I may have mentioned this in the past, but I really like Thanksgiving Day. In fact, it’s become my favorite holiday. Notwithstanding that my doctor recently assured me that I was in good health “for a man my age,” just knowing that I have another annual holiday for the chance to give thanks is a good thing.
So, as in year’s past, I want to list the many things Winnie and I are giving thanks for this past year.
Well, it’s Halloween night once again. The ghosts and goblins are out and about, mixing in with the little kids going door to door asking for candy. It’s also the end of the month, well into autumn, and the leaves are littering the lawn daring me to rake them up, knowing full well that if I do, there’ll just be more on the ground tomorrow. So far, I’ve resisted the dare.
Today, Winnie officially became an American citizen. At a 2:00PM Citizenship Oath Ceremony in the Fairfax USCIS center, Winnie did take the oath of Citizenship and became an American.
Here it is already September, the long hot n’ Dry summer almost passed. Although I enjoy warm weather, these past two months were almost too much of a good thing. And in the category of “here we go again,” we have a hurricane watch just days after the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The more things change…
I’ve really been missing not having a boat of my own these past few months. Sure, I’ve gotten out on the water sailing several times, but being in a rented sailboat is not quite the same thing as having a boat of my own. I’ve also been looking at doing something different for a while now, a different kind of boating.
Well, last week Friday, I took the plunge, and with Winnie’s approval bought a single-seated sporting kayak.
I’ve just returned from nearly two months working in Portland, Oregon. It was somewhat frustrating on a professional level, but my work there gave me a wonderful opportunity to experience a part of the country I’d never been in before. All-in-all, I really enjoyed being in Portland.
A few weeks ago I achieved something I’ve been wanting to do for many years. On May 8, I gained an American Sailing Association (ASA) certification on basic Keel Boat 101. Thereby announcing to the world that I in fact know jibing and tacking and boom vrangs and lots of other fancy-sounding nautical kind of words.
Last Friday I did something that a couple of years ago would have been unthinkable. Yesterday I sold my beloved little boat “Sea Dreams,” the boat I purchased in Long Beach, Mississippi on October 26, 2002. This would be the boat that I lovingly maintained, repaired, hauled up to northern Virginia, restored, and occasionally even took out onto the water for a brief day’s cruising and fishing over these past 7-1/2 years.
I’ve heard that the two happiest days in a boat owner’s life is the day they buy a boat, and the day they sell it. I’m still not so sure about the ‘selling it” part.
Winnie and I just returned from a week’s trip to Oakland, California. I was there on business and on this trip Winnie accompanied me, the first time she’s traveled with me on my business travel. It was a nice week together, and gave both of us a bit of vacation. Better yet, I had the chance to do something different; walk the Golden Gate Bridge
Our local newspaper is calling it “Snowzilla.” Other news media are calling it “Snowmaggedon” and “Snopocalypse.” Yet other helpful news sources are calling it “number 4 in recorded history for D.C.”. Whatever our media chooses to call it; I call it 30 hours of watching the snow fall, interspersed by periods of going outdoors and shoveling the winter wonderland off the sidewalks, driveways, and cars. When all was said and done, this past weekend we had 21 inches of snow pile up on top of the six inches left from the week before. With the weather services predicting more to come over the next several days.
Is summer here yet?
