Life is good right now.  Things are looking up.  We are happily in love, we are enjoying being in St. Augustine, and doors have been opening for us.  We are grateful!

Here’s a few of the highlights of what feels good right now:

Cap’t K is officially a Captain now, having passed his exam with flying colors!  He is already training in for an exciting new job using his Captian’s license.  It is with a local tour company that does eco-tours in the local area with a variety of small boats.  He is on his way to living the dream of getting paid to go out sailing!

I am thrilled to report that I have miraculously scored a free weaving studio in the Lightner Building, which is a gorgeous historic building here in St. Augustine.  It is a 5 minute walk from the marina.  I’m doing some volunteering with the St. Augustine Textile Guild, and in exchange I am getting access to their studio space that has a fully functional floor loom in it!  I have been an avid weaver for over 10 years, and for me, the single hardest thing about moving onto a boat has been that I have not been able to weave on my floor looms, which are sadly in storage.  Now, for the first time in several years, I have SPACE and a loom to work on!  I’m going over there every spare minute I have and loving it!

Here is the courtyard of the Lightner Building, where “my” studio is:

Beautiful, huh?!?

And here is some fabric I’m weaving right now:

Like I said, life is good.  The weather has been basically nice every day, although it is starting to get a bit hot.  We better get used to it — hot is what we are in for this summer!

Here is a photo of us in St. Petersburg while we were visiting the Salvador Dali Museum. (which is highly recommended by the way)

We took a break from our little St. Augustine bubble today and rented a car to go to St. Petersburg. Captain K. has decided to add some official backing to his Captain title, and is going for his captains license. He will be taking his big test in St. petersburg tomorrow. He has been studying like crazy for days, so I anticipate great success for him on the exam.

Coming to St. Petersburg means we get to visit our good sailing friends Rich and Mimi. They live here and almost convinced us to stay here last fall, although St. Augustine won our hearts.

We know from previous experience with them they they enjoy playing games, so tonight we shared with them a new board game we have. It is called Nautical Trivia and involves answering trivia questions about sailing while navigating around a board game based on a map of Bermuda.

It also was a great way for Cap’t K to keep studying for his captains test even while taking a break! Here are a few sample questions for you readers:

1. Q: what is the proper term for the place where the anchor chain is stored?

A: chain locker

2. Q: The duration of a dog watch is
a) 1 hour
b) 2 hours
c) 4 hours

A. 2 hours

3. Q: leaning the mast aft is called
a) raking the mast
b) arcing the mast
c) stepping the mast

A: raking the mast

4. Q: name the 1st Officer who led the mutiny on the HMS Bounty.

A. Fletcher Christian

(you would have thought I could get that one right after just visiting the Bounty last week, but that question stumped me!)

We love this game and invite anyone to come play it with us to test their sailing knowledge!

– Capt’n K & Lala

Location:St. Petersburg