Scattered Thoughts . . .

The weather was beautiful yesterday, my health was in good condition and I was feeling well and energetic.  Lately, this seems to be a rare combination of conditions so it was the perfect day to work on more of my sailboat restoration projects. My little 37 year old AMF Alcort Minifish sailboat is coming along nicely even though parts are extremely difficult to find.  This boat is no longer manufactured.  The parts are no longer manufactured.  The only way to obtain parts is to either find used parts or substitute parts designed for other sailboats.  In my case, I opted to buy new parts designed for the Sunfish, Super Sunfish and Laser sailboats. Speaking of Laser sailboats...  I would love to have a Laser!  The Laser is still small enough to transport on the roof rack of a car yet it is large compared to my little minifish.  The Laser is designed for speed...  it is sleek...  it is lightweight...  and it can really move!  Unlike what my spinal injuries and health have done to my a

Sheila's daughter, Liza, had to work this weekend so we had a nice visit from the grandchildren over this rainy, snowy and damp Memorial Day weekend.  When Liza returned to the house after work, we dug into a nice barbeque pulled pork dinner with homemade cole slaw and homemade french fries. Even though we were stuck inside the house, we had a really nice time.   You can view all 28 photos here, at my Zenfolio account .   Someone is now comfortable on her feet... The kids are getting big very quickly.  At 13 months, both of the kids are standing now when they feel the need but Mackenzie appears very comfortable on her feet.  She has no problems getting to her feet, bending to pick things up, standing again, taking a step, but still seems to prefer to crawl when she needs to get somewhere.  There is no doubt that crawling is still easier and faster for both of them...  but not for much longer! Uncle Adam set up some of his trains for the kids.  While he was setting up th

I have experienced almost twenty Vermont springs and this past spring has been the most unusual, by far.  Typically, spring in Vermont occurs in the blink of an eye without much fanfare after experiencing weeks of quicksand-like mud.  I have seen a few springs with some stubborn winter snowfall refusing the melt away.  Climate-wise, those snowy, long winters were followed by typical springs but the snow took longer to melt simply because there was so much more snow to melt than in average winters.  After those winters of exceptionally heavy snowfall, I have seen snow skiing in Stowe through to mid-May. We didn't see all that much snow this past winter though.  Actually, through much of the winter we saw bare roads and bare landscapes.  We did, however, see some late storms with snow falling from the sky long after what is considered normal but these few storms were short-lived. This past weekend was one such weekend. A cold, wet Memorial Day weekend left snowy mountaintops.

We currently have a week of rain hampering my efforts to get the boats ready for summer.  After this week of rain, I have only three more weeks to get the boats ready for our time at the lake house on Lake Groton.  Time is getting short but none of us are short on excitement...  nor a little anxiety! My little bit of anxiety is due to the hullwork I need to get done on the sailboat.  I'm getting short on time and I have no experience in repairing fiberglass hulls so I am a bit unsure of myself.  On top of that, I need to install an inspection port which requires me to cut a 5" hole in the hull.  I must purposely cut a big hole in the hull of my dear little boat!  One should be able to understand why I am really anxious about that task.  All in all, I think I can get all the sailboat work done in a few days. That includes waxing the boat.  I could use another day or two readying the three kayaks too which could also use some good wax. Anyway, while I am stuck inside, I t

I recently wrote about a rude and dangerous awakening during anaphylaxis as a result of one of my fairly typical Systemic Mastocytosis episodes.  Awakening to your heart suddenly and almost violently responding to anaphylaxis with palpitations and tachycardia is definitely a rude awakening.  Talk about a jump start to your morning! That post was about awaking to anaphylaxis in the morning.  Now, I will introduce you to the helplessness of anaphylaxis at bedtime...  and, worse yet, at a time when you are ridiculously careless. The other night, I laid down in bed for the night, had just started to read a magazine on my Kindle Fire, and suddenly felt the initial telltale signs of anaphylaxis.  I was suddenly lightheaded, couldn't breath and felt as though I would lose consciousness instantly.  I also had the usual but really weird sensation of falling that I have always had difficulty describing effectively.  It feels as though I am in a constant freefall through a long tube that

We went out last night to celebrate the birthday of a very dear friend.  It was actually a bit of a surprise birthday celebration for Judy. Judy's daughter, Lindsay, made a surprise appearance from her campus during finals week.  As Lindsay tells the story, "That amazing moment when I surprised my mom by calling her outside the house and knocking so she tells you to hold on because there is someone at the door and she opens the door and it's me, SURPRISE!  Happy Birthday mom!!!"  Lindsay also helped to arrange this surprise dinner celebration with a few close friends.  All of this during finals week! We had dinner at The Reservoir Restaurant and Tap Room , otherwise known as The Rez by the local crowd.  As always, it was really nice to get out with friends.  A couple of us at our table have had our problems lately in finding consistently good health so it was a pleasure to finally get out together and to feel well while celebrating!  Getting together has been

The sailing season is almost upon us but I still have some work to accomplish on the sailboat.  We are excited to be heading to the lake house in a few short weeks but the sailboat must be ready by then! Most of the parts I have ordered have arrived so I can now begin working on the hull and installing new parts. The main thing that needs to be accomplished, above all else, is to do some much needed hullwork.  This past winter we had some water get into small cracks in the gelcoat and then freeze.  The expanding frozen water cracked out a larger hole in the gelcoat.  This gelcoat is applied over the fiberglass hull, sanded smooth, and then some serious elbow grease is needed to wax the shine into the newly applied gelcoat. This photo, to the left, shows the cracked out gelcoat on the hull.  I also have a few other small areas of the hull which could use some attention so I will work on those areas as well.  Eventually, I would like to refinish the entire surface of the hull..

I was opening the mail this morning and noticed the flowers that Whitney had brought for Sheila yesterday for Mother's Day.  I immediately realized that, even though I missed the opportunity to shoot photos yesterday while everyone was here, I could get a photo of this bouquet of flowers and post it. So, although a bit late for the blog post about Mother's Day, here is a photo of Sheila's Mother's Day flowers...  the day after Mother's Day!

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I believe Sheila had the nicest Mother's Day she has had since I have been in her life.  I'm very happy for her since there is no doubt that she certainly deserves it! What is very odd, and highly unusual, is that I did not shoot a single photo all day long to capture this great day in photos.  Rarely does an event occur without me shooting a few hundred photos!  Before everyone arrived I managed to find some time between preparing food and removing clutter in the house to prepare my photography gear for some photos.  I even had two cameras ready with different lenses for different purposes and a flash gun all set to go with freshly charged batteries and a diffuser.  The day went by so quickly and I stayed so busy all day with food prep that I never had time to pick up a camera. Adam (Sheila's son) did most of the house cleaning.  He vacuumed the entire house...  dusted everything...  and he even cleaned the bathroom.  His years as a c

Liza and the kids walked over to our house for a short visit yesterday just before dinner.  As always, it was nice to see Liza and the kids.  I had a chance to shoot a few photos while they were here playing in the yard. You can see the very small album of photos at my Zenfolio webpage here. Last summer Lukas liked sitting in the sailboat and it is obvious in these photos that he is going to enjoy being out in any of the boats.  Just for fun, we placed him in one of the small cargo compartments of one of our kayaks and he was happy to just sit there as long as we let him!