Plants on Boats

Superstition is just religion for sailors who don't have time for theology or dogma...or for belief, I suppose.

I've always bought into a few traditional sailor's superstitions.  One of them: no plants on boats.  Plants, you see, are often green.  Just like the shore.  And if you carry plants around on your boat, said boat might get confused and start to seek out the shore.

The logic goes something like that.  But it's best not to get too hung up on logic when it comes to superstition.  Just decide how much superstition you'll incorporate into your life afloat and go with it.  And really, you are robbing yourself if you're a full-time sailor and don't follow a few maritime superstitions.  Absolutely nothing is more embedded in the history of seafaring than superstition.

Well, OK, that and getting drunk in port.

But back to plants on boats.  They're not copacetic, superstition-wise.  And beyond that, nothing says marina-bound boat more than a bunch of houseplants in the cockpit.

So, with that as a background, I'll tell you that yesterday was Father's Day here in the Middle-Class Refugium of the Antipodes.

And Elias, for Father's Day, gave me...the cacti in the photo above.

I kind of like the cute little things.  Today I put them up in the greenhouse of the dodger during the daytime, and then brought them back down to the chart table when the afternoon grew chill...

...but they're definitely not making the trip to New Zealand with us.

~~~