First day back. Buried in email. My feet are sore from the decks. I have a plethora of bruises and scrapes. We have a pile of laundry to do. The fridge is empty. I still feel the sway of the waves. But I’m still smiling at all the laughs we had.
I miss my birdie, though, we’re going to pick him up tonight.
Wednesday, April 9.
We all flew to San Juan together. Then headed to our respective destinations. What a great trip! Monte, you were an awesome Skipper. Susanne and Laura, you are TROOPERs! We’re so glad you could come along on this adventure.
This is our third charter with ProValor Charters, thanks Jim & Cecilia!
Thanks to Doray and Tom for Keeto-sitting.
And thanks, too, to Marty & Sue for teaching us the charter ropes on our past trips with them. We are looking forward to you joining the next trip with the crazy B-dockers.
I go to come back!
Our route…
So…. would I want to do the whole check-out-of-BVI, check-in-and-out-of-USVI, then check-back-in-to-BVI Customs & Immigration thing again? Not sure. St John was amazing, but it did burn some of our days planning where and when to check-in/out. I guess the take away is that it is best to be flexible….especially with the weather… and just roll with it.
Tuesday, April 8.
This morning we dinghied over to shore to tour the shops and artists’ wares at Trellis Bay.
On the sail back to Fat Hog’s Bay today, Susanne was at the helm and Laura worked the lines by herself. They’ve both done really well with learning the ins and out of the boat, and they’re bonifide sailors now!
We got to the marina in time to finish up the closing paperwork on the charter. We’ll spend the night on the dock, since our flight leaves at 7:30 AM tomorrow. It’s a bittersweet day. Sad that it’s almost over. But ecstatic to use the showers at the marina!
We walked over to Red Rock for an amazing dinner. A perfect last supper for a fantastic trip. So many great memories and experiences. As always, I already can’t wait to come back.
Thursday, April 3.
This morning we topped up the water tank, got some ice and emergency provisions (i.e., Dove Bars) before heading out from Great Harbour.
Destination: St. John’s of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Since we’ll be leaving BVI and entering USVI, we have to visit Customs & Immigration to check out before leaving here, and check in at Cruz Bay once arriving in St. Johns. This is our first time to go to USVI by boat from BVI and deal with the Customs/Immigration thing. I’ll let you know later if it’s worth it.
We didn’t go ashore in Cruz Bay other than to clear customs. We caught a ball in Caneel Bay and ate lunch, then waited through some rain showers for the other 2 boats’ crews to come back to make a plan for the night. The original plan was to stay in Leinster Bay on the north side of St. John’s. But we’re getting intermittent rain stroms, and the wind is really kicking up now. So, the NE swells would make for a very rough mooring. Instead, Monte suggested Lameshur Bay on the south side of the island. Maggie stayed in Caneel Bay, since they were unable to anchor if it turned out they didn’t get a mooring ball. But Tan-a-Na and Jim’s Dream decided to make a run through the rain for a very remote and unspoiled Great Lameshur Bay, and got two of the last remaining mooring balls in time to watch a beautiful sunset.
My father-in-law served in the U.S. Army infantry in Europe in WWII. So, when he died 10 years ago, his funeral included military honors. At the family reunion this summer, Monte received from his sister the burial flag, which was still in the plastic zippered display pouch from the funeral home. We’ve been displaying it on the shelf in the living room, but it deserves a much nicer treatment. So, this week Monte set out to the shop to make a fine custom frame. He used some beautiful black walnut that actually used to belong to his dad. A day or two later, and it is done. Complete with beautiful inset splines to join the corners, and a strip of cedar inside.
After placing the flag in its new display case, we acknowledged the upgrade with a toast of sparkling apple cider. I’m sure Ross would approve of both 🙂
One year ago today, my cousin Steve died unexpectedly from a complication of a routine back surgery that he had undergone a week prior. We were two months apart in age. In addition to the shock of his loss, it was a stark reminder that you can be here one moment and gone the next. Seize the day, folks. Love to his family and friends on this day.
This evening the UT Nursing School held the official pinning ceremony for the students that have passed the RN exam and are now nurses. We were honored to be Julie’s guests, to celebrate with her.
Afterwards, we grabbed dinner downtown at Easy Tiger. They serve bratwurst and other sausages made in-house, and breads, pretzels, sauerkraut and cheeses that they also make themselves. It was our first time, and we really enjoyed it. I don’t remember seeing Waller Creek in this good condition. A nice place. You should check it out next time you’re near 6th Street.
Oh, the malaise of a Thursday… unceremoniously stuck between “Hump Day” and “TGIF.” Is there a motto for Thursdays?
Well my highlight for today was picking up Julie from the airport. She’s back for school – the semester starts in a few weeks. She plans to move in with a friend that she met last semester, so we’ll be empty nesters soon. Since she passed her RN exam over the summer, she’s official now and is hoping to work at a local hospital while she’s going to school. What a kid!
And, before I sign off… here is a link to a short (5-ish minutes) TED video a colleague sent me today. It has a 10 tips/shortcuts for using technology more efficiently. I knew about most of them but not all. The first one blew me away….who knew?
Happy post-humpday TGIF-eve!!
I’ve spent the entire day today jumping back into my genealogy research. I have recently connected with distant cousins in my same generation, all of who’s grandparents were siblings born in the late 1800s. It has rekindled the fire in me to transfer the myriad of notes, stories and photographs that I have compiled over the last decade or so into a cleanly documented family tree. And we are pooling our research.
It is especially challenging to research my ancestors because virtually all of my grandparent paths on all sides start in Ireland. So I’m enjoying joining forces on the research.
Once I make a pass through my ancestors’ part of the tree, I’ll do the same for Monte’s, for whom I have significantly more information.
Just a few of the fun characters gathered this weekend for our bi-annual family reunion. Fun!
I headed into Seattle today to visit Pat & Nga and the kids. Before I hit the road I stopped by a park on the puget sound shoreline where attended girl scout camp back in the day. I remember camping, cooking, clamming and making sand sculptures here over several summers here. I dare say it has been 35 years or so since i last stood on this particular stretch of beach. It is still amazingly beautiful.
I drove my mom’s car. Not your typical dashboard.
When i got to seattle, we drove to a park on the *other* side of the puget sound to fly the kites that I gave the boys. They are master kite flyers. One shot with both of them:
One shot of Nicky:
And one shot of Will:
A great day. Back to Austin tomorrow. Goodnight!
I made it to Seattle last night 3 hours late but safe and sound. Today Noreen and I shopped for a while then headed over to mom’s. Two of my nephews, Jake and Aaron, are spending the day with her. So I got to enjoy time with them as we’ll.
Aaron came down to Austin for a visit about a year ago. He is lobbying heavily with his mom and dad to come down again soon. This is a picture he drew that he showed me exactly 3 seconds after I walked through the door today. 🙂
It’s pizza night! These are the works of art from tonight’s installment. Rachel and Julie were the pizza artistes. Monte’s homemade crusts, of course. The top left one is margherita with tomatoes, mozzarella, home grown basil and olive oil (instead of red sauce). Top right is tomato sauce, prosciutto, onion, basil, red pepper, olive and goat cheese. Bottom left and right are varying amounts of prosciutto, mushroom, olive, onion, red pepper and mozz.
Yum – life is good !
We had a bit of a late start for dinner. But it was worth the wait. Monte whipped up some pizza dough and Julie and I were on toppings duty. We played a few rounds of rummikub – a fun tile game that’s a mix of rummy and dominoes. Try it. You’ll like it. That goes for the pizza or the game. 🙂
Sheila365 