ArgoKnot

ArgoKnot
A journal of my weaving, spinning, and knitting life
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Author name: ozweaver

News from Home

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We passed into North Carolina on Tuesday, and it feels like we are really on a new adventure now!

But first…. we have had some particularly poignant news from our life back home…

On Friday I got very exciting news from our son Chris that the folks at Bloomberg News wanted someone from Columbia University to comment on the recent Nobel prize in physics.  Naturally they wanted Brian Greene, who was unavailable.  So they contacted Chris’ lab to talk to the head of the experiment, Tanya Zelevinsky.  She happened to be in Japan for a talk, so the next person in line was Christopher!  He was picked up by a driver on Friday afternoon and delivered to Bloomberg offices for the interview.  They taped the interview around 6pm and it went on the air at 8.30 Friday evening!  I was ecstatic!  In fact, I’m off the charts as a shamelessly proud mother!

You can see the interview HERE!!!   If I were savvier I would be able to inbed the video…
He was positively cool as a cucumber in front of the cameras and under the relentless questions of the newscasters!

The other news is that Jack Spangler, a new friend in Essex, has passed away.  From what we’ve heard it seems that he died peacefully in his sleep one night last week.  We knew of him when we were members of Norwalk Yacht Club, but we were just really getting to know him in Essex.  He sponsored us at Essex Yacht Club, and he took us under his wing, like a mentor, in our first months there.  One of the glorious highlights of our first summer in Essex was spending an afternoon with Jack aboard his classic Dyer 29′  Musketeer.

In the short time I was getting to know Jack he told wonderful stories about his wife who passed away years ago, he accompanied a lovely elderly woman who could no longer drive herself to the yacht club almost every evening so she could enjoy the sunsets with the rest of us, and he took a great interest in Bob and me.  Although I hardly knew him well, he had a great influence on our settling into town, and he seemed to be one of those gregarious people who are endlessly interested in everything and endlessly upbeat….which brings me to one of my favorite quotes from another sailor, Henry Plummer:

If I didn’t continually prove myself a fool I would think myself a philosopher–for I seem to come nearer to complete happiness more often than other folks.  I have worked hard for it, too, in a way, and I believe that I have made such friends with bluebird that neither poverty, want or woe can drive him far away for long…     (The Boy, Me and the Cat)

I know Jack will be missed by all who knew him.  How could anyone be impervious to his infectious optimism, his interest in everyone and everything, and his lightning sense of humor!  I am so thankful we had that lovely afternoon on the Connecticut River with him in August.

 

A Day of Sightseeing

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Yesterday we did a bit of sightseeing in Hampton, starting with the Air and Space Museum.  It’s quite a well done museum, far smaller than the one near Dulles Airport, but therefore easier to manage.  There are planes and helicopters from almost every era of flight, as well as the actual Apollo 12 space capsule, and a full size model of the Mars Rover “Curiosity.” Bob has photos.  We had a great time there. (I did wish I could tell someone that all the planes need dusting!)

We walked some through of the older neighborhoods in Hampton, but there is nothing here older than the late 19th century.  I saw some wonderful bunglows!  It’s tragic that everything that dated before the Civil War (and this town was settled in 1604) was burned when the Union Army had stationed itself at one of the two forts in Hampton.  The Hamptonites decided to destroy their city rather than be taken by the Union Army.  A great loss…

Today we plan to visit Fort Monroe, as the “SSCA cruising station” volunteer Kate, who works at the Hampton City Marina, is loaning us her car for a few hours.  One of the benefits to membership!

Our friends from Williamsburg arrive this afternoon for lunch on board!

And speaking of SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) I’ll end with a photo from Monday when Bob and I were volunteering in the booth during the boat show.  As luck would have it, the Hendricks booth was just across from our booth.  We all had to have a little nip to keep warm!

Day 32, October 12: Sightseeing in Hampton, then off to Williamsburg

A Landmark Day

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We had another long, trying sail today….  we covered 70 miles in 11 hours.  We were under way at 7.30 am and entered the channel at Hampton, Virginia, as the bottom of the sun just touched the horizon.  By the time we got our anchor down, the sun was down too, and the horizon was soft rose, lavender, and pale blue.

This is a lovely city, but I’m afraid I was a bit too tired to care.  Although, now that I have complained, let me say that I am NOT going to complain!  Lots about the day was so much better than the previous day!  After once again getting dressed in every warm thing I could find, I stepped into the cockpit and realized that although it was cold it was not damp!  By mid morning there was one small hole in the thick overcast sky through which a beam of light was dazzling a spot of water just ahead of us!  I had high hopes of sailing right into that light!  …and we did!  By mid afternoon the sky was half cloud, half blue, and it was a gusty, brilliant fall day.  It’s that gusty bit that made sailing so hard…

Eleven hours later we planned to celebrate the fact that we had arrived at a place further south than we had ever been before by boat.  I had two enormous lamb chops thawed and a bottle of sauvignon blanc.  We were both exhausted and the oven took forever to come up to temp.  I guess I was asking more than it could deliver by setting it at 450.  I finally gave up after almost an hour and put the chops in at 375….somehow they turned out just fine!  And it did pick up our spirits to each such a wonderful meal….even it was 9pm by the time I got it on the table!

 

 We are anchored just off this lovely clock tower.

I got lots  of knitting done on both my ‘wingspan’ shawl and my ‘Ann Jacket.’  No photos yet.  They just look like blobs on the needles anyway!

Excitement of the day!!!…. we saw lots of pelicans!  And we saw a very large sea turtle floating on the surface, checking us out as much as we were checking him! Alas, we have a firm rule that the camera must stay zipped and buckled in its case at all times when it is not actually in our hands, and that means that we miss many shots in the time it takes to get it out of bondage!  We have to balance access to quick shots vs. safety of the camera.  Safety wins.

Today we explore Hampton: the Air and Space Museum, and an art gallery for certain.  We’ll spend the weekend in Williamsburg with old friends who happened to live right across a small pond from where my parents lived, while Pandora waits for us here on her anchor.

The weekend promises to be quite bittersweet for me since I’ll be seeing my parents’ old house.  This has been an emotional year and a half, with the death of my father, my mother being declared incompetent and having to face her long history of mental illness, getting her into a safe place up in New England much against her will.  I know this is becoming quite the norm for people in my generation.  It’s the hardest work I’ve ever done….

It’s October 11.  We have been away for one month…

Day 30, October 10: Glebe Creek on the Potomac to Hampton, Virginia
Day 31, October 11: sightseeing in Hampton!

D-R-E-A-R-Y

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We were under way at 7.00am this morning, which I believe was just after sunrise, but I sure couldn’t tell.  There was just shy of 20 knots of wind, gun metal grey turbulent waters with white caps, and a sky only slightly lighter than the water.  The wind was coming from diagonally behind us, which made Bob happy, but also made the boat roll from side to side….ugh.  I watched the ‘levo-gauge’ go from 25 degrees on one side of level to 30 degrees on the other side of level.  Bob realized within our first few minutes out that he’d better find the stugeron for me.

Should I also mention that winter is nipping at our heels as we hurry south?  For the past two days we’ve awakened to temps in the mid 40s with the highs for the past two days in the mid-50s.  Have I mentioned that I only get warm showers, at best.  Sometimes I’d say they are tepid showers.  I’m getting seriously cold….

So today when I huddled down below, wrapped in a blanket on the settee, wearing my warmest clothes: one of only two full length pants (my summer weight jeans), one of only two turtleneckes (I wore the other one yesterday), my pullover fleece (why didn’t I bring any of my wool sweaters???), and luckily one of several of my hand knit wool socks, I began to think about what I could do to remedy this situation.  I have a number of sweaters that are near completion with me onboard, but, although they are wool, they are not what I’d call useful sweaters.  They are all cardigans with no buttons….jackets and such that are meant to be fashionable, not serviceable.  I began to think about the yarns I brought with me and the projects they are slated to become.  I remembered some yarn that I saw in the top of the first bin (easily accessible in the madly rolling conditions) and the ‘wingspan’ shawl pattern that goes with it.  I managed to get it out.  I opened up my iPad and found the pattern and the requirements, found the appropriate needles and some stitch markers.  I found my earbuds and opened up a Cast-On podcast to begin my shawl.  This project was to be for some future situation when I might hear about someone who might need a little love in the form of a knitted shawl which would represent my hugging them….  Well, sometimes you have to wrap yourself in your own hug to stay WARM…..

No photos of where we went today.  I spent the whole day down below!  We sailed until 5.30 pm and tucked into the Potomac River, into an estuary called Glebe’s Creek.  I learned in the guidebook that ‘glebe’ is an English word for a plot of land given to clergymen.  They could farm it or let it for extra income, and it’s another example to me of how much closer were the south’s ties with England than the north’s.

Two firsts today:  Bob saw a pelican!

What a marvelous bird is the pelican
His bill can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak enough food for a week
I wonder how in the hell he can! 

And we have crossed the line from Maryland to Virginia. Glebe Creek is a quiet little spot, and we are enjoying the peace after a week in Annapolis! The wind is howling but we are in a snug little spot in calm water.  I made a dinner of comfort food…penne with my best effort at Alfredo.  How can you go wrong with cream and fontina?  We cut the fat with a salad that included a ripe tomato that I picked totally green from my garden a month ago.  I never imagined that they would ripen before rotting.  But they are perfect!

Here are the last two FOs (finished objects) that have made their way to their rightful owners.

And here is the beginning of my ‘Wingspan’ shawl.  I finished two sections and started the third today.  Could I wrap up in it by this weekend??

Day 29, October 9: Annapolis to Potomac River

Family Time

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We have just spent the weekend with our two sons Rob and Chris and Rob’s girlfriend Kandice!  Kandice was a sweetheart to host all of us along with Rob’s dog Bosun at her house in the suburbs of Baltimore!  We all crammed into one car, with our laundry and weekend gear!  We laughed a lot, played with our granddog and Kandice’s three cats, drank margaritas and ate wonderful food!

I don’t know what we were thinking to drive back to Annapolis (in boat show traffic!) on Saturday to walk around the town and have a late lunch aboard Pandora.  Just getting five people in the dinghy at such a crowded floating dock was a bit over the top!  We spent the afternoon walking through the Naval Academy.  There was a wedding in the ‘chapel’ and it was lovely to see all the men in uniform and the bridesmaids in rich fall colors of deep purple dresses (aubergine) carrying bouquets of deep orange and red gerbera daisies.  Those young women had to be freezing in their strapless dresses during the outdoor photo session!

We ate a lot of decadent food together, but Kandice’s Sunday morning ‘Monkey Bread’ took the prize!

 This is our last day in Annapolis….not a bit too soon for me!  That’s an odd thing to say about a place I love….so many beautiful places all within easy walking distance!  But to spend a week in a city while living on a boat is definitely weird.  Living on board is much more suited to being off the beaten path, in some remote location that is utterly unspoiled.  To be right in the middle of a busy harbor, especially during the biggest sailboat show in the US, is really quite jarring!  I’m living off the grid while sitting just off  a bustling city that rarely sleeps!  The Naval Academy run their stadium lights all night long!  (Well, that’s not entirely true…I think they are off from about 2 – 5 am each day.  Still….)

This is the kitchen window in an Arts and Crafts brick house circa early 1900s right near the academy.  I was smitten!  Wish I could have seen the whole kitchen!  I do want that light fixture!

Another view of the chapel at the Naval Academy.

Here is Bob taking a photo of Pandora from the Academy.

Chris took a couple of photos of the family during our weekend together, but I do not have them yet!

We will work our time slot in the SSCA booth this afternoon, after finishing up on our last needed purchases from the show, and tomorrow we will be on our way to more secluded locations.

The weather has changed and it’s now definitely autumn on the Chesapeake!  It was raining and in the mid-50s (F) when we returned to Pandora yesterday afternoon.  It went down into the 40s last night.  We are running our Esbar heater now… it’s definitely time to head for warmer climes if we are going to live this way!  Here is this morning’s sunrise.

Days 25 – 28, October 5 – 8: Annapolis and Baltimore suburbs (by land!)

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