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!!!   ;)

Bigger Holes!

You may remember that Pete cut a hole in the deck to give extra head room in the bedroom.  Well, we are actually raising the head room right through the barge.  All the wood has now arrived for the superstructure for first half of the boat, up to the water tanks, so Pete has been making the hole even bigger.  This evening (after the football, got to get priorities right!) he is going to start putting the wooden frame together.  Will post more pictures soon.

 

Versatile Blog Award

I am so thrilled, Margy from http://www.powellriverbooks.blogspot.com/ has included me in her versatile blog recognition award.  It is the first award that I have received and I am very grateful to Margy for thinking of me.  Margy's blog is absolutely fascinating.  It is about her life in a floating cabin in Canada, complete with floating garden and floating wood store. It really is worth a visit and a browse through the archives.
In order to accept this award I have to thank Margy and tell my readers seven things about myself, so here we go.


1.  I have three boys aged 27, 24 and 20.  They are, along with my husband, my reason for living and I am very, very proud of all three of them and the fine adult men that they have become.
2.  I am by trade an English teacher, although these days more into management and I work in a correction centre.  I am very lucky because I love my job.
3.  I have wanted to live on a houseboat since I was a teenager and now my dream is coming true.
4.  I am Commodore of Tollesbury Sailing Club and the first lady commodore in its history.
5.  I am vegetarian and I get very upset by animal & child cruelty.
6.  I am seriously addicted to chocolate.
7.  I don't do power/ego trips and I don't like people who do or jobsworths.

Now I have to pass this award on to 15 other bloggy friends whose sites I have recently (or fairly recently) discovered and whose blogs I love reading.  I have quite a blog roll because I love reading other people's blogs.    After a day's work, I love settling down on the settee with my laptop and catching up with the day's news through the blogs, learning something new or getting advice from people who know more than me.  I do not buy any magazines any more because my blog roll is far more interesting and I have made some really lovely bloggy friends with mutual interests or lifestyles.  Here is my list, in no particular order, and I apologise to anyone I miss because I can only have 15.

1.  VallyP at http://vereeniging.blogspot.com/
2.  Janys at http://slowvenice.blogspot.com/
3.  MrsL at http://unboughtdelicacies.blogspot.com/
4.  Elizabeh at http://argentinawineblog.weebly.com/
5.  Zaira at http://littleemmaenglishhome.blogspot.com/
6.  http://gypsypurple.blogspot.com/
7.  Becky and Seb at http://thevoyageofwendyann2.blogspot.com/
8.  Melissa at http://www.thanatopsic.org/hendrik/
9.  http://aheronsview.blogspot.com/
10. http://angleseyallsorts.blogspot.com/
11. Simon at http://misterton.squarespace.com/
12. Tim at http://timzim.blogspot.com/
13. Steve at http://boatsareforlosers.blogspot.com/
14. http://www.sageandsimple.com/
15. http://lafermedesourrou.blogspot.com/

I hope you have some fun browsing these blogs, I know I do.