Fall colours

We are now in the height of a New England Fall and the trees really are spectacular. Newport is known for its outsize ‘summer-houses’ and the grounds of these mansions have enormous trees to match, big old maples, oaks and cedars, all now showing their glorious autumn colours. Even in the town, most streets are brightened by vivid splashes of red and orange.



We decided to try out the shrink-wrap and invited people from the dock round for a party in the ‘igloo’. We had a great turn-out, met lots of new people who are also wintering here, and the shrink-wrap was very successful in keeping out the cold and wind – or was that the warm rum punch?



The temperature has certainly been dropping but despite the cold, the weather seems generally drier than England - crispy cold days far out-number the soggy wet ones! We have had to tog ourselves out in our winter woollies but try to spend plenty of time outside - Newport has a good selection of parks for Katie.



We are still learning the slight cultural differences between the US and UK. We have finally got used to the fact that asking for chips will get you a packet of crisps (you have to ask for ‘fries’ if you want real chips). We can now ask for gas in a petrol station, talk about diapers instead of nappies, and know that pants means trousers, to name just a few. But we have been caught out several times trying to buy ice cream - there is a huge selection in the supermarket and you have to read the labels carefully. On various occasions, we have mistakenly bought frozen yoghurt, ‘light’ ice cream, or worse, ‘dairy-free’ ice cream - not to be recommended!

We have been taking Katie swimming most days in the hotel pool. As you can see she absolutely loves it, particularly if the two girls from the neighbouring boat go in as well. She is beginning to get coordination and can manoeuvre her little float to face in whichever direction she chooses. She’s already in charge of her first water craft…

Shrink-wrapped

This past ten days has been a long-drawn out preparation for shrink-wrapping the boat. This seems to be common practice here but we’ve never seen it in England. A thick white plastic sheet is placed over the whole boat then literally ‘shrunk’ to fit with a heat gun. Very simple and very clever, with no loose bits to flap to pieces in the wind.

Dave has bought a whole roll of shrink-wrap plastic and after watching a couple of boats being done, is confident of being able to do ours himself. So far, he has put up a framework of plastic pipe right over the boat, reaching to a few feet above boom height, so we will end up with a sort of polytunnel with plenty of room to walk around on deck in the dry. He has already installed a shrink-wrapped door, which looks a bit surreal with nothing around it!



In order to cover with shrinkwrap, we had to wait for a day with no wind. In the meantime, we caught the bus up to Maine, hoping to drive back the following day in the car we have been borrowing from friends all summer.

Sadly, we only got ten minutes down the road before it overheated and we had to pull over with steam pouring out of the bonnet. A top-up of water took us another ten minutes before the same thing happened. We limped back to a small garage and a little investigation suggested it was more than just the thermostat.

It turned out to be a blown head gasket and Dave spent a day and a half stripping the engine and replacing it himself. Luckily friends took pity on us and not only let us stay in their lovely heated RV (‘Recreational Vehicle’ – ie. a big camper van) but also drove us around looking for parts, found Dave a place to strip the engine with use of spanners etc, and John even got his overalls out and pitched in with Dave. Thank you John and Mary!



(By the way, the guy in the picture is wearing a bright orange jacket because hunting season has just started in Maine and he doesn’t want to be mistaken for a deer. No joke – several years ago a mother of two got shot dead by a deer hunter while hanging out washing in her own back yard. And the guy was allowed to walk free…)

So a 2-day trip turned into 4 days and we missed the shrinkwrap day, but we finally had an uneventful drive back to Newport through lovely autumn foliage.
We arrived back in time for Halloween, which is a huge thing in the States. One house we saw had created a Halloween extravaganza in their garden - there were a dozen fake gravestones on the lawn, skulls and ghosts galore, at least 30 carved pumpkins; the balcony was a ‘pirate ship’ with spooky figures hanging from the rigging and an inflatable horse and carriage ridden by Death himself guarded the driveway.

We knew we would have at least one lot of trick-or-treaters - the two girls from the boat in front. While they were out collecting ‘candy’, Dave got the boat prepared. A boiler suit with boots, gloves and hat attached became a ‘dead man’ hanging from the rigging, pirate flags fluttered from the stays, our ship’s bell dangled from a rope by the door with a sign saying ‘ring if you dare’. When the girls arrived and duly rang the bell, we jumped out of the darkened wheelhouse with pirate gear on and gave them a fright. I think it worked, as the youngest (aged 5) had to be coaxed inside by her mother to collect her sweets!

scary pirate!

Yesterday, Hurricane Noel passed close by the coast on its way towards Nova Scotia. Even 100-odd miles from the centre, we had winds gusting 50 knots or more. Unbelievably, today dawned calm, sunny and pretty much wind-free. Dave took advantage of the perfect conditions and by sunset Ros Ailither was shrink-wrapped. We now have a perfectly sheltered 50’ x 15’ living space on deck!