The memories of ARITA left behind in CURACAO and the sailing we did through the Caribbean Sea are all beginning to fade ........ We need to get back there real soon .... The hectic pace of city life is good for a while, but then it gets to be a little scary ...... The big event was the expected delivery of Laurie's grandchild, her first, a baby girl to be duly named "SOPHIE RYAN" ........
And right up to the very last Lauren-Anne was doing five mile walks and fooling around, doing the 'Captain Morgan' and 'Heisman Trophy' stances ..... Brave little trooper she is ...... All of this in good stead, for the baby popped out in record time, with only an hour and a half in labour .......'Kid on the run' you might say ..... A bit like a 'Drive-by, drop-off' type of thing ...... We were allowed into her room about 30 minutes after the event, to witness 'Princess SOPHIE' with dark long hair and mother looking like it never really happened.......... Amazing to see ....
The expectant mother and the baby never leave the room, once the baby is born, which is really neat ...... The hospital room looks like a suite in a fancy hotel with cable TV and music, and all the trimmings of a nice apartment..... Only the bar fridge was missing .......
And the proud father, young Tony, endured it all with grace and charm ......... And ever so glad it all went smoothly and painlessly ........
The 'Queen of Florida" meantime is now in an entirely different role ....... It is a giant leap from sailing in the tropics to suddenly being 'grandmother' ......... Still she gets to alternate between the two and that can't be bad, can it ? ......
Three days later and they are out and about .......... Right there is the magic of being healthy and staying healthy, and doing all that physical excercise before-hand ....... No need to go to extremes and do the rice-paddy thing, though ...... You know,.... Swing the babe on your back and go right on planting rice .....
And five days later, with her little bundle of joy curled up in her arms, the new parents are adjusting to life's new routines ......... Like the new catch phrase in one of the TV shows, as the husband rolls over in the middle of the night and says " I'll pay you a million dollars if you get up and change the baby's nappy ...."
I have been keeping 'out of harms' way' by going each day to my pal, Tommy White, the sailmaker, whose premises have slowly filled up with all the purchases for our new yacht "SOUTHERN COMFORT" ..... Mostly ebay purchases arriving daily to the loft .....
THANK YOU, TOMMY ...... He's a champion guy .....
Hundreds of bits and pieces like auto-pilots, mast rails, winches, filters, refrigeration compressors, all the stuff to do a complete overhaul and renovation of a thirty year old yacht ...... Should be fun, if it doesn't scare you half to death ......
The generator on "SOUTHERN COMFORT" is worn out so logically it needed replacing and so we purchased a new one ......... You know small, about 9KVA, enough to run all the goodies like fridge and freezer, microwave, four air-conditioners and the water maker ....... But what arrived was a unit big enough to power a small city ...... Somebody dropped the ball somewhere ...... We sorted it out eventually, and our new YANMAR GENERATOR is packed in our crate ready to be sent to PUERTO RICO, where we will do the renovation ..............
Even managed to get a specialist to weld the stainless steel exhaust pipe for the generator before putting everything in the box and screwing it shut ...... It will sit here until we first sail to Puerto Rico on "ARITA" .....
You remember those wonderful people Timo,the boat builder and Annemieke, the artist in CURACAO, with their houseboat and their beautiful yacht "BLUE MARLIN" ....... Well, Timo took a group of six young men for a cruise to the islands of 'LOS AVES' in Venezuela, a beautiful bit of paradise for a ten day sailing holiday ........ And early one morning a sudden squall came up out of the west with such force, that it dragged the anchor and put the "BLUE MARLIN" on the reef ......... And within half an hour she was a total loss ......... Our hearts go out to them, for we have seen the photos of the labour and the love that it took them to build this fine yacht ..... But having spoken to TIMO he is unperturbed ....." We will do it again and this time better", "We will go on and move forward" ..... What a guy, this boat-builder, this builder of mountain paths, this lover of life, this 'Island Man' ...... Good for you, Timo ...... Never say 'die' .... He is so inspirational ........ That's TIMO with the white cap behind the six 'buccaneers' as they were leaving Curacao .........
Speaking of 'dying' ......... Laurie's mother passed away the day before "Sophie" was born ..... Laurie's mother had been cared for in an Alzheimer's residence for years and her passing was really a blessing for everybody ...... So sad, to see a person virtually comatose day in, day out ....... And there's nothing anyone can do ......She was 83 ..... We took her ashes to the beach, a place where her happiest days were spent ........ For she and her late husband lived right on the beachfront in Jacksonville, Florida .....
This was a joint-family affair ...... For the siblings spread their mother's ashes in the ocean together with those of her late husband ....... A ritual that is probably as good as it gets, for now their remains are eternally together in an endless ocean .......
'For in water we are born and to water we should return' ...... And the ocean takes all comers ........
Anyway, you see what we mean by 'What a month we have had' ...... So, to return to a more even keel, here is a stainless steel horse ........ Bright and very shiny ..... Now in the past we may have neglected to polish our own stainless steel on board ARITA from time to time .... But in the future, whenever we do it again, both on ARITA and on SOUTHERN COMFORT, we will definitely think of this stallion, and whoever keeps it polished ...... We fly back to CURACAO on the 4th October .....WOW ..... What a month it has been ...................... Timo will pick us up at the airport ........ saying "Sorry, mate" just doesn't cut it ........
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