Happy Anniversary

I wish my sister-in-law Sally and brother Mike a wonderful anniversary! I do hope you both are celebrating tonight, and enjoying some of the wonderful cake left from yesterday's birthday celebration! What a busy week! We wish many more years to come for both of you!

Well I knew THAT ....

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Happy Birthday Mike

My brother is a year older and wiser today ..... back when this picture was taken I think I am about 8 or 9, and he is probably 3. That makes this picture almost 50 years old. Hard to believe! Where has the time gone? MIke is retired once now, but still working in a "secret type" job for the AF. Mike has lots of talents, math, science and physics being the formost, also music, and now photography too. I admire him learning and perfecting a new hobby. I'm glad he is so creative, and willing to share his knowledge. I was always jealous he could play the piano so well. Truthfully, he played better at the end of one year of lessons than I did in 4 years! He had a gift!! I wish I could share part of his birthday with him. I'll toast him with a good glass of wine and wish him amy many more! I love you!

Updates and sights from our backyard

We are harvesting about a dozen tomatoes a day now, and they are still coming on strong. I especially like the little grape tomato plant, it has groups of 6-8 little gems that ripen in succession. Some are green, some yellow, some ripe. Kind of fun to see. They have been delicious. We have been making a greek salad with marinated tomato, cucumber, feta, red onion and fresh herbs. Yummy!

Construction is going full tilt just 2 lots away from us. Eric reports that the concrete truck was there at 6am this morning. I love these big cranes that pump the mix out to the back parts of the lot. They can even go over the roof of a house to pump the patio, as the builder waits to pour it till last, once the house is almost finished. I guess they have had too many patios and sidewalks torn up by equipment.

Speaking of equipment tearing up things, we are without sprinklers again. Because of the work up the street, the water system pipes have been broken twice this week. They repaired the first break, and before the 24 hour waiting for glue to dry period was up, a second line was dug up somewhere else. Maybe we will have water tomorrow.

Oh my Auana Ke Kai

As you all know, we sold Auana Ke Kai on June 23rd of this year. It was indeed a sad day for us, as we have lots of wonderful memories of our time on the boat. Not only was she our home, but our mode of travel and exploration for nearly six years. But it was time to move on.

You may remember that our first Auana Ke Kai was the boat we sold in Florida in 1999 to a man from Texas. She was sold when we purchased the new boat, and never renamed by him. So Auana Ke Kai and her predecessor shared a name, and also our memories. This original Auana Ke Kai sailed to Hawaii from Californian with Eric and his friends. In Hawaii, she sailed the Pacific, and then came to Florida via the Air Force packed full of Eric's belongings. The day Eric and I married, we moved aboard this Auana Ke Kai, and ultimately sailed down the Inter-Coastal Waterway and found our way to the west coast of Florida. She had many fine adventures and made memories for us too. That's her on the left!

Two days ago I received an email from Australia, out of the blue so to speak. They asked if we owned "Auana Ke Kai" as they were interested in bidding on her and wanted to know what equipment was on board. We immediately knew it was not the boat we had just sold! A quick Google search, sent us to the same web site they had seen, and sure enough, the original Auana Ke Kai is in a salvage yard in Mississippi and being offered up for bids. As best we can determine, she was a casualty of Hurricane Katrina somewhere on the Gulf Coast. The pictures on the site show the damage, though as you can see, Island Packet builds one tough boat! She still looks good, and as the salvage yard says, she can be sailed, just needs repairs. But, it is sad to see her damaged like this.

We find it a strange coincidence that both our homes were on the market at the same time. We think our Auana Ke Kai is happily docked in Maryland now being sailed by her new owners. Hopefully someone as excited about sailing and Island Packets will bid and buy our first Auana Ke Kai.

Visit Ended

Mom and Dad are on their way home to Texas after their visit to Virginia. We had such a wonderful visit, it flew by and seems like they were only just here and then gone again. I know I enjoyed having them here so much ( as did Eric ) and if they ever decided to come this way again ( after they rest up ) we'll have the guest room ready. I do hope they will consider coming on the train next time, as they know, I worry about them out on the highway. So until next time, I love you Mom and Dad! Have a safe trip back!

Happy Birthday Anne

There once was a child born this date,
Who's age we can all calculate
She traveled far away
but was at home today
So all her talents we can celebrate!

Have a great birthday Anne and enjoy your Chinese dinner!

Pyramid in Hollywood Cemetery

Here's the Pyramid Monument to Confederate Soldiers in Hollywood Cemetery. The Plaque reads:
"A Memorial to the Confederate Women
of Virginia,1861-1865

The legislature of Virginia of
1914, has at the solicitation of
Ladies Hollywood Memorial
Association and United
Daughters of Confederacy of
Virginia, placed in perpetual
care this section where lie
buried Eighteen Thousand
Confederate Soldiers.
Move your mouse over the picture to see just how big it really is. If you click on the title, you can see historical information about the cemetery.