Sun changes everything

Today is cold but sunny. We forced ourselves out from under every blanket we have onboard, started the generator and a space heater to take the chill off the morning while I made coffee and eggs in a hole. When we’d warmed up sufficiently we dinghied ashore and biked to the vendor who said he had a replacement GPS antenna to fix our chartplotter. Not home. It’s so frustrating when someone says they can help you then disappears from the face of the earth. Yo! Engineered Marine Systems, answer the phone!

Jack ran up to see another guy about our intermittent battery charger while I stopped in a couple of marine canvas places and tried without success to shake loose a color sample card. We’re still trying to agree on a color scheme that will give Escape Velocity a unique personality. It’s my garish wacky against Jack’s classic conservative taste. In our 22 years together, I think we’ve had more arguments about colors than any other issue.

We rode up to West Marine to pick up the replacement bilge pump and then down the street to the grocery store for a few necessities before heading back home to tackle the chores. By that time the sun was high, the batteries were on full charge from the solar panels and I turned on the water maker while Jack installed the new bilge pump. Which didn’t work. Again. He was about to tear his remaining hair out but called Jim instead. What can you say about a friend who drops everything to come troubleshoot a bilge pump for the second time and gets it working? We say we’re pretty lucky. That darn thing has dogged us for months and now we can leave the boat without fear of it sinking while we’re ashore. Whew!

No sooner did Jim leave but Jack’s sister Deb called and said she was minutes away. Deb used to visit us in Pittsburgh about once a month when she called on a business client. When we sold our house we suddenly realized Deb was going to be an infrequent visitor. As luck would have it, her job changed from just covering the Mid-Atlantic region to covering the whole country which is good for us because we can hope for visits nearly anywhere we go, at least until we leave the country.

While I finished up the watermarking duties, Jack dinghied over to pick her up and we hung out on EV for a while then went to our favorite hangout, the Chart House bar. Then we took the water taxi into town and walked up and down Main Street and finished the early evening with coffee and dessert at the Dock Street cafe. Deb had a long drive back to her hotel in Virginia so we hugged it out at her car and came back home. It’s always a shot in the arm to see friends and family.

The weatherman predicts sunshine for the rest of the week. It’s the main ingredient in a Good Mood Day.

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