Some people might think that the sound of an engine running is just ugly noise. They have not been stuck waiting to get an engine repaired. Matilda's engine has absolutely purred for the last couple of days. Right now the generator is humming along. That regular rumble is sweet music. These two engines help us move this boat forward and provide the electricity for things like hot water and computers and reading lights - the staples of our world.

Cool and fresh. Ahhh..... It's after 10:00 p.m. and I just took a shower in the cockpit with the new cockpit shower that Bruce installed on the boat in Fort Lauderdale. Hot water and a cool breeze. Stars peeking through the clouds. Clean soft towel followed by fresh nightclothes.

Life on a boat is filled with simple pleasures. People on land take things for granted - things like hot water and instant communications, but life on a boat generally takes you back to the basics. I am made for this life. I feel the stresses and the kinks leaving my body. But slowly, because today was almost like a day at work.

I spent a good six hours today working on Thrillerfest - answering emails and reading through documents sent to me from the hotel. There are so many details involved with putting on a conference of this size. Will people need coat check service at the banquet? What kind of microphone does this author require? Will this special guest drink regular water or do we need some special brand? This late registerant wants to know if they'll carry her books. How many vegetarians are coming to the steak dinner?

Here we are with our boat anchored far up a creek off the Choptank River on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in this new modern age of cruising and the Internet, I have spent this entire day down in the cabin answering emails. How do you do that, you might ask? Remember back when we thought a dial-up connection was remarkable? Well, Bruce has a cellular air card that fits into a wireless router and redistributes the cellular connection to a wireless network inside the boat - enabling us both to connect our laptops to the network wherever we have a cellular connection. Like here. . . at anchor.

Or sailing, like yesterday while we were underway! We finally got out of Deltaville on Tuesday after they hauled us at about 3:00 in the afternoon on Monday. We still had to do a sea trial and a grocery store run on Tuesday morning, but we were away by 11:30 and we anchored up the creek past Solomon's Island that night. We didn't get to go ashore, though I would have loved to do so. I will return to that location one day.

On the morning of the Fourth of July, we got underway around 9:30 and sailed from Solomon's to this spot just beyond Oxford, off Pirate's Cove. God, I love the names in this place! The winds had been forecast to be strong, so we had thrown a reef into the mail before leaving the Patuxent River. That's just the same as taking an umbrella on a rainy day. You know it won't blow if you do that. So while we lolly-gagged along at 4.5 knots, I was down below writing emails and organizing a conference in New York City. What a strange life, eh?

But our new-found methods of communication from cell phones to sat phones to wireless Internet provide us with the most remarkable moments. I got an email today from someone I consider a dear friend - author, Tom Corcoran. If you haven't read his mysteries set in Key West, you are missing something. Tom has an insider's view of that island like no other writer - and given the lot that have written and lived down there, that's really saying something. His character Alex Rutledge is photographer like Tom and he has spent time on the water. Check out Corcoran's books at http://www.tomcorcoran.net/ So today Tom emails me that he has some tunes that I should be listening to while sailing and he offers to send me a CD. I will have some new sailing music when I arrive in NYC. As Tom says, "Should be waiting at the Grand Hyatt. You'll wonder how you ever did without it. Ocean-tested for over 30 years..."

Simple pleasures - an engine that runs, hot water, connections to friends. I can't wait to listen to the music.

Fair winds!

Christine