Holiday Blues

Some indication of what a martini does
to your camera skills (hopefully will
not affect the catching of docklines).
Also to give an idea of exactly how hot
it is here - three ninety degree plus days
in a row. Perfectly timed with freezer breakdown.

The thing about not writing, is that it gets very easy to keep it up. We have been in Toledo for five days now. I just haven't made time to write. Though I must say I have a few good reasons. The last week or so has been quite a ride.

For starters, the day we left Rochester, the freezer died. The freezer pump just stopped working. Which meant that I needed to cook as much meat as possible before it all rotted (I was not 100% successful at this, which led Smith to remark that it smelled like death in the passageway, where the freezer lives... or.. erm... died).

But today Eve brought the freezer back online. So I gathered together my cloth shopping bags, and cast off the lines of the boat for our evening sail. I waved goodbye giddily, only to find a few moments later that I'd forgotten the keys to the car I was borrowing.nthey were sitting on the galley countertop. "Oh well," I thought, "I'll walk to the nearest store and take a cab back, like I normally would."

The nearest store was only a mile away. It wasn't Costco, but it would work. Then, halfway through my shopping, the lights dimmed. It was a pretty rundown Food Town, so I figured they were just having electrical issues. Then a woman in the poultry section asked me if I wanted to grab anything from it before she locked it down... because the store was closing. It just wasn't shaping up to be my day. But then I found my way to the Real Seafood Co., ordered a martini and penned these lines. I'm feelin' better already.

Today we got two new crew members. If you look around at the Marlin's crew now, you will see a few familiar faces, but many new ones. For the duration of my contract, though, this I pretty much us:

The excellet and amazing Captain Flash

Our new (and former) first mate, Seth #2

The formerly faithful but soon departing bosun, Smith

A newly promoted coxswain and gunner, Neb

Our beloved engineer, Eve

Straus, our pursor

Our social butterfly and no longer the New Girl, Buttons

And the new New Girls, Butler and Deutsch

Tomorrow we have an all hands day off, everyone but the New Girls, that is, and my folks have invites us to their lakeside hideaway for waterskiing, food and fun. I for one, can't wait.

Monday's Menu
Breakfast
Sour cream coffee cake and grapefruit
Lunch
Couscous salad (a new variant with leftover chutney) and pork loin with tossed salad, and toast
Afternoon snack
Apple spritzer (apple juice and tonic water) and six-layer bars
Dinner
Red beans and rice