One Week Aboard! I have not been inspired to write about our week aboard but feel that I should. It seems longer than a week. Maybe it's because it feels like a continuation of days and weeks past when we've pretended to live aboard.
We have yet to feel any sense of routine, other than that we've followed before, largely due to the lack of refrigeration. Our lives are disrupted by living out of an ice chest We haven't made real dinners, mostly just warmed up leftovers.
I have not finished stowing everything away but have a plan. Our clothing situation is still in an uproar. I think that's going to be the most difficult system to refine. The problem is that this time of year, we have cold and warm days… I need warm clothes in the mornings and then switch to shorts and T-shirts in the afternoon, only to flee back to the warmup pants as the sun sets. I think that I'll cull some things once I develop a routine. If I haven't worn it in two weeks, it goes! (at least to storage for a while)
Work clothes present some problems. Our original plan was to continue doing laundry at the townhouse. We have since decided that it would be too restrictive to plan for a laundry day in town. We bought an iron and one of those stubby ironing boards for the boat and will do laundry either here at the marina by the load, or at the laundromat up the road. That way we can get it done quickly when it's convenient. Ironing will cease once I quit my job.
The Cats have settled in, well at least Jezabelle has… Jetsam continues to search periodically for her "closet". She has some favorite spots to sprawl but still goes through periods of pacing the length of the boat pawing at locker doors. Any time I open up a compartment, she comes running to see if it's a possible hidey hole for her. She was waking us up early, two am, three am, four am… She's let us sleep three nights in a row now with only minimal meowing. Things are looking up.
Jezabelle on the other hand, has been the model boat cat. She seems content to be where we are sometimes and to sleep away the rest of the hours in some soft spot she's found. She comes up into the cockpit when we're out and has even been seen lying in the sun once or twice. She sits on my lap in the cockpit while we watch TV in the evenings just like she did at the townhouse.
We have been able to get out and ride our bikes several times and have taken some short walks. I look forward to getting more exercise and just the act of climbing on and off of the boat should help my activity level. Boat life is more active if for no other reason than the "inconvenience" of having to lug groceries and laundry every week.
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| Watching the sunrise in my jammies |
It's really nice on the days I don't have to work, that we don't have to pack things up and return to town. We just put away our stuff and get a beverage to enjoy while we watch the sun go down. The days are short and it's dark very early. This does cut down on the project time. I have noticed that I've relaxed more and taken time to enjoy things… maybe I feel less "compelled" somehow, if that makes sense… Example: While I shook out the newly washed bedsheets to make the bed, Jezabelle did her usual thing… she scrambled around between the sheets, a most favorite cat-game. Usually I shoo her away and lose patience when she won't go. This time, I lingered with the billowing sheets and enjoyed her game, the reward being some laughs some VERY loud purring.
Work days I have little time in the mornings to piddle. We are up early anyway so no change there. I spend an hour or so having coffee and playing on the computer, then get dressed and have a quick breakfast. It's been leftover breads and pies thus far, but Bruce has promised to start making me oatmeal as soon as our fridge is fixed so we can have the creamer I love with it. I leave the boat with the sun coming up and there are always critters of some sort out and about. I stop to watch them for a few moments on my way to the car.
The drive into town is nothing I've not done before. It just takes time. The island road provides a beautiful, soul lifting backdrop for some designated "thinking time". It's difficult to think about anything unpleasant with such beauty all around. I saw a flock of Roseate Spoonbills one morning and wished that I had my camera. I may have to start carrying it with me to work. I had fog lying in the troughs between the dunes another morning. It was like something off of a postcard. Gorgeous! The traffic isn't really bad and it's just a straight shot until I join my usual path to work from where the townhouse is.
It really hasn't sunk in that - We live in Port A on a sailboat -… Maybe it will just be a gradual thing. Having the luxury of storage at the townhouse helps a lot. We haven't had to deal with getting rid of everything. Bruce still has his garage full of tools and windsurfing gear. Lots of boat stuff is being stored there until we are forced to find room on deck. The life raft, the extra sails, deck storage chests, etc. can just stay there until we need them.
I look forward to getting the fridge fixed and making some choices about the freezer compartment before I get too cozy using that space for other things. We continue to shuffle stuff and form workflows and routines. We're getting it figured out and it feels nice being out here. Marina life is good!
