New Baby Arrives and An Afternoon out on the town!

First of all, a BIG congratulations to Pip and Kate on the birth of their Beautiful daughter Lillian Mary-Jayne Adams!!!!  She arrived in this world yesterday at 3:52pm and is a wonderful bundle of joy.  I'm looking forward to meeting her and, hopefully, being the "cool" old lady in her life!  I said I wanted to be her neat crazy Auntie ... but they said they wanted me to be an honorary Grandma!  WOW that would be an honour!  Love. Love. Love... and Joy to you 3.  Can't wait to see you.  (Pictures coming soon.)

Now, for more on me and Foot 'n Boot...and Captain G later.   We (the foot in boot and me) had an outing yesterday and it was soooooo good to get out of the house for a change. 

If you've ever been sick or injured or house bound you know how the days become the same...1. Get up, wash face, make cup of tea.  2. Sit in front of TV and, within 10 minutes, despair at the content of daytime TV.  3.  Think about having some lunch and then decide its too much trouble.  4.  Have another cup of tea and read book or the Internet....or worse - waste hours on Pinterest!  5.  Take a nap.  6.  Yearn for 6pm and wine o'clock.  7.  Watch the 7 o'clock news and then some more TV.  8.  Go to bed exhausted and wonder why you can't get to sleep.

So you can imagine how excited I was to be going out for LUNCH!

My two Jenny friends had organised a table at a little Spanish Tapas restaurant, wine bar, deli on Blues Point Rd.  And on a stunning Autumn day it was perfect.

We had a table outside and enjoyed several glasses of completely agreeable wine and some mighty fine conversation. 

I may have said this before, but I LOVE the company of women.  Don't get me wrong, I love the company of men too, but there's something about a good few hours being with and talking to other women that's just plain good for the soul.  Even if the conversation is silly or just about general "stuff" - it doesn't need to be deep - its just delightful.



The 'Jennys' and me.

The area we were in was particularly pleasing.  After lunch, as I sat parked on a bench waiting for Jenny to get the car, I noticed how lovely the Blues Point Road area is.  It reminded me of my BFF Jae's area of Atlanta ... called North Highland ... or maybe some parts of how I would imagine San Francisco.

Waiting for my ride. 

Lovely Blues Pt Road shops and restaurants - the road leads right down to the north side of Sydney Harbour and a terrific view of the Harbour Bridge.

Don't you just love little neighbourhood shops - so much more soul than supermarkets!

Jenny dropped me back at the house and today I still have a warm glow from the day out and lunch with good friends.  I am so grateful to have good friends and to live in such a lovely place.  Living with "food 'n boot" has certainly given me the opportunity to slow down and tune in.  Even though I'm missing Captain G a whole lot - and walking with crutches is a bitch -  I've still got heaps and heaps to be happy about.

Speaking of Captain G ... he's still in Mooloolaba and having a pretty good time himself.   Yesterday he lowered the dingy off the back of the boat and took an exploratory ride up the many canals and waterways of the area.  Queensland - like a lot of places on the ocean - has created lots of areas where more and more people can live "on the water".  So there are miles and miles of McMansions with little private jetties and associated shopping malls attached.

Mooloolaba canals with glass house mountains in the distance.

Captain G took his dingy and tied up to a public jetty to check out one of these malls.  He called me to tell me how HUGE it was ... he was gob smacked just standing in the entrance.  Turns out he didn't end up buying anything because the whole experience - and the crowds - were too overwhelming.  He high tailed it back to the boat and the local shop on the marina boardwalk!

Our friend Keith will fly up tomorrow (Sunday) to be crew for the next leg of the journey. They will have a great time I'm sure.

Captain G arrives in Mooloolaba

My eyes opened at 7:30am on Monday.  I don't normally wake up at that time but I was concerned.  Captain G was moving on today.

The Morton Bay forecast was for 25-30 knot winds (that's a lot) and dangerous waves of up to 3 metres.  Captain G - who by now fancies himself an elite "solo sailor" - wasn't willing to wait until the forecast was better.  He told me on the phone, "I can see what the weather is doing here and I can tell you its a beautiful day!". 

He left the marina about 10:30am on Monday headed for Deception Bay - still within the larger confines of Moreton Bay.  The sail would take about 3-4 hours and he would cross the busy entrance to the Port of Brisbane.  He called me a hour or so in to tell me he was crossing the channel into the port and motoring between two ships...one going out and one coming in.  He had them on the boat AIS so they would know about him too - even if they hadn't seen him.  The remaining journey was uneventful.  He sailed some of the way and the forecast didn't eventuate.  Cap G set anchor in the southern part of Deception Bay, made himself a lovely dinner of BBQ chicken & baked potato, carrots and brussel sprouts and was in bed early.  He did say he had to listen to fishing trawlers going up and down the bay all night.



From Flickr - Shipping in Moreton Bay

Deception Bay, and in fact most of the northern part of Moreton Bay, has panoramic views of the Glass House Mountains.  These are a spectacular series of steep hills - which are defined as steep sided volcanic plugs - formed from long ago volcanos.

Frm Flickr - Glass House mountains from land - they look really spectacular from the sea.

The next morning the forecast was just as bad for wind and waves....and again Captain G stuck his head out from the cockpit and said the day was, "perfect!".   Departing from his southern most point he tried to steer directly up the bay but found it uncomfortably shallow in the swell.  So he moved into the spitfire channel which runs along Bribie Island and leads out to the sea.  When he cleared land a bit the head sail went up and away he went sailing at an average of 6 kts all the way to the Mooloolaba river entrance.  As forecast the waves were big and breaking at the river - as well as his  port side beam.  Captain G had to time the waves, wait for the right break and then -  in his words -  he gave the engine, "THE FULL WELLY".  That means he went fast in through the breakers and into the safety of the river.  Rob and Ian from the yacht club were on hand to help him tie up in the marina....and yet another successful solo sail was completed!

Last night he met the other guys from the club cruise for drinks and dinner and today he had a walk around.  Here are some photos .... they didn't turn out that well (he knows now the camera lens needs cleaning!) but you get the idea of the area.

The headland at the Mooloolaba river entrance - from the beach.

From the beach looking south towards the river entrance.

The boardwalk along the beach into town.  Beach is on the right side through the bush.  Cap G also said there were Brush Turkeys all through this scrub.

Photo of the Glass House Mountains taken along the way.

Captain G and the other boats from the Yacht Club are having a rendezvous dinner tonight to talk about the adventure so far and the journey ahead.  Hope its a great night!

Me,  I'm still at home with the "boot" and enjoying the tall tales from the sea!

3 to 4 More Weeks!

My wonderful friend Jenny took me for another x-ray on Wednesday and my anticipation level was almost as high as the day Mr G and I were in Nelson Bay.  X-rays are passive, there's not much you can do really except wait in a pleasant little room until called and then lay under the x-ray machine.....well it would have been pleasant if not for the incessant concrete drilling and building noises going on in the office next door.   Then they ask you to wait again until the picture is ready.  All I could think of was - I hope the bones have grown significantly!  I have been so good these last 3 weeks - rested, took calcium, drank protein shakes, took vitamins, religiously rubbed my foot with comphrey, and visualised the bones growing & growing - the whole gamut of  "bone self help". 

I made the mistake of asking to have the report emailed to me at the same time as the doctor....I wanted to celebrate the miraculous bone growth even before being told about it I guess.  So imagine my deep disappointment when I first saw the x-rays at home - they didn't look any different.  And then, when the copy of the report came it was only 1 sentence long - 'no visible sign of healing' - that was it.  Deep deep disappointment.  So the rest of Wednesday and Thursday morning I was pretty quiet.

Jenny was back on Thursday afternoon (Bless her!) to take me to the specialist.  She and Steph did their best to cheer me up.  "It is what it is", Steph kept telling me.  The doctor, just like last time, made me feel a whole lot better.  He said the bones don't show growth in 3 weeks - for anyone.  He was looking for stability....were they in the same place and not moving around.  Luckily they are.  He said I needed to give it another 3-4 weeks of doing what I was doing now...and he said he did not recommend that I go back to the boat before then.  Bummer - Big Bummer.  Oh well, "it is what it is".  I have to go back for more x-rays and another appointment in 3 weeks....hopefully for the 'all clear'.

I called Captain G to give him the news.  He didn't say much - except that I needed to get better and it would be OK.  I cried and said I was sorry - He said so too.  Then we moved on..no point in dwelling on what can't be changed.  I'm keeping up the "bone self help".

Enough of that.  Captain G is still in Manly Marina in Morton Bay.  He's been pretty busy with the washing machine, visiting with Pip, Kate and Brian, and meeting up with Greg and Heidi - who launched a centre cockpit version of our Bluewater 420 recently - we were side by side in the boat show last year.  They pulled into Manly mid-week on their way north. 

The washing machine is pretty sick.  Turns out, even though the Soba 1000 are promoted for boats and caravans, they don't particularly work that well on boats.  They aren't grounded properly...which means the outer drum has rusted from electrolysis.  David, our boat builder, is on the way up there to see Captain G and he'll check it out.  He's already been on to the manufacturers in Europe.  We may have to engage in the dreaded marine LAUNDROMAT! for the rest of the trip north.   Not so bad really, I'm sure we'll manage just like everyone else.

Last night Jenny and I went out to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant called Ju-Rin.  Lovely night and great food.  We had a terrific time talking and laughing and drinking way too much wine.  Getting myself into the house and into bed on crutches after too much wine was interesting!  Thanks Jenny for a terrific night....and for being such a good friend!

To end this post on a lighter note I'd thought I'd show some pictures of the Morton Bay Fig tree since that's where Captain G is at the moment.  I LOVE these trees!  Wikipedia says - Ficus macrophylla, commonly known as the Moreton Bay Fig, is a large evergreen banyan tree native of most of the eastern coast of Australia.  It is best known for its beautiful buttress roots. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!!   Here are some nice Morton Bay Tree pictures from Flickr....

Update of MY.........

As with anything that restricts you - as a person, as a worker, as a .. whoever - the world becomes smaller - less of everything is what you tend to get.  And so it is with me right now. 

The world has a way of defining itself - to me anyway right now - as MY.  Mainly because I'm limited by not being able to put any weight on my left foot so I get input, inspiration, information and indigestion from pretty much 4 rooms in this house and 2 telephones. 

So I thought I'd post an update of the world according to MY.  First up....

MY husband, Captain G......

Is still in the marina in Manly, Queensland and having, according to all phone calls, a wonderful time in the lovely QLD sunshine and on his beloved boat.   Manly has 4 marinas and is a huge city of boats stretching as far as you can see in many directions.



Looking out across a marina in Manly, Qld.  From Flickr.

He's met a few of the locals who live aboard, walked all over exploring the town of Manly, had some not so good meals at the local restaurants and is, per usual with boats, experiencing another breakdown of sorts. This time its the washing machine on board. 

Baby Nova 1000

We have the cutest little front loading machine which has been, up to now, a little workhorse quietly turning out remarkably clean clothes, towels and sheets in loads that are quite surprising due to its size.  The little drum has stopped turning.  Captain G has wrestled it out of  the little space it inhabits in the forward head (bathroom in the front cabin for the uninitiated) to check on its vital components but can't find the problem.  He's counting on our friend Pip to come over from North 'Straddie' to check the electronics tomorrow.  If that fails its an appliance repairman from the town who can, hopefully, get the cute little thing back to full health.  I'd hate to do the rest of the cruise without it!



MY foot and boot.........



Boot - with foot inside.

My foot is, I hope, getting better.  The HUGE amount of swelling has certainly gone way down and so has the yucky blue/black bruising.  I'm due to have an x-ray on Wednesday of this week and then see the specialist on Thursday.  Fingers crossed  the bones will have mended enough for me to start putting some weight on the foot and then I can start to walk without having to lean on crutches holding my foot up.  As soon as I can walk with some weight on the foot I'm OFF - back to the boat and the cruise and Captain G!











MY bag of necessities for moving from room to room.....

I am officially the BAG lady of Lane Cove!  This is how I manage to move from the 4 rooms I use in the house on crutches....with my trusty shopping bag around my neck.  Inside are the essentials of glasses, book, Samsung tablet, and 2 phones (home phone land line and mobile).  It works.  No more to tell.

MY dinner tray........

I've become very used to preparing my meals from the microwave thanks to a home delivery company called Gourmet Dinner Service.  I've got the routine down pat....take out tonight's menu from the freezer about 3pm.   Wait until 6pm when its wine-o-clock and enjoy a nice Pinot Gris with a few cheese crackers or chips.  And then, about 7 or 7:15, microwave dinner....place on a plate and roll in the laundry basket to the sofa...And Enjoy!  Last night's dinner was a chicken enchilada with Mexican bean hotpot and brown rice.  I made a side of chopped tomato, cheese and avocado to go along with it...and some Weight Watchers sour cream as that extra special accent added to lift the meal to new heights!  Well, for take out, frozen, home delivered food it wasn't too bad.

Friends and house/dog sitters Stephanie and Bladen are fantastic at caring for me but they have an awful relationship to food!  Being fitness conscious, food - to them - is simply to keep one's metabolism burning at a high rate.  So eating is just fuelling the fire and not for enjoyment.  They eat a lot but its usually boiled sweet potatoes, frozen green beans or broccoli, and meat cooked to death without any oil or fat.  Yuck.  I love them both and they've been so wonderful while I've been crashing their stay these past 2 weeks - but I'd love to be able to really cook for them and show them how real food should taste and be enjoyed!

MY nest on the bed - with MY bedtime carer ...........

The best time of the day right now is bedtime and early in the morning before getting out of bed.  Its the quiet time Miss Molly and I have together snuggled under the covers.  I can read my book or my favourite sites on the Internet while Molly twitches and makes little barking noises while playing in her dream park or on her dream beach.   Its this I will miss the most when I leave to join Captain G again....my lovely dog.  Only other pet owners/lovers will understand how much these bundles of unconditional love mean and how much they add to your feeling of wellbeing.  No wonder science is finding out more and more about the sheer healing properties of our 4 pawed friends.

 

 

There you have it....MY world at the moment.

 

Queensland perfect - With friends in Dunwich - Sydney raining

There's something about being on a boat in a beautiful place with the sun shining that makes it easy to rub the sensory pleasure of it in to others less fortunate.......especially to someone stuck in the house who can't walk! 

Well......maybe that's a bit of an over reaction but Captain G seems to take great pleasure in keeping me well up to date with the sunshine in beautiful Queensland.  Unfortunately its dark and pouring rain here in Sydney.  I can't complain too much...we really needed the rain...and I'm so glad he's experiencing such lovely weather and, after all, he has to do this bit by himself.

Last night Cap G spent the night moored off the Little Ship Club in Dunwich, Qld.  Dunwich is the township and ferry landing for anyone visiting or living on North Stradbroke Island.  Our good friends Pip and his wife Kate live on the island.....and a few years ago Mr G and I had the great pleasure to attend their wedding over a wonderful and memorable family weekend.  So both of us were, without a doubt, looking forward to this part of the trip!

Ferry wharf in Dunwich.  From Flickr

Bar at the Little Ship Club.  From Flickr.

Map of "Straddie" & Dunwich
From Flickr

North Stradbroke is lovely and quite unspoiled - for a Queensland island.  Although the tourist information says the population of the island expands 5 fold for the school holidays and other 'short break' weekends, there simply isn't the hordes of people seen on the Gold or Sunshine Coasts.  Its only 30 minutes by ferry from Cleveland - an outer suburb of Brisbane - and, once there, it can seem like another world.  There are pristine beaches, 4WD tracks through forests with freshwater lakes, and the ocean wildlife offers dolphins, whales and manta rays.  Paradise!  The southern end of the island is closed to tourism due to sand mining.  More information about Straddie HERE - N. Stradbroke tourism

Mining is what brought Pip and Kate to the island.  Pip worked for the mines as a geologist.

Captain G had a great time visiting.  Kate is pregnant with their first child which is due any day now!  They had a wonderful catch up over - what Cap G described as delicious! - Kate's chicken tagnine.  Again ... wish I could have been there with them.....sounded like a great night.  Best wishes from both of us to Pip and Kate on the birth of their new baby any day now!!!!!

This morning Cap G and Southern Belle left on the high tide to move across Morton Bay to the township of Manly and the East Coast Marina.  G tried to navigate around the north end of Peel Island and then out into Morton Bay but the sand banks were way too shallow so he had to go back to where he started from then go around the bottom of Peel Island before entering Morton Bay.  He made it just fine and settled into the marina safe and sound.   He sounded very proud this morning when he told me, "I'm getting good at tieing up all by myself!".  "Don't get too used to it", I warned.

Over 5 years ago, when we were still looking for a cruising boat, G and I went to Manly to look at an Island Packet yacht we were interested in buying.  When we got there - as per all the rest - the boat was a disappointment....clearly past its youth and very well used.   Before we decided to build our dream boat we travelled around a lot in hopes of finding something that would be modern enough for me and sturdy enough for Captain G.  I'm glad we never found anything that met our criteria because Southern Belle is just what we both wanted and then more.

Captain G and Southern Belle are staying in the marina at Manly for a week.

Captain G does it solo! An 'electric' trip up the Broadwater.

Captain G, my very smart sailor Scottish husband, has completed a solo sail from Southport Qld to his present anchorage of Horseshoe Bay off Peel Island.   Well Done Captain G!  I have to say I was worried.  Mainly because that's just what I do - worry - and also because I'm not there to give him what limited support I can.  He made it through....arrived at his anchorage just before 11am this morning after what was described to me as a "hair raising" trip through the creeks and mangroves.

Unfortunately I took the new on board computer with me when I returned to Sydney with the broken foot so he doesn't have anything with which to send pictures. So I'll see if I can lift some off other sites to show you what the area looks like.....apologies to anyone whose copyright I may infringe! I'm going to attempt to only lift what is sharable!


Sunrise along the waterway. (Taken from Flicker)



Anchorage at the Jacobs Well area.  (From Flickr)

Captain G left the Gold Coast area of Southport on the tide yesterday.  He needed to keep to high tide as much as possible so the plan was to travel to the half way point at Jacobs Well and stay the night.  Along the way he had to follow the channel markers to find his way through the rather featureless mangroves and multiple deserted beaches.  Correction - the beaches are deserted of people but Captain G said there were a lot of kangaroos enjoying the sun all along the way!  He also saw a lot of dolphins and bird life.  Some history and information about Jacobs Well are can be found HERE.

After an early gourmet dinner of baked beans on toast....Captain G turned in knowing he needed to be underway at sun up to take full advantage of the high tide all the way to Peel Island and out into Moreton Bay.  I stayed in bed all morning with my phone in hand waiting for his call telling me he had made it through!  He finally called to say he was anchored but it had been a bit on the "hair raising" side.  (I'm the one that usually uses that terminology so I was surprised that he used those exact words!  Something scary must have happened.)

He relayed the trip to me in detail.  First the morning sun was bright in his eyes which made it very difficult to see the channel markers or make out the colours.  He ran aground once but managed to back out of it and follow a motor boat up another channel .. which turned out to be the right one.  Also he had to go under high tension electricity wires which were close to the height of the mast!  The wires - according to the chart - are at a height of 20 meters above the water line.  Our mast is 17 meters above the water line.  Captain G said as he was approaching them it just looked way too close!  He even put on shoes and gloves as a 'just in case'....not sure if they would help but made him feel a bit better!  He's usually - outwardly - brave...never flinching.  But he said as he went under them he couldn't help but close his eyes!  SHIT! I'm glad I wasn't there I'd have passed out!!!

He's now at the Lovely Peel Island a beautiful national park island in Morton Bay.  Famous for once being a leper hospital and now a marine reserve complete with dugongs, dolphins and bird life.  More on Peel Island and the National Park HERE.




Horseshoe Bay and Peel Island.  From Flickr.

Peel Island.  From Flickr

I'm so proud of him and Southern Belle .. and I wish I was there.  Now more than ever!  But I'll get back to them soon.  I just know it.  Stay tuned for more Captain G adventures.



  

Catastrophizing!



Life can - sometimes - be like eating a lemon!

Last year I started seeing a psychologist.  I did this for a lot of reasons ... imminent retirement; a difficult (read shit head) on my board at work;  33 years of marriage; the boat; ... it goes on and on and on.  Did she help?  Hell YES!  Psychologist listen to how YOU see issues and then help YOU to see them in a different light.  They provide strategies to help get you get your self together and to stop CATASTROPHIZING!

I love that word - Catastrophizing.  The dictionary gives this definition - to view or talk about an event or situation as worse than it actually is, or as if it were a catastrophy.

The first time my psychologist said that word to me it was a screaming ah-ha moment.  The word clarified the way I reacted to so many things .. especially sailing things and work things and marriage things - well every thing!  And, I'm sorry to say, the way I initially saw this broken foot thing.  However - and I must say I'm proud of myself - I may have 'gone there' a bit at the beginning but I'm back into reality mode now (or maybe the right phrase would be 'for' now).  I no longer see this as a catastrophy but an opportunity for all kind of things.  Enlightenment and/or education being one of them.

I decided to look beyond my usual round of reading material for new things....after all I have a good deal of free time on my hands right now.

First I started with the TED application on my tablet.  I've seen a few TED talks over the years and, while always amazed and entertained by the talented people & subjects, I never made them a habit.  The talk I found last night blew my mind!  It's been watched well over 9 Million times!  It's called The Power of Vunerability by Brene' Brown .  And it resonated with me right to the core...in relation to my current predicament but also life.  These are some of the points she made:-

• In order to be really connected - to ourselves and others - we must let ourselves be seen, truely seen.  To be vunerable.
• Love with a whole heart - even though there is no guarantee - of anything, ever.
• Practice gratitude & joy even in those moments of absolute terror - like when you're waiting for the results of a test, wondering can it be possible to love this hard or believe in something this absolutely...instead of CATASTROPHIZING!
• Believe 'I Am Enough' - and when you do that you stop screaming at the world and start listening... being kinder and more gentle to ourselves and the people around us.

I encourage you to take 20 minutes and listen to the talk.  Its funny and revealing.  You'll never spend a better 20 minutes in my view!  I'm looking forward to my next TED experience tonight.

Secondly, and they say you should never do this, I started Googling my foot injury.  The usual stuff....  How long it takes to heal.  Common complications.  Long term problems.  All the things that we, as medical morons, should not even look at or think about!   But I did discover good ideas too.  I discovered the "knit-bone herb" Comfrey is supposed to promote bone healing.  I don't think I knew about Comfrey before but Stephanie said her mother used to have it in the house all the time.  So wonderful Steph went out and, along with a number of calcium, minerals and vitamins on my shopping list she bought some Comfrey ointment.  We'll see how this bit of herbology works....if I could soak my foot in it I would.

Oh look!  It's almost wine o'clock!  More later.