Going Inland

So…we went inland for the Easter holiday, to see family in La Porte.  Funny how we’ve blended into the weave of fellow IBC’s (Islanders by Choice) here on our Gulf Coastal Island home.  Even still, we long for the water, the rocking back and forth of our sailboat, the clinking of the masts in the wind.  We visited with a local marina the day after Easter, after we got back to the island from a second trip to La Porte in two days because Nico left his phone at his Mom’s the day before.  I have to admit, that day was a good one: lunching with Nico’s dad (the baby’s only living Grandpa), the lolly-gag-of-a-drive back to the island, the visit to the marina…and the smell of the water…down along the slips.

My wanderlust is really getting to me these days, and I miss our sailboat more and more.  If not this year, since we just can’t bring ourselves to sell our old girl, I think next year we’ll certainly be bringing our boat to her new island home.  For now, Nico and I are still working on new tunes for Gypsy Vin Rose, and getting ready to start touring…again.  Gigs…?  Well, that’s another story.  If only we could get around the little problem of ‘no sitter’ and no room for another passenger (Grandma) in the Peniki van, we’d be good to go.

For now, I continue to write songs, and work on getting my voice back after a long battle with the crud.  Honing my mandolin skills, while continuing to remodel our old Gypsy Caravan and Island home Mermaid Mansion is the way I’ve been spending my days lately.  That…and going to the beach almost every day, if we’re not biking to Nixi’s favorite play park, has become our Island way-of-life.  I can’t complain, though I sure do miss the smell of our boat, and the cold spray of water splashing up onto the deck as we cut through the waves…sailing into the sunset.

I guess you could say I’m kind of ‘sea sick’, though in an entirely different way.  I miss the water, instead of being sick from it.  :  )  So for now, I’ll just remember-when, and continue to work on decorating Mermaid Mansion.  This week…I’m sewing new couch cushions.  And I must admit, I am so very proud of the way our old caravan is ‘coming about’!  Next up…sewing a custom quilt for Nixi.  I have the kewlest Hippie Van fabric I bought from Ebay, which I’ll pair with a flower child sort-of print.  I can hardly wait to see how it turns out!  I’ll post pics for anyone who wants to see how it all comes together.

For now, I think I’ll get back to my stitch-witchery, and making my vintage trailer a comfortable island home.  Cheers to all who read my scribblings, and Blessings to those of you who comment.  :  )  And…Fair Winds to all you salty Sailors and deep-sea Pirates out there.  May you find true happiness…just over the horizon.

.V..

Cap’n Nico

Nixi Down Below in the Galley

Getting Underway

Relaxing Down Below With Some Cartoons

Sunset Sails

Me at the Helm = Bliss!

 

One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure

We Created THIS…

…from THIS!

…Or so the saying goes!  But for us, it has been true here lately.  You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff people throw away around here!  Hey…I’m not complaining!  Because of a few ‘rather well-off’ folks on the island, we’ve been able to acquire an interior door (which we turned into a wall in our living room/kitchen area), 3 white ‘wide louvre’ blinds ( which we later priced at Home Depot for over $100 dollars a piece–ours are the larger (much larger) ones), a bum-load of lumber to fix what needs fixin’ round here (which would be just about everything), a kitchen full of cabinetry from a historic three-story home over in the Strand District of Galveston (they were seriously going to the garbage out in the alley), a kitchen full of synthetic Italian Marble countertops for our caravan kitchen remod (it looks like terra cotta or stained concrete–so beautiful).  I know I’m missing a few items…but you get the jest of this ‘trash to treasure’ thing we got going here!  :  )

All I know is–this place is going to look so great when we’re done, and it won’t even have cost us but a drop-in-the-bucket in comparison to what it would’ve had we not foraged through our island neighbors’ trash piles.  I feel really Blessed that we were able to save it all from the local land-fill, recycle and repurpose.  When it comes down to it; all our trailer remodeling has cost us…out-of-pocket is what we paid for primer, paint, garden seeds and a few plants, as well as the shutters and screen door we bought at the local Architectural Salvage Store; which is ran by the Galveston Historical Society.  In-short…we’ve taken bits and pieces of a few of the historic homes here on Galveston…and made it all part of our travel-trailer home.  And what a flavorful home she is becoming!  I can’t wait to see my new kitchen when we put it all together!  I’ll be sure to post photos when we do.  May it inspire you to do some trash pile digging of your own!  :  )  You never know what you may find. 

Blessings & .V..