Friday 23 December 2011

Big News!

The . . . chickens . . . laid . . . an  . . . egg!

It took an extremely rough trip through the ocean to produce one egg :)  We are leaving it in for now in the hope that it will entice them to add to the clutch.


Before we left

We were so busy before leaving that I left a few things out.

Black Jack was adopted days before we had to leave.  He lives with a wonderful couple now.


We had an early Christmas with my family and the kids performed their solos and duet wonderfully on the keyboard and guitar.


We found a hermit crab living in a pipe.  Madison offered him a selection of shells and he quickly ditched the pipe for the whelk shell :)


We had another unexpected visitor in our chicken coop, but this time it wasn't a dog . . . it was a dove :)



And the kids worked very hard preparing the boat to leave.  I was very proud of them.


Finally we were underway, plants and chickens too!




Thursday 22 December 2011

Anchored in Abaco!

Finally, after a very long, rough night, we have anchored in Abaco.  We spent days prepping for the trip and my crew loaded our entire workshop into the lazarets, helped put on the sails and every other one of the million items it takes to get our ship moving.

The kids really enjoyed the trip - especially since they spent most of it sleeping :)  This morning a surprise arrived on deck, along with a soaking for me.  When the sun rose a . . . flying fish was lying right in front of me on deck.  He was beautiful.  The kids loved checking it out and it made a great addition to Madison's Birthday breakfast - flying fish and grits a la Joshua Slocum.



That's right - after two pre-parties it is finally Madison's birthday!  She is officially ten years old.  Her new American Girl, Jewel, joined the crew this morning as we enjoyed a peaceful sail through the sea of Abaco.



We did some last minute Christmas shopping in Marsh Harbour, enjoyed some delicious homemade peach ice cream, and we are ready to leave in the morning for Manjack Cay :)

Sunday 18 December 2011

Faith


I appear to be finding God.  Finally.  It seems to have taken a long time.  When I was younger, I questioned religion just because I questioned everything :)  As I got older I became cynical and used science as an excuse for not having faith.  It took losing Gordon five years ago to open my mind, heart and soul to the real possibility of something more, to start to accept and believe without knowing.  I have had experiences since losing Gordon, Aleda, Elsie and Ron that simply cannot be explained away as coincidence.  I have felt led (I can’t explain it any other way) to use my blog to reach out and to learn, and I have found explanations of prayer, of worship, that speak to me in others’ writings.  I realized that I have been praying for a long time without accepting that I was simply talking to Him.  This morning I prayed on purpose – out loud – I prayed for my foster dog, and for the people who wanted to meet him, that it would work out for both their sakes – not for mine.  It worked!  He listened to me and answered my prayer.   When I first saw the photo of this dog I fostered something inexplicable tugged at me and made me take him into my life.  I wondered why.  Maybe this is why.  I feel silly and self-conscious posting this, but I want to be honest here on my blog.  Merry Christmas everyone.

Decorated!

We finally finished decorating our tree!  Although, to be honest, it took longer for me to coordinate the photo shoot than it did to finish decorating it :)  We loved the memories that our favorite decorations brought back of family and of Christmases past.  Last year we made hand-print reindeer and it was fun to see how the kids' hands have grown.  We have special ornaments that were Nana's, and the angel on the top is a very special angel from a tree I put up for Gordon in the hospital over five years ago.


 



MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Oh Christmas Tree . . .

We bought our tree today.  For most people this is pretty simple but when you live on a boat it is pretty funny.

 First you pick out a perfect tree . . .


Then you have them chainsaw it  . . .


In half!


So it is the perfect size for a boat :)

Driving home, we stopped by the new Bahamar development and enjoyed the nature reserve.








Tuesday 13 December 2011

Coconut Chicken Feed

We are low on corn, so today we supplemented the chickens diet with some natural coconut feed - very natural.  The dogs enjoyed it too.





And now some for us!

Monday 12 December 2011

Chaos in the Chicken House!

Not really!  I came up on deck today and only saw two dogs.  I was a little worried because Black Jack has fallen in the canal once already.  I glanced at the chicken coop and saw a black shape in the cage.  I ran over expecting to see blood and feathers, but all I saw was one silly dog eating corn, and three chickens sitting on their perches.



He had pushed his big head into a small gap at the bottom of the cage and enlarged it until he could fit - did I mention that he is very persistent?  So now I have a part pitbull up for adoption who loves kids, tolerates cats, and is even safe around your chickens!

A Poem for Gordon

Five years have gone by
Still missing you
It hurts to try
Still thinking of you
Time heals? A lie

Hard not having you here
My father
Miss seeing you near
My friend
Can picture you so clear

Want to share with you
My dreams
Need to talk us two
My thoughts
Feel sorrow anew

I share with you
In prayer
I talk to you
Out loud
I haven't forgotten you

My father passed away five years ago yesterday.  Every year I remember him with a poem.  It doesn't matter if I haven't written for weeks - when the day comes I always have something in my heart to write down.

Sunday 11 December 2011

A Sweet Surprise

Grandma presented me with a sweet surprise when I arrived to pick up Madison from her sleepover today. Madison went to a Christmas party last night with Grandma and received a visit and present from Santa!  Today they made star-shaped sugar cookies and assembled them to make a . . . Christmas tree!


There were a lot more "presents" under the tree, but they were too delicious to wait for the photo :)  The tree would have been green, but Madison was concerned about the dyes in the food coloring so they decided to have "snow" covering the tree instead :)  Isn't it adorable?

Saturday 10 December 2011

An Early Birthday Party

Madison's birthday is on the 22nd of December so we traditionally have a party with her friends early before all of the Christmas madness starts.  This year I hosted a baking extravaganza here on Keewatin for five little girls.  It was wonderful and tiring.  They explored the schooner, were swinging in the rigging, held chickens, enjoyed a nature walk, and of course we baked.  We made sponge cakes with honey chocolate icing and double chocolate chunk cookies.  They snacked on chicken wrapped in bacon and a fruit platter, and quenched their thirst with homemade hot chocolate.  We all had a great day.  Take home treats included a bag of baked goodies and a jar of Madison's Mix.

The boat looking beautiful before the party

Happy little girls!

Happy Birthday to you!

Mommy received the first piece of cake!

Presents and yet more swinging in the rigging - they couldn't get enough :)