Hello, Blog

It's been 5 days since my last blog entry.  That's unusual from a guy who has made as many as 3 entries in one day.

I will pass off some of the responsibility for this blog gap to the Deity, who has once again blessed the Northwest of the USA with wonderful winter weather which renders this visitor from sunny La Paz less likely to venture outdoors with his camera.

However, my social and home life is booming.  I enjoy daily life at the Morales hacienda in the company of Arnold, Sandra, Denver the Dog, along with the cable TV and great internet access.  Life is about contrasts and I am enjoying it while I can because I know that back on Pachuca there will be no cable TV and usually no other people, furry pets, or internet.

Last Wednesday I drove to Port Townsend to Sue Hoover's house for dinner with her and Dan '&' Lisa who had helped me so much at Port Townsend Rigging.  It was great to be with them again and for me there was the bonus of getting a lot of new information on my rig and how to manage it.  (Some lessons: I reef the sails way, way to late; an inner forestay does not maketh a cutter rig; the reason why I've had trouble with my staysail and been reluctant to use it is that it does not have dedicated block tracks in the proper position on the cabin.)

Last night Arnold, Sandra, and I drove to Jean Davie's place at Kala  Point just out of Port Townsend for dinner with friends and relatives.  It was great to see again Francis Brophy, a sharp and talented free spirited Irishman from Brooklyn whose experience ranges from computer communications high tech (He tried to enroll into a college course and was asked instead to teach it.) to currently playing and instructing Jazz piano.  We then had the pleasure of meeting Jean's brother-in-law and neighbor, Bill, and his wife Marlene.  It was a great evening over a veritable banquet table which reflected Jean's terrific sense of taste and style.   ... But it wasn't all convivial indulgence: Arnold, Bill, and I "sang for our supper" by replacing Jean's bulky VGA computer monitor with a sleek flat screen that had been in the box for about a year.  Jean was very pleased with this.

Last week Arnold and I did a little tour to look at the boats at Keyport and the Brownsville marina.  This involved a drive from Kingston to a few miles south of Poulsbo.

Keyport looked very old, very quaint, and very picturesque, with views across the water to Poulsbo and the mountains to the west.

The Brownsville marina was of medium size - maybe 200 boats - with most of the boats in the 25-35 ft range.  However, there were a few larger boats, one of which had just returned from the Vashon race with no mast, because it had sheared off at the deck and had to be cut away.   Unfortunately there were many neglected boats which in this part of the world means mold inside and out.  I have included the last photo, of the floating toilets at the Brownesville marina, because of the name that you can see on the side of the building: "Waterloo".