Wishing Away the Present

This isn't just about waiting to go sailing, it's about really enjoying what we're doing when we're doing it. Over the next year, we'll get ready to go and do a lot of planning and preparation for the sailing trip - but we'll do a lot of other good things too! We need to capture and enjoy the present, as well as looking forward to the future.

Weekend Recap – Thursday night in London with Steve, we went to the Cross Keys for dinner, ate in the restaurant rather than the pub, but had a really nice meal.

Friday Steve was up early to go to Newport and I took the 9:46 to Preston. The train was cancelled at Warrington due to a gas leak, but David was kind enough to come down and get me there rather than at Preston. Made it up to Highcroft in time for my conference call and there were chicken wings there! Steve made it up at around 8:30 and after the restaurant / eat in debate, we had a lovely leftover chicken cacciatore in the dining room.

Saturday we had breakfast at the market and then did the shopping. Went much smaller on the cheese so we wouldn't feel so bad about throwing it away. And finally found something that the market didn’t have, onion powder – although I think if we’d gone off our usual track we would have found some! Wrangled a trip to Clitheroe out of Steve to visit the great wine shop there and pick up a bottle of J. Lohr and a ‘spring case’. Steve headed off for a latte and I had a rummage around Dawsons, a house ‘stuff’ shop. Loads to look at and lots of things that don’t require power (very good for the boat). Found a yogurt maker so will be giving that a try next weekend before we cart it over to the US. Then back to the house for Steve’s nap while I tested out a new bread recipe (note to self, do not put lots of honey in a sweet roll, it boils over and makes a huge mess of the oven!).

While we were in Florence, we had the most amazing meal. Bissteccia ala Florentine is a t-bone steak, extra thick, for two – very tender and very tasty. I found a recipe online and we gave it a try. It was delicious and has definitely made the list!

On Sunday, after a wait for it to warm up a bit, we went for a motorbike ride. Over to Hurst Green, through Waddington and on up to Settle for a bite. Steve had a monstrous Cumberland sausage sandwich and although they weren’t serving breakfast, they were serving bacon and egg sandwiches! Nice leisurely ride back (more new roads), a bath and a nap for Steve. I worked on the Mom and Dad trip reservations, placed the Tesco order for next weekend, ordered a book, and surfed the sailing blogs. Steve made a wonderful red snapper with tomatoes, onions, peppers with mayo (who knew?) and creole seasoning cooked in tin foil for dinner. Enjoyed with a bottle of J. Lohr and lots of sailing talk.

Up at 4:30 Monday for my trip north to Glasgow and Steve’s trip south to London...