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!
It’s December. The Christmas decorations are starting to roll out through the house. It doesn’t all happen on one day. It’s a process.
This morning I was greeted by this lovely scene on the way to the coffee pot. 💛
I love it when Monte wants to experiment with his pizza dough recipe. It’s always excellent, but he always thinks it can be a little bit better. Lucky me.
I joined my dear girlfriends today for a delicious birthday lunch. And then spent an afternoon at Pease Park.
I thought I’d share a few takeaways from our trip on the Queen Mary 2 and our 9-day wander through British history.
October is a great month to book on the Queen Mary 2 and walk around southern England. Not too cold. Not too crowded.
Get a starboard cabin if you are on an eastbound transatlantic passage of the QM2, imho. The winds are usually blowing out of the north, so it made for more pleasant balcony experience.
Never leave home without a tiny tube of superglue. 🙂 On day 2 of our trip the earpiece on my eyeglasses broke off. The weld at the metal lens frame just gave way. I was on a boat for 7 days where the only stores sold expensive bags, art, and watches. Fortunately, the QM2 worker in the store who I asked was one of the jewelry designers. She whipped out her toolbox that had some flexible jewelers adhesive. A dab of that got me through the week, when they broke again. I hit the first Tesco on dry land for my own tube of superglue.
It isn’t always raining in England. For us, it only rained on two of our travel days, and one afternoon when we walked around Portsmouth Southsea along the coast. We, and our luggage, are pretty waterproof so it was fine. Ok, I just did the math, turns out it rained one third of the days we were in England. Which, in retrospect, is a lot. Oh well, it was nice to have the beautiful sunny days that we did. I remember them more vividly than the rainy days.
Be flexible.
Check closure schedules ahead of time for the places you plan to visit.
The British National Rail Two Together Railcard paid for itself several times over. A better deal than 2 Senior railcards, if you always travel together. We took the train 6 times.
Just do it.
Thanks for reading.
💙
I’ve been to NYC too many times to count, but I’ve never spent time in Brooklyn. We had a quick visit here, this time we stayed in Red Hook.
We enjoyed walking around the neighborhood, finding a nice lobster pound.
And we took a nice tour up and down the East River.
We ran across this pretty boat, the SV Clearwater, getting some paint touch up. The Clearwater is the sloop Pete Seeger raised money for, and had built, to raise awareness of the pollution in the Hudson River back in the 1960s. It is still actively promoting environmental education as a floating classroom, and has inspired countless other efforts across the country. More info here: https://www.clearwater.org/the-sloop/
Forty-six years ago, in a galaxy that seems oh so far away, I took my first airplane trip. I remember sitting for hours in the terminal at JFK waiting on our connecting flight. The big board continually clicked and flipped to show flight status and gate updates.
I heard that that old terminal has been preserved and turned into a hotel next to Terminal 5 at JFK.
Today Monte and I flew into Terminal 8 at JFK, and I just had to find this time capsule before we left the airport.
It was fun to see those old memories come back to life.
I finally got a couple of days to work on our jib. The sailcloth is in good shape for the most part. Except for the section along the leech that gets beat against the shrouds every tack, and pressed tight against the spreaders when close hauled. It has torn in several places.
After a discussion with the sailmaker at Sailrite I decided to go for a repair that replaced the first 30” or so on the leech end of 3 panels of the sail. Also patched the beat up sunbrella sun cover and made new spreader patches. And replaced a few well worn webbing strips at the head and clew as well.
It took me about 2 full days of my slow but steady mode of work. Also using PTFE thread in my LSZ-1 is a huge pain in the aft, but it’s a necessity for the UV-exposed stitching.
But it’s done and I like how it came out. And I have my living room back. Fingers crossed that it does the trick 🤞🏼
While I was doing this project, Monte was rebuilding and installing our autopilot wheel drive unit. ✅ and ✅
It’s Fall. Austin is a still hotter than crazy. But I can feel a change in the air.
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.
We have driven by the Palo Duro Canyon State Park many times on trips to and from Colorado over the last 25+ years.
This week we took a little road trip to go see it. Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. It’s located in the high plains of North Texas; the Llano Estacado. The elevation at the rim is about 3500’ and the floor of the canyon lies about 800’ below. It is called “the Grand Canyon of Texas” and the steep, layered rock walls sure echo those of its namesake.
We took the 8-hour drive up and stayed in a cabin on the floor of the canyon that was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
The park is stunningly beautiful. Being in the heart of nature for a couple of days was unforgettable.
The visitor center provided a nice introduction to the geology and history of the canyon.
And oh the stars! We sat outside for hours watching the sky.
On the way home we made an overnight stop in Lubbock. We enjoy visiting the McPherson Cellars tasting room whenever we are in the neighborhood. We can always find another couple there to talk with over a glass of wine.
We stopped in lots of tiny Texas towns to check out their antique stores, historic county courthouses, and Main Street cafes.
Home sweet home now – ‘til the next road trip.
My main intent for this trip to Seattle was to see my 7 great nieces & nephews. ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
I also spent some good time with all but one of my nieces and nephews, and my sisters. I got a chance to visit my friend Irene again. We surprised her mom who I last saw at our high school graduation too long ago. What a special treat.
The Pacific Northwest is beautiful. It never disappoints.
I’m visiting my family in Seattle. I took a break from hugging babies to attend the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend. The rain cooperated and Noreen, Colleen, and I had a fun day.
A shot of tonight’s full sturgeon moon shining bright. 🧡
Sheila365 