It is almost the middle of January. Katie Rose just turned 18 and she's deciding on which college to attend. Dulcimer lessons are proceeding. Go to my other blog, Barrister Bill, to see about that. We renewed our membership in the YMCA, free this year, courtesy of our new health insurance carrier, Aetna. We have been asked to be sacristans at our church (why oh why can't I just say "No") and I'm thinking about building a model of the Sara B, which is the schooner in which we have a partial interest.
The first step seems to be is to have plans from which you transpose the lines somehow to a block, or blocks of wood. Skipper Chris Gateley did a masterful job of taking the lines off Sara B and emailed the drawings to me. I have been reading a lot about building model boats and there is quite a bit about taking the lines off another model, or a real boat, but very little that I've found about what to do with the drawings once you have them. We're having lunch with Skipper Chris and Skipper Sue later this week, so I will just come right out and ask him. "Hey Chris, what do I do now?"
We have appointments at the Y tomorrow to me with health advisors to tell us what we should do with our aging bodies to make them new again. I once had a barber who asked me how I wanted my hair cut. I told him, "The usual and make me look good." He said, "Hey, I'm not a miracle worker." I hope I don't get the same answer from the health advisor. We have been getting some unwanted exercise by shoveling our driveway the past few days. Not enough snow for the snow blower, but enough (1" to 2") to require removal. One of the things I want to discuss with the Y guy (or gal) tomorrow is sailing. When we were on Sara B this past summer, my body did not feel at all limber. In fact, I felt somewhat limited in my ability to move. Maybe arthritis has something to do with it, but I want to see if I can do something to loosen myself up. I don't think I'll be sailing one designs anytime soon, but I should to be able to move more fluently on a 47 foot schooner.
I almost forgot. I just finished reading The Last Lion, Alone 1932 - 1940, the fascinating biography of Winston Churchill by William Manchester. This is the second volume of the trilogy. Manchester explores all of the macinations going on in England, France and Germany in the years leading to the second world war. It was very interesting and educational reading. This book is about 689 pages of text. The final book is over 1,000 pages. I think I'll wait a little while before I take that up.
