Baubles, Buttons and Beads

Right off I know most guys will not even be interested in this post.  Why?  It is my hobby of beaded jewelry.  Everyone needs a hobby to keep their mind busy and out of trouble.  Or to avert themselves from thinking about all of the repairs or updates that need to be done on the boat. I got started on this back when I was still working at ING.  My manager was making some awesome pieces and she even repaired one of mine.  She gave me 2 tools and some beads to practice with.  So then I went out and bought a basic 'how to' book.  I was hooked.  It is not all that easy.  Well, basic stringing can be but putting on the clasps can be tricky.  For example, my first piece was intended to be a long necklace, then it became a shorter necklace, then a choker.  In the end I had a pretty bracelet.

I practiced, read the book and watched youtube.  I got myself an assortment of tools like different kinds of pliers and cutters.

My favorite thing is something Bill bought me so I could stop putting the wires in my teeth or dropping a string of beads only to have some fall on the floor.  Stepping barefoot on seadbeads is not fun. Just ask Bill.  This is the Helping Hand with Magnifying Lens.

I am sure there can be many, many other uses for this handy item.   The two clips and the magnifying lens can be adjusted to many different positions.
I do make some earrings and bracelets, but my favorite things are creating necklaces.  Some with all beads and maybe a pendant.  Like this one I made for my sister.

Some with chains.  My niece wanted turquoise.

My other niece likes leather/suede.

I made this choker from beads and buttons.  One of my favorites.

And that is what I do to relieve stress or boredom.

;-)   /)

And the Search Goes On

Sometimes the things in life that we take for granted in one part of the country just is not so in other parts.  Simple things that we thought were simple we just cannot find here.  The three main ones for us are Italian food, Chinese food and Pizza.  Everyone here has their favorites, but so far we just have not found ours.  Maybe because we are from a small town in Connecticut and could find all of them within a two mile radius from our home.  Let's start with Chinese food.

We categorize this in two parts really.  A nice restaurant where you can get a nice meal.  It usually starts with the staff bringing you a pot of tea and ending with a fortune cookie.  The staff, cooks and owner of these establishments are of Asian decent, so they do know how to cook and serve the food.  Second is the take-out only places.  Again the staff, cooks and owners are of Asian decent.  See the pattern here?  Well, since we have hit the southern coast line we have not found any.  Many locals tell us they know the best place.  It just never pans out (no pun intended).  So if you know of any place from the Savannah to St. Augustine please let us know.

On to Italian food.  We really thought that this would be a no brainer.  Boy were we wrong.  It seems that everyone wants to what I call "gourmet up" the food.  Since Charleston, South Carolina I have been wanting lasagna.  Not too picky here.  It can be veggie, sausage, or just cheeses.  They either way over cook the noodles or they were almost raw.  Like crispy raw.  And the sauce, I just can't go there.  Well here in Isle of Hope I did hit the jackpot.  The only thing is it was home made by Pam on Drift Away for our Pot Luck dinner.  Bill is looking for something much simpler.  Spaghetti and Meatballs.  Usually it is the same issue.  The sauce.  He thought he finally found a place.  We went on a recommendation from a few local people.  He was so hopeful when the dipping sauce for the bread sticks was a good marinara sauce.  Out came his pasta and......no marinara....chopped, cooked tomatoes.

This brings me to pizza.  We like a thicker crust pizza.  It doesn't need to be deep dish, just not so thin that if you cut it you also cut the cardboard box.  If you go for New York style, you should still be able to hold and fold it to put in your mouth.  There is always Domino's and Papa John's to fall back on, but still not the greatest.  We came close with Marco's.  Not too bad.  Yesterday, since it wasn't great weather, Gene, Dave, Bill and I decided to try pizza.  We had seen the building the day before for Godfather Pizza.  It was an instint hit.  Just thick enough, good sauce, good crust. Dave's dogs Ruby and Chevy seemed to enjoy the crust too.

If anyone knows of any places we should try please let us know.  Our next stop in a few eeks, we hope, will be St. Augustine. 

Is it really just Springtime?

It is still only March, but here in Georgia it feels like summer to many of us.  Yesterday's temperature got to 88 degrees and it starting to get humid.  To people who live here it feels like it is supposed to, springtime.  They do not open the pool until May.  What do we do to cool off?  Well we talked about getting a kiddy pool to put on the dock for us humans to put our feet in and the dogs to lay in.  We were told that someone tried that last year and were told to remove it.  So what to us 'northerners' do?  We congregate in the only shade we could find.  The pavilion.  It has fans so it does feel cooler and we are out of the direct sunlight.   Here Bill supplements the cooling shade with a libation.

Ruby and Chevy think that wrestling will make them cooler. 

Chevy is pooped so Jingles stepped in to play with Ruby.

Ruby then stops for a drink from the faucet.  Chevy and Jingles did not.

Jimmy Chew Chew just looked on.

Gene tried to talk Chevy into getting a drink, but Chevy just thought he was nuts.

And there ends another day in paradise.

:-)  /)

Entertainment Dock Style

Yesterday was such a normal day for us I don't even know what to write.  There could be what entertains us though.  Right off I would would say Ruby and Chevy on Drift Away.  They are now a lot closer since they moved some of the boats around.  Ruby is still moping a bit, but she is getting a little better.  I ( along with most of C-Dock) are kept amused by those two.  Then Jingles comes along from the other end of C-Dock and it is like Dancing with the Stars, only the pups not humans. 

The other thing that can keep us amused is the normal going ons of the marina.  Gene needed a pump out so they needed to bring the hose from D to C Dock.  They do this by tying a rope to the hose which is attached to the pump.  One dock hand did catch the rope and pull it in but had trouble opening the nozzle.  He asked for DW-40, then really tried.  The other hand came over and poof, it opened. (note that I am not using any names here),  Well, Bill decided that was ok, so we would get a pump out too.  All went well.  Then he said, well I guess I will fill the water tanks.  Two minutes later, clang, and our only universal key is sinking.

Soon after 2 dock hands take Drift Away's dinghy away for repair.  That does not seem funny you say.  But every time anyone walks by Drift Away, or even close, Chevy sounds his alarm.  This time Chris and Andrew did the maneuvering and towed the dinghy way.  Not a sound of Chevy or Ruby.

As you can see there are not any pictures today.  Why?  During all of the observance of these I was sunning myself in the cockpit.

:-)  /)

Technology and the Sailboat

As I mentioned yesterday, Enigma is our home.  When people ask what it is like for us on our 35 foot sailboat, I say it is kind of like living in an RV, only on the water.  RV you may say?  Well, yes.  Enigma has the berths, head with shower, sink, stove and oven.  We do not have a refrigerator but we do have a large ice box.  This is like an extra big built-in cooler that has a shelf.  We feed it ice blocks and ice cubes when it gets hungry. Unlike your stoves and ovens in a home we need to turn on the propane gas then lite the burner.  Bill has pretty much mastered regulating the heat.  Me, not so much.

What we seem to do a lot of is read.  Books, newspapers, magazines.  Which brings me to some technology we brought with us.  Besides reading I have a Droid phone.  I use this many times during the day.  I play games with it.  I use facebook to see what some friends and family is up to.  I am not sure how to use twitter but I follow a few tweeters, like CNN, the Weather Channel, People Magazine.  Yes, People is sort of gossipy, but how else would I know that Ashton Kutcher and Rhianna were 'stepping out' together.  Actually I just read that this morning.  Care not.  Bill thinks at times it is surgically attached to my hand.  I still have not mastered the thumb typing yet.  I use the one finger hunt and peck.  What we actually bought it for was to use the hotspot to connect to the internet when there is no wi-fi for us to use the PC. 

Oh, the PC.  Yes, we have a laptop we use also. I use it to download pictures, read my e-mail and update the blog.  Sometimes I research stuff.  Bill uses the laptop more, because I just use the phone.  He researches and reads news.  Downloads pics and quickly checks facebook.  He is not one for games on the internet except one.  Margaritaville.  And he is darn good at it.  We use it for the mundane stuff too.  Like taxes and paying the bills.

Of course there is the TV.  As the weather gets warmer we use this less and less.  Mostly for an hour or three at night.  TV does count as technology, right? 

;-)   /)_



Enigma is our Home

Living aboard our boat can sometimes be just like living in a home.  Except we are on the water.  With a nice view.  Surrounded by nice boats.  And it is real nice to be docked sometimes.  We have normal days and just do normal things.  Yesterday we took the loaner car to the mall.  I went to the bank and Bill went to Barnes and Noble.  Since we were out we went to Dillinger's for lunch.    See, normal. Back at the boat we read a bit.  I did some researching of e-books since we don't have a place to store many books.  Some marina's have a 'leave one/take one', but they are pretty small.  If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions please just leave a comment here.  I am getting myself confused.    Then we watched some TV.  We do have one on the boat.

And we our drinks set while we waited for Happy Afternoon to begin.

Note to self:  I do need to reorganize that shelf again.  It is full mostly of books and important stuff.  See the roll of Duct tape?  In my red cup I am drinking Four Loko.  Apparently they banned it in Connecticut because it contains alcohol.  It is clearly labeled as such but I guess those silly college kids were getting ahold of it somehow and getting too drunk.  Guess now they just need to go back to getting drunk on beer.

Then came Happy Afternoon.  It was a small gathering as it was chilly (66 degrees) and windy.  Pam from Drift Away needed to fly back to upstate New York (very cold there) on family business.  We all need to do that now and then.  Ruby is sooooo sad, waiting for her momma to come back home.

  Another day comes to a close.  We are hoping to be back on the water in about 2 weeks.

:-)   /|)

I Love Mondays in Isle of Hope

Today I finally cleaned out my clothes in the v-berth.  I have come to realize that there are some things I can put away, like heavy sweaters.  I did come to terms that no matter what I just am not going to fit into my size 2 jeans and shorts again.  No matter the excuse of 'they must have shrunk' it just won't happen.  I did end up with 2 bags that will go to Goodwill.  What I did find was my bathing suits.  They do fit, why???  they stretch!!  While trying on one Bill yelled to me that there was an Old Fashioned Car Parade.  And Music.  I grabbed a sarong (I was not leaving the boat with just a bikini), flip flops and camera and off I went.  Here are a few pictures of the cars.

Even though it was late morning it was still very warm.  It appeared that even Kermit the Frog had a hard time sitting up in the bright sunshine.

There was music from a small band and people were dancing to the tunes.

I try to learn one thing a day.  Today I learned I can no longer play the Sun Goddess and lay outside to get a tan for hours on end.  Today I lasted about 1/2 hour.  That would be 15 minutes per side.  The sun is hotter here.  Isn't it?