The Birthday Month

February 27, 1998

Home port, Peninsula Marina, Redwood City, US
37N29.55' 122W15.98' I must say that I've always been a believer in the Birthday Month, but now more so than ever! This one began with a late evening romantic dinner of Sushi at a Los Gatos favorite. I haven't had Uni this good since I gathered it myself in the Tuamotus. No shortage of Saki and the waitress smiled widely when we asked for more Wasabi.

During the next 2 weeks we managed to get Wishful Thinking's engine repairs completed, modified her traveler system, and had a foam luff added to her Genoa. Ken brought home flowers in the middle of the week claiming he just wanted to avoid the Valentines Day rush, but I know the real reason - it's love.

We were once again a sailboat and jonesing for a breeze. Alas, the weather was NOT being cooperative. Rain, rain, and more rain with too much wind. On top of that, the car continued it's baffling starter problems and the mechanic actually agreed to fix it again on Valentines Day. That may not sound so romantic, but while I camped out at the mechanics with the car, Ken was able to have the boat to himself and managed to finish the Microwave installation begun weeks before. The "Mark-II" greatly improved on the previous shelf... that's what happens when you're willing to experiment with a full scale model for a while before committing to something permanent (a good thing). I brought home a large block of Sashimi grade Ahi tuna, pickled ginger and an I Love You Valentines helium balloon. Ananke immediately adopted the balloon with its long red ribboned bell tail and the tuna provided a taste sensation several times during the long weekend. Yea, long weekend... President's Day holiday from the office for Ken.

Sunday arrived with sunshine and we finally got to go sailing! The tides made us wait until afternoon, but we managed a short sail/test of the repairs & modifications on the bay. This was Ananke's first actual sail. Oh, she'd been to the pumpout Station several times and didn't seem to mind the noise of the engine, but this was different. I guess it took her half an hour to come up to the cockpit and meow "how come you two are taking so long this time?". She wanted to go run around the deck so we put on her life vest. She protested mightily but settled down on top of the main hatch out of the wind and behind the windshield so she could see. She watched each passing boat and was obviously aware of that funny white thing floating above her head, but gave no signs of seasickness or fright... I think we've got a Cruising Kitty! Ken & I are definitely meant to sail in the Tropics though... we both got cold before we got back.

Lots of the weekend is kind of a blur. I know we celebrated with a bottle of reeeeeeeally good champagne, saw the movie "As Good As It Gets", cooked up some fresh red snapper with lots of garlic, polished off several beers and a bottle of wine, did a small shopping spree at West Marine and ordered our new Golf Cart batteries from Sears (meant to replace those 2 big 8D's that aren't quite the right thing on board). But, one thing does stand out clearly and that is that Ken was only wet after his jump to the dock ended in a splash. My windy approach to the slip on Monday after a visit to the pumpout was less than perfect and as he jumped a bit before he was ready... well shit happens. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt and in fact was only wet from the waist down. I don't know how he managed that! A neighbor took the docklines...

The next day (the 17th)was Ken's Birthday and we spent a long morning in bed. He did (eventually) go in to work. I planned to make his cake after he returned that night so he could watch, but we got distracted ;-) so I made it to take to Wednesday night Voyager/Pizza with our friends instead.

All this and it isn't even MY Birthday yet!!! For that we had planned to get up at 0-dark-thirty and set out for the Berkeley Yacht Club Swap Meet to both sell & buy. Our friend, Mike, in Berkeley invited us to spend the night and our Bill & Lynn invited us for a long hot bath and dinner... somehow the bath never happened but everything else did. We made it to the swap meet only an hour late and the sun actually came out by 10 A M. After the meet, we hit the big West Marine Blow Out Sale in Alameda before heading back to the boat for a nap. After all, we had to rest up for out evening of indulgement at Watercourse Way and an extravagant dinner later at MacArthur Park. We do believe in mutual presents.

A couple of days ago, we picked out a sewing machine for the boat... a present for me that I can use to make lots of presents for Ken.

The month isn't over yet, but we've already decided that this Birthday month will extend into March and maybe even April!!!

Suzy