Day 5 on the Hard

Today, Monday, Oct 17, is DAY 5 on the Hard.  I am slowly adjusting to the fact that we are not living and travelling on High Spirits. I miss it already. Only 8 months to go.
But there is lots to do and friends to spend time here in New London plus visiting our kids in their homes over the next couple of weeks.

We have trips planned to DC and Baltimore in two weeks and then the weekend after that it is off to NYC.  Then Thanksgiving out in Columbus, Oh plus a visit to Cleveland at the end of Nov for doctor and dentist appointments, and then back to New London for Christmas. We are looking forward to our Christmas visits by our children and grandchildren. 

Joy has her midweek ski pass ordered, and I have connected with my IRS tax volunteer group.
We played dominoes at the senior center on Friday afternoon, it was like playing with our parents. The other players were 85.  I signed up to be a volunteer driver for the senior center.

So far, I have made some progress in dealing with all the stuff we brought back from High Spirits. The table in the barn room is almost cleared off.

Joy has been super busy cleaning the rental side of our house. For those who have not been to New London the house is actually two separate full size houses connected with a room in between, we call it the barn room because it was built with old barn timbers and planks.  One of the houses has always been rented out.  We are preparing it for hopefully some Colby Sawyer college students to move in around Jan. 2012 for the second semester of their school year.  Most of the work needed is cleaning and some painting.

Attached is a picture of Astor, Mike and Susan Todd's new puppy.  Spent the afternoon yesterday with Susan down at Colby Point. Mike was rowing in two person shell in a tune up race for Head of the Charles which is next weekend.  We plan on having a dog sometime in 2013 after we do next year on the boat.

Since we are not on the boat, I will be not writing as often, but will write when things happen

Joe

HAULED OUT - S. ELIOT, MAINE

Hello Everybody,

This is most likely going to be our last blog for this part of our sailing adventure.  We are officially on the hard as they say.  High Spirits was hauled out today and will be staying at the Kittery Point Yacht Yard's Eliot, Me facility.

We were fortunate to be able to stay at Sara Funk and her daughter Willow's house in Dover, NH which is only a 20 minute drive to the boat yard.  They have a lovely apartment over their garage.
We had a wonderful talk with Tom Allen, Owner/President of KPYY.  We were in the office and he came down the stairs and asked me if I needed some help. I asked him what was his job, and he said
"Help my management team".  Knew he was the owner right then and there.  He is the 9th of 10 children and is from Westlake, Ohio and went to St. Ignatius graduating in 1984.  He was in the financial service industry and bought the Kittery Yard first and then the Eliot yard.

So here are several pictures as we have spent the last 4 days working on High Spirits, or should I say Joy has worked harder than I have. She really gets into cleaning the mildew.  Has to be done.

So after 15 months, the paint job does not look that bad, we are going to have it repainted as we have a gallon of Trinidad Pro (costs $245/gallon) left over and should be fine. 

Other minor repairs include Cutlass bearing replacement, fix the front head smell and shower sump drain. 

The biggest one is moving the radar unit to the mast.  We had discussed that before and it became official when we took the unit off the back stay .  Just want everybody to know I was holding the ladder when the other person on the team, dropped part of the support strut into the water.

We were able to do a lot of work ourselves and cut our bill down.  Saved about $400 at least by doing the radar unit, taking off the boom, sails, and all the lines.  We left the yard with pulling the boat out of the water, taking off the mast, and pressure washing the bottom.

So now we will be in New London starting tomorrow until about June 5th or so.  May post once in a while but Joy says nobody is interested in our ground life.

However, if you are in New England this winter, call us and come and visit us.

One of the cranes at the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard

Stripped down and ready for hauling

Centering High Spirits on the haul out truck

First Bath since Stuart, FL

Check out the Barnicle growth on the prop shaft.

Joe

Isles of Shoals

We made it to the Isle of Shoals around lunch time today, Oct 6.  Left about 8:30 am and rode the current out of the Merrimack River.  It was a little rough outside on the way to Gosport Harbor, Isle of Shoals but we got here in good shape.  It is about 6 miles east of Portsmouth, NH.

Last night we went to the Screening Room, a small arts style movie hours right in downtown Newburyport, Saw John Tuturro's Passione.  An Italian movie about music and Naples. Very interesting, I thought it was very good.  However, 4 people out of the 18 in the place walked out.
Then we went out for dessert, Joy had carrot cake and I had chocolate dipped coconut macaroons.\
Newburyport was a great stop for us and I liked being on the municipal dock as you were right where everything was.
Joy loves the Isle of Shoals because she came here as a kid on Primrose VI with her grandparents, parents, and siblings.  Also there was a famous murder here long time ago.  It is too rough to go into shore at this time. We are bobbing up and down.  Hopefully tomorrow morning it will be calmer and we can go ashore.  Need to leave around  1 pm so that we can catch the flooding tide to carry us into Portsmouth Harbor.  Here are some pictures we took from he boat.

This is our last night on the boat for this part of our sailing  adventure.  Tomorrow we pull into Kittery Point Yacht Yard's Eliot boatyard and start pulling off the sails, and  removing stuff off the boat for the winter.  Warren said he would deliver the Rav4 today.  Then we will drive to Sara and Willow's house in Dover, NH to stay a couple of nights while we spend the day time working on getting High Spirits ready for her winter rest.


Joe

Rain in Newburyport, Trying to stay dry!

Well we are back from Joy's Simmons reunion/lobster weekend up in Bremen, Maine.  Had a great time with her classmates and spouses. Everybody seems to enjoy being with each other, and every body's politics are about the same. As Joy says, No Tea Party people here.  While they had lobster on Sat night, I had a ham and salami sandwich with an ear of corn.  Joy had clams to start with and then her lobster. Monday night we went  Mexican

We moved from the yacht club to the city Dock for a couple of reasons. The main one is that the current is extremely swift when it is running and if you fell out of the dinghy while the current is running out, you would most likely get swept out to sea.  So Sunday night we came back about 10 pm, very dark and very fast current.We got in the dinghy and out to High Spirits and had to tie up straight into the stern of High Spirits, not sideways which we usually do. When we tie up sideways, we can tie two lines and get out very easy.

Going in straight means only tying up the front of the dinghy and having to crawl out the front. While you are trying to tie up, the current is pushing the dinghy away from the back of the boat so it is not that easy to get a line tied to the stern hand rail.   So after doing that again ( we did it once before) Joy said we are moving to the city dock which costs a little bit more but is right downtown and we get free power to charge up the batteries instead of having to run the Honda generator or diesel engine.

So Monday we washed clothes as the laundromat is right off the square, about 100 feet from the place we are tied up at. Good thing we did as now, Tuesday morning at 10:30 am it is pouring like crazy.

Weather does not look good until Thursday, Next two days are winds approaching 20 knts and seas 5 feet or so.  Looks like Thursday for Kittery or early next week if we go to Isle of Shoals first.

Paperwork is moving along for the Rav4 lease. Warren, the owner, received the papers to sign and is sending them to me for delivery n Tuesday. I have to sign, get a bank check and send them in. then I think we get the final approval papers  and then we get the car.  Warren has volunteered to drive the Rav4 to Kittery Point Yacht Yard and is going to leave it there for us. We will mail his plates back to him so he can get the car off his personal property tax bill.

I think tomorrow I will be going to the other historical museum here in town.  .Joy is going back to a consignment shop to look at winter shoes.

We have started to sort out the clothes we no longer need and will be donating them to Goodwill up in Portsmouth.  We will be staying at Sara Funk's garage apartment for a couple of days to get the boat cleaned out and ready for shrink wrapping.


Joe

ps  Sorry no pictures, hopefully after it stops raining.

Reunion in Maine

No, we haven't gotten the boat to Maine yet....., so we rented a car and drove to Lisa and Steven's house in Bremen, ME.  We were joined by two other college friends, Peg, Harry, and Oliver (the dog) from Manchester, NH and Andi, from Silver Spring, MD.  In the past 6 years we have had our little mini-reunions, enjoying time together with good friends from college days.  What is so nice is that not only can we talk about the good old days, but can still solve the current problems of the world, with similar views- no Tea Partiers here!

Lisa and Steven live out along the coast about 50 miles north of Portland, which is very rural, with 750 population, and 2500 in the "large" town of Damariscotta.  Their street dead ends at an Audubon camp in one of the thousands of Maine coves.  By next summer we should be able to visit via our boat.  Although the weather was dismal, rain and drizzle, we enjoyed Saturday, poking around Damariscotta shops (the women) and gathering at the coffee shop (the men).  Our goal was to have lobster at night on the docks, which we did, along with corn, and clam or mussels.  Luckily, there were sheltered picnic tables, with Christmas lights in the shape of lobsters, and candles to shed light on our meal.

Three pictures- #1 around the table at Lisa and Steven's, #2 the four of us Simmons women on the dock at Round Cove, and #3 Oliver.  We will be dog sitting Oliver over the Christmas holidays for Peg and Harry, so had to include his picture.

We got back to Newburyport in the drizzle and dark and had a hairy dinghy ride back to the boat.  The weather is still not too cooperative, as Ophelia is several hundred miles east, but delivering swells to the coastline, so we are staying here until probably Thursday.  We have decided to move to the town dock which is only slightly more costly ($45/ night), where we can access shore power and not have to dinghy in strong currents and more rain tomorrow.

Joy

Newburyport and off to Maine

The past five days have found us in Newburyport, MA enjoying this very interesting coastal town.


Most of this week we have spent walking around and enjoying the town. I had to go down to Cambridge for a fraternity corporation meeting which took most of the afternoon and evening..  We found the town dinghy dock right in the middle of town.  The train costs $7 or so for a hour ride down to Boston. A very good value as it sure beats driving by car, especially if you do not have one.

Speaking of cars.  Our takeover of a Toyota Rav4 lease is moving forward. We have been approved by Toyota Motor Credit and expect to get the car around Oct 10 or so.

Joy loves the window flower boxes that are all over the town.  A town employee goes around every day taking care of them. They really give the town a nice sharp image.

Did you know that Newburyport is officially recognized as the birthplace of the United States Coast Guard? Bet you did not know that.  It was here that the first ship of the first 10 ships was launched in 1780s under the Presidency of George Washington.  The new Federal Government was relying on custom taxes and the collection of these taxes.  The 10 ships were launched to monitor shipping traffic and make sure that ships entered ports to pay taxes.  Newburyport has one of the oldest custom houses still standing in the United States.  It is now a maritime museum and quite interesting to visit.  I spent the afternoon there yesterday.

Joy went to the Oldies Marketplace, the home of 6 vendors of  used items, especially furniture. It is the size of three barns end to end   Anything you would ever need to furnish a home with old items.  We may be coming back here to find stuff for the New London rental side of the house. 

Today we are off to Maine for the Joy's Simmons college friends lobster weekend up at Lisa and Steve's house.  We are leaving around noon time after we get washed up and buy some food for the weekend.

When we come back on Sunday, we have one more short trip out to the Isle of Shoals off the coast of Maine for a quick visit and then into Kittery on Wed Oct 5 to start hauling out and cleaning the boat for winter storage.

Joe

DO NOT GO AGAINST THE TIDE

This is a lesson we learned today. DO NOT GO AGAINST THE TIDE.

We left Gloucester at 7:30 am so that we would have a favorable push through the Blynman Street Bridge (sometimes the current is 6 knts) and get through the commuer train bridge and the Route 128 Highway bridge.  Got through all three with no problems.

The first two pictures were shot at sunrise today.  One of the sky and one of the water around the boat.

So we were up at the end of the Annisquam River, and we decided to pick up a mooring and take the dinghy over to Windershek Beach(thrid picture).  Joy and Sally used to go to this beach as kids.  Had a nice 3 hour visit on the beach, just walking around and talking to people with dogs.  I counted 8, Joy counted 11 or so.  Everybody was really friendly and inerested in our trip.

After lunch we fired up the engine and headed to Newburyport.  Took about 2.5 hours to get there.

When we got there it was 4 hours into a ebb tide,  When we hit the harbor entrance, our speed over ground dropped to 2,5 knots.  High Spirits can do 6.2 in flat even water. 

We continued up the river with our speed slowly dropping and the current pushing us all over the place. At one time, the speed got down to 0.9 knots over ground. Almost standing still.  It was a little tense to say the least.  If it had gotten any lower, we would have turned around, shot back out into the Bay and anchored until the tide turned.

So what is the lesson learned here.  ONLY ENTER OR EXIT NEW ENGLAND RIVERS WITH THE TIDE BEHIND YOU!!!

Newburyport is our second to last stop before hauling out.  After this lobster party weekend, we may go to the Isles of Shoals, about 9 miles offshore. Then on to Kittery for winter storage.

Joe

History Through an Artist's Brush

We finally have a little sunshine and warm weather to enjoy the art, history, and waterfront of Gloucester.  Saturday afternoon I went to the Cape Ann Art Museum and benefited from the Sails and Trails program, which the city is hosting over 2 or 3 weekends.  They were having a free lecture/walk through the waterfront area, highlighting the history and paintings of Henry Fitz Lane, a well-known artist from the early 1800's, known for his seascapes of Gloucester.  In fact, the park near our boat, has his home, and bronze sculpture of Henry, who from the age of 18 months was crippled(see picture below).  He is looking out over the sea and sketching, with his crutches by his side.  Born into a fishing family, he wasn't able to go to sea, but became a painter and lithographer, known for his detail of the ships and waterfront.  After the walk, I was able to tour the museum, which has a bountiful collection of his paintings, as well as several other local artists.

Sunday morning as we dinghied ashore we were able to photograph several dories from the dock.  There is a dory club in Gloucester, whose members have use of several dories for enjoyment and the occasional race.  The dories are beautifully maintained and a delight to watch.  A couple of mascots got to ride along "for ballast", I was told. 

In the afternoon, we toured the Maritime Center, which highlights the fishing/ sailing industry and Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, located between Cape Cod and Cape Ann at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay. 

Tomorrow we leave for Newburyport, MA, transiting through the Blynman Annisquam Canal.  We are planning to enter the canal at about half tide as there are two areas of concern.  There is shoaling at several points so we need enough water, so we don't run aground, and secondly there is a 65 foot bridge, with a repair work scaffold at the top of the bridge, which will shorten the vertical span by about 4 feet.  Our mast is about 61 feet high.  If we were to transit at high tide, we could have a problem getting under the bridge, but at half tide we will have four extra feet to play with, and shouldn't have a problem- a little nerve racking though!

Joy

Gloucester, FOG, and Rain

When we woke up, the place was FOG City.  The fog lasted most of the morning. It has been on and off most of the day.  After a nice breakfast of blueberry pancakes and sausage on the boat, we headed to the shore to hook up with Paul Banados for an trip out to the hotel he is staying at.

At the dinghy dock we met a couple from Durban, South Africa who sailed over to the States on a 38 foot catamaran.  Sounded like a major adventure. They did a 13 day passage from Puerto Rico to the States by themselves. When they crossed over the Atlantic, they had two extra crew to stand watch.

We finally found Paul and headed out to where he is staying, the Atlantic Ocean View Inn.  It is now owned by members of the  John Dorrance family.  They do 2 to 4 weddings a weekend this time of the year.

John T. Dorrance, MIT 1895, invented condensed soup while working at the Campbell Soup Co  He eventually became President, bought out the Campbell family's interest and the rest is history. MIT people are everywhere.

Anyway, it is a old Inn, build at the turn of the century. Paul is hoping to redo the entire grounds as part of a large redo project, both buildings and grounds.

Couple of pictures of Paul and Joy and the Inn plus High Spirits hiding in the morning fog.

After a nice lunch at the Inn featuring molasses bread ( very tasty), Paul dropped us off at the Rocky Neck Art Colony.  He had to take us separately as three people do not fit into a Miata Sports car.

The Rocky Neck Art Colony started in the 1900s when many artist came to Gloucester to paint and create other forms of fine art.  They all ended up on this little spit of land, and there are still many artists and galleries(last picture below) open year round.  We walked around for a couple of hours and then took the bus ($.50) back into town.

Headed out to the boat at 4 pm, just in time to get caught in the first heavy rain of the afternoon.  Before that it was mostly drips, mist, and spit.

Tomorrow is the day that we will be doing the boat chores that should have been done today.  Mostly getting a propane refill ( 100 feet from the dinghy dock, can not ask for much better than that) plus the weekly clothes washing project. Do you know they charge $3.50 for a normal size washing machine load. Highest we have ever paid. Joy is headed off  to the super market to buy what might be our last week of groceries.  Hauling out in about 10 days.

Joe

An Enjoyable Day, Rain, Fog, and All

It is probably appropriate that as we get farther north, we have more rain, low clouds, and fog, so we better get used to it.  Apparently, this Sept. has been one of the wettest in New England.  We woke to a dreary day, but had some delightful encounters all day, starting with our meeting Paul Banados as we left the dinghy and headed for breakfast ashore.

Paul describes himself as "an eccentric" gentleman who loves anything nautical, an architect, artist, and collector of antiques.  Joe met him drawing sketches at the dock master's office, and soon had struck up a conversation, followed by inviting him to breakfast, and offering a ride on the boat (in the fog and drizzle), so he could sketch the shoreline from the harbor.  As soon as he introduced himself as an Irishman, I knew that he couldn't be from Ireland, as he had an accent similar to our friends in Ecuador.  His Irish grandparents immigrated to Chile, where he grew up, coming to the US forty years ago.  Below is a picture of Paul at the wheel.

After the morning ride in the fog and lunch at a cafe, Joe and I headed for the local arts cinema, where we saw Incendies, nominated for best Foreign Language Film, a very moving, suspenseful, and powerful story.  A picture of the theatre, which is in a former function room with sofas and upholstered chairs for seating.

Then, our friends, Marty and Steve from Manchester, joined us for dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, Latitude 43, with a jazz ensemble on Thursdays.  Fish and sushi were the highlights of the menu, along with beautiful, art-filled ambiance.  Back to the boat for relaxing and blogging with anticipation of tomorrow's events.

Gloucester, MA

Arrived today after the fuel leak was finally fixed.  Took 15 o rings and a new fuel line but finally everything is okay and no more PINK oil pads.

Actually got to sail today from Manchester.  Took about 2 hours as we were only doing 2 to 3 knots.

After checking in with the Harbor Master, we went off exploring the town.  Found the famous fisherman and wives statues.  Did you know that over 5,000 fishermen have lost their lives since 1630.  They have a list of names starting in 1713 at the Fishermen's Memorial. 

Bought clams for Joy and fish cakes for Joe. Tomorrow headed back to shore for breakfast, and then a visit to the Visitor's Center.  Looks like Steve and Marty are coming up for Jazz Dinner at Lat 43 restaurant.

Joe

PS  This sign says it all about the flower gardens near the Fishermen's Memorial.

Almost back on the Trip

Today we thought we would be leaving for Gloucester, MA, but no such luck.

The last 4 days we have been in Manchester, MA at Manchester Marine, almost right next door
to Steve Carhart and Marty Farmer.  Steve and I were college roommates at MIT and members of Phi Bea Epsilon fraternity.  Our fraternity reunion was this weekend with a Board meeting on Thursday evening.  I got elected Corporation Treasurer at the annual meeting on Friday evening.

So we have been sleeping at their house for the last 4 nights and going into Boston via train and car.

Had a great time seeing old friends from the past.  The reunion is every year, but we missed 2010 because of our sailing trip.

On last Thursday, we had the mechanics from Manchester Marine fix a fuel leak.  Thought they
were successful, but today when we got back to the boat,  PINK under the engine.  They had put down a white oil cloth and it was soaked.

Now it appears that the fuel pump has the leak and they are checking out our options.  So we may still be here for a while.  However, a very nice place to be stuck.  Moorings are only $35/night.

Our next event is Joy's college roommates LOBSTER PARTY ( they have a ham and cheese sandwich for me) in Maine on Oct 1.  So we are very close to Kittery  Point where the boat goes out of the water and we have two weeks to get there. So we are just enjoying the last days and taking it east. No pressure to get anyplace this week.

Joe

PS  Here are some pictures. The first one is the famous Spirits of 76, this is the original which is hanging in the Marblehead Town Hall.  There is a second painting hanging in Cleveland, Ohio but this is the first one.  Then there is a picture of sun rise in Marblehead.

The third one shows the pink on the white cloth, fuel leak on High Spirits.  Look like we will be getting a new fuel pump. Hopefully by the end of the week.

A Great Day in Marblehead

Joy is having a great time here in Marblehead reliving part of her childhood as well as time she spent with her Mother visiting restaurants and shops here in town.

Today we went on a tour of the Col Jeremiah Lee house which is still very much in original condition.  They have the original wallpaper in the house, put up in 1768. The reason the house lasted so long was that after the Lees died, a bank took it over and used it as their headquarter for a 100 years, and then the Marblehead Historical Society took it over in 1909 or so.  Very impressive wood work

We had lunch at The Barnacle, a favorite place of Jeans, then we did the house tour

Also I discovered that Skip, Joy's grandfather, joined the Corinthian Yacht Club in 1948 and when he ended his membership in 1981, he and Gar were 15th on the membership seniority list. 

We met some women and the pool the last two days.  Three of them came out to High Spirits for drinks before dinner tonight.  Pam, Beth, and Kathy have know each other for 30 years or so. They live here in Marblehead.  Beth's day job is a nanny for an 8 year old boy.  Both parents are in medical sales and they need a nanny.

Well that is it for now

Joe

ps  One more day in Marblehead and then it is off to Manchester by the Sea.

Childhood Memories

Today we left Boston and sailed to Marblehead, MA, where my grandfather had the boat, Primrose VI for 35 years.  Growing up, we used to go sailing every Saturday and Sunday from mid-June to Labor Day.  I guess I followed in my grandfather's footsteps.  Pictured is a daytime shot of the Corinthian Yacht Club and then again with the full moon overhead.  It was a gorgeous day with warm temperatures and balmy breezes.  We are on a guest mooring through the yacht club, so made use of the club house and swimming pool.  Basically, the Clubhouse is open, but no food until Wed due to Fall hours, but the pool, where I had swimming lessons as a child was open and now is heated fresh water- about 84 degrees today.  As a child it was always freezing as it was salt water and unheated.  After a swim, I was able to explore the rocky beach and climb on the rocks as it was low tide.  As kids we used to find starfish underneath the seaweed, but no starfish today, just periwinkles.

We spoke with several members around the pool and found out that to get a mooring in Marblehead Harbor is a 15 to 25 year wait.  We have heard this the past few places we have been in New England, that good harbors have long waiting lists.  We are glad that we are not looking for a home for High Spirits in this part of the country.  We can enjoy their guest moorings and continue cruising.

The town is on the other side of the harbor, so tomorrow the Corinthian launch can drop us off in town to wander around and go to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch. 

Boston Remembers Sept 11

Today was a special day in the City of Boston.  Sept 11th's 10 anniversary was marked by a large variety of special programs to honor the 206 people connected to Boston that died on Sept 11, including 14 MIT alumni.

We started the day off by going to church at the MIT chapel for a 9:30 am Mass. After Mass we had coffee and doughnuts with some of the students.  Meet a family from Chile.  He is in the Master of Engineering Business Management program run by the Sloan School for Engineers. The large American flg is hanging from Building 10, which is the center building anchoring MIT's Great Court.

Then we took the subway and walked back to the Aquarium and the Rose Kennedy Greenway where a group called Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund was assembling 1,000 gift boxes to send to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We went through the filling line 5 times packing our box.  The governor, Duvall Patrick, Mayor Mineno and Sec of Homeland Security,Janet Nepolotano, were the main speakers.  I got a picture of the hand bell choir and the stack of boxes.

Then we went to the afternoon Memorial service at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River for a service featuring the Boston Pop Brass Ensemble and the Boston Children's Chorus.Got some pictures and video but not sure how the video attaches.

Then we had dinner with John and Sue Esposito, not related to Phil the Bruins hockey star of the 70s, but still good friends from boating. Had a great dinner with them, and saw this fabulous Lamborghini, outside the restaurant. Check out the waiter!

All in all a great day for Joy and Joe.  It is days like today that make us proud to be Americans..  A good day for reflection

Joe

NO Rain Today- Boston Harbor

Woke up to  NO RAIN.  Blue skies and bright sunshine most of the day.  Today was the day that we moved from Boston Harbor Sailing Club( the place with the launch service but not washer.dryer) to Boston Waterman Marina(no launch service, have to use your dinghy, but has a washer/dryer, and two showers)

We  are moored right over the Silver Line subway service to Logan Airport, and you can hear the trains underneath us even though we are in 50 feet of water and the subway is probably 50 feet under the ocean  floor if not more.  You can also feel the vibrations.

This morning we motored up the harbor to get diesel, fresh water and pump outs for our two heads.  Then motored back to Boston Waterman Marina and picked up a mooring.  Took our clothes to shore and got in line to use the one washing machine and one dryer. Took turns.  Joy went to Haymarket Square and did some fresh produce shopping.  When she came back, I went off to the Old State House building which was built in he 1700s.  Has quite a history to it.

Took two pictures of some items on display. One picture is doctor's equipment from the 1770s that they used to saw off legs/arms, and to pull out musket balls.

Tomorrow , Joy's high school friend, Daphne, is coming down to go with us to the Boston Arts Festival.

Sunday afternoon we are volunteering at a 9/11 project right here on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and then going over to the Hatch shell for Memorial Service and Boston Pops concert.

Monday it is off to Marblehead, we have a mooring reservation at Corinthian Yacht Club where Joy's family ( her grandfather and his uncle) were members for probably 80 years.

Joe

ps  Two pictures of the Toyota Rav4 that we are picking up for a 10 month lease, hopefully starting in Oct if the paper work gets done quickly.

More Rain in Boston Harbor

The rain is still coming down.  We thought it would be over this morning but it is still coming down.  The forecast is for it to stop this afternoon. We are on the boat out in the Harbor.

Looks like we found a car to pick up on a 10 month remainder lease.  The guy is coming this afternoon around 1 pm to show it to us. Hopefully the rain will stop by then. It is a 2009 Toyota Rav 4 Limited, which means it is fully loaded with heated front seats which will be great for this winter in New Hampshire as we do not have a garage.

Yesterday Joy had lunch with her old high school friends, the five of them have reconnected over the past 10 years and try to get together every couple of months.  I went to the movies to see The Debt, not bad.  The day before both of us went to see The Whistleblower.

Joy is wiping the boat down with lemon oil.  We were supposed to have dinner tonight with some old boating friends but they have cancelled out due to bad weather.

Joe

ps  Included are some pictures of our walk around the Boston Common Gardens, riding on the Swan Boats, and a picture of an ice cream tank painted with the famous picture of Make Way for Ducklings.  See the large LNG tanker.  If you look close you can see a little red dot( at the water line in the middle of the boat) which is a 24 foot Coast Guard Inflatable speed boat which has a gunner with a machine gun on the bow.  The Coast Guard runs security for the LNG tankers once a month for security from a terrorist attack.