Back in the USA

Hello from Napa Valley, California. We arrived here on Wednesday after spending the night with Simon and Erin in Sunnyvale.

Simon, Erin and me in Sunnyvale.

Two weeks ago in the UK, I had the remains of a tooth extracted. That put me out of action for a day; then it was all go spending treasured time with Emily, Ben and the grandchildren, packing and cleaning the house.

Hever Castle, Kent

One week ago we went to a very special celebration at Hever Castle in Kent. A surprise 70th birthday party for Jeremy’s brother, Gavin, was organised by his four children. 

Back row: Helen and Gavin. Front row: Julian, Amanda and Robin

It was a wonderful evening and we felt honoured to be invited to join Gavin and Eileen, their four children and wives/husbands and their eleven grandchildren, along with older brother, Ritchie and his wife, Catherine. The celebration continued the next day with lunch for everyone at Robin and Victoria’s house followed by a Spencer family tradition, the Pub Game.

Helen made this fabulous cake

 Once we were back in Suffolk we had one day before our journey to Sal Darago in Napa Valley. We still haven’t stopped, except to sleep. We were relieved that SD was in a structurally sound condition, infested with flies outside, but OK inside. There had been huge forest fires nearby but all was well at the marina.

The roof was cleaner than the side decks

 Simon and Erin spent Thanksgiving with Erin’s brother and sister in Los Angeles. We were invited, which was very kind and thoughtful, but we needed to start on the long list of jobs that have to be done before SD can be launched. So far, Jeremy has sanded down SD’s bottom in preparation for antifouling and I have scrubbed the filthy decks. Both sails are on, along with all the halyards and sheets. Unusually, it rained for most of the day today but Jeremy still managed to remove the propeller so that he could replace the cutlass bearing, which was fitted in Gladstone, Australia in 2011. We’ve done a few miles since then!

Cockpit muck

Finally, a very big thank you to Simon and Erin for going food shopping for us, ordering a cruising guide, putting us up and sorting out a new smart phone for Jeremy.

Nearly November

All of a sudden the summer has gone and the daylight saving time has been removed so we are back to GMT or UTC. We seem to have been busy since returning from Mull.

Walkng in the forest

I replaced the broken screen on the Lenovo

We did a bit of gardening, fence painting, digging and then decided to return to Mull to sort out the shed roof. It took a week, but there was a noticeable improvement, I think.

Front garden shed BEFORE

and AFTER

Of course there were other jobs such as a new sink

and bath taps with shower to match

On the way home, we stopped at Skelmersdale for a thirty year reunion with my form which left West bank High School in 1987. Sorry it is a poor photo.

While we were there we passed our old house in Mossy Lea Road which is having an extension where the garage used to be.

Back in Suffolk, the weather was so reasonable we were able to have BBQ lunches in the garden.

Some days we got to see a grand child or two and we had a lot of fun

No children were permanently harmed in the posting of this blog. Finally, Sue a neighbour, went to Australia and could not find people to look after Blue her impeccably mannered, black Labrabor, so we had a house guest for a week or so.

And finally we attended a wonderful bonfire party at Whispering Pines where Em and Ben had worked very hard to feed and entertain over 60 guests.

Em and Sophie watch the display

No one ever gave me ear muffs when I was a child!

Back in the UK

We arrived safe and well in England and returned home to Suffolk at the end of July.

The garden needed sorting

We tested Em and Ben's new RIB

Kathy visited her Mum and sisters in the IOM

We visited Auntie Joyce in Brigg

We drove to lovely Tobermory

Ben, Emily, Ellie, Kathy and I went swimming at Caliach

Kathy and I went walking to the lighthouse

We enjoyed staying at the cottage

Sophie went exploring on the rocks

And all too soon we were back in Suffolk walking in the forest

We listened to the awful news about Hurricane Irma and the Mexican earthquake and prayed for the people suffering in those places which we have visited. We hoped that all our friends were safe and their boats undamaged. We are aware of how lucky we are in the UK to be secure from the kind of natural disasters which are ocurring in the world. We count our blessings daily.

Land Based USA

On the Sunday, before Sal Darago was hauled out, Kathy and I used public transport to travel to Sunnyvale where we borrowed Simon and Erin’s Pontiac Vibe. We used this to return to Sunnyvale on the Thursday night and based our future trips from there using their lovely AWD car. Here’s some of what we did.

We ate well

We tasted 57 wines

We borrowed some bikes

We relaxed

We were together

Kathy and I decided to borrow their car and..

We drove to Yosemite and saw the falls

We wandered up to Nevada Falls

I ate snow

Then found Dog Lake

And much to Kathy's delight we met a mule train

In the Gold Rush town of Columbia, we found a Wells Fargo Stagecoach

So Kathy persuaded them to let her ride SHOTGUN

And afterwards she had to have a sarsaparilla

Not content with that we tried a road trip next and...

We drove through Vegas and saw Trump Tower

We climbed Angels Landing in Zion Park

And reached the top

More driving and the Arches National Park. Wow!

Across to Canyonlands

The views were fantastic

And the formations fascinating

Followed by Monument Valley

And the Grand Canyon

One mile deep, vast, stunning and magnificent

Followed by the long drive back to Sunnyvale

Thanks Simon and Erin for putting up with us and loaning us the car to make this whole trip amazing.
The end.