I am still here!

My apologies to all of you who have checked my blog and worried because nothing was there, and to those of you who have sent emails and not gotten a response. The time since I returned from Arizona has been incredibly hectic, with as much time spent away from Seattle as here, first in Anacortes getting the boat prepped to go, and then the last two days en route by water from Anacortes to Everett.

So let’s catch up. After I fell off the cliff described in my last blog, I did recover, slowly. I was able to put in two fruitful days on the boat from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday. Then Thursday afternoon I experienced a new bout of diarrhea—are you beginning to see the pattern I finally see? About 2-3 days after each infusion, on it comes. It took me an afternoon to figure out that’s what it was, and then I hopped on it with the heavy-duty meds. I had to stay pretty close to a bathroom on Friday, but woke up Saturday morning feeling like my “fever had broken.” I was just fine. Which was fortunate, because that night we had Phil’s birthday party, a dinner for 9 at the house.

All went well, but it was a bit of a scramble to wrap up the party and then get myself out the door Sunday morning, “permanently” on the way to the boat. With some helpful patience from Phil and my friends, Charles and Valerie, we finally got underway late morning. They dropped us in Anacortes in the early afternoon, and we spent from then until Tuesday morning frantically working to get done what needed to be done prior to launch. I put in quite a long day on Monday, so fell into bed quite exhausted—not a good idea in my current condition, but so far don’t seem to have suffered any damage.

Since Tuesday, Phil and I have been enjoying the boat in its intended environment, and having a wonderful time. I was reminded why I had been pushing so hard to get this time—somehow the movement of the boat in the water and the pace of life on board is very soothing to me. We spent the first night in Oak Harbor (where Phil managed to run us aground on a sandbar on the way in, fortunately on a rising tide so we got off within an hour). We walked into town Wednesday morning, for groceries and a haircut for Phil. The woman who gave Phil his haircut volunteered to let me borrow her car to run the groceries back to the boat—only in a small town would someone make an offer like that to a total stranger! Yesterday we went into guest dock at the Everett Yacht Club, in the Port of Everett. Everett has done a surprising amount of work on its waterfront, and it has lots of promise, plus some nice amenities even now. We happened to arrive on potluck night at the club, so joined the local yachties for drinks ($2/drink, mind you!) and dinner. Today our loyal transit drives, Charles and Valerie, picked me up in Everett and returned me home, so I can drive to Hood Canal tomorrow to conduct the last session of my leadership program.

So there you have it. I’ve just been swamped, and when I wasn’t swamped, away from any internet connections. My health is generally pretty good – I’m not quite whole, and I don’t have the energy I usually do, but I’m able to get the tasks done that I need to.

I will be with my leadership group until Monday afternoon. Then I’ll come back to Seattle for another infusion Tuesday morning, and an acupuncture treatment Tuesday afternoon. I will post another message Tuesday evening before I return to the boat on Wednesday morning. After that the postings may be a bit sparse, as they’ll depend on my ability to find a place where I can connect to the net.