What a difference a day, and a place, make. This was the atmospheric scene from our aft deck much of the day today...from the aft deck, the pilot house....wherever you could see the outside.
A lay day, so to speak ...lay around, get laid, lay aside, lay up...?
After the bumpy slog through beam waves yesterday, a full day of trouble, we slept for nearly 12 hours into late morning. Misty morning, rain light or heavy, all day long. We did get out this morning before the rain to take hot showers, Then on the boat the balance of the day. Delicious! Coffee. Small projects.
David locked the port side pilot house door last night and we couldn't get it unlocked. He took the door handle mechanism out, cleaned it and reinstalled it. Lock works now with both the old and the new keys. It is a beautiful puzzle that needed much cleaning and lubricating.
My project was to install a barrel bolt on the pots and pan door to prevent the p&ps from escaping during nasty passages such as yesterday's.
Finally we had bagels and cream cheese on the aft deck. Brought plastic cushions from inside so our butts wouldn't get wet from all the mist and rain. Chatted with "mad dog", as he introduced himself, a rather iconic wharf elder - yellowing long beard, gnarled hands, faded foul weather coat, pipe. He appeared. We were sitting on aft deck facing away from the dock. We became aware of Mad Dog standing near the bow of our boat, smoking his pipe, not speaking, looking across our boat into the distance. He could of been a ghost...of sailors past. The magic and mystery of misty mornings in harbors. We spoke briefly and then it started pouring rain. We ran inside. He walked back up the dock and disappeared.
This morning I read the blog, Brain Pickings, that I receive each Sunday morning - thank you Suzi. Today the author, Maria Popova, was writing about "leisure," quoting Ursula Le Guin about the import of leisure, and creating. She (Le Guin) wrote about how she had no spare time (time to spare) and of how she "occupied" her time. I'm liking the words "occupy time". Recently David has asked people how they "use" their time, trying to avoid production related words like "do" and "what's your 'work'". Hard to ask people where they invest their time and energy in our workaholic culture without seeming to honor only the work-for-pay concept. Le Guin also spoke of how we, as a culture, don't value creative occupations. A sentence part from a philosopher, Pieper, from the same article, "... leisure is the condition of considering things in a celebrating spirit."
So I spent some time thinking about "leisure" and how both David (more than me) and I tend to keep pushing our boating journey toward a destination without relaxing into a leisurely attitude and enjoying the time/place we are without the need to "be productive." Leisure. Sharyl talks about us being on vacation. Vacation from what? Vacation doesn't seem the same as leisure. hmmm. Now this notion of leisure is a privilege in that I don't have to work all the time to maintain my self, my body, my safety, and such. Empty-of-tasks-time is necessary for dreaming/thinking/envisioning/creating. So why do we not honor that? Afraid of all those "slashed" words and ideas, fear of having no dreams, thoughts, visions, creations? Maybe.
Our boating friends are all dining together in Southport, NC tonight. I'm envious. We journeyed on. An agenda to go farther, sooner rather than hang with our buds. Not totally true but I'm noticing, now that I'm not wearing my long underwear and wool socks, that David and I could have a more relaxed relationship with time. The upshot of all this leisure considering (and the fact that the tides are funky for travel) is that we're going to stay here again tomorrow night, visit museum tomorrow, do 2 errands and 2 projects and have another lay day! Perhaps with less fog.
Our flag stayed out beyond its curfew last night and was still out for bagels this late morning. The waterfront of Georgetown. A larger sail boat left the harbor this morning. We speculated it was going down the ICW which crosses this river about a mile toward the sea. A couple larger sail boats came in today, as well.
I've been impressed with the question, "Were you all 'offshore'? rather than my word for being in the ocean, 'outside.' "Offshore" sounds so much bigger to me. We were offshore yesterday! We'll be "inside", in the ICW when we leave here.
While I didn't create/make anything today except breakfast, I dug around in the art supplies and got some paper out. I'm inspired by the Brain Pickings and the writing and thinking of Le Guin. Until now I've only known her as a science fiction writer. From today's reading she was so much more. I look forward to investigating other genres of her writing. And heeding the advice of many to make something. Make something that has no practical purpose. Do not crochet the hat...yet, or ever just to have something creating (and practical) to do.
Another view of our foggy day.
I'm loving the Barbara Kingsolver book I'm reading, Flight Behavior. Butterflies, mudslides, relationships, climate change. What's not to enjoy?
I hung a curtain today in the aft cabin for added privacy, and put bubble wrap on the head (toilet) port light, also for privacy.
Life is good.
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