Nothing special about the above. You’ve seen it before. It is just what at present I see when I glance up from where I am sitting. I never tire of the view. The change of light in the sky and on the water. The tide approaching and retreating, covering and uncovering spartina. The wind ruffling Skull Creek and the live oaks and palms and Spanish moss. The birds and squirrels and occasional raccoon.
Thursday afternoon we had a tornado watch. Today we are under a three day gale watch. What kind of a tourist mecca is this? Hurricanes and alligators are known risks on Hilton Head Island, but I had not considered tornados. None appeared. The front itself passed quickly with nothing more than an hour of moderate wind and rain, and on this, the landward side of the island, there is no gale. Wind less than ten knots and sunny.
Thursday morning Kevin, the canvas man, arrived at GANNET to take away the pipe berth covers and v-berth cushions to use as templates for the new ones which will be ready early next week. Good. You may recall that I put in the order last October. While he was on the boat I mentioned that I was eventually going to need a new spray hood for the companionway. GANNET’s was made in Durban, South Africa four years and 15,000 miles ago and is deteriorating. Kevin took some measurements and that afternoon emailed me a quote which was less than I expected. I emailed back to put me on the schedule. He has. The spray hood will be made in August. Kevin has a pretty good business.
I have now listened twice to the three albums I bought a few days ago, partly yesterday while watching March Madness basketball with the sound off. I have greatly enjoyed all three. The Mozart string quartets are new to me. Most of the other music I already knew. I am pleased that the Minnesota Symphony performances of the Sibelius symphonies brought them again to my attention. I had not listened to them for too long.
RAPA NUI ODYSSEY is a double album. Again I was familiar with most of the music, but there is a lovely ‘Prelude and Nocturne for the Left Hand’ by Alexander Scriabin which I had not heard before. I am not qualified to judge the quality of Marina Teave’s playing other than I find it beautiful. That she, herself, is beautiful, I am qualified to judge.
If you have been here a while you know that I no longer read much about sailing. I do read about many other things, which I consider cross training.
From an article in the BBC Music Magazine about Mozart: For centuries composers (including Mozart) wrote only for their time, and it was assumed that they would be forgotten after their deaths.
Beethoven changed that, setting himself as the model of tortured demi-god who wrote for the future. In this Beethoven may not have done us a service. And as you know, I prefer Bach.
And from a poem by Du Fu, ‘Dreaming of Li Bai’:
Immortal fame, hard to enjoy in the tomb,
Will not replace joys that were never lived!
I recently realized that this is an anniversary year for me.
In May I will have owned GANNET for ten years.
In June it will have been twenty years since Carol and I sailed from Boston in a continuation of my extremely slow fourth circumnavigation.
And if I make it to November, I will be eighty years old.
My word!
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