Being seven months away from moving onto a trawler with 300 square feet of living space, we are feeling the weight of our belongings. We plan to downsize before leaving, so we began early in July with the kitchen. In going through the cupboards, we found many items that were easy to part with like special use kitchen tools or glasses that we had never used. Those were easy.

The trouble, however, was with the things that had been passed along by family, even if they had never been used. For example, I had multiple creamer and sugar bowl sets. Today when we gather, it has become “BYOC” – bring your own creamer. Everyone prefers a different kind of creamer, with and without sugar, non-dairy or almond milk, etc. Instead of one pitcher for the milk that was in the fridge for cereal or drinking, now we have multiple bottles in the fridge when we all get together. It feels like a metaphor of the excess in our world today. I found it in clothing too. When we used to have one pair of boots or sneakers, now we have gardening boots, snow boots, hiking boots and fashion boots. There are walking sneakers, pickleball sneakers, and fashion sneakers. Making it more difficult, my mom sold shoes and had really good taste in shoes. I still have some. For example, I won’t get rid of her pink leather adidas. I remember the day she tried on nine pairs of sneakers in her wheelchair before choosing them. We then went out for lunch for our last time and she ordered a margarita. She only had a few sips. She made the best margaritas. She got the recipe from the Albion, NY DMV. It was the best recipe. She just had to add tequila. I’ve digressed. After checking with the kids, no one wanted the creamer and sugar bowl sets, so they went to the box for the yard sale. Though Larry and I feel a responsibility as stewards of family possessions, we also feel a responsibility to our kids to make way for the future by letting go of the past and not leaving them with the burden of excess. 

I did not know if it would be worth it to have a yard sale, but family and friends brought some items, and we hung out for the day telling stories, laughing and visiting. My granddaughter was the cashier and sold lemonade. Neighbors I had not met before visited and some found a treasure or two. Things I did not imagine anyone would want, went. The sugar and creamer sets were never touched, so they went at the end of the day to the donation center with anything else left. It was the best kind of day visiting, reminiscent of lawn chairs under an oak tree at my grandparents. It was a satisfying feeling at the end of the day. This was the first pass of the “cleaning out”, which will continue until the end of the year. 

To end the month, we had quite an adventure. After a fabulous time attending a family wedding in the Finger Lakes at Cayuga State Campground, visiting the Corning Glass Museum and hiking Watkins Glen, it was off to Macedon, NY to Erie Canal Adventures (“ECA”). We rented The Onondaga, a 34’ canal boat, for three nights to try our hand at the canal locks. I’ve had a romantic notion of these canal boats most of my life. This trip largely supported that opinion, but only if you have the time to be romantic.

A canal boat is even slower than our trawler. We are getting better with practice at being carefree. We stopped in Pittsford our first day and indulged in an afternoon nap. We had made some chicken salad on the boat for our dinner and I reunited with some friends and former coworkers at Pittsford Dairy for “the best ice cream on the Erie Canal.” The place was hopping with young and old and everyone in between. It’s funny that even after more than 20 years, we are still the people we were back when we worked together at Bausch & Lomb. The years between quickly disappeared as we caught up. Of course, there is not enough time to catch up on everything, but we parted with hugs and a picture and promised to keep in touch.

The whiff of black walnut trees took me back to my explorations of the woods along the Erie canal at my grandparents’ house just outside Medina, NY. Every wildflower blowing in the breeze seemed to be waving to welcome us. I took photos of the Queen Anne’s Lace, Buttercups, Bluebells, and Morning Glories. As a child, we often fed the ducks and geese. I had forgotten how abundant the red-winged black birds were, too. Spotting a blue heron is always a treat, especially when they take flight. We had not anticipated also being enchanted by so many green herons and kingfishers!

Arriving in Spencerport, we were greeted by family that lived locally and my nephew visiting from Arizona. After a delicious lunch at McColley’s, the weather was perfect for an afternoon cruise up to Brockport, then back to Spencerport. To top it all off, we enjoyed a decadent breeze while having ice cream at Vic’s before bidding farewell to our guests.

Our third morning was rainy, and the bed was comfortable. We made our coffee and decided to linger in the boat, visiting and talking about our Great Loop route. After our showers, we visited the Spencerport Depot & Canal Museum and learned of the efforts to preserve the history of the Canal and the town. We talked about the trolley that used to run from Buffalo to Rochester, and I shared that my grandfather used to take that trolley to the Rochester School of the Deaf in the 1930’s. The temperature was only in the 60’s and I was thrilled to finally don my sweatshirt!

We shoved off shortly after 11, only to have our engine overheat within 10 miles. We called the ECA and they dispatched a mechanic. He was able to diagnose the issue but needed a part to fix a blown coolant hose. It took enough time that Larry was able to catch a catfish on his brother Burl’s blue magic lure in the misty rain. This legendary lure has caught 16 different species of fish, but this was the first in the Erie Canal. We also heard word this day that another of Larry’s fishing buddies lost his battle with cancer and the weather seemed appropriate. We weighed the option of trying to make it through two locks and a lift bridge to dock in Fairport for the night, but we were not confident we had enough of a time buffer before the locks closed and did not want to be caught in between without power. Instead, we turned around and headed back to Spencerport. ECA suggested that we return the boat on Friday instead of Thursday. I regret that I would not be able to meet up with my BFF for dinner as planned. This is a perfect example of what we will face on the loop. We were able to measure the distance and calculate the time needed. Though on paper we could make it, we knew that to do so, everything would have to go just right. As storms have been passing through the area, we decided not to test our luck and enjoy another night in the lovely town of Spencerport.

The extra night gave us time to catch up on some work, review our pictures from the last month, and talk more about our route. It’s amazing that we are now only seven months away from starting our Great Loop adventure. We are being more realistic about what we need to plan for to make it not only bearable, but enjoyable. For me, I will need a couple breaks to visit family and friends. Larry will be able to have friends on the boat with him when I visit home. One of my friends will return to the boat with me to join us for a leg of our journey.

We worked with our local marine fabricator at Marine Service Pro in Southport to agree on a plan for our new davit system. We have a mechanic coming to service the A/C, install a new radio and antenna for the downstairs helm. We have added a mattress to the list and decided to repair the doors instead of replacing them. We still need the new AIS chip. We are looking forward to doing more day trips with the boat in August.

Until next time,