Trumpet fanfare, if you please!
You are now reading the blog of the winner of the Conch Republic Conch Blowing Contest! Me? That's right! But that's not all...Marianna won the kiddo division too! Along with assorted T-shirts and cooly cups, several gift certificates for dinners and such, I won a day cruise for two on a Tall Ship! Wow! Could this mean a date with my husband in the near future? Too exciting!
Sorry, Marianna!
What else happened over the last week? A fabulous parade in which some great Great Danes were spotted - LOL! We've been ever so fond of these dogs ever since meeting up with Hal's cousin Jeannine in NW Florida last fall. She runs the North West Florida Great Dane Rescue and we met some wonderful dogs through her. You'd have loved this harlequin, Jeannine, such a beautiful (huge!) dog.
Great Danes weren't the only thing on parade though, we were too! Only one photo before the batteries died but here we are decked out with as many flags as we could tape to our bikes or carry. Okay, so Hal is the only one carrying one, I think that big of a flag would have tipped me over!
Great time was had by all the bicyclists as we were so very lucky to be placed right behind Howard Livingston and the MM24 Band and their famous outboard motor margarita maker that they strolled down the street, firing it up every block or so and giving away free margaritas - yummy!
Next big event was the Bloody Battle - aarrrgh! Conch Ships versus the Coast Guard.
Little fighting dinghies even came out in force.
Coast Guard and Tall Ships duke it out with water cannons and long loaves of Cuban Bread.
One of our favorite Tall Ships, the Jolly Rover was out in splendid form, simply gorgeous!
Later in the week the very famous Bed Races ran down Duval Street. Two of our favorites were the Hawaiian bed...
...and a Pirate bed. We didn't stick around for the races themselves. A single time trial was plenty for us. Can you imagine pushing beds on wheels down a street for hours and hours trying to better your time and position? Neither could we so we took off and visited the Green Parrot.
With a fiddle contest blazing away who could keep their feet from dancing? Not these two, that's for certain!
So if the blog had seemed a tad quiet the past week now you know why!
Phew! This week Sunday was a day of rest. Catnaps in the cockpit, Peter Duck read alouds and good old fashioned home cooking were the highlights.
Delightful!
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Comments [9]
...of the Rolling Stones, no that's not right!
That's us! You recall this post on the Sucession? This is what we get for actually showing up early and getting seats front and center!
Great shot of Marianna and Hal and I'm in pink right between them, though you can't see me for some reason. Is pink the new camo of Key West?
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April 24, 2007, 7:56 am, Boca Chica
How time flies!
What does a year in the life of a sailor homeschooling her daughter look like? Let's take a look back over the past year. Click on the titles in lavendar to view the complete post or simply enjoy the first sentence or so from the 22nd of each month (or the date nearest to the 22nd as the case may be!)
April 22, 2006: There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
As Victor Hugo so eloquently said, the future is created by dreams. Follow along as our dreams shape our future...
Oh! My first ever post! I still love the photo of our sails in the sun...
May 22, 2006: Photos Galore!
After a long and arduous process, I have finally uploaded our photos of the very first voyage of the Mari Hal-O-Jen!
Still learning, finally uploaded photos to the gallery. Loved that particular voyage, so peaceful with spectacular sunsets and sunrises and my sister was able to come for the voyage!
June 29, 2006: Where I am Going
I am going to Key Limes, to Coppertone 45 and beach cruisers with baskets strong enough for milk and merlot.
Our announcement of our next home port - Key West!
July 25, 2006: Things we've learned the past few days.
1. Peace and quiet are necessary to fill out certain new job related paperwork.
2. After 25 pages of filling out above mentioned paperwork, one begins to notice the repetitive nature of the questions.
Man, do I remember this day! Now all that nasty paperwork is in the past, thank heavens! Love the photo of Hal up the mast too.
August 22, 2006: Morse Code Alphabet
A .- B -... C -.-.
Hmmm...this didn't work out so well. Phonetic? Yes. Morse? No. Should I try again?
September 21, 2006: Answering the Siren's Call
Answering the Siren's Call may have many benefits.
Makes much more sense if you read this post first. Hal and I had spent days comparing Land Lubbers and Boaters, such fun! His ultimate Boater's response was the hammock.
October 23, 2006: Tagged Again! 10 Random Facts
1. I adore weaving!
And I still do! Meme's can be lots of fun and this one was open ended enough to really appeal to me.
November 22, 2006: Bleu Cheese Burgers at Sea Recipe.
We had wonderful burgers tonight. Dad has found a way to cook them to perfection.
Marianna was so eager to post this. She still talks about how perfect those grease fire burgers were! I don't know how eager Hal is to repeat though, no matter how impressive the shooting flames were!
December 20, 2006: Birthday Fun
The suspense is nearly over!
One of the neatest presents - a microscope! We should pull that thing back out soon...
January 23, 2007: My Favorite Miracle
When Theresa asked for our Favorite Miracles, I didn't have to think very long or hard about this question! You see, Marianna played the Dead Girl in a Broadway styled production in Branson, MO.
Good memories, Marianna dug through our files to find that really cool stained glass photo from St Michael's.
February 22, 2007: Congratulations to our future engineer - Vanessa!!!
My littlest sister (the one with a strawberry blond ponytail) stomped all the competition and led her Charter School to first place at a Engineering Expo held at the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus.
Great engineering projects inspired by my youngest sister! Go Vanessa!
March 22, 2007: Eco-Discovery Center
Field trip with our soon to be homeschool group, just a few thing to iron out, I thought they were called FL Key SunSchoolers, which I really like, but they are FL Keys Unschoolers, see? It's all in how you read email addresses!
Fun Field Trip!
April 23, 2007: We Seceded Where Others Failed!
As a parent and homeschooler I have frequently found myself saying that one of the reasons we have elected to educate Marianna at home is so she can develop her individuality and her sense of self, to raise her in such a manner as to be a strong leader who is unafraid to stand up for what she knows is right and never, ever follow the proverbial crowd off that 7-Mile Bridge!
Perfect blending of Key West and Homeschooling, the Past, the Present, and the hoped for Future, to wrap up the first year!
Sails, Voyages, Key West, Hal,
Schooling, Boating, Me, Food,
Marianna, Religion, Projects, Field Trips
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April 24, 2007, 5:37 am
Have you heard the news?
Bee a smart one and buzz over to Sprittibee for the latest Homeschooling Carnival and if that isn't enough great reading to last you this week, I've just found the Archives...uh, oh!
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April 23, 2007, 5:48 pm, Mallory Square, The Heart of Key West
As a parent and homeschooler I have frequently found myself saying that one of the reasons we have elected to educate Marianna at home is so she can develop her individuality and her sense of self, to raise her in such a manner as to be a strong leader who is unafraid to stand up for what she knows is right and never, ever follow the proverbial crowd off that 7-Mile Bridge!
Today we participated in a reenactment honoring a group of men who embodied all these points that we would be thrilled to see in our daughter.
25 years ago in April, the United States government set up a Border Patrol Blockade of the Florida Keys. Word quickly spread that although getting in to the beautiful Keys was easy, leaving was not. Every single vehicle exiting would be subjected to an extensive search, a search supposedly targeting Illegal Aliens but the searches mostly included glove boxes and suitcases (hint, hint, fill in the blanks, you're a smart group of people!). Once the beer trucks threatened to cancel deliveries due to the 12-mile, 8-hour traffic back up, something had to be done! This had essentially halted the tourist trade and a group of key Conchs began to protest, stating that it was "A totally American thing to do!"
At the urging of David Paul Horan, a local Conch, the legal route was taken first and an injunction against the government's action was filed in Federal Court in Miami. A town desperate to save itself flew it's 38 year old mayor, Dennis Wardlow, and a few other key players including the pilot Edwin O. Swift and David Paul Horan up to the mainland for an emergency meeting with the federal judge.
After the meeting in which it was decided to dismantle the roadblock after an undesignated period of time and only run periodic roadblocks in the future, Mayor Wardlow famously told the sea of reporters waiting for him outside the courthouse that it was "like a kiss from your sister - meaningless." and that since the Florida Keys were to be treated like a foriegn country they would become one.
The next day, April 23, 1982 in Mallory Square, Mayor Dennis Wardlow and the Council Members climbed on top of a flatbed truck and with the local police, the FBI and the CIA, many television reporters from all the major networks and the BBC filling the Square and even the VFW protesting the sucession, declared the independence of the Conch Republic and named Dennis Wardlow Prime Minister.
He immediately declared war on the United States of America and commenced the battle by breaking a loaf of stale Cuban Bread over the head of an Admiral of the U.S. Navy. One minute later he surrendered to the Admiral and submitted his application for 1 Billion Dollars in Foriegn Aid and War Reparations, an application that is still active 25 years later but which has not been approved yet.
Thus, the Conch Republic, an independent nation separate from the United States, was established. The Republic has, "as its stated Foreign Policy, 'The Mitigation of World Tension through the Exercise of Humor'. As the world's first 'Fifth World' country, we exist as a 'State of Mind', and aspire only to bring more Warmth, Humor and Respect to a planet we find in sore need of all three." Do I want my daughter to exhibit more warmth, more humor and more respect? You bet I do! If she also is gutsy enough one day "to stand up to a government gone mad with power" or even just to stand up locally for a belief she holds dear, then I will call my job as an educator complete.
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A close call was had the other day as Marianna was nearly pressganged by a roving band of musical pirates! They lured her in with charming sea chanties like 'My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean' and 'The Sailor's Alphabet'. Do you know your ABC's?
A is the anchor that holds a bold ship,
B is the bowsprit that often does dip,
C is the capstan on which we do wind, and
D is the davits on which the jolly boat hangs.
Oh, hi derry, hey derry, ho derry down,
Give sailors their grog and there's nothing goes wrong,
So merry, so merry, so merry are we,
No matter who's laughing at sailors at sea.
E is the ensign, the red, white, and blue,
F is the fo'c'sle, holds the ship's crew,
G is the gangway on which the mate takes his stand,
H is the hawser that seldom does strand.
I is the irons where the stuns'l boom sits,
J is the jib-boom that often does dip,
K are the keelsons of which you've told, and
L are the lanyards that always will hold.
M is the main mast, so stout and so strong,
N is the north point that never points wrong,
O are the orders of which we must be'ware, and
P are the pumps that cause sailors to swear.
Q is the quadrant, the sun for to take,
R is the riggin' that always does shake,
S is the starboard side of our bold ship, and
T are the topmasts that often do split.
U is the ugliest old Captain of all,
V are the vapours that come with the squall,
W is the windlass on which we do wind, and
X, Y, and Z, well, I can't put in rhyme!
While you're studying your letters you may wish to glance over the handy Pirate Alphabet as well!
A: Ehhhhhhh? -- "What's that?"
B: Are -- as in "Be ye ready to surrender?"
C: Si, si! -- To a Spanish pirate, "Yes!"
E: Eeeeee! -- "Maaaaaaaaybe . . . "
I: Aye -- "Yes!"
L: 'Ell -- A destination for your enemies.
O: Oh! -- "Oh!"
Q: Queue -- A sailor's pigtail, usually tarred.
R: Arrrrrr! -- A general expression of glee.
T: Tea -- A very inferior substitute for grog.
Y: Why? -- To be said in a grumpy voice when the cap'n gives an order.
Z: Zee -- To a French pirate, "the."
For more info on Sea Shanties check out
Wikipedia's Sea Shanties. I wasn't surprised at all to see that shanties and military cadence calls are closely related. Could it have anything to do with the mix of military + diver onboard the S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen? One moment we may be singing 'Way, Hay and Up She Rises' and the next moment as a C-130 barrels overhead we just have to sound off with an appropriate cadence:
C-130 rolling down the strip.
Airborne ranger gonna take a little trip.
Mission top secret, destination unknown.
Don't even know if I'm going home.
Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door.
Jump right out and count to four.
As that C-130 is circling about this afternoon doing touch and go's and I feel like my eyeballs are vibrating in my head I'll leave you with that and a few additional Pirate Education Links that we have found helpful:
The Golden Age of Piracy Educator's Guide
National Geographic Xpeditions Pirate Map
New England Pirate Museum Educational Material
Lapazfarm's merry Pirate Notebook, enjoy!
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April 18, 2007, 6:56 am
We found the missing egg!
Was it under the floorboards kicking around the bilge? Was it tucked in the pantry behind the settee cushions? Was it in the hanging rope locker?
Noooo...it was in the Easter Candy bag.
Just goes to show you we don't eat nearly enough chocolate if it took us 9 days to notice it in only bag of sweets on board.
I can't tell you how happy I am to have found that blue egg. I've had a limited amount of exposure to rotten Easter eggs but even one will leave a lasting impression on a kid. For instance...one year on the 4th of July we went back over the mountains to visit Grandpa and Grandma in Hayden, CO, and under a green chair in the front room we found an egg from our Easter visit. Uncle Donald took Michelle and I outside and cracked that sucker open, eeewww! It smelled just like that water Grandpa tried to dose us with every morning from the Springs in Steamboat, double eeewww!!!
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I went to grab a link for Hayden and found that not only does Hayden have its own website but also an entry at Wikipedia! How odd is that? Great photo of the town in 1942 though.
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A tremendous storm moved through in front of a cold front this weekend. We knew something was up when people began coming into port for the weekend rather than leaving the dock. When a new-to-us family with 3 little boys (Homeschooled! Hurray!) showed up on Dock A and told us they'd cut short their time in the Dry Tortugas in anticipation of the blow we got out the extra dock lines and tuned in the weather radio.
Which, if I'm being honest here, I detest. You have to wait for the robotic voice to cycle through in his disjointed, jerky sentences that I tend to tune out, realizing that I've done so just in time to miss out on my location and instead hear something completely irrelevant to the situation like the location of the Gulf Stream. Click on the Wunderground Button in the sidebar, folks. When you get to Key West's page click on the Marine Forecast if you're interested. In 10 seconds you can be up and away from the computer filled with the knowledge you need.
So after checking the location of the rainbands Marianna and I attended a fabulous mass on Divine Mercy Sunday with a guest priest, a Dominican! I thoroughly enjoyed his homily on Perpetual Adoration and Marianna especially liked seeing his habit (Is it called a habit on a guy? Total mind blank here.) white with extremely long rosary beads tucked into his belt. It hasn't changed much in the 800 years the Dominicans have been around. We vowed to check out our Perpetual Adoration Chapel this week.
By the time she and I arrived home the sky was beginnng to darken and the wind was really kicking up. I helped Hal stretch a dockline across the neighboring slip to help hold us off our finger pier and we closed all the hatches and zipped the isinglass just as the skies opened.
As I was descending the companionway an intense bolt of lightning struck a light pole on the bridge which is not nearly far enough away for my comfort! Especially as it was very hard to tell with my light blinded eyes if it was a light pole or the mast of a sailboat in the anchorage for a few moments! Our favorite little island was also reported lightning struck though I did not witness that, I was buttoned up safe below by that time!
And just what might we have been doing below decks? Holding our own little celebration!
The S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen won!!!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the support you have shown us, I've gone about in wonderful warm glow ever since that has nothing to do with our Geographical Location, and everything to do with you!
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Over the past year or so we've worked aspects of Bravewriter into our life. One of the most successful things is the Friday Freewrite. Marianna and I agreed at the very beginning to make our Friday Freewrites completely different from any other writing that we do.
How did we accomplish this?
*Special Green Journal
*Use a pen
*GO OUTSIDE!
The last is obviously the most important! At our last dockage Marianna had found two places in particular that she liked to write, a hammock between two palms and a swing under the Tiki Hut. We're still exploring our latest marina, but the beach is an awfully nice place to address the writing prompt: What things do you think are BEAUTIFUL?
If you think some of the things you've read here are rather beautiful (or at least thoughtful, or humorous, or shall we say, Keyzeee!!) don't forget to vote at the Homeschool Blog Awards by midnight tonight! That's right, it is Friday already. Where has the week gone! The two categories the S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen has been nominated in are the Best Geographical Blog and the Live-What-You-Believe Blog.
It's been one of the most exciting weeks! You have kept us in either First or Second Place the entire week in the Best Geographical Blog category! It is such a close race right now, 19% to 18% that I would greatly appreciate any last minute votes you'd care to place for the S/V Mari Hal-O-Jen!
Thank you and know I sending warm thoughts (Okay, steamy! LOL! It is sooo very humid today!) your way!
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April 12, 2007, 6:22 am, ETA: Make that 60 mph!!! Official report.
Burnt!
Pirate studies continue along with serious math time. Why is it just the smallest break allows all mathematical knowledge to drain out of the ears? I speak from experience and if you don't believe me, ask my long suffering mathematically inclined father who spent many, many years with a crying daughter at the kitchen table! It has not gotten quite that bad here, yet, (with the next generation that is) but it is always the simple things that mess up the big problems, isn't it? So frustrating! Bring on the flashcards!
The pirate studies have been much more fun, a Jolly Roger is in the works, and a great looking map - of Greece actually! Greek coastal waters works for us as we are starting our study with a few days of Ancient Pirates because, as you know, I said we were studying the Ancients this year and what's better than one rabbit trail that leads right into another? It is really quite fascinating, did you know Julius Cesear was kidnapped by pirates once? He wasn't very happy about it. In fact, once he was ransomed he came back and utterly destroyed the pirate outpost. Taking a look at the Greek and Roman Pirate ships is really neat, seeing how things have changed and yet how similar some things are.
Locally we are planning two big field trips in the near future, one to Mel Fisher's Maritime Heritage Museum and one to Pirate Soul!
Don't forget that voting continues up to Friday on the Homeschool Blog Awards! Also on Friday, Dawn's Field Day! Today is the Loveliness of Easter Fair at Divina's. Busy, busy time in the blogosphere this week!
I managed to upload the buttons for these events in my side bar but they are not clickable! Why? Why?? Why??? Arrgh! Technology!
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