Forty

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary with a long paddle among the islands of Barkley Sounds Broken Group, and a picnic on the beach. We can't imagine how forty years can have passed. We wonder what we have learned. A few things:

You can't play a good game of scrabble without a big honking dictionary. Negotiation and compromise don't cut it.

Cooking and eating good food is a great glue in a marriage. As Greg Brown puts it: "When the kitchen is happy, love has a chance". Ditto for the galley.

Good luck and hard work are a great combination. So are downwind sailing and time to go slow.

Summer Symphony

July: Andante.
Languid, hot days in the Gulf and San Juan Islands. Lazy hikes on headlands covered with grasses toasted golden. Lingering outdoors late into the evening. Downwind sailing even slowly entire days when sailing is a state of being, and destination is wherever.


Early August: Allegretto
Quick, foggy trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Angeles. Brisk road trip to Portland. Frenetic hunt for a winter apartment. Lavish visiting, happy celebrations. Rapid return to the boat. Intense radar and radio, fogbound passage to Barkley Sound. A few rainy days and transition to cruising speed.


Mid August: Andante cantabile.
Sunshine sparkles on rocks and water, warms and dries us in Barkley Sound. Spinnaker sailing. Beach hiking. Herring and salmon jumping; whales splashing. Moon dark sky with endless stars and galaxies and clusters.
(New photos loaded on Flickr are available here)