End-Of-Season Sigh

So this past Wednesday was the last of the Wednesday Night Races at Pirate's Cove.  It all switches to Sunday afternoons now for the fall series.  And even though I'll race some Sundays--they will be sporadic at best as there is just so much that happens on the weekends.  Of course this means that summer's officially over & there's just no getting around it.  There are a few weekend races coming up & the boat show next weekend so I will still get my sailing fix through October but after that I guess it will be time to hang up my foulies for the season (just can't wrap my head, or the rest of me for that matter, around doing frostbite).  So what will I do with myself over the winter?  Reading the Racing Rules of Sailing, finally going back to taekwondo (I've been soooo bad about that), waiting anxiously for the new Spin Sheet & Sailing World every month, & probably having long convos about our favorite obsession with Xing Fu.  Perhaps even a Raven's Game, live music....I'll fill the time but part of me will be out on the bay somewhere--sigh.

I am looking forward to the boat show--this year I'll be hanging with my boat & enjoying their company--it has been great being part of this crew & I know the boat show will be equally as fun.  I also look forward to seeing my cousins as well--they are exhibitors so it will be great to spend time with them too.  Last year my cousin & I really loved walking around with our Pusser's rum drinks--maybe a repeat???   I also need to get a few things--I want to get better knee pads (the J-30 just rips up my knees), possibly some foulie pants (I have bibs but would like the ease of pants), & some boots for colder weather sailing instead of my Keens.  Of course I enjoy looking at all of the boats--even the Benehuntalinas.  Just a great way to end a very full summer of sailing.  Perhaps this will be one of my last posts about sailing for the season---oh, who am I fooling??

Reflections On My Navel

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

T.S. Eliot--The Hollow Men

I have been sick for the past few days & I think I've mentioned before how being sick makes me unusually reflective. There have been a lot of endings recently & the weather, decidedly blechy, makes me rather melancholic.

Today officially marked the end of my racing season. I would have sailed tomorrow but since I have this nasty URI, I don't think it's a bit smart to go out in 10-15+ knot winds, in 40 degree weather, with a steady rain, in order to prove what a woman-stud I am. I emailed the skipper & let him know & he replied that this was pretty much it & feel better--crew party in January, see you after that in the spring (at least I don't need to upgrade my foulies now--very expensive). It was an awesome learning experience & I met some incredible people that I wouldn't have otherwise, made some new friends that I'm sure I'll see over the winter--looking forward to sailing with them all again. So not out with a bang, but a whimper as T.S. Eliot would say. Ah well..all good things must pass & now I need to concentrate on TKD for a while.

Seems like fall has ended as well--I had to put the heat on today--scary. I looked outside & I felt like I was looking at a Baltimore winter scene: cold, wet, & bleak--not even the trees turning could withstand this weird cold-snap. I am not a winter person & always struggle with the bare trees poking into the steel-gray skies from November through March/April. Perhaps I need to think about moving somewhere where there are no seasons except summer....I think I'd miss the Chesapeake Bay too much--can't afford to be a snowbird quite yet--probably never.


Currently, I am sitting in my kitchen working out a recipe for chicken & soba noodles. Cooking is a good activity for me when I am reflective. I can make something & if it's bad then at least there's no one to complain or pass out false praises--i.e. the sauce is wonderful, maybe the chicken was a wee bit salty. I am home alone, my son being at his grandparents with a friend, & unusually I have nothing really planned for this weekend. My excuse of course is that I'm sick & need time to recover. I have to admit that I need more "alone" times without distractions. I spent the last two days in my bed, sick & although I was alone, the only reflection I did was to blow my own nose. Now that I'm on the mend I can take stock...poke my head around & pick the lint out of my belly-button, analyze it & change course if I need to. One of my girlfriends(& I am honored to call her a girlfriend)--the wonderful woman I met in Amsterdam, said something quite profound to me the other day--of course what she said exactly is now lost to history but it shook me--actually a lot of what she says to me shakes me. Again, she & others touch on the drama that I seem to crave. I don't like T.S. Eliot's rendition of how the world ends--I want the roller-coaster ride & I tend to create it over & over. Soul Sister said once I figure out why I may find what I want--in the meantime I keep this wall up called drama for a reason...I have a few days to ponder it & I hope I won't distract myself--I usually do...maybe after a dinner of chicken & spicy soba I may actually think on it.