Land Yacht Safari Blog

Sweet Baby Austen.....Play Date......

November 5, 2009.....Thursday....what a play date.....I met Megan and our friend, Kate, over at Megan's daughter's home the other day....it was Megan's turn to babysit granddaughter, Austen....she is close to four months old now....this is the first time Kate has met Austen....me too...Austen was born while we were in Maine.....what total fun...part of that is because Austen is such a good baby.....she did not cry any the three hours I was there.....she is a happy girl and she doesn't have to go to day care....what a plus especially with H1N1 all over the place....some days her Dad cares for her, at home and the other days, her maternal grandmother....the paternal grandmother may fit in there too....what a nice set up for the adults and Austen...... ......I really did not catch any good photos of such a lovely subject....Austen is the one in the pink socks..... .....before Austen was born, her Mother painted a beach themed mural on all the walls in her bedroom......she did a great job..... .....the big girls had a salad together and Austen had a nap....Welcome Home, Austen....you lucky little thing.....surrounded by love.....ok, now....which one would be your choice? my choice was the one in the middle.....
......but I would like to know which color would you pick for the new roof.....Birchwood on the left or Slate on the right? the house is light gray with a medium gray trim.....that is the next decision....the new air conditioner and heat system is installed....hoping for many years of service and tax credits.... tax credit and insurance discounts for the new roof...yippee.....

Ray and I are learning three of the songs we brought home from Maine...two from Jim and one from a Captain of one of the schooners there (JR).....almost as much fun as a play date with Austen or my granddog, Tank (asleep on the floor by my Hannah)......

Passages and White Chili.......

November 1, 2009....Sunday....well, no snow here, yet....tomorrow our new central heat and air should be installed and our Commencement of Work document filed to start the new roof to bring it up to code for insurance discounts and tax credits.....we have been so busy I have not even seen Megan's granddaughter, Austen, who was born while we were in Maine....I will meet Austen on Tuesday....also have not practiced music much....but Ray did take a day to go with J to do some refurbishing and such on his and Robin's new boat, Passages.....what a beauty....can hardly wait to sail with them..... .......all the light colored area from bow to stern and to the water line, Ray spent the day putting on four coats of a polygloss product....in this photo, the product has not been painted on the vessel.....Captain J......hungry for the seas and adventure.....soon come.......Robin is also a Captain and now has her Sea Dog tshirt....so she is ready for the water.....Karin fixed a fabulous white chili last night and had a little gathering to celebrate the child in all of us..... .....some neighborhood big kids and little ones stopped in for treats..... .....Karma took a turn passing out the sweets to the little visitors....and Grandma Karin, Aunt Karma and Aunt Kelly had an online visit with Karin's daughter and two grandboys in Georgia and enjoyed seeing the boys in their costumes..... ......electronics are pretty fantastic...... ..... Rob and Dieter 
take time out for a pose....Dieter is now at Ringling School of Art working on a Digital Photography degree....if you remember, Dieter is the neighborhood baker...........Karin made a great white chili with baked chicken breasts, great northern beans, green chili, oregano, cumin, cayene pepper, pink salt, chicken broth, onions and garlic..... Kelly made a Halloween cake.......I took a key lime pie made with the limes off of our little key lime trees....and Steve made a pizza on his pizza stone....all terrific....
........we found out last night that Polly has taken a course at Maine Media Workshop in Rockport, Maine about four years ago....she loved it as much as we did....we also love Passages and white chili and being with these people that make our lives interesting..........

On the water with Dee and Into the Night with J......

October 25, 2009....Sunday.....a perfect day to go to Robinson Preserve to kayak with our wonderful son, Dee....the weather is close to perfect here in Tampa Bay currently....low humidity...clear and sunny...and in the low 80's with a breeze....good thing too....we have not even started getting estimates on replacing our central heat and air....but we have kicked Verizon FIOS out of the house....will be using our cell phone for our home phone...will not have TV....will no longer have a land line....have decided to cut the local daily newspaper....have gone to Brighthouse for internet connection....we will be fighting with Verizon for some time, I expect....but I have already filed a complaint with the Attorney General of the state of Florida under their Economic Crimes division....it feels good to me to be rid of so many things that are just not necessary for a good life.... ........these are necessary for a good life....family....from left: my great brother, Bill, his almost graduated from FSU in political science and international relations son, David, me sick and tired, Mother, beautiful at 85, our on vacation son, Dee and our Tracy, hard worker, good cooker......we really enjoyed our visit with them.... ......Dee invited us out to try out the two person kayak while he tried out the one person kayak....he just got both of them for $100....this is a fairly uncomplicated way to get out on the water here and many places.....it was good exercise...which we all could use....for sure..... ......the Preserve is a 500 acre parcel bought by our county...... it is on Tampa Bay and these mangrove estuaries....they really are nurseries....we saw many baby blue herons, baby egrets, osprey, and there are nesting eagles....lots of fish hurling themselves up and out of the water in glee.....I spotted a flounder and Dee saw red fish.......had this land not been preserved it would have been multiple condominium buildings with no public access....now preserved hopefully forever.....what a gift....yes, use my tax dollars for this..... .......this sandbar on the bay side was filled with birds..... .........it was a pleasant afternoon with our son...... ....very important to us....among important things....our friends.....J has several gigs here...which is fantastic....he enjoys it....he is good at it....he makes money and his friends and ours come out and support him.....my favorite venue for him out of the recent new gigs is The Riverhouse....it is Florida casual with excellent food and a million dollar view....this particular building has been numerous establishments....none ever seem to stick....but I think this one will.....it has been remodeled inside and the new expanded deck over the river...it was packed inside and out.... ....J with me and Woody in the background....trying out the pineapple-cocoanut bread....unusually yummy.... .....Jim with Ginger, a visiting family friend from Pittsburgh....... .....Karen, in the green and Michelle across the table....Karen's sister from Pittsburgh, Pamela...... .....and our friends, in background, Kelly and Steve and foreground left, Karma and Karin on right....all sisters by birth....except Steve....he is Kelly's boyfriend.....nice to be out on the water with Dee during the day and out into the night with J and friends.....this is a good place....

Sand, Salt, Water, Wind....Blood.....

October 20, 2009.....Tomorrow....Happy Birthday, Amy....our wonderful niece......posting to you tonight from a rogue unsecured wifi signal on my front porch in Tampa Bay, Florida....yippee....we have not had time to get our own signal back on tap...just arrived back here, in one piece, last night at 8.....oh my....we just saw our niece, Amy, at the Reunion in Panama City Beach, FL on Saturday....Happy, Happy Birthday, Amy..... .....this is the area we have been connected to our entire lives.....Panama City Beach....please click on this photo to enjoy the full feel of it....what a magnificent place..... ......and what a fantastic reunion with Ray's people.... ....we were so thrilled our son and granddog were able to make it to the gathering of the clan...... ........no words are needed for this beauty...... ....Cherie, Ray's cousin on the left....our Amy, the Birthday Girl on the right.... .....90 year old, Aunt Delphine in the extreme wrap....the oldest participant.....very funny lady....and on her right, Doug and Ganelle.....Doug married us many years ago.....Doug is Ray's uncle.....oh, what fun....really.... .... Cole, our great nephew at his first public performance..... ......and Mary Kate, Doug's granddaughter plays and sings away....oh, my.... .....Ray led the way.......Sand, Salt, Water, Wind....Blood....it's all good.......

We Will Adjust.......

Wednesday, October 14, 2009.....I am better, thank all of you for emails and calls and blog comments......we have enjoyed visiting with Mother and the little demon chihuahuas......they really are better behaved than they were six months ago, at our visit here....the chihuahuas are....Not Mother!......but we got some things in place yesterday that will make it better for Mother, since she and the dogs refuse to come visit with us awhile in Tampa Bay...... ........she loves for me to do her hair....and I enjoy it.....she really is pretty for an 85 year old lady.......a true southern belle.....we have washed windows and washed sheers.....and other little things that make us feel needed....the little demons are a bit better at not trying to chase Hannah down and bite her on the butt....we trade turns outside with them....... ........this is the first billboard we saw upon entering Florida.......We Will Adjust.......somehow....

Hang On....(I am saying this to myself).....

Sunday, October 11, 2009.....I think....it is too hot here to think....we are at Mother's in Pensacola....after way too much time on the road stuck in three hour traffic pile up and being lost in Louisville, Clarksville, New Albany areas.....Mother took us in even though I sound like I am dying of TB...or worse.....we are at main library in Pensacola only for a few minutes today....relatives are due at Mother's soon to visit today....have had one lacking wifi experience after the other on the road....will try to catch up emails and post tomorrow maybe......thanks for hanging with us...we need your support....

Kings Auto Mall....Cincinnati, OH.....Oh....

October 7, 2009.....Wednesday.....well, here we are on the back lot of the Jeep dealer in Cincinnati.....yesterday evening the locks on the Jeep and the inside lights and the windows stopped working.....so here we are....stimulating the economy......also, yesterday, I started with a raw throat and now have the first head cold I have had in many years.....but Ray did find an unsecured internet signal back here on the lot....and we may ask if we can courtesy camp here tonight...it will be too late to get back on the road and try to make it to Louisville....that is where we wanted to be today.....but to catch up a little....last night we had a spotty wifi signal and some pretty severe weather at the campground near Columbus, OH....so we did laundry until about 11:30 pm but did not get a post done....so I will try now...under battery power in the Airstream.....waiting for the Jeep...... ......we stopped in at Niagara Falls, NY.....I think I probably picked up some kind of bacteria in all the mist there...and it developed into a cold.....anyway, the Falls are great....but kind of shabby looking all around....residential areas in decay....Seneca Casino....overpowering and garish....not our style....plus, driving around and around with Airstream in tow is not fun to me.....we were not about to pay $15 to park so we did find another place on a side road within the Park...and walked to the Falls....too many people....we are spoiled by being in Maine so long..... .....sunset over Lake Erie.....cold....windy....very windy....I thought we might end up in the Lake.....there was one other person camping....we were lucky the Lake Erie State Park was still open...... .......look in back of us up the hill and you will see the Airstream....wonderful grass area for ball chasing..... .....yesterday, after we left Lake Erie State Park, we found Shor-Lan Farm Stand....New York table grapes....vines and vines of them...they grow grapes for Welch's....met wonderful Rebecca who insisted she give us a Farm tour and the lovely owner, Amy...... .....she rode us up and down through the different grape varieties...explaining it all as we went.....this was an unexpected pleasure.... ....we also bought some local apples....the grapes and the apples hopefully will rid me of this cold quickly.... ....these grapes go directly to the processing plant....they are really pretty and are much like a southern muscadine....only the skin is not as thick.... ......it is not easy to be on the road and sick and have car or other issues....however, we keep reminding each other that we could be at work....hopefully, on to the Louisville area tomorrow....we lived in that area for several years....we will be looking for some Pizza King pizza.....one bright memory of the area.....

St. Johnsbury, VT.....Henderson Harbor, NY....geez.....

October 4, 2009....Sunday....I think....what a pleasure to travel slowly on roads less traveled....we have done that Friday, Saturday and today....we may do some interstate travel tomorrow.....but here we are this evening on Lake Ontario....we have not passed this way before....we are going to try to make an accounting of which and how many bodies of water our Hannah has had a dip in....
......if you didn't know where this was shot, you could think it was at Three Piers area on Anna Maria Island, FL....it is Lake Ontario..... ......Hannah did not care where it was....it was water...... .....we are their last guests of this season.....soon the owners are on their way to California to visit relatives for the winter..... .....last night, we were in the Burlington, VT area at Mallett Bay Campground....went in to Burlington Church Street area and had dinner at the Asiana Noodle Shop....I know....this was my dish....I know....part of it looks like earth worms....but what it was was black bean rice noodles with a creamy Thai sauce and tofu....good but too small a portion for the price....
....Ray can't remember what his was named....but it was good...not great...just good....it looks like a mess but was pretty tasty....we did not take a photo of the campground because it was not memorable and it was raining..... .....this is the campground at Moose River in St. Johnsbury, VT...our first night on the road....we later found out our friends, J and Robin lived at this campground for a month years ago during their Vermont time....small world..... ....while we were at St. Johnsbury, I met a girl who told me about the Dog Chapel up the road....art by Stephen Huneck and a Dog Chapel he put on the property...of course, I had to go..... .....it was an overwhelmingly emotional experience for me to walk in and see all the photos and memorial notes left on the walls of the Dog Chapel.....all I could see was so many people that had grieved so for their beloved companion animals.....and all over again, I did not understand why their lives are so short compared to ours..... .......such a nice service he provides for people.... .......and his gallery of his work over the last 30 years is impressive....as are his three shop dogs.....
....geez.....and then to top off the day....sunset over Lake Ontario.....

Licking the Envelope....

October 2, 2009....Friday....the title of tonight's post comes from our friend from Belfast, Jim....he came by our campsite the other evening...and we were doing this and doing that to get ready to be on the road and he said, "So, you're licking the envelope."....we said, "what?"....and he explained that meant to him we were getting ready to move on....so here we are...licking the envelope....

....at the House on the Hill....Jim and Dot's low tea.....the music was remarkable.....I helped Dot with the galley....next time I will help Dot but I will also be a musical participant...Jim is an incredible musician....we can hardly wait to share his work in Florida...and wait for him to personally share his work in Florida....we are sitting here at Moose River Campground in St. Johnsbury, Vermont listening to a tape Jim sent with Ray (having left Camden Hills State Park in Maine today)...instructions for playing some of his work....Ray just discovered this tape in his old boom box Desert Diva got him in Oregon..... at Gilbert's....Charlie with his electronica music and the Maine Media College kids showed up to do a Mockumentary....as one of their exercises.....
  ...... a last waltz at Merryspring Nature Center off leash dog meadow with Otter and Hannah.... ......and back to Mariann's house in Cushing for an introduction to the ritual of the Finnish Sauna....Mariann has Finnish grandparents....and my gosh, she also had homemade bread and borsht....and the largest cod fish that had ever entered Ken's lobster traps....oh, geez....how are we going to leave...but we are licking the envelope.... ........Mariann's sweet rye bread.....beautiful.... .....Mariann and baby Ottie.... ....Mariann lighting the candles in the dressing room area of her sauna....and the inner workings of the sauna.. .....it was a great feeling to have all that sweat purging out of your body....and then to walk out in to the 40 something degree outside weather.....I don't know how we are going to leave.....but we have licked the envelope.....

 

Hauling Traps with Ken, Adam and Otter......

September 29, 2009......Tuesday.....I don't think there are many summer people who are invited to go out to empty lobster traps......Ray was one of the few and the excited....actually awed....I drove him out to Rockport Harbor to have him there at 7 am......he had himself up and dressed in jeans, flannel shirt, hooded jacket and Cowboy Ken's full length bright yellow slicker....at 5 am.....for a guy that starts getting up at 9 am....that behavior was unusual.....but it matches the opportunity....below is a photo from Oregon 2006....our Cowboy Ken friend from West Virginia.....he gave Ray his yellow slicker....and this is the first time Ray has worn it.....so Cowboy Ken is a different Ken from Captain Ken, Lobsterman......interesting......

.........these photos can be clicked on to enlarge.....

.........Ken's is the only red boat in the harbor.....

........and Otter as a very young girl goes out almost everyday on the boat with her Dad....she is "on the hook" here and sleeps most of the day.....

.........Adam is Ken's nephew and he is the sternman.......Ken does not have the license required for another person to work on the boat....so Ray could not work ......Ken was very careful to keep Ray as an observer....

.......Adam is refilling the bait bags that will be left in the traps they empty......

........he looks like he could be a Rabbi out to sea for a day.......

.......Ray was impressed by the fast pace of the work and how accurate Ken was at pulling up to the buoys where Ken's traps were attached....

........Ken sells the stone crab and pinky toe crabs that come to his lobster traps.....and last night we used a Paula Deen recipe and I made crab cakes.....Ray did all the detail work of pulling out the crab meat and cleaning it of shell....so I made the crab cakes......

....and they were very tasty....they are so labor intensive....it lets you understand how you could be looking at about $54 worth of crab cakes, if they had been served in a restaurant.......

......Ottie is glad she is learning to be a sea dog......the tanks with the day's haul waiting for crating for the market......

.......I think Ray said 250 pounds for the day and they do this six days a week....250 pounds was not an outstanding haul......

.....while they were out, they shared space with the Mary Day, a schooner out on a day sail......and seals.....

.......and Robin Fish.......and squid.....all vivid....real....colorful.....and all part of the daily life of a Maine Lobsterman and his Sternman and Sea Dog.......

.......thank you, Captain Ken, Sternman Adam and Sea Dog in training, Otter......you will be immortalized in a song for sure....this is actually Ken's birthday today......HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEN!!!!!.....