There are memes and pictures abound on social media these days, portraying people loving and enjoying winter and how they are decorating for the upcoming holiday season. I, on the other hand, am already counting down the days to Spring, and to the Toronto Boat Show. I wasn’t so interested in falling leaves and pumpkins in the fall, nor am I overly interested in Christmas decor but I’m trying to get into the spirit. It’s December 1st today. The Boy was beyond thrilled to begin opening his LEGO Advent Calendar this morning. While we did listen to a couple Christmas songs, I quickly resorted back to my Yacht Rock play list.
I really much prefer palm trees and flip flops. Ahhh, thoughts of blue and turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, coconut and nutmeg in my cocktails, they fill my head like sugar plum fairies… Never mind that palm trees don’t grow in Ontario, or that flip flops kill my feet. I am mourning the passing of summer. I anxiously long for a tropical Christmas. It wasn’t but seven weeks ago that we went to the local beach! Sadly, the oncoming winter was ever apparent the weekend we stripped Monster of her sails and donned our parkas.
We’ve slowly been preparing Monster for the winter months ahead, despite that I’m really not ready to embrace winter. It’s the diligent thing to do, to be prepared for the weather to come. We’ve swapped out our nice summer dock lines, and spider webbed extra dock lines in the slip. The ports and overhead hatches have been insulated with window insulation kits. They really make a world of difference in terms of condensation. Our styrofoam door, a plug to replace the hatch boards, is in place too. We have decided to shrink wrap only our center cockpit this year as opposed to the entire boat. After our late incoming to the Marina last year, following our time in the Drydock, we learnt that our boat was a much healthier environment without the shrink wrap. Our insulated boat demonstrated her advantages in our cold climate however, we still want a space to escape the blustery weather. Far too often we left our boots outside last year only to find them full of snow in the morning. We plan to build a wooden frame around the cockpit and use pvc conduit to form a dome shape over the boom to create a vestibule of sorts. Which we started upon today, despite the building winds, Gordon was hard at work. Monster was stripped of her main sail too, our sails now stored away in a nice, dry space for the winter.
While the Boy and I were out this afternoon, keeping out of Gordon’s way, I spotted the wee live Christmas trees we purchase every year at our local grocery store. There was a family, with two young kids picking out their tree. It did cross my mind to select one for ourselves but, we are not quite ready. I wouldn’t call myself a Grinch, I’m just finding that with every passing year, and with only a few to go before we plan to cast off, the prospects of winter are disheartening. I really do miss that warm sunshine and the summer breeze.
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~~ This post ‘Summer Breeze’ first appeared on goodshipmonster.com ~~
