Category Archives: Preparing to cruise

The Sweet Sorrow of Parting

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We’ve been home now for a little over a week and we’re starting to get more serious about selling Moonrise. So far we’ve put her on Craigslist, talked to a few folks on the phone, and shown the boat once. But we realize we need to up the ante a bit if the universe is going to hear our plea for that blue-water cruising boat.

Part of the problem is that we’re struggling with the idea of being….. BOATLESS in Seattle. Or Tacoma. Or anywhere for that matter. I mean, when the weather is nice, Mike and I actually spend a lot of time on our boat, unlike many of the people with boats in our marina.  Those boats just seem sad and neglected most of the time. We go down to Moonrise and hang out, have dinner on the boat, read a few books, pretending we’re on vacation even if we don’t leave the dock. This weekend we plan to be on the boat circumnavigating Bainbridge Island with the Puget Sound Cruising Club. When Moonrise sells, we’re going to have a big hole in our lives. We’ll have to fill it with actively looking for the next boat, but it’s not the same.

So on Sunday we planned to go down and spend the day on the boat, put some ‘for sale’ signs on it, and generally hang around. It turned out to be a lovely day and also the day of the Marine Daffodil Parade! The Daffodil festival is a 79 year old yearly tribute to all the kinds of daffodils grown commercially in the Puyallup valley. There are Daffodil Princesses, Queens, and probably various other royalty. There is a huge parade with floats decorated with daffodils. And Sunday’s marine parade was the culmination of all of these festivities.

I want to say that we are completely in tune with the cultural happenings in the Tacoma area, and we deliberately made sure we were in time for the marine festivities. But I’d be lying. We had no idea Sunday was the marine parade. It turns out we had a front row seat! So we sat in the cockpit and had lunch and  waved at all the duded up yacht people, using the time honored ‘float princess wave’. You know: elbow, wrist, elbow, wrist. Repeat. Man, we’re going to suffer profoundly when this boat sells. At least for awhile.

The theme for this year was 'Don't Stop Believing'. Don't the flags look spiffy? I love the flags.

Loads of flowers on this one!

The Sea Scouts looking extremely ship shape!

These guys had fun with it.

So since it’s causing us so much emotional pain to come face to face with selling this boat, it’s nice when we get to show the boat to a lovely young family and take them out for a sail, all at once. When Laura called and asked to see the boat on Sunday, our first thought was ‘maybe she’d like to go for a sail’. Turns out she did! It was a perfect day for sailing with someone new to the sport. Steady, but not heavy wind, and sunshine. When we sold Saucy Sue, our Catalina 27, we sold it to a young woman named Laura who had a very young child.And here was another young woman named Laura, and her very young child, Mia! It was just a bit of deja vu, as it were.

I don’t know if Moonrise will be the right boat for Laura, but we sure did enjoy showing her off and taking Laura and Mia for a sail. I think Mia is a natural sailor, as you’ll see in this video of Mike during his first stint as a sailing instructor.

Aspiring to be Useless (Wasting Away in Margaritaville)

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Beautiful statue on the malecon in La Paz.

I’m sitting here with my pitcher of marguaritas thinking back over the day and realizing that it’s our third full day here and we already need to buy more tequila and mixer. Man, supplies start running low when you’re spending your days being nothing but useless to anyone. It’s great! If this is what retirement is going to be like, I’m going to be a big fan.

We got some serious lessons in the retired cruising lifestyle yesterday when we finally met up with Steve and Lulu Yoder (http://yodersafloat.wordpress.com/) and Keith and Kay Schardein (www.keithandkayunderway.blogspot.com). We ‘met’ Steve and Lulu via our respective blogs, and Keith and Kay are friends of a friend of mine who put us in touch when we were planning our La Paz trip.  Both couples are down here in La Paz enjoying life on their boats and guess what? They know each other! It is said that the cruising community is small, and I guess that must be right.

Truth be told, these couples saved us from having to drink several extra pitchers of fire-water margaritas due to the extreme stress we’ve been under since we got here. Without a doubt, there is no reason to be here without a boat. We feel literally stranded, land locked, like boats on the hard. The sea beckons, but we can only long for it. We stand on the docks and stare into the water like complete fools. We’ve walked down the malecon and seen all the pretty statues. Meh. We have been in the hot tub and in the pool. Sigh. We’ve gone to some pretty beaches up north of town. Too crowded this weekend anyhow. I’ve hung in the hammock and read my book. Yawn. There will be no dessert hiking in this desert. This is one inhospitable desert.

So you can imagine that it was with profound relief that we stepped into Keith and Kay’s dinghy today for the ride out to their boat, a Westsail 43 anchored almost directly next to the Yoder’s boat, a Westsail 28. Not only did we get to be on the water, we got to see new and exciting boats as well! We could hardly express our delight.

Mike, trying to communicate with the natives.

Mike and I first boarded Kieth and Kay’s Westsail 43, Chamisa, bearing the international currency of cruisers, beer. The wind was up in the harbor, 14 knots or so with a few whitecaps which made us feel almost like we were under sail.  Mike and I were anxious to learn as many of the finer points to retiring to this lifestyle as we could, and both couples were very generous in sharing their knowledge. Cold beer, warm wind, blue water, good conversation. Oh, and big dolphins. Did I mention those? What could be better?

When I think about the harried life we lead back in Tacoma, I am more than a little chagrined. We can go literally months between visits with our neighbors, and it always seems like they have to be arranged. There’s none of this ‘hanging out’ that seems to just happen naturally in the cruising community. We’re so busy being useful back home, we have no time to simply ‘be’ with others. Sure, we’re on vacation now, but our new friends are not on vacation. They live this way. After lives of complete and utter usefulness in the workplace and at home, after raising families, owning homes, and all of the other useful things people do, they have aspired to uselessness. I hope we are not far behind.

Knowing Steve’s penchant for good food, we followed him to this restaurant and it didn’t let us down. Fabulous burgers!

 

 

Yes Sir, Yes Sir Three Bags Full

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Look at that cute face!

In case you are wondering, I have not forgotten that I am supposed to be getting up the storefront for those lovely sea goddesses and mermaids that are sitting in a box underneath my work table. I have several new designs and I must say they are looking great! It’s a bit of an addiction sometimes, sitting with needle in hand, poking wool and bits of beautiful fabric, adding beads and jewels, and having a personality come to life in my hands. But no trip down the addiction turnpike is complete without spending hundreds of hours researching the best places to buy supplies. So with that in mind, today I took a field trip out to Stargazer Alpacas in Spanaway, Washington. What fun!

Stargazer Alpacas, owned by my friend Tina Bars and her husband Gvido, is in the business of breeding these cute and cuddly animals to the highest standard, and in sheering them. Thus: Wool! And not just any wool. Bags and bags of soft and silky, unrefined wool in a range of beautiful colors from cream to black. I came away with two bags of this lovely stuff, just waiting at the work table until I get back from my Utah vacation. I’m going to experiment with using it for stuffing the dolls, and maybe even dyeing it with vegetable dyes. It’s a whole world of playing with ‘stuff’!  I can’t wait. (Yes, I know I am supposed to be getting rid of ‘stuff’. Don’t hassle me about this, okay? I’m filled with creative fervor here.)

In addition to being able to meet and greet the alpacas, I was pleasantly surprised to find some honest to goodness goings-on going on at the ranch! Tina and Gvido had Gina Martin and Kelly Cronn there working with the alpacas, checking to see if a few of the females were pregnant. And they were using ultrasound! Now, ladies, if you’ve ever had an ‘annual’ exam, you might want to sit down before looking at a couple of these photos. Suffice to say, I am glad not to be an alpaca, although the animals accepted this with more grace than I would have. It was fascinating to watch, and I got to see a baby alpaca on the ultrasound screen! Now, many people might not be excited about this, but I totally was. I’m not a farm or ranch girl, so these things are fascinating to me. Also, who knew there was such thing as pink camo overalls? They are cute as can be!

There is a baby alpaca on the screen. See it? Sure you do! You are looking right at it!

Gina Martin knows what she is doing with that wand! Apparently this does not hurt a bit, because the alpaca does not protest. Kelly Cronn handles the other end.

Gina thought this girl was not pregnant, so she tested it with one of the studs of the farm. Whoa! Turns out she was receptive, so Gina was right.

A piece of carrot as a peace offering. It made this little girl feel better about being man handled.

Tina hugs one of her babies and speaks soothingly while nails are clipped.

These are the most alert and curious animals! They watch everything, standing in little clusters

Hey, Tina and Gvido, I'm pretty sure alpacas can't read. But maybe that's why do tend to spit when stressed! They don't know what the sign says.

I just love being able to go right to the source for the wool I’m using for my dolls. It’s cool to meet the actual animals who grew the wool and to know the people who care for and love those animals. Tina and Gvido know each and every animal of their herd by name and you can see how much affection they have for these sweet beings. I have wool from Kandace and from Santiago. So to them I say, ‘Thanks cute little alpacas! Keep up the good growing! I’ll be back for more, I’m sure.’ If you know people who are into fiber arts and use wool in their crafts, I can give you the contact information for Stargazer Alpacas. They don’t yet have a website, but when they do, I’ll be posting it here! Thanks for letting my come and explore, Tina and Gvido!

 

 

 

 

Now, to get ready for the Utah trip! Woo hoo!! Desert hiking here we come!