Everyone wants to be happy.

Right now there are a thousand things I can think of that I expect would make me happy.

Someday I’m going to do or have or make those things. Someday we’re going to live on a boat again and life is going to be wonderful.

But not today.

We had the best time, living on a boat. Two boats, actually: one on the West Coast and one on the East. We had the best time. We really did.

Sarita refinishing the mainboom on the Sailing Vessel Hawaiian Chieftain

The only reason I don’t lust after boats every day now is because I want a big vegetable garden, and some chickens. I want my boy to experiences seasons– snow in the winter, that first spring blossom, fireflies in the summer, and mountains of autumn leaves. I want to work from a loft upstairs while my children play all day in the sunshine. To do all of that on a boat, well… that would be one heck of a boat.

But lately I’ve been thinking, “What can I do now, today, that would fulfill some of these wants from my ideal living situation?” One thing is gardening. I need to just start. We have some room here. I could at the very least do some container gardening. I don’t have to wait for the ideal home in the ideal location with the ideal plot of land… I want to garden, and I’m going to garden. Right now. Today.

Now that we’ve got a little bit of the Midwestern farm life under control, what is it specifically that we miss so much about living on boats? There are several things I can think of off the top of my head:

1. We worked from home. Crewing the boat was our job. Ok, it was more like living at work than working from home, but it was good. The different aspects of our lives were integrated by living and working in the same space. Also, we worked very well together, and we enjoyed being together and working side by side every day.

2. Everything was neat and tidy. Ok, if you’ve ever sailed with me, you’re laughing really hard right now because my bunk was always so messy & so full of junk that I had to sleep elsewhere, but on the whole… the first thing every day (after breakfast) was cleaning the boat, top to bottom. Morning chores are a great way to start the day, and it helps keep the rest of the day’s activities running smoothly.

3. We were out of doors every day. Even on days we didn’t put to sea, there was no lack of fresh air and interaction with the world around us.

4. We were strong. The first time I went sailing, I went for two weeks. When I came back to my favorite landlubber job at Starbucks, I could carry six gallons of milk at once. That’s about 25 pounds per arm. It’s not easy to carry that much weight any distance at all, and there is no way I could do it today. (Ok, my son weighs around 20 lbs, but I carry him differently and now my back hurts!)

So, what can I do today, this week, this month to recreate some of what I loved about boat life?

1. Work from home (more). I already work from home, but not in a very organized way. I need to streamline my work day and grow the business so that John can eventually join me here instead of commuting to his tech job every day.

2. Clean the house! I love a clean kitchen in the morning. It sets the tone for the rest of the day. Housekeeping has always been a challenge for me, but the more ritualistic it is, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes. I’m going to post a chore bill. I think I’ll make it out of chalkboard paint. Actually, for now I’ll just make one out of notebook paper so I don’t get caught up in that “as soon as I make that really cool chore bill, we can start cleaning the house” fallacy. We’ll create a ritual of housecleaning, first thing after breakfast.

3. Get back into the routine of taking Keani Kai out for walks every day. We used to do 3-5 miles per day, at least 5 days a week! We can also do a lot of our work out of doors, and then there’s the gardening.

4. Working out of doors and gardening should help us get some of our physical strength back, but I’d also like to start strength training again. I’ll have to see where I can fit that in.

This seems like a good start. For now, the snow, the fireflies, the autumn leaves, and the chickens (and the boat!) will just have to wait.

Homework: Think back to the time in your life you were the happiest, the most productive, or otherwise the best that you could be. Aside from going back in time, what can you do right now, today, to recreate some of the best aspects of that time and place?

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Two significant things happened yesterday:

1. I finally unpacked my Yudu machine and gave it a whirl (I think I’ve had it over a year now), and

2. Keani Kai (9 months old now) ate curry.

Item #1: If you’ve ever heard anything about the Yudu machine, you’ve probably heard that you will mess up the first 2 emulsion sheets which are included with the machine. I was determined not to let that happen to me under any circumstances, so I read the manual (twice), watched the instructional DVD (twice) and then watched a few user-created videos on YouTube for good measure.

So, I wet down the screen, applied the slightly annoying sheet of emulsion, and took a good look. It looked weird. I smoothed it out with the squeegee. It still looked weird. “Oh well,” I thought, “it’s not changing any no matter how much I smooth it out, so I’d better dry it now.” I put it in the machine and started the “Dry” cycle.

Then I sat down to watch more YouTube videos. When I got to this video, Kendra-the-Cricut-Lady explained in detail how to make sure the emulsion was properly adhered to the screen. When she held it up and said “It shouldn’t look like this,” I knew I was in trouble because that is exactly how mine looked. So, what did I do? Genius that I am, I ran over to the Yudu, pulled out the half-dry screen, and re-wet it, trying to get it to go on right. It started coming off. Yep, the emulsion started washing right off, so I stopped, stuck it back in the machine, and put it through another drying cycle…and another…and another…and another… after about 2.5 hours, I was tired of waiting, so I just pulled off the protective plastic coating, and big wet gobs of emulsion came off with it. It was too bad. I wanted to get to the printing part.

Emulsion coming off a Yudu screen because it was not dry enough

The two pieces of text I had prepped were small, so I fit them into some undamaged areas on the emulsion, and exposed for 8 minutes. I should have done 10. Anyway, at the end of 8 minutes, I went to rinse off the unexposed emulsion, and this happened:

The ruined "Team Baby" Yudu screen

Yep. It all started coming off.

Lessons: Get the emulsion on right the first time, then leave it alone. Make sure the emulsion is totally, completely dry before messing with it. Expose for 10 minutes.

The good news is that this experience was very liberating, and I am now ready to experiment and play with my Yudu machine. I went at it with an uncharacteristically laid-back attitude because I realized that the reason I’ve let it sit in the box for a year is that I was afraid I’d mess up. I wanted to wait until I was a pro before using it. Duh. How will you ever be a pro at anything without making a bunch of mistakes first? So I went for it. And I messed up. I completely wrecked my first project. And now I can get on with perfecting it.

As for the baby eating curry, well, I took some curry, turned it to mush in the Magic Bullet, and fed it to him. The look of delight on his face after the first bite was priceless. It was as if he were saying: “Mom, are you sure this is for me? It’s delicious!” It was kind of like this, but a little more on the tickled pink side:

Baby Boy looking up with a puzzled but happy expression

And now, as I type this, he has pulled one of the air tubes off the breast pump and is trying to learn everything there is to know about it. So, until next time…

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One of my best shots from the 2012 Morro Photo Expo- model Michael Marrero at the "It's All About the Light" Workshop. I was standing on a chair and couldn't get a wider angle to get his elbows in! But still, I like it. (Photo credit: Sarita Li Johnson)

Have you heard of the Morro Photo Expo?

I couple of years ago I was walking down along the Embarcadero just before sunset, and a man with a pretty cool DSLR (that’s a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera, in case you’re wondering) asked for a restaurant recommendation. Conversation ensued, and he said he was here in Morro Bay for the Photo Expo. Interesting, I thought, and then never thought about it again…

…until the following year. I saw the posters, remembered the guy with the cool camera, got the impression that it was all about nature and bird photography, and never thought about it again (again)…

…until this year.

This year I joined the Morro Bay Art Association, and (somehow, I’m still not sure how) became half of the newsletter committee. (Well, there are only two of us, so in that sense I’m half, but workload-wise, I’m really only about 10%.) Anyway, in the process of researching the Photo Expo for a possible article, I discovered that there is a lot more to it than nature photography! So, I just spent three days running around Morro Bay photographing people. I learned SO MUCH in those three days.

See the participants’ best shots here, in the Morro Photo Expo “Give Us Your Best Shot” Flickr Contest.

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Now that most of Keani Kai’s food allergies* are under control, he’s developed something even more perilous: mamitis. What is mamitis, you ask? Well…

Keani Kai with mamitis

This is what it looks like. It’s basically an allergy to everyone but Mom. Even his favorite people; he sees them, smiles, waves, reaches for them, but the moment he’s in their arms…

The sad face. The tears. Mamitis.

*which I haven’t blogged about here, but should have

Last Monday I had a photo shoot scheduled at Morro Bay State Park. I hauled myself out of bed at 5 a.m., stumbled through my morning routine, and drove to the Natural History Museum. I was about ten minutes early, which was good because I hadn’t scoped out the place ahead of time.

I got out of the car and attempted to shield myself from the drizzle, but I looked up at the sky and thought it would clear up as soon as the sun rose a little. The light was dull but improving by the minute. As I clicked away at all the potential props and backdrops, my fingers started to go numb. Next went my nose. “Yeesh,” I thought, “it’s freezing!” Then I laughed at myself because of how quickly I’d forgotten winter in Indiana.

About 15 minutes after the appointed meeting time, I texted the model to see if he was on his way. My phone immediately started to ring. “This can’t be good,” I muttered. There he was on the other end of the line: “I emailed you…” He explained that it was pretty rainy where he was, so he didn’t think it was a good day for a photo shoot. Well, thank you. “At least he’s thinking,” I grumbled aloud to a little sparrow as it hopped cautiously by.

When I sailed aboard the Schooner Mystic Whaler, we had a large stash of  “deck blankets.” These blankets were not fancy. They were just thin, army-style blankets, some with a few moth holes in them, but oh my, were they warm! One night I was sleeping on deck under one of these blankets, and at about 3 am the sky opened up and poured. Trust me, it’s not a fun way to wake up. Amazingly enough, although my pillow and my head were completely soaked, my clothes were still dry under that wool deck blanket!

If you’re a sailor, you are likely familiar with the cozy + warm factor when it comes to wool and silk. Some of the benefits of wool, in particular, are:

• water repellant
• warm even when wet
• dirt repellant
• fire resistant and doesn’t melt (unlike like acrylic, nylon, and other synthetics)
• breathable
• naturally insulating

Espresso and Cream Striped Camp Blanket by the Landlocked Sailor on Etsy

All of these factors make me want to use nothing but wool blankets, especially for sailing, camping, bonfire-ing, etc. A key consideration when taking along wool blankets is packability. Wool can be bulky, but it does compress well. Using blanket straps helps to keep it compressed and also provides convenient carrying handles.

I’m happy to announce that I’m now offering 100% wool camp blankets in my Etsy shop. I designed these blankets a little longer and a little narrower than bed blankets, so they’re sized for just one person to be tucked in nice and snug without any superfluous fabric taking up precious space.

Here are some examples of a neutral palette and a (very!) colorful palette– what other color combinations would you like to see?

Candy Stripe Wool Blanket by the Landlocked Sailor on Etsy

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Imagine that you’re on a sailboat in the middle of the ocean. You feel the sun beating down, and the gentle sway of the vessel in the water. You turn your face to try to feel the direction of the wind, but there is no wind. Not even a breeze. You hear the creaking of the masts and the gentle lapping of the water on the hull, but you are dead in the water.

There’s no telling when the wind will pick up again; it could be several days. In the meantime, what will you do? The year is 1854, and you are a topman aboard a merchant vessel bound for some Pacific Island. You can’t pass the time by reading, because you don’t know how to read; you don’t feel like singing at the moment, and you can’t whistle because you are superstitiously worried about whistling up an ill wind.

What’s a sailor to do?

Maintenance.

There’s always plenty to be done to keep the ship in top condition. There are sails to be mended, lines and rigging to be repaired, old rope to be turned into baggywrinkle, decks to scrub and tar… the list goes on and on. However, when that “Sailor-Do” list is completed, what’s next?

Fancywork.

Have you ever seen a particularly handsome bell rope and wondered, “How on earth did they make that?” Or how about a boat’s ladder (stairsteps) all decked out with ornamental ropework? It’s not strictly ornamental, after all. On the ladder, for example, it serves as a nonskid surface for climbing around in your wet boat shoes. There’s a  name for this combination of form and function: it’s called Marlinspike Seamanship, and it’s not exactly a lost art. (The work below, coxcombing on tillers, was done by Frayed Knot Arts.)

©Frayed Knot Arts (www.frayedknotarts.com)

The next time you have an opportunity to get up close and personal with a sailboat (or even see one in a movie), look for examples of Marlinspike fancy work. It’s all done by hand, and it’s a tradition worth carrying on.

If you’re in the Morro Bay/San Luis Obispo/Central Coast area of California and you’d like to participate in a Marlinspike workshop, leave a note in the comments below. We’ll let you know when we have one coming up!

Also, check out these books (click the covers to see them on Amazon):

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This red and black flag signifies a storm warning. One flag means Tropical Storm Warning, and two flags together mean Hurricane Warning. (The signals for Gale Warning and Small Craft Advisory are two red pennant (triangle) flags and one red pennant flag, respectively.)

I thought these marine weather flags would make kind of cool throw pillows, so I’m knitting up a couple of envelope-style pillow covers. I’m just making it up as I go along, but I know that if I don’t write it down I’ll forget how I did it.

What this means:

I just finished writing out my first ever knitting pattern. It is very simple– just a black square inside a red square, using very basic stitches (it’s only the front flag part, not the entire pillow cover), but it was HARD to write the pattern, and I’m still not sure it’s accurate and user-friendly. So, if you use the pattern, please help me out by leaving a comment about how easy or difficult it was to follow, and what I should do to make it better.

The way it’s written assumes you know how to make basic knit and purl stitches, as well as how to join a new color in an intarsia style. (It’s not as hard as it sounds! I learned it pretty quickly from YouTube– check out these videos for instructions: Intarsia Knitting Basics and Intro to Intarsia. The second video is by KnitPicks, and it features nautical flags, so yay! Perfect.

Click here to download the PDF pattern.

Thanks!

Sarita Li

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So today, in lieu of Wordless Wednesday, I am FINALLY posting a few photos from our awesome family photo shoot aboard the Tall Ship Lady Washington. Thanks to the lovely Ginger of Sandprints Photos in Morro Bay for her amazing photography and cheery personality. Also a big thanks to Captain Miah and the Lady crew!

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Urban areas are overrated.

OK, I admit it: if I had a free ticket to Anywhere, USA, I’d be in NYC quicker than you can say X-ray scanner, and if I had to pick a destination on the West Coast it would be Seattle. I do love the big city, but I know I’d soon be back home in my tiny town. All things considered, I can’t think of a better place to experience life with my son every day. Morro Bay, CA is a small town of a little more than 10,000 residents scattered over 5 square miles.

Reasons to love Morro Bay:

• November, 10:00 a.m., 63° (17°C) and sunny
• I can put the baby in his stroller and run all our errands on foot
• When business people ask for a phone number, they look at me like I’m crazy when I include the area code
• In 2 hours of running errands, we see approximately 6 people we know
• At the Post Office, we see a letter carrier walk right out the front door with his satchel of mail and start delivering to the businesses across the street
• On the way home, we see 2 more letter carriers, on foot, with their satchels
• Plus, there’s this dog that hangs out at Legends Bar:
  

  Legends Dog

Small town ♥ !

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