The video of Carrie's and my trip to Japan for the eclipse of the century. This is nothing more than a glorified "How I spent me summer vacation" thing but enjoy nonetheless.

Yesterday on Lake Washington

Richard, Garth Bonnie and I got out on the lake again yesterday and had a fantastic day of sailing. Great day and great company. If only Carrie had been here it would have been perfect. Enjoy the short video. I sure enjoyed making it.

Brightwork starts anew...

It is August. A time when most sane people are using their boats and running all around the lakes and sound on them. I am not doing that. Well, OK I am, but I also have to do the dirty work that comes with being a boat owner. That means brightwork. Those who are unfamiliar with the term be warned it is not the most fun thing to do in the mid summer heat. Taping. Sanding. Varnishing. Not fun at all.

The boat has her ways of telling you that she needs you though, and ours did so yesterday when I looked down at the grab rails I finished just a few short months ago to find that they were starting to rub clean of the varnish I so lovingly applied. No time to lose! I had to get going. So now I am out there in the afternoons working on the woodwork when I could be swimming... Oh well, that's the life of a sailor.

And that is fine with me.

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

It was time for me to let the girls go this morning. I know that Riley has been very excited to get bak to her dads house in Louisville and I understand that but I also know there will be a really big, girl-shaped hole in a lot of people's lives here in Seattle with her leaving. I miss her already.

Carrie is also away for a fairly long time. She will be off the boat for a month and a half staying with Riley and getting her ready for the coming school year. I know that I am not the only one who will miss her too.

For now I have the chance to do some projects that I couldn't do with the family here but those jobs are little comfort when compared to the hours of quiet that used to be filled with the fun times with Carrie and Riley.

Family is what you make it

This has been a great summer on the SV Clarion. We have been treated to the company of many friends and family onboard. Many of those that Carrie and I are now counting as our family did not start out that way but have in a short time graduated to that lofty status. We had a great time this year with our next door (boat) neighbor, Richard as well as the rather recently found friend Alan "Harley." These, along with the host of friends who have already been afforded family status like the illustrious Sam from Louisville, have rewritten what we thought we knew about what and who family was.

Last night as the girls were preparing to get on todays plane and fly back to Louisville we had an impromptu family reunion to say goodbye. Richard was there (He's actually ALWAYS there but it was more than that at the time) and we were also joined by Harley. It turned out to be a great night. If it weren't for the fact that Carrie and I had to leave to get her finicky iPhone synced in an hourlong marathon session on my computer at work I think we would have all been singing "Kumbaya" by the end of the evening. As it went the boys took watch over the sleeping Riley (whom they claim as their own anyway) and we got to do the update on our own schedule.

I know that I have talked about some of these new family members at some length in this blog but I think it is remarkable the degree to which they have become so nicely woven into the life Carrie and I have on the boat and in the rest of it all too.

I feel that I have seriously gotten the big piece of chicken with these folks. From Sam, the fierce and amazing friend to Harley who can do anything and has, to Richard who, among other things is a dyn-o-mite skating rink king, they are all people who will and have changed our lives for the better.

Onward!