Sea trial - passed

Matthews, VA

I dropped David at the boatyard at 7:20 a.m. so he could warm up the engine before he and John took Grace out for her sea trial, making sure all was well with the new engine alignment. A small fuel leak need to be disappeared and the cooling system had to be burped. Otherwise, all well.

I came back home to research dockage in Elizabeth City and Norfolk. Got great information from two marinas we'd stayed at 2 years ago on our first big ICW sailing adventure. I'm hoping we get to Elizabeth City on Saturday or Sunday. It is an interesting, safe place to leave Grace for the week of visiting family at Christmas.

Amelia and I went for a walk - actually, more to the point - I carried Amelia into the yard. She hunkered down, sniffed and headed for a porch, not our porch but the wide open spaces she fears. Then I carried her to another place on the lawn. She ate grass which inspired me to pull some up by the roots. Those pieces are now planted in Amelia's grass dish. When it takes root, Amelia may start eating her greens.  I'm posting a photo of our apartment exterior, just in case someone is feeling sorry for us.                     

We're not exactly slumming it here. One bedroom, Kitchen, Bath, big living room in two separate areas and the deck (with Christmas tree). How are we ever going to get moved out of here tomorrow or even Saturday. And get the apt cleaned.

It was GREAT to be on the boat this afternoon. I joined David around 11:30 a.m. My first time on the boat in nearly 2 months. It was chaos on board. We managed to get two batteries back in and the "barn" doors (covering engine/floor of the pilot house) on, closed half so there was easy walking space, no balancing on the engine block. I organized and organized and organized. Capricorn heaven! Put the bed in the aft cabin back together so we could sleep there tomorrow night and more fully move in on Saturday. I'm ready!

Meanwhile, I'm grateful for more privileges than I can remember to be grateful for. Shelter, warmth, love, food, interesting creative endeavors. New friends, our boatyard neighbors, Carol and Preston Elrod, joined us for dinner at Southwind Cafe. Freeport buds, Albert and Jenni, had recommended this place to us. GREAT pizza. Great conversation with Carol and Preston. Their boat is being winterized at Zimmerman's and they will live nearby through the winter and sail Chesapeake in the summer, familiarizing themselves with their new-to-them boat, expecting to travel south next fall.

It's hard to imagine how David and I are going to complete all the tasks for leaving Saturday - transducer, bilge pump, move out of and clean the apartment, move on to boat and stash way too much stuff and toys, re-provision, return the rental car!!! We have options, of course. One is to leave Grace in the water at the boatyard and keep the rental car and drive to NC for Christmas. Earlier this week that seemed too far in the future to consider. Now, Christmas is close. My how time expands and contracts. Still making efforts to not try to push Mercury. Relax into whatever is possible and/or preferred. We're fortunate to have resources to do so. Grace.