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Boats of Guatemala: Lake Atitlan Launches

The Mayan crew, pounding the boat across Lake Atitlan, just ahead of a storm.

 

(to start of project)

I’ve started on the toe rails, and hope to have progress to report soon, once I get it figured out.

In the meantime, here’s some boat related reporting from our trip to Guatemala. Coming from such a car-centric culture, the widespread use of boats for transportation there was fascinating; not only the extent of it, but the types and their construction, as well. Continue reading “Boats of Guatemala: Lake Atitlan Launches”

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Home Port

Lake Atitlan from Casa del Mundo, after a storm

 

(to start of project)

We’re back.

A couple of times a decade we manage to take a nice trip somewhere. A few years ago it was the northern California coast. This time it was Guatemala, and what an amazing trip it was. A truly stunning landscape that left us literally speechless more than once. Continue reading “Home Port”

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Transitions

Sunshine starts a second snowfall

 

 

 

There are things you do in your 50’s that you thought you’d do in your 20’s.
This is a given.

What you remember is often what you wished for,
not what really happened.

Some things you declined to say when you could have will ring in your ears forever.
It’s better to say them all.

There will be more joy than you expected,
certainly more than you thought you deserved.

You will continue to have conversations with people you loved,
decades after they’re gone.

You will often cry unexpectedly –
not when things are sad, but when they are beautiful.

These are some things I’ve learned.

 

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White Christmas

Snowy River

 

(to start of project)

Fresh snow got home before we did on Christmas Day. After dinner with family in DC, we drove back south, headlong into waves of a big storm as it broke over the hills on the way north. The last hour of driving was spent tacking back and forth in the dark, looking for cleared roads. We’re getting used to this by now, and the novelty has definitely worn off.

Continue reading “White Christmas”

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Room With A View

Mirror Pond 

 

(to start of project)

Our house is surrounded by over 300 acres of woods and overgrown hay fields. The land was bought by a big-time developer just days before we moved in, but has laid fallow for almost 30 years. We’ve savored the quiet it provides, a buffer between us and the rest of the world, and it’s a haven for all sorts of wildlife. We frequently take walks there in the evening. Continue reading “Room With A View”

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A Nip in the Air

Silo and old barn on the edge of town.

 

(to start of project)

Fall snuck up on me this year. Maybe I was just too busy to see it coming. There’s a heavy frost due in the morning. Geese mutter in the corn stubble. Continue reading “A Nip in the Air”

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MASCF Part 3 ~ A Parade of Sail

”Marianne,” one of the Museum’s Log Canoes

 

(to start of project)

How do you get a hundred or so independent-minded skippers to sail their boats in a tight formation in the same general direction for a few miles?

Tell them it’s a race. Continue reading “MASCF Part 3 ~ A Parade of Sail”