It is only recently that I have felt the tickle at the back of my brain asking me to write something for this space. But, like the faint, annoying tingle before a sneeze, if I turn my head away from the screen, the feeling subsides. And it has, again and again, over the past year….
Category: Philippines
In Lockdown/On Passage
I have started this blog post a thousand times in my head, late at night, as I lay on the sofa listening to the wind slap and clack in the loose wire rigging of the boat next door and feel Kate shudder strangely in her cradle. At those moments it feels like I should write…
Lockdown in Luzon
I woke on Tuesday morning in a bit of a panic. Or rather I woke up on the sofa at 0213 in a bit of a panic. I had been sleeping on the sofa because it has been a particularly windy week and the vee berth being at the very front of the boat is…
Galley Notes: Pickled Pineapple
Nothing infers tropical in the culinary world like pineapple. Where do you drink Piña Coladas but on a beach? And when you put pineapple on a pizza where else could it be from but Hawaii? (FYI the “Hawaiian pizza was actually invented by a Canadian in 1962, but southern Ontario doesn’t exactly scream tropical so…)…
Virtual Radio Silence
If you’re here, reading this, then thank you. Thanks for stopping by, better yet thanks for standing by during my rather extended time away from the blog and social media. Around this time last year, I was feeling a little fatigued by the whole online scene. What was supposed to a space where I felt…
Galley Notes: Roller Coasters, an Empty Fridge & Veggie Fritters
This week it feels more like we live on a roller coaster than we do a sailboat, so have been the emotional peaks and troughs. We finally made some long-term sailing plans (HIGH), only to discover a broken pressure plate in the transmission (LOW). In a strange twist of fate, Jim, a fellow sailor we…
Shifting Gears
It is a strange phenomenon amongst sailors to ask about “your plans.” Constrained by the idea that your home is mobile, people expect you to have some sort of timeline, for the coming weeks, months or even years. They think there should be a new destination always on the horizon. As if making a plan…
Galley Notes: Making Yogurt On Board (AKA. Battle of the Bacteria)
As someone who travels as part of their daily life it seems inevitable that once a year or so I suffer through a bout of food poisoning. Tuesday, on a quick trip to town to pick up laundry, it seems I also picked up some greeblies. I won’t bore you with the details but let’s…
Pseudo-Single Handing & Cooking for One
Steve is away earning beer coupons, so we can keep doing this sailing thing. If you’ve been here for a while you know this is a kind-of-regular occurrence. By that I mean he spends 8-12 weeks of the year away working, just not necessarily on any regular or predictable schedule. This time however, it was…
Scenes from the Philippines Rice Fields, a Photo Essay
Almost every year for the past decade I have put together a calendar of photos that reflects our life on board over the last 12 months. Usually I have more than enough images of bucolic anchorages, dramatic landscapes, exotic local scenes and a few usable pictures of us. This year when I looked back over…