One of my favorite coffee mugs was a gift from my sister, covered all over with "famous first lines" of novels. I have a degree in English literature, and I still had to look a few of them up---I guess they can't all be "Call me Ishmael." But I do think there's one first line … Continue reading On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes
Tag: Sail & Sea
What Dreams are Shaped Like
The summer I was 17, my uncle took my younger sister and me for a live-aboard week sailing around Lake Michigan. It was the beginning of my love-affair. I was already on a course toward Marine Biology studies, didn't yet have "my" lighthouse tattooed on my arm, but was on that course too, captivated by … Continue reading What Dreams are Shaped Like
“Books From the Ships”
Acting on my new resolve to get out again in bare feet, I just walked down to our RV park's laundry room with a few already-read paperbacks to leave in our little lending library. I attend the local library's annual book sale to restock the shelves (yes, that's why I go to the book sale, … Continue reading “Books From the Ships”
Driven
I don’t love it that our sailboat is a five-hour drive from home. It’s hard to get away to go there, hard to tackle the work and projects that we have in mind, hard to get the boat-time I’d wish for, if I really had my way. But yesterday did remind me of one of … Continue reading Driven
“This is What We Do.”
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
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



