Tending Joy

... and I'm a-gonna make it home tonight.

Dear Husband and I left New Jersey on a late-summery morning, just a little condensation on the windshield at 7 am, too warm for long sleeves already, mostly green in the woods with just a little bit of early yellow in a few leaves.

A couple of easy days on the interstate, lots of good talk and good magical fiction book-on-CD. Then a long weekend in Asheville, NC, where the weather seemed just perfect, the downtown is a very human scale, there's a drum circle in the park, a couple of magic/new age shops in town, several neighborhoods of comfortable suburban houses within a few minutes of downtown and still within the city limits. Glorious mountains to look at ... met a few interesting people, walked a lot of city streetscape.

Then a couple of easy days on the interstate, reprise of good talk and book, and boat-stuff shopping in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Dropped off a pile of new halyards, some new standing-rigging wire, a pair of oars for the dinghy, a fair-sized collection of small hardware ... at a shipper in Miami who sends a weekly container to Guatemala City.
Should arrive there in a week or so, unless there's a delay for customs or homeland security at either end.

Next a trip down the Overseas Highway the length of the Florida Keys. The new bridge is complete at Gilbert's Landing, with a great length of new highway all divided by the usual concrete barriers. Except that these are painted an amazing turquoise (more a Southwestern Sky color than anything like the blue of the Florida sky and water). Lots of highway construction, looks like more of the highway will eventually be four lanes.

Marathon was wonderful -- great to see old friends and check in with the folks at City Marina, Dockside, Burdine's. A lovely walk on the old Flagler railroad bridge and a delightful visit to the thrice-weekly Yoga class, still going after two years. Then a quick drive to Key West for some more boat-parts shopping and a visit to the Schooner Wharf bar (in honor of Beloved Younger Son who used to work on the Western Union schooner that docked across the street).

Then to Jacksonville the first night, Smithfield NC the second ... which means tonight we may be home.

I've enjoyed the ride ... but sure am ready to be off the road.

My work as a study subject is going well.

-- Consciously contacting my various friends among Deity and Divinity first thing in the morning feels lovely, and it's interesting to see that different ones come forward on successive days. Guardians, Sacred Fire, God Hirself ... so far.

-- Moving first thing in the morning is educational -- did I really think I could do Sun Salutation just a few minutes out of bed? In three days I've learned that I'm better off starting with stretching. If I'm going to do warrior poses I need to be moving for longer than three minutes first.

-- Free-writing first thing in the morning feels marvelous, and may stick as a long-term practice (or if it doesn't, I'd like at least to remember that I'm loving it and can do it any morning I choose). Our instructions are to write a bit what's present now, allow an inquiry to come forward, sit silent and listening for a reply. Some of the replies I have heard have been stunning in their simplicity, the sort of thing that's "obvious" now that the most creative thinker in the room has given it voice.

Work on Second Summit is going well.

-- Good news about structure: Dear Husband got a window out of its frame yesterday and discovered that the horrible creeping rot visible on the inside of the cabin is limited to the mostly-decorative plywood interior; the thick fiberglas body of the cabintop is intact. Yay!

-- Confirmation of bad news about recent maintenance: DH found they'd used at least two different kinds of sealant on the window (probably the second in an ill-considered attempt to stop a leak by caulking the inside, thereby increasing the rot's progress by trapping water, instead of the outside to keep the water out). No idea yet what it is, but chisel and scrubbing have removed nearly all of it from the aluminum frame. Next stop: automotive glass repair shop where we hope they can install a new window in the frame, leaving us with only one joint to seal instead of two.

-- Learned some of the local tricks for no-see-ums (those biting flies about twice the size of the period at the end of this sentence. They bite hard and leave a circular red welt the size of the capital 'O' in this typeface. Within minutes the welt itches and continues itching intermittently for days). Seems a combination of light and specific-pheromone lure (away from where we're sitting, please) to attract them to a bug-zapper ... and a citronella candle to send them away from where we're sitting ... so we tried these, and they are at least some help. Maybe next week I won't be so polkadotted.

Living on Orion is settling down.

-- Everything is finally dry.

-- Most everything is finally stowed. We've already discovered we need two complete sets of kitchen utensils; it's just too confusing to take things over to Second Summit and then not remember for sure which boat has what.

-- We've got a 2007 calendar posted and marked-up; we still need a 2007 tide chart.

-- My 'standard boat clothes' list was clearly made in different weather: I've been doing laundry more often in order to have clean tank-tops, and haven't needed any of my turtlenecks in over a week. Do I need more clothing storage? (I could do that, it'd just be cumbersome.) Do I need to re-organize? (of course, always.) Definitely I need a visit to the local thrift store and more tank-tops; laundromat twice a week is not in my preferred schedule.

-- DH has cooked every night of the year (so far) and is cooking again tonight. Since neither of us had a home-cooked meal from Dec 16 to 31, this is a nice surprise.

Surprises of tropical life.

-- Second Summit has at least one resident crab. About two-inch diameter body, with cute tiny claws that could probably make a nice hole in one of my toes if I got close enough. We've seen it twice now, once on the finger-pier next to the boat, and today it was crawling along the rub rail. When I suggested it ought to leave, it moved smartly away from where we were about to step over it to get aboard, but instead of dropping into the water or crawling onto the pier, it went under the rubrail and into a windowframe. I find myself imagining that the first time it finds an open window it will move indoors ... and then be scuttling under my feet some morning. Guess I've gotta watch my step now.

-- Everywhere has roaches palmetto bugs. I shared my shoreside shower with one yesterday (she stayed in her corner, I stayed in mine). Haven't seen any on Orion but watched one crawl through the seam in a bilge cover on Second Summit.

-- Even my skin is different. Moisturizers that work well up north don't seem to do much here, or else stay on the surface like grease.

I'm watching myself muttering and meandering. Do I really have nothing to say? Am I procrastinating on my things-to-do list?

Love and light and lots of laughter

:)

Hoping everyone has had a marvelous Solstice -- we did, very quietly. A walk on the beach (79 degrees F), wings and three-layer dip with a beautiful dark Mexican beer. Maybe tomorrow one or both of us may attend a local UU Congregation's Solstice ritual, or maybe not.

We're a little bit behind schedule with the assorted projects -- for one thing, we're not sleeping aboard Orion just yet -- but having fun. Looking forward to a quiet and satisfying holiday weekend.

Things I have learned at this season of the long dark:

* Mice like peanuts best. Followed by crackers, and luscious fragrant body lotion (they didn't leave enough plastic to assemble half the bottle).

* Paper and fabric that took many hours and dollars to assemble can be turned into confetti in less than six months by one family of mice.

* If you want your 30-year-old boat to become Really Clean all you have to do is give yourself a really good excuse -- say, the aroma of mouse piss.

* "Sealed" applies only to metal cans and to glass bottles with metal screw tops. Cardboard (no matter what coating), cellophane, plastic (no matter how thick), foil (even heat-sealed pouches) are no match for rodent teeth -- None.

* Just because I wouldn't eat it doesn't mean it's not food: Plastic flashlight bodies, battery cases, rubber insulation on wires, the wires themselves ... good grief. You'd think they didn't have anything better to do.

See, we arrived at the marina on the 20th (the trip took a little longer than predicted, due to the drag of towing a whaleboat and carrying a kayak on top). First thing we noticed was a rather "mustier-than-usual" aroma and a few loose papers on the floor. Once we got down the companionway the extent of the damage was more obvious -- including dozens of three-quarter circles of edges of crackers. Guess they like the tender centers best. Four hours that day, eight yesterday, about six today ... and we're done with about 3/4 of it. Still to do: the port aft quarterberth storage area; the lavatory floor; the cockpit lockers; the bilges. Done: V-berth, both settees, kitchen and lavatory surfaces. Main cabin floor, over and over again. We were smart enough not to leave any "open" food aboard, but apparently their definition of "open" is different than ours.

We're having fun though -- it's amazing how much easier it is for me to feel amused by this when the sun is sticking around for about 75 minutes more each day than I was experiencing last week. Driving 1300 miles South seems to make all the difference.

Love and light and lots of laughter to you and yours in this beautiful season of lights.