Just because...

Bay of Islands penguins

So we were riding back to Madrona last evening around dusk when something fun happened.  In that evenlight  Tamsyn and Griffyn were in the bow and and a couple of odd birds appeared about fifteen feet to our left.  They were Blue Penguins!


Very cool.  The kids were jazzed, and we were surprised too.  The blue's are the smallest penguin, but very penguiny to look at.  It's been a long time since I've been around penguins in the Antarctic so this was a special treat for me - a kind of reunion.


All is well.


Owen

Latest painting by Owen

Here's mine.  Carrie can't have all the fun :-)

Musings (Tamsyn, Kelly and Me)

April 17, 2012

Daily Tamsyn reminds me of Kelly (my sister), the ability to confidently draw whatever she wants, the loud laugh (which I also have been accused of bellowing), the quick learner with mechanical aptitude, the sewer who designs her own projects, the generous spirit who makes things for others. No doubt some of these abilities are also her father's, but I hear and see Kelly each day as if she is living with me still. 

Then she reminds me of myself, intensely creative and self absorbed, while working on a project or reading a book. The reckless abandon in the kitchen and the love of swimming, both visceral experiences. She feels deeply about others expressing empathy and love. She takes pride in preparing a meal from setting the table to serving the food. She thoroughly enjoys humor. And secretly, she loves to sing and desires privacy to explore her own ideas.

Tamsyn is the oldest child, like Kelly. At nine years old, she is just like a child, one minute running and playing with Griffyn, and the next minute she is making everyone breakfast learning quickly on her own. Second children, like Griffyn (and me) can stay young because the older sibling is eager to take on the responsibility that we evade. In some respects, I stayed young for years beyond my youth. I suppose that is called immaturity. If so art schools pride themselves on bringing that young part of us back to life either to haunt us or to playfully guide us to maturity. Art work works how ever you need it to work - if you are still able to play. 

And some days I see my own critical self (the impatient teacher, the tired mother, the artist missing art) pushing the first precocious child to grow up quickly to understand the world - while she yearns to play with her younger sibling. Because I cannot make her like me, a second child, I must show her how to find the child in herself whenever she wants.

Carrie

latest painting by Carrie

Green Water

Monday April 16, 2012

The translucent green tidal waters have washed out the chocolate browns of the last month. I can barely remember the green waters here, there has been so much run off, sediment and debris to thicken and color the water. 

latest painting by Carrie

It is sunny again this morning, yesterday I washed three small loads in the 'Miracle Wash' rotary washing machine. One queen sized sheet is a full load in this little washer. Dawn (S/V Kudana) gave us this washer. Dawn and Bob are unloading things. They have put Kudana (a small catamaran) up for sale. Bob is 80 years old and they are done cruising.

We brought the wringer to the Laundromat and it disappeared in a day. It was getting quite rusty along the handle, around the screws and on the top. We had stopped using it about a month ago when the continuous rain and gales swept through North Island. We also didn't have good memories of using it and I was reluctant to try again. It  was screwed across an eight gallon plastic tub. Because it's attachment points were designed for a metal sink - they were too wide and we had to use wooden blocks wrapped in rubber to provide a thicker tub wall so that the wringer had something to grasp tightly. And emptying the water took all three of us. It was very heavy and there was no low drain. 

I regret not taking a picture of the three of us using it. But that is all I regret. It used too much water, yes you could do large loads, but then your entire day was committed. And of-course you did the laundry on deck with out wind, sun or rain protection. In New Zealand it is always windy so the sunny days that seem good for drying clothes are generally so windy that it is exhausting to be on deck for any length of time. 

The Miracle Wash fits on a bench in the cockpit. You load it with a large sheet for example and add warm water and a tsp of detergent, screw on the lid and begin rotating it. It is shaped like an oval sphere on a stand with a handle on one side. The handle is too small so we don't use it. It would be fine for 3 shirts, tiny loads, but we never have tiny loads. Instead of using the handle, we rotate the sphere by hand. It turns easily, the kids love turning it. To get clothes clean requires 50 rotations. We all take turns and it is done before you know it. Generally I turn it a bit more just to be sure. In the tropics, we may wash tiny loads daily where sun is predictable and rain water is readily available. 

Another reason the wringer was impractical - it required too much water per load. I used 15 gallons (three gerry cans) to wash two large loads. That's a lot of hauling for Owen. And I could only do laundry when the extra water was already on board. Because if you don't start in the morning - it won't be dry by dinner. With the Miracle Wash I only use about 6 gallons for 3 small loads and I can do it entirely by myself in the cockpit with breaks when I need them. Now I do have to wring the cloths myself, but these are small loads and it is easy on my hands. The wringer did wring out much of the water, but because I did such large loads the water left in them would settle and the bottom of the bucket of clothes would all have to be wrung again before they were hung. The wringer became more trouble than it was worth especially during the rainy month of March. 

"I want some tea, Mom", Griffyn said as he crawled into the V-berth interrupting my writing. I told him I was writing and read a couple sentences to him. "I want to write," he said.

"O.K.," I said. "What do you want to write?" And Griffyn then typed, 'Yesterday was a good day, I liked helping you with the laundry and I loved my two cups of tea that Tamsyn made me.'

"Would you like 'Toad in the Hole' for breakfast Griffyn?" I asked.

"No Mom, I want French Toast."  So off we went to make breakfast.

The Tide has Turned

April 11, 2012 

We wanted to say hello to all and hope your Easter Sunday was as full of chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs and egg hunts as ours. Here in NZ it's Easter Monday, so we celebrated with all Kiwis on April 8th - 9th. Tamsyn began making her basket a couple days before. She remembered how we made them last year (hand woven with colored paper). Then she made one for Griffyn. She is so competent these days. She has been getting up before us to make breakfast. Today it was scrambled eggs, apple slices and tea. Lovely.

We have just experienced 3 - that's 'three' - full days of warm sunshine. It is hard to express how much we needed that vitamin D: how much it has lifted our spirits. I spent an an afternoon painting with Sylvie on Puddy Tat. We went on our favorite hike, along the beach from Opua to Pahia (2 1/2 hours). Then we ran into the family from S/V Pegasus who drove up to Opua from Auckland for the weekend. Tamsyn and Griffyn were so excited to have kids to play with, they were jumping and hugging. (The last kid boat with English speaking children left Opua 3 weeks ago.) Catherine (Pegasus) invited us to come with them to the play ground in Pahia. While the kids played, we all talked about how difficult NZ has been (for them in Aukland and us in Opua) and how much we can't wait to sail north to warmer waters.  We talked about where we might go next (no certain plans yet). We were so cheered to see them again! After they drove back to Auckland, we felt lazy and happy to have warm sunshine again. 

I was able to wash sheets on the boat and hang them out to dry. Then Griffyn washed the decks with the soapy water. (We have had to use the laundry mat for the last month.) We have had so much rain, one local headline read, "60 Days of Rain in 36 hours" and that headline was 3 weeks ago (two storms back). The last storm (40-50 knot winds, rain for 6 days straight) was our second "storm" and the mere "gale" winds (30-40 knots) following with it was probably our 7th or 8th gale since December. We are averaging one gale every other week. I didn't feel compelled to write about the last storm/gale situation because it was so much like the others - and I have to admit the weather was getting us down. Our living space is reduced by half when we cannot go up on deck.

There has been tons of flooding all over North Island and as a result there are stray logs & debris floating. The last Securitee Warning was for a floating log 10 meters long! in the waters between Pahia and Opua. A couple days ago we saw a 4 meter tree tied up to the main dinghy dock. And the debris - it's hunks of wood and great big sticks, floating on brown foam mixed with smaller sticks, leaves, seaweed, and garbage. And the water has changed from a thick pea soup green to a dark chocolate brown. When the tide changes there is a tide line of foam in the water where two tones of brown converge forming a long swerving line of foam across the whole bay. The days where we can safely take out the camera have been few and far between. 

On the bright side our boat is much drier these days. Between gales and rain storms, Owen dashes out and spreads 4200 (heavy duty caulking for boats) around the trim all over the cabin house, around every port, around every attachment point for the hand rail. He repairs every spot where a wood plug (bung) has come loose and a screw is exposed. The people who owned this boat before us would fix a loose something or other by pounding a nail through it - so there were a lot of little holes that needed to be fiberglassed or caulked. We were actually a little excited the last time it rained hard - wanting to see how dry the boat would stay. And we were pleasantly surprised. Dry as a bone. I no longer bake on rainy days either - to avoid condensation. 

Owen has almost completely finished the pedestal - he needs one more sunny day for varnish - (today it is raining again.) The battery bank seems to be doing O.K. We run the engine to charge them more often now. At some point, outside of NZ, we will replace the gel starter battery with a new lead-acid one. But for now the systems is holding. Owen has replaced a number of corroded 12 volt outlets (you know the old salt water and metal thing), and fixed some shoddy wiring in the 12 volt system to boot. He has changed the engine oil again. And though that sounds so simple it too turned out to be a 6 hour job as our normal hex nut plug in the oil pan froze, so we had to suck the oil out through the dig stick hole (which a majority of cruisers do anyway). Thank God for David on S/V Puddy Tat - he has been there every time there is a problem. There are still a couple large projects that need to be done on Madrona, but the list is definitely getting shorter. 

Sylvie (S/V Puddy Tat) has been a great friend to me. She keeps coming up with ideas for selling her work online - the latest is fabric designs. She is entering a contest online - I'll be looking into it as well. And Sue on S/V Fugue has contracted a design for a knitting project from me. (She loves my paintings.) I am currently playing with her favorite one to design a pattern for a scarf. There are a lot of sites these days for marketing creative ideas. And I have begun an article about Tamsyn's Birthday at Minerva Reef - which I will submit to one of the cruising journals. (I'll keep you posted.) 

And Owen has got some things going with his business. Fiji has better internet connectivity than New Zealand so maybe we will sail there next. Anyway… we are past the "winter hump" here on North Island where this summer has been the worst in 20 years. The weather here has been more like their typical winter. For us the tide has turned in our favor and we are feeling mighty grateful.