OK, OK, you’re right. The book festival DOES feel like old news now. At this point I’m starting to think that I should save it until just before next year’s. Disappointed? You were really looking forward to those pics of Don and/or I standing in various lines, weren’t you? Yeah, I know. But hey, now you have next April to look forward to!
So, let’s skip forward to Memorial weekend!
As you know, Don and I are frequent flyers. . . I mean Ferriers ({?} No, we don’t shoe horses! We drive our car onto the Balboa Island Ferry and ride it across the channel to the mainland side of Balboa. Well, lately, rather than taking our car across, we’ve been leaving it parked on the island side and riding the Ferry across without the car. After about an hour of Don being seated at one of the two little coffee tables along the boardwalk, with his coffee and his paper, and of me pointing my lens at the birds and seals near the dock, we ride back to our car and head off the island toward our other favorite haunt, the Central branch of Newport Beach Public Library where we visit the “Friends of the Library” used bookstore and get our weekly fix of literature. Who ever the folks are that donate their books on CD, music CD’s and hardbound books, Don and I thank you for letting us clutter our house with your treasures.
But not this day. This day (Sunday May 28th), being part of our 4 day Memorial weekend vacation, should be special. It should take fun and leisure to new heights. “Catalina?”asks Don. “We’re here in time, we could hop that boat to Catalina.”
“Mmm, look at that long line. Are we up to milling around shops so full of people we couldn’t see the merchandise? Even if we could, and we felt brazen enough to give more dollars away after giving so much to the boat driver, would we have the patience to stand in yet more lines to buy something? On the other hand, is that what we’d do on Catalina? Maybe we’d walk; admire the architecture and landscaping of island residents; investigate nature. Maybe we should go.”
Don, accustomed after our 15.5 years of marriage and 3 years of dating (not in that order), to this split personality argument I carry on with myself at his every suggestion, had stopped listening after “look at that long line” and was many thoughts ahead by now.
Apparently he’d gotten so far as, ‘How about renting a boat to go around the harbor?’ But rather than risk another circumnavigous response from me, he thought to investigate it first.
A little history here: He’d been wanting a boat of his very own, pretty much ever since we sold Lenox, our little 17’ McGregor sail boat with it’s swing keel and it’s drop mast, and the
Truth be told, as long standing REA members we’d just spent the previous morning at Mother’s Beach (in Long Beach) watching member exclusive kayak demonstrations for wanna-be kayak owners. They want too many dollars for those little plastic tipsy-tubs.
Back to the subject at hand: Unbeknownst to me, Don was investigating the price of this rent-a-boat option while I was in buying our coffees. He returned to our table just as I did, asking how I felt about an $80.00 an hour boat ride around the harbor. As with the Catalina idea, I’m inclined to discourage large scale extravagances that are likely to leave little to show afterward, but a receipt. I confess, I thought it might satisfy Don’s yearning for a boating experience, and spare us the need to actually invest in our very own floater that would require feeding (maintenance and storage) for the rest of it’s natural life (and ours?). Besides, I had my handy-dandy camera and this could be an excellent photo op! OK, now you know MY materialistic thought processes. I can assure you Don’s were not so conniving. Don was probably thinking about how much I’d enjoy the ride, what with it’s potential for close encounters of the second, or perhaps even first, kind;, of fowl and marine life; and how relaxing and altogether fun, breezing around the harbor in a shady electric boat, on a clear day such as this, would be. This I believe because I know Don’s spirit to be naturally generous, always seeking ways to provide fun and contentment. Ok, and yes, it wasn’t JUST altruistic, he does love boats!
So off we went on a two hour Duffy excursion. Yes, the penny pincher in me cringed when Don told me we’d have two hours to play—but I got over it. Every time I spend large sums of money like this I think, but what about retirement? How will we afford it if we spend like this? And then I think, suppose our health fails by then, or our finances take a real dive. What ever happens, I doubt that turning down Don’s offer would have found me saying, “It’s a darned good thing we didn’t take that boat ride around the harbor!” when I’m old(er) and gray(er)!
So I shoved the penny-pincher out of the boat and, after we stopped across the harbor for snacks, busied myself eating them and taking lots of pictures---Oh now see. That’s something I left out. Being so anxious to chat about more recent events, I forgot to tell you that for my birthday (March 7th if you want to mark that on your calendar) Don bought me a digital Nikon and a few of its accessories. So I was happily shooting away, while Don expertly maneuvered "Currently Mine", that's the name of our quiet little Duffy, through the channels. (Now, in case you came in late here, and are wondering who that was that I shoved out of the boat; I meant it figuratively. It was a dry and comfortable trip—no one got wet.)
I’m not sure how many photos I want to put on this blog. It might be better to do as I did with the
I know! I’ll do both!
Hey, could you toss us a couple-a brewskies? Anyone know the score? Oh yeah, and could you bring us some more anchovies for these fishing poles? We sorta ate the last ones.
CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE SEA LION PHOTOS FROM THE DUFFY
CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE BOAT PHOTOS FROM THE DUFFY
CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE PHOTOS OF HOMES TAKEN FROM THE DUFFY
O.K., so now you wish YOU could go on a Duffy in the Newport Beach Harbor, right? What's that? You'd like to but you don't think you could drive the boat?
Meet Don Hall, your Duffy Chauffer. (You don't mind if he brings his wife along too do you?)
And here he is again after learning that you'd like him to drive you around the harbor.
No comments:
Post a Comment