Catching Up.....

We left La Paz on May 1st bound for San Diego.  The trip took 17 days of motoring (with occasional help from the sails) and included a six-day layover in Turtle Bay awaiting good weather. Jerry and I appreciated the companionship and competence of our wonderful crew, Connie and Dennis. They've become my great friends, for sure!  

Navy ships and seals greeted us on our early morning entry into the San Diego Harbor on May 18th.

San Diego Harbor, 7 AM.....Navy ships and Connie's smile!
  Wonderful!!!

Sally & Sid Seal.....

 misty San Diego in the background.

On May 21st we celebrate Jerry's birhday at a lovely restaurant on Shelter Island. Jerry's San Diego cousins, Les, Helen, Chelsea, and Pete joined us, as did our Puerto Vallarta/New Buffalo, Michigan friends, Dana & Gail Crowne.

Gail & Dana, ML & the Birthday Boy.
Captain Jerry looks about 45...don't you agree?

My late-May return to Huber Farms in Wisconsin brought wonderful reunions with family and friends along with some glorious spring days of warmth and sunshine.  It also presented an abundance of lawn and garden work!

Poor neglected vegetable garden

A couple of weeks later....

  

And yet another month......

VOILA!!!!

Meanwhile, while I was getting the garden squared away in Ellsworth, Jerry was sailing a charter with "Sea Story" up the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco.  

There's Jerry, waving from the dock at Morro Bay (CA) marina.
I downloaded this from the webcam located on top 
of the marina office.  Cool, huh?

In July Jerry joined me on the farm, and the weeks that followed brought some great summertime fun, including biking the trails of Minnesota and Wisconsin, a few short trips to visit family and friends, and a four-day canoe trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota. 

Jerry, in the canoe filling a water container with fresh lake water.
The clouds are foretelling the weather to come....

Luckily, we were well equipped to handle the conditions: four days of big winds and two nights of rain. We never left the campsite, except to walk about 150 yards to a small sheltered spot on the other side of the little peninsula where we sat in the sunshine and read our books. And I must give credit to the wine in the bag (box removed) and the plastic container of Jack Daniels.....

The new tent and large rain tarp ..... 
excellent accommodations!!

Ever notice how absolutely fantastic camp food
 and fresh coffee taste in the great outdoors??

One of our portages...
A good workout!!

We'd paddled six miles in against an east wind on Friday and six miles back against a west wind on late Monday afternoon.  Wheeooo!! So, the return to our friends, Roger and Mary Bebie's lovely home in Grand Mariais, MN with their hot showers and warm hospitality was a most welcome end to our trip. It had been a wonderful time, in spite of the weather, and we're already planning next summer's canoe trip. As of yesterday Jerry is back in San Francisco, working on boat projects and catching up on business there.  I will fly there in mid-October and we will sail to San Diego for a few weeks.  We will return to Ellsworth in mid-December, however, for daughter Betsy's graduation from UW-Stout and for the holidays.  Then back to lovely Sea Story to continue our trip down to Mexico for the winter cruising season.  It's been a really fine summer, filled with biking, canoeing, road trips, gardening, some singing gigs for me, great times with friends and family, and many lovely evenings relaxing in the lawn chairs here on the farm, sipping wine and savoring the beautifully green Wisconsin landscape.   Now, days grow shorter, and the seasonal change begins .... from summer's lush green to autumn's golds, reds, rusts. And turning on the furnace for a few minutes in the morning, just to take off the chill, is a reminder that cold weather is just around the corner. And that's my cue to start packing as I think "sailing and MEXICO"!!! So, that's the recap of the last three months... Life is great! Adios for now.... ML