Oriental, NC

 Nothing much photogenic happening today….lots of cleaning up after the window project!  Gave the boat a good scrub since there were black sealant shards in every crook and cranny.  Then we loaded up the mower to head into Oriental to mow our extra lot. It is looking nice these days with some of the old stump-piles rotting away now. 

That’s it for now. We’ll pack up and head back to Pittsboro tomorrow. 

Oriental,NC

It has turned a little windy and chilly here for a couple of days.  Pretty view off the stern with a little "smoke on the water" near the marina across the creek.

The last of the salon windows was the project of the day!

Caught Duane unaware for a photo.....scraping....so much scraping to get all the old sealant of the frame.

Surface cleaned and new gasket installed.  Ready to apply sealant and screws.

The last of the windows complete.

Finally all done!!  I'm so happy to get the visibility out from the salon!  I will probably make some shades of some nature to place inside when the sun angle is low.

And time to say goodbye to Ed and Cathy for a little while.  They're off to pick up their RV in Florida.  We'll see them again in a month or so.

Oriental, NC

 The day started with a beautiful sunrise!!

I removed the tape and paper protective window covering from the two panels we did yesterday.

And then we spent the morning doing the 3rd window....nothing picturesque about that since it's all just duplicate activity.

We took the dinghy down for a quick spin around the neighborhood. Beautiful day.

Coming back to the dock, the sisterships What If and Sojourn.

It must be crab season.....local fisherman setting pots.

Happy hour on shore then another lovely dinner courtesy of Ed & Cathy.  This will be the last one for this trip as they head towards their RV for the summer. 

Oriental, NC

 We dove right into the salon window replacement on Sojourn….

As you can see, the old windows are terribly crazed to the point you can’t really see thru them. 

This wasn’t really a problem when we had the dark blue mesh window covering.  But the whole purpose of the louvers is to provide visibility with a bit of shade so we need clear windows!   Removing the old sealant underway. 

Exterior view of the old windows.

The process is just long and tedious, removing all the old structural sealant with various tools, putty knives and razor blades.

Two down, two to go.  I’ll remove the tape and clean up the edges tomorrow. 

Ed and Cathy treated us to a nice dinner again and we’re so thankful.  I was so tired I didn’t have the energy cook!!

Oriental, NC

 We finally made it back to the boat…What If is at the dock for the summer.  Ed & Cathy welcomed us back and treated us to a nice dinner and card game. Easy to get back in the swing of things!!

Pittsboro,NC

 We were pleasantly surprised last night to get a visit with Richard!  We knew he was flying down for a good friend’s bachelor party this weekend, but we weren’t sure he’d have time to see us!  Otherwise just doing some home chores…

Mills River, NC

 My mom came thru her lumpectomy with ease!  They removed 3 lymph nodes for testing. We got the pathology report this afternoon and the cancer was not found in any of the lymph nodes!  Very happy about that!  

Today she’s feeling really good.  Now she has some number of weeks of radiation to zap anything remaining, not sure yet if schedule.

We’ve been doing a few chores around her house and trying to get her to take it easy!!  Beautiful mountain springtime!

Pittsboro, NC

 Uneventful flight from Boston back to RDU....

 

  

Amazing how much more green it is in NC!!

 

 

 

And the irises (plural of iris, I looked it up!) are starting to bloom....

And very strangely, my Christmas cactus in the basement has decided to bloom a bit as well.  Maybe it's just celebrating spring!

 

 

And since we haven't been sitting still long, we'll leave today to be with my mom when she has her surgery tomorrow.

Rockport, Massachusetts

 Last day of visiting….Casey had to work but Richard brought Sky out to do a little hiking with us. Glorious day!  Especially compared to yesterday!  

Driving thru Gloucester.

Another very nice park close to town.

Paths thru swampy areas.

A couple of nice views.

Then we paused for a few hours for nap time!

Next we visited Richard and Casey at their neat apartment.  Sky resting up after miles on the trail  

Solving world problems.

We took a stroll down a block to the beach near their house  

Casey and her dog Biscoti.

Nice public beach that you can see from their third floor apartment.

And just like that, our visit was over  really nice to have all this time together!

Rockport, Massachusetts

 Another rainy chilly morning!

We met Richard & Casey in Ipswich for a hearty breakfast at the Ipswich Inn.  The town has what seems like endless lanes of beautiful old houses.  

And beautiful old bridges as well. 

This is the Choate bridge, one of the oldest bridges still in use in the US. 

We wanted to visit the Crane Estate house.  But unfortunately the main house was not open for the season yet.  They allowed us to walk the extensive grounds though. 

The house was built by the Crane family. They were into plumbing…and the company now is basically American Standard. 

The mansion was completed in the early 1900s. And was a summer home for the family.

The nice thing about visiting on a rainy day is that you have the whole place to yourself!

The property is over 2000 acres and extends down to the ocean. 

Here is a sunny day overhead view I stole from the Internet. 

We had a nice walk thru the misty morning. 

If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was walking on the North Carolina coast line!

Thanks to Casey I have a few photos with yours truly included!

Back up the hill to the mansion where our car was parked.  Some fairly tame-wild turkeys were grazing. 

That was about it for the day! Back to the Airbnb for a very cozy nap in the afternoon!