone. The sun has been kind to us these past few days and the crew has been spending much time aloft prepping and painting the mast heads and tarring the rig as part of our annual fall maintenance schedule. They were a little silly on tar fumes by the end of the day hence the rat board dance moves. Am I the only one who is reminded of Willy Wonka's little friends at the sight of the crew in their tyvek suits? Schoona-loompas? The smell of tar, after all, is what we sailors live for. Extracted from the stumps and roots of pine trees through dry distillation pine tar will cure what ails you especially some skin conditions and any emotional maladies from being too long away from the sea. All we know for sure is that Mary Day’s rigging is kept hail and hearty by coats of tar mixed with boiled linseed oil. Notice that I specified boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil. Tar mix with raw linseed oil will not “kick”. Don’t ask me how I know this… just take my wo

Oh Captain, Oh Captain, Please Don't Rumba!

Good morning everyone. Another 6” of snow fell this weekend and we took a few hours to enjoy the wonders of winter here in New England skiing in the woods. The full Wolf Moon on Saturday causing astronomical high tides plus a 1’ tidal surge brought by the low pressure system meant we had tides over the bulkhead in Camden. At low tide just the opposite happens and the tides dip well below normal. I was able to step to the docks from the beach and get aboard the schooner on Friday after work and all was well. I had an interesting email this morning from a wonderful gentleman looking for a vacation to replace a now defunct “windjammer” sailing experience that formerly sailed in the Caribbean. He sent us a very humorous swashbuckling note, complete with colorful pirate party images, wondering if we might be able to fill the void, complete with canons and limbo parties and would the captain be leading the rumba line? I regretted to tell him that we probably did not offer the booty he was