We have achieved blast-off!

Well, we've been fairly successful of late in blasting Gert out of her chair. She got a hair cut last week which is beautiful - her hair was the longest it's ever been prior! We've been to the chinese grocery a few times (hey, I take what I can get....).
John, Gert and I met up with Mark and Jeff for Jeff's 50th birthday. Headed over to Carraba's for a very good italian dinner. What made it SO good was I didn't have to cook.

One day, Gert and I spent an hour or so perusing the 'treasures' at TJ Max. That store is quite interesting - it's sort of like an 'I can't get there from here story' as, no matter what I find that I like, it's not in the right size, it's not in the right color, it's not the right style or, if I manage to satisfy all of the above, it's got a button missing.... I did manage to get some very nice bath towels and scored some Jordan almonds for Mom during our shopping tour - one of her favorite treats.

When we were coming home from TJ Max, I gave her 5 almonds to chew on during the ride. We got home, settled back into the livingroom and she asked for some more almonds. Now, we've both got a lot of experience with introducing 'new' foods to her - it's best to introduce slowly and wait for the effects to sort themselves out (I know this first person as I think I put her in the hospital a few years back by serving her some innocent looking fresh pineapple...). Anyway, I told her I didn't want to give her any more during the first seating so the little thing looks at me, stands up, sits back down, hold out her wobbly hand and says 'There. This is the next seating.' She got her almonds. And, for future reference, we're in the clear...

Mom and I have also been busy putting together a few of the new office pieces - so far, we've done 2 filing cabinets and 1 to go. She's very good at figuring out what goes where - I, however, did not receive that gene from her. My genome is filled with Dad's head-scratcing, slightly concerned gene titled 'How'd that get there or, more likely, where the heck does that go?' He and I also shared the 'extra part left over' gene...Needless to say, Mom's more handy with this stuff than I am so I leaned on her a lot with the construction. She handled all the instructions and told me what went where. Much easier this way.

Handyman extraordinaire and I put together 3 of the 4 desks in the room. He had to finish up himself as I was plumbed tuckered out. But, with dear friend Nancie's decorating touch, the room is coming together in fine fashion. Nancie is so good at decorating that she's able to do it long distance - she being in NY and me being, well, not....Nonetheless - she picked the beautiful blue paint for the room in about 30 seconds and it's exactly right.... So, the room should be totally finished, telephone line moved along with the cable line by Thursday. Cannot wait to get my dining room back!

Jumping back a few days....

John and I spent Labor Day night anchored out down in Solomon's Island. Had a very pleasant sail down, stopped twice and swam during the day. We had a great afternoon at the Tiki bar, talking to a few locals which is always fun. Evening found us in a beautiful cove across the river, surrounded by just a few other boats. We jumped in and swam for an hour or so before throwing steaks on the grill, accompanied by sauteed mushrooms and onions. Great friend David1 had given us a special bottle of wine from his family's vineyard in Peru which made the meal even more special. Had a great time and a very restful night under the stars...until....

The storm of the century hit the next morning...

Oh, man, the harbor we were in was glass-like when we awoke early - should have known something was going to happen. We got the boat together and stowed everything (we thought), rounded the corner of the Patuxent river into the Bay and BAM! 5' swells had us singing the theme to Gilligan's Island (and me without high heels or even one long formal dress...). Namaste II, being a power sailer, motored through at a steady 8 knots but there was no sailing to be done this day! She handled the swells pretty well, especially considering she's not a heavy keel boat. We bobbed, we rallied, we dodged left, we weaved right, we rose, we fell. We did it all...and again... and again... and again. Finally we got back to the harbor at Chesapeake Beach in what turned out to be pretty good time...3.5 forever hours! We both ran for the hot shower as we were soaked from the sea spray. Luckily, the water was 74.5 degrees still so it wasn't too horrible, but we were both pruny anyway. A good lunch finished the day before I hit the road while John stayed behind to put the boat back together. All in all, a grand day.