Spring is late this year. Really, really late. Not a bud in a tree, not a green blade of grass.

Our sailboat’s spring refit is running late too. We’ve been held up by very cold weather. We’ve been dodging hale storms and taken a beating from angry northerly gusts. And today, just as we thought the worst would be behind us as it’s almost May, we’re having this great big snow storm. Everything is covered in snow – insolent, inpolite, unenvited snow!

Don’t get me wrong, I like snow. When I was a kid we always had those beautiful, snowy, fresh white winters full of skiing and sled rides and ice skating. Lately, not so much. This winter we hardly had any snow at all, just ice all around so you couldn’t really go for a walk without ice spikes on your boots. And we had strong winds, from all the different directions but all equally unpleasant. A bad, bad winter. The kind of a winter that really makes you desperate to be somewhere else. Anywhere else really, but if I could express a wish, turquoise water would be nice. Now we seem to be getting that snow we’ve been waiting for all winter – but I don’t want it anymore! 

Many of our projects require working with epoxy, paints, glues and sealants – all of these need temperatures at least a few degrees above freezing point in order to dry and stick. There hasn’t been a single day warm enough so far. This will delay all of the following steps in the project. We have a very sad little sailboat in our backyard with two holes in her bottom and an exploded interior. She really must be wondering what’s going on – what’s going to happen to her? Is she going to slowly wither away? Will she ever get to float in salty water again?

• Now It’s Official – Summer’s Gone!

September 29, 2016

• Bittersweet times

May 16, 2018

• Sailboat Projects – Well Begun is Half Done!

February 12, 2017