Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Month: August 2016 (page 1 of 2)

Wordless Wednesday – Frame

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy them. Also, I can’t manage completely “wordless”, but I try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

Since I have archived thousands of photos over the years and can’t easily pick what to post, I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “frame“.  And, no, I couldn’t just pick one photo! 🙂

Framed in Shakespear Regional Park, Gulf Harbor, North Island, New Zealand

Framed in Shakespear Regional Park, Gulf Harbor, North Island, New Zealand

Continue reading

Feeling the Bern in Burlington, VT – A Mid-Week “Weekend Away”

Our plan did come with some serious considerations, but we took the risk anyway. It is not our fault that most weekends in August had contained rain! Who likes camping in the rain? And, we really wanted to visit Vermont again while in this area. One weekend had not been enough. So, all we could do was go on a two-night camping trip during the week. The weather predictions were perfect. The campground we had set our minds upon had most of their eight spots available, so no reservation and extra cost was required. Maybe we would be lucky with a quiet few days in regards to our Wirie business?

While the voice in my head was being positive (or naive), my gut knew better. We cannot and should not leave “the office” on weekdays. It does not bode well; sh*t happens. We know this from experience. Especially when it is the most inconvenient. When you run your own business, you do not get a break. Ever. We ignored my gut, ready for a couple of days away (You never know!), planning to be online and deal with customers and issues intermittently, whenever possible. That is the beauty of being able to work remotely, right? Anyway… As often, my gut was right, and Mark ended up spending many hours behind his computer and on his phone at the picnic table of our campsite or bent over on multiple patches of grass in the shade of Burlington’s parks. But, let’s focus on the stuff I should – and usually do – blog about!

Continue reading

Six Word Saturday – Wrapping up with the Heath Fair

Our four and a half month house sit in Heath, MA is coming to an end. From the moment Mark and I arrived here in April, there was a lot of talk about one event we should not miss: the annual Heath Fair in August. So, we marked the dates in our calendar and found out what all the fuss was about, last weekend. To fully experience the atmosphere, we volunteered at the gate for two hours on Friday evening and on Saturday. The Heath Fair turned out to be an extremely popular attraction (much busier than the Reggae Festival in Charlemont) and the weather was gorgeous. We went two of the three days and that was enough for us. On Sunday, we resumed our usual weekend hiking with dog Jenny.

The fairgrounds

Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Rare

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy them. Also, I can’t manage completely “wordless”, but I try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

Since I have archived thousands of photos over the years and can’t easily pick what to post, I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “rare“.

I talked this interesting but “tough” topic over with Mark in the car, not immediately thinking of something myself. The first thing that came to mind when brainstorming was “male breast cancer is extremely rare”, but that wouldn’t make for a cheerful photo, so we had to come up with something else to stay in the right spirit. Then, we drove past a sign for the cute town of Shelburne Falls. Their fame is their “Bridge of Flowers”,  the only one in the world. Pretty rare, but I already posted photos about that, so what to do?

We reminisced about our happiest times aboard, in the Bahamas, long before life started showing its ugly sides, and came up with the following photo: a rare moment of complete bliss, with our dogs, in a most amazing place! It is the only photo we have of me swimming with Kali and Darwin, in water as clear as gin…

Swimming from our sailboat Irie to the sandbank in Double Breasted Cays, the Abacos (Bahamas) - It is the only time that we swam together to shore

Swimming from our sailboat Irie to the sandbank in Double Breasted Cays, the Abacos (Bahamas) – It is the only time that we swam together to shore

What does “rare” mean to you?

A Day in the Life of a House Sitter – Heath, MA

This is the third blog in my series “A Day in the Life of a House Sitter”. The first one described an average day during our two-week house sit in The Villages, FL last December and the second one reported on our days in Kent, CT for three winter months.

Every house sitting assignment is different and the tasks, requests and expectations depend on the house, the property, the owners and the pets. Some home owners require you to do some yard maintenance, water the house plants or collect the mail; all of them, naturally, expect you to keep the house tidy and “return” it as clean as you found it or better. Usually there is at least one pet to take care of, which means setting food out once or twice a day, making sure the water bowl is always filled with clean water, taking the dog(s) out for daily walks, and sometimes administering medicines or brushing the animal. Although not every pet owner expects it, Mark and I have the tendency to shower dogs with love, attention and company. It goes without saying that a responsible house sitter is prepared to take the pets to the vet or emergency room when necessary and reports general issues back to the owners, while trying to fix or solve problematic situations. And yes, sh*t happens.

Jenny loves the front porch

Jenny loves the front porch

Continue reading

Six Word Saturday – Reaping the Fruits of our Garden

The fruits of our labor have been very tasty in the form of a  small selection of vegetables we produced in our (current) yard. It was our first ever attempt at gardening

My  Six Word Saturday is full of vegetables. How is yours?

6wsButton

WW – Carnival is Fun!

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy them. Also, I can’t manage completely “wordless”, but I try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

Since I have archived thousands of photos over the years and can’t easily pick what to post, I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “fun“.

A lot of things are fun to me: hanging out with friends and family, attending festivals, doing exciting activities like tubing or rafting, spending time with pets or going on vacation (soon!).  But, for this entry, I followed the lead of my best friend Rosie who is still cruising on her sailboat Wandering Star (for over a decade already!) and is currently enjoying Grenada. She recently immersed herself in the island’s carnival scene and that brought back memories of vivid colors, beating drums, big smiles and lot of fun…

Continue reading

Hiking to Tannery Falls

Sign at the park entrance, a few miles off Route 2 (Mohawk Trail)

Sign at the park entrance, a few miles off Route 2 (Mohawk Trail)

A few months ago, I did some research about interesting sites in our current area of the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts. Tannery Falls in Savoy Mountain State Forest seemed like a great afternoon excursion. Especially after driving by the State Forest sign on Route 2 – also called the Mohawk Trail – frequently when running errands in North Adams, I moved the trip higher on my list of “Things I want to do before we leave Heath”.

Mark and I decided to make the trip to Tannery Falls the day after we attended the annual reggae festival in Charlemont. Continue reading

6WS – Feeling Irie at the Reggae Festival

Having thoroughly enjoyed cruising the waters of the Caribbean for four years in our sailing catamaran named Irie, we knew we would have a great time at the Charlemont Reggae Festival.

On this Six Word Saturday, we are still feeling the irie vibes…

6wsButton

Can you describe your Saturday in six words?

WW – Morning Scenes

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays. I hope you enjoy them. Also, I can’t do completely “wordless”, but I try my best with “almost wordless”. 🙂

This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “morning”.  Since Mark and I live everywhere and nowhere, our morning looks quite different depending on which place we call home for the time being. Here are some morning photos of the past and the present…

A morning along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway), heading south to Florida with Irie

A morning along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway),  taking the dogs ashore

A typical morning from Irie in Huahine, FP - front view

A typical morning from Irie in Huahine, FP – front view

Continue reading

Older posts

© 2024 Roaming About

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑