Norfolk!

Norfolk, VA

Some days are just hard. This one has been a difficult and successful day...so how bad can that be? A cold last night. Up and moving fast early this morning in order to catch the high tide and get out of the creek we're in.

Sisiphus, with help from Michael, put Grace back in the water this morning.

Michael helped us put the dingy on the davits then waved us off. We headed out into deeper water, to the mooring to secure the decks and have breakfast. I re-learned how to work the radios and immediate action to take in case of captain or cat going overboard.

David is really disappointed in the amount of vibration still in the engine - the boat, due to the engine. We were lead to believe that it would purr, "the only sound you'll hear is the exhaust".  First, we should never have been told that. Second, even though this IS a big engine, David thinks the vibration is barely muted from before this $11k fix. The propeller shaft fix IS excellent and much safer. But the new motor mounts have NOT solved the vibration problem as we were told it would. Not sure how we will ultimately address this. But extreme disappointment, especially since we'd met with management before the engine went back in to say if there is reason to think this isn't right (we'd heard mutterings among the mechanics), now is the time to address concerns and make it right. Perhaps the engine will "settle" onto its new "legs" and vibrate less. Still,  the vibration is not a purr. We have Amelia. We know "purr."

We released ourselves from the mooring and headed down the East River around 11:45. Onward to Norfolk, maybe even further south. There were minor limitations with our new GPS/multi-function B&G gizmo but nothing hazardous. For example, we had to do a split screen to get the chart and the depth rather than having the depth on the chart.

And I was scared. No way around it. David called it after I'd snapped at him a couple of times for no good reason. I've not been on the boat in more than 2 months. And I've not been out of familiar waters in 2+ years. And we were in the Chesapeake Bay which is a very big body of water. And it is cold. And the water is even colder. And we were heading into a MAJOR, LARGE VESSEL traffic area. And, a major military/naval base. I ask you, who wouldn't be scared if they have a brain about them. I have brains.

This big girl (if warships are still female which I'm not so comfortable with) followed us into Norfolk. We'd heard her on the radio...saw her facing us in a distance. From that perspective she was a wide platform with a tower in the middle. An aircraft carrier. Large! We hurried out of her way though there was NO chance she would fit into the little Rebel Marina, our overnight resting place. We were here 2 years ago. Friendly.

My lower back is hurting, has been for half-dozen days. Maybe the new apartment bed? Couldn't figure it out but stretched, breathed. Better. Then I helped David move the deep-cell battery back into the engine room. Oh! there's the culprit. So still tender from those out and in experiences.

So now, David has managed to get the water depth to show up on the chart plotter AND has made the AIS work so we can "see" and identify boats in our area, including the military vessels that give no information beyond speed and direction. Yikes! So our electronics are now doing everything they are supposed to do. We've eaten more of the Chinese take-out from last night. Refrigerator is turned on so the cooler is stowed. The electric heater is running and Amelia has waked for her dinner. Gentle rain outside and the slap of lines on nearby boats. Feeling safe and snug for the first evening on the water.

Our journey continues.

Back in the water tomorrow

Matthews, VA

What an incredibly busy and exhausting two days! Grace's engine room has been gapping open which means stuff was everywhere. The transducer was not working. Discovered that hydraulic fluid from the automatic steering had been leaking (sometime in our distant past) onto the transducer causing the bedding compound to melt. Leak! Disgusting mess that also made it not work. So out with the transducer. Clean it up! Put it back in - 2 people at $85/hour, each. They did a great job. Wait an extra day for the bedding compound to cure, the extra day because it has been cold at night. Done.

Aah, the bilge pump is constipated - it strained (ran) but nothing came out. Laxative? No such thing. Take the bilge pump out, clean it out/up and the bilge, too. Another disgusting job. Is the back-flow valve broken, clogged? A kink or clog in the hose? I've neglected to ask BUT, we think it will work now - new valve and a screen with all its legs for the pump to sit on, thus keeping much ganer out of the pump, itself. David is a total trooper hanging down into the bilge.

Meanwhile, we've moved out of our lovely apartment and out of our lovely rental car and have stuffed all that stuff onto little 33' Grace. This stuff in addition to the art supplies friends have given us fo schools in the Bahamas. And, remember, David already had his stuff (clothes, toys, etc) on board from the previous month of sailing. And the Mighty Mender. And two long pieces of teak about 4" wide, trim for the head that David wasn't able to complete before we left. And the new sail covers still need grommets and hooks before we can use them. aaarrrgh! Stuff.

And there is Amelia and all her stuff - kitty bed for being in friend's houses, wet food, dry food, kitty grass, water, kitty litter!, litter box and rug, carrying case and leash... As complicated as traveling with a baby.Thankfully we've made use of a lot of "hidden" storage that we've previously used ineffectively. And the new space freed up now that we have a composting toilet...no holding tank!! Now all those spaces are stuffed to the gils. I'm surprised Grace isn't bulging at her middle.

While David did most of the mechanical stuff I did the moving out, clean the apartment, moving on the boat and organizing, consolidating, tossing. There will be a box to ship back to Maine when we arrive at my family in NC. Lots of food on board - not a bad thing - because of my duplicating some that David and Albert brought on board- but no bread.

Nearly time to sleep. Up early to catch the high tide. 

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.

Engine aligned and Jones WON

Matthews, VA

Bright. Beautiful. Really cold for here - 28 degrees.

I delivered David to the boatyard around 9:30 this morning. He worked with John, our mechanic, most of the day fetching tools and doing his own work activities. I spent about 3.5 hours in the local library using their WiFi. Perfect. Got some banking done. Email. A little FaceBook. And lots of research into Windy, discovering the weather for the next week and figuring the distances from here to Norfolk, Norfolk to Elizabeth City, NC, and what amount of traveling we might accomplish in the next several days. 

Seems if we get out Friday or Saturday, make it to a little beyond Norfolk, then into the Dismal Swamp and into Elizabeth City. Still need to research marinas in Elizabeth City and safety of our boat in the winds that are expected next week. Leaving the boat for any amount of time like five days around Christmas, encourages me to fix the transducer leak now. Then, rent a car to W-S. This has become an EXPENSIVE trip to get even to NC.

David is talking to his sis now and speaking about how updated and shiny our engine is, comparing our situation to driving to Albany and getting new tires and oil change before you leave. I just asked about Sharyl's plan in case of power failure and no heat. And, I'll email Spencer to say welcome Sharyl if she has no electricity and, thus, no heat.

Shannon is putting money in my account tomorrow and then leaving for CO. I emailed the FHS guidance counselor. Getting all my care-taking ducks in alignment. Roll my eyes as if that effort is ever in alignment.

An eagle was perched on a piling about 20 feet from our deck yesterday morning. And this morning there was a really large Great Blue Heron fishing in the mud.







Tonight there is a meteor shower but we are overcast here. We remain concerned, but not too stressed, about leaving. We expect to move onto the boat by Friday latest, vacating our lovely, but expensive, temporary home/apt here.

Kitty is bored. I have energy and am really looking forward to getting on the boat and ORGANIZING - Capricorn heaven - and moving in!

Doug Jones won the senate seat in Alabama against the accused sexual predator, Roy Moore. Thank you African American voters who made it happen!!!

Joy.

In today, Out tomorrow

Matthews, VA

David and I have crowded Amelia off the sofa. David sleeps. I type. Amelia complains and swishes her tail. A long day of clouds and a bit of rain. David at the boat yard. Me at our temporary home.

Grace finally went in the water after almost 6 weeks out with engine realignment repairs. Lots of adjustments, some fabrication, some work arounds. Grace is aging and is from away (Finland) so parts are hard to find or impossible to find. But today she went back in the water. No leaking stuffing box. No leaking around the rudder. Beautious! But then David noticed a puddle, a small puddle but a puddle. Wipe it up.  Blop. Taste it. Salt water. Watch. Blop. Blop. A leak from the transducer! Aaarrrrghhh.

Is this a new leak? How would we know with all the other leaks that have now been eliminated (thank you Zimerman's Marine! and John and Bob). So Grace comes out of the water again tomorrow. David will deconstruct the transducer. It will be dried out, reconstructed with a new base (cha-ching), reinstalled. Back in the water.   

On a totally different topic, I had time to phone a couple of friends today including a college bud, Alana. Great to catch up with her and to check in with my neighbor, Mike. I also had time to, finally, to write a thank you note to dear friend and choreographer I'd just worked with last month, Betsy Dunphy. Her work, The Twenty, was powerful, a community dance project responding to paintings that were, themselves, a response to the murders of the children at Sandy Hook Elementary School some years back.

What I realized in writing Betsy was that I had felt safe enough to touch my rage, my despair, and my power as a performer. I made a 4 minute solo in the 60 minute piece. Betsy suggested the need for a transition between one section and another. She encouraged/directed/allowed my work. The safety that Betsy had created over the rehearsal period made it possible for me to  be immersed in the dance I made, to just BE the dance, and not concern myself with protecting myself or others from the rawness of my emotions and expressions of them. Whoa! What a gift. I've only felt this safety one other time in my dance career when I created it myself, more of a "nothing to loose" attitude. This was different in that there was a safe container for my feelings. It was this piece and the trust of my companion performers and creators that will resonate with me for awhile to come. How to create other safe spaces, or work with folks that DO create that space? How to continue to grow in trust,  confidence? How to not pretend? While rage is not my preferred state of being there was something profound in feeling it.

To be clear, my work in The Twenty was a tiny part of the entire piece/production. It is my personal growth through this work that I'm considering here, not the effect or contribution I may have had on the entirety of the work. My realizations, my safety, my sense of being a channel of energy. The creative team and performers were many and include 6 children, mothers and daughters, fathers and son, elders such as myself and young growing teens. A wonderful community of creators and makers.

Fear, rage, despair, unity, joy, grief......and keep taking the next step. A mantra for our times, too.

gone a week and still on land

Matthews, VA - on land

Grrrrrr. In spite of the beauty of this day - sunshine, 48 degrees, blue sky - frustration that Grace is still on relatively dry land. Mechanic, John, is working away but David and I have pretty much done all we can to ready the boat without getting in the way and given that the entire boat interior is torn apart to accommodate the engine repair.

We've put three sails back on and there are mountains of stuff to re-settle, clean and do AFTER she goes in the water before leaving for NC and onward. And, the weather is just getting colder. Never mind that today and tomorrow are to be deliciously warm and brilliant. Next week is looking sucky. Meanwhile, no pushing of Mercury! Even knowing the expense we're incurring I'm a bit more sanguine about our frustrating predicament than David is. He noted he was fearful I'd loose patience and abandon this trip (and him). I will loose patience/have lost, to some extend, but will not abandon the trip and certainly not him. We'll just make decisions as to how and how far to travel based on weather and comfort as those decisions present. We can't reasonably decide some things in advance. In for the pound at this point (reference to n 4 penny, n 4 lb.).

Mighty Mender and I worked together again today. MM complained but I pushed it to sew those fabric shelves. Together we succeeded. I still have to hand sew the loops that will attach to the screw eyes in the closet and then a final fit before putting the bias hem on the front edges.

Amelia and I went for a short stroll in the apartment yard today. She is pretty timid but wants to be outside for a bit. She more enjoyed going out on the deck a couple times this evening. While David was grocery shopping I put up "our" Christmas tree, the one our host left for us to use or not as we chose. Most of the lights flash. It is made of 6 triangles of plasticized chicken wire. I like it and it makes me feel more seasonal and festive. It's on the deck beside the picnic umbrella which looks a bit like a stage curtain.

Joy!                                   

New day

Matthews, VA

The sun is shining this morning. And it is supposed to be slightly warmer. Somehow knowing that Mercury is in retrograde makes my attitude lighter, too. "Extra Grace (is) needed" around all things mechanical, communicative, and technical. I might be able to practice patience a bit more, especially toward my partner here. Morning yoga helped, facing the sun out the deck door and view across the water/creek.

The past couple of days have been tough. The boat isn't done, as promised, and it is clear that the mechanics are challenged. Old boat, and Finnish (European), so parts are hard to come by and the space around the engine is cramped. They've had to make modifications and do work-arounds. And it is cold.

By morning my computer had NOT recovered from its "frozen" state of last eve. Wouldn't turn off. Wouldn't close apps. Wouldn't do anything. I plugged it in and closed it up. Luckily, this evening I tried just holding down the "close" button longer than normal. Worked! But I did think "Mercury retrograde" just rest for a bit and something will happen. No trying to push the river. I'm hoping we - David - can do the same, have the same patient attitude, with the mechanics tomorrow. And invite them to have that patient attitude with themselves and their work. No lolligaging, but patience. Mercury is too big to be pushed around by mere humans and our preferred schedules.

David and I accomplished lots on Grace today in spite of the chill. I brushed snow and leaves off the decks, cleaned the bilge some more, bent on a sail, fitted the new sail cover then put the old one back on (new one still needs closure hardware), cut a pattern for the fabric shelves mentioned in earlier post. David repaired the keel and put a skeg on to protect the rudder from nasty pot warp and other errant lines in the water. Tomorrow will be another sewing day for me. A functional, creative endeavor.

Laundry mat adventure and home by 4:30 - still daylight. I made soup, made Amelia go outside. We three took a nap before dinner of said soup. AND, watched t.v. on an old set with screen about 16 x 16". Sixty Minutes and lots of commercials.

The photo is of a "do it yourself" power line support that we pass on our way to the boatyard. Just before the photo snapped there was a sparrow hawk sitting on one of the points of this leftover tree, cleared from the field.

I like the attitude. Also, deer hunting season continues until the end of December. We've seen several deer near the road. Perhaps the only safe place since hunters won't shoot toward cars. The deer are much smaller, and grayer, than Maine deer - only about 3' tall at shoulder.