Artemis' Adventures

24/03/2024

Artemis is for sale. Thats all I can bear to say at the moment.

18/12/2023

Saturn is visible next to the moon, as they slide towards the horizon. Jupiter is bright and bold at the top of the celestial canopy. Venus will rise after I leave the hot tub. I hope my biomass will retain the heat of the hottub long enough to warm my bed. If not, it will be a one or two dog night.

18/12/2023

Adventures in succulents.
Or is it succulence?
I’m such a homebody these days.
Today I potted a dozen succulents (Xmas is coming!)
And organized my linen closet and my Tupperware cupboard.
It makes me happy to have my house as organized as my boat.

17/11/2023

Been there!

Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas!

16/11/2023

Heading to the Drake Passage in the wake of my mom

14/11/2023

I don’t like biscuits.
Maybe this is why.

04/11/2023

There’s more to (my) life than sailing. I used to hike a lot, but I got tired of going alone and stopped. Yesterday I hiked with my visiting sailing sea-ster Nancy Riella to Left Hand Reservoir from the Brainard Lake Winter Trailhead. Two miles (in) and 600’ ascent to 10,600’. It was beautiful and windy and cold but we had a great time and celebrated with ice cream back in Nederland. Nice to reclaim something I loved.
Joy shared is joy squared!

22/09/2023

Artemis is in harms way.
I feel so powerless. I hope the dock people have adjusted her lines.

19/09/2023

Where is the time going?
It’s darker in the morning and plants are dying with less daylight. Goodbye w**ds!
Enjoying some late summer blooms though. Pictures to follow.
I’m enjoying a month off between jobs. Forty hours a week was too many. The treatment model wasn’t a good fit for me either.
I’m returning to providing outpatient psychotherapy and
Counseling in October. I think it will be a much better fit for me.
A good captain corrects their course as needed.

05/08/2023

I have flamingos in Colorado.
Sad? Funny? I’m not sure.

25/07/2023

It’s a bit awkward and somewhat embarrassing to admit this, but reclaiming my career, doing the work I love and being of service is giving me more joy than I was experiencing aboard Artemis.

13/07/2023

Finished day 2 of 6 day online employee orientation. Work sure takes a lot of time and energy. I havent started a new job simce 2001 and things are different. Lots of different microsoft products to learn. Last one I worked with was Windows 7!!!
I am doing ok, though and realized today I am not outside my comfort zone. I am outside my zone of familiarity.

01/07/2023

I came home on June 13 and my backyard was overrun with w**ds. I'd never seen them take over the yard like this.
I sprayed them down with salt and vinegar and dish soap on sunny days and watched them die. Today before it got too hot and when the ground was wet from yesterday's drenching rain, I pulled them out, root and all. I still need to get the piles into the trash bin, and some broke off at the base, but it is a huge improvement. I am very pleased and ready for a nap..

28/06/2023

Adventures in gardening continue.
I killed the yard full of w**ds with salt dish soap and vinegar while the sun was shining. Now I’m Waiting for rain to saturate the soil so I can pull them out by the roots.
I sprouted 2 dozen morning glory seeds and planted them under the trellis.
Filled in the front with wildflower seeds.
Should be nice.

24/06/2023

Artemis is secure and resting easy I’m her slip.
I’m enjoying shore life and getting my gardens right.
Xeriscaping with beds in the front and gravel with beds along the sides in the back so I can disc-fling for the dogs once I get rid of the w**ds that took over.
I have 2.5 weeks before I go back to work after a long absence. I think that’s enough time to get the yards looking nice.
At this time, it’s not really Artemis’ Adventure, it’s mine.
Sometimes recovery is about getting back something you might have had. In this case, it’s simpler; I’m getting back something I loved and lost.
I’m so grateful for this opportunity.

19/06/2023

Artemis Adventures in w**d eradication….
I was gone for 7 weeks and it rained most every day.
The front yard beds were totally overgrown.
The gravel backyard was lost under knee/thigh/waist high w**ds.
Yesterday I cleared the front yard beds (except the pizza bed with the white picket fence. I bought some ground cover and needed a place to put them.
Today I skipped crone-yoga at the rec center and sprayed the backyard with vinegar/salt/dish soap. The results are amazing. I can practically hear them screaming. another day of intense sunshine will take a toll. Then more rain….
I just want to be able to fling the soft disc in the backyard. Today I took the dogs to the schoolyard to throw a ball with the chuckit stick. My shoulder is a mess so it gives them a better workout…. But other dogowners stay off the grass and walk their dogs leashed (its the law) and even though I go to the other side of the park, and the dogs are fetch-focused and respond to voice commands, I believe someone is going to drop a dime on us at some point.
its only a matter of time.
Anyway, Im enjoying adventures in relearning to type with long nails and style my sassy suburban bob and happy as a clam at high tide.
Not sure what to do about this page.
Artemis is resting quietly in a hurricane hole. Her sails are off for cleaning. Sponge Bob’s sister, Suzi-Suzuki is off for repairs (hence the bad shoulder)
And I dont know if my shore-adventures are adventurous enough to sustain continued posting here.

18/06/2023

I've received 400 reactions to my posts in the past 30 days. Thanks for your support. 🙏🤗🎉

15/06/2023

Day 1 in Port Denveropolis.
Went to 2 meetings.
Got groceries.
Got my hair cut.
Did some w**ding.
Walked the dogs. Brushed out Sophie’s winter coat.
It’s not Artemis’ adventure, but it’s my adventure.

13/06/2023

I’ve left Artemis properly secured at Pecan Grove Marina, a hurricane hole in Oriental, NC. Completed my checklist and feeling confident she’ll be ok. Even washed the decks!
Stopped for lunch in Goldsboro, NC enroute to RDU for a 6pm nonstop flight home, so no rush. Ordered the seafood combination platter but the BBQ was tempting too.
It’s been an amazing 7 weeks away. So different from my other voyages. So much less sailing. So much more connection.
Looking forward to returning home and reconnecting with family friends and fellowship and starting a new chapter in my life.

07/06/2023

I left Artemis on the hard in Hampstead, NC on May 11, 2021. I thought I would be back in 2-3 months, and I did a fair-poor job of prepping her.
My descent into my own darkness that had begun in the keys continued through that summer. It was late-summer/ early autumn before I acknowledged my problem(s) and started climbing my way out (with brilliant assistance, thank you)
I didn’t return till December 2022. By then she had sat too long and the poor preparations I had done had contributed to her sorry state. It took a month on the hard, followed by a difficult month clawing south (in January and February!) and more time when I returned in late April to get her running right. In most ways, she is better than she has ever been.
A few tasks remain that I hope to complete before leaving next week. I checked the set-up and curing time for the epoxy. Tomorrow looks like enough dry weather to face a new task with confidence.

I want to leave well. I dont want to be back in Denver worrying about her. I want to believe that she is safe and secure and properly prepared for my return when my 1 year slip lease is up.
Yesterday, with help, her sails were removed and brought in for inspection, cleaning and repairs. It was a hot and humid afternoon, and lugging heavy sails is hot sticky work (so we went for Twofer Tuesday pizzas and Arnold Palmers at the Silos - my treat).
Today has been an easier day, but again hot and sticky:
Remove and coil the running rigging; halyards, sheets, reef lines and lazy-jack lines.
Gather and coil the second set of dock lines. (The new turquoise ones look sooooo pretty!
Remove the bungies from the flag-halyards because Dale Young is right! And replace them with adequate lines from my “bag o’strings” (because sometimes you need “little stuff” to get the job done.
Deflate and roll up the dinghy. I’m not pleased with it and will redo it in a moment, and cover it with a decent UV resistant tarp (not that crappy plastic stuff that won’t last a year and will shred micro plastics everywhere).
Still plenty to do, but I take some comfort in knowing I am doing it right this time, and can leave well.
Oh…. Any suggestions (I know who you are!) that could improve my preparations will be gratefully (or is that grudgingly?) received but are welcome regardless.

07/06/2023

I was here with my nephew, Doug when it was a wilderness study area.
The roads to get here make the unpaved roads to Chaco Canyon feel like a newly paved super-highway. So please don’t go.
It’s one of my sacred and special places.
It’s the buttercream frosting on my Chaco-cake.
I don’t want to share it.
Water informs the land in different ways than it informs the seas, but it still informs…..

With rock formations that resemble something out of a science fiction movie, Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness Study Area calls upon the imaginative spirit. The area is known for its stunning badlands and geological formations that have been sculpted by erosion over millions of years.

Ah-Shi-Sle-Pah Wilderness in New Mexico is a designated wilderness area, which means it is protected and preserved for its natural value. Visitors are encouraged to practice responsible outdoor ethics, such as staying on designated trails, leaving no trace and respecting the fragile desert ecosystem.

Photo by Jessica Fridrich

05/06/2023

Had a brief but lovely trip to Artemis new slip at Pecan Grove Marina. She will be safe here and wait patiently for me.

05/06/2023

“When conditions change, the plan needs to be reassessed.”
What conditions? The status of the boat, the weather and the crew.

The plan was to sail Artemis to Maine, maybe via Nova Scotia.
I havent found suitable crew despite several conversations.
I dont have the same joy in overnight singlehanding and the big legs of the trip lay ahead of me. And I am tired of going it alone.
The spring weather has been notably less stable. The prevailing Southwesterly winds have not appeared. Lots of NE winds, which make heading NE difficult/impossible/unsafe.
And I have some things in Colorado I need to do end of the month and mid July. My priorities seem to have changed too. I have family members I need and want to give back to and be there for. And am OK with it.
I am not the person I was and have been for so long.
So, being unlikely to get Artemis to Maine, I changed my plans.

Today I am moving Artemis from Whittaker Pointe Marina to Pecan Grove Marina. Whittaker Pointe is nice, but is quite exposed and not a year-round option - and I am not sure when I will be returning.
Pecan Grove is a man made marina, dug deep into a field with berms all around it. It is a designated hurricane hole, and Artemis will be safe there and properly and thoroughly secured for an extended stay. I have a lease till the end of next June.

Because, to the best of my knowledge, I am starting a new job in July. I accepted an offer and references/background checks were successful (phew!). I will be working under my LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor), which I had reinstated after letting it lapse in 2017. I had suffered from pretty severe burnout at my last position. I feel ready to work again and want to.
The money will help, but I am wanting to work again. And the need is so great. And I didn’t “end well” last time, and ending well and without regrets matters to me. So does recovering the things I lost - like my professional license. Surprisingly, even after a long pause, lots of employers were wanting me. I did some soul searching and accepted an offer I feel enthusiastic about. And it is close to home, so I wont be struggling with an awful commute into or across Denver.

I thought about selling Artemis, but am not ready. I love my boat and love living on her, and dont have the kind of clarity I need for that big of a decision. And I have left her in Oriental before. It is one of my home-ports away from home. She has done better here in the water than in Hampstead on the hard. And this is a place I want to I return to.
I do need to think about how I will sail her and make passages as an “older sailor”. Probably I should get in better shape, too.
Even lifting the outboard has become difficult and unsafe. And overnights alone leave me pretty exhausted. I need to accept, adapt and adjust.
Because I am not done, am not ready to be done, and don’t want to be done.

I take some comfort in knowing I have sailed well alone for quite a while, but am still dealing with some disappointment and embarrassment about “giving up” and not being the “bad-ass offshore single hander” I once was -and relished being.
Some of that is about the difficulties of getting older.
Some of it is about ego and wanting to be special, and admired.
Some of it is about a change in self-concept and identity.
It helps me a little to remember what the Buddha said; “The problem isn’t identity; the problem is the attachment to it.” Sighhhhhhhh.

04/06/2023

I have Topophilia aboard Artemis.
And in Oriental, NC!

If where you live isn’t truly your home, and you have the resources to make a change, it could do wonders for your happiness.

03/06/2023

There’s an almost full moon (tomorrow!) to the East, hanging over the Neuse, lighting her up. To the west, Venus is brilliant. Even better (IMHO) in a line to her right, are Castor and Pollux, the twin half-brother sons of queen Leda of Sparta with fathers Zeus (Pollux, a demigod) and Tyndareus (Castor, a human) king of Sparta.
Zeus is also the father of Artemis (and her twin brother, Apollo). Their mother was Leto, a titan, making Apollo and Artemis half-god, half-titan.
(Demi-titans are the children of titans and humans. I don’t know the name for the offspring of titans and gods)

02/06/2023

What a great day! I pumped out the holding tank, took a shower, did laundry, cleaned the woodwork in the interior, cooked and spoke with the folks at West Systems about repairing the foredeck rot. So glad I spoke with them as I havent done this kind of repair before. I wasn’t procrastinating; I didn’t know what I was doing and was waiting till I knew more.
Ordered materials and tools and they will be here Sunday.

Skill comes from knowledge and experience. I dont have any experience, but now I have a little knowledge and am feeling optimistic and more confident.

02/06/2023

It was too dark to take a picture of the possum I caught a glimpse of the other night, but this guy was moving slow in broad daylight.