Friday, May 15, 2009

Ship Shape & Confusing

Aloha!

You are MOST welcome today-


click on photos to enlarge Big Sky Beach (note the tiny palm trees to da far right)

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."

Anatole France





Red Hibuscus always remind me of Jamaica




"The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble."
Henry Miller


Shameless neighbor kitty


"Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine."
Robert C. Gallagher


As soon as I approached down the sidewalk I could see that things were Back-Assward. The back of my house was facing the street, and the prow (for our home is a boat) is now facing the open channel of the harbor, appearing ready for a quick get away to an off-shore voyage.


The "shake-down" cruise had been a success. Both engines - the giant tractor-trailer (lorry) sized Detroit Diesel in the engine room/Cloudia's dressing room, and the new Yamaha outboard "kicker" - had functioned flawlessly.


The surveyor counted the life jackets, admired my sanitation system (*blush*) and made sure that the navigation lights, well, lighted.


Everything checked out. Next stop: an appointment with the Harbor Master (a functionary of the State of Hawaii) who will observe our exit and return of the harbor before signing off on our continued residence here in the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.


Reversing the orientation of our home has taken some getting used to. 3rd Mate Kitty in particular seemed a bit befuddled. Usually she leads me aboard, turns to the right, and then leads me on to her food bowl aft so I can admire it's abundance, or replenish a scandalous drought of crunchies.


She hesitated. I could almost hear the cogs in her little kitty-cogitation device reversing. We, too, forget what we will see outside the hatch, and the sun now shines through a completely opposite morning-porthole here aboard the good ship Bizarre-O.


Fortunately, here at my keyboard below decks, everything looks comfortingly normal. Though things have clearly been "shaken up." Habit has been broached just enough to make us really SEE , instead of merely pass through accustomed surroundings. Fresh eyes, sorta.
Gotta be the cheapest backyard vacation yet, and gives a whole new meaning to "flipping a house!"


Yes, we're enjoying our "backward" life. I've just got to be careful about walking off the usual side.


Blogger overboard!


A L O H A! Cloudia




19 comments:

claude said...

The red hibiscus flowers reminds me the Martinique island and mine of course.
But the weather is so rainy that the flowers are not very nice.
ALOHA, Cloudia !

Dina said...

Mazal tov on passing the test.
I love your perspective on perspective. Just don't get up on the wrong side of bed.

Anne said...

Beautiful photo of the Hibuscus.

Anonymous said...

I had to stop and think about what I was reading and then I realized you live on a boat. That has got to take some getting used to. Glad it all got straightened out and you are good to go again.

the walking man said...

I envision your sea trials whith the Cap'n wearing an eye patch and the first mate talking in pirate slang.

"Arrgghhh Matey, avast the yardarm and hoist the sails we go a plunderin' for booty this fine day!"

Raph G. Neckmann said...

Congrats on passing your harbour inspection!

It must be tremendous fun having your home a totally different way round - I'm going to spend the day imagining ours is, and what it would be like! Sometimes we change the furniture round and that is disorienting enough, waking with the window somewhere else - but fun!

(PS Keep looking over the side: Captain Gurgle's searching for a secret portal - you will know if he's around from the sounds of the Tea Shanty underwater!)

G. Raphitti Neckmann

Daryl said...

I am grinning .. and I love your neighbor kitty ... good thing neither of you sleep walks!

Aloha!!!!

Anonymous said...

I still remember what you told me. If I go on a trip, I can still come home to my house. But if YOU were to go on a trip and crashed the boat, you would have NO house to come home to.

pretty scary!

The Weaver of Grass said...

That sounds my kinda life Cloudia - kitty will soon get used to it.

DeniseinVA said...

Congratulations on passing that test Cloudia. Photos were fabulous as always, and so was your post. Neighbor kitty looked very content.

Akelamalu said...

My mother was always changing the furniture around in the lounge - I can't tell you how many bruises I had from walking into a chair or a coffee table that was in the wrong place!! :(

Anonymous said...

Congrats on passing the inspection.

I think the only thing more beautiful than red hibiscus is more red hibiscus-- or pink or apricot or.... no, it is positively the red. Wow oh wow!

Anonymous said...

Yes, must be nice to just turn the house around once in a while.

Wil Harrison.com

Heff said...

So exactly how long DOES it take to comb a beach, anyway ?

Feisty Crone said...

I'm so glad you are comfortable in this home, Cloudia.

Cloudia said...

Aloha folks!

Thanks so much for your visits & comments.

Much appreciated!!

Anonymous said...

wish i lived on a boat

magiceye said...

now life with a new perspective!

namaste /\
aloha!

Bubblewench said...

Why did you have to flip the boat around? huh... Did I miss a post?

Love the pics!