Straightaways, roundabouts.

Balance in all things: we're sitting on the deck of a rented villa with dirty bathrooms and dusty everything, but the view is rather nice, and the temperature is not worth discussing with a Canadian audience. There are a couple of small lizards and one of them is blowing up the orangey blob under his chin and bobbing up and down. I think the other lizard is his date. A small black wren-like bird with a red chest swoops by, really close, to pick up crumbs from our crackers and cheese, and in about a half-an-hour, three bats will emerge from the decking over our heads and swoop off into the dusky dusk.

Also, pelicans, an egret, and rum drinks.

After a week, we're almost ready to launch. Should have launched today, but several rainy days earlier in the week delayed the bottom-painting. We found the boat in good shape. No ants, which is joyful news, and no major leaks that we can see. The dinghy is in the water, but after all my best patching efforts, there's still one leak on the starboard pontoon that defies incredible lashings of glue and monster patches. Maybe it needs stitches. Maybe the whole image of someone scraping old glue off of an inflated boat with a very sharp knife is just wrong. Maybe we'll cut it up and use it for chafing gear. Turn it into fashionable gray sandals. Waterproof bikinis. Weight-loss shorts.

Season five begins, and I find that lots of things have changed. Mostly for us: we have a house ashore now, and that makes this other part of our year seem more stable. Such riches, two homes. And I still get typically cranked up about dirty showers and no toilet paper in a rental villa, and it took me a week to get reaclimatized to the fabulous disinterest of the cashiers at the grocery store. Too many months of cheery faces saying "did you find everything you were looking for?" totally wrecks you for re-entry into the Caribbean. But in Canada, don't we get sick of have-a-nice-day, and man, those greeters at Walmart or the Gap? Don't you just try to duck out of their way? Not that I even got into a Gap this year. You can get all the Gap you need at Frenchy's, and nobody lurks around the entrance waiting to cheer up your sorry-second-hand-butt. I love that.


Egret, scratching his neck, while pelican swoops by, and wren is grabbing crackers. Bat wing beginning to poke out from under decking. Bugs are out, going inside to charge tiny computer battery that lasts for hours and hours! First charge in a week!

See below for pictures. Michelle and Charlie on Mi Amante are here and launched a couple of days ago, and are now waiting on engine repairs. One step forward, one step back.

It's cold in Port Maitland, and it's cold in Lake Annis. We're spending our days travelling back and forth, starting fires, stoking fires, rearranging wood. Also packing - we're headed to Toronto on October 31st, help Anna and Andy move to another apartment, then Antigua on November 5th.

Transition times are always fraught, and this year is a bit more complicated than most.

Our stuff is even more spread out than usual - three places instead of two: we went hunting for Randy's old hammer last week, and after some mental rummaging, realized that that hammer is on the boat. Things we're not using everyday are being moved out to Lake Annis. Every day, we pack an eclectic collection in the volvo (aka the Blueberry Express): shells, lamps, books, Randy's lonely and neglected suits, pictures, shoes, books, more books. If anyone was taking stock of our belongings as they arrive, they'd think that we weren't very practical people. The useful stuff is staying in Port Maitland until we get back in the spring, giving Laurie a chance to furnish her own house during visits over the winter. She's had a great little woodstove installed, and it will make PM a great deal cheerier when it's blustery outside. Our woodstoves in L.A. have been great, and Randy discovered caches of kindling under the house. Bonus. So we're comfortable, inside, and generally feeling underdressed outside, but reluctant to buy any more winter clothes.

Our house is really coming along. All the painting is done in the bedrooms, bathrooms (two! two bathrooms on the main floor! one is too small to turn around in!) and hall. All painted cloud white over two coats of primer, and the floors are red or turqoise. The wall between the kitchen and livingroom has been removed. Last week, Tom was here and did a pile of work - clearing out the underbrush in the backyard, splitting wood, and helping Randy remove the wall and put up a new supporting beam. Tom showed us his photos from his cross-country trip and his summer at Panorama in BC. Also something about a grizzly bear, but I put my maternal fingers in my ears and la-la-la'd through the exciting parts.

And just to round off the season, I've caught the cold my father has been trying to keep to himself. One cold per year is not too bad. It reminds me of how great it is not to have to call anyone and explain why I won't be coming to work. I'm wondering how that will work here in Canada this flu season. Will bosses and supervisors just have to have faith that the sickies are sick? Will people stay home and eat donuts and drink tea and wash the curtains and do blog updates even if they're not feeling all that bad? Will people continue to think that their offices will wither and die without them, and will they continue to drag themselves to work until everyone has a cold or the flu? I used to hate going to work when someone was pathetically hacking and sneezing. No call for that, really. Most cruisers isolate themselves on their boats if they bring a germ into an anchorage. Nobody would invite them over anyway, once word is out. Hard bunch!

We are looking forward to getting back. Wan and pale and snotty is not my preferred state, and Randy is starting to look like a pale shadow of his former self. If you need more sailing news to keep you warm this winter, I've got another blog to recommend, if I haven't already: trioconbrio with Bill and Janet Campbell aboard are on their way down the east coast of the US, heading for the Caribbean. Janet understands the important things in life: laundry, food, shopping, strange occurances and odd fellows, and of course, stupid weather, stupid stuff that goes wrong on boats and usually requires money or skilled assistance, usually both. http://trioconbrio.blogspot.com/ Enjoy.

Next update will probably be from Antigua. See below for some recent photos.

Tom and Andra at the farm. Tom has learned to duck through doorways.

Mary and Dad

A visit from the Cadenheads.

Serendipitous discovery: my grandmother's Morris Minor is restored and living in Arcadia.

Dr. Destructo

Apparently you have to build another wall to support the roof before you knock out the old wall. Then you put the new beam in, then you knock out the new wall. Then you have a beer.

Rabbit in the middle of the road. Tom says "too many fermented berries."

Instant hot flash.

LJB's woodpile

Lake Annis resident.

News from Lake (woebegone) Annis. This is friend and neighbour Gayle in stripper mode. Only your real friends will strip with you.


Are we having fun yet?


New Betsey Johnson bifocals debut at the lake. As glam as it gets.


As my father would say, here's Randy doing a big job in the bathroom.

Coming ashore wreaks havoc with sailors' routines. Reading, rowing, sailing, blogging, doing nothing -- all out the window. We have a car, so I can just up and go somewhere when the whim strikes, and there's a washer and dryer, so I can fling in a load of lightly soiled, not-even-salty clothes whenever. And there's company from near and far, and my Dad is by nearly every day, and other family and friends, and work to be done on my sister's house. So if that's not enough to keep us on the run, we decided we needed a place of our own.

Lo and behold, we hunted around and found a cottage in the tiny, venerable community of Lake Annis (yup, heard the jokes, let it go) and after some waffling, we bought it. There's a beautiful wild yard, the lake is a minute away, and there's all kinds of birds, and hurray, we're out of the coastal fog belt. Randy and I looked at a lot of properties, both lots and cottages and houses, and after seeing a lot of awful sad and bad places (a function of our price range), this place looked like we could turn it into "home." Home ashore, anyway.

So that did in what we had for leisure time. The place was built in 1962, and that means panelling, and lots of it. So I've been priming and painting the walls, and will soon be painting the tired tiled floors. The acoustic tiles on the ceiling are staying for a while - at least I don't have to paint ceilings. There will be some challenges - there's a great two-bedroom apt downstairs, but unattended leaks mean that there's mould and damp, so that's first on the list for a major fix. Rip it all out, and next year, when it's dry and clean, we'll renovate and make a great spot for visitors. Upstairs, mostly paint, a kitchen renovation, and then we can unpack boxes and take a look at all the stuff we haven't seen for four years. I wonder if we'll still need or want most of it? Oh, I think so. You can only do so much shedding of stuff, and now I'm haunting Frenchy's for curtains and domestics bits.

Then! back to Nancy Dawson at the beginning of November. We should be more than ready for some warmth, sun and more of that great routine: reading, rowing, sailing, blogging, doing nothing. Blogs will get more regular: Randy doesn't really like me doing anything with a paintbrush on the boat.

See below for photos. Click on them to enlarge or if you don't have your bifocals on. I'm waiting for my new ones to arrive in the mail.

Port Maitland party dress: heading to the neighbours for xmas in August.

Sailors' Rest: Lake Annis

backyard

downstairs

upstairs kitchen. check out the knotty pine....

bookshelf bonanza

livingroom with one of two woodstoves! (the other one is downstairs)

back of house

Hurricane Bill breezes by.

Port Maitland beach gets a good wash

Flying the flag at Lake Annis

Ann and Dennis visit - we met them in Antigua

Randy's son Ian was a welcome guest, and not just because he's a great cook.

Wharf Rat Rally in Digby. 30,000 bikers come to town. And we were there.

Ian, Randy, and Randy's mum, Marj.

Ian got a chance to explore the lake in his kayak. I miss my rowboat!

Sorry for the long blog hiatus, but there's been packing, travel, shopping, cooking, major festivities, travel, unpacking, rest, and Frenchy's. Life is good.

Boat was hauled with only minor irritations - my sore back mostly- I didn't get my pair-of-shoes bonus for going up the mast. Enjoyed lots of hot water at the villa, but had to improvise when I discovered there was no dryer. I brought lots of line from the boat and festooned the entire back of the building with clean clothes, sheets, towels, underwear. John and Marie from Metalia arrived to visit and make use of the washer, and had no problem figuring out which villa we were in. There are so many situations where you just have to give up any sense of elegance. Or dignity.

We had a great afternoon with them at "In the Backyard" in St. John's before we left. It's a great family-style hangout tucked away in a backyard - hard to find for your regular cruiser, but a great place to go with John and Marie who knew everybody there and introduced us and explained all the family relationships and which kids belonged to which adults. It was like being at a big family party. A great time with terrific food - grilled mahi, conch fritters and this oddly delicious "rice pudding" which was actually a honking big brown liver sausage with rice. It's always a good idea to ask before you order something you haven't had before.

Then, we went to work, and packed and chucked, and the boat is snug, clean enough and packed away for the summer. I was so ready to be off the boat by the time we finished. Actually, I was ready to be out of there about three weeks before we finished. Anxious to see my peeps.

Anna and Andy, aka the Newlyweds, picked us up at the airport in Toronto, and we began a really wonderful week of visiting, cooking, shopping, partying. Anna and I shopped brilliantly (she had pre-shopped and took me to all the right places). Juan and Carmen Gayoso (Andy's parents) hosted a lovely party (at Terra in Richmond Hill - fabulous food, beautiful room) and the next night was the big party at Patti and John's house. Patti and I have known each other since kindergarten (works out to about 45 years) and when she heard that Anna and Andy were getting married, she up and offered their home for the celebration. She's just like that. Their home is beautiful and perfect for parties and they are the most generous and relaxed hosts in the known universe. So Randy and I cooked for two days, then we tarted up and people arrived from all over the world and sang and played and toasted and danced and it was the best wedding party ever. Andy's sister Carmen gave the best wedding toast ever, in English and Spanish, Kelly and the Newlyweds (A&A) played and sang brilliantly as did Anna's singer friends, and my dad, accompanied by Patti's husband John on trumpet (and my sister on music box), played Somewhere Over the Rainbow for Anna and Andy, and brought the house down. What an incredible night. We had so much fun.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1169145461735&ref=mf

Now we're back at Laurie's house in Port Maitland, walking the beach, enjoying the new kitchen with all the mod cons, Frenchy's shopping whenever I want, and getting started on some painting and building projects. We've already had some visitors, with more to come - Kim and David (formerly of Amanzi) arrive tomorrow, and then Laurie and family, and Randy's son Ian, Dennis and Ann from Kyeta, Tom and whoever else decides to brave the fog. Actually, it's not foggy all the time, just quite a lot of the time. July is foggy. But the beach is still beautiful in any weather and it's good that there's no shells to be collected. I'm back to hauling sticks home.

Randy just walked out the back door, and said Gawdammit, why doesn't the sun shine!!!
See below for photos.

In no particular order...some wedding photos

Andy and Anna

Beautiful bride

Dad

Listening by the pool

Kelly and the Newlyweds sound check

Lovin the bbq

Back in Weymouth

Birthday princess Gayle

What you need for a warm evening in Port Maitland

LJB's new kitchen

Jane, David, Pete, Hillary - first of many dinners in 2009

It's a solidly grey and rainy day in Antigua, and we're mooching around the boat feeling a bit offended by the weather. We're completely adapted to the tedium of endless sunshine, and we can get completely disgruntled when it changes for longer than a quick shower. We cheer ourselves up with the thought that the water tanks are gurgling near-full again, but that gets boring after about a minute, and it's all like a rainy day at the cottage, without tv or a car.

Sounds awful, eh? Thanks for the outpouring of sympathy. Our week-long subscription to the local wifi is about to run out in 35 minutes, and we'd figured that we'd be trading our anchorage in Falmouth Harbour for Jolly Harbour or Five Islands today - maybe if it stops raining. It was too nice yesterday and we just couldn't muster the energy to move, so here we sit now in the rain.

The attitude reflects that limbo time between cruising and hauling. It's too early to start very much in the way of cleaning or sorting or chucking, and it's too late to think seriously about going anywhere very far. We may head up to Barbuda for a week if this murk clears off in the next couple of days. We've met more new friends in the last couple of weeks - Pat and Geoff on Beach House, Ray and Genna on Nighthawk - and we got together and hiked up to Shirley Heights for lunch, and I found a button that belonged to someone in the Oxfordshire 52 Regiment. Couldn't find out anything about the regiment, but I googled the mark on the back, and it dates from 1797-1799. Old.

We had a quick jaunt over to Montserrat to provide the money-saving exit and re-entry into Antigua. No fish caught either coming or going. Randy did see a big mahi leaping out of the water, alas, leaping in the wrong direction.

"Come back! Come back!" he shouted. It was pitiful.

Earlier, I'd come leaping out of my reclining position when I saw big fish next to the boat, but it was dolphins zooming along beside for a few brief seconds before they peeled off to do something else more fun.

We've spent a fair bit of time in the anchorage at Five Islands Bay, just north of Jolly Harbour. Snugged in fairly close to a lovely little resort, which we think is called the Hermitage, we can get wifi, there's no roll (even if it's rolling in Jolly Harbour) and there's four or five beaches linked by paths. Mostly deserted, we've had clothing optional strolls and swims and I found a nice king helmet shell partly buried in the sand. During one of my snorkels, I plonked myself down in about three feet of water and floated off the bottom. About 10 feet away, completely still on the bottom was a Southern ray, about five feet across. I had a really good look at it, then backed up and got out of the water. Who wants to find out if he's grumpy when awakened abruptly.

That's the news. Hauling on June 17th. See below for photos. More to follow.

Ray and Genna (and Geoff)

Pat and Geoff

Photo by Geoff (as we stomped by)

May 17th - we haul one month from today. Already, my brain is fully occupied with other areas of the North American hemisphere. My body is still rowing and picking up shells, but my brain is trying to help plan a wedding party (Anna and Andy - we had a chat this morning about chafing dishes) and following Tom on his motorcycle trip across Canada.

Had an email from him yesterday from Quebec City. Few details, other than saying the safety level was about the same as our passages from Bar Harbour to Cuttyhunk (here's me, trying to remember that bit of the trip), and he closed by admonishing me to "be safe, wear a life jacket,wear sunscreen, keep the two way radio with you, and the flare gun, don't talk to strangers, shower and brush your teeth." Smartypants.

Friends from Halifax, Kim Shaw and Jim Riley, left yesterday after a great visit. The weather was a bit wet, but there were enough sunny days to ensure that they went home with good Caribbean tans (Kim is darker than me, how does that work?!), lots of shells and lots of photos of snorkelling on the wreck in Deep Bay, hiking in English Harbour, and the view from Shirley Heights. Great meals, lots of wallowing about the in the hot tub at their villa, and lots of wine.

Their flight was unceremoniously shifted from Sunday to Saturday, so we took advantage of their villa Saturday night. Nice bed that didn't move, no mosquitoes, and flush toilet on demand. Showers every hour. Ice cubes in everything and microwave popcorn (I crave it from time to time, but you know, it's not that great once you get your face in it. Too many chemicals?) We watched large hunks of movies on the TV - North by Northwest with Cary Grant, Superbad, Get Smart, and Harry Potter. I feel as though I've had a huge dose of popular culture, such as it is, and I'm good for another six months without it.

In the meantime, we've got a month left and we'll likely spend it talking to strangers, not showering particularly often and neglecting to wear sunscreen.

See below for photos.

Now there's a barbeque..

Alice Teehan's "Piedmont Peppers"

Eric Clapton's house

Cactus spines. No touching

Jim and Kim

Best shell beach ever

How did she get so brown in five days?

Shirley Heights, sans mobs of tourists. Just us.

Bits of pipes and pottery found on the fort site

more cactus, blooming

Sharing the road.