Teething Troubles

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.

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.

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.

Snow at the end of April

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.

Fixing the electrics in the Wee House

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. 

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.

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. 

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.