Things As They Should Be

Ticongeroga, NY

43 50.30 N 073 23.35 W

Life is good. We are back on Lake Champlain. The mast is up. Libby is walking around with a big grin on her face. Me? I just jumped in the lake for a swim to cool off. That was the first time I swam since last year. The water felt delicious. I could have stayed in for an hour.

We put the mast up at Chipman Point Marina, as usual. We were saddened to hear that Dick, the proprietor, died last spring. Dick's son Chip is running the place now with his mother Pat. Dick will be sorely missed. Anyhow, Chip is the one who did most of the work in recent years. He remembers Tarwathie and things went smoothy.

I removed the running backstays and the messenger lines to extra masthead sheaves. We never used any of those things in 5 years. It's time to clean up and simplify the rigging. We'll store the backstays at Jenny's house for future uses.

As I write this, I'm looking up at Fort Ticonderoga. What a place. The fort is 400 years old, very historic, and it looks brand new from down here on the lake. I can well imagine how it was seen as an insurmountable barrier to passage on the lake during its time.

Fort Ticonderoga Seen From Mount Defiance

We are also looking at a glory up in the sky. There is a band of cirrus ice clouds. The sun is setting. In one spot, the angle of the sun is just right for us to see a bright spot rimmed with the colors of the rainbow. It's a fitting welcome.