Happy 4th Of July, America!

Singing the song in my head....which one? Oh Beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber fields of grain....It is the song I sing to myself when I encounter yet another beauteous scene. The light after a thunderstorm...over the marshes, for instance.

Sorry to bore you with the marshes, but they are rather special places and we love them:)

 

I always seem to forget my camera when I need it most! How silly is that!!!

 

The management at the Marina have been working hard for the last couple of days to set up the Yacht Club Bar and meeting room for the 4th of July celebrations. Today at around 2pm, we all gathered in that room and participated in a collective celebration and gathering. About 100 of us 'boaties' enjoyed burgers and hot dogs provided by the Marina, and plenty of side dishes prepared by us, the boaters, including some pretty red white and blue desserts:)

I went straight for the desserts, and Waz queued for the main course. I thought he might share his with me, and mine with him....well, that was the plan, but it didn't happen, lol. Waz wanted HIS OWN dessert!

 

So, no photos of all the lovely decorations to show you, sorry!!really! because they were wonderful!

 

We were told to leave pretty soon, around 4pm as the thunder was already rolling...that meant we were in for a BIG thunderstorm.

After helping with the cleanup, we headed for the boat just as the first drops of rain were falling, and the wind started to roar up the river and whip us around.

 

There were 'waves' on the river, as the thunder rumbled and the wind increased in strength. No sooner were we on the boat than it began to rock and roll at the dock The wind increased yet again, and the flag that Suzie and Brent had erected this morning was about to be whipped off it's antenna!

 

 

Along with the wind came torrential rain...almost horizontal rain! It is hard to photograph it because I get wet doing so. You will have to imagine it!:)'

While I was upstairs trying to photograph the rain, I remembered to take one of the flags we erected yesterday in the fine weather, to keep the Crows and Grackles from having baths in the bimini and pooping on the top of the boat. It appears to be working, but I'll let you know!

 

 

Ten minutes after I took the lovely light filled photos after the storm, I looked out the window and a second storm is rolling in towards us! Bummer! The town pyro has been busy setting up the fireworks across the river, all day, and we hope it doesn't become a fizzer!

 

The light on the water was lovely 15 mins ago!

 

but looking back down the river, this is what we see...dark clouds gathering again.

 

Storm clouds gathering again....

 I love the contrast of the white steam coming from the Georgia Pacific Paper Mill, against the grey pregnant clouds.

 

 

I wont bore you with more of the same, but as I look out the window right now, the clouds have darkened and rain is falling in the distance. White egrets are flying past the boats ahead of the approaching rainstorm.

 

Yesterday was quite a work day for us.

 

I had some re-sewing to do on a couple of clips on the side curtains. You live and learn, and I found out I had sewn the clips on the wrong way...well, not the way I should...put it that way. One cannot sew straight across something and have it hold. There needs to be a zigzag in order for it to hold. Good to know this for the future. When there is a LOAD  on anything, the zigzag holds, and doesn't pull out.

 

I had started my cleaning of the stainless railings on Thursday...somehow by accident, but never mind....and needed to continue with that. Ok..not by accident:) Waz had taken everything out of the anchor locker, up front, in order to dry said locker out. This was a good time to do it, because two days of fine weather were forecast. The wind was blowing a bit of a gale which was most welcome in keeping us cool, so it was a great opportunity to go upfront and do some work. While he futsed around with that, I found it was a great opportunity to get the stainless cleaner out and get cleaning. The boat has been thoroughly cleaned of all it's saltiness, over the past 5 weeks, with these regular downpours, so the railings just needed me to rub any rust and grime off them. It is always so satisfying to be doing physical work, and indeed to see the fruits of ones labors.

 

So, a couple of days sitting on the front of the boat in the sun with hat and glasses on, and plenty of sunscreen, the entire front of the boat was cleaned...every last piece of stainless steel I could find. The windlass came in for some real elbow grease as it has been without it's cover for all this time.

 

We did order some Sunbrella fabric on Amazon, the other night. This is necessary so that I am not replacing the covers every 6 months because they have rotted in the sun and salt air. We bought a 6 yard lot, that was offered at some ridiculously small price, and it should be here  in a few days.

 

We feel as if we have spent every other day at the grocery store, spending a small fortune. I guess we just needed to restock the cabinets and the fridge. Most of it is fresh fruit and veg, of which we seem to eat a huge amount. We did 'invest' in some lovely fillet steaks, however, which I promptly cut in half so we could have two meals instead of one, at about $28 for the two of us. Aieeee!!! see what I mean about being an 'investment'!!

We also invested in some Pork Ribs, which we had intended to bab-b-q for 4th of july, but it didn't eventuate. They can stay in the freezer for another day/night.

 

Last night was the 'First Friday of the Month' in Historic Brunswick, again. We enjoyed the last one, and last night was again worth the effort. We decided to at Fly's Pizza for dinner. So did everyone else. We were seated about 20 mins after we arrived and enjoyed the pizza very much. We will be back some other time when they are less crowded, perhaps.

 

Being so hot and humid, we had driven the half mile into the old town. Local businesses have wine and hors d'oeuvres in their stores for patrons to sample and enjoy the items for sale. Lots of yummy food to sample, and you can literally eat your way around the town:)

 

We stopped in at a couple of stores we hadn't yet been to, and were happy with our discoveries. We will be back, now that we know where to get such lovely beachy and fishy things. This IS the coast and low country, after all, so all things beach are to be expected.

 

Well, Waz is about to go walkabout to see what is happening in the rest of the Marina, and perhaps to stretch his legs. I may as well go too. The next lot of showers aren't far away. It is almost 7pm.

 

He doesn't feel too hungry...ate too much at 3pm???:) so we wont have dinner per se. Lots of salad fixin's to choose front and fresh fruit for dessert!

 

Time to go see...Happy 4th of July, folks!