Introducing two new blogs that I follow

Yesterday’s 1^st snowfall of the season for our area turned somewhat into a real mini blizzard. The wind driven snow quickly piled up in corners around our house, sheds, and in front of the garage. It was a day to stay home, as we had no pressing business to exchange our slippers for snow boots and mess around with snow shovel or snow blower to clear off the driveway. It could wait until the front moved on and the snow stopped falling. Benno stretched out on the sofa in the guest bedroom with his iPad and soon was immersed in the story of the latest book he’d downloaded.

 

A day ago I had received an email from Liesbet Collaert, a cruising acquaintance telling me that she had just published her first book, “Plunge” and that it was now available for download from Amazon. She also writes a blog, “roaming about” that I have been reading off and on over the years so I know her writing style is entertaining.  With the click of my mouse I ordered the book to be downloaded into the Kindle app on my iPad, snuggled into the couch and started reading while the snow kept falling outside. Good thing I had precooked cabbage rolls that only needed warming up for dinner because I could not put that book down. Excellent writing.

 

Now let me introduce you to two new blogs that I have included in my side bar list of “Blogs we follow” and that my readers might find also interesting. 

 

Roaming About 

Around Christmas 2009 in St. Thomas, USVI, Benno and I purchased a USA made wifi signal booster or extender over the Internet from the states for our yacht Diesel Duck. The name of it was “Wirie.” It afforded us to pick up enhanced wifi signals from shore onto our boat that we otherwise would not have been able to receive. This device was the brainchild of Mark Kilty, who cruised with his wife Liesbet Collaert on the catamaran “Irie.” Later in January 2010 we sailed on to the British Virgin Islands and after that to the island of St. Maarten (St. Martin), there we spotted their boat in the famous “Lagoon” anchorage and said Hello. Mark made some modifications of our “Wirie” in boosting up the power, as he had made more technical advances to the “Wirie” units in the meantime. We were very happy with the unit. Liesbet wrote articles for cruising and boating magazines that we read and now could put a face to the writing. Things change and over the years I have kept up with their lives via the blog “roaming about.” You might find it interesting too as they sold their catamaran and are now RVing in Arizona.

 

The blue rectangle box with the white antenna is the "Wirie"
mounted on our boat "Diesel Duck"

Just A Little Further

In 2008, at the Shelter Bay Marina, just in front of the Panama Canal in Panama, we met Marcie and David Lynn with their sailboat “Nine of Cups.” We became friends, spent many hours exchanging cruising information and stories with the promise to keep in touch. In Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador we met again, touring the town, museum and beaches. We both sailed off in different directions but met again in Puerto Montt, Chile. We kept in touch over the years and while we were renovating our house 2012, Marcie and David came by car to visit us but stayed with us on our boat in the local marina here in Leamington, Ontario. Marcie and David both contribute to their blog and have published several books. Their writing is very entertaining as well. Again things change over time and they too, sold their sailboat and are RVing Arizona with their modified, livable Ford van at the present time. 

 

I leave you with a photo of our local bird population that I decided to treat to some birdseed today while the ground is still covered with snow.

Thanks again for dropping by.