NaNoWriMo | I've Reached New Levels Of Insanity

I've possibly reached new levels of insanity. As if living on a sailboat wasn't insane enough, I've gone and signed up for NaNoWriMo. I know NaNoWriMo sounds like some sort of delicious sugary treat that Willie Wonka makes which is chock full of peanut butter, caramel and nougat and gets all stuck in your mouth when you eat it so that when you try to say something like, "I know that it's not particularly good for me, but it's wonderful and I need more! Yum!" but instead it comes out sounding like "Na no wri mo! Yum!", because of course it's hard to enunciate when your mouth is full of peanut butter, caramel and nougat.

In reality, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. Crazy, huh? Ridiculous, no? A truly and utterly insane challenge - that's for sure. Made even more insane by the fact that I have some serious grammar insecurities.

I don't know if you remember, but I did another insane challenge earlier this year when I blogged from A to Z every day during April (except Sundays) along with Jaye from Life Afloat. That seems easy in comparison to this. My blog posts are usually on the shortish side, probably averaging around 500 words each. In order to get 50,000 words written during November, I need to write 1,667 words each day! Somehow, all the words have work together and somehow magically make up a novel. And, even worse, I don't even get Sundays off!

Of course, by the end of the month, I won't have an actual novel written, but I will have the start of a rough first draft of something more along the lines of a novella. Then, the hard work starts - revising, editing, having people review your draft, eating lots of chocolate, rewriting, reediting, drinking lots of red wine, finalizing the book, thinking about publishing it, eating more chocolate and drinking more red wine in despair, and then, maybe, just maybe, publishing it for all the world to see. Wow, that sound tiring! I may not even make it to the end of November, let alone all tackle all those other steps in writing a novel. Oh well, at least there will be red wine and chocolate to console me.

So why am I doing this? That's a really good question. I'm not sure I have a really good answer, except that it seems like it an excellent form of procrastination. When people ask me why I'm not working on boat projects, I can turn to them, arch my eyebrows and loftily exclaim, "But, I'm a novelist! My inner muse is calling me - I must write! Writers don't spend their time varnishing teak or installing equipment, you ninny!"

Of course, this will all be so much more enjoyable if I have some writing buddies. Do you want to know more? Do you want to join in on this insane challenge with me? Check out the NaNoWriMo site here and sign up! It's so much more fun to do crazy things when you have company.

Have you ever written a novel or thought about writing one? What about NaNoWriMo - have you done this before? Are you going to do it this year?

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5 Things That Surprise Me About (Re)Living In The States | Expat Musings

Sometimes, it's hard to believe I've been back in the States for over a year now. After twelve years living as an expat in Scotland and New Zealand, there are days when I feel like a foreigner in my own country. I'll watch something on TV, overhear someone's conversation or read something in a magazine and think to myself, "How bizarre that they do that in this country." Then, I remember that it's my country too, even though I'm just here on a temporary basis.

I remember when Scott and I first moved to Scotland. We would wander around the streets of Glasgow in wonderment, oohing and aahing over the historic buildings and the men wandering around in kilts. Even though we were all speaking English, we often couldn't understand what many of the Scots were saying to us, especially taxi drivers. It seemed exotic, strange and enchanting all at the same time. It wasn't a huge culture shock moving to Scotland, but there were a few surprising moments - like eating haggis for the first time. (Which is delicious, by they way, as long as you don't think too much about what it is you're eating.)

The same thing happened when we next moved to New Zealand. Again, not a huge culture shock - another Anglophone country with many cultural similarities to the US - but there were things that surprised us (like lolly scrambles). And there were plenty of ooh and aah moments. Realizing we were living in a city strewn with volcanoes left, right and center was pretty cool. And there weren't enough oohs and aahs to describe what it's like to sail in New Zealand or see the Southern Alps. Is it really possibly that one country can be so drop dead gorgeous? 

Now that I'm back in the States for a while, I've been experiencing a kind of reverse culture shock. It's America which seems strange and exotic at times. There are things that still surprise me, even after a year of being back here. Some of them bug me a little bit too, truth be told. Fortunately, there's also plenty of ooh and aah moments to make me forget those few moments of irritation (like seeing so many wonderful National Parks on our USA roadtrip). 

Anyway, here's a few of the things that surprise me about (re)living in the States.

1 - Putting the "public" in public toilets.

I remember being at my first office Christmas party in Glasgow and having a colleague say to me, "What's up with the public toilets in the States? There's absolutely no privacy!" At first, I thought he had had one too many pints, but after he went on about public toilets a bit longer, I realized that he did have a point. Toilets in Scotland usually offer much more privacy.

Have you ever noticed how there is often a gap around the doors in many toilet stalls in the States? If not, just head to any nearby Walmart and have a nosey. There's enough room for everyone to have a look at what you're doing. Of course, adults avert their eyes and don't glance in the toilet stalls (generally), but little kids have no such compunctions. I know because I've looked up to see one staring in at me, then turning to her mommy and screaming at the top of her lungs, "Look at the lady in there! She's going pee-pee too. She's a big girl like me. Will she get some candy too?" I can only assume there was some potty training going on here. Let's hope.

I know it isn't the biggest deal in the world. After all, it's not like you're crouching down over a hole in the ground for a pee (been there, done that), but why American toilet makers can't construct a door that fits snugly against the door jamb is beyond me. We did send people to the Moon didn't we? It shouldn't be too hard to address this issue. 

2 - Ask your doctor if this purple pill is right for you.

I rarely watch TV, but whenever I do sit down in the TV room at the marina, I swear five minutes doesn't go by without an ad for new drug that you just have to rush right out and ask your doctor if you should be taking it. Even if you don't suffer from the condition that the drug is supposed to treat, you probably still want to ask your doctor about taking it. At least that's my takeaway from the commercials.

The best part though is when they have a voice over listing all the possible side effects. Usually, there's attractive people smiling and holding hands and usually a cute kid or puppy is running around. It's a good distraction from a list that reads like this - you may experience side effects including cough, headaches, blurred vision, blistering of skin, confusion, difficulty breathing, sweating, decreased interest in sex, nausea, trouble sleeping, drowsiness, inability to swallow, memory loss, migraines and many more. Sign me up for those purple pills immediately - sounds fabulous.

Do other countries show this many drug commercials, not to mention all the advertisements in magazines, or is this just particular to the States?

3 - When in doubt, sue their socks off!

Americans have a reputation as a litigious bunch. Your neighbor built a fence two inches over the property line - sue him! You spilled McDonald's coffee in your lap and burned yourself - sue them! You took a drug that promised to be a miracle cure for your condition and now you have all sorts of horrible side effects - sue those bastards! I'm not sure how true our reputation for being the most litigious nation is, but I certainly get surprised when I hear people talk about taking folks to court as if it was a routine thing.

Usually, right after they show an advertisement for a new drug on TV, it's followed by an advertisement for a class action law suit, often for a drug or medical device. The irony cracks me up. One of the things I liked about living in New Zealand is their accident insurance scheme - ACC. It's run by the government and everyone has no-fault coverage for all injuries caused by an accident, whether at work or not. People aren't suing each other left and right when an accident occurs, because they know it will be taken care of. It doesn't mean there aren't lawsuits for other things, but it just seems sensible to me and a lot more friendly to deal with accidents this way. Maybe, that's why New Zealand is such a chilled out place to live.

4 - Happy talk, keep talking happy talk.

People are so darn cheerful in the States. Even people you don't know - like waiters, baristas and the guy hocking t-shirts on the side of the road. Sometimes, it's a little Stepford Wives kind of happy. Is it possible that everyone in the service industry is so happy or do they have a chip inside their brain instructing them to say things like - "Have a GREAT day!" "I LOVE that scarf you're wearing!" "Oh my god, that color is AWESOME on you!" "You're just going to ADORE this apple crumble topped latte with organic soy milk. It's to DIE for!!" 

The outgoing nature, cheerfulness and effusiveness of Americans is one thing that always catches me by surprise when I'm back in the States. I'm sure most of the time it's genuine, but not everyone can be that happy, can they? I get a little dubious when, right after you pay your bill, you're asked to fill out a short, online survey about your experience with the service.

5 - It's never to early to run for President. 

Did presidential campaigns always start well over a year before election day? I can't believe how much time and money goes into deciding who is going to be the nominee for each party. The election is over a year away people! It's kind of like how the stores have Christmas decorations up already and we haven't even had Halloween, not to mention Thanksgiving. To be fair, I haven't been in the States for a full election cycle in 12 years, so maybe this is just par for the course. But, I would have thought there would have been far more important things to show on TV rather than presidential debates - like ads for drugs you should ask your doctor about.

For those of you who live in the States, what surprises you when you visit other countries? For those of you who have traveled in the States or are expats here, what would you add to the list?

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Commas Confuse Me | Confessions Of A Grammatically Challenged Blogger

Thank you Graphic Fairy for the image.

I have a confession to make. Commas confuse me, prepositions terrify me and don’t even get me started on this whole “to whom” nonsense.* I’m one of those people that hates being told what to do. Bossy people really annoy me with their recriminations**. They’re even more obnoxious when they’re pointing out all of your grammatical faux-pas*** and shortcomings. “Naughty girl! You forgot a comma in that last sentence!”  “Tsk, tsk, someone forgot their apostrophe! You should be ashamed of yourself. Don’t look at me with those pouty eyes. You should know better.”  “Grammar will bring order into your life. Goodness knows, you could use a little order in your life. Just have a look at the state of your room, young lady.”

Normally, when someone tries to boss me around, I do one of two things: (1) ignore them or (2) do something passive-aggressive like agree to do what they want, but then hack into their computer and delete all the commas, periods, quotation marks and semi-colons from every single one of their Word documents. If they really bug me, then I might even remove all of the comma, period, quotation mark and semi-colon keys from their keyboard. That will teach them. I can only imagine the agony they’ll face when they realize that they can’t add punctuation to their letter to the New York Times deploring the state of written English in modern times. 

When I was in school, I got with the program and dutifully proofread all of my term papers, adding in useless commas as needed. Sometimes, resistance is futile and when the difference between a failing grade and a passing grade is the correct use of punctuation, well then, I play ball. Of course, there's all those secret passive-aggressive things I might quietly do to prove my point to my teachers. “Oops, the erasers disappeared again? How in the world did that ever happen?"

But, here’s the thing. Now, I’m a blog writer and, as far as I know, no one**** is handing out any grades as to the quality of my blog content and adherence to grammatical rules. So, why should I be bothered with all that grammatical mumbo-jumbo? It’s pretty simple – paranoia coupled with a healthy dose of insecurity. Half the time, I just write a blog post, do the most cursory of proof-reading and hit the publish button, grammar be damned. But, then there are the days when I agonize over commas, prepositions and other beastly grammar gremlins because I’m paranoid that someone is going to point out my grammatical errors. I imagine all of my blog readers are of the polite persuasion, so they’re more likely to point out my grammatical errors to their family, friends and cats, rather than sending me an email about it, but they’re pointing them out in any event. That’s when the insecurity sets in. “I’M A TERRIBLE WRITER! WHAT AM I DOING WRITING THIS BLOG?! I REALLY SHOULD CHUCK IN THIS WRITING NONSENSE AND FIX THE JOKER VALVE IN THE TOILET INSTEAD!!”*****

My mom thinks I should write a book. Moms are sweet that way - they think you're the most talented person on the planet. Even more talented than your sister. {This is a test to see if my sister reads this blog post.} Can you imagine me trying to write a book? I would get stuck at the very first sentence. Of course, I could just stick with writing very short sentences that require little in the way of punctuation. “Jane ate cake. Jane ate cookies. Jane ate pie. Jane ate chocolate bars. Jane got sick.”  Reads like a bestseller to me. 

Oh well, I guess I’ll stick with this blogging stuff after all. I really can't think of a better way to procrastinate my to do list. But, can I ask one favor? When you see grammatical errors and you want to point them out to your cat, can you at least say something like, “Poor thing. Yes, she used 'to whom' incorrectly in that last sentence, but she means well. Not everybody can be as smart as you, Mr Cuddlepants.”
 
For those of you who blog, write books or do other creative pursuits, what are you paranoid and insecure about?

Random Notes
  
*Some of the funniest grammar advice ever can be found on The Oatmeal, including this explanation of who vs. whom.  
**I used the word "recrimination" here because it's a fancy-pants kind of word. I figure that when you use fancy-pants words, it helps detract from the grammar involved.
***What is the plural of “faux-pas” by the way? It seems weird to write “faux-pass”, because that sounds like some sort of fake pass as opposed to heaps of mistakes. There should be a law banning the use of foreign words in the English language. Oh, wait, we already tried that with that “freedom fries” thing. Did we all agree that it was now “freedom toast” too, as opposed to French toast?
****By the way, I spent five minutes Googling the use of “no one” in that sentence up there. Should I have used “noone” instead? Or, should I have used “no-one”? It was a tense five minutes on the internet. Seriously, surfing the internet should be fun, not make you want to break out the dark chocolate and red wine. The Grammarist was of no help. But, I did learn that if you live in a different country, there are different rules. Just what we need. More rules. After five minutes of Googling, I didn’t find a clear answer, so I’m going with my gut – no one. As in, “No one likes a Grammar Nazi.”
*****I hate the marine toilet on our boat. Stupid toilet. If I ever win the lottery, the first thing I’m going to do is get a composting toilet. If cats can use a litter box, no reason we can’t either. The second thing I’m going to do is hire a professional proofreader. 

Random Grammar Jokes

• What do you say when you're comforting a Grammar Nazi? They're, their, there.
• What's another name for Santa's elves? Subordinate clauses. 
• The past, the present and the future walked into a bar. It was tense.

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Cruising Daydreams | Colombia

Thanks to the Graphics Fairy for these awesome clock images!

While I'm sitting here in Indiantown Marina waiting out hurricane season and wishing Scott would get back from Scotland, I spend my time daydreaming of places we might go once we get back out on the water. Like I did for Cuba, I've been doing some research on the internet, checking out blogs from people who have been to Columbia, as well as other resources.

I use the term research loosely here. Research is one of those dreary words that reminds me of my days in graduate school sitting in the library leafing through dusty books on French colonialism in West Africa. That was a real slog, which wasn't helped at all by the fact that the librarians never let you eat chocolate chip cookies while you were studying. Nowadays, my idea of research is to lounge inside my air conditioned boat surrounded by various snack food items and goof around on the internet for hours. Some people might say that this kind of research is actually a form of procrastination from boat projects. {Or, should that read "procrastination of boat projects"? Grammar can be a real pain sometimes. Sometimes, it's hard to believe they let me in grad school given my issues with punctuation and prepositions.}

If you're looking to do a little research on Colombia or just want to do a bit of procrastination from {or of?} some horrible and tedious projects you have on your to do list, then check these links out below.

Cruising in Colombia Links

S/V Earthling - S/V Earthling is seriously one of the best boat names ever! Of course not as good as S/V Tickety Boo, but that goes without saying. The Earthling landed in Colombia in 2013 and Captain Reza describes the hassles and cost involved in clearing in on his blog. 

This American Girl - Normally an overland traveler, "this American girl" took a five day sailing excursion from Panama through the San Blas islands to Cartenga, Colombia. Turns out she picked the wrong boat - no showers, no fridge, no ice and plenty of seasickness. (Sounds a bit like the boat we had in New Zealand, minus the seasickness part.) The captain took drugs and forgot to collect everyone's passports. An interesting account of how not to sail to Colombia.

Caribbean Compass - An overview of cruising in Colombia written in 2011. Lots of useful information including the Spanish phrase, Hable despacio por favor, which I think means can you please speak slowly. Only one problem - I don't speak Spanish, so no matter how slowly they speak, I still won't understand.

More Joy Everywhere - Back when Scott was trying to convince me to chuck it all in, buy a sailboat and go cruising, he told me about this blog. It was the first sailing blog I had ever read. I think it was probably the first blog of any kind I had ever read. I loved it and started to think Scott might be onto something with this cruising notion of his. The crew of More Joy (who sadly aren't cruising anymore) spent many months in Colombia. They've got a whole slew of posts about their time there. Well worth a read.

Fortunes Afloat - Laura and and her husband first sailed to Mexico in their 20s. Now they're retired and back out on the water. They have a number of blog posts about their time in Colombia. I found the one on getting prescriptions filled at a drugstore in Cartanega particularly interesting. It always amazes me how much cheaper medical care and prescriptions are outside of the States.

Sundowner Sails Again - Tate and Dani recently cruised in Colombia on their Westsail 32 (they're currently in the San Blas Islands in Panama, another place we want to go). Their pictures of snorkeling at Providencia Island are amazing. Definitely on our to do list.

S/V Orion 1 - Deb and John are currently cruising in Colombia and have also explored parts of Colombia by land.

Noonsite - A great resource for all things cruising. It's reassuring to hear them report that patrols by the US Coast Guard on the Caribbean coast have made this area one of the safer places to cruise in the world. Having said that, there was an incident last month in Islas del Rossario where a Dutch boat was boarded and one person killed.

Do you have any Colombia travel resources to share? If so, leave details in the comments section, send us an email or connect with us on Facebook so I can add them to the list.

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Around The World In 80 Books | Update #2

One of my favorite things to do each night is read before I turn into bed. Lately, I've been re-reading Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, but I'm also making time for my Around the World in 80 Books Challenge. The idea is to read a book set in 80 different countries. Over the past month, I've ticked off five more countries - Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Mexico, Scotland and Zimbabwe. So far, that makes ten countries down since I started the challenge, only 70 more to go!

You can read more about the challenge here and check out last month's update here.

ALI AND NINO by Kurban Said | Azerbaijan

I asked Bo from Sailing B&A for a recommendation for Azerbaijan and he suggested Ali and Nino. Bo and his wife Allison travel all over the world for their work and, as Bo had recently been in Azerbaijan, I figured he would be the guy to ask. Turns out I was right - Bo recommended a good one. Ali and Nino is a fascinating read.

Set at the eve of World War I in Baku, it tells of the romance between Ali, a Muslim from an aristocratic family with roots in Asia, and the Georgian princess Nino, a Christian girl who is drawn to Europe. After high school, they become engaged and Ali promises Nino that she will never have to wear the veil or become part of a harem. Despite their religious and cultural differences, family and friends support their marriage (albeit reluctantly for some), although Ali does get some dodgy relationship advice from some folks, such as when Seyd Mustafa told him that:

"A man must marry, preferably the woman he likes. She need not like him in return. A wise man does not court a woman. The woman is just an acre, on which the man sows. Must the field love the farmer? Enough that the farmer loves the field. Marry, but never forget: the woman is just an acre."

Like all good love stories, there's plenty of drama and events which threaten Ali and Nino's happiness, but ultimately they triumph and live happily ever after. Or do they? You'll have to read the book and find out.

You can find out more about Ali and Nino on Goodreads.

THUNDERBALL by Ian Fleming | The Bahamas

One of my "rules" for the challenge was to read books I wouldn't normally pick up. I think this one qualifies! While I'm a big fan of James Bond movies, I probably wouldn't have read one of Ian Fleming's books if Scott hadn't mentioned them. I picked Thunderball because it is set in the Bahamas. We were just there in April/May and are planning on heading back out there on our boat this coming season. One of the places I want to see is the famous grotto at Staniel Cay where the bad guys hid the bombs they stole. Do you remember the scene from the movie?

When you're getting ready to go cruising, there are a lot of important things you need to do like provision, make sure you have nautical charts and be aware of what super villains you might encounter, like SPECTRE. They don't fight fair.

"Largo was ready. His knee came up hard against Bond's head and at the same time his right hand came swiftly down and clamped the small octopus across Bond's mask. Then from above, both his hands came down and got Bond by the neck, lifted him up like a child, and held him at arm's length, pressing. Bond could see nothing. Vaguely he felt the slimy tentacles groping over his fact, getting a grip on the mouthpiece between his teeth, pulling. But the blood was roaring in his head and he knew he was gone. Slowly he sank to his knees."

I enjoyed Thunderball. A bit different from my normal read, but very entertaining and quite funny at times. I'll probably read another one of his. By the way, who's your favorite on-screen James Bond?

You can find out more about Thunderball on Goodreads.

JUST THE PITS by Jinx Schwartz | Mexico

Jinx Schwartz is a fellow cruiser. I found out about her books on the Women Who Sail Facebook group and when I found out I could get a copy of one of her books for free on Amazon, I jumped at the chance. A murder mystery set on a boat for free? It was pretty much a no-brainer.

Just the Pits is the fifth book in the Hetta Coffey mystery series set in Mexico. Hetta is a red-headed engineering consultant who is a "sassy Texan with a snazzy yacht who isn't afraid to use it." Constantly finding herself in trouble with dead bodies scattered left and right, Hetta sticks her nose in where it doesn't belong and sorts out the bad guys. In Just the Pits, Hetta lands a gig working at a mining company and discovers people and money are disappearing. You've gotta like her investigative style - it always seems to involve booze and food. And why let truth get in the way, especially when you're a consultant.

"I resorted to a ploy that has worked well for me in the past; when you don't have snot, make a graph. The thing I love about graphs is that, depending on the scale, you can make them project whatever slant you desire. Of course, you never want to leave a copy with anyone, lest they figure out that a squished graph can look ominous, with huge jagged peaks and valleys, while a lengthened one with gently undulating ups and downs doesn't look all that bad."

I've got a couple other Hetta Coffey books on my Kindle, which I figure will be perfect reads sitting in our cockpit and sipping on a tropical drink once we're back out on the water. You can find out more about Just The Pits on Goodreads.

OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon | Scotland

I've heard lots of people rave about the Outlander series of books and, as I happened to have a copy on my Kindle, I thought I would give it a try. At the end of World War II, Claire is enjoying a second honeymoon with her husband in Scotland when she finds herself transported back in time through a stonehenge (not The Stonehenge, which is overrated in my opinion, especially compared to the one in Avebury) to the year 1743. There she meets the very dishy Jamie Fraser who she is forced to wed. This of course makes her a bigamist, but is it really bigamy when you technically haven't been born yet?

Having lived in Scotland for many years, I enjoyed the descriptions of the Scottish highlands, the food and, of course, the Loch Ness monster (also known as a waterhorse). It's kind of like Scotland's aquatic version of Bigfoot. Elusive and seldom seen.

"The sleek skin was a smooth, deep blue, with a vivid slash of green shining with brilliant iridescence beneath the jaw. And the strange, pupilless eyes were a deep and glowing amber. So very beautiful...Valved nostrils opened suddenly with a startlingly hiss of breath; a moment of suspended motion, and the creature sank again, a churning roil of waters the only testimony to its passage."

There was an inordinate amount of discussion of thrashing children (as well as adults) and whether that was good for them, which I found a bit bizarre, but, if you can see past that, it's a good old fashioned historical romance novel. And did I mention that Jamie Frazier is dreamy? If I find more of the Outlander series on a free table or book exchange somewhere, I'd definitely pick them up. You can find out more about Outlander on Goodreads.

THE GRASS IS SINGING by Doris Lessing | Zimbabwe

After all the trashy romance novels and fluffy mysteries I read during the past month, I needed to redeem myself by reading something a bit more literature-like. The Grass is Singing definitely qualifies. In her first novel, Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing describes racial tensions and politics during the 1940s in what was then known as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Opening up with the death of Mary Turner, the book flashes back to trace the unhappiness of Mary and her husband, Dick, poor white farmers struggling to make ends meet. Lessing paints a picture of the racist views of the white community, the experiences of their black workers and the tragic consequences when the "color bar" is crossed.

"The next boy was quite different. He had had years of experience working for white women who treated him as if he were a machine; and he had learned to present a blank, neutral surface, and to answer in a soft neutral voice. He replied gently, to everything she said, 'Yes, missus; yes, missus,' not looking at her. It made her angry that he would never meet her eyes. She did not know it was part of the native code of politeness not to look a superior in the face; she thought it was merely further evidence of their shifty and dishonest nature."

Like the late Scottish writer Iain Banks, Doris Lessing wrote across genres. She wrote a number of books which explored social issues (such as The Good Terrorist and The Golden Notebook), as well as the science fiction series Canopus in Argos. I had only read her Canopus series before and now I'm keen to read more of her non-science fiction work. You can find out more about The Grass is Singing on Goodreads.

Looking for something to read?

If you're looking for a new book to read, here are some suggestions that folks have shared on Facebook, the blog or email. I've added in links to Goodreads where possible so you can find out more about the suggestions. Also, Maria at Sailing Mareda is going to be spending the year reading around the Mediterranean and has some great book ideas - check it out here.

• Lynn from Tales from the Mutiny - Ahab's Wife by Sener Jeter Naslund (USA), Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg (Denmark/Greenland), Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell (Sweden/Latvia), Let's Not Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexander Fuller (Zimbabwe)
• Richard - Beserk by David Mercy (Antarctica), Sailing Alone around the World by Joshua Slocum 
• Don -  Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca (Eastern Europe), and The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco (Paris), The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander (Antarctic), Beijing Coma by Ma Jian (China). The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief by Richard Barber (England) 
• My mom -  Notes from a Dead House by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Siberia), Harraga by Boualem Sansal (Algeria), Dishing the Dirt by MC Beaton (England)
• My sister - Germania by Simon Winder (Germany)

If you're participating in the challenge too, I'd love to hear what you've been reading. Even if you're not doing the challenge, let us know what books you've been enjoying lately.

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Meeting Bloggers In Real Life | The Gypsy Kramer Crew

If my sister gets tired of working at the library, I figure she can get a job as a blogger matchmaker. A few months ago, she told me about Nina and Bill from GypsyKramer. She thought I would like their blog because it is about boat stuff. Whenever my sister says boat stuff, she always has a certain perplexed tone to her voice. Why people can get excited about boats, let alone write entire blogs about them, is utterly and completely beyond her. In her mind, I think it ranks right up there with cleaning out the lint from the dryer.

While she looks at the pictures, I'm not sure she has read too much of Nina and Bill's blog because it is about boat stuff. But she knew I would like them and their blog, not just because of all of the boat stuff, but because they're interesting and fun and, much more importantly, they're library people. She works with Nina and Bill at the library and one day (in between shelving books, helping people find reference materials about garden slug poetry, reminding the heroin junkies that shooting up in the stacks really isn't appreciated or whatever else it is that library people do), she told them about my boat, they told her about their boat, a bloggy match was made and I started following their blog.

Here's what I learned about Nina and Bill from their blog - they're insane little nutter-butters. You'd have to be a bit crazy to do the kind of refit that they're doing on their Cascade 36 sailboat, S/V Gypsy. Their boat was made in Portland, Oregon 41 years ago, so it was time for an overhaul. I'm older than their boat, so I can relate to the whole overhaul idea. They're addressing some structural issues, making some cosmetic changes and doing some modifications to the cabin (like adding a bookshelf, which isn't a huge surprise as they're library people). 

Every spare minute and every spare dime they have is being spent on transforming their boat into something magical. Not only is it magical, it's sparkly and shiny! I should know because my sister and I got to see Gypsy at Nina and Bill's boat launch party when I was out in Portland. Gypsy was hauled out 37 weeks ago at Becker Enterprises in St Helens, where work began. Two weeks ago, Nina and Bill splashed Gypsy and brought her back to her slip at the Rose City Yacht Club and invited folks around to ooh and aah at the transformation to date. It was so much fun to see all Gypsy's new magic, sparkle and shine and hear about Nina and Bill's plans for the refit down below.

But what was even more fun was getting to know Nina and Bill in real life. And my sister was right - they're great folk. I can't wait to meet up with them on the water one day once they retire and set off cruising full-time!

Rose City Yacht Club on the Columbia River

  

S/V Gypsy looking pretty in the water!

Such a shiny portlight!

Fresh paint everywhere!

 

These are the poshest fender covers I have ever seen. All they need are gold tassels to complete the look.

 

Even the engine is sparkly and clean.

 

They've still got a bit of work to do down below, but it is going to look amazing when it's done!

 
I'll leave you with some library jokes in honor of Nina, Bill and my sister.

• Why didn't the thief burgle the library? Because he was afraid the librarian would give him a long sentence. 
• What did one book say to the other? I want to see if we're on the same page.
• What do you do if your pet starts eating a library book? Take the words right out of their mouth.

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Random Nonsense From Portland

My mom asked what today's blog post was going to be about. When I told her that I hadn't written one, she seemed vaguely disappointed. You shouldn't disappoint your mother, especially when she had a bag full of Hershey Kisses and you want some. So, in exchange for some of her chocolate, I put together this blog post of some random nonsense from my time in Portland just for her.

Cats. It's all about cats when you visit my family. This is my mom's cat Kashi. I got her for my mom a few years ago from the Pixie Project. You would think Kashi would be more grateful that I rescued her and got her a nice home to live in with my mom. A pleasant meow might be nice. Instead, she usually either hides from me or glares at me. I don't think she likes it when my mom pays attention to me instead of her.

My sister got the most adorable kitten last week from the Oregon Humane Society. She's so cute! I want to take her back with me to live on our boat.

My sister's other cat, Francesca, thinks the new kitten is way less than adorable. I told her she should get another kitten so that they can play with each other and leave Francesca alone, but my sister is worried that if she has three cats that it would make her an official Crazy Cat Lady. I can think of worse things to be. Like allergic to chocolate. {For all you sailors out there, notice what Francesca is reading?}



Just in case you were worried we spend all our time focused on the cats, we have been going out on little outings. Of course, they're interesting weird little outings. The type of outings that Crazy Cat Ladies go on. Like to Vancouver, Washington to check out their library. My sister is a library person, so she likes to walk around other libraries and see how they do things. Apparently, they have good signs on their stacks. I didn't really get it, but library people get excited about things like the Dewey Decimal System.

They'll give you a library card even if you're only one minute old. It's never too early to instill a love of books in the little ones. If you live in Vancouver, you're pretty darn lucky to have such an amazing library.

My mom and I went to Powell's City of Books the other day. It's the largest independent bookstore in the world and a Portland institution. Like most places looking to make a buck, they sell lots of useless gift items. Need any tiny bottles of Portland rain water and jars of unicorn snot? I couldn't really see the point in shelling out $7.50 for a bottle of rain water when I could just stand outside instead and get my own. Although, I have to confess that the unicorn snot was tempting, but I was strong and resisted their sparkly allure.

Of course, the highlight of my time in Portland was a visit to the River View cemetery. My family is big on walking around cemeteries, as I imagine most Crazy Cat Ladies are. I'd never actually been to this one before. If you're into history, you can go on a walking tour and see where the founding families of Portland are buried, visit Virgil Earp's grave and check out the memorial to the Spanish-American War. They also offer environmentally friendly funerals. You get get buried in a wicker basket with flowers on it. This seems like a really Portland thing to do. I bet they feature this on an upcoming episode of Portlandia.

There, now my mom has something to read later when this blog post gets delivered to her by email. If you want to subscribe by email too, all you have to do is enter your email address on the sidebar where it says Follow Us by Email. Imagine getting random nonsense delivered to your inbox two to three times a week!

Well, it's back to our boat in Florida tomorrow for me. Hopefully, it hasn't sunk and is still floating in the water.

PS Mom - I miss you already!

PPS Sis - In case you can't find your kitten, she may have "accidentally" jumped into my bag and headed back to the boat with me.

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