THIS N' THAT

I have totally been neglecting my poor old blog.  I meant to write about my visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater," my new camera, my husband's trip south on the completed boat.  So here goes -- I will make it brief:

In early October my sister and I drove out to Pittsburgh to visit our Uncle Bud.  We had made this trip a year ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Nothing better than a sisters' road trip.  We so enjoy each other's company.  Uncle Bud is 86 and loves to travel and is always active.  He is one of two of our mother's only remaining siblings and he was our mother's favorite brother.  He insisted on making the reservations in advance (which you have to do) to get into Fallingwater and he drove the two hours to and from his house to Fallingwater.

Fallingwater was built in  1937 for the Kaufman family of Pittsburgh as their weekend retreat.  You probably have seen pictures of it.  If not, here is one of the house behind us.  It has to be seen to be believed.  It is built cantilevered out over a waterfall amidst deep woods.  Stone floors, rustic throughout, totally integrated with nature, extremely contemporary for its time and even for today.  Frank Lloyd Wright also designed much of the furniture in the house.  One question presented by the guide -- "Could you live here?"  My answer is a resounding "YES!"

Now my new camera:  I researched cameras for a month, going between spending a lot of money on one, or being more reasonable.  I knew the things I wanted in a camera.  My previous camera was a little Fujifilm which still works, but the USB cable connection is done for.  I had pretty much settled on a Canon, but finally ended up with another Fuji because it was more reasonable and had everything I wanted for under $200.  I am a very mediocre and inexperienced photographer, so I am happy with what I got.  Here is a picture of it.

The Great Boat Trip South:  My husband and boat partners left November 4 to take their 65 ft. trawler south via the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  This has been a four year project to totally gut and rebuild an old fishing vessel.

As you can see the photos are miniscule thanks to the downloading features of the Kodak EasyShare from which it was downloaded.  Kodak Easyshare is NOT Easy Share!

We had a huge nor'easter or as they are calling it Nor'Ida because it was the remnants of Hurricane Ida.  The beach here is totally eroded, roads were flooded -- it was a mess.

All the best to you, fellow bloggers,

Violetlady

MV LAST CHANCE IS AFLOAT!

I have written a few times about my husband's boat building project. He and two friends formed a partnership to buy an old damaged boat and rebuild it. It has been a project for the last three to four years. All the important things have been redesigned and rebuilt and it was ready to put in the water a month or so ago. They found a leak and it had to be taken out and repaired. Last Saturday it was ready to launch again. This time it went smoothly - no leaks. It spent a night at the dock and then the next day it was towed a hundred yards up the canal to its new slip. It was towed for safety reasons and because there are some engine hookups that have to be completed.

The boys/men are happy. Here are pictures of it being assisted in its move.

ALWAYS,

THE BIG BOAT

Three years ago dear husband and two friends bought an old boat. They got it for a song. Well, not literally, but it was very inexpensive. It is a 62 foot long trawler formerly used as a "head boat" (meaning people pay by the head to go out fishing without it being chartered) on the Delaware Bay. While bringing it in for repairs by the previous owner it was dropped and barely withstood total damage. Husband saw beyond the rust and crud and saw a beautiful sight.


This boat, or as I somewhat unaffectionately refer to as "that *#&! boat", has given these men hours and hours and hours of fun. It is fitted to sleep six people comfortably and double that uncomfortably. It has two bathrooms (I mean heads), tiled with real toilets. There is a full kitchen and tons of electronic things that I don't understand. It is almost finished. It is supposed to be put in the water in a few weeks and the rest of it will be completed after it is in. The name of the boat is "Last Chance" -- meaning it may be their last chance to take it from Delaware to Florida via the Inland Waterway. This has been husband's dream for many years.

Everyone around here knows about this boat. It attracts quite a bit of attention because of its history and its size.

In all her glory.




This picture was taken a few days ago when they moved this giant crane thing under it to adjust the supports to facilitate painting the bottom.


Three happy guys.



So wish us luck. I am not a boating person, but I may end up to be for brief periods of time!

My Weekend

My husband told me a week ago that he had purchased tickets for a boat trip into the Delaware Bay for Friday. The event was based on an 83 year old gentlemen (nickname "Capt. Speed")whose wife had died very suddenly and he wanted to raise money for the American Cancer Society. There was a fundraiser planned and the big event was that he was going to parasail from Cape May, NJ to Lewes, DE (12 miles across the bay) and then a restaurant would have a big fundraiser for him. The picture with the little dot is the man parasailing.

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a boat person. Oh, boats are beautiful, the water is beautiful, but I do not want to be out of sight of land. The boat we were on was supposed to hold 50 people. Only 6 of us were on it. They had food and music and the boat was beautiful. The water was quite choppy and did a lot of rocking and rolling. However, we were the only ones to appreciate it. Which was actually a good thing. Our own private charter. Well, I spent the hours leading up to the trip trying not to freak out. Oh -- by the way, my husband is definitely a boat person. In fact, he and two partners are restoring a 62 ft. boat which I will inevitably be on for a trip down the inland waterway to Florida. (More on that later)

The moral of this story is: don't freak out over inconsequential things. You might just have some fun.