LAW 39: A NEW BOAT FOR FRIENDS

Our good friends Chris and Shannon decided a little while ago that they were not going to live their live's under the thumb of their corporate masters. On a Monday morning not to terribly long ago as they were driving back to their 'day' jobs, they ran the numbers and decided to throw out their five year plan, and as they said, 'come home'.

first look at her

So, they joined Mungo and i as livaboards. We found ourselves wondering if we were responsible for their decision, you know, where we 'bad examples'? I think not! Admittedly in the best of times, with thorough planning stepping of the cliff(or plank) can be a scary prospect; particularly if you are abandoning the security of a good paying job, but if that job does not make you happy, does not fulfill you, and most importantly if you do have other options, why wait? Exactly! We are so imprisoned by the things we have, things, i might add, that we bought to make us happy, to make our lives' easier that we can no longer see the bars.

Nepenthe, remover of sorrows, or forgetfulness, seems appropriate

That said, they almost immediately discovered that their 25' motor boat, perfect for weekending, was simply not big enough for full time, comfortable, life. Since they already had been planning on retiring to a larger sail boat it was really only a matter of moving up the timetable. If you are not familiar with the beauty and utility of Craig's list, where have you been living? They found a 31' Cal in need of tender loving care, and after a couple of inspection visits and some minor negotiation found themselves the proud new owners of said boat, Nepenthe, by name.

yup! bottom paint does smell bad

Okay, so there is a lot of work to be done, most of it cosmetic. I did indicate that she's a 'project' boat. We helped them apply the bottom paint last week, the through holes have all been checked and closed. Chris is redoing the stuffing box this weekend. Nepenthe will be launched Monday morning, which is when we will discover the most important thing about her, or any other boat, will she float and will she float upright? Stay tuned.

Chris painting the rudder

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 38 MORE MAGELLAN TALES

Do you think he would move?

Just thought that i would share more images of our intrepid fellow traveler, the most magnificent cat, Magellan. He has been with us for two and a half months, and although we still miss her,  he has filled most admirably the hole left in our hearts with the passing of Kalisti.

Magellan posing as a balloon animal

 

He has developed a very strong sense of his place: he fearlessly jumps off the boat onto our finger pier, i know he is contemplating the 'life aquatic' and no one's legs are safe from his paws, and occasionally, claws, when walking through his hallway. He has his own shelf on the baker's rack, the list goes on.

what?

i know i put it over here

enjoy the fine feline antics,
more later,
Morgainne

LAW 37: LIVING IN A LOOKING GLASS WORLD

Sometimes when i look out the loft window i feel as if i am living in a looking glass world. We are blessed with a great location here at the Middle River Landing marina. Most days the river is so calm that you can truly use the water as a mirror. These periods of calm coincide with two of my favorite times of day; early morning and sunset. The world, not just the water, seems to be quieter, calmer then.

fall fog mirror

Mungo is not a morning person. This means that i  usually spend an hour or two every morning quietly enjoying an excellent cup of coffee, in contemplation of the interplay of light and water. Often i feel as if M.C. Escher designed the world i live in. Often it is very hard to tell which is the real world and which the reflection. It is tempting to walk into the other world to see what it holds.

sail's reflection

Of course, even the calmest morning is interrupted by the ripples caused by a passing vessel, or sporadic raindrops, fish rising to feed, or an Osprey or Heron looking for lunch. The changes caused by these passing disturbance are, perhaps even more magical than the calm. What could possibly be happening to the inhabitants of my mirror world?

Maxfield's Heron

At sunset a different artist often takes over from Escher, his name,  Maxfield Parrish. The sky and water are often painted in those glorious colors that he employed in his paintings. As the last of the light fades from the sky it seems to lend a different sort of weight to the sky, somehow becoming richer, warmer, and heavier. Did i really follow Alice down the rabbit hole?

fall mirror

so still you can read the reflection

LAW 35: ON THE DOING OF NOTHING

STUDIO ASSISTANT AT REST IN AN APPROPRIATE.....?..

The doing of nothing is a difficult thing; practised  best by cats, it is certainly something that i am not very good at doing. The previous statement may give some clue as to why i find doing nothing, well, difficult. There may be some zen lesson here, it is not yet clear to me however. I spent a very low key weekend laid low by a nasty summer cold. Now a cold is always no fun, but it somehow seems higher on the suckage scale in the summertime when your urge is to be out in the beautiful weather doing fun things with your playmates.

EVIDENCE OF A RESTING CAT(to lazy to crawl onto the bed)

Sunday rolled around and i could not muster enough energy to do anything but lay around, so i opted to do so in the hammock. Knowing full well that i am completely incapable of doing nothing i armed myself with the following: a cookbook that i haven't read in several years, my tablet, for entertaining light fiction, my sketchbook, the latest book cover that i am embroidering and a very large mug of ice water. Well, ya! It was a good thing to do, the sky was blue, it was in the high 80's, but the temperature was ameliorated by a goodly wind from the south. I laid in the hammock for several hours;  pretending mostly, to read the cookbook, "Sparks in the Kitchen", and in a lazy fashion, participating in the conversations that ebbed and flowed around me.

YOGA ASSISTANT HARD AT WORK

I feel much better today.

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 34: THE WEARING OF WHITE

One of the true signs of summer is the appearance of white in the wardrobe, white slacks, white shorts, white shoes. The fashion mavens of times past would shriek with indignation if you dared to wear white before Memorial Day, or after Labor Day. I willingly admit that white makes a tan pop, look more vital, healthy, etc; completely disregarding the scary health issues associated with too much sun, but i digress. Since i am both a dedicated, and messy cook as well as an artist(another messy endeavor) i can safely say that i have no white in my wardrobe, nope none.

what do you think? is the pink parasol me?

On another note of white, this one aromatic. Mungo and i walked to the grocery store this morning; as is our want, we try to get a walk in every day and it is far more likely to happen in an organic fashion, i.e, a trip to the store, as opposed to a walk for exercise sake. Oh ya, side tracked again. Even though we live in the exburbs of Baltimore we are surrounded by an amazing bounty of natural beauty. Today i was struck by the sheer drunken euphoria induced by all the white flowers lining the roadway; we have several stretches of undeveloped land in our area, abounding with briar roses, honeysuckle, tulip poplars and a couple of other white blooming shrubs i have yet to identify, all of them releasing their intoxicating aroma into the hot, humid summer air. Who needs wine? Oh, drunk on aroma, yes indeed, i am the "proud" owner of yet another new bruise on my leg as i was so intoxicated by this particular smell of summer that i never saw the fire hydrant that ran into me. Really officer.

this is more my style

More later
Morgainne

LAW 33: Magellan's new job title

is, 'Very Helpful Studio Assistant'. I believe when you watch the little video you will see why.

 I have always leaned heavily to the fiber arts, so i have also always had lots of very interesting things to play with from the cat's point of view.  For years an upright tapestry loom graced whatever room large enough to hold it; usually the living room.When i spent a lot of my time weaving and raising Siamese kittens it was self-defense to wrap the first two feet or so of the current project with tin foil, particularly when we would be gone for oh, more than five minutes. The kittens seemed to live for climbing up the wool, and pulling down every floor length curtain in the house. Sigh, its been years since i've lived with kittens, i'm having trouble keeping up with a seven year old.

More later,
Morgainne

LAW 32: THE NAMING OF CATS

'Is a difficult matter, it isn't just one of your holiday games. Now you may think i am as mad as a hatter, but i tell you a cat must have three different names.' (my thanks to TS Eliot, the above quote is of course from his rather famous poem, "The Naming of Cats".

It is so good to be me!

I bring this up, because as you know we were adopted by a new cat about a month ago;  Magellan, the cat formerly known as Brian, has received his second name, Piddle Peeper. This charming moniker came about because of his invariable habit of popping up, literally out of no where to be a personal bathroom assistant. Now this is not about the typical cat fascination with the water in the toilet bowl, as we have a composting toilet. I am unsure why, i simply know it is true.

More later,
Morgainne