- Date: April 10, 1987
- Location: Cairns, Queensland, Australia
- Subject: Big Sleep Over
Dear WaterFairy:
Still working on my sea urchins research, pretty interesting stuff and tons to read so I will probably finish that up next week.
As I wrote last time, Tracy and Brian from Sunshine and Whiskey came over for happy hour a few days ago, after we got our new dinghy. Hannah, Tracy’s daughter, also came over. Hannah is 15 and in high school, and so smart and pretty and really nice to me. She was not a big, stuck up show off like some of the girls her age. Hannah and I got permission to make the appetizers for the “old folk”. They were so busy laughing and talking that Mom happily let us take over. First, we toasted tortillas in the cast iron skillet, flipped them once, added shredded swiss cheese, thin sliced onion and tomatoes and folded them in half. Once they were cooked, we cut them into triangles and served them with some salsa. Hannah made her famous avocado spread which was mashed avocado, yogurt, garlic and lime juice. We also put sliced pickled red onions and carrots on the tray along with some round crackers. We called it the Mexican Appetizer plate. Us girls made our own appetizer plate and stayed down below away from the noise of the grown-ups. Boy, are they loud.
This is what grown-up boat folks talk about-all the time!!
- boats, boats, boats
- parts of boats
- broken parts of boats
- how to fix broken parts of boats
- how to “jerry rig” when they can fix it properly
- the weather, today’s weather, tomorrow’s weather, yesterday’s weather,
- the weather 100 years ago
- the wind, how windy it is or isn’t
- wind is our friend and our enemy
- anchorages local and all over the sailing world
- things that have gone wrong when sailing
So, you can see why us kids don’t want to hang out with the grown-up for a very long time.
Luckily, Hannah also likes to color and draw, so we spend our time some goofing around with my new art supplies. We played a fun game where I would draw a few lines or shapes on the paper, and like magic, Hannah was able to connect the shapes and make actual things, and then there was a picture! We colored the picture, and took turns telling stories about what was going on. The crew of Sunshine and Whiskey left about 9pm, and because we made such great appetizers, there was no need for a proper dinner. That was a fun night.
Yesterday, Mom gave me a choice to go with her to the yacht club and work on some more sewing, or spend most of the day with Melinda, on her boat Onaway. I picked going to “Onaway”, which is about 5 boats down on the pilings. So I am “on my way” to Onaway. Huh, I just got it! The name of their boat is based on “On My Way” Very clever.
Onaway is bigger than Sacha-B (L.O.A. 47 feet) so there is a lot more room on board. Also, Onaway is much newer and very fancy-pants. Melinda has her own full cabin at the bow with a full size bunk, and a single bunk. She puts most of her toys, books and stuff (and she has a TON of stuff) on the single bunk and sleeps in the double bunk. She also has her own head, that has a shower and hot and cold running water and an electric pump for the toilet. No hand pumping 24 times for her.
Onaway’s galley has a dishwasher and a desalinator, which is a machine that takes salt water and makes it into fresh drinking water. Capt says all those extras are great things to have, until they break down, and they always break down! Simple is best according to Capt, guess we are not going to get any of those gadgets.-but I think it would be fun to try living with those luxurious stuff.
Oh yea, Onaway also has air conditioning, so Melinda and I watched the video Mary Poppins and hung out in the air conditioning. It is really hot and muggy and rainy, so hanging out in the AC was terrific. Melinda’s mom made us some chocolate chip cookies and served them with ice cream.
That is the third time I got to watch Mary Poppins, and I love it. It NEVER gets old. I would watch it a hundred more times if I could. We do like singing “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” although I don’t think her parents liked is so much after the third hour..
Melinda’s mom called Capt on the radio and invited me to have dinner and a sleep over. So fun. For dinner, we had fresh mackerel grilled on their BBQ and carrots and salad with beets. Melinda’s dad caught the mackerel yesterday, so it was fresh and tasty. Before I left Onaway, Melinda gave me a book called “Mary Poppins” written by P.L.Travers, who is a woman. The book is very old, with an orange cover and a cartoon drawing of Mary Poppins, Mr. Banks, Jane and Michael and a baby. Melinda showed me in the beginning of the book, that it was written in 1934. She said it is not very much like the movie, but fun to read and compare to the movie. Imagine, I never knew that the movie started out as a book, not only that, but it was a series of 8 books. And P.L. Travers was born in Queensland, Australia. Wow, that is cool and makes me want to read the book even more.
Melinda and I stayed awake very late, just laughing and being silly. Today, I am tired, so Mom told me to go take a nap. Will do Magoo! I will be able to enjoy more of Judie’s Journeys!
