All Over But the Shouting

It's all over but the shouting now. Election 2008 is finished. Millions of dollars were spent to bring us into pretty much the same minority government. Think of what that money could have been better spent on.

Aftermath, we are both a little beat up and very tired. The past six weeks have been quite hectic...right up to the very end. Yesterday was spent trying to get the vote out, but it was not to be. Mostly what hurt us was voter apathy...people who did not get out to vote. As they say, if you don't vote then don't complain. That pretty much sums up everything.

Politics is a funny game. The players change, and even the rules change.

The future is a little cloudy, and things need to change. That much is obvious. One thing is for sure, it will be exciting.

A Soft Landing

We have had a soft landing back from a 2 week vacation. It was an escape from the real world to my world on the water. Tomorrow, it will be back to the working world, deadlines, meetings, deliverables. That's okay. We had our 2 week hiatus.

During the last 2 weeks, we dodged thunderstorms, and mostly had nice weather. The further inland we got, the warmer the water temperature....that was glorious, and it was also what we were hunting for....warm water and nice weather. At the end of our holiday, we had a fantastic sail back home, complete with 8-foot seas, but solid wind to give us a nice broad reach....and no tacking!

This holiday was a bit different in that we had travel companions along the way, both were boats which occupy the same dock in our home port.

For the first week, we made our way with sailboat friends who have a sailboat the same vintage as ours, just a bit smaller. One memorable part of that trip was the dinghy ride from the anchorage to a marina restaurant....the waves were kind of big for dinghy riding, and we ll got soaked. Thankfully, we were all able to laugh about it...and the other couple are still talking to us.

For the second week, we met up with powerboat friends, who were keen to experience some of lovely bays that we are familiar with. These folks have 2 children, and we would all get together for group swims, especially since their young son conquered his fear of deep water, and was able to jump in from the back of the boat with a noodle!

There were some other things which made the holiday splendid. Our solar panel, which we installed this season, worked as planned, eliminating our need to charge our batteries by running the engine every day. My new kayak is simply marvy....and I didn't fall in or out of it.

And so we are back....with a few mosquito bites, a nice tan (thanks to SPF-50 sunscreen), and a boatload of memories.