Nelson, New Zealand 1 Jan 2011 41.2603S 173.2810E

One year later – sure doesn’t feel like a year, well in truth it wasn’t a year – only 364 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to your 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. So we’ve decided to backtrack across the dateline next year to try and recapture that lost day – time is flying fast enough as it is! So first of March we’ll be window shopping (weather window shopping), looking for the perfect fit for what we expect to be a roughish passage back to Tahiti.

Touching land this time had the added distraction of Christmas preparations, so I’ve not posted a thing since we arrived (safely) in Nelson. It’s an easy town to be in, all the amenities of a large city, with a small town vibe, and the most amazing Saturday craft and farmers market I’ve ever seen. Frank is not a big shopper, but there’s another “kid boat” (Stray Kitty) who arrived here at the same time as we did, and despite the fact that we’re all trying to get caught up in school, it only took a little begging to get Christine to join me (and Chris to take her place at the front of the classroom). The lack of fresh veggies in the islands may have permanently changed my outlook . I feel a child’s christmas stocking joy at a bright green leafy head of lettuce, a pile of vermillion tomatoes, or an Alaska sized cabbage. And it’s summer here with long daylight hours, so the fruits are amazing – apricots that taste like apricots, gorgeous cherries, plump blueberries, and have you ever tried a palm-sized strawberry with the flavor of a sweet little forest strawberry? Not to be missed in this lifetime, I’d recommend a trip to Nelson just for the berries – although the flavor may well have been artificially perceptually enhanced by the 12 month sailing trip across the Pacific. Not that coconuts, mangos and taro don’t have their own special place, it’s probably just the contrasts that amaze.

So added to the regular landfall business, the holiday rush, the boat projects, and the school catchup, I’m struggling with lists that include, visits to the eye doctor , the dentist (for all of us), the doctor (my left index finger is still not 100%), while everyone here has gone on vacation. Imagine Christmas and summer vacation wrapped into one; forget trying to make an appointment! So we’ll forget for awhile longer, and go vacationing too. My mom comes on Sunday, so we have another good excuse to head out with all the Kiwis and enjoy this beautiful place with them for a couple weeks (maybe we’ll meet a doctor or dentist out there). Hopefully the Kiwi’s will all be back to work mid January so we can tackle our few remaining bigger projects (haulout and paint a clean bottom on her!)

I wish I had some more profound reflections this New Year’s Eve, but it’s been a couple weeks since my last dog watch. The profound thoughts remain in my dreams, unremembered when I wake up to my land lists. The main year’s lesson is that if you decide to sail off into the sunset, don’t be surprised if life comes along for the ride – all of life. I wasn’t really trying to escape my life so I don’t mind, although I wish it too would pick it’s wet towels off the floor once in awhile. Another lesson, 11,320 miles, 8,224 pictures, 72,463 ruminating words, and 282 algebra assignments later, the Pacific is unfathomably enormous and stunning (especially traveling 5 knots on average). I’ve tried to capture it, but it’s a task for the goddess Psyche. Still, I don’t mind sorting seeds for awhile longer, I’m not ready for the ant helpers.

Marc poetically pointed out that we left a year ago “on a blue moon on the first day of the second decade of the dawn of the third millennium.” Once on a blue moon, we pointed the bow south and sailed past Catalina’s West End. You’ve been with us in our hearts, thanks for coming along.

Love and joy to you all in the New Year. Margo

P.S. Scurvy has turned out to be a very popular guy, so we’ve given him his own official blog. We added some posts that he had hidden in the forepeak, they’re post-dated, so you may have to read back some, and I think we’re still missing a few. But at least now you can comment realtime on scurvyreport.blogspot.com We kicked him off the nav computer, so he shouldn’t be sending emails directly anymore, I hope you have RSS so you can keep following along. He’s a pretty social guy for a rat, so he’ll be watching eagerly for your comments.

P.P.S.

• New New Zealand Pics are up on picasaweb.google.com/margoreveil
• My own ruminations are still available on www.hypercities.com/mo
• And when in doubt, links to all are at www.silverliningacademy.org