I am constantly amazed at the energy and industry exhibited by fellow boaters at our marina. The forest of lighted masts and stays that have sprung up around the docks are a testament to boaters braving the frigid temperatures (ice in the slips! that’s two years in a row, bring on the global warming already!) in the last couple of weeks to string them up. And as if that weren’t enough, scads of them have been out on the water with their colorful decks, spreading Christmas cheer around the city and sound with lights and music.
The Argosy Christmas Ship was hovering around out off the Ballard Blinker last night as I was heading down into the marina, which distantly reminded me that last night was the night the informal parade was happening off Golden Gardens and going through the Ballard Locks. I had halfway planned to hustle out, weather be damned, to try to recover some of my flagging Christmas spirit, but back in the warm, dry cabin, I quickly passed out on a settee. I woke up blearily at some point to the strains of some jingly sort of holiday music, but by then I was just dead tired and quickly went back to sleep.
My own yacht club even got in on the act, taking a group of developmentally disabled folks out as part of the Seafair Special People’s Holiday Cruise a couple weeks ago. The Ohana, incidentally, the boat used for the cruise, is a beauty, even if you’re not typically into motor yachts. Even more amazing, the owners on occasion manage to get their three very active golden retrievers all aboard and out cruising all at the same time without anyone going overboard.
All this industry seems all the more amazing compared to my own treadmill-like existence at the moment. The holidays are always hard, but this year seems colder, wetter, and more difficult than ever, and it’s been hard enough just to keep up, let alone make forward progress. Boat projects seems even harder in the winter; harder yet when your tools are scattered between the boat and a place two hours and a ferry ride away. Of course, nothing is to hand when it’s needed, and everything on my list, from the large (painting the hull) to the small (changing the oil) has been thwarted in some respect over the past few weeks. With Christmas travel plans coming up, none of it is likely to get done until January, and it’s all just hanging out there and hovering over me until then.
So the cheery lights as I come in to the marina are a welcome sight, and those folks who have taken the time and trouble to get them up deserve a hearty Merry Christmas from me.