Getting Ready ...........

This lot was delivered last weekend.  You can see the celotex and the plywood, the rest of the wood is on deck.  Pete has got a couple of weeks off after next weekend and is hoping to have the wheelhouse up and all the rest of the new superstructure completed by the middle of September.  Once that is done we can really move on with fitting out the inside.  I will keep you posted.

Yesterday we went foraging and found loads of damsons and wild cherries.  I have spent all morning making damson jelly.  My kitchen smells wonderful and it is very satisfying to create something so delicious when you have got most of the ingredients for free!!!!  Next weekend I'll make blackberry jam and sweet chilli jelly and then we should be set for the winter as far as jams and jellies are concerned.  Chutneys are next on the agenda.

Neighbours

This our soon-to-be neighbour coming down the creek with his new boat.  Martin, Kim and Neil sailed the boat back from Amsterdam.  All went well until they hit bad weather at the Sunk and blew the head gasket.  However, all's well that ends well, as they arrived safely and in good spirits (apart from Kim's back of course!).

The weather was warm enough for a quayside BBQ and just a few bottles of champagne and beer!!! 

This is Neil, the BBQ King.  This hat may be familiar to some of my Dutch friends.  Sorry to rub it in, but they found them in a bin and decided they just had to have them!

And here is a very happy and relieved to be home Martin.  Enjoy your new home Martin.

Cadet Week

One of the things that I have enjoyed most about being Commodore is the time that I have spent with the Cadets.  This week has been my third (and sadly last as commodore) Cadet Week.  Unfortunately, this year I could only spent Thursday and Friday with the kids but I have had a fabulous couple of days.   I cannot believe how the kids' confidence has grown in a year.  Last year the girls were screaming in terror if the wind blew above a force 1, this year they are hanging out of dinghies on trapezes!  We had thirty-five kids out on the water and they sailed every day even though the wind was quite gusty a couple of days.  There were also various activities every evening with a grand bbq and presentation night last night.  A very good night as my head will testify today!!!!!   Well done to all the cadets and the helpers for making it such a great week.  Here are some images of the last couple of days :

Pete's New Love

This is Pete's new love.  Apparently it is going to do everything for him and every so often I catch him giving it a little stroke and muttering sweet nothings to it!!!!

A couple of weeks ago I went sailing on Dawn, a beautiful old Thames barge.  It was JP's birthday (I won't mention how old, it would be very rude!) and he spent the day running around being a bargeman.  The rest of us just laid on the deck and enjoyed the sail and the passing scenery.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a really great day out sailing up and down the Blackwater.  The red sails are very traditional around here and these barges look quite magnificent, especially when you get a lot them together and they are racing.   We are lucky to live here!

Hello

No pictures today, just thought I would let you know what we have been up to.  The new windows and doors have gone in and very nice they look too.  After all these years of putting up with a draughty old house, we have finally got new windows, just to put the house up for sale!  Pete is outside, up a ladder and doing all the 'making good'.  He is also doing the guttering, fascia boards, barge boards etc.  I have to say that today he is a real grumpy old man!  He really is not enjoying being dragged away from working on the barge and his face and language prove it!  I do appreciate that I am very lucky that he is so capable, so I just try to placate him with endless cups of tea and food!
I have a problem with the fact that I am double booked tonight!  It is a friend's 50th birthday and he is having a huge garden party, hog roast, the works (not good for a veggie!).  Also it is the Sailing Club's annual gooseberry pie competition and I am a judge (not good for the waistline!) along with family bbq.  One starts at 3.00pm and the other at 7.00pm so I am going to try to get both of them in.   Did you ever see the Christmas edition of the Vicar of Dibley, where she ate five Christmas dinners?  I think I am going to feel a bit like that later!!!!!

Advice Wanted

Okay,  this is a question for all my new friends who are bargees and boaties.  During your time doing up your boats (no matter how far along the line you are), please can you advise:

1)  The thing that you most regretted doing (or not doing)

2)  And the thing that you are most pleased with.

3)  Any other words of wisdom!

These can be major works or just little things that make life easier and can even be more than one or two snippets of advice.  As we are still at the beginning of fitting out and planning Bonnie, any advice would be most welcome.  I am sure that there are other people out there who would also welcome the advice, I know for certain that Janys at Slow Venice will :)

Bedroom Roof

I nearly have a roof over the bedroom!  There will be three opening windows along each side and two big opening portholes in the front (like two eyes watching out for us!).  Judging by the head height I reckon there will be room for my chandelier!!!   ;)