October, 2014

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Friday Oct 24. Cabin Fever.

Friday, October 24th, 2014

Wednesday we had over an inch of rain. A record.  I never set a foot outside. There is plenty to do inside this small space and I wonder when I get back in seriousness on “Soloman”. I am reading two books simultaneously while my somanieth attempt at recording my slide show DVD is burning away. The print book  I have been lent by Jack Eddy “A Higher Call” is the true story of Franz Stigler a Bavarian 2nd WW fighter pilot and Charlie Brown a U.S. Air Force bomber pilot. They meet in the German sky in December 1943. Brown is trying to limp his flak damaged bomber back, Stigler pulls up next to Brown and, instead of finishing the job, he salutes and points the way to neutral Sweden.  Brown searches and finds Stigler after the war in British Columbia. I highly recommend reading this story for it’s historical value and the ability to recognize the very fine line that separates foe from friend, hatred from compassion. And the electronic version of “First in Vietnam….” which I described in an earlier blog. An other senseless war. This is not a book that I would recommend for its literary value. But for me personally it fills in a lot of the gaps in my apparent absence of what was going on while I spent a year and a half in this helicopter company in Vietnam.

As of this morning I finally have a DVD, that can be played on a TV video player, of the slide shows made up of the 51 country 9 year voyage. It was not easy.  When I replaced my 2011 Windows-7 laptop with a Windows-8 laptop I had to repurchase MS Office and Adobe Photoshop because they no longer worked on the new software. And in order to edit the slide shows I had to start practically from scratch. Then when you are ready to burn the slide show video  to a DVD it tells you that it will only copy to a CD-R….And if you want to burn DVD’s you need to buy Photoshop Premier Elements 13. And I just installed Elements 12 in May…..  In windows-7 I could burn my video’s through MS-MovieMaker and MS WindowMaker. But, surprise-surprise, WindowMaker no longer functions in Windows-8 and MS has no fix for this. I had to down load two more free soft-wares, to finally get done with this project. Praise the Lord for technology.

A week ago today, I took the bus into Tacoma to get new fittings for the fuel lines on the boat engine and attended a memorial service at the Tacoma Yacht Club for our friend Duane Saasen. Lisa, daughter #1, picked me up and took me to my old Tacoma parish church, St. Patrick, where I met Rose Marie, daughter #2. We attended a charismatic healing service. Rose Marie was recently diagnosed with Lupus and I had high hopes that she might benefit from the special powers God is giving us in these meetings. I have a health issue as well I’d like to have healed. A long lingering digestive problem. The special powers were obviously happening to many of the supplicants. My main benefit was that I got to sing a marathon of my favorite church songs while all this was going

Driving rain, high tide on Wedesday

Driving rain, high tide on Wedesday

Low tide, we have 18 foot 5,5 mtr tidal difference

Low tide, we have 18 foot 5,5 mtr tidal difference

Morning fog at Stanich Dock

Morning fog at Stanich Dock

sunrise this week

sunrise this week

on.

taken by Sheila Schultz on the Jack & Jill race Sept 13. "Fleetwood" and Mt.Rainier

taken by Sheila Schultz on the Jack & Jill race Sept 13. “Fleetwood” and Mt.Rainier

Sunday October 12. Preaching to the choir?

Sunday, October 12th, 2014

I went to 8.30 mass and just have to share with you my gratitude of coming out of the church with joy and new inspiration. We happen to be very fortunate with our new priest father Mark Guzman. The first reading was from Isaiah 25 “He has destroyed death” and the second reading is Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4 verse 12 “ I know how to live modestly, and I know how to live luxuriously too: in every way now I have mastered the secret of all conditions: full stomach and empty stomach, plenty and poverty”. This happens to hit close to home. I was a millionaire and lost it all and now live just on my social security checks. My financial loss turned out to become the best thing that could have happened to me.. The gospel was Matthew 22, the parable of the King who was snubbed by his invited wedding guests.

But before church I listened to an interview of Neil Young http://www.npr.org/2014/10/12/355564085/neil-youngs-writes-of-his-love-affair-with-cars on his book “Super Delux”, about his passion for unusual automobiles. Two things struck home again. He told how he likes to listen to music on his car radio because the scenery changes like in a video and it gives him new ideas. And there is one thing I do miss, by not having a car and go for a road trip. I miss certain things, but the trade off, for what I do have, far outweighs my many blessings. The second was Neil’s answer to the question why he is so vocal about the need to preserve the planet. Part of his answer was that because his name is so well known that he can use this to his advantage to promote his concerns. I fear that I may annoy some of you with my favorite subjects, my gratitude to be a child of God, the persecution of God’s church in China, etc. Who am I to mention this here? My past life is no shining example. But I pray regularly: “God use me!”

Life is good. On my walk back to the boat I stumbled on this field of gorgeous fresh Porcini (Boletus/Eekhoorntjesbrood) mushrooms. Much better than what I showed you last October in Port Camargue and in December on Ibiza. I will have a feast! Friday, at the Food Bank, I was given a huge steak. Steak is not normally in my budget but the mushrooms will go well with it. I need to go out, like the King in Matthew, and gather up some dinner guests.

Take a good look, at the picture I took in my front yard aquarium, the intricate make up of this Sea Nettle. Always the same numbers of medusa’s, arms, etc.like the three leaved clover. How can anyone insist that this can be explained as a scientific origin? I have a very difficult time understanding how one can be grateful for these miraculous creatures when you do not know the Donor?

I shut up.


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Wednesday October 8, back among my yachting peeps.

Saturday, October 11th, 2014

“Fleetwood” is once again flying the Gig Harbor Yacht Club burgee. This evening I was presented at the monthly meeting for an honorary membership. I am of course very grateful, flattered and happy to be back in the club. I joined the club in 1984 when I moved here from Tacoma. Until that time, since 1976, I had been a member of the Anacortes YC., because I used to keep my boat in La Conner. I stopped my membership in the GHYC when I had my financial problems around 1996 and “Fleetwood” was stored under a tarp on shore. I rejoined in 2004. I exchanged my GHYC burgee in Puerto Galera on Mindoro Island in the Philippines in 2006. They had the most elaborate burgee I have seen anywhere. ph~ycpg (1)

The Yellow Galleon and trim is all in gold braid. I had expected that my exchange would be well received by my club, but I was told they had plenty of burgees and if I wanted mine replaced to send $25. I quit my membership in 2008. This gorgeous burgee is now resting on the bottom of a rocky cove on the Island of Tago Mago. In 2012 I joined the Amsterdam YC “de Schinkel” and terminated my membership when I left Europe last Spring. The atmosphere has much improved in the GHYC. For one they now have a very active junior sailing program and lots of activities for both power and sail-boat members.

New Burgee starboard spreader

New Burgee starboard spreader

at club meting with Bobbie Higgins, vice commodoress and marina neighbors.

at club meting with Bobbie Higgins, vice commodoress and marina neighbors Photo by Sheila Schultz..

Friday October 3rd. Cancellation of tomorrow’s event in Lakebay.

Friday, October 3rd, 2014

Last evening I discovered that there is a conflict at the “Shipwreck Cafe” in scheduling.

I will be doing another presentation in Gig Harbor this fall. Stay tuned.

Thursday October 2nd. The last rays.

Thursday, October 2nd, 2014

The sun loses its warmth quickly in the late afternoon. But one lonely Harbor Seal, the Terns and Mt. Rainier is soaking in the last rays of the late summer sun. We are promised one more sunny day tomorrow but then it looks like summer will have said its last good byes. I bought a few more warm clothes yesterday at Goodwill. And yesterday morning I used the little electric heater I had bought there for $6 a while back. It works great and warms up the cabin in a few minutes. I still need to try out the Force 10 kerosene heater. Maybe this weekend when I may not have access to electricity.

I have been watching on line, I have no TV, the protests in Hong Kong and I am hoping and praying that this will be the beginning of freedom for the Chinese in Hon Kong and eventually on the mainland. It is incredible the ingenuity, cohesion and restraint these, mostly, young people are displaying. There is lots of singing and I swear that I heard a group of young women, in the background, sing part of Mozart’s requiem. But when I went back on line to re-listen the NPR reports I could not find it. Did anyone else hear this? This would be a coincidence since Bill McGlaughlin on NWPR(adio) in his Exploring Music program has been featuring several of the Requiem masses, Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi and Faure. In my book “The Mastmakers’ Daughters” I write about the four women who were part of my mother’s group of prisoners in the NAZI concentration camp Vught. They sang the “Dona Nobic Pacem” from Mozart’s Requiem to the men that were being led out of the bunker on their way to the firing squad. My very first choir experience was singing Mozart’s Requiem at Easter time 1969 in Belgium. My wife was in her last days before the birth of her first pregnancy. And whenever I hear the “Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini” it brings back strong and happy emotions. She remains a true blessing to many. The most moving experience I had during the four years in Europe was participating in a hundred voices performance of Gabriel Faure’s requiem on May 4, last year. This is the day before the 5th of May which Holland celebrates as the end of the second World War. On the fourth of May they commemorate the victims of the war.

Common Terns with an occasional Caspian Tern and a Gull

Common Terns with an occasional Caspian Tern and a Gull

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Wednesday October 1st. Flag Etiquette.

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

I have a bone to pick with my American sailor friends.

It is very rare in Europe to encounter incorrect display of the ensign, courtesy flags, burgee and private pennants. But it is far too common here in the North West.

I estimate that at least 10% of the sail boats display the ensign improperly. I am guilty of the most common offense, not lowering the ensign at sunset and when I leave the boat. As soon as I can find the right flag staff I will correct this. In Holland, as an example, in some traditional maritime communities, the locals will rip the ensign off a visitors boat if it is displayed after dark. The next most seen offense is displaying the ensign from the wrong location, most common from the starboard spreader halyard, which is strictly reserved for the club burgee, quarantine flag, courtesy flag and owners private pennant. The port side of the spreader halyard is only to be used for a courtesy flag of the nationality of a foreign visitor aboard. Too often recent visiting sailors to Canadian waters will continue to fly the courtesy flag after leaving Canada.

These pictures were taken recently from my moorage.

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