A Fashion Spread for the Winter Shelter Island Collection

The girls begged us to buy them some fabric to make dresses. So we did and the following are the dresses we came up with.  It was a joint effort by the girls and Monica. One trivia about our boat: Luminesce carries two sewing machines on board- one for sewing sails and other canvas work  and another for just sewing for fun like these dresses. The crew had fun sewing these dresses in a few hours while other critical boat related activities and installations were in our captain's hands.

Anna's is in a sheath dress with a sloped round neck line and slight capped sleeves . 

She loved playing with this scrap of tulle we got at the fabric store.  Finally, it seemed fun to try to blow it in the wind but this low budget photo shoot couldn't afford a wind machine. 

The dress is perfect for a Sunday brunch but yet comfortable enough for a ride in a dinghy. 

Woe to me for working with these  models who had no respect for the stylist/photographer's artistic directions.  Asked for a pensive look but got a mischievious look holding a chin while her partner prances around in some native dance ritual. 

Can't they just pose naturally? At least one got the idea while the other one will just have to do for now. 

Always happy to include Cutip as a prop for any photo op.  Cutip, not so much.

Our Time in San Diego from Late November to Early December 2015 (San Diego part I)

We arrived in San Diego November 19, 2015 to the public dock in full sunshine.
During our close to two month stay in San Diego, a lot has happened: lots of new installments in our numerous boat systems; many meals cooked, eaten, and cleaned; quite a few visitors and visits; many new friends made; and too much money spent.

San Diego Part I

The day after our arrival was a Friday. We were glad to find that we didn't enter the harbor when all of San Diego comes out for a race in the harbor entrance. It seemed too small for all the boats vying for that perfect wind spot for that fraction of speed they might gain.

Now the views of the Shelter Island and the surround hotel marinas and Point Loma were magnificent.

As for church, we visited St.Agnes several times but found the Virgin Mary statue quite unlike others we have seen.

Has anyone else seen such a statue of the Virgin Mary holding a boat?  St.Agnes seemed to have some historical ties to the Portuguese community who had a great part in San Diego's fishing community. Wish I had found out more about it. 

On our walk back from St. Agnes, about 30 mins walk, we found tropical fruit tree plants in the church neighborhood. Banana tree with bananas growing, pomegranate, avocados, lemons, oranges, and lime trees. Would love to have these type of trees in my yard one day.

Walking back to the boat on Shelter Island Drive. Anna's hair is way too long. 

Sophia and Anna both have this idea that loitering is against the law and those who loiter usually have their  baseball caps work backwards.  Perhaps it's these signs outside of grocery stores.

We didn't make such a hoorah about this year's Thanksgiving.  We spent it wishing many of our family members Happy Thanksgiving from our boat.

Thanksgiving Dinner was pretty low key, too: marinated chicken, green beans with turkey bacon bits, and some left over dessert.  It was hard to get super festive just ourselves.  Besides, the inspiration of cooking really didn't hit me this day. But, it was definitely yummy and we thanked God for all our blessings, opportunities that allow our family to be close, and for our great friends and loving families.

A visit to Midway Aircraft Carrier 

We all anticipated greatly for Jeff's parents to come and visit us in San Diego. With them we decided to visit the famous Midway.

Hmmm... General Purpose Bomb.  How would one categorize general purpose in the military or is a code name for "dummy" bombs. 

There was an intense curiosity about the brig, the ship's prison.  The girls wanted to go back to the brig more than once on this visit.  They look very guilty of  court marshall type offense.. Just look at those eyes. 

Anna enjoyed sitting in the aircraft. Would be so cool to actually ride one of these.

This robot dude is supposed to be a copy of the real admiral that served on this carrier.  It was a little creepy to watch him tell you what he does and about the carrier.  His arms and torso moved about just like  the 80's robot dance move but seeing his facial expressions change was really fascinating but creepy.   He  furrowed the skin between his eyebrows.  Sophia watched from the corner suspiciously.