ozweaver – Page 48

Serendipity

February 23, 2015 | Leave a Comment

How do I account for the ‘fluther’ of Portuguese Man of War that drifted into our little mangrove creek yesterday? It has to be serendipty. Bob jumped in the dinghy and got lots of photos for me. Now I have plenty of good images to draw from for my tapestry.

The poor things will die back here as they tangle with the mangrove roots. We will have to be very careful going under the lines we have tied in the mangroves as we go to and fro in our dinghy, as well as when we leave and Bob pulls in those lines. At low tide the lines droop down in the water, so there is a good chance the lines have poison on them and can sting Bob’s hands when he pulls them back aboard in preparation for leaving. We’ve put dishwashing gloves on our provisioning list.

The water is a very weird color back here in the mangroves–a milky green. We think that it’s caused by something the mangroves themselves produce and leech into the water, but we have no certain knowledge about this!

What I do have certain knowledge about is the collective word for jelly fish: fluther! A fluther of Portuguese Man of War. I love collective nouns; they are so evocative. A ‘murder’ of crows is one of my favorites. A “bloat” of hippopotamuses, a “kindle” of kittens, a “parliament” of rooks. Last night when I went searching for a collective word for jelly fish, I found that a ‘gaggle’ of geese is for geese on the ground. When they are flying they are called a ‘skein’ of geese. I love that! Ducks also fly in a skein.

Just now Bob called me up on deck to see a small spotted Eagle ray– a juvenile. Isn’t he beautiful?

I’ll end with a shot of Bob I took yesterday. He was attempting to befriend a pelican. Not successful!

Hope and Possibility

February 21, 2015 | 1 Comment

Those are big concepts…. and words that come to mind for anyone who is at the beginning of a new project. Excitement for the new idea and the commitment to try it jostles with the anxiety of entering the unknown and doubts about one’s ability to tackle this new idea. In the case of weaving, and especially weaving tapestry, there is the calming process of making the warp, spacing the warp threads and weaving a header. This process involves relaxing repetitive movements with your hands that help chase away the negative doubts and worries. If you are very lucky–and I am!– you are holding a bobbin made by John Moss, a beautiful tool that you know was made with great care and precision and feels good in your hand.

I am trying a continuous warp this time, where I have all the warps on both front and back of my copper pipe loom and will advance the warp around the loom as I progress. Normally I make a continuous warp that has half the warp on the front of the loom and half on the back and I bring the two together with a shedding bar. Making a warp the way I have this time allows me to weave something twice as long as my small loom. The downside is that when I advance the warp around the loom I will have to be very careful about keeping things straight! I have been meaning to face this fear for years! I also have to keep the back warps from distracting me so I have inserted a card so I will only see the front warps!

There is just nothing so soothing as the look of a brand new warp. There is no other time in life when things are so neat and tidy and every warp thread is perfectly parallel with its neighbor, with even tension across the whole surface. Life is certainly never as even as a warp!

Several weeks ago I made an acquaintance with a tapestry weaver from the Baltimore area, Ann Booth, whose works I’ve enjoyed seeing online. I’m using up a data this year keeping myself inspired by looking at artworks online and staying in communication with other weavers. Next year Ann and her husband may be out here sailing down the coast and across to the Bahamas. I hope our paths will cross. Perhaps we can even weave together!

When I mentioned that I had only met one other weaver during our three years of cruising (and that woman, a Canadian, had left her looms behind and brought only knitting along for her trip), Ann introduced me to Doris Florig, who is currently living on her sailboat in Guatemala. Doris is such an inspiration! She reminds me of the enthusisam and quest for knowledge of my younger self, when I was so intrigued by learning everything from the ground up: spinning my own yarn, dyeing, weaving cloth. It was in my young adulthood that I learned these techniques. Somewhere along the way I have lost the wonder of these things. I still spin and dye and weave, but over time that original awe and wonder has left me. Doris is still cultivating and nurturing that spirit of adventure. The main saloon–or cabin– of her boat is not very different from my own on Pandora, and she has set up a large tapestry loom in that space. Wow!

I can tell Bob is worried I’ll want a set up like this soon!

We sailed from Miami to Marathon, with a one-night stop at Rodriguez Key near Key Largo, over the past couple of days. The wind has been extreme but mostly at our back which is far better than sailing into the wind. It was a hard couple of days for me since I get seasick easily, but even Bob found the long days hard going. He has to do all the hard work by himself.

We are now in Marathon, and it is the most crowded harbor I have ever seen in the US! You’d think every boat from the US and Canada is here. There are no moorings available for rent, which is no surprise. We are #32 on the waiting list for a mooring, and I thought that would mean we had small hope of getting one before June, at least! The bigger surprise was that there is no room to anchor in the harbor. We arrived late in the afternoon, not long before sunset and I was quite worried when I saw how crowded things are.

Here’s a layout of all the moorings, now full. All additional space is taken up with boats on their own anchors. Sheesh!

We motored up into a creek off the harbor that leads into a mangrove swamp. There were already about a dozen boats up there “Med-moored”–short for Mediterranean moored– to the mangroves. This is a technique where you put down your anchor in the middle of the creek and then back the stern of your boat toward the mangroves and tie your stern onto the trunks of the mangroves. The boats end up lined up next to each other like in a parking lot. There was less room than we’d like between boats, but we managed to squeeze ourselves in. Luckily the two boats on either side of the spot we chose were very welcoming! We barely got ourselves settled as the sun went down.

Tied to the mangroves!

The wind is still howling, but we’ve learned that once the wind stops there will be gazillions of no-see’ums. I guess I hope the wind stays up! There are some cautiously optimistic weather predictions that March may come in like a lamb this year. If the weather truly does get milder many of the boats here in Marathon will head off to the Bahamas. We do not plan to go yet, so that may leave us room to move into the harbor. Maybe we’ll even get a mooring! Early next week we plan to meet up with old friends who have a 2nd home down here, and our older son is planning a visit next week after he finishes a business meeting in Miami. I am really looking forward to that!

On our first trip to shore yesterday we encountered this manatee. Shortly later we saw a group of four floating together in one of the small canals. Amazing creatures! The water is very green in this harbor.

So, now that I have done all the preparations I will start weaving today. I want to explore some ways of depicting water in cotton thread, and attempting the Portuguese Man of War that we saw in Boca a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who have seen my past postings you know that I plan to weave a large tapestry of a Portuguese Man of War. I’m looking forward to playing with water images today! Hopefully I will gain some insight on what I can do with the larger tapestry that is waiting for me at home.

Domesticity Onboard

February 19, 2015 | 1 Comment

Who would imagine it could be so chilly in the Keys in mid-February? At the end of last week Bob and I spent a few long days at the Miami Boat Show, and so I rummaged through the back cabin where I store all my ‘supplies’ to find something small to work on while ashore. Nothing is worse than having idle hands while stuck ashore for hours and hours on end at a convention center. So I found a ball of sock yarn and started a sock.

Now, just a few days later, I really could use a nice pair of wool socks for my frozen feet! First one is just about done….better get craking on the second. I just cannot get over how cold it is most days. We left a small harbor just south of Miami Beach this morning and headed about 45 miles south to Rodriguez Key which is right near Key Largo. Poor Bob had to stand at the wheel all day in gusty northwest winds. Tomorrow promises to be colder, barely 60 degrees, and the wind will be considerably stronger at over 30 mph. Try standing outside in gale force winds in the low 60s with no warm clothing and see if you don’t get hypothermia. We surely thought by now, down in the Keys, we’d be warm!

One way to keep warm is to turn on the oven! So a couple of mornings ago I made the King Arthur coffee cake that is on the unbleached flour package. There is a crumb mixture made of sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and walnuts that gets sprinkled in the middle of the batter and then on top before baking. It made the whole boat smell terrific. I did not have walnuts so I used slivered almonds, and I put a little almond extract in the batter, but kept the vanilla in the crumb mixture. Great recipe– It’s a keeper!And one evening I made a dinner that I used to make quite often–in fact decades ago–when Bob and I were in college in the 1970s. It’s from the book The Vegetarian Epicure–who rembers that gem??? It’s called RussianVegetable Pie. The wonder of the internet is that I don’t even own that book anymore, but I was able to find the recipe online. I may not have the sharpest memory anymore, but the recipe looked very familiar and the finished dinner was as good as we both remembered.

This recipe starts with pastry crust made with both butter and cream cheese. There is a layer of cream cheese on the bottom, then a layer of hard cooked eggs. Next you add the layer of cabbage, onions and mushrooms that were sauteed beforehand. Place the pastry top and in the oven it goes! If this brings back good memories of the 70s, you can find the recipe here

Dinner is ready and the cabin is warm! Luckily there was enough for two nights, so I got to turn on the oven again to reheat it the next evening.

Seems that I’m on a roll of beating things to death these days. Must be brain freeze.

Speaking of cooking onboard, since I cannot bring all the cookbooks I might want to have on hand, I have been on the lookout for years for how to have recipes onboard. Writing or typing out my favorites to put in a notebook or recipe file was absolutely NOT a solution. Last year I discovered an iPad app called Paprika. You can type up your own recipes in it (but that’s not for me) or you can take recipes off the internet and store them in the app. This way you can access recipes even when you cannot go online. I have been collecting recipes from various magazine websites–my favorite being Cooks Illustrated– and various blogs, such as Orangette and Dishing Up the Dirt. I even have my much loved and vintage Russian Vegetable Pie in the app.

When we arrived in Rodriguez Key this afternoon I had hoped to make my next tapestry warp, but I am stuck on how to do it. I want to do the kind of warp that can be pulled around the loom as I progress. I normally tie the first and last warp of a continuous warp to the bottom of my copper pipe. If I do that I cannot make the kind of warp that can be advanced. I am stumped! I tried checking the internet, but had no luck with that. Maybe I’ll remember how to do this in my sleep tonight…..or maybe one of my Wednesday Group friends will come to my aid!

So instead of warping, Bob and I took a dinghy ride in to Key Largo and as we headed in to the harbor we saw the African Queen coming out. We were freezing but we had to take a detour and follow her so we could document the moment!

And Now for Something Completely Different!

February 17, 2015

We’ve been in Miami for a week….hard to believe since Bob does not usually sit still that long! While the weather has not been quite tropical, it’s a far cry more pleasant than what is going on along the East Coast farther north of here! But I can’t help thinking about this year’s winter in parts of the world where violent weather is the norm. And that brings me to Scotland….

Various tapestry weavers in New England, along with tapestry weavers from Ireland, Australia and Denmark, are– at this very moment– sending off small works themed “Postcards from Home” to an address in Scotland. The tapestries will have a little tour of northern Europe, starting with a show at Northlight Studio, in Stromness in the Orkney Islands off Scotland in late March.

Our tapestries may take a ride like this on the Stromness ferry.

Roughly a decade ago I became acquainted with Elizabeth Lovick from Stromness, and ordered a Ronaldsay fleece from her. At the time she wasn’t certain if the fleece would ever make it to me in its unwashed state, but it did, and I had a happy few months spinning yarn for a fisherman’s gansey for our younger son Chris.

Since then Stromness has fascinated me. I’m intrigued that now a little piece of my work is headed over there!

Here is a video taken just a month ago on Fair Isle in the Shetlands. This makes me appreciate that not all sheep are….well…..sheep! These are really tough animals, not easily intimidated!–certainly not by violent weather! Tommy Hyndman took this footage and had this to say about the weather:

Fair Isle, Shetland – January 10th, 2015 – Gale rages to hurricane level as seen about the Isle on land and sea. Peak storm levels were at night, but it was still very outrageous weather, with strong gusts of winds almost knocking me off my feet several times, especially in the north of the Isle.

Fair Isle has a population of 60 people, 1200 sheep, 20,000 puffins and a few very rare birds. Hmmm….is that ‘rare birds’ of the avian type?…I’m thinking all 60 human inhabitants cold easily be ‘rare birds.’

I’ve always said that I’d never want to go sailing off England or any of these islands in the North Atlantic, even in summer!–though certainly the rewards for such hardship would be great!

I can’t help thinking of the nonchalant manner in which the Scottish talk about weather. Even Archie, who has hardly spent any time on the water compared to me, is a far hardier sailor than I’ll ever be, just by virtue of being Scottish! I can hear him saying any one of the well worn phrases about weather, such as this one: “In Scotland there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.”

So when this recent article by Nigel Calder crossed my path, I had to laugh. What timing! Just when our little tapestries go winging across the pond to Scotland to get on a ferry boat to Stromness, one of the most respected circumnavigators has written an article about the very area.

His photos from the trip are beautiful, as you can see below, and his tale is compelling. Check it out!

Mean Miami

February 17, 2015 | Leave a Comment

What a bizarre experience to arrive in Miami by water! The bright, almost acid green color of the shallow water in Government Cut juxtaposed with all the high rise buildings of Miami. It looks like a computer generated set for a sci-fi movie. I don’t think I could ever get used to it.

We are getting first hand experience of what we’ve been hearing about for several years: that boaters are not always welcome in Florida waters. With year long mild weather, some boaters have become rather like vagabonds, living on derelict boats that can’t actually leave a harbor to go sailing because they have become so run down. These boats sit at anchor in harbors for years unable to leave. Naturally, homeowners in the various coastal towns don’t want to look out at their water views marred with old, rotting boats.

It is a dilemma because no one owns the water. The homeowners don’t want their mega-million dollar views marred by boats that never leave, but we crusising sailors have achorage rights in any place with enough water for anchoring. There have been some contentious moments over this situation, and we witnessed one just the other night. At our particularly beautiful anchorage in Sunset Lake in Miami Beach, a homeowner came outside just before sunset and began yelling obscenities at a boat in the harbor. It was hard to tell which boat he was verbally attacking! No one was visible on the few boats anchored here in Sunset Lake except for Bob and me who were relaxing in Pandora’s cockpit! I was very concerned that he was yelling at us, although he seemed to be looking toward a Canadian boat right next to us. Eventually the folks onboard this Canadian boat came up from down below and it became clear that the homeowner was yelling at them. He threatened to sink their boat numerous times, and all his threats were garnished with profanity. It was quite uncomfortable for all of us.

Bob motored over to the Canadian boat in our dinghy to explain to them that they were not violating any rules, and that this anchorage is written up in all the guidebooks, in case the Canadians might be unclear about anchoring rights in the US. The Canadians decided to move anyway because it had been such a distasteful experience for them. Bob decided to call the police since the number is given in our guidebook with a warning to expect some problems with various homeowners. The police officer who took Bob’s call said this man has caused problems in the past so he is well known to both boaters and the police. The officer said someone would go out shortly to give the homeowner a warning.

We later heard that this same homeowner became enraged at a boat that was anchored here on Christmas Day, and that he began shooting paintballs at the boat. Can you imagine that? And the police were called out then too, but just gave him a warning. I’m wondering how effective these ‘warnings’ are.

So, here in Miami there are almost no places where boaters can go ashore. Yesterday we had to tie our dinghy to a stone wall at an empty lot under construction, and then walk along a path strewn with debris. It made me feel quite unwanted here. Since then we have scoped out various other options for getting ashore, and the best one looks to be a floating dock along the canal that runs next to Dade Ave. The Publix market that is right across the street may have put in this dock, which is quite commodious. However, when you get off the dock you find yourself on a very busy 6-lane road with no cross walk or traffic light. Well, it’s still our best option, so that is how we’ll get ashore today.

Our lovely anchorage on Sunset Lake.

Along North Bay Drive, where we have anchored, the houses are certainly beautiful and have stunning gardens as well. Here is one house and garden wall that we passed after getting ashore.

Just inside this gate is a courtyard where we saw a vintage Bentley parked.

While we were in Ft. Lauderdale, we made a new friend! (Her parents are quite nice too!) Cricket and her family are from north of Montreal and are sailing to the Bahamas on their Nonsuch 36. It took numerous visits for Cricket to warm up to me, but I was smitten with her on our first meeting! Isn’t she adorable?

On her 3rd visit she curled up against me and I was so shocked that I was hesitant to touch her. I figured she didn’t really mean to get this close to me! Her ‘mom’ said she almost never gets that close to a stranger. Eventually I put my hand down on her and began petting her, and she stayed curled up against me! Friends at last!

In the past week I have done quite a bit of lace work, and enjoyed every minute of it. These hearts are from a book of heart ornaments by Lene Bjorn, 24 Hearts in Bobbin Lace. After doing several projects that have taken me years to finish, and being thoroughly lost numerous times along the way, it feels great to just sit down to these hearts all by myself!. I hope to have a small collection of these for next Christmas. They will be wonderful ornaments on the tree.

They are actually little baskets. So the diagrams are for double hearts that are folded in half to create the basket, and they even have lace handles. I’ll be making yards and yards of handles at some point!

Well, I think I’ve beaten this subject to death!….but I couldn’t help it! It’s thrilling to me to be doing lace without a lot of handholding! One more…

And my tapestry will go off on its journey sometime in the next few days. Yesterday Bob and I headed off on a 4-mile walk to the post office in Miami Beach, only to discover when we got there that it was the Presidents’ Day holiday! Duh! That’s the cruising life for you….we’ll try again today, or I might have to wait ’til we get to Marathon later in the week.

I did manage to do the finishing and mounting work, never my favorite chores. But all is well at last. I used the half-Damascus finish from Peter Collingwood’s book, and I’ve mounted the tapestry to a small mat board that had holes punched along the edge every 1/8 inch or so.

Please note that to weigh down my tapestry I am using our heaviest book onboard, Nigel Calder’s Cruising Handbook. On any cruising boat anywhere you are likely to find a number of Nigel’s books, including this one. He is a well known English sailor who has circumnavigated a number of times with his wife and with their children when they were younger. I have a bit more to say about him next time!

Author name: ozweaver

Serendipity

Hope and Possibility

Domesticity Onboard

And Now for Something Completely Different!

Mean Miami

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