We have continued to be busy landlubbers since March, enjoying
spending more time with our granddaughter, Ellie, taking her out on walks in
the forest or to community events in village halls, where she was very happy to
eat cake.
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| Ellie and Jeremy |
Baby Sophie had a development problem with her hips and had
to wear a harness from birth. Unfortunately, after some initial success, the
harness did not work and soon Sophie will be having an operation on her hips.
We hope and pray that this will be successful.
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| Painting the roof |
Jeremy and I spent a month in the isle of Mull, off the west
coast of Scotland, painting, decorating and gardening at the cottage, which is
now jointly owned by Jeremy and his two brothers. The weather was largely fine,
except for a few days of snow.
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| Snow at the end of April |
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| Starting on the kitchen |
I flew to the Isle of Man to see my Mum and sisters. I was
pleased to see Mum looking so much better than she had on my last visit in
January. She lives at home with my sister, Sara. A team of carers help Sara to
look after her. Mum is walking around the house with the help of a frame and is
able to transfer to her wheelchair. Sara or my other sister, Pat, take her out
when they can. The three of us took Mum out for lunch while I was over.
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| Fixing the electrics in the Wee House |
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| Sara, Mum and Pat |
Meanwhile, Jeremy was antifouling Sal Darago in preparation
for launching earlier this month (June). The weather became unsettled and windy
and for the first time ever, SD was launched without sails. We motored down the
river to our mooring in full waterproofs and woolly hats.
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| On the mooring and still doing jobs |
Soon, we were able to put the sails on and have a few days
sailing from the River Deben to the River Orwell and up to Ipswich. The bilge
pump for the shower had seized up but everything else seemed to be working OK.
Jeremy fitted a second station for our Standard Horizon VHF/AIS radio, so we
can now access all the features from the cockpit.
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| New front cabin portholes |
Simmering in the background all the time were problems with
our teeth. Somewhat bizarrely, Jeremy had started the process of having dental
implants when he had his infected tooth taken out. This meant he now had only one
chewing tooth in his bottom jaw. One of my wisdom teeth became infected and
proved to be too complicated for my dentist to remove. Consequently, I had to
be referred, so all the time I was away in Mull and the Isle of Man I was
taking painkillers. Two days after my return, I had the infected tooth taken
out. The day before, Jeremy spent two hours in the dentist’s chair and had four
implants. We were a sorry pair back at home on a diet of porridge and soup. We
are much better three weeks on and looking forward to another trip to Mull at
the end of the month. This time, we hope to assemble two single beds, hang some
curtains and have a holiday.
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| Kathy and Guido |
Earlier this week we had a visit from Guido. He had sailed
over from Belgium in his “new” 34ft Hallberg Rassy. We last saw Guido on his
yacht, Hinano, anchored off Union Island in the Caribbean in 2009. He has kept
in touch by email and promised that one day he would sail over to see us. His
new yacht is lovely and we hope he enjoys many years of sailing her. We had a
good time together in spite of the heavy rain.
