Blue Springs State Park

While we were in Orlando for the KBIS trade show, my friend, Ruby McKusick was along for the trip. Our guys, the two Dave's, who we lovingly refer to as Raul and Roy, headed out to work at 6:30 am each morning. We were left to our own devices to fill the long 12 hour days. Last year, I managed to do this on my own but it's so much more fun to have a partner in crime who can share my adventures with me. Ruby and I had a lot of fun filling our free time with long walks, long chats and lots of wine! It didn't take long for us to start calling each other Thelma (Beth) and Louise (Ruby)!

Ruby's multiple glasses look

Ruby on the Castle rooftop

Ruby at Cafe Tu Tu Tango Tapas Bar

The colors of the Orlando Eye

Beth at the Yardhouse - Orlando Eye backdrop

Ruby at the Orlando Eye

Ruby and Beth at the Pool Bar - The Castle Hotel, Orlando

Yardhouse Crab Cakes, YUM

By the end of the week we were ready to wander outside of Orlando for an adventure. We decided to head North to Blue Springs State Park where great numbers of manatee gather in the 73 degree hot springs during the winter months. It is really cold in Florida right now. Our timing to see them is perfect!

Like the dynamic duo, Thelma and Louise, we set out with enthusiasm and spirit! When we arrived, we sat in a line of cars that matched the lines for Disney World. Blue Springs is popular attraction. We had to pass the park, do a U-turn on a sandy road, then come back to the entrance before we could enter the park. When the parking lots are full, new visitors cannot enter until someone else leaves which leads to these long lines.

Beautiful, chilly day for a park visit

It was well worth the wait! Blue Springs is a beautiful park with a boardwalk, hiking trails, a gift shop and concession stand. You can rent kayaks or take a two hour boat ride along the St. John's River. We went on a self-guided tour of the Thursby House, a log cabin built by Louis P. Thursby in 1872. His son later added a second floor. The house has small rooms and a wood stove in almost every room. It seemed drafty and cold but I'm sure the breeze would be refreshing during the hot Florida summers. Only the kitchen had artifacts in place. We were disappointed that we could not visit the upstairs but it was easy to imagine a family enjoying this home and beautiful grounds long ago.

The Thursby House

Wood stove

Kitchen

The Thursby House view from the Hot Springs

We had a great time walking along the boardwalk and seeing the manatee floating in the emerald green water. The park rangers counted 465 of them on this day; many were mamas followed closely by their babies. We saw tons of fish including stripers, gar and catfish. Turtles and birds lounged along the shoreline. The alligators must have been hibernating from the cold. We could not blame them! After enjoying the view we grabbed a hot chocolate to warm us up and visited the gift shop where Ruby found souvenirs.

Beth & Ruby "selfie" with the Manatees

Blue Springs Rentals

Amazing sky and Spanish Moss

The Wildlife

Fish Lips Kisses 

Mama & Baby

After enjoying the manatee pools, we decided to hike a trail leading through the scrub and out to the St. John's River. We passed two groups of visitors who said they saw several armadillo on the trail. Excited to see them ourselves, we set out on a wildlife mission and quickly came upon holes dug into the sand. Ruby thought they looked like bear paw marks but we learned that they are left by armadillo digging for grubs. We saw animal droppings big enough to come from a bear but discovered that it was armadillo poo when we looked it up on the web.  We found everything related to an armadillo but never saw one. We did see several beautiful birds and many plants on our hike. Today was a wonderful day for an adventure!

Armadillo grub hole

Picnic area along hike

Mountain Bluebird

Baby Pine

Blue-Grey Gnat Catcher

We made our way back to Orlando, already planning our next Thelma and Louise adventure; hoping that it would be a trip to the beach. The quirky Florida whether didn't come through for us. There would be no beach day this trip! Ruby and Dave returned to frigid Minnesota long before we did. We promised to connect there and continue sharing adventures!

A New Year Visit to Mystic

It has been six months since we left our Alberg 35, S/V Mystic, at the St. Augustine Marine Center. She is on the hard there, waiting for us to get our lives in order so we can return to our Great Loop cruising adventure. It has been a long six months away from our floating home.

Mystic as we left her in July 2017

Mystic survived hurricane Irma relatively unscathed beyond some worn teak and nasty clay, dirt and animal droppings on her deck. The birds had their way with her like an arrow to a target. She is covered in yuk! We were concerned about critters but found only a tiny tree frog; we are not sure how it got all the way up on Mystic's deck. Dave carefully carried it to the ground and tucked it into some tall grass, hoping to give it a chance to find it's way home!

Our first glimpse of Mystic since July 2017

Stow Away Tree Frog

Dave inspecting Mystic

Dave Retying Halyards

Mystic's interior looked much as we left it only every surface is covered in a nice thick layer of mildew. It's no surprise to us but is overwhelmingly deflating to see. There is much to be done to make Mystic pretty again! For now, we rejoice in knowing she is fine, a little worn from her experience but ready for elbow grease, varnish and her liveaboard family to return. We can't wait!

This trip is a quick visit to ease our worries. We are not accustomed to having her out of reach. When we kept her at Knife River, Minnesota, we could visit over the winter. It has been hard waiting for this view of her, especially after Irma!

As always, wherever we go, we are blessed with friends and opportunities to connect. This visit is no exception! We were able to visit with Minnesota friends, Luke and Tiffany Whiting and their family in Jacksonville, as well as several high school friends in St. Augustine and Palm Coast. I had not seen one friend seen since we graduated in 1978.

Beth and Tiffany

Logan with Beth

Luke, Beth, Dave & Tiffany

Beth with high school friend Wayne Barbour in St. Augustine

High school friends, Jean Priebe Santos,
Laura Robarge Feldman, Beth and Bonnie Cook Reid
in Palm Coast, FL

After a day of visits, we are heading to Orlando for the KBIS trade show. It is time to focus on work! Once the show is over, we have a week off for relaxing, and more Florida FUN!

Mystic Sail Bags

I've been spending a lot of time at Joann Fabrics these days. I decided to make custom bags out of an old battered sail that came with our 1966 Alberg 35, Mystic. These bags are hot right now; selling for big bucks in specialty stores. I'm enjoying the experience, especially the design phase of my projects. By far, the most rewarding part is the finished product!

Designing Sail Bags

The first bag I made was a purse. The pattern came from a custom sail bag that I received as a gift from my sister Joyce. It has two pockets, one on the outside and one on the inside. It is lined with anchor fabric in blue and red. I embellished the outside pocket with an anchor "finding" to dress it up a bit. It turned out really cute and inspired me to take on another project.

Sail bag front with anchor detail

Sail bag back

Anchor patterned lining

Next, I made a beach bag, big enough to carry multiple towels and beach accessories. It is lined with shell fabric in sand tones. The front has a zippered pocket; a perfect spot to tuck a cell phone out of the way. I added a metal turtle "finding" to the pocket for pizzazz! This bag is sturdy!

Beach Bag with zipper pocket and turtle finding

Shell patterned lining

Roomy Beach Bag

Retro zipper on outside pocket

I moved on to making a really cool backpack, the pattern design coming from one I own.  It has expandable straps and lobster claw closures. The lining is a Paris pattern. It was the most complex design that I made so far, but it was a lot of fun to create! It turned out fabulous!

Back of Backpack

Inside lining with contrasting white pocket

Paris Fabric

Backpack front

My next design was a simple drawstring bag that evolved easily. I lined it with a cheerful daisy patterned fabric. The outside was plain with just white sail fabric, so I added a strip of the daisy fabric then edged it with beautiful beads that hang below the daisy strip. I really like this bag; it's simple but attractive!

Simple drawstring bag

Drawstring bag detail

Drawstring bag lining

I created a book bag next. It is similar to the reusable bags folks bring to the grocery store, only sturdier due to the trim edge that accents the inside. A beautiful lilac satin fabric lines this bag. The satin has a diamond pattern sewn into it. I used a triple thick patch of sail for the bottom panel. This helps the bag sit upright and adds strength to it.

Book bag

Purple diamond lining

Reinforced bottom

Bag sits square due to bottom

I made so many bags that I was on a roll! My options for design were unlimited and examples were all around me. I used an old Vera Bradley shoulder clutch as a pattern for a sail bag version of my own. The bag turned out really cute but I found a tiny slit in the sail cloth on the back after it was completed. Sails are tough but they do tear. I missed this tiny blemish during construction. Instead of chucking the whole project, I bought cute little applique flowers and sewed them over the slit, using buttons to hold them in place; project saved! I will use this bag often. Everyone needs a shoulder clutch for those days when you don't want to drag a whole purse with you! I ended up making a second clutch lined with the Paris fabric. It turned out even better than my first try!

Clutch front

Clutch back with daisy's covering small defect

Lobster claw closure

Clutch outside open

Clutch inside open, credit card slots and pockets

The final bag that I completed was created after friendly encouragement from my friend Linda Weckman She asked me to make her a duffle bag, 15" long, 12" high and 7" wide. It turned out great but it tested my patience and problem solving skills. Linda will use this bag to take personal items up to their boat, s/v Pemion. Linda referred to her bag as a Mystic Sail Bag. I like the sound of that!

Custom Duffle Bag

Linda with her duffle bag

I've been sewing every day; some days a little, others all day long! I'm not new to this. I've always loved to sew. I made my own wedding gown and many of my children's clothes when they were little. For those projects, I used a pattern that I purchased. The difference in my sail bag sewing is that I make the patterns myself. Before we left Minnesota aboard s/v Mystic I made several bags for boat gear storage. This included a bag for our hatch boards. When we are underway, we place each of the three boards in their own compartment within this bag. It is heavily cushioned which keeps them from getting beat up. I sewed Mystic on the cover. This bag has proven to be very useful during our Great Loop adventure.

Mystic Hatch Cover Bag

We plan to build a dodger for Mystic. All this practice is good experience to prepare me for that mammoth job. I'll have to get a heavy duty sewing machine first. I'm not complaining about that though! I can't wait! I'm already onto my next sail bag project. I'm working on shower bags for both of us. When we use the marina showers we have to schlep all of our bath supplies, towels and clothes. Now, we'll be able to do this in true cruising style!

All In Looping

Many of the Loopers we meet are “All In”, which means that they have purchased a boat and sold everything that won't fit on it. It becomes their floating home, a house with limited space. The “All In” crowd is not that different from those of us who still have roots securely anchored in a land home. The main difference is in the baggage, and the fact that if you have a land house, you have to take care of it. There is something to say about letting go of material things. It's like lifting a ton of weight, relieving the pressure of responsibility to possessions! When we began our plans to cruise aboard our 35 ft Alberg, s/v Mystic, we considered downsizing, selling our home and belongings and putting any remaining items in storage. It wasn’t very appealing to us. We tried to clean out and got rid of some things that had been sitting in our attic for far too many years. It was an overwhelming experience. The more we dug through our stuff, the more stuff we had to figure out what to do with.

Our Minnesota Land Home
Photo by Suki Thomsen, City of Stillwater

We are not materialistic people. We have some nice things in our house but most of what we own is pre-owned, refinished or gifted to us. As I look around our home I see that everything has a story, a sentiment that goes with it. Selling the items we’ve collected over the years seemed like selling our lifelong memories. There is the claw foot table in the corner of our living room. I found it on the side of the road years ago at a house nearby. It was obvious that someone had moved out and left the table for the garbage man. It had several coats of paint but I could tell that it was old and could be brought back to it’s glory with a bit of work. I was biking with my young son, David, so we couldn't just take the table with us. We made our way home, jumped in the car and drove back. I had moved the table up out of the garbage pile and close to the front door of the home so it didn't appear to be discarded. When we pulled up in front of the house, a man was putting my table in the back of his truck. I asked if he was the garbage man. He wasn’t so I informed him that he was taking my table. He laughed and said that he beat me to it. I was pretty upset, but I walked away, mumbling under my breath about just what I thought of this guy. As I reached to put my seat belt on I noticed him at my door. He offered to flip a coin for the table, “Just to be fair”, he said. I thought it was more fair than him just taking the table, so I agreed. I won the toss and the man took the table from his truck and put it in the trunk of my car. It took me two years to refurbish this piece. It has been in my living room ever since.

Roadside Table find

Detailed legs and claw foot
that caught my attention.

The decor which fills our home includes sailing related art work, an antique rolltop desk from my Grandmother's farm, a coke machine change maker Dave has dragged around since college, beautiful pottery made by our daughter Brielle, and the upright piano from our friends the Reubendale's. Dave completed a remodel project for them in exchange for this beautiful antique.

Grandma's roll top desk

Coke Coin Changer

Our Piano

Brielle's Pottery 

We finished our basement, adding a fireplace with limestone found on our property. The hearth has a lighthouse above the mantel, designed and hand cut by Dave. There isn’t really a single spot in our house that we haven’t had our hands on. We’ve remodeled every inch, lovingly urging it from a house into a home. As we replaced walls we planted time capsules for future inhabitants to find. Inside, we added coins, pokemon cards, legos and family photos. 

We inherited a lot of things from Dave's parents. My in-laws had great taste, enjoying the beauty of antiques and good jewelry, and it was important to them to pass on their treasures. We have their dining set, two hutches, china, silver and lots of old photographs. Dave’s Grandmother Meg also left us items. I remember receiving a box from Meg right after our first born, Brielle, arrived in December of 1987. I reached inside and felt what I thought was a teddy bear. What I pulled from the box was a lovely mink coat in perfect condition. It fit me like a glove; a generous personal gift from another generation. The 80’s was a time when PETA was strongly advocating against wearing fur or leather products. I wrapped the mink in an old robe and tucked it into the closet. Over the years, I thought about selling it. Each time it came up, I found myself thinking of Meg and how she wanted me to have that coat. I just couldn’t do it. Grandmother Meg also gave me her Spode China. We use it at Thanksgiving and Christmas which always makes me think of her.

Beautiful hutch from Dave's parents

Grandmother's Spode China

I can't say that we won't go "All in" some day. It could happen, but first, our kids are going to have to claim some of the heirloom items that we have been taking care of for the last 30 years. It will be easy to get rid of our every day possessions once the personal stuff is passed on. Like our beautiful home, we are just taking care of these items for a while.