4/21/2024 0 Comments Vale Jack StoltIt has been a while since I have updated this blog, mostly due to the fact that Becoming Mrs Argos has been written, re-written, edited, added to, reworked and adjusted repeate4dly and crafted, I hope, into a story you will all enjoy reading.
Meanwhile Argos has gone to her new owners and is currently being refitted in Airley Beach and I live a more ordinary land-based life on the Gold Coast. I will post here when I have news to share about the publishing of Becoming Mrs Argos. On another note, sadly, I heard this morning that Argos’ loving builder, Jack Stolp passed away yesterday aged 93. Jack built Argos in his backyard in Vancouver BC so that he and his wife could sail the oceans in her but unfortunately, she became unwell and those dreams were not fully realised. Jack was so happy to know that Argos was still being sailed and loved in the time I owned her. Rest in peace Jack.
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8/14/2019 0 Comments For SailThis morning I wrote these words…… Wanted: new home for truly amazing boat. Yes, the day has come, as I suppose I always knew it would, when I have decided to let Argos go. It was a very hard decision to make, as I am sure anyone who has followed my journey on Argos will well understand. But having made it, I can only say that I feel great relief. It came about because Liam, the youngest of the children who left Canberra with me, one icy cold morning in 2011 and flew across to Albany to begin our new life as live-aboard cruisers, told me he was ready to fly the parental coop. It had primarily been the kids that fueled the decision to remain with the boat when that dreadful leaving occurred. Had they not been as keen to keep sailing, I think I would have returned to Canberra then and there, and tried to pick up where I had left off - gone back to my job, tried to find somewhere suitable to live. But their enthusiasm to continue our live-aboard life prompted me to keep working on things on my own, and with them. For the longest time, I clung on, not wanting to feel like I was giving up, despite how much work I was left with, and how little money I had to do the work with. My trip to England earlier in the year gave me an insight into how much of my life I have felt robbed of choice and it was funny that so soon after my return, Liam told me of his plans. I knew straight away that it was time - time to return to a land-based life where I can head off to work even if it is pouring and not get wet, even if it is seriously windy, and not have to be worried about the boat, carry on with my daily life, even if a storm is brewing. I am working still on my book, Becoming Mrs Argos, doing some support work to make sure I can still eat, and doing a little work in media and marketing to keep a roof over my head. What I want, more than anything else is for Argos to find a great home. She isn’t for sale, she is for-sail. Argos deserves to be more than just my floating home, and what I am hoping for is that someone who loves her as I have, will find her and give her the life she deserves, as she in turn will give them the life on the water they desire. I know that may sound cliché or a bit corny, but it is the truth and is all I could hope for. I am happy to acknowledge that the task of learning to sail such a boat on my own is bigger than me. Indeed, the task of maintaining such a boat is bigger than me, but that’s not an admission of defeat, it is a simple fact of accepting who I am. I have found a lovely, albeit small, apartment. I am able to get to and from work easily and remain close to my kids and Argos. I am sad that I have to let her go, but super happy too that she will go on and find someone who loves her and will sail her. Someone once told me that Argos, as a Benford design boat was, ‘so salty she could make your eyes rust when you looked at her.’ Argos is designed for better things that I have been able to give her and it’s time to let her find better days. You can view my advertisement here - https://www.boatsonline.com.au/boats-for-sale/ed-view.php?de=236690 3/25/2018 0 Comments My strange new friends......I made a few new friends recently, and as you can see from the pictures they are a bit ‘out there’….. Let me introduce you to them – they are Mr smiley, the soap dispenser; The Twins – who others think of as being hooks on the door; the Elephant; and finally Mr Door stopper – and yes, they became quite important to me as I spent a great deal of time looking at them when I was in the bathroom of ward H1 East, bed 9! You see, the thing is, I had a severe bout of food poisoning that saw me having to head off to hospital in an ambulance, be admitted, hooked up to fluids and heart monitors for almost a week, and have a couple of medical emergencies that saw my bed surrounded by every doctor and nurse on duty in my ward. It was quite full on. It all began on an ordinary Friday night. I had eaten a nice dinner at home and gone to bed early, feeling a little unwell, but intending to drive with Liam up to Brisbane early the next day to look at a car he was interested in buying. Around midnight I woke with severe stomach pain and began a few hours of constant trips to the bathroom before it settled down and I got some reasonable sleep. By morning I concluded I was having an episode of Ulcerative Colitis or Diverticulitis, which I suffer from regularly, and took my usual medication so that I could drive to Brisbane to help Liam with the car. It was the slowest trip to Brisbane ever with multiple bathroom stops and by the time we made our return journey I was feeling extremely unwell, despite the medication, but still thought it was just a typical flare up. I was longing to get home and sleep – in fact half way home I decided I needed Liam to drive so that I could sleep in the car, and in the end didn’t even make it home but stopped in Southport at one of the kid’s places so that I could. I hoped that I would wake feeling fine but that turned out to be quite wrong! When I woke a few hours later I found I couldn’t sit up. I couldn’t talk properly – though I could think okay – and I had no hope of walking anywhere. I tried to message my son, who was only out in the kitchen, to get him to help me but couldn’t type properly to explain myself and couldn’t even call out. I was feeling very frustrated and decided to try and text Erina, who was upstairs in her flat, with just the words – I need help. I spent ten minutes trying to text that to her before I hit send with words that resembled that. I knew that Erina would understand my garbled speech better than the boys who wouldn’t have as much insight to grasp what was happening. Erina arrived shortly and called an ambulance. By the time we got to hospital it was clear that I had a very high temperature (over 40) which was the most likely cause of my neurological problems, rather than something more sinister like a stroke, but in emergency the first concern was with meningitis or a brain disturbance. I was only there for a few hours, but it was quite busy with Cat scans, blood tests and x-rays trying to determine what was happening and then around midnight they decided to admit me to the medical assessment unit. By morning we had ruled out any kind of brain issue and finally the effects of the medication I had taken to control what I had thought was a UC flare up had ceased and the stomach pain and sickness came back in full force. The diagnosis then was viral gastro enteritis, and I was put in isolation. The hope was that it would resolve itself in a day or two and as I was severely dehydrated I was put on IV fluids. But things didn’t improve and my temperature remained very high. On Monday I was beginning to feel a little better and sat up in bed to sip the almond-milk chai latte Erina had brought in for me. I began to feel extraordinarily hot and light headed and Erina called the nurse, the next thing I knew was that the room was filled with doctors and nurses and equipment. Apparently, I had passed out, possibly having had a febrile convulsion. It was kind of weird really, I felt spacy but ok and everyone kept asking me questions about what happened and how I felt, and I wondered why they expected me to know anything! My temperature slowly began to come down, my blood pressure increased, I remained on fluids but still the stomach symptoms persisted. The next day I was transferred up to a ward and told I would need to remain in the hospital until I was more stable. I was pretty glad, I couldn’t imagine managing this level of gastro upset at home. I had been in the new room only a few minutes when I had another episode – I didn’t pass out this time, but had the extreme temperature rise, light-headedness and sudden massive drop in BP (80/40) and consequently, the sudden arrival of every available Dr and nurse crowding around me. It was early the next day that we finally knew what was happening – at least what had triggered everything at least, if not every detail – I had contracted campylobacter – a nasty strain of food poisoning. That had led to a fever which seemed to have caused everything else. The treatment – potent antibiotics - began immediately while they kept up the IV fluids and tried to stabilise my BP. At last I was on the road to recovery. My little bathroom pals remained present for a few more days while we waited for some signs of improvement and after 6 days I was allowed to leave hospital. The challenge was then on to keep the contents of my stomach in and my fluids sufficient. It has been a bit of a long journey – much longer than I would have thought. I didn’t get to come back to the boat immediately because of the BP issues, I was only allowed to leave hospital if I would have someone around continuously. But after another few days of resting, recuperating, trying to eat and another round of antibiotics, the symptoms began to ease and I was free to come home to the boat. I am still needing to take it slow – I have little appetite and even less energy but each day I do get a little stronger and it has now been 3 full days of being able to keep everything down. I have to return to the hospital shortly to let them take a closer look at my heart after the medical emergencies that were called, which will involve having to be monitored for a week, but at this point the thought is that I suffered Vasovagal episodes triggered by pain or illness. We expect this will be confirmed by the heart monitoring. Fun times right?! 9/13/2017 0 Comments That chapter has finally ended!1 – 4 – 1. Yes, it has been one year, four months and one day today since that fateful slip as I went to retrieve a bucket dropped overboard and ended up in hospital with a broken tibial plateau, and today, a year-plus, and two surgeries later, I have had my final x-ray, seen my surgeon for the last time, and finally been pronounced ‘fixed’. Six weeks ago, I had a second surgery to remove the plate and screws which were so essential to repair the break, but which had become less-than-favourably aligned to the bone and painful on movement. I was scared to have the surgery and had put it off a little, worried that despite the doctors’ assurances that I would be ‘on my feet’ the same day, that I would in fact spend many more months recovering and possibly not be able to go home for some time – just like before. So I let things go on much longer than I could have, and allowed myself to be in pain for longer than was necessary, but in the end, had to agree to the surgery regardless of what might happen. I am so glad I did. I was on my feet hours after the surgery, and while I had some pain, it was nothing compared to the joy I felt at knowing I could return home that same day. I spent a few weeks hobbling around, walking gingerly, but more and more comfortably each day, and only four weeks after surgery was able to head off to the Keppel Islands with a friend where I could walk and explore and be pretty normal! Today marks the final episode in the Mrs Argos Breaks a Leg saga, with the final x-rays showing the screw holes all healing up nicely as my bone fills them in, and no evidence of any stress fractures. The wound has healed beautifully and looks better than the earlier scar as the surgeon used internal sutures and my range of movement (ROM) is almost perfect. I could not be happier. Injuries, surgeries and recoveries aside, things have all been on the up-and-up aboard Argos. I remember saying to someone when I was getting close to returning home last year, that I would be needing to learn again how to anchor the boat and having to get back to all the learning I had been doing, learning which had been seriously interrupted by the whole catastrophe, and I had said to them that I could never imagine myself anchoring or moving Argos alone, that she just wasn’t a boat you could really manage single-handed. I never saw myself having that kind of skill, or anyone for that matter. And while it is true that Argos is a handful, it turns out that she isn’t as hard as I used to believe! I have been so fortunate to have made the bestest friends and been able to learn ways to do things that I would never have seen myself doing – including anchoring alone – and regularly. Thanks go to the lovely Robert, Kym and Andrew for always being there for me in this learning! And that’s actually how I started my day today – waving goodbye to Liam as he set off up the Broadwater to work (he is doing his marine electrical apprentice-ship with Oddessy Marine Electrical at Runnaway Bay) before pulling up the anchor and setting off for the Marine Stadium in our regular movement around the Broadwater. It was an early start as I wanted to catch the tide, and have Argos safely anchored before the forecast 25-30kn wind picked up. Mrs Argos has definitely come a long way! I even had the privilege of encouraging another solo female live-aboard the other day who didn’t know how to let out more chain on her anchor, when another boat came a tad close to hers. And while there is always more to learn, and definitely always more to do, I am happy to say that I am in a much more confident position now than I was before the accident! And of course, through all this, I have learned a lot about recovery – the other subject that is, as many of you will know, close to my heart – things that enable me to support, encourage and inspire others in their various recovery journeys. I have been working very hard on my web presence in the recovery arena, launching my brand new web site, www.recoveringyourife.com.au recently, along with a recovery app for iPhone, called Recovery Helpers, tools which I hope will enable the people I support to move forwards into a recovered life. I continue to pursue this passionately and promote the possibility that all people can find some measure of recovery from trauma. If you are not familiar with my recovery work, please feel free to visit the web site or the Facebook page, Recovering Your Life and leave a like or a comment! We often say that life can change in the blink of an eye and it is totally true. One year, four months and two days ago I had just returned from my first ever trip to Tipplers with a couple of friends – the first time I had taken Argos very far – and I was only cleaning up the boat after the trip when things all came to a complete halt! It’s been quite an epic journey but certainly one I am very happy to finally put to bed! I will always have the scar to tell the story, but this is one chapter that is finally over! 5/1/2017 0 Comments May 01st, 2017I got up this morning to a beautiful clear blue-sky, warm and sunny May Day here on the Gold Coast. I had some plans today for maintenance. Several tasks that are on my ever-growing list of boat jobs that need doing were on my agenda but the light breeze was calling out to my friend Rob, and by mid-morning a plan was formulated to take his boat Eliza for a sail with me as first mate. Half of the Gold Coast was out on the water today – any why not – what a delightful day and a public holiday to boot – so we were in good company – surrounded really by a million jet skis, dozens of fishermen in every size tinny you can image, motor boats of all sizes and styles, houseboats and even other sailing boats! Eliza is a Miller and Whitworth 32 and the perfect boat for me to actually learn to sail. It’s remarkable really that after over 3,000 nautical miles I still knew so little about sailing but it’s the truth. I knew nothing about boats and sailing when I agreed to sell my house and move aboard a boat back in 2011 – and it was never my dream – I saw in it an opportunity to focus on getting well and to maybe develop my interest in writing – but I took a back seat when it came to the actual sailing. The last two years has been a massive learning curve for me in so many ways, though of course it was all so seriously interrupted when I broke my leg so badly. Still I have achieved a lot and while my focus has needed to be on the much neglected maintenance of my home, something which is always there in the back of my mind is the sense that Argos is a sailing yacht and one day I will need to learn to actually sail her! I have become quite confident about managing the boat under motor, I can pull up the anchor and move and drop it in a new location and do all of that with confidence, but learning to sail her! Oh my! People often remark to me that we have a ‘lot going on’ on our deck – a lot of ropes, a lot of sails, and a lot of old styles, and frequently when I am asked what does what job, and what lines are for which sail, I have to truthfully answer that I have no idea. One doesn’t simply hop in board and just sail a gaff-rigged schooner! It’s very complex. Very old-school, very much the kind of boat the most competent and serious sailor would find complex. And so I have tended to put it in the too hard basket. Into that scene came my friend Robert and his Eliza. A keen sailor, with a ton of experience, Rob invited me to come for a sail. I LOVED it! It was all so much easier than the sailing we had done on Argos – when we caught the wind it was exhilarating, not scary, and on a smaller boat everything is so much more connected – the feedback you get from each choice is much more immediate, allowing for more correction, and thus more learning. We sailed that first time up to Tipplers Passage where we had a lovely lunch, and then sailed back – tacking back and forth following the wind. It was fantastic and I was amazed at how much I learned in that one short trip. Since then we have sailed Eliza together a number of times and each time I have learned a little more - knowledge I take back to Argos with me. Knowledge I use to help me figure out what’s what, what goes where and how the heck I can begin to learn how to sail this old girl! It’s funny looking back now on our early days with Argos and how little we knew but took off from Albany across the Bight anyway! Oh gosh! We did so well, knowing so little. Now I am more daunted by this big and complex boat than ever before and very aware of how big of a task it is to learn to manage her properly. I don’t ever envisage sailing her alone – it’s never going to happen – but I would like to know how to things work on her more fully. Our plan is to have an ‘Argos sailing day’ extravaganza – a day that we head out of the sea way and out into the wide open space of the ocean for a day exploring how things should work. I expect to be accompanied by Robert and my good friends Kym and Andrew – together they have several life-times sailing experience and what they don’t know about sailing really isn’t worth knowing – but none of them has ever sailed a boat quite like Argos! The plan is to head out and work things out, work out what has been rigged correctly and what adjustments may need to be made, work out how things are supposed to be, and in the process equip me with more knowledge and some new skills. We have been working towards this for quite a while – fixing, repairing, resolving issues – we have one last significant thing to address before taking her out – a persistent problem with the engine overheating at anything past 2000 RPM - a problem we are close to fully resolving (thanks Rob!) – and then it will be on! We did everything the wrong way around when we got Argos, and maybe that was okay – if we had gone about it all in a better way we might never have left Albany that lovely October afternoon – but the reality is we were not even aware of what we didn’t know. Greener than green. We were plucky and game, and ready to learn how to handle things but sometimes I wonder how much better it could have been if we had known more and understood more. Still it is what it is and now is my time to learn. And learn I shall! Thanks to my friends here, to Rob, to Kym and Andrew, to Boyd, Jill and Jeanette and others who have taken the time to impart knowledge and will be a part of the awesome process of helping Mrs Argos learn how to sail – properly! 3/27/2017 0 Comments Dealing with OverwhelmIt’s been a long time since I updated this blog…. Way too long, but with good reason.
It has been two years now since I found myself the skipper of Argos. The first year presented many challenges, but the second came with unique challenges all of its own – mostly surrounding the accident that resulted in my breaking my leg, and the recovery period that followed it. It has been almost ten months now since that day I tried in vain to retrieve a $2 bucket. And it has been 7 months and a week or two since I was able to return to the boat. When I first came back to the boat I could barely walk. I could manage to climb on board with help, though it was painful, and move around the boat – which actually enhanced my recovery somewhat, as the boat is in constant motion even when it is calm, a situation that I am sure contributed to the healing process in ways that would not have happened had I remained on land any longer. There was a lot to catch up on and those first months back on board were quite frustrating for me as I saw jobs that needed to be attended to, but which I was not yet able to manage. The past couple of months has seen a lot of things begun, a lot of projects started and some even completed. One of the biggest issues I have been dealing with through all this is the need to not allow all that needs my attention to overwhelm me – and the reality is, that if I step back and look around me this could so easily be the case all the time…..there literally is just so much that needs to be done. Put simply, boats need on-going maintenance and poor old Argos has suffered enough in her time, this past year has been tough on her. This is the main reason I have neglected this blog……where to start talking about all the things that have needed attention! Oh my! I have always been a list maker and a box ticker. That, I would have to say, has so often been my salvation when it comes to situations where ‘overwhelm’ could be my final destination! Currently my list is a bit long, but there are some ticks and that keeps me going. Here is how it appears today…..
I keep my list where it is visible all the time and add to it…….seems like I add things to it more than I get the pleasure of ticking boxes, but hey, that’s life on board an older boat right? I guess that’s the thing. Argos IS an older boat and the reality is, maintenance needs to be attended to every day to not let it get away from me. But those months away and the months when I couldn’t do much, have really taken their toll. Someone said to me recently that an hour a day is what it takes to keep on top of things and that, along with my list, is helping to keep me sane - well sane-ish anyway! In addition to my own strategies for dealing with the potential to get overwhelmed, I have been incredibly fortunate to have made a fantastic friend – someone who jumps in frequently to lend a hand, share some knowledge and offer support – who dives on my hull, climbs my mast to help get my Christmas Lights down, and shows me how to do everything from tying a knot properly (no offense Liam, some lessons are hard to learn from your own son!) to servicing my engine…….Argos (and I) are incredibly appreciative. So here is how I deal with the abiding, lurking wolf I call ‘Overwhelm’…… I write down the jobs that need doing. I note everything – big and small – especially the small things that can so easily get overlooked – that I get done. I don’t throw away my list and start a new one – I keep the one with the ticks on it to keep myself motivated by what I have achieved. I focus on making progress even if I don’t get something finished. So if I make a start on a job I give it a half tick, or I break the job down into parts and tick off the parts. I ask for and accept help when it is offered. I listen and learn. I am working on allocating a bit of time EVERY single day – even if it’s not as long as I might like, and then I make up for days when I don’t get enough time by spending longer on other days. I remind myself that it is actually possible to move a mountain…….by shifting the dirt one bucket at a time. Owning an older boat is both a challenge and a privilege. And that is certainly true of a boat like Argos. She is amazing – hard work on many levels – but like anything of value – worth the effort. Over the past few months I have been able (with my lovely friend’s assistance) to learn some pretty cool things. I can now tie knots so much better…….this is seriously good as I must confess to being a crappy knot tie-er in the past! I can service my own engine…..and anyone who knows me well will appreciate how much of a feat that is! I am becoming much more capable around names of things and can communicate much more clearly in proper boat-speak. I can anchor my boat without assistance and am especially happy that I can drop the anchor where I want it to go pretty accurately and end up where I planned most of the time. I can move the boat as required here (once a week) without anyone helping me. I do still get a bit of help when I am coming into a more crowded anchorage and have the help of several boaties in this depending on who is around and at home on the day! I am, in the words of Louisa May Alcott not as afraid of storms as I once was, because I am learning to sail my own ship. Speaking of sailing my own ship – that’s also coming along quite nicely. In fact I have had some excellent days out sailing – though not on Argos. I have been lucky to be able to go sailing on a very responsive Miller and Whitworth 32. It’s been awesome to go out and actually begin to learn how to sail properly and then hopefully be able to bring those skills and that knowledge back to Argos. I have one more job to attend to before we will be ready to get Argos out sailing (the raw water intake strainer that needs replacing) and then we are planning a Take Argos Out Day……..watch this space for pics of that fun! The jobs sit there in the background……the list keeps them before me…….but there has to be fun times too or it all gets too hard, right? So that’s my update for now. I’ve avoided writing for long enough! 11/23/2016 0 Comments November 23rd, 2016Last week marked six months since the day I was galavanting around on deck, trying to save a bucket that had fallen overboard, lost my footing and fell…….leading to the whole broken leg catastrophe. So much has happened in that six months, and most of it has been about me recovering! I remember someone saying that once I was ‘healed’ I would need to learn to walk again and I kind of dismissed it as a euphemism for the hobbling around stage. But the reality is, once the wound was healed, and the bone knitted back together, I was only at the start of the process - learning to walk like a normal person also took time - and of course mixed in with all that was learning to climb and balance and get around on the boat, and in the dinghi's - things that made returning to my every-day life manageable. Well six months later and I am pretty much back to normal. I do get fatigued. I can’t walk a long way yet and the idea of going ‘for a walk’ still feels a bit absurd - it's enough of a challenge to do all the walking I MUST do - I’m not yet ready for ‘recreational walking’! And there is still quite a bit of pain - mostly around the injury - deep inside my leg, where muscles and tendons were repaired too - which is worse if I kneel or overstretch and twist around awkwardly, which of course sometimes happens. But on the whole things are pretty good. Which means things are happening on board - many things. I have been working on the deck. I finally finished the job I had begun the day I broke my leg - cleaning up the deck up near the bow-sprit. It only took six months but I got there in the end! There is need for a quite a bit more work on deck - some areas are showing a bit of wear and tear. I am not happy with how the deck paint I tried out last year has fared - it's not washed up well and has worn badly. So I shall reconsider what I use next time around. For now though I intend to just repair the patches that need it rather than work on the entire job. I have been doing a lot of sewing - redesigning the back awning, and looking to make it more stable and less ‘flappy’ so that it can remain up when the wind picks up rather than needing to be pulled down each time a storm front approaches. It is not quite finished, and can’t be finished until some eyelet grommets I ran out of arrive from the US (why is so much on the boat imperial and hard to get in Australia!!!!???), but despite that it is already feeling a lot better up there with less canvas whipping and flapping around. It's always been a great place to spend time -with seating for 6 or more comfortably, but showing signs of wear and tear and really needing a breath of fresh air! Not literally! As soon as the awning is finished I will be sewing new seat covers, and then moving on to the bright work which is aging and needing some serious work. The spindles are in need of replacing, which is going to be a big job, working out how to get them all off, and then getting new wood turned and then putting it all back together. There may be some ‘remodeling’ involved while I have it all apart, but that’s not yet a certainty. I have had conflicting advice about how I treat the wood and am a little frustrated that sometimes in the past I have not been given good advice, creating an immediate good appearance at the cost of long term wood-health. But that’s life and we have to operate on the best advice we have at the time, and then perhaps when we know better, do better. Three months away from the boat and the best part of six months incapacitated has left a lot to be done, but I remind myself that it's just like eating an elephant - you just take it slowly - one bite at a time. Meanwhile on the home front there have been other changes. Erina is now land based, having moved into a flat with her sweetheart - though they are just a stone’s throw away in Southport and we still see heaps of her. It's different with just Liam and myself on board - but we are doing quite fine! And of course Liam is so great at doing all manner of boat jobs these days. Life for Mrs Argos isn’t all about maintenance and running repairs, it's also great to be back on board and back to learning to handle my boat. At first it was a challenge just to stand at the wheel and help the kids with moving her, but gradually I have been able to manage more and more. Recently I have had some little ‘adventures’ of moving into tighter, more crowded anchorages, moving around inside them and repositioning - something I have ever actually done before. I still hear that voice inside my head saying how hard Argos is to move, how she has a mind of her own, how tricky this is going to be, but I am finding that less and less troubling to me as I figure out how maneuverable she really is! So we have become residents (albeit moving in and out weekly) of ‘Bums Bay’ proper! Yes, no more anchoring outside in the turbulent waters of the outer anchorage , where you are rocked all day and night by wash and wake from every vessel heading up the Broadwater, and jostled around all day by jet skis, fishing boats etc coming and going from the jetty. No these days we have discovered the bliss that IS the inner sanctuary of the bay! We have been able to open cupboards without having to hold them shut hastily if wake hits us, leave things draining overnight on the sink, and all sorts of teeny little things that used to not bother me but colour my daily life. It's peaceful. Calm. Serene. I hadn’t realised how peaceful, calm and serene it could be! We have even mostly anchored near the beach and it's just lovely to look out the stern window in the morning when I get up and see the beach of Moondewarra spit right there, and to watch the lights of Southport as I get ready for bed at night. We did have a great adventure the other day when we came back into the bay after a day out, and had trouble setting the anchor. A LOT OF TROUBLE. It was so perplexing. And it was so calm - it seemed crazy that it was so hard. We just couldn’t fathom it, or set it! It took Liam and I seven or eight attempts, by which time it had grown dark and in the end Kym from Artful Dodger hopped on board and gave us some wisdom, and then we held. After some thinking, talking and tea I worked out that we had actually never anchored on such a calm day and that’s when the penny dropped. We are so used to the wind pulling us back as we lay out our chain, our technique didn’t allow for enough reverse movement when there was no wind. Consequently we must have been fouling our own anchor and preventing it from setting. So lesson learned - never take a calm day for granted! And as well as these things we have been busy working on several writing projects. Just a couple of weeks ago, with the assistance of neighbouring boaties who have a media and publishing business, we were able to release a mindfulness app for iPhone and iPad to support people I work with through my abuse-recovery network. There has been some progress on a few articles and books that have long existed in my mind only and ‘Becoming Mrs Argos’ of course grows along with everything else. There is rarely a dull moment on the water - and while we sometimes have frustrating times, I still wouldn’t live a more ordinary life for quids. 9/29/2016 0 Comments Mrs Argos Walks AgainYes, it’s true – if you have been anywhere around the Southport area in past days you might have caught site of her, not walking 100% normally but doing a pretty good version of her old self. It has been 6 weeks now since I had my first awesome days back at home aboard Argos and 21 weeks – yep that over 5 months – since that one fateful little slip. My what a journey it has been. But I am so happy to be able to say that I am now able to mobilise without the use of crutches and can walk quite well, albeit slowly, with only minimal pain. I can’t walk far without needing to take a rest-stop but I am so happy to be able to be out and about and doing things again. I have even had a few jaunts out and about alone, though getting into and out of the dinghy at the jetty still proves to be the trickiest aspect of any such expeditions. My recovery has unfortunately been significantly hampered by the development of a painful bursitis in my left hip. I have osteo-arthritis in both hip joints and pretty much ignored the hip pain at first, assuming it was part and parcel of the joyful process of aging, but at my last orthopaedic appointment the doctor was bemused to hear that I felt so much more pain in my hip than around the site of the break. I was sent straight back to x-ray and then on to ultrasound to investigate what they saw as a pretty significant problem. I wonder if there will ever be a time in my life when I listen to pain and take it seriously? Anyway the ultrasound revealed several areas of bursitis and I was offered a cortisone injection into the worst area. This has been marvellous. I wouldn’t make it a routine thing, knowing how this can have a negative impact, but I am so happy to have experienced such a rapid and noticeable decline in pain! In fact, now I can actually feel the pain in my tibia when I walk instead of only noticing the intense pain in my hip. So I am back to doing regular physio – at the Gold Coast University Hospital - every week or two and I have joined a gym and go to yoga once a week, to increase my general well-being and flexibility. At home I walk, climb steps, do my exercises and take every opportunity to move, and live as normally as I can. In general, since returning home, life on board Argos has been pretty quiet and calm. I’ve been ‘spring’ or ‘post-broken-leg’ cleaning a little each day, sorting, tidying, getting things ship-shape and have even been able to return to that always-growing list of ‘boat-jobs’ that had to be let go of while I was away when all I could do was focus on everyone surviving and me recovering. It’s great to be able to move enough to be able to move forwards and start to tackle some of the most pressing items on my list. In addition, I am working hard on several articles for the magazines I write for, a new e-book, an app for my Miles Away recovery support people and of course chapters for Becoming Mrs Argos. Life truly has begun to return to normal for Mrs Argos. 8/19/2016 0 Comments Home!I’m listening to Coldplay sing about a place that. ‘…could be Paradise’ as I sit on my couch watching boats zipping around on the Broadwater out of my stern window…….yes I am home, and while my life is not everyone’s idea of Paradise, it comes pretty close to being mine.
I came home to stay on Wednesday after a brief visit on Monday to see if I could actually do it, and then a trip to my physio on Tuesday to go through moves and strategies and strengthening exercises designed to make all those manoeuvres more manageable. While being incredibly grateful for the generosity of my Women Who Sail friend, Gail, it was such a thrill to pack all my clothes and the many books and balls of knitting wool I had accumulated during my stay and pile them into the car and head home! I was so thankful and at the same time so desperate to leave! Generosity of that sort touches a place deep in our souls and while I barely knew Gail at first I am sure we will always be friends now. I was elated to drive home and after Erina kindly carried all my bags from the car and got them to the boat, even more elated to make a cup of tea in my own kitchen, unpack and allow myself the luxury of feeling ‘at home’. Three months is an incredibly long time to be away from one’s home – I feel like I missed winter entirely even though I did have it elsewhere – but not having it at home leaves me feeling as if somehow time had stood still while I was away! In a very strange way it’s actually a little easier for me to manage on the boat – rather ironic really. Although it wouldn’t have been possible before now. I was using one crutch most of the time before returning and do still need to walk with one most of the time, and two for longer distances, and even the occasional motorised scooter around the larger shopping malls, but on board the boat everything is so close together and there are hand holds everywhere so while I am still not able to walk unassisted, I find I can get around quite easily at home! It’s only four or five steps to get water in the kettle and another four or five to put it on, two to the seat and if I need to go all the way to the bathroom it’s a whole 15 steps – mind you that does include 4 steps down and 3 back up each way! The hardest thing for me to manage is getting into and out of the dinghy and on and off the boat. I have ‘ways’ but I am not yet able to do any of that alone so I am still a bit dependant, but each time I get on and off or in and out of the dinghy it becomes a little easier. I get to go out for coffee (thanks Andrew) with friends and the kids too, and because I now have a car, even getting to the shops is quite a reasonable possibility. These is something so calming about being back in your own space, back in your own life. Just being able to sit in my home and watch my cat as he watches the birds, his slightly-out-of-reach friends, being able to cook for my kids again, take care of them, do a few of the less urgent cleaning jobs that are so patient, sleep in my own bed – these things are awesome, but it is the fact that my home is out of the ordinary – floating and gently rocking – where I can hear the waves on the beach just a short distance away, hear the birds chatter and see the dolphins as they swim by, these are the things that make my return home all the more dear – that it is a paradise of sorts – a calm easy lifestyle that I really do adore. We had a little party on board on Wednesday – some of my boatie friends came over and we shared some champagne and celebrated my recovery – albeit not yet quite done – and talked and laughed till late (well boatie ‘late’ at any rate!) and each day different ones have checked on me to see if I need anything or am doing okay. Yes, blue water and blue skies dotted with wispy cotton-wool clouds and other boats gently bobbing around me, the smell of salt in the air, the indescribable lingering fishy smell close to the shore……remind me that I’m home and home feels like my kind of paradise! An ocean of strawberries to welcome me home! (Thanks Kymmie!) |
Archives
September 2017
Our life aboard Argos has been seriously challenged this year with the surprise departure of our skipper. As a writer, diesel mechanics and the complexities of many aspects of Argos’ on-going maintenance are way beyond me! We would like to see Argos continue to sail and eventually hope to use her to offer support, encouragement and a break to people who are struggling in their lives. Any on-going help towards maintaining Argos would be greatly appreciated and enable us to achieve this goal.
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