Editor's Note: a bit of a brain dump in blog/journal (blournaling) format.

Written Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Woke up around 6am this morning. Light was coming over the hills. We’re anchored just below the Witches Tit. Tit’s rather embarrassing to describe to people how to find us. Moxie and Copper Penny headed out yesterday. We got to say goodbye to Copper Penny. We missed Moxie by twenty minutes. Emily and I were out running errands.

I’m trying not to think about the boat all the time, but it’s hard. Some small wins from yesterday:

got a D lock for our dinghy
got a used 10 lbs propane canister for $40
ordered 20’ of 10mm chain from Andy (Red Boat). It’s $4/foot and looks better than the chain Step Three is selling for $9/foot
Got the new propane tank filled. $10.50. Cash only.
Got cash to pay for said propane and the chain Andy is supposed to bring by this morning.
Got a new 400W inverter. So we have charged up the laptop (here I am), and most of the other devices. The MacBook Pro still spits out DVD’s. Frustrating. My only idea is it’s been tossed and banged around quite a bit, a part has possibly gotten jostled. We’ll see. I may hook up the inverter to our battery bank and run an extension cord up to the nav desk. That would give us 320W usable, versus 150W we can get through the ‘cigarette lighter’ right now.
Karina ran the morning errands with me. It was nice to have her along.
Got rid of a bag of garbage.
We had three meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We had FHE together. Sang “Come, Come Ye Saints” with me on guitar. OP by Alison. I shared a bit from David Bednar’s talk: Windows of Heaven. Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, led by Lily. CP. Then UNO. I won. Eli was a sore loser. But it was still nice to all be together.
I took a lunch break. I read in my book. I just sat still and talked with Emily.
Emily went out with me in the afternoon. We picked up a few things at ACE. (The other lock for our dinghy. I’ll be glad to have that project pieced together.) We dropped by the Sala’s. Claire and the kids were swimming in the pool. They invited us to dinner and a swim on Wednesday. We’re looking forward to that. ~3-4pm for swimming. Dinner around ~5:30pm.
Stopped by and met Paul and Cheryl on Distant Shores II. They’re the Canadians who make a television series. Thirteen 30 min episodes a year.

My hands are getting calloused. I suppose that has to do with all the rope I’m handling these days. I think that’s a good thing.

I dreamt last night that I was being interviewed for some job with [ ], arranging travel and visitor experience at some island. Makes no sense as I say it out loud.

Doing new things is harder than doing the same things. I suppose that’s why it’s so hard for us to change.

Slept about eight hours. I’m falling asleep around 10-10:30pm. Waking up at 6am. My favorite morning laze-about is watching the American flag wave off our shroud as I lay in bed. I can see it through our hatch. There’s something soothing watching a flag move in the wind. It’s like watching a flame flicker in a fire. I don’t have long, hot showers anymore to let my mind wander. Woe is me. But I do have the flag. I remember some tidbit about how engineers or scientists have tried to somehow predict the movement of flags, or at least find patterns they can predict. And they haven’t come up with any. The wind is steady. Always from the east. But the flag, not so much.

Another win:

Took the kids around Grand Ilet. A rather grandly named island of mangrove scrub. There’s a small beach on the far side. I drove K, Eli and Lily around. We beached the dinghy and puddled around in the shallows. We found a star fish right next to our dingy in the shallow, clear water. Red and pink. Amazing. The main beach had a wrecked ship with a bunch of salvaged fiberglass, etc. all stacked on shore. It was even covered with a tarp. Someone had been at work. Karina drove us back. The kids were so happy about the starfish. Small wins.

Things that were once easy are now hard(er): Receiving a package. Using the toilet. Cooking a meal. But that is the price of doing new things, of being in a new place, of meeting new people. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I guess I am. Doing new things is harder than doing the same things. I suppose that’s why it’s so hard for us to change. Even if we don’t like where we are, who we’re with, or even ourselves, change is hard. It’s work. It requires more effort. But I suppose the reason we seek change is to find something better, to experience something more, to make new friends. I’m grateful to be where we are. It’s not easy, but I’m grateful.

The sun is breaking over the mountains. Lots of light is now shooting around. Here comes another day.