Two Months of Winter Off Alembic

A day at Mt Abram

Bill and I flew home to Maine December 19 and enjoyed family, friends, skiing, Maine Adaptive, and a lot of reflection for two months. We are so deeply grateful for this life we are living. How did this happen? Less than two years ago, we were fully immersed in our busy work week, trying to squeeze family time, friends, adventure, and exercise into the wee hours that remained. While we loved our jobs, we longed to give more full attention to other aspects of our lives. Now that we live and cruise on Alembic, we again want to make sure we are attending to our other loves, so we arranged for an extended stay in Maine.

Living at our simple little ski camp at Mt Abram was perfect. Plenty of room for family and other guests, especially since Bill fixed up the shed out back as a sweet bunkhouse (the Love Shack as most of Mt Abram refers to it!)

Bill insulated and paneled our garden shed

Matt and Cathy made that sign almost twenty years ago

Mondays and Fridays we worked at Maine Adaptive, helping folks with disabilities enjoy the thrill of skiing down Sunday River’s gorgeous terrain.

Although this little girl can’t see or coordinate her body well, she had a terrific day on the hill!

Often I drove down to Connecticut mid week to spend time with my Mom and Dad. Dad is struggling with Parkinson’s Disease, leaving him so weak that some days he cannot even sit up unassisted. Moving to a skilled nursing facility was a personal struggle for all of us, but we now see that it was for the best. With the parade of trained personnel, Dad gets PT, OT, excellent nutrition, and a wide variety of activities that stimulate his body and brain to function at its peak.

Mom and Dad

1970

21 Grandkids!!

Two CNA’s struggling with Dad

Mom, Ann, and Sarah join me in bringing Dad to his doctor

Now Dad is walking much better

Dad preparing his Valentine card for Mom

Nephew John pulling off a nearly perfect dive

While I spent time in Connecticut, Bill usually stayed at camp to work at his consulting gig and to recover from a very minor hernia surgery.

Not having fun

On weekends, we tried to fit in as much family and friends time as possible.

Cribbage is never a very serious game with us

XC skiing in the setting sun with Mt Abram in the background

We certainly had plenty of snow this winter!

Brrrr

A weekend with the Sladers and Kendricks

I could never ask for a more fun and loving group of friends!

Casco Bay Women March

These two months in Maine confirmed to us how important it is to take breaks from cruising to reunite with our “land life”. Simultaneously, we made plans for our trip to the Western Caribbean again while also preparing for our return to Maine in the summer. We coordinated flights for Kenny and Jenna to visit in the Caymans, Erica and Wes to visit in Belize (Logan and Lindsay have a TBD plan!), Cay and George to come again for two weeks in Belize, and purchased a wind vane, which signifies further and extended sailing in our future. With the help of some charitable and creative acquaintances, we planted the seed (pun intended!) to start an aquaponic demonstration system at a farm in Augusta when we return next summer.

heading south

We arrived at the airport on Valentine’s Day feeling fulfilled with our full two months, and eager to return to Alembic for more adventuring.