Saturday, October 29, 2022

early days of Autumn

In September, a friend invited the girls and I to join her and her kids in sailing on her dad's boat on a nearby bay. As I had never been on a sailboat before, I was very excited by her kind offer. The day started off quite windy and chilly, but by the time we arrived at the dock, the sun was shining full strength and the wind was just the right amount for sailing. We sailed past the cable ferries that we take frequently in car trips and it was fun to see the ferries from the vantage point of the middle of the river.

The kids played card games in the comfortable cabin and enjoyed snacks out in the open breeze as they took turns clambering over the boat and steering under the Captain's directions while he wrote in his log book, snacked and offered his lap to the littlest grandchildren. I asked him all sorts of amateur sailing questions that he easily answered. And listened to my friend recount anecdotes of family sailing lore and bay neighbors with her dad since they have lived in this area for generations. We looked at the family dairy farm on the mountain and passed the hidden inlets that go to their family property. I looked at the boat's navigational screen and tried to find familiar coves and bays that we traverse around when we go to my husband's family homestead a little far away. All the years we've been reading Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons series came to my mind as we sailed along and I watched Captain Brad expertly handle the sails and ropes and fenders of his tidy vessel. 

I did awkwardly climb to the bow of the boat and even had to endure some serious heeling in the water as the wind picked up at times and carried us along leaning over into the water. No seasickness, but definitely some hair-raising moments for me as a new sailor but overall, a fantastic experience for all of us.
The rest of the post is from later in September and early October as we welcomed Seth back home from his summer work experience in Ontario. He's back to his college program now and comes home on the occasional weekend but mostly he stays with his wonderful host couple close to college.
We did have a tiny bit of tree damage from Hurricane Fiona, but we were spared the worst of the damage as other communities in the Maritimes took direct hits and have had much lingering devastation and loss.