Schedules! Funny things.

Well, guess what? We’re still on pavement. The two dogged mechanics worked all day on installing, aligning and tweaking both our shift and seal, and yet they didn’t quite manage to complete the task before the day’s end. While the dollars signs plink before our eyes, so we spend another night in the air. It really is amazing how ‘okay’ we all are with the circumstances- our agility levels of running up the ladder and bending this way and that around the helm and under the davits whilst carrying the inevitable bags of groceries, toys, odds and ends are really getting honed. I feel like quite the nimble thing when I can get from car door to the galley in one swift movement without nailing some body part on something or other. (Trust me, those instances are few, and I have the bruises to prove it…)

At least we're not starting from here- it's good to keep things in perspective. — At least we’re not starting from here- it’s good to keep things in perspective.

Our salon has turned into a disaster zone under mechanical deconstructions and displacement- toys, laundry, and the ubiquitous rum. — Our salon has turned into a disaster zone under mechanical deconstruction and displacement- toys, crafts, laundry, and the ubiquitous rum.

I spent the day in The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, dealing with the fun folks at the Genius Bar in their Apple Store. Though I was far from Fifth Avenue, I certainly wasn’t at the Bangor Mall either, and I must say that my dirty ‘boat’ jeans and t shirt felt a little out of place amidst the Henri Bendel-shopping clientele. I huddled in a corner and read Steve Jobs’ biography on a store iPad while I waited for the geniuses to genius the heck out of my busted screen and bewitched software, which they did with Jobsian panache.

Some creep is trying to poke Lily in the head.

The end to a monotonous day included a great walk/ride through the storage and work yards of the marina, and ended with a fun bonfire and cookout on the patio/lounge area.

Come June and this field will be packed again! — Come June this field will be packed again!

Lily and I scavenged in the yard’s back 40 to find firewood, and found some amazing scenes straight from the newest joint Stephen King-Carl Hiaasen novel: wayward golf carts being strangled by jungly vines and stacks of old boat parts and dead weedwhackers being left for dead amid composting palm fronds. There was a stray aquarium waiting for its next victim, and Lily was particularly weirded out by a Coke bottle, sitting alert and ready on an old fence post that was leaning onto a stack of pink children’s bikes, long since forgotten. Staying in a boat yard too long makes for discovering the bits and pieces that are probably best unseen.