Dedicated to Mayday...

Yes, with that as a title...very, very sadly I share our loss...

Mayday - May 2010 - December 20, 2010

Even a cat doctor specialist could not help Capt Paul's kitty conquer the illness that plagued her most of her life. Capt Paul spared no effort or expense (for those that know him know that that says a lot about how much he loved this very special kitty) to make her well. And, me, well...it might be best to describe it this way. To Pam, Melinda and my entire true cat loving (some would say cat fanatic) friends...I never before had the love for cats that you have had (I would say I am/was a dog person)...all my cats prior to Mayday were outdoor cats...mousers...I loved them, yes, petted them and let them ride on my shoulder...but never before did I understand your kind of cat love...I believe I do now. So...thank you Mayday...you're in kitty heaven now....

Thankful For...

With Thanksgiving just around the corner...thought I would share just a bit of what I have been blest with and am very thankful for! For now, Captn Paul and I are both safely back to my lakehouse (no new pictures here yet)! Brief thought about the way our trip back to Guatemala and warmer weather turned...while disappointing...right now, just very happy that his surgery went well and PT begins in another week! On to picking up my mom at the Knoxville airport, a quick visit with Captn Paul's daughter, Beth (by the way, congratulations again on your well deserved awards) and where we had a great time shopping (thank you so much)! Then a quick pictoral review of some of the fun my mom and I had on our road trip......Smoky MountainsDollywood...Dollywood...Dollywood...Dollywood...Dollywood...And, more Dollywood....Cade's Cove...Cade's Cove drive...

The music we enjoyed both at Dollywood and all the way across country! We had the BEST Sunday morning church service ever from inside Higgins!

All in all...the entire trip was a wonderful reminder of how beautiful this entire country is. But most especially...as we came over the pass into Western Washington...the yellows, reds and greens were the most vibrant I'd seen on the entire trip...and I thought...how much I have to be thankful for right here in my own backyard! So...along the same thoughts...telling it like it is...My youngest daughter and her S/O who slept on the couches while my mom and I had their room...my son for the use of his truck again for delivery of an electric love seat and a REAL bed for Captn Paul and I to sleep on...my oldest daughter who met Captn Paul at the airport, brought him back to my mom's house, had his favorite beer and fritos waiting for him AND spent much time and energy helping me move back into the lake and return her brother's truck! I truly do have so much to be THANKFUL FOR....

Next....

Oh, heavens...I just looked at the last blog. I had forgotton how long it had been! Ever so briefly...Seattle was wonderful...albeit hard work for me. I worked hard on the lake house...yard work (over five loads of trees and brush, one load to the dump - thanks again to my son for the use of his wonderful truck for the entire summer)...painting two inside rooms...one of the bathrooms...and other maintenance items. This was my only day of relaxing...(thank you Lori for enjoying with me on such short notice)!! I did enjoy working three days a week too...making some money while assisting with Capital Asset Management...always fun! Of course with all the time I was away from the lake house and busy...I was not able to spend the time with or give Captn Paul his usual attention...hence Mayday. She started out a sickly little Maine Coon kitty...and so far has turned out to be a most wonderful and very loving healthy kitty! If you want to get Captn Paul off of the subject of politics...just ask him about his kitty...oh, how he loves this cat! The best part of Seattle was that I was able to spend precious time with my loving kids...yet not enough...never enough! I left feeling as if I wasn't quite ready because there was still so much more I could do to help...but the flight time was upon us! Captn Paul's mobility had truly gotten bad and painful before we even left Guatemala. I had suggested that he make an appointment with his doctor on our way to Seattle...he said no he was going to make the appointment on our way back to Guatemala. So, I guess in a way, I was relieved to be so busy all summer as I continued to see Captn Paul's mobility deteriorate and the pain increase. So...to the doctors appointment...my suggestion that he get the first appointment he could...they had a cancellation...surgery the first week of October...and...we haven't made it back to Guatemala. In fact I write this from a hotel in Atlanta...with his kitty...and him still in the hospital...finally off IV's. The surgery was more involved than the doctor had planned so he will be going to a rehab center for a week before flying back to Seattle. I on the other hand will be driving...well, we haven't named him quite yet...not sure if it will be Herbie, or Harry, or Higgins the Honda (open for suggestions)...anyway, the best co-pilot in the world (my mom) will be flying out to Knoxville to join me! My mom and I will spend some time taking in the fall colors of the Smokey Mountains, a day in Dollywood...then off to visit family on our road trip back to Seattle! When Captn Paul returns to Seattle we will move back into the lake house (sparcely) so he can continue his rehab and get stronger! I can continue my projects and then get it rented by January (hopefully). It will be wonderful to be able to spend more time with my kids and mom. More and more I truly appreciate them! AND, Thanksgiving and Christmas with family will definately be a plus! I'm also looking forward to connecting with friends that I didn't make the time for this past summer. Skiing at Crystal anyone? For now our etched in Jello (thank you Dennis) flight back to the boat is January 7th...with plans of spending the rest of the season in the Bay Islands enjoying the warmth both above and below the water! Oh, and on a side note...after one of the more particularly rough days at the hospital...I came back to the hotel and made arrangements to go to ...the Grand Ole Opry 85th Birthday Bash...yes, it was a lot of driving in one day...but it was a wonderful diversion and gave back to me something I had been too busy to remember...I had forgotten...how much I enjoy music...

Time for some updates...

Yes, I guess it is about time! This first update takes us from when we left Guatemala (a month ago tomorrow) and because I'm pretty tired right now it'll end with us leaving Chattanooga (the end of June)...Breakfast at Bruno's before heading to the bus station for the 10:30 am bus...hanging out at the bus station in Fronteras...a look up...and down the street...I guess fitting that it rained! We transferred to a different bus near Morales...and then tried to relax. Unfortunately there were small children (boys) on the bus that the parents were intent on ignoring and thus were allowing to run up and down the isles...the youngest puked into the isle two seats in front of me! It was surprising to see the father completely ignore the boy...and then move seats! The mother was decidedly indifferent as well after wiping him up only a little...then throwing the napkins that she had wiped him up with into the middle of the isle as well! Wow!! We got to the Guatemalan border after only about 45 minutes...checked out.And yes, for everyone on the bus it took about 45 minutes (and yes, the first ones off the bus scuffed their feet through the puke...oh, how disgusting!) ...Luckily by the time I decided to exit the bus (Paul's cane got him the special privilege of not having to get off the bus), the mess (above) had been spread about by all the previous passengers and somewhat dried...then everyone got back on the bus and another 15 minutes...over the bridge to the Honduran border. That took another hour to an hour and a half for all of the bus to check into Honduras as some people (seemed to be mostly young European backpackers) did not understand that you were to have EXACT change...the border agents do not give change! Thankfully, I did have the exact amount needed to check us both in. Now from those pictures...tell me which country has more money!!! Back into the bus and on to San Pedro Sula! Once in SPS we waited for our ride from the B&B that we were staying at. This took a little while to correct confusion. We were very glad we still had minutes on our Honduran phone and there was a very nice bus security guard that helped us! We did have to convince a rather persistant cab driver that we did not want to pay the $25.00 U.S. for him to take us to the B&B! Once there, and bags secure, we decided to walk the four blocks to the biggest mall in SPS. It was huge...maybe not as big as Bellevue Mall...but close...and just as fancy! Paul would have nothing of walking back...so we took a cab to a grocery store...had him wait for us and then take us back to our room. Our breakfast the next morning was small but nice...and our ride arrived to get us to the airport! To make a much longer story shorter...we had to be scanned...you know the new body picture taking thing...to get out of the Atlanta airport! Wow...just in May arriving in Seattle there was no such thing! Flying is becoming more difficult...that is for sure! A college friend of Paul's came and picked us up at the airport and took us to their beautiful home that night (Thank you Jeff and Sue)! Of course they had a wonderful time reminising about the old days! He drove us to Chattanooga the next morning with thoughts of us all getting together perhaps in the Carribbean soon! To the Hotel Capley...Well, not really, but friends of Paul's that have nicknamed their home the "Hotel Capley" (Thank you Sonny and Kris)! Beautiful home on the river...and with a truck, borrowed from yet another friend (thank you Jimmy)...we began a very busy week! Enjoyed our visit with Beth, Riley and Jake. Then of course there had to be the BBQ at Matt's! Such great smoked BBQ...maybe need to have one more in the fall to be sure that it truly is the BEST BBQ I've ever had! A day at the shooting range with Matt!Even I got a shot in....Didn't think about it until later...But, I'll venture a guess that they are checking out my bullseye!! Ha! Dinner with friends after the range...Beth and Jake made the very long trip to pick us up and take us back to the Atlanta airport (Thank you Beth)! Then on to Seattle...Mt Rainier peaking above the clouds! A very fun week that truly was exhausting too!

Safely up the sweet river (Rio Dulce)

We left Fantasy Island Marina…well…I'm not sure if I can say sadly… but suffice to say that if there were no hurricane seasons (or we had a shallower draft boat that could scoot up the Rio at any forecast of trouble)…perhaps this would be a place we would hang around much longer.

I think the monkey will miss me… he really liked the brownies that I shared with him! We had stronger than forecast winds and we were both so happy to be able to sail six knots sometimes seven with following seas for the first couple hours. Then it did become a motor sail...to a motor! Into Utila and anchor next to our buddy boat for the remainder of the trip, Highland Light. They had acquired another boat going "our" way with "our" timing as well, Amazing Grace.This picture is from the anchorage to the mainland...much prettier picture than the other way around...I'm not much of a fan of Utila! We all had anchors up by 6:00ish...

and really tried to sail the 40 plus miles to Lagoona Diamante…but motor sail was more the name for the day. You might recognize the name of this place as we stayed last year on our way as well…I was not happy with this choice (there was another anchorage…Escondito…that I would have preferred) as the Diamante anchorage has a narrow 15 foot deep rocky lined channel with only 7 to 9 feet maximum depth in a quarter (or less) of its size. For a 7 foot draft boat…with no working depth sounder...well those issues were enough for me...but Paul was concerned with possible thunderstorms (like we had experienced last year) and felt it would be safer with three boats in Diamante and since he had been there before...he could get us in and out without incident...he had even chose to lead the other boats in (he really is a great Captain...but don't let him know I said that). Of course I was remembering Lake Sylvia...and others (just have to check previous blogs). The good news...he dropped anchor soon after entering....Highland Light and Amazing Grace (both with a foot or more less draft than Paul's boat...and working depth guages) went farther into the lagoon and dropped anchor for the night. It is a beautiful area of Honduras...a National Park named for a woman (Jeanette Kawas) who fought local Unions and powerful family locals to have it preserved as a National Park in 1994.She then paid the ultimate price as she was gunned down the following year.Anyway, thankfully there were no thunderstorms, a slight rinse of the boat but all was quiet. We all were up even earlier for the 60 some mile hopeful sail to Tres Puntas. It was again an off and on sail…however mostly a motor sail…the last hour was our only true sail…with winds over 18 knots! We anchored around the point…and took Sunday as a day of rest…well…rinse the boat and a little cleaning, and a little happy hour with Highland Light, Amazing Grace and Java Moon aboard. When Amazing Grace (Scott) heard that our depth sounder was not working he asked if he could take a look at it...and before he left the boat all that was left to do was to put in the new sounder and string the wire! Thank you!! A quickly approaching thunderstorm with strong winds chased them all back to their boats just before dark. Up early for the 10 mile motor before crossing the Livingston bar high tide Monday morning and I noticed a sailboat way off...looked like a cat...circling out! At the time I wondered why a cat would be needing to wait for high tide! Then as we got closer we noticed the color of the sail covers...and yes, it was Rainbow Rider! They had come to watch the "show"...well the Amel being tipped! We had our "tip" arranged...and the fishing boat was waiting for us as we approached the buoy. I explained to them (in Spanish as the three of them knew no English) that the Captain (Paul) wanted to motor as far as he could until he grounded...then would be tipped. Paul had gotten the rigging all ready the night before knowing that a tip would be inevitable. One of the men came on board and guided Paul (with hand signals and Spanish that I somewhat translated - he spoke soooo fast...and of course with an accent!!! Ha ha ha)...and we bumped...then bumped again...but never lost more than a knot (we were only going 3.5 to 4 knots anyway) of speed. The man on board was telling me that Agatha had dumped so much rain into the rivers of Guatemala that it had scoured out the "bar" by a couple of inches to a foot (that was now all out to sea)...it was possible that we just might make it across once we went through that bumpy spot! And, that is what we did...so we had all these cameras ready to take a picture of US being tipped...Rainbow Rider came over to see the show...and, no tipping...of course we still had to pay them the $50.00! Oh, well!!! With as many boats that crossed, it took Raul until after 1:00 to get all the papers done...so Paul chose to scoot up the river as fast as we could to get to Mario's before dark. So here we are...we have already met with good friends but are needing to get the boat ready in one week to leave it for at least three months. We'll see how much fun we can have too!!