Hello Spring! At last it’s almost May. It’s that time of year again, a time of year that we look forward to from the moment that first leaf falls from a tree in the fall. Last weekend the long awaited opportunity arose to shed Monster of her winter shrink wrap. What joy it brought us, especially as it was a beautiful sunny, warm Sunday! 

While Gordon got work to work cutting away the shrink wrap, I climbed into the dinghy. Bailed out, pumped up and all decked out with our essential dinghy gear she’s now ready for the season ahead. Other than the ongoing issue of our outboard. Hmmm. While Gordon continued to cut the plastic, I was rolling it up on the dock, to be headed for the recycling. Next to come down was our PVC framing, which we reuse each year. It’s secured to our sturdy rail with numerous zip ties that are slowly clipped away, revealing the sky above. At first it feels strange to be exposed to all the elements again, the light streams into our interior. The wind feels more prominent. It doesn’t take long to adjust. While we are thankful for the protection our winter barn affords us, it’s certainly liberating to be free of it. Boats are not intended to be wrapped up like Christmas packages. Or an Igloo as our Boy chirped in. 

Once again I’ve been counting down the days to our Island return. I tend to start thinking about it around the time the Toronto International Boat Show announces itself. Obviously. It was a warm day in late February that I began to earnestly keep track and that day is now almost upon us. We still have a few more things to wind up before we depart our winter berth. Our agitator and water hose in particular, have to be pulled out and thoroughly cleaned. I also have a few various bags of donations that need to make their way to here and there. 

It’s a strange dichotomy that we live, 6 months in the city, living a city life, though still on our boat. Then, for 6 months we are on the Island. Life, work and school keep us busy all year but in every way we look forward to living a slower Island life. Or what I’ve come to call our Toronto Island lifestyle, and so late next week we will start another summer chapter of adventure! 



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