The season is upon us, and I’m not talking about the holiday season. I’m talking about the rainy season; time of darkness; time of spiraling inward; time of reflection and thought. And time of sitting around wishing the sun would make even a small appearance. Last week we had our first really dark day of fall where the rain started sometime in the night and continued all day long. All. Day. Long. The sun never showed up, even for 5 minutes. I accidentally I left my outdoor work vest somewhere on a wheelbarrow outside. It got soaked and I didn’t care. I stayed in my pajamas all day and whereas I should probably have felt disgusted with myself, in fact, I did not.

This was summer rain. It comes and it goes. Not like what we have now.

This is not depression. This is the rainy season. There are simply days where the most useful thing I can imagine doing is resting and reading. I realize that this is completely un-American but as a licensed Mental Health Professional, I highly recommend the occasional day of complete rest. It wasn’t just me. Mike went down to the boat. And he took a nap for most of the day. So let’s not finger point, okay? Never mind that I’m writing this in my pajamas.

If you’ve been a long time reader of our blog, you’ll know that this is the time of year when we don’t do much on the boat. We hang out on her, but we don’t accomplish much. This year since we’re really focused on getting the house ready, that’s fine with me. But I need to keep the interest in our cunning plan alive. I need support! I need encouragement! I need to know that all this work will be worth the trouble. Because, really, it’s a great deal of work and takes a lot of focus as well as a zen like belief that it will all come together in the end.   Ideally, I’d like to know other people who are in the same place in their process: the place where we are letting go, one little bit at a time, all the obligations, the spoken and unspoken ‘contractual agreements’ that we have with our life on land,  with an eye to sailing out to sea for awhile. Thank goodness for blogs.

One of my favorite photos from this summer. What a great day!

I read a number of blogs, but most of them are written by people who have already sailed away into adventure. It’s like they are already college graduates, enjoying their freedom as grown ups and we’re still stuck in junior year finishing up our distribution requirements.  I wish there were more blogs written by people who are still in the preparation phase. I know they are out there, but I’m having a hard time finding them.  Where are all the west coast people getting ready to go? I guess most people get the blogs going after they get the boats going. Still, I found some interesting new blogs to read while we hunker down for the long dark winter. Maybe you’ll enjoy these, too:

Sailing Consort – Alan and Cheri describe themselves as ‘Adventurous Texans’. Currently in Seabrook, TX, they are starting for Florida soon on their Endeavor 42, so if you hurry and subscribe to their blog, you can read their adventure from the start.

Winds Of Time – After buying a Formosa 41 on the east coast, and after some delays, Rick and Joanne are finally sailing down the east coast toward warm water. I enjoyed spending several hours catching up on their extensive blog today. They have interesting hobbies and are both HAM radio operators. I look forward to following them.

Oh Sail Yes – I love this blog. These folks are younger than us, will be traveling with teenagers, and have colorful hair. It seems like they should be from Seattle, but in fact they are from Oklahoma. They also have a huge trimaran called Eleven Purple Monkeys and will be taking their family purple monkey puppet named ‘Bean’ with them on their trip. I believe there will be videos. They are an entertaining and creative crew. Check them out.

Sailing Luna Sea – Currently in Savannah, GA, Mark and Jennifer are preparing to leave for warmer waters. They sail a Beneteau 393. They comment it will be a few years before they can start taking Mark’s pension, but they are going to figure it out as they go. That’s the spirit, so I’m reading.

These all look like interesting blogs to follow, but come on! They are all going to the Caribbean. Where, oh where, are the Pacific Northwest people who are preparing to go?  Do they not have blogs? Have I not used the appropriate search criteria? If you know of an interesting blog written by people who are still here, in the Pacific Northwest, please do post in the comments. Winter is long and dark. I get through it best by the glow of a computer screen.

Sunny beach, Pacific Northwest Style