Kaimusailing

Eloisa rolled into the boatyard after a long drive down from the mountains. It was getting cold and isolated up there. I had a nasty toothache and we went to Southern River Walk. Bleu, her black American cocker was showing a bit of plumpness. I had had a sandwich and some wine already, so I didn’t order any food or wine, just coffee. Geoff and Karen arrived and invited us over for dinner and wine.
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I remarked that my tooth was killing me and then all the friendly advice came. Karen had a new dentist here in town, close by, so I googled the dentistry, found their website, and bookmarked it. After dinner I felt much better and continued watching football aboard Kaimu in the boatyard.
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The next morning I was horrified to see my face had puffed out, almost closing my left eye. This is getting serious. I looked up the dentist’s website to see how early they were open, 8, it was 8:10, I called and they listened to my story and asked if I could be there at 9.
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Eloisa brought me there in a pouring rain. I left with a prescription for antibiotics, and to give the pharmacy time to fill the prescription, asked if we could visit the post office. I had a package from TEMU and forwarded mail from St. Brendan’s Isle. I picked up the prescription. Everything was going like clockwork.
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I hadn’t had breakfast, nor had Eloisa, but she had stopped in a place called the Magic Market in St. Marys to get coffee and said it was a most charming place. I went along with her back there and we got two big quarts of homemade chili, 5 bucks a pop, and a fried chicken strip dinner, and two tomatoes, for a total of 18 dollars.
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We couldn’t eat in the park or the pavillion near the water, the wind was driving the heavy rain nearly horizontal. We stayed in the car and chowed down. I had a pile of stuff on my lap, including documents and TEMU stuff. Bleu jumped in my lap on top of everything. He was the one eating the chicken dinner. Spoiled puppy.
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We returned to the boatyard where I went into the woodshop, dry, not too cold, and began to play with some of my new TEMU toys. One was a bore scope for $5.99, free shipping. Another was a new brown suede phone case that actually fit the S23+. The bore scope plugs into the phone’s USB port and after loading the correct app I could get a picture from it. Also I had 3 water toys, like a plunger that can suck up and spray water, those will help out with the narrow spaces in the bilge to remove water.
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The Amelia Island Restaurant Week commenced and on the list is a restaurant named 1928 Cuban Bistro. They offered a $15 lunch including a Cuban sandwich and some other things with Spanish names. I wouldn’t order, just asked if service dogs are allowed, such as this one, Bleu, looks like a baby gorilla, not menacing though. They said yes. When Eloisa got to the order counter things began to happen. She knew what to get and we went and sat waiting for the food to arrive.
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The Cuban sandwich was beyond my abilities to describe. I ate half. She ordered too much food. I had a half of a sort of beef pastry and another with ham and cheese. The coffee was like espresso but in a glass, like half a cup, maybe like 3 shots of espresso. She was very happy and said the food was good, I said this place has been here all the years we have been here. We kept going to the beach, not here.
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We went to the beach. I really liked it. It’s January. There were people disrobing and swimming. Must be Northerners. I had a wine. Eloisa and Bleu played with the tennis ball and he was licking the sand and getting it in his mouth. Perfect day.
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We arranged to get the TV in the dining room of Southern River Walk to show the ABC NFL playoff game, which I could not get with my antenna. We ran errands and headed to Southern River Walk. I said if they have their clam chowder as special soup of the day I will get it, if not I will have their chicken parmesan. Either one would be great. When we walked in the chalkboard of specials included the clam chowder and also chicken parmesan over penne.
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It was happy hour, wine at half price. I ordered a cup of the soup and the chicken parm without the penne pasta. Bleu was allowed in the restaurant as a service dog. He was wearing his red service vest with the doctor’s authorization letter in a clear plastic pocket.
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So far Bleu has been allowed into every restaurant except Pirate’s Point, and they might be the one that needs the business the most.
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So it had been a beautiful day, but the temperatures were about to plummet and the next day was raw. I was not feeling well and stayed shut in with the little propane heater trying to keep up with the cold. The next day was abut 10 degrees warmer and we went to downtown St. Marys after having a mexican lunch, once again inside with Bleu, and hiked around the docks. I took photos. We migrated over to Southern River Walk and had some happy hour wine. Geoff and Karen came in and we sat together. We were invited for dinner. I was not hungry at all. I was up for more wine. Geoff made his signature gumbo and rice. I politely tasted it.
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We were now heading into a week of very mild weather, nothing below 60 day or night.
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I had been trying to remember the name of the sail designer who invented the RAF sail and suddenly his name popped into my aged brain. When I searched for him I found he had a new website and on it his idea to create a fleet of garbage gathering ships to clean up the oceans of the world. I forwarded the site URL to Komputer Ken who is working on a similar project. The website is barryspanier.com.
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A new restaurant opened in St. Marys and it is Cuban so we had to go there. It was pleasant. Eloisa said it was OK, I would say if they are in business in 6 months I would be surprised.
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The microwave oven died. When we tested it the lights came on, but we couldn’t enter any function, the lights said 00:00. When I discard defeated devices I put them on the “Free Pile”. Someone will take them away and save me the trouble. There was a replacement microwave at Habitat for Humanity in town. We went there and the first thing I noticed was a Schwinn bicycle with no price tag at the front of the store. We had them test the microwave and I asked how much for the bike? 64.99.
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The bike looked to be in great condition but the tires were shot. You just need to get new tubes, replacement tires come with the bike. Sign me up. When we got to the boatyard and I could look at the bike I thought I had made a great deal. But this same bike, a Schwinn Prelude, was sold by Walmart for about 265, so not a really high end bike.
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Komputer Ken had two folding bikes, Raleigh Twenty’s, that someone gave him. In an act of good nature I pumped up the tires and found one of the bikes wouldn’t take air in the rear tire. Eloisa grabbed the other, adjusted the seat, and sped off. We had a bike ride through the Land’s End neighborhood. When we got back I said let’s go to Walmart and get tubes for these bikes.
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I also got a case of water and a couple bottles of Barefoot Pinot Noir, the magnums, at about ten bucks a pop, some new ham, cheese, and a bag of apples. When we got back she asked if we were going to work on the bikes. No, we were going to the pond to watch the geese and ducks, and Bleu can chase his tennis ball.
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There was a duck significantly different from the other ducks and geese. It was much smaller and when Eloisa said there is a small red duck out there I couldn’t see it. It is a diving duck and it spends most of its time underwater. It might be a Blunderhead, I may have that wrong.
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The Raleigh bike with the flat rear was my first victim. You can’t take the rear wheel off because it is a blasted English 3-speed, and the shift control cable goes right into the end of the axle, I loosened the nuts and got it part way out. I spent a lot of time looking for tools and trying to separate the shift cable, but we did the job without totally removing the wheel. When I got it together I pumped it up and took it for a ride. Doesn’t fit, but rides well.
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Eloisa wanted my attention and began a conversation about giving Bleu a haircut. Well, go do it. I had to deal with two more bike tires. The new tires were Bonswagger or something like that. The old tubes were probably good. I pumped them up after taking them out and they held air. I pumped the front up to 80 lbs. but the rear only went to 50. There was something leaking air. The bike was OK to ride. It felt twitchy like a high speed racing bike. The dirt surface in the boatyard was actually dangerous with this bike. I had to work on the front derailleur to allow high gear.
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I had to clean off from the bike work and took a shower. When I returned Eloisa had driven off with Bleu. Probably to the pond. We had some time to kill on a beautiful afternoon. I called her and she picked me up to sit at the pond. I walked around and got a picture of the elusive bird, the little diving duck, and then I felt hungry. Let’s go get lunch, at 4PM.
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Geoff called and the connection was garbled. He said he fixed the MG, not his, I asked is it at your house? He said no I’m at your boat. We were just two clicks away and there he was in the MG near the woodshop. I could tell he was proud of his work, the car was not even running when he volunteered to help its owner. Now here he was, it starts and runs. Looks pretty bad though. Needs detailing and a paint job. We were rude and sped off to eat.
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There was space at the bar at Southern River Walk and I got to converse with Kivajo, a local artist. We had water for Bleu and ordered food and wine for me and chai for Eloisa. They fawned over the dog. We kept two chairs in case Geoff and Karen came. At about a quarter after I said I guess they ain’t coming, and then they rolled in. We had conversation in two channels, one was the dog channel between Karen and Eloisa, and the other was the MG channel with Geoff.
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The image is of Notter’s Pond where Bleu likes to play.
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