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Hot Tubbing?

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I’ve returned home to paradise.  A new neighbor stopped by with banana bread.  Another had picked up our papers when we were away from the house getting the boat ready for winter.  Here’s the real clincher.  I was walking down the street and passed a teen on the other side of the street walking with earplugs in.  He paused and made a point to wave!!  I think we’ve found the place for us.
But what about our hot tub.  I was dubious when I returned to find this tub in our yard but after two soaks, I’m almost embarrassed to say that it was pretty nice.  I hear dueling banjos in the background but at the same time, I look up at the sky and see stars and mountains around me.  The debate continues.  We’ll probably get the real thing but in the mean time, this isn’t too bad.  You should see our couch!

Thanksgiving Pigeon?

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We are on the west coast of New Zealand.  Yesterday we toured the Franz Joseph Glacier in the mist and then it poured rain and presented the classic views of the clouds over the mountains.  I woke up today, Thanksgiving, to see Mount Cook,  shrouded in clouds, outside my bedroom window.  Now the sun is coming up and I hope the clouds burn off.

I asked about the likelihood of finding a traditional US dinner and was told the best they could do was shoot us a pigeon for dinner.  I’ll pass because all the meals throughout the country have been outstanding.  Today we’ll take a long drive south along the west coast and arrive at the alpine town of  Queenstown where Chelsea hopes to get her yayas out.  I’ll be contentedly knitting and taking photos.

We visited Ashford, need I say more for the spinners out there and I bought a loom!!  This will round out my foray in the fiber world but I have to make a quilt for our new home first…or at least get it underway.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Skinny or full fat?

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Full fat of course!!  Chelsea and I are traveling through New Zealand and I was surprised when I checked into our  first motel and that question was posed to me.  Every suite has a hot pot for tea – coffee is definitely second choice here – and you get a container of milk for tea upon check in.  It’s funny to be in a country where English is the language yet you still don’t understand what is going on.  I think I have figured out how to order coffee – flat white thank you very much.

Chelsea showed me a great time in Sydney, which is probably the most beautiful city in the world.   Now we are winging our way through the South Island of New Zealand.  Yesterday we crossed the Cook Strait in gale conditions and noone blinked an eye.  Then I got into what I consider a backwards car and drove off.  My two biggest challenges are to get in the driver’s side of the car and to think very carefully before making right turns.   I’ve only bought a little wool so far but tomorrow we’re going to visit the Ashford spinning wheel company south of Christchurch.  I’m still marvelling at all the sheep and countryside.

Settled in and leaving home

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Now that most of the boxes are unpacked and rooms are pretty much set up, I am leaving for a couple of weeks.  We’ve met our 2 really nice neighbors, learned about the coyotes, minks, bears, porcupines, fox and deer that inhabit this area.  We’ve bought a snow blower and chainsaw and have been looking at pickup trucks and couches.

Sadly I must leave this behind for the next couple of weeks   But it’s for a good cause, I will be my daughter’s Sherpa.  I think she has accumulated more things then she can travel with so I am bringing an empty bag with me.   I am meeting her  in OZ and then we are traveling through Middle Earth.  Photos to follow.

I am only bringing wooden knitting needles on the plane and I hope to procure more wool in either Australia or NZ.  I have my IPOD,Kindle, paperback book, surprise knitting project, sock knitting project and antihistamines to help me sleep.  I leave Saturday and arrive Monday.  Happily I am meeting up with my good friends Carol and Steve during a layover in LA and then I’m off to see my darling daughter Chelsea who I haven’t seen since July!!

Hold on though, I need to check my mega millions ticket before I go because we still need a wood burning stove, hot tub, awd car and lots of wool.

Caumsett Fall

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Well we did it.   We moved to the Adirondacks and we’re dealing with all the fun that comes with a move — where is the…?  After several lovely days anchored in the unnavigable waters of the Sand Hole at Caumsett State Park, we headed east to Setauket and Port Jefferson.  The night before we were to move off the boat, a gale moved in.  I didn’t sleep too well because I kept waking and chanting, “gale go away”.  it didn’t and there we were with the last of our stuff, 6 bags, and the two cat carriers.  The harbor was too rough to get ashore in our beloved port a boat and we had to be rescued by a sea tow launch.  Very embarrassing and a little unsafe.  We knew weather was coming and employed mystical thinking – bad idea.  But we made it ashore.
Is this a dried shark?

Water Tank

My Favorite Tree in the World

False advertising at Brad and Angelina’s

This could be the view from our front porch…but it’s not

This is

I took a real shower the night we moved in and didn’t have to think about water or electricity. I haven’t been able to put away my head lamp yet because we can’t find any of our lamps.  Photos of the house to follow.  I think the real reason the sellers moved was that they couldn’t get internet here.  People rely on satellite and it’s slower than dial up.  We have been using an ATT usb modem for years but we don’t have any coverage here.  Our Verizon cell phones have been working so yesterday we drove an hour to a Verizon store in Plattsburg and bought a MYFi.  Naturally it set up easily on my Mac.  But….DH has a Windows Vista computer and that took about 5 hours to set up.  It wouldn’t recognize the wifi broadband until I found new drivers for it.  What a pain.  I realized I am a Windows enabler.  Arghhhh.

Cats Looking for the boat

Caumsett Fall

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment
Well we did it.   We moved to the Adirondacks and we’re dealing with all the fun that comes with a move — where is the…?  After several lovely days anchored in the unnavigable waters of the Sand Hole at Caumsett State Park, we headed east to Setauket and Port Jefferson.  The night before we were to move off the boat, a gale moved in.  I didn’t sleep too well because I kept waking and chanting, “gale go away”.  it didn’t and there we were with the last of our stuff, 6 bags, and the two cat carriers.  The harbor was too rough to get ashore in our beloved port a boat and we had to be rescued by a sea tow launch.  Very embarrassing and a little unsafe.  We knew weather was coming and employed mystical thinking – bad idea.  But we made it ashore.
Is this a dried shark?

Water Tank

My Favorite Tree in the World

False advertising at Brad and Angelina’s

This could be the view from our front porch…but it’s not

This is

I took a real shower the night we moved in and didn’t have to think about water or electricity. I haven’t been able to put away my head lamp yet because we can’t find any of our lamps.  Photos of the house to follow.  I think the real reason the sellers moved was that they couldn’t get internet here.  People rely on satellite and it’s slower than dial up.  We have been using an ATT usb modem for years but we don’t have any coverage here.  Our Verizon cell phones have been working so yesterday we drove an hour to a Verizon store in Plattsburg and bought a MYFi.  Naturally it set up easily on my Mac.  But….DH has a Windows Vista computer and that took about 5 hours to set up.  It wouldn’t recognize the wifi broadband until I found new drivers for it.  What a pain.  I realized I am a Windows enabler.  Arghhhh.

Cats Looking for the boat

It’s been real but…

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We’re moving. To a house! Our plan hadn’t been to remain on the boat in the northeast for November. We were headed to the Bahamas and then the real estate market beckoned. DH found the dream home in the Adirondacks. If we continued on with our original plan, we wouldn’t have spent any time there until Spring 2011. So we changed course so to speak. We’ve hovered around our home port waiting for a closing date. It has been a beautiful crisp fall with the emphasis on crisp. While hiking yesterday – and taking advantage of free hot showers at my alma mater- we got the call that the closing date is set. We’ve become very efficient at paperwork first without a printer on the boat and now from only our cellphones. From the park, we contacted PODS, who won’t deliver to our new address, and arranged for our mover to get our stuff. We called the insurance company and got a binder faxed to two attorneys. And I think that is that. I’m looking forward to seeing the house for the first time. The kitchen has to be better than the boat’s galley and I hear the views are stupendous. And there aren’t any acupuncturists in the community at the moment. If I can warm up my needles, I’ll be set.

Betwixt and between

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We’re in limbo at the moment.  Not quite nice enough to enjoy being on the boat and still waiting for a closing date on the house.  It’s hard to be in the moment when the nightime lows are predicted to be in the 30’s F.

We spent a couple of days at the Sand Hole in Caumsett Park.  The scenery was spectacular and we ran and enjoyed watching the boat traffic on the sound.  We were dismayed to see the signs that greeted us though. We’ve both enjoyed this anchorage for decades and were surprised to see a sign that said inlet not navigable.  We took it slowly and realized the sign was bogus to keep out….who?  The inlet sits within a state park but there are a few private homes nearby.    I ranted about New Yorkers last time but it flies in the face of the hospitality we have enjoyed elsewhere.  People have given us moorings, showers, lent us their car.  And then when we return to our own backyard we are met with this.

We spent yesterday at the Norwalk Aquarium.  The highlight for me was seeing a set of twins at one of the tanks.  They must have been about 3 years old.  One exclaimed when she saw the tank ,  “Oh anemones!! ”  I’m not sure I can even spell that.  Then she pointed out the clown fish in the tank.  Her sister looked into the tank and said, “Soap!”

We sailed back to Setauket last night.  It always starts as a great idea, full moon, fair wind.  By the time we arrived at Port Jefferson, after passing a barge, ghost sailboat and ferry, the wind picked up, the waves were crashing and the moon disappeared.  It goes to show you it’s always something.