The last week has been a blur while we prepared for our annual jaunt  north to Canada on the True Love.  Jasmine, David and James made a last-minute trip home to find a house for their mid-August move back to Seattle. They decided last Thursday to fly out on Saturday.  With the help of Katherine Ghiglionne, a wonderful friend and very talented Seattle real estate agent, they were able to find the perfect house.

They are now “pending” on a wonderful house in north Seattle and the Captain and First Mate got to enjoy a bonus grandparent fix with Baby James.  He is growing so fast and is so interactive now.  We can’t wait to have him and his parents back here full time.

Jim and I began our vacation yesterday afternoon by cruising to Poulsbo to enjoy the July 3rd fireworks there in Liberty Bay.  Ben and Lisa Slivka joined us on the first leg of our trip from Elliott Bay Marina bringing on board their alacrity and a collection of wonderful wines.

Bathed in sun we all enjoyed the quick jaunt to Poulsbo where we launched the dingy and the kayaks.  The Captain piloted the dingy to pick up two more friends, local Poulsbo residents Andrew Coulson and Kay Krewson to join our gathering.

Although we had munched all afternoon on hummus, chips, nuts, truffle cheese and pears, we were still able to enjoy our grilled salmon and  vegetables accompanied by the wonderful collection of wines.

With the sunset and darkness came the fireworks.

The pyrotechnics begin with  the private fireworks surrounding us from every direction.  The Captain decided to test our flares and we all decided that they would be remarkably ineffective in a true emergency given that they only stayed up in the air for about 20 seconds.  When we get a chance we need to buy the better flares that use a small parachute to slow their descent.

At 10:22 the Poulsbo display began!  While listening to Jazz and enjoying Kay’s cookies we oohed and ahhed throughout the display.

After saying our goodbyes the Captain returned our guests to the nearby shore where Andrew and Kay dashed Ben and Lisa to the Seattle ferry with only seconds to spare.

The Captain and First Mate rallied to bring up the dinghy, clean the dishes and prepare for a dawn departure to ride the tide north to Samish Island where we plan to spend the afternoon and evening with Doug, Julie, Chad, & Dani, as well as our friend Dick Spink, at the Wallace family’s beachfront home there.

While cleaning the dishes we discovered that the hot water tank was not working without running the main engines.   We are hoping it is just the fuse.

Happy Independence Day everyone!

The Captain & First Mate of the True Love