Halfway through the Winter

We are over half way through our stay in Poulsbo and we are beginning to seriously make plans for the summer cruising season. For all practical purposes, we have just remained on the boat, taking what the weather throws at us. We have both taken up our respective physical fitness activities; I am swimming and Becca does the weights, spin class and Tai Chi. We went East ( Lynnwood ) for Thanksgiving, and South ( Keizer ) for Christmas and then North ( Victoria ) for our own little holiday [ a lovely gift to me from Becca ]. Perhaps, before the winter blows it's last, we will find somewhere to go West. The moderate list of "Winter Things to Do", has mostly just sat with only a few items getting partially ticked off. We've a large project come March - we are going to put our other sailboat on the market - I know that we will miss our Little Boat, but we simply should not own her just to let her sit - let someone else have fun with her on the Columbia.

Becca is studying weather and is one of three students of mine in Celestial Navigation. I am learning my 16th programming language and doing serious math with the tools I am gaining. I am playing Go with a student turned best friend over email. Becca has submitted another couple of articles to the Mainsheet and we know that at least one more will get published. As always, we read and play games together.

As I have written before, for most of our life together, Becca and I have been dream driven. We take a dream and work towards it, pretty much to the exclusion of anything else. That is how we got to here. Now we are beginning to dream about what will come next. We have thoughts about building a small house and going back to dirt. When? We have no clue and really it does not matter, it's just a dream to focus our minds. We play with house plans, look at TV shows and find "looks" we like. We chat about the Southwest as a destination as well as somewhere back in Oregon. We are also considering a "Heartland" trip with a twist - trucking Halona to somewhere along the Missouri River and Huck-Finning it down to Nawleans - then out and around the Florida Keys. It's good to have dreams.

Speaking of TV; how do we do it without a television, an antenna or cable? We found Blinkx.com and Megavideo. Pretty much, all the shows we liked to watch "back home" are available as well as some movies. We just watch them on the very small screen with ear buds and popcorn. The only downside is right now, we can't get Olympic coverage - but we figured out a way to even get most of that.

We have met and made a few new friends this season - the docks are a mix of last years transients, like us, and a handful of new folk. A good mix. We just had a "Yawl come!" pot luck dinner and just about everyone on 'F' dock brought something and had a good visit. The mix includes folks that may never make it out of Liberty Bay, and those that have already gone 'round the world and are heading out again come spring.

Halona, for all her little faults, has proven to be a very good choice for us. We feel quite comfortable and safe aboard. The last years worth of lessons that she taught have given us the confidence and the satisfaction to continue.

One problem that plagues every sailboat owner is that they very seldom get a photo of their boat whilst under sail. We finally have a shot of Halona, underway in full sailing form - it just happened to be the day that Ed and Karen ( friends from back in Salem ) went out with us last fall - took a while to get the shots as the photographer, after taking the pic, then went to China, then Germany, and finally back to Washington. Anywho... here's Halona!