Housekeeping is...

…a funny thing to do for someone who lives on a boat.  But there are three housekeeping issues that I wanted to address:

First, the recent layout change was in part motivated by the desire to fix the problem of the blog crashing on iPads.  It seems to have done the trick on Alisa's device, but if anyone continues to have trouble, please let me know in a comment.

Second, the radio show This American Life has an upcoming story on the Rebel Heart rescue.  If you live in America you can listen on public radio this weekend, and they'll also post the show on the web soon after it's been broadcast for anyone to hear.  This American Life can do very good long-form journalism, and it looks like the Kaufmans found a great platform for telling their story.

And last: our first-ever business plug on Twice In A Lifetime!  (Totally unsolicited, I assure you!)  If you find yourself in need of sailboat blocks in New Zealand (if it hasn't happened to you yet, it will, believe me), get in touch with the New Zealand Garhauer shop.  Well, not a shop - it's run out of a very nice couple's garage in Paihia. Their prices are the only good deal in New Zealand.  They'll pick you up from your boat if you don't have a car, will drop parts off, and will let you exchange if you lose your mind around all the shiny yacht jewelry and choose the wrong block.  Five-star Galactic rating.

~~~

Shower time for a four-year-old
who can't bear to get water on his face

Meanwhile, back in our daily narrative…  Well, what to say - parenting in our ultra-nuclear family mode (nearest grandparents/aunts/uncles - five thousand miles away!) can be tough.  Motivated by the desire to fit in a "science experiment" from the curriculum that required internet access, Alisa did a big school day for Elias yesterday.  Education ran into the afternoon, which it rarely does on Galactic.  All this time she was watching Eric, too, as I had gotten up at 0530 to fit in some writing, then made breakfast and launched into my boat day (buy a shiny Garhauer block!  set up the new boom vang!  free up the corroded petcock on the muffler!, etc., etc.).

In her still-fragile state, it was too much of an effort for Alisa.  The pain of the shingles on her face came back in a big-and-bold, enough-to-make-the-toughest-woman-I-know-cry kind of way.

We assume that she'll be well enough to go on passage next week, and so have been keeping the pressure on to get the remaining boat tasks and life-before-we-lose-internet-for-a-month tasks completed.

But pushing to get everything done is obviously not what Alisa needs right now, and we'll have to counsel ourselves with patience, even as the month of May, precious for Southern Hemisphere voyaging, passes away, day by day.