Captain’s Blog: Sixteen
August, Year of Our Lord 2015. Have
finally returned to home port after several voyages over the last few months;
visiting exciting ports of call like San Francisco, Seattle, Palm Beach,
Anaheim, and Dallas. I will be sailing
away again shortly for a three week stint of two business trips bookending a
much needed vacation. The chronicling bug
never left me, but I was befallen by tragedy when my collection of scrimshaw
(memory card) fell overboard (dropped from my pocket) and was lost, along with
my inspiration. I kept with my routine,
staying the course, until I could find familiar waters to begin anew.
I really was disconsolate when I had lost the memory
card. I was lucky enough to keep some
pictures of a couple visits, but not all visits and not prime pictures. I had taken several to fill my 365 Pictures
in 365 Days project and had visited family, generating all sorts of material
for blog posts. For example, did you
know polo matches are broken down into chukkers? And that calling the final one the “mother
chukker” will get you kicked off the grounds?
I learned this when visiting my Aunt Becky and Uncle Vern in Palm Beach
with my wife. In professional polo,
during what I could only understand as “halftime,” spectators are allowed onto
the field for ice cream and Champaign while stamping down the divots made by
the horses’ hooves. My uncle advised “if
its round and steaming, don’t step on it!”
Good advice for polo and life, Vern!
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| This is an amateur polo match. Lost pictures of the pros. |
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| Beach near Lake Worth Pier |
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| More beach |
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| And still more |
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| No matter where you go, there's someone looking for a handout! |
We visited my aunt and uncle in late February to celebrate
my wife’s birthday. We took a long
weekend and most days were overcast and rainy.
We did have one bright day, which we used to go to the beach. While there, we visited with a great-aunt who
I believe did some modeling in her youth and now lives in a house that could
function as a museum due to its size and use of marble. At the club, we played tennis, both regular
and table; swam in the pool; and attended a party that served oysters on the
half shell and lobster tails either baked or grilled. Back at the house, we swam and hot-tubbed
almost every night. Also gave my First
Mate a jolly rogering. Twice! And people call us an old married
couple. Well, we do. We call ourselves an old married couple. So, yeah, our trip rocked! Except the end, when we were delayed at La
Guardia for about seven hours because of ice and snow.
