MY TALL SHIPS RACE JOURNAL DAY 8 – (11/07/2015) – Sunshine, oil rigs and making sense of spaghetti!

This is the last entry I have to make using my phone to record my journal.  The sea sickness is subsiding and I am beginning to feel I can go back to writing my journal in my penguin pad.  It is a great feeling when sea sickness subsides, you suddenly feel normal again and wonder how you survived the days you did with feeling so sick.  The woozy head has gone, the constant nauseous feeling has gone, and I am feeling so much better.  The recording today started with this conversation between me and hubby

Me – “I can’t remember what we did today.  What did we do today?”

Hubby – “What did we do today!  Got up.  Went out set some sails.  Had breakfast.  Set more sails.  Came back, had a talk.  Had dinner.  Went on watch.  Did some shopping. Came back to the cabin”

Me – “There you go, you summed it up nicely I don’t need to do my blog now!”

I still had to do my blog though, the journal would not have been complete with so little information in it.  So I continued to record the following on my phone.

MY TALL SHIPS RACE JOURNAL DAY 7 – (10/07/2015) – Blew a sail, rogue wave soaks hubby, and I feel a long way from home!

View from window at breakfast.  The photograph does not do the movement of the ship any justice.  She was very roly!

Up early this morning for breakfast in the upper mess, I am on watch from 8 am to 12:30 pm and hubby is on mess duty.  Even though the sea is rough and the ship is rocking from side to side with waves slamming into her, and I am jammed up against the port bulkhead in the upper mess to stop my wheelchair from sliding any further, it was nice to start the day with a hearty breakfast of freshly caught fish from yesterday’s catch.  A big thank you goes out to the medical purser and pals for their fishing skills!

MY TALL SHIPS RACE JOURNAL DAY 6 – (09/07/2015) – St Kilda and the many faced Islands, panic about depth, mixed feelings, and more St Kilda!

St Kilda at 9 pm on Wednesday 8th July

This was another entry recorded on my phone as I still cannot keep my body from feeling queasy when I write.  I have to laugh though as I certainly must have been losing my mind at this point of the voyage as this is what the recording for today starts with –

“I think it is day six.”

[Pause]

“I think it’s Thursday.”

[Pause]

“I don’t know what date it is”

[Even longer pause]

“I think it’s the 9th July.”

“Ha, it has only taken me 24 seconds to figure out what day we are on.  Being at sea does that to you!”

The Three T’s – Tiredness, Taking of blood, and a Tall ship to brighten the day!

What a beautiful spring day we are having here in Northern Ireland – the sun is bright, there are big billowing white clouds, the temperature has been the warmest for what seems a long while and the daffodils are out.  I started the day with not wanting to get up because I am so tired after several nights of my sleep being disturbed more than usual, however in true “push myself” fashion I was up at 6:30 am. After all staying in bed is a waste of a day even if I am feeling fatigued and exhausted.  

Cloud, cloud go away, come again another day – wishing for clear skies tonight!

Aurora Borealis photo taken in America a few hours ago – published on one of my favourite Facebook pages – Celestial Light: Irish Aurora Hunters Homepage

I wouldn’t normally post more than a couple of blogs in a day, I tend to do a lot of writing and then schedule posts to come up over a few days when I am unable to blog.  However, this was too much of a biggie to not blog about, especially as this is happening now.

Sunday Spirals!

A large low pressure area swirls off the southeastern coast of Iceland. Picture from Schools Wikipedia

Seeing a spiral like this will make you want to run for shelter and batten down the hatches!  Cyclones are winds rotating inwards to an area of low barometric pressure.  They can also be known as hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, typhoons, etc.  As the names suggest they are responsible for stormy, and often destructive weather.

Feeling a little like Dorothy! Ponderings during a storm

Weather map from Northern Ireland Weather

I live between the 2nd and 3rd orange line from the top

Sitting here at 9 pm, waiting for the hubby to arrive home from work and the wind is howling around the house, or more accurately growling around the house in a tumultuous temper.  Ever so often there is a wild and noisy gust that feels like it will shake the house from its foundations and send it flying into the air, me within like Dorothy, off to see the Wizard of Oz. Oh think of the possibilities – I could meet the scarecrow, the tin man and the lion for a lovely walk along the yellow brick road and finish the day by chucking a bucket of water over the wicked witch to finish her off once and for all! Then tap my red shoes together to return right on home.