Why Life on a Boat?

I recently had the pleasure of spending a weekend away with two of my girlfriends. We are trying to make this an semi-annual event as it is always a lot of fun and serves to recharge us for our daily lives.

While away with the girls there was a recurring theme in our conversations. 'Why in the world would I chose to live on a boat?' It started with the question, 'How long do you plan to do this?' My answer was, as it always is, 'As long as we're having fun'. Jennifer asked me many questions over the course of the weekend about the various inconveniences of my life, such as ferry service, laundry rooms, dinghys and just the general day to day affair of getting Henry and I to and from the city with a stroller, groceries and the like. By Sunday she said, 'I haven't heard anything that sounds like fun yet!' I do believe I left her with an impression of hardship which in no way reflects the zest of my life.

So...why do I enjoy living on a boat? Nature is a big reason. If you plan your vacations around camping, you'll understand. I live with the convenience of the biggest city in the country, and the serenity of quiet island life. I step out my door in the morning and watch the swans swim by. Henry and I step off the dock and walk the dogs in a park setting with no cars, where Henry can ride his car or run and play amongst trees and flowers and birds. We go to the park, two minutes from our boat, and while Henry plays I breathe in the fresh air and admire the view. Trees, water, and a beautiful city skyline, too far away to feel the hustle and bustle.

I have never enjoyed, nor thrived on decorating. This is another reason why boat life is perfect for me. With the exception of a couple of pictures and some bedding choices, there is zero decorating to be done. This gives us more time to enjoy the great outdoors!

I think there is an inherent peace that settles on your soul when you're near the water. Living on a boat you are surrounded by this serenity. You are rocked to sleep in your bed ever so gently (most nights!) and every day you come home to that peaceful feeling.

These are all reasons to enjoy life aboard, and that's just when we're at the dock! Travelling by sailboat is an experience like no other. You don't get anywhere fast, but the journey is incredible. You travel with your home on your back, going about your daily life, while enjoying the sun and the sea along the way. I believe that the coastal cities are some of the most wonderful in the United States. These historical cities are timeless beauties.

Now you may say, 'I understand summer life aboard, but what about those Canadian winters?' Even I have to admit that spring, summer and autumn are favourable, but even winter aboard has its perks. Living in a small space year round gets us out of our home every single day. I'm hearty enough to brave the coldest of winter weather, and we live in the biggest city in the country! There is always somewhere to go, and something to do. Virtually everything is within walking distance (which helps to keep me fit!) and even on the coldest days, it is steps to an indoor path system that travels under all of the streets and buildings in the heart of downtown. It's like one incredibly big shopping centre that takes you from just north of the lakeshore seven blocks north to Dundas St.

When all is said and done, the minor inconveniences of life on a boat are so heavily outweighed by the joy I find in doing it that I can't see any other life for me in the foreseeable future.

A Canadian Winter Aboard

I've had gentle reminders from my friends down south that I have been slow to update my blog, so here's a little taste of our winter adventures for William and Judy in Florida.

Our boat is snugly wrapped in plastic, looking more like a covered wagon than a boat. We're keeping quite cozy inside with the help of five electric heaters. It has taken a lot of trial and error using extension cords and pony panels for Andy to find the delicate balance between internal and external power sources so that I no longer have to turn off heaters to run the water heater or kettle or microwave. Of course I still can't run all three at once!

This winter has been on the extreme side, with overnight temperatures regularly reaching -20C (-4F) and several storms yeilding 9" of snow in 24 hours. The snow has been here to stay since before Christmas. Despite all of this I continue to love living aboard. I said to Andy just the other day that I couldn't picture us living in a house. This lifestyle suits me perfectly. Besides, after living aboard Sassy II last winter, Island Eclipse feels more like a condo on the water than a boat! There's room for Henry to run up and down the hall (giggling all the way!). My fridge is big enough to shop weekly! We have our own bedroom, the dogs have their own bed, and Henry is down the hall, through the salon and all the way at the front of the boat in his very own bedroom! Life is good!

Henry's is a deep thinker. He comes out with some of the funniest things! We were eating dinner one day last week, and Andy and I had salads. Henry doesn't like salad, but loves croutons, so he had a sprinkling of croutons on his plate. When he got down to the last one he looked at me with all sincerity and said, " he's wondering where his friends are." What a way to ask for more croutons! He was in the washroom with Andy and flushed the unused toilet. Andy told him not to flush unless he had used it because it is a waste of water. Henry said, "That's a funny word, flush. Flush! Flush! Flush!" It's hard to believe he just turned two! If you tell him he's funny, he'll say, "Sometimes." I could go on and on about that kid. He's really something.

In other news, I have a new neice! My brave sister-in-law had her at home. Abigail Anne Francey was born, in the bathtub at home, January 6th at 9:00pm weighing 8bs 2oz. She is a beautiful little girl, and I'm a very proud Auntie!! My hat is off to Crystal for her bravery/craziness in bringing her baby into this world without medical intervention. Wow.

I was also reminded by William that our friends in warmer climates don't see the same things we do. Yesterday we saw our neighbouring policemen doing rescue exercises in our basin. They were slithering along the ice on their bellies to try to pull their team mates out of the frigid water without plunging in themselves. The ice is treacherous in this basin because the ten boats docked here each have a couple of bubblers drawing warm water up from the bottom to keep the ice from forming around our hulls. Unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures of the policemen in their extreme weather suits bobbing in the freezing water. It was quite a sight.

Speaking of extreme weather suits, poor Henry looks a lot like the little brother on that movie 'A Christmas Story' a lot of the time these days. He is bundled up in snow pants, snow boots, long sleeves, a sweater, a down jacket, a hat, and mitts, and sometimes I even add a blanket and his plastic cover to his stroller! Poor kid can hardly move....but he's warm! Most days, though, we skip the snow pants and just wear long-johns instead. :)

Well, that's about all for now, but I will keep you up to date a little more diligently, I swear!
Keep warm until next time.

Happy Holidays!

Winter is rolling right along. I can't believe it's the 4th of January already!

Christmas was a lot of fun. Now that Henry is a little older he can get into the celebrations. He wrote a letter to Santa Claus asking for a big, red fire truck and some new cars. Our lucky little boy got two new fire trucks and lots of cars, trucks and a wide array of other new toys! We were busy, as usual, travelling to Kitchener on December 23rd, home again Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, then off the Peterborough for two nights. Henry thoroughly enjoyed the new toys, but was a little overwhelmed by all of the company and travel. By Boxing Day he just wanted to go home. Can't blame him, really. It's a hectic time for us grown-ups, too.

Andy has been busy, busy, busy! When he hasn't been at work he has been working on the boat, and helping our neighbours wrap their boats for the winter. We finally have our cover up, and wow is it a big enclosure!! Andy basically built a full height house on top of the deck! Lots of room for all of the deck work he has planned, whenever he can find some time!

We treated ourselves to a few home improvements over Christmas, putting up some pictures, installing a new faucet and new cabinet hardware in the galley, and a new mattress for our bed! It's amazing how much this boat feels more like a condo in the water than a boat. We've been incredibly happy and at home here.

Our Henry is about to turn two. Hard to believe, isn't it? The time just flew!! He is quite the little man. His vocabulary is incredible, and his sentences are now complete with correct grammar, tenses and all! What a clever boy!! He is a little under the weather this week, and yesterday told me, "I'm not feeling up to going to the grocery store, Mommy." He is such a joy to be with. I feel so blessed.

I hope that 2011 brings just as much fun as 2010! Wishing all of you a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year!!

Our Little Fireman

Hallowe'en was much anticipated at our place. We have started preparing Henry for upcoming events by talking about them a lot ahead of time. This seems to work well for everything from having a babysitter to taking the train to Nana and Poppa's house. Hallowe'en was no exception.

I asked him a couple of weeks ahead of time if he would like to be a fireman for Hallowe'en. He agreed whole heartedly! My inspiration was his love of firetrucks and the fireman raincoat he already had hanging in his closet.

As the big day approached I got Henry a fireman's helmet and pumpkin bucket to carry. We taught him how to say 'trick-or-treat' (which came out 'ko-keat') and told him about costumes and candy. He could hardly wait!

On the big day I put electrical tape around his yellow rubber boots to make them into fireman's boots, found a pair of pants to match the coat, and smudged some mascara soot on his nose and cheeks. He looked perfect!

We had dinner at Whit and Ally's place and trick-or-treated on Ward's Island. There is no better place to go...no cars, plenty of houses decorated for the occasion, and everyone knows everyone. Perfect. Henry had a great time, and didn't even fall asleep on the way like he did last year!!

It's amazing how all of the holidays come alive for you again when you have a little kid seeing it afresh. What fun!

Autumn on the Island

I don't know if it's the changing of the seasons or the way my little boy is growing up so fast, but lately I have found myself very contemplative.

Spending the vast majority of my time with Henry has been a very rewarding experience. He has taught me so much!

Another name for toddler should definitely be Dawdler! Henry spends a lot of time riding his car around the island. He seems to have two speeds...fast and stop! Some days I carry a book with me so that I have something to keep me occupied while he is stopped, but the other day I thought, 'why not stop and take it all in, too?', so I looked at the sky, listened to the rustling of the leaves, and smelled autumn on the wind. It was so rejuvenating to take the time to just be. Henry has taught me that old cliche, stop and smell the roses!

Over the past six months Henry's imagination has really taken off. It is so much fun to just pretend together! He has the language skills now to explain what it is we're playing, whether it's that I'm the Algonquin Queen (QCYC's Tender) and he's sitting on my lap driving across to the city, or he's making me eggs in the 'kitchen' we've built at the park, oh and 'here's your fork, Mum!' I chose early on to keep Henry's TV time to almost nil, and I feel that these are the times that it really shows. He keeps busy all day with his various games and made up adventures. I think it's truly wonderful!

I really can't believe how quickly my little man is growning! He looks and acts like he's well over two, and has such a quiet, thoughtful demeanor. Sometimes it feels like he's a wise old man in a toddler's body. I don't know if this is a Capricorn trait, or if it's just Henry, but he's an incredible little man. I love being in his company. You never know what he'll say next!

This is such a wonderful time in our lives. I'm so lucky that Andy has worked so hard to make sure that I can spend the formative years with Henry. Sure, we'd have more money if I went back to work, but living the simple life and sharing it with Henry has been invaluable!

I just feel so blessed.

Home Again, Home Again

After a very eventful three and a half weeks we have safely arrived home to Queen City Yacht Club. Hooray!!

We ended our trip on a high note. It took a long time to re-rig and re-wire after the mast went back up, so after a long, busy day we set out across the lake at 11:00pm. Andy really enjoys the overnight sailing, so he was happy to do his watch alone with 20-30 minute naps between his look out. All went well until the seas got a little lumpy in the middle of the night and Henry woke up sea-sick at 4:00am. He and I went outside into the cockpit for some fresh air and gave Andy an hour long sleep while Henry played happily and I kept watch. By 8:00am when we awoke again the seas were much smoother and we had a wonderful day! Andy took a two hour nap to refresh a bit and then we enjoyed the rest of the much anticipated sail home together. I didn't realize just how stressful this trip had been for him until I saw Andy doing a 'happy dance' on deck when he spotted the CN Tower!

After all of the experience I got on the helm doing 31 locks, Andy insisted that I be the one to dock her at home. It went beautifully, and I slid her into our slip to the sound of cheers from the lady yacht club members watching from the club. I've come a long way since that ugly attempt at our first anchoring with Sassy!! Andy is an excellent teacher.

Island Eclipse drew a few curious members of the club over for a tour on Saturday night, and so many Sunday morning that it felt like we were at the boat show! That's okay, we didn't mind a bit. I was so proud of Henry. He has really come out of his shell lately, and with his ever increasing vocabulary he was happy to give everyone a narrated tour of the boat...starting with his room, of course!

So we've been home two full days now, and spent today unpacking all of our stuff from the locker. I'm tuckered right out and off to bed shortly. We'll have another big day tomorrow, as Andy is back to work and Henry and I will be entertaining my Mom and Dad for the day. It will be great to see them again after almost six weeks. I'm sure they'll see a big change in Henry.

Oh, and I was able to post these pictures because they were emailed to us today from Mary Martha, a really sweet lady we met in Catskill Creek. Thanks, Mary Martha! We also found my battery charger today in the locker! What a relief!! So, more to come, pictures and all.

Through the Erie and Oswego Canals

Our trip is coming to a close. We arrived today in Oswego, NY on the south east end of Lake Ontario. It took us five days in total to get through the Erie and Oswego Canals.

Day one was fairly uneventful, we got an early start, did the first seven locks with little incidence, and arrived at Lock 8 to find it closed as they were having technical problems with the lock. We tied up for the night on the wall below the lock. It was in a very secluded area, so we enjoyed a quiet evening and dinner on the boat. We really noticed the seclusion, though, after dark when every bump in the night had us jumpy! It's amazing how you get used to the noise of civilization!

Day two we travelled from Lock 8 to Lock 16. We had initially worried about doing the locks without extra crew. Our worries were unfounded, as we handled the locks like old pros. We had Henry in his lifejacket with a tether to the binacle, and he was told that in the locks Henry's job is to look after Henry so Mommy and Daddy can look after the boat. It worked! He's getting to be such a big boy! We tied up for the night on the wall below Lock 17, the biggest in the canal system. We were next to the town of Little Falls, and set out to walk to the nearest store. After about half a mile, though, we discovered that it was unrealistic to go that far without a stroller. Henry likes to walk, but not when you need him to! We met a rock climber, though, who offered to drive Andy to town after he conquered his rock. He was really nice, and Andy was able to pick up a few essentials and bring back MacDonald's pies and sundaes to boot!

Day three was to be Lock 17 through to Lake Oneida...didn't happen as planned. There must have been a lot of muck in the water around the lock because we sucked enough of it in to clog both the engine strainer and the thru-hull. The raw water intake was clogged enough that the pump ran dry and caused the impeller to fail. After Lock 17 we managed to go only a mile to the nearest marina, where Andy spent the day travelling around searching for a replacement impeller, then installing it and a T valve so he could flush out the thru-hull and get us up and running yet again! He had a few choice words for the boat by this time! He even threatened to burn her to the ground. Not our best day, but, on the bright side, they had hydro hook-up and nice hot showers and Henry and I got a quiet day to rest and recover from our colds.

Day four we were underway and running beautifully. We got through Locks 18 - 22 and stopped for the day on the east side of Oneida Lake. We had dinner at a little bar and grill with some fellow Canadian sailors. Of course they are headed in the right direction for this time of year, South!! After dinner Henry and I took a walk and found a little park to play in. It was a lovely day until I had to retire early with a migraine. The cloudy unsettled weather is getting to me.

Day five...today...We crossed Lake Oneida with 3-4 foot following seas. The boat handled it with ease and we arrived at the west end of the lake ahead of schedule. We decided to skip the fuel stop after the lake and just get through the Oswego as we thought we'd be hard pressed to make it by the five o'clock lock closing time. Oops! We ran out of fuel between the first two locks on Oswego. Luckily Andy had 12 gallons on deck in geri-cans. He fueled us up in the pouring rain and bled the system like a pro. We were only drifting for about 10 minutes in total. I really am proud of my Handy Andy! Don't know what I'd do without him. So we got through the rest of the locks, turns out they were closer together than charted in the canal book so we were done by 4:00! We tucked into the Oswego Yacht Club and called it a day. Dinner was delivered by a local Italian restaurant and we are all tuckered out and ready for bed.

Tomorrow we have an appointment at the Marina across the channel for mast stepping, and then it's off across Lake Ontario. We have a two day window of fair weather, so I think we're going to skip the originally planned stop in Cobourg and just head straight for Toronto. It's about 125 miles across, so if we do an overnight Friday night we should be in mid-day on Saturday and have a day or two to rest before it's back to work for Andy.

When we started this journey Andy said we'd be two weeks, which to me meant three...and he says to him meant probably four. It will be four weeks on Tuesday since we left. Not too bad, I guess, and we got a new home out of it, not to mention a whole lot of memories!