Brunch, blue mushrooms, and applesauce

We're still doing the social thing...caught up with Yvonne and Charlie over wine a few nights ago, and then brunch at Ali and Charlie's.  Below is the brunch crowd, all from the neighborhood - Yvonne and Charlie, Connie and Mike, Ali and Charlie, and Luke.  It was a great meal; they are both wonderful cooks.  The getting together of everyone was wonderful.

Next, a dinner at Lois and Gerry's.  They live on a beautiful 100 acres, full of pastures and forests.  With all of the rain, we decided to go mushroom looking.  Lots of red ones, white ones, yellow ones, round ones, and flat ones.  But how about BLUE ones!!!  There were several of these, each about 4 inches across.  The phone camera couldn't do the blue justice.  They are a "little boy blue nursery" blue.

Smokey had a fun trip to the vet who pronounced her healthy.   Not happy, though.  Her little paws sweated the whole way, she hissed about in the examination room, was good for the vet, and then gowled at the kittens in the "adoption room".  Guess she doesn't want a sister....

Nikki came over last night and we made applesauce.  Lots of applesauce! And  had only one broken jar during the processing.  It was fun and we always enjoy seeing her (Smokey doesn't growl at her).  She even spent the night, waiting until this morning to leave and go  work.

A dental appointment today and then we get ready to leave for Charlotte on Friday - dad's first book signing!  I'll also spend time in Savannah and with Heather before I return on Sunday week.

Rain, rain, go away....

Days of rain, some of it showers, some downpours.  I'm glad we aren't on the boat!

It hasn't kept us from getting out, though.  Dessert with friends Neva and Dave for us and  shopping with Lois plus lunch with Amy for me!

The sun is out right now, temporarily, according to the weather forecast, but we'll take it.  It does let me see all of the stinkbugs waiting to get in....ugh...

Luke has stayed busy editing our videos and pictures from New England. We'll gladly bore anyone who's interested... I'm starting on things like a permit for sweet Smoke to get into the Bahamas.  Smoke is whiling away the time between long, deep naps and absolutely killing toys.  The killing includes wild romps through the house - I'm glad she can really stretch her legs.

Sewing with Nikki

We finally have everything from the boat put somewhere...well, it's stashed and sorta hidden.  Luke is off running errands while I get to watch the rain delayed Chicago NASCAR race! 

We caught up with friends Susan and Gordon on Saturday night. It's great to see them again.

 During the day on Saturday Nikki and I shopped, had lunch, and got manicures.  Perfect for daughter/mother bonding!  On Sunday she came over and spent the day learning to sew.  This wasn't her first experience with a sewing machine, but it was her first at using patterns to make something.  And she did great!  First, an apron for herself...

Next (yes, TWO projects in one day!) she made a baby bunting for a best friend's newborn.  Teddy Lee offered to be a model for the bunting.  Teddy Lee (also fondly called "Salad" --- no, no clue) was my brother's favorite stuffed animal, handed down from me when Don was only 2.  Teddy Lee lived with Don until he passed away.  My sister Beth inherited him and kept him until she passed away a year ago.  Now I proudly and sadly have him back.  He's special.

This baby bunting will be special, too.  After all, how many wee ones have a widdle blue spider bunting???

So, we are relaxing and enjoying our time here.

Roanoke!

We're home!  REALLY home!  It was a long car ride for Smokey.  She was fine, stretched out across our laps or curled up in Luke's lap for the first 3 hours.  But after dark she became panicky.  Maybe it was the lights from the traffic.  The poor little thing howled, gurgled, yodeled, cried, and paced across us for10 minute stretches.  She'd pant and her little paws were soaking wet with sweat.  Then she'd settle down on a lap for a while, then start again.  For 2 hours.  She was so glad to get home, running around the house, going muurrrr in each room.  Last night she slept near my pillow, a sure sign of a little extra neediness.  Today she's great and settled in already.  She's "helping" me blog by sleeping by my side on the sofa.

We are NOT settled in - wow, why do we need to bring home so much stuff??? And, the car registration tags were outdated, so I had to take care of that this morning.  It''ll all get done.

Neighbors and friendsYvonne and Charlie made sure the house was ok during our trip and had it all ready for us last night - the refrigerator was cold, the freezer had ICE, water was back on and hot, and our waterbed had been turned on in plenty of time to ensure it was warm enough to sleep in.   ahhhh....  there is no place like home, Toto...

Back to Deltaville

It was a long few days, 60 hours to cover 379 nautical miles, from the Cape Cod Canal to the Chesapeake Bay entrance. The first half of the trip was a bit boisterous, with 15 to 20  kt winds, gusting 22 kts, fortunately on our port quarter. This gave us 4 to 6 ft quartering seas and boat speeds from 6.5 to 8 kts, keeping our autopilot very busy. Sunday afternoon was a mild sail down the Jersey coast. Then we motor sailed in very light winds until we were run over by an evening thunderstorm off Cape May. We motor sailed past Cape Henelopen and Ocean City MD during the night, and passed Chinquoteague shortly after dawn. Long days, but everything worked well, and we're glad we did it.  Now we're in Deltaville, safe and sound, tied up in a nice big slip for the next 2 months or so.

The last day of our trip was uneventful, no waves, big long swells, and almost no wind.  As we approached Cape Charles and the mouth of the Chesapeake we watched a very large, fast boat going through the bridge span that we wanted.  It looked a little funny, white splashing all around it instead of just at the bow.  A hover craft!!!  Military, of course, taking a wild ride on top of the water.  It was so cool!

Sailing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge ---- back in the Chesapeake!!

Our schedule had gotten us there around 5:30 p.m. so we sailed for about an hour more to a Virginia state park, Kiptopeke.  http://www.baygateways.net/general.cfm?id=40  Kiptopeke was an old rail road ferry wharf, connecting the Eastern Shore to Norfolk before the Bay Bridge was built.  To create breakwaters to protect the wharf, the state used discarded ships --- concrete ships from Word War II.  There are 2 big lines of them.  The old ships have taken a beating over time, but certainly still serve the purpose.

Entering the Kiptopeke, area we saw the familiar Chesapeake fish weirs  http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Fishing_and_Shellfishing_by_Early_Virginia_Indians   (go to the section about "Fishing Methods")  These weirs seem to be somewhat still in use.  At least the birds thought so - one bird per each weir pole.

When I anchored, Smokey came to help me, as usual.  This time she was also pretty interested in finding out if that little tern might still be on the bow pulpit.....it wasn't...

She liked being back in the flat, calm waters of the Chesapeake.  We allowed her to sit on the side of the boat and watch her world float by (yes, that pink thing is her harness).

We are truly back in the Chesapeake.  Late summer haze, flat water, and a sole fishing boat.

So, the New England adventure for summer 2011 is over.  It was a very good trip.  We traveled about 1600    miles in almost 3 months.  Also, we managed to explore 12 new places this trip, plus many of our favorites.  We saw old friends, made new friends. We are glad to be back, though, and really look forward to going home to Roanoke to see family and friends.  I'll keep the blog up, a little less often, but a bit for the 6-8 weeks that we'll be home.

57 hours into 60....

We are along the VA coast, 3 hours from turning in at Norfolk.  We'll spend the night around there and hope to make it back to Deltaville on Tuesday!  A few chores will get done before we leave for Roanoke later in the week.
The remaining trip has been uneventful.  Smokey is just bathing and sleeping. I'll be happy to get a shower and good nights sleep, too. Glad to be almost home again!

33 hours out of Onset

We are 33 hours from Onset, 6 miles off shore from Atlantic City, NJ.  We can see the high-rises of NJ in the distance. It was a rocky night, but the winds have decreased and the waves are settled.  We've both taken turns napping during the day;  Smokey has napped all day.

Before we left, I had to have ready 6 meals for dinners and 3 a.m. dinners, just in case the waves made it uncomfortable to go below and cook during the passage.   That was a lot of cooking for a small galley!  I'm glad that I did it - it was definitely uncomfortable below last night.

6 days of sitting in Onset and everything is fine.  6 hours out of Onset, and the refrigerator dies....Lucky I'm married to a wonderful engineer~  He researched, tracked down, and fixed the problem!  All while underway, his head buried in the frig, and never sick! (I think the quarter of a sea-sick patch helped.....)  Mah hero!

Luke is also a boater's hero.  We spotted (couldn't miss it) a huge log floating in the ocean, about 11 miles off of Block Island. It was about 30 feet long and about 3 feet in diameter. That could really damage a boat.  Luke called out on the VHF radio a "securitie, securitie" and gave the info and location to all boaters in our listening area.  The Coast Guard promptly called him back, got the info, and issued a formal warning, based on Luke's info.  Luke the Good Boater!

About 27 more hours to the entrance of the Chesapeake!

Ready to leave Onset

As things look right now, we still plan to leave  Onset, MA, in the company of another boat, on Saturday morning.  The waves and wind will have settled and we look good for a run of 2-3 nights, 3-4 days out to sea from here to Norfolk.  When we reach Norfolk we'll either wait out the night or go ahead to Deltaville if we have daylight to do so.  It's a long run, but we will have company and we plan to stay towards shore as much as possible to have internet/cell coverage and to allow us to stop our trip and go into a NJ seaside port if we or the weather change our minds.  We have the usual safety devices ready - emergency raft, a device that alerts the Coast Guard to our exact location if we pull the little trigger, another boat, and 4 days worth of food already prepared!  We'll be fine.  As we have cell/internet, I'll keep you updated on our progress. This has been a wonderful trip, but I do hear home calling softly.

And!!!!  Happy birthday, sweet Smokey!  She's 2 years old today!

Rain and Smokey the bird cat

Rain and rain.  The last of Lee, I guess.  We finally got a bit of a break this afternoon and ran off to town.  Glad to get off of the boat for a bit, we met Christine and Peter at the bus stop.  For $2, we got a good overview of the town and what it has to offer (like a real grocery store, strip mall, etc).  The day turned misty and chilly, so we headed back to our boats. 

After we returned, Smokey was just determined to be outside.  I found out why....a tern had decided to sit on our bow pulpit railing.  Totally oblivious to Smokey, it preened and sat happily.  As we watched in disbelief, Smoke sneaked up to within inches of the unwary bird.  Up she stood slowly on her hind legs, inching closer and closer.  Finally, close enough, she swatted the poor bird!  The bird flew off and all I got was a picture of Smokey perched on the bow of the boat, earnestly waiting for the bird to return.  The bird was sitting in the middle, on that shiney metal bracket.

We were afraid Smokey would jump for the bird, but I guess she figured out that she would end up in the water.  After deciding that the bird wouldn't return, Smoke sniffed everything, including climbing up on those wet, round railings.  Tail flailing to keep her balance, she did manage to walk on them a bit.  That is until I got there, retrieved her, and brought her below.  She must be a cat....

The weather is still looking good for a Saturday morning departure, with Norfolk as an ultimate goal, three sailing days later.

Sailors and the rain...

So, what do a bunch of male sailors do when it rains?  Bond over electronics!  Just look at the computers and such!

The women stayed aboard their own boats and spent the 4 HOURS of their own time.  I stayed in the cockpit and knit socks.  Smoke watched them warily from our bedroom as she catnapped.

We've enjoyed our stay in Onset.  Nice little town with bus service everywhere.  Except it doesn't run on Sundays.  So, the crowd of 4 boats met at the local pizza place and ate.  And the bus doesn't run on holidays (like Labor Day....) contrary to earlier info, so 3 of the couples walked the 2-ish miles to Wal-Mart and the fast food strip.  It was a cool, nice day and the walk was easy.  We had lunch with Christine and Peter, then we caught a ride back with Coleen and Bruce.  Seems they met up with friends who had rented a truck.  Yes, some of the guys rode in the truck bed along with groceries, bottles of wine, and Wal-Mart loot..

Tuesday it rained all day and is promising to continue all day today.  If it lets up this afternoon we'll meet others in town and ride the buses just for the hell of it to see where they go.  Where else can you get that sort of town tour for $0.50 each!

With the wind from the SW, we've been bottled up in Onset. We've been watching Katia for the last several days, and were at the proverbial fork in the road. One option was to move out when the winds turned NE on Wednesday, get down Buzzards bay, further away from Katia, and on into Long Island Sound,  through New York City, down the NJ coast, up the Deleware Bay,  down the Chesapeake.  To get as far as Cape May NJ that way would take 5 to 6 days, discounting possible lost days with the current being adverse at the Race (eastern end of Long Island), and through NY harbor. The other option was to wait for Katia to go by, in our good, proven anchorage at Onset (closest approach is Friday morning), leave for Block Island on Saturday morning, pass it, and go directly to Cape May. That's about a 260 mile run, about 40 hours. If that goes well, and the weather smiles on us, keep on trucking, and get to Norfolk in another 130 miles, or about 20 hours.  Rain and gusty winds today pushed us over the edge, and we chose option two. The drawback is that we're counting on weather forecasts 4 to 5 days ahead. Stay tuned!

All that said, we will probably be here until Saturday morning, and then if the weather continues to be as forecast, head out for our run towards Norfolk.  There are a few ports along the Atlantic coast that we can abort to if we or the weather change our minds.

Darn those hurricanes!!!!

We can't believe both Lee and Katia are both capable of bringing us nasty weather!  In Onset now, staying for a few days until we can get a good handle on what is going on. The wind is from the SW and supposed to be up tomorrow (already building) so we can't go anywhere anyway.  We'll be here until at least Wednesday, and then hopefully we can make a decision on where to go.  The big decision is if we can go south, directly to someplace on the east coast in a couple of long days or if we will need to step our way through Long Island Sound, through New York, and down the coast.
On a good side, we found ourselves anchored beside friends from the Bahamas in 2009, Colleen and Bruce, from Canada!  It's great to see them again.  And, we finally got to really meet new acquaintances Christine and Peter, from NC.  Our boats have been passing each other for several weeks now.  Colleen and Bruce are friends with a French couple from Ottowa, so we all got together for drinks and then pizza in town.  It's wonderful to catch up with friends and make new ones.

Portsmouth

We had a nice run to Portsmouth, past Portland's multiple light houses in the dawn's early light.  First, as we were leaving, the Bug Light.

Then the Portland Head Lighthouse

Once we arrived in Portsmouth, we left Latitudes at a mooring at the Portsmouth Yacht Club and took a few days worth of stuff to friends' Gail and Eric's house.  That "stuff" included Smokey. She wasn't pleased at the ride on the launch (the yacht club boat that comes out to get you), nor did she like the 5 minute car ride to Gail's.  She did a quick, skiddish survey of the house and then we showed her the upstairs apartment where we would be staying.  Once there, especially with just the 2 of us, she settled down quickly.  And why not!  She had a bed to hide under and to sleep on with us, big windows to sit in and watch the world, plus a nice sunny carpet to stretch and play.  Smoke stayed happily up there all 3 days, with apparently no interest in going downstairs to the main house.  It worked better than I had hoped.

Our friends Marina and Dave are the ones who winter in FL and summer here in NH.  So, we get to see them on each trip!  They've moved to a new house (from the apartment at Gail's) and had us over for dinner.  The house is beautiful and I loooove it when someone cooks for me

Gail and I did laundry, groceries, had a girlie lunch, and ran lots of little errands.  The boys went to the rifle range and plinked with Eric's black powder Civil War era musket. Here is Eric, hard at work....

On Thursday Marina and I did pedicures again!  Nice sparklie toes again!  Dave, Eric, and Luke took Dave's runabout out on the Piscataqua river, through Portsmouth, and played at fishing.  The Piscataqua river is  known locally as the second fastest running river in the country, up to 4 kts, they say. Locally they don't know what the fastest river is.  We had a last dinner at Gail's and scooped up Smoke to take back "home".  She leaped aboard the boat, took a quick inspection, and then settled down into one of her favorite nests.  She slept there all night, apparently never budged.  Ahhh...home is comfortable.

This morning we left way too early, at 6 a.m. First we passed the twin lighthouses of Cape Ann.

We went out of our way to cross the Stellwagen Bank, world renowned for it's large population of giant bluefin tuna  and whales.  Apparently the way to catch tuna is to use a use a kite or helium balloon, and a hook baited with live pogies.  Tuna as large as 1000 pounds have been caught on the MA bay, sold for over $20,000 to the Japanese market.  The local fisherman that catches the prize tuna gets about 1/3 of the money. We saw the kites and helium balloons today in the myraids of boats. No, not quite sure just how those kites and balloons work, but apparently they do! 

We did see whales, too, two of them. One only showed its back, the second flashed its flukes - just like in the movies! I am sure that one  also passed directly under the boat.  The depth finder went from 265 ft to 9 ft, setting off an alarm.  The 9 ft depth slowly changed, getting a little shallower and then slowly deeper.  About long enough for a 50 ft whale to pass!

We are again in Plymouth, MA.  The 11 hour trip got us here late, and we simply anchored outside of town. Smokey is back to her old spots, watching the water, birds, and other boats.  Quite happily, I might add.

 

  Tomorrow we hope to go through the Cape Cod Canal --- One step closer to home.