20090717: a new rope ladder of old line

today is a day of rest! woa! can we ever rest! yes, pam too. she can be taught! for me resting comes easily, and is often a good quality... sometimes it can wander into the "lazy zone," but can very often linger in the "patient zone," which is where it's at today. the wind was deader than dead this a.m., so rather than sit in the middle of the cheapeake bay, we're sitting in our cozy little cove off the mouth of the little choptank river. a thin peninsula is to our east, lined with pine trees and sand. a lovely veiw! it is a beautiful thing to live by God's weather!
funny, pam mentioned how it was a bit difficult to sleep last night on account of it being so still! now there's a change! we're getting to be true sailors, eh!?
we read, napped, read and worked on a cute little ship's ladder made of rope. the aluminum ladder we've been using works great, except that it is super hard to fold out, and fold back in. so we decided to try to make a ladder from the instructions given in a book we have aboard called, "the marlinspike sailor." it's a very fun, salty book about how to make all sorts of nautical items mostly out of rope (line) like turk's heads and monkey's fists and such. pam is amazing at figuring out knots and such! she has quite a knack for that good, practical stuff. she's got a lot of what folks call "c.s.," (common sense, which is not at all so common, far as i can tell!) and i truly appreciate those gifts! it was fun making the ladder, and it looks excellent! we feel all the saltier for putting it together, and will feel saltier yet when we get proficient at using it. we tried it out, risking jellyfish stings, and found that it will take some practice to use well, but it is a great addition to cricket's supplies. read pam's blog to hear a great story of her and the jellyfish today (i'm not qualified to tell it as it is too "personal."
a small storm blew by this afternoon, consisting of a good blow and a little rain. no anchor dragging. no other drama.
i'm going to see if i can get Pam to play a game of cribbage or two in this evening. we're driven below by the evening mosquitos, it is a bit stuffy in here because the wind is dead calm again. the oil lamp burns with a sweet glow, maybe warming things up even more down here, but it's sweet glow is worth the tenth of a degree!