Sundown Sailing Adventures

Getting settled in Anacortes. Working (yep, that “W” word). Sailing. Connecting with friends and wildlife. We’ve had a lot going on and it’s all good.

Since Anacortes, Wash., will be our home base for the winter, we’re trying to get connected. We bought used bikes (both for $140 and then another $160 to outfit them with new tires, tubes, carrying racks and fenders from the Bike Spot…cheap transportation and my favorite kind!). This week, Clay and I are going to the town’s bike and pedestrian advisory committee meeting. I’m going to worship band practice at a local church I visited. We’re excited to see how we can contribute!

I’m also now a regular at the Fidalgo Artisan Yarn Company. If Alice is parked outside, you know I’m inside knitting up a storm or buying more yarn. I used one of the store’s wonderful hand-dyed, super soft alpaca/wool blends to make a hat for one of our boys, Stewie (Kyle’s college roommate). I also finished a lace scarf while there; it’s made with Lambspun‘s hand-dyed Prism, another yummy yarn, and is gracing the neck of one of my Fort Collins friends. I also recently finished a Carradal shawl, made with another beautiful local yarn that I bought at Bazaar Girls in Port Townsend last spring.

Clay’s working part time at the Marine Serviecenter and has other offers of work. His reputation for being a master craftsman and amazing shipwright is spreading around town.

We’re not staying in our Anacortes Marina slip all the time, however. We just took a week and sailed around the San Juans. Deer Harbor Marina and Jones Island were among our stops. We enjoyed visiting with DH staff and hunting for morel mushrooms on Jones. We didn’t find morels, but did identify a new-to-us mushroom, the strobilurus trullisatus, or what we named the Pinecone Mushroom. The deer on Jones were extra friendly; they encircled us as we entered the apple orchard, clearly wanting our help getting apples from the high-up branches. We didn’t indulge them; they were a bit indignant.

One day, after participating as presenters via Skype in a conference that took place in Fort Collins about the Third Age (see pp. 26-27 for an article I wrote about the topic), we picked up our friends Amy Lewin and April Stutters, and their exchange student, Chiarra, who’s from Germany. (They were on Lopez Island.) Together, we sailed over to Vancouver Island to Butchart Gardens. What a beautiful place with interesting history. I recommend it to anyone traveling in that area.

Once we bid the group farewell, Clay and I sailed back to Friday Harbor to check into customs. While on the dock waiting for clearance, who should sail up but our good friend Chris Bowman–we met him in Desolation Sound last spring. He’s back in the area for a couple of months, so more fun is sure to come! One of his first requests was a blackberry pie, so I made one for him with fresh Washington blackberries. He and Clay enjoyed it for dessert and breakfast. Spoiled men!

So we’ve been busy, but at the end of the day, we often enjoy beautiful sunsets. We’re truly blessed.