FALLing into WINTER

No posts since our “Last Hurrah of Summer” in September????? What happened?? Oh yeah—the boat is on the hard for the New England winter and we are staying home. Now that so many months have gone by, I am finding it hard to get back into blogging mode. Let’s see if I can capture a few highlights from October, November, and December, before I tackle January which was another adventure for us.

Early October brought Alicia, Aaron, and Ella for a visit.Yeah!! We had a fun afternoon making pizzas together and playing outside.

We took to the road next to visit Sam and Kayda in Wiscasset, Maine.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch at Camden Hills State Park overlooking Penobscot Bay and the town of Camden.

While we were in Camden, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to say hello to Carol (as in Carol & John of Mango & Marley in Hope Town as well as Camden, Maine and Nova Scotia).

Autumn is so beautiful in New England. I really enjoyed immersion in the color and cool sunshine of the season. We visited Gouveia Vineyards in nearby Wallingford, CT.

Snow in late October! A typical New England “surprise”.

Tim and Amanda, our nomadic children, stopped to visit with us on their way south from Vermont, as they passed through Connecticut. It was such a treat to see them again! WatsonsWander -They are still on the road in their 25-foot Airstream, 4+ years now!

Project time! Al completed a major boat project (of course, there is something related to boating in this post!) He designed and sewed “chaps” for our dinghy. Dinghy chaps are the protective cover for the inflatable tubes of a dinghy and add extra years of service. Al referred to an excellent video on the SailRite website. We decided to use the same Sunbrella fabric as on our old dinghy, charcoal gray, with accents of navy blue vinyl. Al brought the dinghy down into our basement by rolling it down the hill to the slider doors. Makes it much easier to fit and sew, fit and sew, and fit and sew some more when the dinghy is only 15 feet from the sewing machine. Al shared the details of his technique and ideas on the FaceBook group Sewing On Boats (SOB). He really did an incredible job!

While Al was slaving away in the basement on the chaps, I picked up my weaving again. I had to re-learn the process again and used materials already at hand. Truly, it is easier and less expensive to just buy dish towels at a store, but the weaving is satisfying in a creative sense. Maybe I will weave something more interesting in the future??

Fall means cooking to me – soups, casseroles, cookies, and applesauce!

What is the big reason for staying home here in the north instead of sailing south again for the winter????? Grandchildren. I really missed them while we were away, and two more have arrived since we have been home. Addison in June —

Cecily, Caleb’s little sister, joined the clan in November. Al and I got the call around midnight and headed to New York City to stay with Caleb while Mom and Dad were in the hospital with Ceci.

And then, there was Christmas. I have enjoyed Christmas in Hope Town in 2013 and 2015. Hope Town has its own treasured traditions, but……. Christmas is meant for family. We celebrated  with three of our four children and their families all together on Christmas Eve.

Whew. At least I managed to bring this almost up to date. Almost, because January will take a series of blog posts to describe everything we saw and did!! Curious??