Monday, September 28, 2015

Back aboard Fiesta in Florida

Greetings again!   It's been 4 months since we last blogged an entry, so here's a quick update......

Back wind to a year ago........ July 2014, when we first left Taos, we had vague dreams and ideas of what we wanted to do or pursue.  Bucket List was to travel across the US in a camper van.....check mark


.....and then, 
to buy and live aboard a sailboat.....check mate. 

All the while, we were also looking, searching, exploring for what is next in our lives.  Would something pull us in and say "Turn left and live here!"  or "Hard to starboard and drop anchor here!"  We kept an open mind, totally widen-back perception so we wouldn't miss that potential fish hook, all the while following our heart, living the dream.  When we left Taos, we didn't want any responsibilities (i.e. hot water heaters, roof leaks, frozen pipes etc) after all, at the BnB we had 8 hot water heaters and 72 faucets for 25 years.  We knew that living on a floating home on the water would have enough of it's own leaky issues.  But  in the back of our mind, we wondered if the "all-water-life or nothing" approach would be the path for us.  
My life's motto has been----everything in moderation, including moderation itself.....so sometimes ya have to tie one on with a bottle of rum to realize just where that middle line is.....I guess it's my Libra thing to strive for balance.
The point of all this philosophy is that we had decided to re-visit the idea of establishing a balance in our life with some roots back in Taos.  Half a year as dirt-dwellers and the other half (or more) on the water?  It sounded pretty good....but in the back of our minds, we reserved the right to follow another dream....even over a rainbow into the for-sea-able future :)


  So...... in May, after 6 months on Fiesta, we left her contentedly tethered in a slip for the hot-hurricane months of June-Oct at Regatta Point Marina in Palmetto, FL (west coast Tampa area).  Our first stop was up to Burlington, VT for Krista's UVM graduation celebration.  So proud of her success to secure a job in the University Hospital as a Mental Health Technician.  Afterwards we headed back to Taos for some high altitude adjusting.....love and miss those mountains too.    


Northern NM was chilly with snow still clinging to the mountain sides.  We dug up our jackets and flannels from the storage unit, covering up the Florida tans we had acquired.......and settled in for a while with our daughter, Malia (moving in with the kid---a reversed situation for wayward parents).   We had a mission...... we were dog sitting our boy Rusty (the rusty colored dog on the left) while Malia left for 6 weeks to her job in Costa Rica. 








She had set up a cozy home in an old adobe house on the Yaravitz ranch way up in Des Montes overlooking the Taos Valley.....it   was an old childhood stomping ground for her....family friends. Not to mention the convenience to her job up in the Taos Ski Valley. 






 For 4 months we visited old friends, picked up a few odd maintenance jobs here and there (to feed the cruising kitty) including a couple of innsitting jobs.  July 4th weekend found us filling in for our old job back at the Old Taos Guesthouse for the new innkeepers who had a family emergency.  



Good times...good friends with Ric Speigel and Mary Collins
Lo and behold, there were several of our old friends staying there......like we didn't miss a beat.  It was a time warp.....and I had to ask Tim....
"didn't we buy a sailboat? or am I just dreaming?"  No problem.....a July 4th backyard party and 24 guests for breakfast the next morning.....don't even have to think about it after 25 years of doing it.

  

 We took hikes.....












 ....played disc golf.....and seriously explored the idea of owning a little house in Taos......alas, it did not grab us.  The roots/responsibility thing weighed heavy on us.....all we could think about was being carefree on the ocean with Fiesta.  For now, Taos has not drawn us back into her power...maybe in the future.










 We "strayed" long enough to catch one of our favorite annual music festivals, "Michael Hearne's Big Barn Dance"----a 3 day event of non stop music and songwriters---as a matter of fact, here's Tim's latest video:




 Afterwards....we said ADIOS! to Taos
and it's amazing sunsets.....























adios to Malia.........took a bus...
                                                   .....took a train...














took a plane.......and flew back to Palmetto, FL....and finally took a shuttle back to C-dock 
    at Regatta Pointe Marina .....and it feels so right 
                                   (big smiles).                                           
                       Ahoy!!!!    the gang is still (mostly) all here!!!




Our plans have us here dockside for a couple of months.........as  our list of "to-do's" is long, but not too arduous.  We had the bottom sanded and painted....reefing system adjusted, and now we'll look at a new tricolor light atop of the mast, lazy-jack mainsail system, new upholstery for the salon, SSB receiver, new Bahamian paper charts, new Garmin Platinum Chartplotter chip, rebuild the head system (ugh), basic maintenance on our 35HP Yanmar engine, etc etc 

.......and by December, we will be on our way south again to the Florida Keys......and then......onward to the Bahamas......and then......perhaps far off island destinations beyond.....to the dragons and pirates of the ancient Caribbean lore.....we'll keep on going as long as we're having fun.......stay tuned...










Friday, September 25, 2015

Sailing Her Dream

Ahoy!  We're back on our boat in Florida again----and until I can get a new blog up and going, here's a great video Tim made for those who haven't seen it yet----it kept me going all summer while back in New Mexico.......it's called "Sailing Her Dream" with one of our favorite singer-songwriters Chuck Pyle singing "Sailing"----------------cheers!!