Ho-Hum

 That was me today.  I almost had a pajama day but got cold so I got dressed at about three o'clock.  I started and worked on December Preemie Hat #4 without a lot of enthusiasm, just enough to stave off catatonia while watching TV.

I texted DS asking if I can bring something for Christmas dinner and OJ requested chocolate pudding.  That's a boy after my own  heart.  We're talking real, homemade pudding, not the stuff from a box.  I'll whip it up tomorrow so that it's good and cold for Friday supper.

Arctic cold is supposed to be blowing in tonight.  Today it got up to 45 degrees, dreary and damp, tomorrow they're predicting highs in the teens with a sharp north wind.  I can hear that the wind has arrived.  It's roaring out there. Um, I won't be walking tomorrow, that's for sure.

23 December--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

Chapter 26

            During the summer season there were a lot fewer tourists on the island wanting to go out diving, so many days the boat stayed tied up on shore.  I was very glad that the Windjammer Barefoot Cruises ship M/V Polynesia was anchored out in Road Bay again that day and that there were a few passengers on board who wanted to dive.  I hurried back to my studio at Sydans, tossed on a swimsuit and slipped a long-sleeved tee shirt over it.  I kept most of my dive gear packed so it was an easy job to run down my checklist to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything.  I slid into my plastic sandals, hefted my bag onto my shoulder and went back down the road.

            I stopped into the office to pay Lomira for my dives, pick up lead weights to put in my integrated weight pockets, and make sure they had a couple tanks on board for me.

            I still couldn't jump onto the deck of the catamaran dive boat so I slung my heavy bag up there, took off my sandals, and waded out.

            Dougie the divemaster was already on board and he lowered the ladder when he saw me coming around to the stern of the boat.  "You know, Mrs. Rose, I would be happy to pull you up if you give me a shout," he said.

            "Thank you, Dougie, but I'd rather cool off by walking around and climbing up the ladder.  I don't mind being wet, especially after sitting all morning in the Seaview's lobby working at my sewing machine."

            By then the half-dozen Polynesia passengers who had come in on the ship's launch and walked down to the dive shop, were finally signed up and ready to board.  They had been inside when I went in to pay, laughing and teasing each other while being fitted in rental gear.  Jim and I had been on the Polynesia the first time we came to Anguilla and it made me a bit weepy to see them and how much fun they were having.  Once they were all aboard and had their gear stowed to Freddy, the boat driver's satisfaction, Thomas pushed us away from the shore.

            Dougie would lead the dive and he began his briefing right away since our destination was the nearby wreck, Oosterdiep.  The purpose-sunk shipwreck had become one of my favorite dives in Anguilla.  It had been on the bottom long enough to become home to innumerable small critters like the shrimp that defended their square inch of territory by snapping one of their claws making a sound like popping popcorn whenever you got too close.  There were also garden eels in the sand alongside; I loved watching them sink into the sand when a diver swam by and then come back out, mouths open into the current to catch any passing morsel of plankton.

            It was great sitting on the open boat as Freddy steered it away from shore.  The wind blew all the sawdust out of my hair and the cobwebs out of my spirit.  There were six male divers onboard plus Dougie and me.  The ride to the mooring was short; Freddy hooked the floating line and made the boat fast while Dougie finished his briefing.

            "We will descend on the stern of the ship where you will see a lot of sponges and sea fans growing on the rails," he said.  "As you slip down the stern, the rudder and propeller surfaces are host to male Sergeant Majors guarding patches of purple eggs, and there is a school of yellowtail jacks that patrols the area.  If we are lucky there will be a sleeping hawksbill turtle tucked under the propeller.  If it is there, please do not disturb it.  Sometimes there are lobsters sheltering where the hull meets the sand.  Hands off, it is not lobster season."  Everyone laughed at that.

            I was eager to get into the cool, clear water.  I assembled my buoyancy vest on the tank behind where I sat and then finished putting on my thin wetsuit.

            "Mrs. Rose, those others are friends and they want to buddy together," Dougie said.  "Do you mind diving with me?"

            "Not at all," I said.  "How about I swim at the back of the group to make sure no one swims off."  He nodded.  It's hard to keep track of divers when you're the leader and these six were unknowns so I'd just made keeping them together a lot easier.

            I sat, geared up and sweating, while the six of them dithered over digging fins out of bags and making sure that someone had the camera, then finally shuffling awkwardly in their fins to the open side of the boat and, one by one, giant-striding into the blue water.  Dougie waited for them at the mooring line and watched as they thrashed over to him.  He gave me the okay sign; I stood up with Freddy's help, walked to the side, put on my mask and fins, and stepped off into the water.

I didn't toss anything today and I didn't write anything.  The only thing I did do was run and then empty the dishwasher.  I told you it was a ho-hum day.

--Barbara