The wind is still howling through the rigging and the breakers are washing over the reef just outside the harbor entrance. It looks like I missed a golden opportunity, yesterday afternoon when it calmed down for a while. I had hoped that the same would happen this afternoon, but no such luck.

I spent the day going through all my lockers and storing summer clothes and pulling all the items I’ll need to bring to Amsterdam and the Northwest for the winter. And making up lists of the items I’ll need to bring back here from the U.S. and Holland for maintenance and repairs, etc. My back pack is packed. A good part of the weight I’ll carry are the papers and books I use in the completion of the Dutch and English versions of the “ The Mastmakers Daughters” which are my priority to finish and put into a publishable format this winter.

There are two ways of getting to Amsterdam from here, taking the night ferry to Athens or a day ferry to Cesme and then a bus to Izmir, Turkey.  Since I’ll need to buy a $20 Visa  each time I get in to Turkey I’m most likely flying through Athens. But I cannot make a reservation till I know when I get to one of the two airports. First I  have to get up the courage and go on another wild ride to the haul out and then it depends when I can go on the hard and from there to my connections.
I’d really like to get to Amsterdam by Saturday and then be able to go to church on Sunday. The last time I had that opportunity was in Istanbul in early September. That is a problem here, just like it was in Romania, that I had not foreseen. Am I just a creature of habit? But a Sunday without going to church and be with my brothers and sisters and receiving communion just is not a real Sunday. My mind and body are programmed to it. And after all these years I can say that I am not aware that I have ever missed sleeping in on Sunday or having it interfere with all my weekend activities.

I post a few of my retro shots since I have not been anywhere different today.