ICE!
cw
01/26/2013
On a boat, ice is usually considered a luxury. Imagine the opulence of having your boat COVERED with ice! That's what we woke up to on Jan 26. We are trying to savor this moment so that 6 months from now, when it's 104 degrees in the shade, we can reflect back on this and maybe, just maybe, feel a tad cooler. :-)
The Church of What's Happening Now
cw
01/24/2013, New Bern, NC
Over the New Years holiday we were happy to be visited by George, one of our good friends we made last summer during our time at Cape Fear Marina in Wilmington. George brought something important to my attention. Apparently I had left some ambiguity in one of the latter blog entries about Helena and myself and what the status of things was and is.
Upon reflection I can see how that may have happened. Helena had to leave somewhat suddenly, I was upset about it, and little else was said. Hmm...no wonder this left ambiguity in the air! So before anything else I want to clear all that up.
Helena returned to Sweden for a visit to attend to a family emergency there. Everything on this side of the pond is fine. Fine. I was upset about her leaving, and I am happy to report that she returned to me on November 29, 2012.
But before Helena got back, while I was alone in New Bern, a few notable things happened. I made many new friends. I got further acquainted with and enamored with the town of New Bern. I attended a folk concert in a local cafe, weathered hurricane Sandy, varnished all of the exterior teak on Swedish Fish, made other repairs and improvements to the boat, attended Mumfest, went to a great nautical flea market, found a church I liked, took a job restoring a trawler yacht, and then another job at the local Lowes store. I joined the local USCG Auxiliary. I became good friends with Catalina 36 owners Glenn & Diane, who "took me in" and made sure I never missed out on anything. They have a lovely condo in downtown New Bern, and it became the hub for such events as election night and the Thanksgiving holiday. Glenn & I also went sailing a couple of times, 1st on his boat, and then on ours.
The weekend Helena came home was a whirlwind of fun and activity, meeting new friends, and holiday festivities. On Friday we were treated to a dinner out by my then-"boss" Tom and our friend Dave. On Saturday we attended the New Bern Christmas parade, followed that night by the New Bern Holiday Flotilla (lighted boat parade) followed the same night by a fabulous presentation of The Nutcracker ballet at the old theater downtown. I was skeptical of what a small-town ballet company could do with such an ambitious project, but they did a fantastic job and we thoroughly enjoyed the production. It was the perfect kick-off to the Christmas season.
We spent the Christmas holidays house-sitting for our friends Glenn & Diane, who were visiting family back in Indiana. That was fun, but I must say their cat is psychologically disturbed.
Now we are working on varnishing all of the interior teak on Swedish Fish as the weather permits - as of now it is very cold here and all such work has been put on hold.
We expect to be here in New Bern at least until this Fall, paying off bills and building our crusing kitty back up so we can head out for the horizon again. We are even thinking about a bigger boat, but then who isn't?
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