April 19th Gary's birthday!

April 19      HAPPY  65th BIRTHDAY GARY!

Yesterday we went to town to dispose of the carcass of the HP laptop. We almost had to pay the PC store to take it!! Thank god it’s gone and I don’t have to pollute the ocean with it, ‘cuz let me tell ya’ there were days…

While we were there we went over to the Straw Market to see what was going on  A huge tent has been erected by Sandals Resort so they can keep operating. There were some ladies there furiously weaving baskets, and we sat and talked for a bit. I asked them if they use seed beads in their jewelry, because I hadn’t really noticed. They said yes, so I came back to the boat and gathered up that Michael’s beading container I bought, thinking I would be bored and need something to do…

OK, here’s the thing… before we left I found in my button box, a strip of beading that Rick had done when we was a kid. I have saved it thinking one day I would do something with it. So when we drove to Thunder Bay I saw a little beading loom a carousel of every colour imaginable. OK I admit it …I’m like a crow. I love sparklies and colour. I can’t help it. AND the biggest one was cheaper so obviously… am I right?

Now thinking about this…do I want a million tiny beads on a BOAT? Probably not a good idea, so I took it to the ladies at the Straw Market. One of them said that it was better than money, which made me feel good. 

While I was gathering that up, remember the two sample books I ordered from Sunbrella, the boat fabric store?  I probably didn’t tell you but when I was ordering the sail cover material I ordered two of their out of date sample books, a] because it would have patching material and b] because I had this insane idea that I could make sunglass pockets for people that would match their canvass.  [I told you brains turn to mush on prolonged holidays!] I put a couple of piece of that in with the beads and they were all over that! SO the bag of Sunbrella strips is going in to them today! AND now I have more room for my painting stuff, which is what I should be concentrating on anyway!!! Now what else can they use….

Yesterday was the pre-race for the Family Island Regatta. Ross, Jules and Jamie went in to race on the big boats. They said it was a hoot and they came back unscathed. The rest of us had been thinking about the cost of emergency care if we got hurt, so we chickened out!  Scott and Patty went home this morning on a ridiculously early flight so we said good-bye yesterday.  After the race Ross came by to invite us to dinner on his boat, but we had already eaten. We had tried to contact Stephane to come for dinner here but he was buried in the depths of his boat and couldn’t hear us. We went to Ross’s boat to watch him cook and smell the amazing smells [Jules is a very creative cook. She taught me how to make "ceviche". It’s basically salsa with limed fish in it. The raw fish is soaked in lime or lemon juice which cooks it- it’s really good!!]  When we got back to the boat, the clock had stopped [we didn’t realize that] and we have no idea what time we went to bed! [Jules also used to play pro women’s softball in Holland although she’s from Michigan!!!]

This morning on the ‘Net Jamie [Nautiwings] announced that he gives plane tours, so if anyone was interested…people are stepping all over each other on the microphone trying to get to him!  I guess we will be getting buzzed all day with people taking pictures of their boats from the air!

So today we finish installing the solar panels, because Stephane keeps asking if they work and we can’t tell him until we hook them up!! He says he’s coming over to check them out and check out our DVD’s as well.  I don’t know why it takes us so long to actually complete a job. Geoff might have a comment here…

So gotta go and help Rick. It’s only 8:30 m but he’s started on the panels and I want to keep up the momentum! Lol

Have a great day, Gary!  Love to all!