Sailing Vacation Memoirs

Good morning everybody. 0 degrees in the door yard, again. -10 with the wind chill but who’s counting. Am I sounding like a broken record yet. Remember, the cold is my friend. As I tell non-believers from other parts of our beautiful country, stick a banana out on the sidewalk on a hot summer day and it just won’t last long. Stick a banana out in our door yard this week and the skin may turn brown but it won’t go bad inside. Of course it will be hard as a rock too. So think of us up here, turning brown perhaps, but we are still good on the inside.

On the last days of this cruising memoir we find ourselves anchored off Castine, July 15, 2005:

Friday morning the wind came NW behind the front while we are walking ashore in the nearby town of Castine. This historic community dating back to before the Revolution is also the home to a great stand of Elm trees that never caught the wrath of Dutch Elm disease. We drifted off the anchor and up the bay in a dying northerly breeze. After a patient few hours of ghosting, the onshore breeze gave a wonderful afternoon sail. We sailed through dinner (roast pork with rosemary, sage and garlic, mashed potatoes, fresh peas, Parker House rolls, and stuffing) anchoring up in time for hand cranked ice cream (vanilla and mint chocolate chip). A beautiful sunset was all that consoled us as we thought about our Saturday morning arrival back at the dock. And as we parted company on Saturday the sentiment was shared among all our guests that the stresses of the world had been left far behind for this short time together, a feeling we all knew we would cherish for some time to come.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good. Or as my grandmother used to say, hands to work, hearts to God.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Love your blog! Hands to work,hearts to God. Great new mantra. Stay warm!!!!

January 30, 2007 at 4:47 AM

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

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