10/9/15  Friday,

Tossing and flopping night in the Hudson. Wind against tide just kept us rocking all night. New clunks and water smacks..how's the dinghy? what was that? mooring ball against hull?!? And a nightmare-type dream that I couldn't recapture in the morning but I remember thinking that I had to fix a problem, a pretty BIG problem that I'd created. I was up before David and read more in my book, Destiny, which is also unsettling, about a human made eco diseaster. Not sure this boat trip is the right time to be reading that since some of it happens in the ocean. Maybe a nice, tame, Griswold murder mystery.

Boat project day. David did some carpentry around the electrical panel. I repaired some lines (if we were on land they would be called ropes) and made a new storage space (arranged is a more apt word) for floatation cushions. Some cleaning. Then just as we were ready to leave the boat for dinner  and laundry w/friends, the GW Bridge disappeared...in a downpour of rain, big, fat drops coming like proverbial "cats and dogs." We waited for a break in that action, then boarded the dinghy and took off for shore. Arrived at the dock just as another deluge began, this time with rolls of thunder and bolts of lightning. Reverse that order. We waited, our dirty laundry (literally) in plastic bag.

Another sing-a-long..."Just walking in the rain, getting soaking wet..." Well, our feet were certainly wet. We walked, took a bus across town and walked another 6 blocks. We arrived, sort of like drowned rats at Diana and David's just in time to put our laundry in the washing machine before dinner. What totally great friends. Not only cooking for us but letting us do the laundry, too.

A lovely dinner. Diana's sis, Linda, was there, too. Her son is marrying tomorrow so there was conversation about that and our sailing and NYC adventures. Conversation about the 9/11 Memorial. Some think it is too much like a park, not somber enough. Hmmm. That might be reason that some younger folks were taking "I'm in NY-type photos" there. Any case - the dearness of long-term friends. Makes my heart swell. Grateful for them, to them.

Diana Simkin and David Kritchman

Next to WTC park, has 1776 floors I'm told

9/11 Memorial, South Tower footprint

The walls at the top (and on the other two sides) are streaming w/water, into the shallow pool, then the water disappears into the center hole which we can't see into...just disappears. I'm touched and moved by that suggestion...that things and people just can't be seen anymore. We disappear. Whether or not we're ready for it to happen, to us or to others or to things we may or may not cherish. Kiss those moments as fly.

Deciding where to go next while we, again, wait for the wind. Ready to get out of this bounch, clanky harbor and get into calmer waters with less traffic noise for Amelia.