I've been obsessed with the ocean since before my teens, but it was my Uncle Dick who "infected" me with the love of sailing. I took the official ASA courses later on in adulthood, but it was my uncle & aunt ("Captain Grunk" & "First Mate Cookie," as they have ever-after been known to us) … Continue reading “This is What We Do.”
The Ship’s Cat Wants a Ship’s Goose
Our boat is in her slip at Tacoma, motorsailed there last week from Seattle by our boat-broker, Lee, with "a couple he knows from O-Dock" (I love the community-ness of docks-and-boaters). Lee took this photo of Seattle's skyline from our boat.. This is the busiest, craziest, hardest month for us to get away from the … Continue reading The Ship’s Cat Wants a Ship’s Goose
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In the mornings when I'm freewriting, I jot down in the margins whatever "extra" half-formed ideas pop to the surface while I happen to have pen in hand. I usually don't have even a full cup of coffee in me at this point (I try to sort of take my brain by surprise, putting pen … Continue reading Hashtag-TITLE
A Leap
We just signed the closing paperwork on the shape of our future: We bought a sailboat. Not a dink-around-the-shallows "plastic" white toy boat for weekends. (Not me!---Oh boy, I always leap into the deep end.) No, we bought a 42-foot blue-water cruiser to LIVE in. (A few years down the road, that is---but I do … Continue reading A Leap
On Docking, On Keels, On Seamonsters
One of the trickiest (read: "most harrowing") aspects of coastal sailboat-cruising is the process of DOCKING. Precisely placing a 40-foot boat into a right-angle slip is a maneuver that requires adroit steering, precise timing, 360-degree situational awareness, and (preferably) steel nerves. A sailboat doesn't have brakes, of course---so you'd better not come in too fast. … Continue reading On Docking, On Keels, On Seamonsters
On People-ing
A conundrum I have never understood: PEOPLE are simultaneously the most energizing and the most draining element of life. I love being behind the counter in the Park Office, welcoming and checking in the RVers, dispensing advice, making them laugh, solving their problems, hearing their stories. These interactions ("people-ing" as I jokingly call it) can … Continue reading On People-ing
Barometer
It is widely known, among those who know me, that I loathe wearing shoes. Or rather: I'm happiest barefoot. It's not about the shoes themselves. It's more about the feeling of touching down. I feel planted in, or connected to, my PLACE when my soles sense the surface at each step---grounding me, in every sense … Continue reading Barometer
Kana's Chronicles 