Baltimore, MD

September 12, 2020 - September 21, 2020

Saturday was the beginning of the college football season.  Even though the Big Ten (Penn State is our favorite college football team) season had not started it was fun watching the football games that were broadcast that day.  Then Sunday was the first Baltimore Ravens game.  Although it was unusual seeing empty stands at the stadium the game was great to watch.  The Ravens won against Cleveland 38 - 6.  While I’m watching football I usually sew a bit.  Since we will be staying in Baltimore for the winter I have made a few cool weather items.

This blouse will be a staple in my fall wardrobe
and by adding one of the cardigans I made last summer
 I can wear it throughout the winter.

Stripes are one of my favorite fabric patterns.  
This cardigan will be very useful as the temperature drops.

I was drawn to the fall colors in this blouse fabric. 

 

Believe it or not, we took three trips to Annapolis this past week and didn't have a single doctor's appointment! We just did some errands and had lunch at some of our favorite Annapolis restaurants. 

Bob has been working diligently refinishing the teak toe rails. I help whenever I can, mainly vacuuming up the dust from sanding.  He should be finished the whole starboard side by the end of the weekend.  Fortunately we have a string of sunny days in the forecast.

I remade the cushions for the stern life lines.  The ones I made a year ago were already worn out.  We used pipe insulation as the cushion material inside the fabric tube which did not wear well.  This time we inserted a small pool noodle into a larger fabric tube.  Hopefully. these will hold up better.

This is the only sewing boat project
I have done this season.

We have been enjoying the cool nights and warm sunny days this week.  Now that it has cooled off I’m back to walking in the morning.  I always feel energized after a brisk walk.  Unfortunately, most of the runners/walkers on the promenade don’t wear masks and with my mask on they can’t even see that I am giving them dirty looks :).   

The boat ladies were finally able to go on an outing together on Thursday.  We visited the Baltimore Museum of Art and ate lunch at Gertrude’s Restaurant which is located in the museum’s sculpture garden. We had to make reservations and the museum was very strict about the number of people allowed in any of the numerous galleries.  Of course, masks were required. It was fun to get out and do something together.

Our “Biden for president 2020” flag arrived and I hauled it up on the mast halyard.

 My mom worked for every one of Biden’s campaigns
until she died.  She would be so happy to see this flag. 

There is no mistaking the political preferences
of the captain and first mate of Rainy Days.

Another weekend of football games brought the Ravens their second win of the season.  They beat the Texans 33-16.   

Stay safe, wear a mask, practice social distancing, and wash your hands!

Thank you for reading my blog.

 

Baltimore, MD

 September 4, 2020 - September 12, 2020

The weather for the Labor Day weekend was perfect.  The bright sun and cool breeze reminded me of the weather in the Bahamas this winter.  Unfortunately, Baltimore Harbor doesn’t have the turquoise crystal clear water we enjoyed in the Bahamas.  My birthday (September 7th) was on Labor Day this year. We didn’t do anything special as I wanted to have steamed crabs for my birthday treat and the restaurants nearby either weren’t open or only had crabs for take-out.  We decided to postpone my birthday meal until we could get to Cantler’s in Annapolis.  The D dock group had a get together in the evening which is always fun. The birthday cupcakes I shared with everyone were a big hit. All of my children and all of my sisters wished me a happy birthday and I had lots of FB birthday wishes, too.

On Tuesday we made a trip to the outlets in Queenstown which is past the Bay Bridge.  Our favorite shop there is the Columbia Outlet. There I found some great shirts for the upcoming fall weather. I, also, visited the Chico’s outlet and found a cute pair of cropped pants.  The Fisherman’s Inn was on our way back to Annapolis and we decided to eat at the Crab Deck only to find out that they only had medium size crabs.  Since picking mediums isn’t much fun I ordered a soft shell crab sandwich.  Lunch was quite good, especially the carrot cake we had for dessert.

 I didn’t get to have hard shell crabs, but this
 soft shell crab sandwich was a delicious substitute.

When we are not traveling to Annapolis I sew or tackle some other projects.  This week I completed a top and refreshed my pattern weights by adding ribbon. Bob had ordered some extra large washers for me and I wound them with ribbon, too.

The rainbow colors of the ribbon I used
greatly improved the look of my pattern weights.

Bob had an appointment with the surgeon to figure out what should be done about his cyst.  Great news, the surgeon suggested just watching the cyst to see if it goes away on its own.  The antibiotics must have reduced the swelling making the cyst less of a health issue.  I opted out of having steamed crabs for lunch so we stopped at Carroll’s Creek Cafe for lunch where I had one of their famous crab cakes. Bob had the soft shell crab special which looked delicious, too.

This large plump crab cake was great.

 I happened to mention that it was my birthday celebration lunch when we ordered dessert and the waiter brought the apple tart with a lighted candle.

What a thoughtful waiter!

On Friday we made a third trip to Annapolis thinking we would finally get to Cantler’s for some steamed crabs.  For some reason that idea had lost its appeal and we had pizza and salad at Italian Market instead before doing our grocery shopping. When we got bak to the Marina several packages had arrived. One of the packages contained our “Black Lives Matter” buttons.

I wholeheartedly support this movement.

We got a couple of small boat projects done on Saturday.  Believe it or not they turned out to be easy and quick.  It took us all of 15 minutes to replace a rusted out hole cover on the sink and tighten the nut on the faucet.  

It was a snap to tighten the nut on the hole cover from underneath the sink.

I usually do laundry on Friday or Saturday but decided to put it off at least a day. Somehow it gets easier and easier to postpone chores now that I’m 69.

Stay safe, wear a mask, social distance, and wash your hands often.  We can get through this pandemic if we all cooperate.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Baltimore, Maryland

 August 10, 2020 - September 3, 2020

I have taken a break from writing my blog mainly because our life here in Baltimore during the pandemic is less than exciting, to say the least.  The days are mostly consumed with such mundane tasks that I haven’t been inspired to write.

In the past three weeks since my last blog post Bob and I have been catching up on our doctor’s appointments and exploring some health issues.  With doctor visits and tests we have been driving to Annapolis twice a week.  We make the outing more fun by eating at one of our favorite restaurants for lunch.  All have outside seating which makes us feel safe although we eat inside at Italian Market, our favorite Italian Restaurant.  The outside seating at Carroll’s Creek Cafe, where we get excellent seafood, looks out over the Annapolis Harbor and skyline.The Thai Restaurant we frequent, Lemon Grass, has a quaint outside seating area.  The pandemic has kept us from eating out except when we have lunch in Annapolis so it’s a real treat. 

I was able to spend one weekend with my daughter and her husband in Johnstown, PA.  We participated in a virtual wine tasting sponsored by the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra (my daughter is the executive director).  We attended a huge farmer's market, had lunch at a beautiful resort (outside, of course) and relaxed together.  It was wonderful to see them and have a change of scenery. 

Bob has been working on some small boat projects each day that we are on the boat, but neither of us feel the urgency to complete all of the projects on his list as we have in past summers since we will be staying in Baltimore for the winter and not taking one of our long cruising trips.  I have been doing some sewing, adding some cool weather clothing to my wardrobe.  We haven’t experienced a northern winter for four years and I have limited cold weather clothing.

The weather has been hot with periodic thunder storms.  Last week the storm spawned a tornado that passed northeast of us.  The pool is open here in the marina, but I just don’t feel safe going there.  I miss swimming.  One highlight of the week is having lunch with my lady boating friends.  Most of us are live-a-boards like Bob and I. There are usually between six and eight of us that get together at the tables by the pool for a BYO lunch get together.  

I’ve taken a few photos which I will share below.

On one of my frequent walks
I captured this photo, I call it
"Reflections of Baltimore".

This immature night heron visited our boat one morning.
I'm sure Lola would like to meet him.

Bob and I have both been doing a lot of cooking.
 Lola is eyeing this warm apple pie.

Bob made some delicious oyster
stew today. Such a great treat!

I know it seems like this pandemic will never end but keep wearing your mask and practicing social distancing.  Stay safe!

Thank you for reading my blog.