Welcome to Canada, Howdy from Galveston

Hilary continues to be the center of concern and both emotional and physical energies. The psychosis is, to use the vernacular, crazy. But, I think we will cope and make our trip. Whether to have guests join us will be the question we will ponder (and after reading this, potential guests will ponder as well).
Continue reading “Welcome to Canada, Howdy from Galveston”

2017 Seattle Boat Show – Water Maker and Sailmaker

The boat show was very different for me this year. It was Hilary and me alone. I went to learn about water makers, to see my sail maker, and to meet with Jesús and Zoë, who are friends from the newspaper industry who are planning on calling it quits and move onto a trawler.

Hilary and I are staying full time in the Port Townsend house. It has been very cold (to my PNW/South-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line self): Highs in the low forties, lows around freezing. It is also 2-1/2 hours from Port Townsend to Seattle. Continue reading “2017 Seattle Boat Show – Water Maker and Sailmaker”

We’re back in the PNW

We’re back in the Pacific Northwest. Well, at the moment, ‘we’ refers to Hilary and me.

Hilary, Jennifer and I spent from October 5th through January 7th in Phoenix working on a house Jennifer owns. It was a time to get fit as Jennifer and I worked 6 to 7 days a week from sun up until we needed to stop.

Some of the gravel I moved about

I got in shape by moving approximately 25 tons of gravel with a wheelbarrow and a shovel. It feels good to carry muscle again. The trick is how to keep it; I don’t belong to a gym anymore.

Continue reading “We’re back in the PNW”

Hilary

Hilary is the center of attention no matter where we go, but the woman Jennifer and I live with isn’t the woman I met 11 years ago. Yet, like that woman, this woman is buoyant, full of life.
People who meet Hilary once, remember her, call to her and become concerned about her well-being.

Is it rewarding to have traveled with Hilary for five months? No, it isn’t. It is work, unrelenting, uninterrupted work that increases in effort as Hilary progresses with her disease.

Continue reading “Hilary”

Are we really in the PNW? Beautiful weather becomes common

It’s 8:42, BC time. We’re motoring into the Strait of Georgia, which Jennifer and I have both seen when it’s angry. Continue reading “Are we really in the PNW? Beautiful weather becomes common”

Taku Harbor, Traveling from Juneau to Endicott Arm – Waiting for Weather

23-JUL-2016 – It’s 8:50 am. It’s been blowing fairly hard since shortly after we arrived here in Taku Harbor yesterday around noon.

Blowing with a vengeance really started during the night accompanied by the predicted hard-driven rain. The rain and wind continues this morning. Continue reading “Taku Harbor, Traveling from Juneau to Endicott Arm – Waiting for Weather”

Status: More air-freighted engine parts, more new friends.

Friday June 3rd – It’s 46°F in Ketchikan; Hilary wakes up and comments occasionally; Jennifer arrived in Providence five hours ago; 18 hours ago I ordered more engine parts, this time from Seattle. Caro Babbo strains on her dock lines against the 25kn winds that blast through the harbor. Continue reading “Status: More air-freighted engine parts, more new friends.”

Sailing with Hilary

Today is not an atypical day. We’re sailing at 3 knots, the sky is overcast with rain predicted.

Hilary, after eating breakfast, told me that the beauty that surrounds us in the Malaspina Strait was so difficult to express that it hurt in her chest. Jennifer, down below planning our passage through the upcoming rapids, heard this and arrived with three stuffed animals that Hilary is enchanted with, distracting her from her pain. Continue reading “Sailing with Hilary”