Hobbies

The other day one of my friends and I were talking and she asked me what kind of hobbies I have...well, I guess that blogging is my hobby right now.  I think about things to write about, take photos to go with my blog posts and this is what I do while my daughter is napping.  One reason is that it is a quiet hobby.  I can't really make much noise on the boat while she is napping.  Another reason is that I can do it from my iPhone.  And as some of you may know, I love my iPhone almost as much as I love my husband and daughter.  And then there is the rain.  There are things I could do outside while she naps, like walking her in the stroller, or projects on the dock, but it keeps raining.  The weather has begun to turn, but today it is raining a lot!  Sure I have other hobbies: sewing, knitting, reading, sailing, and hiking.  But they just don't really happen during nap time right now.  Maybe one day...until then above is a photo I took with my iPhone of me blogging and below one I took using photo booth.

Also, I have been using Google analytics to track my blog readers.  I can see all sorts of cool data about how many visitors I have each day, where they are from, how long they stay, how they got to my blog and so on.  Sometimes this is really cool.  Like for example I have had 102 unique visitor to my blog over the last month.  But really I think I have about 10 readers. Also, I have had readers from 9 countries in the past month.  And only 11 visits from Canada, which means Ari's friends and family really need to pick up the slack.  It is a little creepy to me actually how much data I can get on my blog readers for free.  I'm sure that it can be much more detailed, but they just don't give all of it away for free.  For example, I can see that I have had five visits from a particular city, but I can't tell if they are all the same visitor, but I'm sure that Google can tell.  And, because I know who most of my 10 regular readers are, I can tell that my father, or Ari's mom has checked my blog recently, or not, and then I wonder why they are not reading the blog.  Now that you know you are being tracked, I hope you don't stop coming to my blog!

All the data also sometimes makes me think that I should promote (or tell people about) my blog more.  Some blogs are full of comments and have lots of regular readers, and that seems really fun to me.  My friends often say things like "You have a blog?"  I don't post my blog updates on Facebook all the time because I don't want to be "one of those people."  But then recently my friend Jackie started a blog, and I was so glad that she posted it on Facebook because I almost never hear from her and now I know about a new business she wants to start.  I think that maybe I feel a little strange about having a blog, and putting a part of me out in the world for everyone to see.  I've never really been someone who wants to be the center of attention all the time.  I prefer to keep things quiet and private, so blogging requires me to put myself out there a little bit more.  And as my friends and family have spread themselves around the world it lets me reach out to all of them and say hi.

Boat Projects with Babies

Today I tried to finish a project while alone with the baby.  The project is a baby gate of sorts to keep her confined into a safe space on the boat.  It is only a rectangular piece of fabric with six snaps on it, but it has taken me many days.  First I cut and sewed a piece that turned out to be one inch too small because I forgot to add one inch when I was cutting for the seams.  Then I remeasured and cut another piece of fabric.  That fabric has now been sitting around for a few days waiting for the right moment.  Which occurred at nap time today!

I quickly sewed some seams and then "whahhhhhh".  My darling baby slept for exactly 30 minutes today!  But, it is not all bad, because I broke out the bouncy swing.  That gave me at least 10 more minutes of banging and drilling to put a few snaps in place.  Of course she poops while in there and needs a total outfit change and is not really interested in going back in to the chair.  I tried putting her in the safe bed to play, but that just made her mad.  I tried playing with her and she cried, I tried ignoring her and she cried.  I finally fed her some rice cereal, and gave her a few new toys.  5 more minutes, one more snap.  More crying, more breast feeding.  More toys and crying, and at last four hours, and three days of work, after I began my one hour project it is done!  She now will be safe and confined for at least a few months until she becomes smart enough to escape from this as well.

Sailing Macha

As promised here are some photos from our sail a few weeks back.

 

 Sails hoisted (with an accidental, but amazing shot of a bird).

 

Yemaya down below "napping."

 

Craig on the helm.

 

Ari and the Estuary sunset.

Life on Land

So, we are spending five weeks in an apartment to have a little break from the boat and figure things out.  The place we are subletting has all the luxuries, showers, washer dryer, cable TV, two bed rooms, and a hot tub.  Yemaya has been enjoying the floor space, Ari and I have been enjoying a TV in the living room and bedroom. 
I'll admit that living on the boat isn't the easiest thing all the time, but I also love it.  There have been a bunch of sea lions spending their time in our marina, and I spend more time walking and getting exercise when we are there.  So far with such a little baby there has been only a little sailing, so that makes it a little less fun. 
But last weekend we took Macha out (pics to follow once the camera and computer are reunited) for a quick sail.  Thanks to Craig for the encouragement and sailing so I could take care of Yemaya and sail a bit.  Yemaya sat in her little bed and played and cried a bit.  We put up the main and pushed off the dock.  Head sails followed for a few tacks up the estuary and then with the wind and current helping a gentle sail back to the dock.  It was only an hour or so, but it was nice to get Macha off the dock after nine months.  Ari and Craig had earlier take the Tuna out for a spin before dropping the mast as part of Ari's ongoing project to get her ready to race.  Hopefully we can get the boat(s) out more and start to make our life on the boat feel a little less like sacrifice and a little more like fun.

We have refrigeration

So, for the record I am fine living with out refrigeration.  I have read Lin Pardey's book "The Care and Feeding of a Sailing Crew."  And I know that most stuff does not need to be kept in the fridge.  But Lin Pardey is not a breast feeding mom who wants to leave her baby with her husband in the evenings from time to time.  So after much discussion and a some difficulty we have bought and wired in a small fridge.  I can not wait to fill it with milk and lots of other things.  Ari can't wait for cold beer (I mean as long as there is a fridge, we can drink cold beer).  I'm sure that it will fail at some time, but until that day...I am so happy!

A Macha Halloween

I can't wait!  My favorite holiday is coming so soon.  Today we went to this Alameda Parents Group and carved a pumpkin.  We have no candles so I made a little alcohol burner with tinfoil to light it up.  The flame is a little bluer and not as bright, but took some nice pictures.  The jack-o-lantern is in honor of Ari's study of celestial navigation with a North Star nose and Waxing and Waning Moon eyes.

Yemaya's new berth

Well, she is almost too big for her basket now.  So we finally cleaned up enough so that she can sleep in her very own big girl berth.  Last night she made it through the night all by herself in her big bed (despite the scary howling wind).  I had to put on some white noise to cover up all the little bangs and howls from the wind.  As I told Ari last night, "Scary Wind Storm" was not one of the tracks on the, "White Noise for Babies," album that we use.  Here she is taking a nap, as cute as can be. 

And here is a video so you can hear the scary wind that we have been having for the past few days.  Ari reports being land sick at work because of all the bouncing the boat is doing.

Drip, drip, drip

So we knew there was a leak in the bed...but it really does suck to wake up to a drip on your toe.  But good news, it was not just one drip, but at least two!  The rain is suppose to let up soon.  So we should have a chance to fix a few of the leaks before the winter is really here, and before a few more leaks spring up.

Dock Baby

The first storm of the season is coming and we had to turn the boat around in the slip.  Because I have nightmares about the boat getting away from us when we are warping it around, the baby can not be on the boat when we are moving docklines.  So instead, we placed her on the dock in her basket where she would be safe.  Notice  the "safe" cans of diesel next to her on the dock. 
But she was happy as a clam, babbling away and watching the storm clouds roll in.  

Laundry Day

Having a baby is great. The stroller can hold laundry on top, below
and even in with the baby. Look close and you might see a little
Yemaya somewhere in there.