June 2006

Hello everyone,

Well, as you may know, I turned 60 last Thursday and I received the biggest surprise of my life.

We had to work a little late at the Boat House that day. Murray sent me to get changed for dinner and he followed a little later. The dining room had already been informed that we would be slightly late for dinner. As we entered the dining room, I saw my Mom sitting in one of the chairs. I think that my mouth fell open. Then I turned slightly and saw Steve. At the end of a table ( too long, but I didn’t notice ) sat Linda, our friend from London. Hidden behind the camera lens was Kuyler, her husband. Then, behind me I heard the tap of little feet and a voice saying ” Surprise”. It was Matthew, followed by Jeremy & Cynthia. My whole family was here to celebrate the day with me! I couldn’t see too well for the film of tears over my eyes.

Then they all announced that they were staying a few days! We had a wonderful visit and shared some fun. I have a super boss ( Mur ) and he gave me the next day off to play. The guys went sailing in the afternoon and the ladies entertained themselves by the pool.

That evening, after dinner, everyone came back to our tiny cabin for more libations. Under the mosquito net surrounding our bed was 60 balloons! They were stacked probably a foot high on our bed and the netting held them in place. They had spent hours blowing those things up. Linda and Kuyler, Mom & Steve were departing the next day and somehow ( Mur again) two huge bags of balloons were attached to Kuyler’s vehicle. The balloons next appeared in Jeremy & Cynthia’s room. Eventually they worked themselves back to our cabin once again.

The last visitors left on Sunday and it is quiet here once more. It will take my liver a week or two to recover from all of the celebrating. But, it was wonderful to have them all here to share this big day in my life.

How are things with you? Are you enjoying this warmer weather? We sure are. Today, the plan is to get out for a little sail this afternoon, do some computer work and have Mur cut my hair. A busy day off.

Well, stay in touch and hugs to you until we see you again. Murray & Heather

Hello everyone,

Well, we made it. Yesterday actually. The Volvo heaved a sigh of relief as all of the bags of clothes, radios, computer parts, boat gear etc etc was removed. The unpacking took much less time than the packing, that’s for sure.

But that trusty Volvo dragged us back and forth across this province for the last month. Friends and family entertained us royally wherever we went and it was so great to see all of you again. If we missed you on the “spring tour”, we will try to rectify that in the fall.

In Dunrobin, we got to hug our grandson again and watch his first soccer game. What a laugh that was and it brought back fond memories of our sons at that age. There we also caught up with many months of mail. Can you imagine getting mail just a few times per year? The last time we got a delivery was in Feb. It will take me a while to deal with all of the paperwork, bills and forms. Now that we are sitting still for a period, pouches of mail arrive more frequently.

One of the projects this summer, was to get a means of having music on the small sailboat. Inexpensively, if possible. We looked at portable radios or car radios but settled on a tiny MP3 player that we will connect to battery powered speakers. The unit holds about 500 songs and we can switch them for others on the computer. All of the music CD’s that we carry with us north and south have now been “crunched” to MP3 format and are stored on the hard drive. That project took a day or two but we have quite a library.

We made two purchases this spring to make our life easier. The first was an Engel portable refrigerator/freezer. It holds about 1.7 cu feet and keeps things frozen with very little power drain as it has it’s own compressor. Into it, we put the fish Murray had caught and transported it north to share with our friends. On the way back south, we will pack Canadian bacon! Meanwhile, in Killarney it will cool our beer and sodas.

The second purchase was an external antenna for the computer to extend the range for our wireless reception. This unit will, supposedly, give us a mile or so range. Wireless is now readily available in the islands but not so easily accessed when you are anchored offshore. This should help. And, in Killarney, we can connect to the wireless here without leaving our cabin. When you are surrounded by trees and rocks, that is a tricky thing to arrange.

So, that is what we have been up to for the last few weeks. Sure hope that all is well with you. Write when you have time.

Hugs, Heather & Murray