Always Finding New Stuff!

...and what a good thing it is too, wouldn't you say?

Life would be pretty boring if we didn't constantly discover new fields of interest and new places.

Somehow the above two sentences were started and the thought never finished....Waz would say "That train left the station without the passengers!" I have to agree...:)
Not to say that I wont think of what was supposed to follow on, but in the meantime, I will document what has happened around these parts in the past week.


OH! I know!!! I was going to tell you about the new Supermarket we found. This will be old news to some people, but for us, it was a mighty discovery of the Awesome kind! I don't use the A word lightly, you understand.

The supermarkets in these parts are average, for the most part. We are blessed with a Walmart Market, Winn Dixie  x 2, and up the far end of town there sits a Publix with no sign on the front of it to tell you it is a Publix, which is probably why we drove  past it several times before figuring out it was our actually destination....the GPS kept telling us!

Our  new discovery of the awesome kind was a Harris Teeter Supermarket! WOW! This is the next best thing to a Whole Foods! The prices are competitive, but the produce in particular was/is of superior quality, unlike some other places. Their cooked food sections overflowed, the breads were exceptional and did I mention the cheeses??? I had to take a photo of the New Zealand WHITE wine selections...we didn't get around to discovering the Reds!

I think I told you about the local "First Friday' of the month, in the Brunswick Historic District.. what is known as 'Downtown Brunswick'. This is an effort by the Chamber of Commerce to generate business in a depressed but beautiful area that struggles for the rest of the month, to do much business. We can think of a gazillion ways they might do things differently, but apparently, the chamber committee is filled to overflowing with die-hards who have lived here their whole lives and THINK they know everything. Don't most places have public bodies who are like this? lol.

Well, we met up with a few of the others from the marina...namely, the Aussies and Kiwis who are here right now. We stood around and listened to the music in one of the 12 squares in the center of the Downtown area.
Liam and Annie are Aussies from Sydney, and they have literally been around the world for the past 10 yrs on their 50ft Catamaran. You name it, they have been there! Before that, they motorcycled everywhere! They are similar age to us, and we enjoy their company. The kiwis on another large boat, this one a 54ft Jeanneau single hull, have their 8 yr old along with them. They have had some 'issues' with their boat in their absence! We should NEVER leave our boats to others to do 'work' when we are not present. Sometimes that is not possible, but the work they had done on their boat by unqualified and inexperienced 'tradesmen' should never have happened, and wouldn't have IF they had been in the country and been present! Kim, Kerry Anne (she is an Aussie/ Kiwi) and Keiley, their son, are here until Hurricane Season ends on November 1st. Another set of Kiwis, Ray and Fiona...well, SHE is the kiwi, and HE is the Aussie...returned this past week from spending a couple of months touring Canada. They had trouble re-entering the USA, as do most of our kind who are on 6 month visas. The print in black and white says that we have to leave the ENVIRONS of the USA, including the Bahamas, Canada and Mexico...so may as well go home, or to Europe for the required minimum of 15 days out of the country before re-entry is allowed. Woe betide those who try to skirt around the regulations.

 Kiwi Waz, Aussie Liam, US Mark, Kiwi Kim, Kiwi Keely and Aussi/kiwi Kelly Anne, with Aussie Annie on the far right.

Waz and I had an idea to take something new and distinctly kiwi to one of the get-togethers. It took us forever to find some really thin sliced bread. Finally we found some Arnolds Melba Cut bread. We wanted to make Asparagus Rolls. After opening four different cans of Asparagus, and finding some weird white substance in each tin, we found the fifth to be normal, as it were, and made the rolls out of that. This is one of NZ's and apparently Australia's favorite 'take a plate' kind of dish for sharing. They were snapped up and enjoyed by all.

Harris Teeter has the most wonderful meat department, and steak was on sale...we had to have some, of course, and enjoyed that meal a couple of nights ago. We also purchased 5 scallops which were also on sale and because they were so large...I cut them into 3 pieces each. We had them lightly poached with onion and garlic in a little cream with some fresh shrimp on Lemon pepper Linguine. Delish! Needing some greens, I steamed broccoli and fresh asparagus.

Two nights before, I made a Cauliflower Risotto with squash and shrimp. That too was delish...the garlic chives come from my own garden!

I guess you could say we eat very well?

In between all the other action, we have had some momentus storms. I love watching the clouds roll in and the rain in the distance, and calculating how long it will be before the storm deluges us. Of course we sometimes get great sunsets too:)

The storm clouds build around the fluffy white ones. Those can be deceiving though!

About 5 mins after I took these photos, the rain came down, suddenly. The river had white caps and the wind whipped the boat around on the dock. The ropes creaked and we had to adjust how we walked around inside, with all that rocking.

I had an appointment (finally) with an Orthopedic Surgeon yesterday in Jacksonville (JAX). The purpose was to investigate how far along the osteoarthritis is in my left hip. It was decided (by him) that he would replace the hip joint. May as well, he said, it will only get worse, and you should have enjoyment of life, at your young age. I liked him immediately!:)

So, I filled out a bunch of paperwork, and they gave me some more inside a folder, with times and dates and all kinds of information to cover their butts, and told me they would also investigate why I have numb feet and left side pain, not associated with the hip joint. An MRI is ordered for a lower back investigation. I have a prolapsed disk, I know that already, but how that is affecting the nerve, since the last X-ray (6 yrs ago) is the whole reason for the MRI. So, we have made some plans to dock the boat in nearby Ortega River, for the duration of the Operation and Physical Therapy that is required, so that will take place over about 3 months, November through February.

In the meantime, we have lots to do.
The Bimini will be removed on Tuesday, and the outdoor cushions will go with them too, to be recovered. The Bimini will be away only a couple of days, because we will be very exposed up top without it. Things will get VERY wet otherwise.

Waz and I have some other plans which I will tell you about in a couple of weeks. Lots going on!!!:)

For now...we are off to eat dinner...crab cakes with salad! new recipe!...and it is Saturday night, which means it is game night at the Yacht Club. Dominoes and Euchre! Ciao

Fun and Games in the Boating world

We live-aboard boaters (includes Cruisers (motor boats)  and sail boaters) have to have some fun during Hurricane Season holed up here in Brunswick, Georgia.

We are a community of around 50, at any given time, with folks coming and going during the summer season.

A multi-talented group of people, as any you would find in a community, some of the women gather in the laundry 'waiting room' or 'little salon' which happens to be the coldest room anywhere (AC) on Tuesdays for a 'craft' session, where they sit around the circular table, do their thing and chat and exchange both useful and useless information...take your pick, obviously! lol.

Tuesday night was 'music' night, or Jam session. If you have an instrument, bring it and join in, or there is a tub full of percussion thangs to choose from to keep time with. All aboard the merrier!

Get-together time is Mon/Wed/Fri...which involves a representative of the marina owner's family pouring the wine in the large lounge at the 'Yacht Club'. We all tend to take nibbles to share, for this 'happy hour' from 5pm onwards. This gathering often spills over into someone's sailboat or motor yacht and the die-hards also gather on the covered area at the head of each of the 15 docks. There you will find tables and chairs (mostly), fans recently installed to keep the air flowing during those times when breezes are scarces, and to keep the Mozzies away. (Mosquitos!). The folks on some docks are more 'active' in these places, than others. Those on smaller craft tend to gather at the dock head for the cooler temps and they can cook meals at the Bar-B-Q that is also provided. We are well taken care of in this place! The management is vigilant, and security at night is spot-on and efficient. Folks leave their boats in good hands, when they go away for short and long periods, and we all take care of our neighbors.

Being boaters, our neighbors are mostly 'of like kind', we find. We are a peculiar type:) So many of us have sold our homes in favor of a life on the water, less encumbered and with goals that vary from place to place and season to season.

I have an advertisement in the Yacht Club to cut hair. Having been a Hairdresser since I finished my training in 1977, I have a skill that is much sought after in Marinas. We see some wild and woolly types in these parts. Most sailors have little time to attend to the haircutting type of necessities, so I get some interesting clients. Today's client was Ed. He and his wife have lived aboard their 37ft trawler since they left New Orleans (their previous home) 14 yrs ago. They have no desire to live on land again, until, as Ed put it, "we are forced to"...by this, I gather he is referring to very old age or being carried off his boat in a coffin. I had his vote of confidence, because he said he would be back in a month for his next cut!

Saturday nights are Game night in the Lounge at the Yacht Club. Some are rabid card players, and highly competitive! phew! Waz goes there to play Euchre, and I go there to play a form of Dominoes known as the Mexican Train Game. Some of you will know of what I speak.

Wednesday (yesterday) we went to the Methodist Church Hall to give blood. As usual, I was rejected because I lived in Europe from 1980...Mad Cow Disease was prevalent then... and we don't want to share the possibility of infecting anyone with blood that might be a carrier.

The equipment was not what one would call up-to-date, and was probably one of the most unsophisticated locations Waz has donated his blood.

He is a long time donor and we don't mind spending our time doing this. I will remember to take a book next time, though.

At last night's get together, Rhonda, off one of the 40 ft Cats in the Marina, showed us her Megaladon teeth that she had found in the 'tailings' dump, across the river from here.

This one is the largest of the day's haul. It measures about 2 inches in length. She has a huge collection of these now...both large and small, and has become the resident expert. Megaladon sharks existed between 15.9 and 2.6 million years ago, during the Cenozoic Era.

Not only was Megaladon the largest marine predator by far, making today's Great Whites look like Guppies, but they weighed in around 50 tons and measured around 70ft long~ phew! that is one massive shark!

 

These are not the prettiest teeth she has found...the larges is around 3 inches long, and in almost pristine condition. The site of discovery is an area of dredge tailings which is strictly speaking off limits, but with a bicycle for transport and nothing to dig with but her hands, she feels she isn't breaking any laws:)

 

We all eagerly await Rhonda's daily treasure finds:)

 

Our music evening the other night ended in a 'Cat' party. You know there is a party going on, on a boat, by the number of  shoes on the dock! Rhonda's birthday on the 3rd, August is being celebrated for a week, it would appear. We enjoyed Banana bars (made by the b'day girl on the bar-b-q...she is an expert!) and Ice-cream. She and husband Bruce invited us all to share the ongoing celebrations onboard their 40ft Catamaran.

 12 of us crammed into the salon on their boat..it was cozy and lots of fun. We laughed so much I almost lost my voice!!! I was still pretty hoarse yesterday!!

 What is left of the banana bars and the Ice-cream. Gary brought the latter, and we all enjoyed plenty of it.

 Birthday Girl Rhonda in with Ice-cream in hand.:)

Susan and David arrived from their Carver 53, further down the dock. I think they could hear the hilarity!

 

We have enjoyed their company while they were here for the 4 days. They live and work in Cincinnati, and visit the boat to get away from corporate life. David and Waz enjoy each other...David is a Food Chemist, while Waz is an Industrial Chemist.

 

Yesterday, we had a space visitor arrive on the dock. She is a carbon-fibre, custom-built, 61 foot behemoth of a catamaran. Her captain is French, from Brittany (near Brest) and has been with her since she was designed and built (all French) in South Africa. He has sailed her (she is light and can reach speeds of 30 knots under sail! aieee!!!) just about around the world, in many cases on his own, although he told me he usually does no more than 500 miles on his own. He has arrived with a first mate, this time, and because of his height...a 90ft mast..he is unable to go into many ports with bridges. The Sidney Lanier bridge at the entry to Brunswick Port is high enough to allow them to dock here.

This is her in the foreground, as the sun was leaving us, last night. Her sides are so high, that it is impossible to look over the side when we are walking along the dock. She has circular doors on the rear of the salon cabin, which gives her some 'eyes'. I was surprised to find her there when we returned from an outing, yesterday. Her captain and crew were immediately out cleaning and putting away equipment. Her owner is French, and lives between France, Hong Kong and New York. She is custom built, of course, and apparently the owner enjoys racing her off Rhode Island, during the summer...normally! Not this year, however. She has come from Rio, this year, taking just two weeks of sailing to get from there to Brunswick! Amazing! I believe they had to dock briefly in Miami to clear customs, which was their only other landfall.

So, we have had an interesting week. Our kiwi friends on their lovely 53ft Jeanneau came with us for a tiki-tour yesterday, and we introduced them to Dairy Queen ice-cream...namely 'Blizzards'! They enjoyed them...so did we!!! naughty, naughty!
Well, we are off to our neighbor's Gallery opening shortly. Suzie is excited to be a featured artist, and we want to support her. Life in this little town is full of surprises and action. Tomorrow night is the First Friday in Brunswick, and all the local merchants have nibbles and wine/soda in their stores, and the locals all turn out to sample and buy:)