it seems that i pretty much missed the whole month of june and most of july. notable for june was a lot of social butterflying. friends from norfolk, norman and betsy mason and long-legged hound, peggy sue, arrived for the monk rendezvous at regatta point and uncle norman got to see a "bigger" aurora. we went to cape charles to see the tall ships and even got to see ALL of them under sail on our way back to deltaville - it was quite a sight!
we went to st. mary's to meet up with tom's son and daughter-in-law and we got to see tommy and marie armstrong at their home on the little wicomico river. aurora played and played with the armstrong's 2-year-old brittany spaniel, suzie, and please don't ask me about the baby rabbit - i will forever be traumatized by the squeak and am just thankful that it was not aurora who caused it! friends from the 2014 SAIL rally, steve and patti beringer, and little darla, their bichon frise, came to visit on their way driving south to their new home on the west coast of FL. aurora had many play dates with her buddy, CJ, that did NOT involve baby rabbits. she also got her last set of puppy shots and is now on annual checkups instead of every three weeks. despite the fact that she barely eats, sometimes only every other day, she is, apparently, a healthy shiny puppy, albeit a little gangly, like her legs are growing too fast for the rest of her.
we spent the Fourth at smith island, meeting up again with norman and betsy, and had a crabfeast together with another couple from HHN who were staying at the smith island marina with us. we hauled out for the fourth time to change the propeller yet again and then left to cruise the middle and northern chesapeake to visit with friends, mike and carmen nemeth, at queenstown, as well as john and heidi menocal on mill creek in annapolis. we went up as far as chesapeake city on the C&D canal before heading back south, stopping by fairlee creek before hitting annapolis again. we also visited tom's brother in oxford. we are currently at little bay, just chilling out before going to kilmarnock for an MTOA rendezvous and then, finally, back to regatta point to sit for a while. phew... quite frankly, i don't have any violent objections to sitting for a while.... some days it has been extremely hot and between job work, housework and aurora, and all of this going on in a different place every time with the plans changing constantly, i simply have run out of steam.
i think it would help considerably if i didn't have to work for a living although i suppose i really can't complain. my job allows me to cruise and i am only limited by internet connection. it would probably help, too, if i weren't so anal about keeping things clean, but well, i am what i am - and i have standards. as it is, i just can't seem to keep up with it like i used to and it depresses me when i sometimes just have to let it go. and aurora...
well, aurora... she is NOT consuelo, that's for sure. things are taking a little longer than i had hoped and expected. all puppies are cute but beagle puppies, i think, are the cutest. and then reality sets in. it's hard not to compare even though there SHOULD BE NO comparison. it might even be easier to blame tom for what i think are aurora's shortcomings because i have never had to "share" a dog before. as a puppy, consuelo was not easy because she was extremely bright and very sensitive. i guided her with an iron hand and she shaped up to be exceptional, considering that beagles are difficult to control to begin with. and 14 years ago, i was also younger, not as busy, not as tired, and probably a lot more patient - you get the picture. the bottom line is that i haven't really found a way to communicate with aurora the way i did with consuelo and it rankles. the frustration makes me miss consuelo even more. i miss the silent communication and understanding that we had. yes, objectively, i know that aurora is still a puppy and that these things take time - something that i seem to not have anymore. everything is different. i live on a boat. we are not in the same place every time. things are always changing and the little puppy is bound to be confused, i suppose. my lack of patience doesn't help - i was never the most patient person to begin with and it gets worse as i grow older. oftentimes, i just lose interest and that, i know, is a terrible thing to say! but sometimes, late at night, when everyone is asleep and all is quiet and i am not: 1) working or 2) cleaning something, i just sit in the dark and try to assess. the things that used to be simple no longer are. or is that i am making simple things too complicated? i don't know. having to say that - i don't know - where my dogs are concerned - that is a new one for me and it is hard to swallow. i always used to say that i am crippled without a dog and i guess that maybe that is what it is - i don't have the dog that makes me "whole" - not yet anyway. am i expecting too much? probably - because making me "whole" is not
aurora's job.
and i will probably regret publishing this blog entry.
