January 2009
Cold Morning on a Sailboat in Maine
01/17/2009
Living Aboard in Maine and Planning to Sail the World
01/11/2009
This photo was taken by Jack Norby - photographer, sailor, and pilot in Maine.
Exploring Home before we Sail the World
01/04/2009
We read a lot sailing books and subscribe to a number of cruising magazines. While crossing oceans is what motivates Stew, I am eager to explore new areas and meet interesting people. This morning I was reminded that Maine is indeed a delight and that interesting people can be found anywhere.
One of our propane tanks was empty and Stew asked me to go with him to get it refilled, so I would know the drill in the future. He told me about the guy who usually filled the tank. "He attended some training program for doing this safely and is very proud," said Stew. "He always gives me a little lecture on safe transport." Sure enough, we pulled in to the local U-Haul, parked by the fill tank, and in just a few seconds a young Asian man, with very baggy jeans and a slow shambling gait, walked over to our car. He spoke with a slight accent,and while he didn't recognize Stew, he did recognize the tank. (Really, he knew our tank!)
He examined it carefully then quickly and efficiently refilled it. I talked with him a bit and found that this is a weekend job. He has another part time job in the area and he is a full time student at a local college. With all of that going on, this young man was very conscientious as he filled the tank. He had obviously taken his training to heart and was proud of the responsibility that he had been given. When he handed the tank to Stew, he again admonished him to keep it upright and not to smoke while the tank was in the car. For some reason, he touched me. Nice kid, working hard to move ahead. When we finally take off to sail the world, I am sure I will be touched by many people.In the meantime, I want to remember to notice the people here in Maine who help to create this interesting community. Not all discoveries occur thousands of miles from home.
Labels: cultures, education, immigrants, Sailing, travel, work
Living With Less Equals Fixing Not Throwing
01/02/2009
1. You need to pair down your belongings.
2. You need to learn to fix not throw.
One of the top ten questions people ask when they hear we live aboard is "What did you do with your stuff?" The answer of course is that we got rid of most of it. We had the mother of all house sales. Everything on the first floor and in the yard (except for the dog) was for sale. We had a second sale 6 weeks later trying to get rid of the left overs. We still ended up with a full 6 X 10 foot storage locker and a lot of framed art.
Two years ago, we hauled the boat for extensive work, cleaned out the shore side storage locker and sold/donated even more. Even now we still have stuff to get rid of.
The boat rule is if a new (pair of shoes, pan, computer, fill in the blank) comes on board, the old one is taken off. This is actually an easy and freeing way to live. I know that many years from now when we move back on shore I want a small condo with a lot of built ins. When you have a lot of space you fill it up, and I no longer want to fill my space with things that don't matter.
However -- one can get carried away. During that haul-out/clean-out I insisted that we didn't need two coffee pots to go with our electric coffee maker and got rid of one. The pot is stainless steel so I wasn't worried about shattering the one we kept. This week, the handle broke. Stew wasn't happy that we didn't have the extra pot, but he got to work evaluating the situation, and collecting supplies. The result: a perfectly functioning pot with an epoxied handle. Cool. I look forward to getting rid of the electric coffee maker when we take off. The 12 cup, old-fashioned percolator is waiting for action. In the meantime, we make coffee just like landlubbers, but we fix and keep things like Live-Aboards.