2019 Year End Musings
As I look back on the past year, definitely needed to sail more, but life gets in the way.
Note to self: make more time for sailing in 2020.
We had two life events this year. Both of which are just delightful and enrich the soul in many ways. But of course take time away from planning and actually going sailing. Then there is the requisite time spent playing music, both practices and performances.
Can't sail and play music at the same time.
Last January we got a puppy and named her Cookie. Did a lot of research on this breed the previous year; it's a Coton du Tulear. Coton is French for cotton. Legend has it that this line of dogs has some history with French sailors (French sailor dog, French sail boat, haha), who sailed out of and about Madagascar. The royals there decreed that only the royals could own and breed this dog to preserve the lineage. Ok, enough said there. You can read more about that on the web in various places. Anyway, the must have canine requirement is that the coat be very hypoallergenic. In fact the coat is not fur at all, but hair. Nice fluffy hair. Not curly like a poodle (also hair and hypoallergenic) and the various cross breed whats-a-doodle dogs. My wife is allergic to dog dander from dog fur, and the small Coton is a perfect fit in our household. Besides being very loyal and intelligent, Cotons have a quirky sense of fun and are easy to train. So we are dog people now, and schedules some times revolve around taking care of her, in addition to getting me out the door for walks that may total 2 to 4 miles each day. Yes we all need the exercise.
The second life even occurred in October when our grand daughter Dahlia Rose was born to our son and his wife. She is the cutest little gal. Now our lives revolve around the next generation of our little family. Grandma couldn't be more pleased. I can see me spending more time with the little one as she grows from infant to toddler (Cookie not to be jealous).
Two of my USCG Aux shipmates got me to join the Second Time Arounders adult marching band of St. Petersburg. This band has been at it for over 37 years, and has some four hundred plus members. Don' know what the median age is, but let's say there is a lot of gray hair and most appear to be between 30 and 50 with the oldest at 81. The big get was we marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade last November. If you played in a school marching band, that seemed to be on every one's wish list. So I got this one checked off my bucket list items completed, haha. Turns out my wife was a balloon handler back in the day when she worked for Macy's. So that gig took a lot of time though out the year. Bought a student model Yamaha Tenor for this deal. Had my calendar booked for music practice, rehearsals and week end performances and parades leading up to the big show; which was about an hour or actual marching at 120+ beats per minute. Missed many sailing club outings. During the parade, there was some attrition along the way as a few musicians dropped out (remember 30 to 50 +) and may not have been in best physical shape to complete this workout. But at the end of the day we had a great time being tourists in the big apple, and visiting friends, our old neighborhood and favorite haunts.
Played a few solo gigs at private parties. That is always fun. Look forward booking a few more. Also played a few party and restaurant gigs with my cover band. We practiced a lot this year to develop a sound from the three of us to cover some of our old favorite tunes that we grew up with. It was successful in that our audiences had a good time, danced a bit and sang along to our instrumental renditions.
The biggest improvement I made on the boat, was adding the roller slides to the mainsail baton caps. I wrote about that earlier. So much easier get the main up and down.
Did get out to Nevada with my son for a few days of serious training in defensive handgun techniques. With his schedule, not sure that we will be able to do a trip like that again this year, but maybe we could.
Got to do more sailing next year.
