Sailing South, Dreaming North

Good Morning Everyone. Well my time here in Texas is almost through and as much as this is a special place to be I do miss home, Jen and the kids, the smell of the woods in spring, the schooner. Elissa is an incredibly special vessel, made more special by the people who volunteer thousands of hours a year to keep her is sailing condition. There are very few museums in the country that understand that the preservation of something like a ship has value only when it is used for what it was intended for. Sure there are trade offs and compromises to keep an Elissa or Mary Day inspected by the Coast Guard but without these concessions to the future the past would be sitting idle on one side of the surface or the other. We will be sailing overnight off the Texas coast tomorrow in to Wednesday before we fly home Thursday. I will be sleeping in the cabin that some other mate slept in 130 years ago excited about the adventure but dreaming of home as well. Yards will be braced by volunteers who are living and making history.

I saw this Canada goose swimming in the channel a few days ago and projected my anthropocentric thoughts in to the scene. I wondered when she would be heading home to the North, how alone she might feel, and what a long journey lay ahead. I know how you feel Ms. Goose, a little out of place against a backdrop of oil rigs but enjoying the moment none the less. Have a safe flight…I will see you on the other end.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

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Hail Mary

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