The hurricane that wasn't

The impending hurricane over the Labor Day weekend ruined everyone's plans. We went down and put on extra lines on Friday and the storm swished by on Friday night, causing no more than some much needed rain.

On Saturday, all the A-dock folks were still there. The storm had left the Sound rough so we all stayed where we were. We called our good friend Ellen Creighton and asked if she could visit. She said yes for Sunday morning so we knew that we'd have a good time seeing someone that we don't see enough of.

We brought some dinner stuff with us and just as cocktail hour got started, Frances began preparing dinner. It's amazing what that woman can do in our galley.

 

Ellen arrived on the 9 AM ferry from Orient Point and we picked her up, had breakfast and gave her a quick tour of Norwich. She mentioned how much she liked New England with all of its hills. Come to think of it, eastern Long Island is pretty flat by comparison.

We also hiked up to Indian Leap, which wasn't as spectacular a waterfall as we remembered. However, Heritage Trail is beautiful, one of Norwich's hidden treasures.

We chatted the beautiful afternoon away in the cockpit. Ellen is really happy in this picture; she was just surprised when I leaned out of the fly bridge and took her picture.

The highlight of the day was the fact that it was Frances' birthday. Our always-prepared and very thoughtful dockmate Janey, gave Frances a birthday crown, which Frances wore all day until the stroke of midnight. Nice glow on the crown, Frances!

On Monday, Labor Day, we thought it would be fun to take Ellen back to the ferry by boat so we unhooked the lines and with Rob and Carol Ann along for good company and conversation. We cruised slowly down river to New London and dropped Ellen off at the city dock, right next to the ferry.

 

Rob took over for the ride back up to Norwich. It was one of those great afternoons with dark blue skies and bright setting sun. It sure was nice to sit back and let someone else drive once in a while.