Leftovers

not sure why this boat is keel-less

It was busy of course.  The holiday that is.  Sis in from Chi-town with her family & only a little time to see her--just her.  I wish sometimes that she'd secretly fly in & we'd have a few days together but that is just never the case. Holidays can be difficult that way but I'm thankful for the little time that we did actually have.  But the theme to this blog post is leftovers--and true to the word, I felt that our time together was kinda the leftovers--that's why I wish she'd sneak into Baltimore to visit--like earlier in the summer when we spent an ENTIRE day together in Hampden.  We had soooo much fun--just she & I.  

True to our seemingly new tradition (3 years old), Xing Fu & I went geocaching on Thanksgiving day.  This year it was just splendid out & we went to Cromwell Valley Park & hiked up into the forest to find caches.  This time we found this guy guarding the hidden treasure:

 Xing Fu almost stepped on him as we dug out the hidden cache.  I'd never been to this park & I look forward to returning--there are a ton of geocaches in there & we only had time for three & it didn't help that my cell phone died just as we were trying to use the compass to locate the fourth. My only complaint with geocaching is that sometimes when there are lists of cool stuff inside, there's really just junky leftovers (heh, that theme) & nothing cool to trade for.  I wish folks would put good stuff inside--that's the whole point--to find treasure. But regardless, it was great getting out & traipsing around in the woods for a few hours with my best friend.

The last leftover, in keeping with the theme, was The Leftover Bowl.  Take a gander at the picture at the top of the post--that was us a few times during Saturday's race for the leftover CBYRA (Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association) prizes that were unclaimed at the end of the season--hence, the leftovers....heh! Crazy, windy, cold, race but exhilarating on many levels.  We were reefed in on main & with our number three jib & still we were way over-powered at some points during the race--kinda scary, cool when you look straight down into the water while hanging on for dear life as about a half a foot to a foot of the leeward side of the boat is gunwales in. And at one point we avoided a near collision as another boat tacked right on top of us--as I looked at that boat, which was seriously knocked down, I saw the crew beginning a scary slide toward the water & our rigging near missing theirs as their mast, etc., was almost parallel with the water.  Like I said, my heart was in my mouth for a few minutes at that point.  But we managed to keep our wits about us & finished the race with a few gray hairs more than we wanted, but enjoyed the ride nonetheless.  Of course the chili party after the race at the new EYC clubhouse certainly helped.  Yum!  It was great getting together with some good friends that I've enjoyed racing with for what could be my last race of the year.  But I could be speaking too soon as last year I raced on a J/80 in December so who knows!  As for this one being the last--what a way to finish the season--with a bang! Or almost bang....

Thankful

Yep, gonna join the fray with all of the posts about being thankful--but I always think about where I was the year before--a reflection (Xing Fu says I'm just a sentimental sap--OK, guilty as charged!).  Last year's Thanksgiving was a brief one for me--I was recovering from hernia surgery.  I had had outpatient the day before & I was very hopped up on painkillers--my sis kindly picked me up & drove to my folks' but I didn't last too long--I really don't remember too much of last year except I was very happy that my sister was in town--this year not so lucky because she was home in Chicago, but it may have been the first year in a while that there wasn't something wrong with me.  

Enter this year--I am very grateful, thankful to the universe, Karma, what-have-you.  I have my wonderful BFFs (wine tasting ritual is still strong), my incredible son (working hard to get into a private school), my family--all the usual stuff.  But beyond that, I have found someone special that I want to share my life with and we're moving toward a year & it is just better & better.

Last weekend certainly reminded me of being thankful--the sailing season is essentially over & that in & of itself is depressing--but Xing Fu & I had an opportunity to race--the last of the fall series at Pirate's Cove--the last for the year--SIGH.  But even with the lighter winds(unusual for fall), it was just beautiful!  And I will miss it--Xing Fu & I will probably obsessively talk about sailing all winter to try to fill the void--but what else can we do?  Frostbite???  Ack!!  COLD!!  Then again, if we get desperate enough...

This Thanksgiving was certainly different--this year Xing Fu joined our family's ritual(is this a good thing?).   We had a wonderful meal at my uncle & aunt's house(his chestnut & oyster stuffing is to die for) & great conversation--nice to be together but I was still missing my sister.

Yesterday, we decided to try geocaching for the first time.  I tried to convince my son to come with us--but typical teenager that he is...
Xing Fu & I had been talking about it for a while.  I had downloaded an app to my phone & we set out to the closest one which was at the Quarry.  There are actually two there--the first one we were able to locate quite easily (found a euro & replaced it with a little kitty figurine, & then wrote on the log paper--"Thanksgiving 2010")--the second...not so easy.  First of all, it was a micro-cache & therefore could be about the size of a dime believe it or not & according to my compass GPS (accurate to 9 feet), we were right on top of it--we were very stubborn & therefore left very cold but empty-handed.  Xing Fu asked if this was our replacement activity for when we couldn't sail.  I don't think traipsing around in 2 feet of snow looking for treasures is much of a replacement activity but perhaps we'll try one per weekend, weather permitting.  

 We did have fun & Xing Fu thanked me for my creativity--coming up with another activity that we'd enjoy doing together.  We have a running joke--since we've been seeing one another, we have yet to have the standard "date night"--dinner & a movie--the challenge is to make it to a year before we admit defeat & cave.  We're damn close....

Thankful!