I believe I have entered my mahjong era. Lori bravely started teaching a few of us this game. Very interesting. And challenging to learn. This is not the mahjong tile matching game you may have seen from days of the first desktop computers. It’s more like a complex version of Rummikub on steroids – LOTS of steroids.
We played two games this afternoon. I learned more each time. Very fun. I look forward to more mahjong play. Thanks, Lori!
I joined my dear girlfriends today for a delicious birthday lunch. And then spent an afternoon at Pease Park.
While we were away, we left a key with our neighbors, so they could use the shop. When we got home, we found that they’d left us a bag of their home-roasted espresso beans on the counter. What a nice welcome home surprise. ☕️🤎
We loaded up Porter Belle on the trailer yesterday to help John with the dock at his lake house. When the rain came over the July 4th weekend his cove went from high and dry to full in about 24 hours.
His formerly dry dock floated just fine. But its ramp/walkway sank. It’s still attached but hanging straight down. Its flotation block must have broken away in the storms. All the professional dock wranglers are still booked up so we spent the day giving it a shot ourselves.
At the end of the day, we were not successful. But it was fun to row up and down the cove a dozen or so times. And to problem solve different ways to try to raise the walkway. None of them worked. But the best part was that when we packed everything up, the giant flotation block miraculously floated by! We snagged it for when the professionals eventually make it out. There’s a reason they call them professionals 🙂
There are many ways to spend a good day at the lake. This was just one of them.
On short notice, I had the opportunity to join Lori at a beach resort in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Bonus was getting in a nice long visit with Rudy and Lauren. It was beautiful there. And snorkeling in January is good for the soul!
Earlier this month, Monte and I checked something off his wish list. We booked a 5-day/4-night cruise on the Lewis R. French. The French is a 2-masted gaff-rigged wooden schooner. Built in 1871 in Christmas Cove, it is the only remaining 19th-century schooner built in Maine. It is a National Historic Landmark, and is the oldest active commercial sailing vessel in the United States. It is part of the extensive Maine Windjammer Association, taking guests on 3-6 day cruise adventures in Penobscot Bay.
The French hosts twenty guests, with a crew of five. The weather was excellent. We had a little bit of everything: sun, sporting wind, fog, light wind, and some shooting stars, thanks to the Perseid meteor shower. Guests are welcome to hoist and lower sails, sound the fog horn, steer, raise anchor, and help row one of the two wooden rowboats to shore and back. The French operates on sail only, but tows a diesel tender behind which is used to push it in and out of harbors and as an auxiliary motor in case there is no wind at all.
Kurt, Kevin, and Edie also came on the trip, which made for even more fun. We arrived one day ahead of time to explore Camden and other towns a bit before boarding our cruise. We stayed at the Lord Camden Inn, and had a great view of the entire harbor from our balcony.
We didn’t have to board the schooner until 5pm, so we had plenty of time to explore. We drove to the top of Mount Battie and took in sweeping views of Penobscot Bay, and Camden Harbor.
We also visited nearby coastal towns of Rockport, Damariscotta, Rockland, and Bath.
Our first night we slept aboard at the dock in Camden. In the morning we set off to the east, ending up anchoring at Burnt Island outside North Haven. We enjoyed a lobster bake ashore on the beach.
The next day we headed north, it was a long day of sailing, sometimes in light wind, sometimes in moderate wind, anchoring in Holbrook Harbor. We rowed ashore for a short walk on one of the islands there before dinner.
In the morning, I was happy to hear that we would sail to the nearby historic town of Castine after breakfast to grab a mooring and then go ashore for a couple of hours. I walked to the lighthouse and back, exploring the museum and the historic fort locations along the way.
After everyone was back on board, we hoisted sails again for a really lovely sail in good winds south to Gilkey’s Harbor at Islesboro.
The next morning we headed out in thick fog southwest back to Camden.
The food aboard was plentiful and delicious. The chef “OB” kept bringing up baked goods, meals, and snacks from the galley below.
Captain (and owner) Becky kept things running smoothly. First mate Alex and her deck hands Jesse and Jenny kept things ship shape and made it all look easy.
After coming ashore again in Camden, we piled into the car headed back to Portland. We bid adieu to Kurt, dropped Edie and Kevin at the airport, and then Monte and I hopped a Casco Bay ferry over to Great Diamond Island to stay with Lori and Mike for a few days in their wonderful vacationland home.
While they no longer have a sailboat, they have a new addition, a 27′ Boston Whaler that is moored at the island. We used it to head over to Peaks Island one night for dinner, and to spend an afternoon taking in a floating concert at Cow Island.
This is my 3rd summer visit to Maine, and each has been very memorable and fun.
The flooding that hit the Hill Country this month brought terrible destruction and loss of life, especially along the Guadalupe River.
The highland lakes’ series of dams were built to contain floodwaters for the lower Colorado River. They’ve been doing exactly that and now Lake Buchanan is 100% full. Lake Travis has risen to 90% full, up 38 feet in the last two weeks, only 6 feet short of full.
As someone who has spent a good part of the last 20 years on the lake that has experienced too many droughts, this brings me joy in the midst of the sadness from all the loss.
Today we went out to the lake to take it in. And it’s a beautiful thing. The docks are close to parking lot level now, which is certainly a treat. Next week the marina will move all the individual docks back to their respective locations.
We went for a long sail on Nirvana with Kurt, Kevin, Gordon, and Scott. The wind was up and we had a really great day.
It’s nice to have our lake back, for however long it lasts.
Monte and I finally made it to Parker Jazz Club this week. It was a fantastic show. We’ll definitely be back. Laura advises and works closely with the club and completely surprised us with a bottle of bubbles and a shout out from the stage. 💙
You should all go whenever you are in Austin!! Link with info about the club and their calendar here.
Monte and I just got home from visiting Lori & Mike and their new home in Maine. It is on an island a few miles offshore from Portland, Maine. Like all the other homes in the private community at Diamond Cove, theirs is a thoroughly modern restoration of a historic building from the former Fort McKinley Army Base. Fort McKinley began operating in the late 1800s, is now privately owned, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The island is amazing; beautiful, historic, full of woods, bike paths, beaches, and wildlife. How lucky they are to have found it.
We rode the ferry many times – walked and biked on several islands in Casco Bay – sampled brews and seafood in Portland and nearby towns – toured the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine – played a little cornhole – found a geocache – found an insane amount of sea glass at the beach – spied several shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower – took a historic tour of the island – boarded a sunset cruise on a schooner in Casco bay – visited Portland Head Light. Monte and Mike even found time to complete a project in the well-equipped community woodshop on the island.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Laura also planned a visit at the same time between trips to visit her family and it was really great to spend some time with her, too.
This time, I’m sewing a different kind of sail. Ann is becoming a grandma soon, and Shelly is coordinating a crowd-sourced baby quilt for her future grandson. She’s handing out a couple dozen quilt squares to decorate.
Here’s mine. ⛵️💙 🚼 🙃
I can’t wait to see the finished quilt.
Last night we helped celebrate Kurt’s birthday. Happy birthday, sailor!
I worked the Girl from the North Country traveling Broadway show this weekend. I was looking forward to it because it was based on songs from Bob Dylan. I didn’t know anything else about it.
It was more of a spoken play, set in the Depression in Duluth, Minnesota. The story is a tad dark, but well done. The singers were very good.
They performed over 20 Dylan songs, but only the lyrics were familiar, not the melodies, as they were arranged very differently than what I was familiar with.
Overall I enjoyed show. But, the highlight was getting to chat with Ann, Shelly, and Laura who were in the audience on Sunday. 🙂
As we roll into this year’s Earth Day, I find myself coming home from a whirlwind trip to California where I experienced four national parks in four days with Lori, Doray, and Laura.
The first park was Yosemite, where I got a glimpse of the amazing scenery of El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, and Yosemite Falls. We walked through the Yosemite Valley, along the Tuolumne and Merced rivers.
We stayed at the Wawona Hotel. It was comfortable, but the shared bath/shower house attached to the Hotel might not be for everyone. There’s no elevator, so pack light, because everything must be removed from your vehicle at night to prevent attracting bears. The restaurant meals were good. The scenery everywhere was amazing.
The next park was Kings Canyon, a deep glacially-formed canyon where the ‘kings’ are gigantic monarch sequoias, including the one called General Grant. We enjoyed up-close views of these giants, and hiking through incredible groves of trees.
The next park was just down the road, Sequoia National Park. Snow and downed trees had kept the connecting road, Generals Highway, closed this season until just an hour or two before we arrived. This was a much appreciated surprise which saved us hours of driving.
Inside Sequoia, we stayed at Wuksachi Lodge for two nights. It was comfortable, but we schlepped everything up and down stairs here, too. The restaurant and lodge was convenient for breakfast and dinner. But we made our own lunches to eat on the go. We visited petroglyph rock, the Giant Forest of 2000+ year old sequoias, and its museum. We had lunch at Beetle Rock, overlooking the San Joaquin valley. The highlight of Sequoia for me was the hike to, and up to the top of, Moro Rock and its 360 degree views of the canyons and surrounding valleys. It was breathtaking.
Even though we were pooped, we made the trek down to see the biggest known single trunk tree, by volume, in the world, General Sherman. Impressive. But I sure wish it wasn’t downhill from the parking lot at the end of day three. 🙂
The next park was Pinnacles, which featured rugged peaks formed from volcanic eruptions. We didn’t spend much time here but we enjoyed lunch and a hike. We didn’t originally plan to hit this park but realized it was close enough to include in our trip after we arrived.
We started and ended the trip in Santa Barbara, which allowed us to see Laura’s beautiful new home.
I’m back home now. And scheming my next park adventures.
I headed down to the University of Texas campus today to meet up with a bunch of friends to celebrate Laura’s birthday. Not all the ladies could make it, but we had a great lunch at Gabriel’s Cafe in the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, just down the street from the UT Tower. We all enjoyed catching up with eachother. Afterwards, we walked the few blocks to the Blanton Museum. Tuesday’s are free!
I haven’t been down to the museum district since before COVID. And things sure have changed! There is a new pedestrian-only mall that goes all the way from the Capitol Building, up to the Blanton – and huge new office buildings where there used to be only a surface parking lot.
The Blanton has done much work on their grounds, and this pretty awesome feature consists of a dozen 3-story tall structures that they call Petals. They provide much needed shade.
I need to come down more often to enjoy the exhibits.
Happy Birthday, Laura!
Sheila365 