Tag: postaday

Eleven years on.

Never forget.

I’ve had an eerie experience this morning.  Monte went to the marina last night for some repairs to the jib, and spent the night on the boat.  So I’m up drinking coffee and watching the morning news by myself.  The very same kind of morning I was having 11 years ago today — when I watched a plane fly into the World Trade Center.

At about a quarter to 8AM, central time, it all started.   I recall the evolving emotions I felt …disbelief, anger, uncertainty and confusion throughout the rest of the day as events unfolded.  I went to work that day, but everyone was glued to their web browser or TV monitors.  And then came the prolonged feeling of what can only be described as grief, as I watched the aftermath of the attack play out on television over the following days and weeks.  I did not experience personal loss of family or friends in the attack, but I believe all Americans were mourning the loss, together, of an attack directed at all of us.

Since then, life has moved on for me, bringing both joy and loss.  But in reflecting on that day 11 years ago, it’s startling to realize how quickly the time has flown by.   And, it’s embarrassing to note that I let too many of my days be filled with meaningless concerns and busy work.

So, on this day I pause to remember those that lost their lives, those that sacrificed their lives for others, the family and friends that experienced inconsolable loss, the feeling of national unity that today seems unattainable, and the responsibility we all must bear to live each day of our lives to the fullest.

Cold front!

Beautiful day, looking upriver towards Anderson Bend.

We spent the night on the boat last night.  A cold front came through the area early yesterday and the wind gusted all day out of the North, but fell quiet over night.  The temperatures dropped into the 50’s overnight (!)

Today we went for an afternoon sail with Joe, Wally & Kurt joining us.   The breezes were light.  It was a gorgeous day, with temps in the 80’s.  I think the air temperature was a little cooler than the water temp.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think these clouds look a bit wintery…thin and flat instead of puffy and tall.  Fall is on the way!

Orion the hunter.

Orion over Lake Travis before dawn.

We were treated to a JerrySpringer-esque shouting match / near brawl from one of the parties camping at the park on land overnight.  After finally getting to sleep, I woke up at about 5 AM.  The full moon was shining brightly, but I had a great view of the stars from the deck of the boat.

Orion is up in the sky this month well before sunrise.  It is a very well known constellation, and easy to pick out in the sky.    This is a shot I took of it from the boat.   I know it’s dark, but you can make out the 3 stars that make up Orion’s Belt, and most of the other stars.   Clockwise from the top are:  Bellatrix, Rigel, Saiph, and the yellow-ish colored Betelgeuse.

I hope you had a great Labor Day!  We sure did.

I love the colors of the sky at dusk.

Dusk.

We headed out from the marina after lunch, and anchored for the day in Arky South, and decided to stay overnight.  This afternoon Lori stopped by on Camelot and tied up with us for an hour or so.  Laura, Ann and Doray were with her – out for a ladies’ sail.  Marty & Sue also stopped by and left ’round sunset.  The cove was packed with boats during the day, but as the evening approached, we ended up being the only boat in the cove.  We had a magnificant view of the sunset, and later the (just past) full moon.

The shot above is off the stern, looking over the park towards the west after the sun had set.   I just love the colors.

Dock walk.

A forgotten one.

I took a walk down E-dock this morning after scrubbing Nirvana stem to stern.  There are some big boats on this dock, and most seem to be used frequently and are well taken care of.  There are one or two that haven’t been boarded in many, many years.  The photo above is of one boat that has lichens growing all over the top of its deck and cockpit.  Sad.

As I was walking along in my flip-flops looking at the boats, and not watching where I was walking, I kicked one of the dock cleats.  OW!  Luckily just a scrape.  A few minutes later, CRACK!  I did it again, and this time brought blood.  I thought I had broken my toe.  That brought an end to my dock walk.  Live and learn:  no flip-flops on dock walks.

Cleat toe.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around.  Until the afternoon, when the beer can race took place.  This week Wally came aboard Nirvana and gave us some lessons in racing a sloop.  Kurt and Kevin won on Dancer.  Marty & Sue came in 2nd this week.  And Monte, Wally & I took third.  That’s better than last week when we came in 4th! 😀

The shot below is of Marty & Sue on Caribbean Hug approaching the starting line.

Caribbean Hug underway.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Last beautiful August sunset.

View from the bow.

On this last day of August, the Friday before a long Labor Day weekend, we packed up and headed to the boat after work.  We’re staying the night tonight in the slip, and plan to raft up tomorrow night.

This was the lovely sunset that we were treated to.   The shot above is from the bow of Nirvana, in our slip.  The shot below is of the light from the setting sun lighting up the clouds from the stern.  You know what they say… “Red skies at night, sailors’ delight….”

True that.

View from the stern.

Amazonked.

Amazon overload.

I am addicted to Amazon Prime.   I use it for purchasing nearly everything other than groceries.   And I’ve been placing so many orders lately, the UPS man is wearing out the front walkway.  I guess it’s time I took a break, though.

The clutter (virtual and physical) in my life is reaching a new peak.   We have, admittedly, been processing a spike in household paperwork / accounting that requires more of my attention, what with the monthly household bill paying, insurance paperwork for the Audi, buying the new boat, insuring the new boat, registering the boat, processing Monte’s retirement paperwork, converting 401Ks to IRAs, moving the new retiree to my insurance, etc etc etc.  We somehow misplaced one of the new ATM cards for our accounts that arrived a few weeks ago.   I also have this nagging feeling that I need to double check our estimated fed income tax payments.  I’m about 2 months behind on niece & nephew birthday cards (!).  Work-work is piling up too, and traveling a week or so every month is not helping either on the household-organizational front.

The Amazon “stuff” just went on top of that pile.

I have been trying to get the return authorizations processed for 2 boat-related items that I ordered from Amazon recently that I wanted to return.  Today I realized that I returned the wrong item to Amazon, using one of Amazon’s return authorizations.  And I have the Amazon item here in my office with the return authorization for a 3rd party vendor. The nice UPS man came by and picked up the first item before I realized the mistake.

*sigh*

Luckily the nice-man at 1-800-please-help-me-Amazon said he’d figure it out for me.

I hereby impose a 2 week moratorium on ordering anything from Amazon.  And I resolve to reduce the huge pile of paperwork piled up on my home office desk on one of the days I hope to take off around labor day.

Sheesh.

P.S.

I realize there are people struggling with real problems out there.   This is definitely not one of them.  But it just turns out to be something to feed my blog for today. 🙂   Enjoy the rest of the week!

Raining sunshine.

Sunbeams.

What a nice weekend!  Saturday we (Julie, Monte and I) headed to the lake.  We raced in the Beer Can for the first time on Nirvana.  Let’s just say we have room for improvement 🙂  We came in 4th though!

Afterwards we anchored in Arky South for the night.  Just us this time.  Today we picked up the anchor around 11:30 and sailed to the yacht club and back.  Julie took the helm for the first half of the trip.  She’s a natural.

Back in the slip we floated and visited with Joe, Marty and Wally.

I can’t wait til the upcoming long Labor Day weekend!

America’s Cup World Series.

AC45 boats in San Francisco
AC45’s moored off of Marina Green.

When I arrived in San Francisco on Monday I saw signs welcoming the America’s Cup World Series races that were taking place here… this week!  Unfortunately my hotel and meetings were across the bay in Emeryville, so I had no chance of getting a glimpse of the heats and qualifying races that started every day at 2pm and went until about 4pm.  I would have LOVED to see them race, but was going to have to settle for getting a picture of the boats.

We did drive over to the city on Wednesday night, but didn’t make it to the Golden Gate Yacht Club, the home marina of the America’s Cup holder Oracle Racing, where the boats were moored.

So today I had a tiny window of time between meetings and the drive to the airport.  I was determined to make it to the waterfront.  So I braved morning traffic and made it to Marina Green and was able to walk up and down the boardwalk about 50 yards from all the boats.

The shot above is a bit into the sun, but it shows all the boats moored in San Francisco Bay.  Alcatraz is in the background.  The boats above are the AC45 (45′ class) boats.   The mainsails are “wing sails”  and they are catamarans.  These World Series races are practice for the America’s Cup Finals racing next summer with even bigger boats.  In February they will introduce the 72′ (AC72) catamarans that will be raced in the Challenger races of the America’s Cup.  If you think these boats are fast, just wait until next year.  The final America’s Cup will be in September 2013 in San Francisco.   If you want to see them in action, NBC will be carrying this Sunday’s final races live on national TV @ 11:30 AM Pacific.  And, you can follow the standings of this week’s races here.

The shot below is a closer picture of the Oracle Racing boats.

Oracle Racing #4 and #5 AC45 boats.

And, a trip to San Francisco would not be complete without the obligatory shot of the Golden Gate Bridge: 🙂

Golden Gate Bridge.

T. G. I. Th.

Tiki, tiki, tiki.

After the day’s wrap-up meeting session, we headed to a restaurant closest to the hotel.  It’s Polynesian fare tonight, folks.  This is the first course. 🙂

Sláinte!

Buena Vista Irish Coffee.

I drove into San Francisco with several colleagues for dinner tonight.   I had fresh Dungeness crab, and after dinner we ordered a round of legendary Irish Coffees at The Buena Vista.  

Deeee-licious!

The restaurant’s website has instructions on how to make one, if you want to try to make one yourself:

Buena Vista Irish Coffee

Fill glass with very hot water to pre-heat, then empty.
Pour hot coffee into hot glass until it is about three-quarters full. Drop in two cocktail sugar cubes.
Stir until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved.

Add full jigger of Irish Whiskey for proper taste and body.
Top with a collar of
lightly whipped whipping cream by pouring gently over a spoon.
Enjoy it while piping hot.

 

Are you going to San Francisco?

Image source: google maps

Why, yes I am.

I’m on my way to San Fran for a week of meetings.  Before I left the house today Monte sang a verse or two of “Are You Going to San Francisco?” (youtube link here).   You know it,  i’m sure…

If you’re going to San Francisco…
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair….

If you’re going to San Francisco…
You’re going to meet some gentle people there…

For those who come to San Francisco…
Summertime will be a love-in there…

Checking my email during the flight I got a note from Monte telling me that the guy that sang that song, Scott McKenzie had died.   R.I.P. Scott.

Kind of a coincidence, i suppose.   Anyway, that song is in my head now for a while.  So, i thought I’d spread it around.

I’m pretty sure I will not run across the summertime love-in on this trip.  Maybe next time.  But I definitely will try to find some flowers to put in my hair.  🙂

Lenny the Leaf.

Fooled me.

This morning as I was walking by the kitchen window I notice a leaf that appeared to have blown up and gotten stuck to the hummingbird feeder.  I figured it was a remnant from some of the wind gusts during the weekend rain.   When I took a closer look, i saw that it was not a leaf, but a moth or butterfly of some sort.

Very effective camouflage, i must say.

Good morning.

Room with a view.

We headed to the lake yesterday around noon.  We have a long list of chores and minor repairs to take care of on the boat, and we schlepped a bunch of tools and supplies out to take care of some of them.  Rain was in the forecast, so not a lot of people were out and about.

About 5 o’clock we called it a day and headed out of the slip to anchor out overnight in Arkansas Bend cove.  Lori, Dave and Jake joined us on Camelot.  We had a very pleasant night but boy did we get rained on.  We hunkered down below on one of the boats and played cards until it let up.  After the rains blew through it was quite nice.  Good breezes through the boat kept us cool.

This morning when I went up into the cockpit this was the view that greeted me.   A beautiful Lake Travis sunrise.   A good morning, indeed.