Trish and I go on a Cruise

Next year Trish Kelly and I are intending to sail to the Bahamas in Irish Mist III. As research for this trip and future Big Boat Cruises we are going cruising.
Tomorrow we fly from Toronto Centre Airport on Porter to Newark. Carnival pick us up and take us to the boat. At 4:00 we leave for our first stop Port Canaveral.

Yes you are right if you are thinking it may not be that great a cruise. The boat is too big and the weather for most of the cruise is too cold. This is an experiment first to see if we like cruising then assuming a positive answer what do we want or need on a future cruise and what is not important. Why this one simple it is simple and relative cheap.

I do not know when I will be able to post due to the very pricey internet service onboard.

Carnival Splendor

Edward M. Hodder Dinner 2013

Saturday night we held the 6th annual Hodder Dinner. Four of the 21 recipients were unable to make it, they apparently were skiing. The rest had a wonderful dinner prepared by Chef Jonathan of either Beef or Salmon Wellington. It was a great dinner and a wonderful time to start thinking about our plans for the summer.

The Hodder Dinner 2013

This week was a big week for my sisters and their yacht Pipe Dream. On Monday they received the Graham F. Crate award and at the Dinner they received their Hodder Flag. Combining both courage and perseverance they completed the requirements. Trish, Kelly and I are very proud of them and along with all other recipients of The Hodder welcomed them to the club.

If you would like to learn more about The Edward M. Hodder Award please go to my February 17, 2013 post Commodore Edward M. Hodder Dinner.

My Sisters receive a big award

This past Monday was our annual meeting. Before we got into the controversial business of changing membership categories and in doing this raised the fees for every member who has been a member for at least 20 years and is at least 65 years old.

Mary, Margaret and Joan Brennan my sisters received The Graham F. Crate Trophy for Navigators. They received it mostly for the reconstruction work they had Mark Bruckmann of Bruckmann Yachts perform during the winter of 2012 - 2013. In addition to this one of our Past Commodores David Howard had Mark create a keeper which has a usable hand held compass integrated into the design.
Needless to say they are very pleased. I have included a picture of our Vice Commodore Fleet Derek Fisher and a close up picture of the keeper alone with a picture of the trophy.

 

First a Visit to Irish Mist III

Last weekend I went down to the parking lot to see how IM III was fairing. The verdict was generally not bad. The aft starboard zipper was open and it was blowing about 30 knots. I decided it had to be fixed so I proceeded to break the slider. I think it can be fixed, but it is around 0 Fahrenheit. Far too cold to try and fix anything. I have included a picture of IM even though it is not in it's most attractive position.

Toronto Gets Hit

We were told for a couple of days that we would get rain, ice and snow. We did not get any snow yet, but plenty of rain and last night freezing rain. The most beautiful and most destructive is freezing rain.

Freezing rain starts out 2000 or 3000 feet up in warm air, thus comes down as relatively warm water. As it falls it cools but not enough to become ice so it lands as water, coats everything and freezes.

The result is heavy limbs on all trees. The tree cannot support the extra weight and limbs break off. Some of these limbs bring down hydro wires some only destroy cars.

As of now Toronto has 250,000 homes without power. The worst may be yet to come. Later this
afternoon we expect heavy winds.

So far we have kept our power, but my son and daughter in law are without. We have offer them room here but no one has moved in yet.

I only have one picture taken out our kitchen door. It is too slippery too go walking.

The Brennan Christmas Party

For a number of years Trish and I have held a Christmas Party. Its origins date back to Lyall Avenue in The Beech, but we are not sure we have had one each of our 40 years of marriage.

We owned a large home in High Park of 31 years and the party grew to fill the home. By 2009 our last year at "The Gardens" the number had grown to 70 to 100 people depending mostly on the day. Sometimes we hold it on Friday and sometimes on Saturday. Three years ago with retirement on the horizon we decided to sell "The Gardens" and move to a more manageable abode. In June 2010 we mover into a Townhouse at Islington and Bloor. The big question was could it hold the party. Fortunately the home on Shires Lane came with a Ballroom. During the year we use the Ballroom as parking for our cars. I have included a couple of pictures of the Ballroom and the Party.

The dinning and Living Rooms

The Kitchen

The Ballroom

Our Annual Trip to South Bend

We have and a busy yet uneventful fall. 10 days ago Trish and I went off to South Bend to visit our good friends Mary and Bill Thurber. This year it would be The Catholics against tThe Mormons. Notre Dame was going to Play BYU.

But first we went too Fairport Harbor Ohio to visit Tartan and ask them about our centreboard trunk failure. It turned out they had used a piece of aluminium to attach the top plate and they should have used stainless steel. They felt that the fix with the correct lag bolts all the way around would do the trick. We did get a tour of their factory and got on a mostly completed 47. The very kind gentleman who gave us the tour then took us over and explained how they constructed their carbon fibre mast and booms.

the next stop was Punderson state Park. Ohio has 5 state parks which have lodges. We went to Punderson which was about 30 inures from Fairport Harbor. It was an excellent stop. We got a very attractive price due to our age which included a hot breakfast. We also had a delightful dinner in their restaurant. The lodge was originally built as a home in the late 20's and past through a few hands before  the state  took over. I have included a few pictures. Both Trish and I would recommend a stay.

The Front Door

Our Room

The view from our Room

The view of the swimming pool from our Room

The following day Friday November 22 we drove to South Bend. It should be noted that the driving was excellent. Within three days of us travelling through Cleveland they got about a foot of snow I think. Before heading to the apartment we had to go to the "Book Store" to take a look at the merchandize and buy a beanie for a friend in Toronto. This accomplished we arrived at the apartment had a drink then out for Italian food.

Saturday arrived wight the expected weather. At game time something below 32F and 25 mile an hour winds. As a result it felt like 9F. Trish and I were dressed warmly and made it a lll the way to the 4th quarter. By then our hands and feet were getting cold. the following picture and vide shows a dark day but regrettably you can not see the cold.

The start of the game, notice the students are not all present. They did finally all arrive to a full stadium.

                                          Here come The Irish