HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY 2015

It's that day again... This year is already flying by.

It's March 17th already. In a few days it will be Spring.

YouTube video: St. Patrick's Day | Bet You Didn't Know ...

Enjoy!

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Don't leave port on Fridays...

I'm sure you know that you're never to leave port on a Friday, but I just want to point out that tomorrow is also the 13th... Friday 13 March 2015.

You've been warned. Stay safe :)

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Missing France... Galette des Rois (recipe)

We miss living in France. Especially around the holidays at the patisseries :)

Here is an easy recipe for next New Years. I might have to test it a few times beforehand because I really love these.

LA GALETTE DES ROIS

Ingredients (Serves 6-8)

• 2 circles of puff pastry (pâte feuilletée), refrigerated

• 1/4 cup almond paste
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tbs unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs (1 is for the pastry's egg wash)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbs all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 bean or small porcelain figurine (fèves), optional
• 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar for dusting 

Method:

1. Combine the almond paste and about half of the sugar, and mix until well blended. Add the butter and remaining sugar using and mix until smooth. Blend in 1 egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, flour and salt. Perhaps add a tablespoon of rum. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).
3. Butter a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Place a circle of pastry onto the prepared baking sheet.
4. Mound the almond filling onto the center of the pastry that is on the baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inch margin at the edges. Press the optional bean or fève down into the filling. 
5. Place the second sheet of pastry on top, and press down the edges to seal. Beat the remaining egg with a fork, and lightly brush onto the top of the galette. Use a knife to make a crisscross pattern in the egg wash (or a spoon to make crescent pattern). Prick several small slits in the top to vent steam while baking.
6. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Do not open the oven until the time is up, as the pastry will not fully puff. Remove from the oven and dust with confectioners' sugar. Return to the oven, and cook for an additional 12 to 15 minutes, or until the top is a deep golden brown. 
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature.

Bonne année & Bon appétit

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Happy New Year from the Space Station (ISS)

Here is a short video from the International Space Station wishing us all a happy new year.



Did you notice the person video bombing back and forth behind them starting about 18 seconds into the video? Cool...

NASA has a very interesting YouTube channel at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLA_DiR1FfKNvjuUpBHmylQ

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, fun, and prosperous new year!

Merry Christmas with Darlene Love

This week we watched "20 Feet From Stardom" on Netflix. Loved it and will watch it again soon. It is a documentary about backup singers and features such greats as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Sheryl Crow, Táta Vega, and many more...

Darlene Love has been singing "Christmas Baby Please Come Home" annually on the David Letterman show since 1986. This year, 2014, is the last time Darlene will be performing it on "The Late Show" because David will be retiring in May 2015.

Enjoy...


Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays ... Make It So

This compilation from Star Trek The Next Generation brought a smile to my face.

Enjoy...



So it goes!

It's finally here

This is it. The day we've been looking forward to all summer. The last day of H-season.

It looks like it may become a gloomy day. It's a bit overcast and we've had a few sprinkles but nothing to complain about.

Thankful for a relatively calm summer :)

So it goes!

Donate to Donna Romasco's Medical Fund

Many of you may know Donna Romasco who lives aboard in Tortola BVI with her husband Dave, and dog Trixie. She works at Regency Charter Services. Donna is a super person to work with and we love her efficiency and attention to detail.

 

Donna is seriously ill right now due to contracting dengue hemorrhagic fever (the worst form of dengue) shortly after returning home from hospital for a total hip replacement which has since become acutely infected. To top it off, Dave came down with Chikungunya virus.

Our good friend Kerry of the charter yacht Promenade has set up a fund raiser page to help with Donna's unexpected medical costs.

The GoFundMe site is: http://www.gofundme.com/donna-regency. You can find more details about her condition there.

Donations of any amount will be appreciated but it will also be a great morale booster for Donna to know that so many people care.

Get well soon, Donna

Amazon Kindle Stuff

Over a month ago, our Kindle (keyboard model) started having issues. I must contact Amazon as perhaps it is an easy fix but I still haven't done so.

Kindle Paperwhite

A couple of days later we decided to buy the Kindle Paperwhite. We have been wanting one for awhile and now we had the perfect excuse to actually purchase one. We prefer the e-ink Kindles as opposed to the Kindle Fires because we only want to use them to read books. We have other tablets to surf the internet, use as chart plotters, mp3 players, etc.

The e-ink Kindles display perfectly when reading outdoors in sunlight. Nice for when you have a few minutes and want to carry on a bit further in your current book. The Paperwhite has an integral light so you can read in the dark. Perfect!

New Kindle Touch

I have a discontinued 6" Kindle with the buttons on the bottom and the page turning buttons on both sides. It has been replaced by the new improved Kindle Touch which has a faster processor, more storage space, and some new features.

To protect our new Paperwhite we bought a sleeve that we are very happy with. It fits snug and is easy to find (it is purple) and use.

Our Kindle Touch doesn't have its own light but I found an inexpensive case with a built-in light which works well.

Lighted e-ink Kindles are great for night reading because you don't need to disturb anyone else with the cabin light.

Are you a Dortmunder fan? The Hot Rock was (and still is) one of my favorite movies. Dortmunder was played by Robert Redford. This book, Thieves Dozen by Donald E. Westlake, has 11 Dortmunder short stories. Great for light bedtime reading.

In the plus column, Kindles are excellent as they can hold lots of books, thus reducing weight aboard and recovering some shelf space. Yes, I worry about something happening and losing access to our books but we have several Kindles so they shouldn't all go down at once. We do have paper books that we must keep such as guitar music, boatbuilding books with plans, other reference books, plus some paperback favorites. Can't be too careful :)

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The terns were right

We were worried about TS/Hurricane Gonzalo even though the royal terns were back in town. We prepared our boat and put out two more anchors.

The first few projected tracks had the little TS symbol right on top of us but fortunately, Hurricane Gonzalo stayed about 100 miles away to the northeast.

The terns were right.

90L is TS Gonzolo

GONZOLO, great name for a storm. Makes me think of a Marx Brother movie.  But as cool as his name might be (we experienced Omar a few years ago), we really don't want him passing through here.

The Hurricane Hunters flew through Invest 90L earlier today and found out that it was a Tropical Storm... didn't even mess with the Tropical Depression phase.

They predict it will be an H-thing when it gets to Puerto Rico.

So, guess you know what we'll be busy with... best to be prepared.

Hope the GFS model (red line in above image) is accurate and it will pass quite aways from us.

Here's a bit from Advisory #1 - 130 PM AST SUN OCT 12 2014

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
------------------------------
AT 130 PM AST...1730 UTC...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM GONZALO WAS
LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 16.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 58.4 WEST. GONZALO IS
MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 10 MPH...17 KM/H...AND THIS GENERAL
MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY...FOLLOWED BY A TURN
TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST TUESDAY NIGHT. ON THE FORECAST TRACK...
GONZALO IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH THE LEEWARD ISLANDS BY EARLY
MONDAY MORNING.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 40 MPH...65 KM/H...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS.  STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

TROPICAL-STORM-FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 45 MILES...75 KM
FROM THE CENTER.

THE ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1009 MB...29.80 INCHES.

So it goes

What the heck? Invest 90L !!!

I've been meaning to put the ground tackle away that has been sitting on deck since the last storm threat. In fact, today seemed like a good day to do so until I went to look at weatherunderground.com

Invest 90L - Saturday, October 11 2014, 08:00am

I'm hoping the return of the Royal Terns and the increased population of Pelicans was not premature.

I was going to check out Amazon's Halloween costumes for pets but I'm sort of put off of frivolity right now... except, this is one I haven't seen before...

Animal Planet Peacock Dog Costume

So it goes...

More on herding cats

Most everyone has seen the EDS commercial shown during the Superbowl many years ago about herding cats. It is such a classic and always makes me smile. If you haven't seen it lately, take a moment and click on the video below.


Today, I came across an interesting video on YouTube which explores the concept of herding cats, Mythbusters (season 13, episode 6) broadcast on the Discovery Channel.


Hmmm... maybe they should have tried treats. Would be a bit impractical if you're herding a group (collectively called chowder, clutter, or glaring of cats) across the plains on horseback though :)

Enjoy !

They're back...

We would like to welcome back the Royal Terns... Salut!

Yesterday afternoon while having a sundowner tot of rum along with some quality time with the cats, two Royal Terns made a low pass over the deck. Wow, are we glad to see them. To us, it means the end of H-season in our neck of the woods.

Weather guru Dr. Jeff Masters at wunderground.com pretty much said the same thing a couple of days ago but his statement has now been validated by our fine feathered friends.

Good news weather-wise (fingers crossed)

I just read Dr. Jeff Master's (wunderground.com) blog post dated today at 15:28 GMT and titled "The Tropics Go Quiet World-Wide". Here's a choice bit of it:

"...there are now no named tropical cyclones anywhere in the world--an unusual situation for what is traditionally one of the busiest days of the Northern Hemisphere's tropical cyclone season. This quiet period appears likely to extend though the weekend, as I don't expect any new named storms to form anywhere in the world through Sunday."

This is much preferred than this same week in 2005. Today is the 9th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina which hit Mississippi on August 29, 2005.

Savouring the peace and quiet of our anchorage today.

So it goes!

97L is up on deck

Well, the last possible storm wasn't much out of the ordinary spot of funky weather we occasionally have (I am NOT complaining). I think the weather dudes were just excited about having something to talk about. It did become a named storm (Cristobal) so that's another one off the list...

But now we have Invest 97L out there. Here are the 2:00am models from wunderground.com

I think we will leave our storm anchors down for the moment :)

So it goes...

Invest 96L = OK

Hurray! The storm passed through with hardly a notice. We had a couple of very short-lived squalls during the night. When I got up at 3am to check the weather Willow jumped down from her bookshelf and growled at the lightning. Very distant lightning and no thunder.

Here's the 8:00am (2014/08/22) models and you can see that 96L is now placed north of the islands.

It has been raining solid for about an hour now. Hoping for a lull so we can bail out the dinghy without getting too wet.

We plan to pick up one of our storm anchors today and leave the other down through the weekend.

It's quiet now.... Hmmmmm... should I go outside or finish my coffee?

So it goes...

Yet another disturbance... 96L (updated)

Well, fortunately the previous possible storm, 94L, just fizzled out due to dry air and wind shear.

But now there is 96L.  Doesn't look like it will cause us any harm but we will still be placing two extra anchors today because you just never know what the butterflies will do...

The models have been creeping northwards and we hope this trend continues. Here's the 8am models (8/21/2014) from wunderground.com

2 pm update:  Both cats came outside while we were setting out our storm anchors. Willow seemed very anxious. She is very sensitive about storms. I'm hoping that her actions were not saying "big storm soon come" but instead "there is a can of tuna on the table... open it... feed me".

It's summer... So it goes...

Another Interesting Disturbance

We have another tropical disturbance of interest, Invest 94L...

Yesterday's opinion was that it should enter the Caribbean on Saturday. It is a long ways away so who knows? It is definitely something to keep an eye on... again :)

Monday, 11 August 2014, 2:00am

Tropical Storm Bertha was a big disappointment to many people on the island as they were hoping to catch some rain to fill up their cisterns. We did get enough to make the land green again.

So it goes...

Depression today?

Shucky darn... Still an "invest" but expected to become a depression later today or tomorrow. It is quite far away (1600 miles) so a bit early to start fretting but it is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

The 8am (29/07/2014) from the National Hurricane Center

Above is the 2am models (I like the GFS) reported by Wunderground.com... Looking forward to the 8am updates.

So it goes...

New Supermarket in Christiansted, St Croix

Sea Side Market, the new grocery store in Christiansted, St Croix has finally opened. It has replaced Schooner Bay Market which closed several months ago.

It is basically across the street from the Canegata Ballpark, just down from the laundramat, short walk from ACE/Gallows Bay Hardware.

Prices vary. Many things are higher than Pueblo but a some are similar or lower. Even if we buy something that costs a bit more, we save on the time that it would have taken walking up to Pueblo in Golden Rock.

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Bastille Day - 14 juillet

Today, the 14th July, is the French National Holiday (la fête nationale française), which we call Bastille Day.

Here's a video of the fireworks display in Carcassonne 2012.



It is very good footage (only 2 minutes to give you a taste) but nothing like being there in person with the beautiful colors, the sounds of the rockets taking off, the percussion of the soundwaves striking your body, the oohs and ahs of the crowd... Good stuff. The French can really put on a show :)

We will definitely be having Pastis for our sundowner this evening.

So it goes... Whoosh... Whee... Bang... Pop-a-dee-pop-a-dee-pop... Vive La France!

That's the way I like it

I have www.wunderground.com (tropical weather) as my Firefox homepage and I was so happy to read Dr Jeff Master's headline tease to his blog this afternoon...

Quiet... No threat... I want to read more of the same over the summer months!

So it's going :)

Wishing everyone a happy summer

Yes, I know that the first day of summer is not for a couple of weeks but today is the first day of what I like to call the "summer season" in order to avoid the "H" word.

The various forecasts for tropical storms seem to be lower than recent years and I hope that the few disturbances predicted will be a long ways away.

I have just modified my Firefox browser to have http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/ as my homepage.

Be prepared & stay safe.

So It Goes...

PFDs - Inflatable Life Jacket Testing Video

Check out Boat Bits. It has a very interesting video by Voile, a French sailing magazine, where they test inflatable PFDs with the test subject staying in the water until the life jacket inflates.

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