Tag: life

NYC from the water.

Today Lori and I left Port Washington and took Trident down the East River to an anchorage near Sandy Hook, NJ. I have been to Manhattan many times but today got a really unique view of many of its sites from the water.

The most meaningful, to me, was going close by Ellis Island and the Status of Liberty. In 1951 my father sailed into New York Harbor from Ireland and saw them for the first time. He was just 21 years old.

The surrounding views have changed over the years, but the promise remains the same.

Lady Liberty
Ellis Island

The Wiz.

We ventured out tonight to see a friend return to the stage. Mike is a sailor, former B-Docker, and drummer in the band FatDog. They played at Infamous Brewery tonight. Kurt and Barbara joined us. It was nice to see him and Connie again.

The beer menu at Infamous is much improved since I was there last; more variety. I enjoyed a nice pilsner and a lager.

I have to give Infamous points for their very eclectic restroom art, best I’ve ever seen. 🙂

Sail on.

We just got home from a productive and fun weekend on the lake. Monte refurbished some of the cabinetry in the head over the last few weeks and re-installed it today.

Friends were seen. Noodles were floated upon. Laughs were had. And a really nice 4-hour afternoon sail with Kurt & Kevin aboard Nirvana.

Word of the day.

I learned a new word: “splooting” – so, I have to share.

I couldn’t find it in Merriam Webster, but did find a definition here.

However, a picture says a thousand words… 🙂

Baby wrens.

Yet another set of Bewick’s wren hatchlings are in the Louisville Stoneware birdhouse. It seems late in the nesting season for another brood, but I guess Nature knows best.

The parents are bringing them food regularly. But it is SO hot outside, I hope they have a way to give them liquids as well. I’m keeping all the water containers full for all the critters.

I hope they make it. If so, they should be fledging in a week or two.

A new medium.

I have started to play around a bit with leather. My Sailrite handles it. But there’s so much more to lean about working with it. So I’m going slowly.

My first project: a wallet.

Not sure if practice will make perfect, but I’ll see how it goes from here.

A fine Fourth.

We enjoyed a long, fun Fourth of July weekend at the lake. We floated, paddled, fished, grilled, sailed, watched a couple movies, played some games, admired fireworks, and caught up with friends. Various sponsors on Lake Travis had fireworks on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. And there were many small, but impressive, volleys all weekend long.

We watched fireworks on Saturday sitting at the end of our dock, on Sunday spitting in our cockpit in the slip, and on Monday we motored out to watch a big show. We enjoyed them all.

The show put on by Mattress Mack.
A fun sail on Monday in 15-knot winds, gusting to 20. Nice, very nice.

I hope you had a fun weekend as well.

Hottie.

It has been so hot this month. The backyard birds are really enjoying the treats and water features out back. Yesterday this big guy dropped in for a drink. The little birds were not pleased.

Pride of place.

Patrick and Nga sent us a beautiful ship’s clock that they found. Monte made a stand for it out of white oak and it now graces the mantle on our fireplace in the great room. I love it!

I understood the assignment.

Whew, what a busy week! Julie is moving out of her apartment and moving on to the next step of her career and life. This girl can make things happen in a hurry. I was only there to help. She ordered a Pod. We loaded it over 2 days. They took it away. We cleaned the apartment and took things to Goodwill and the food pantry. Celebrated a birthday in between. Some wine might have been enjoyed. Buon viaggio, Julie! We miss you already.

Dusty.

The seasonal Saharan dust clouds have arrived in Central Texas. It’s very hazy during the day, with colorful sunsets in the evening. Read more here.

So, not only is it hotter than Hell here, the air is also unsafe to breathe. Bring it on.

Continuing education.

Monte and I braved the 100 degree temps the other day to mow, mulch, and bag the tons of live oak leaves that fell in our yard back in March and April so we could dump them on the compost pile. It’s hard work, but we got it done. I continue to practice my trailer backing-up skills. As you can see there is a 1″ wide yard art wind twirly thing in the foreground. The only thing, actually, that was in the vicinity of the trailer, which I managed to somehow back into and squarely hit the light on the trailer. Now I will have to learn how to replace a trailer light fixture.

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