Ouma at sea

Grandma Misale lives on a boat. Ahoi, ahoi, ahou.
And with their boat, they sail the seas. Ahoi, ahoi, ahou.
My bed has a leecloth from the table to my bunk. It keeps me in my bed, snug and safe when the boat is rolling and sometimes jumping. Eelco has a leebord. Of course, when all the bedding lay on a heap my bed is made. Right?  No, Ouma.
When I feel sick I stay in bed. And when I open my eyes, I can watch the twirls spinning the world around. I remember where we bought it, who made it and what we were doing there. All those pictures in my head roll passed like a movie. I love the row of houses in my Dutch kitchen. All the delfts blue paintings and bright tulips tell the many stories of Holland where Eelco grew up. The clogs I sometimes use as mini trays. From my bunk I look at the stone bottle and think how - like the widow's jar which never got empty - my pitcher of life also is blessed bottomless.
We do the dishes with seawater. And we catch rainwater from the mainsail when it rains. Sometimes we do nothing but looking around at the wind, ship and sea. Sometimes we do big jobs when the sea is calm. Sometimes we want to do jobs but cannot because the sea is too rough. When it's hot we throw a bucket of seawater over ourselves. Then rinse off with a cup of fresh water. When it's cold or rough we don't shower. Only spit on the finger and wipe the necessary places.  Right? No, Ouma.
My eyes are old and the glasses do me no good when everything is moving. My eyes activate seasickness and migraine. Therefore I cannot do too much if it strains my eyes. It is very frustrating to do nothing. I always have a lot of things I want to do.
During sea voyages we have a rain curtain. It is very handy to keep halfway dry.
We have a gps so we don't get lost. We also have a ships radio with which we can talk with other ships in the area. and a shortwave radio with which we can send and receive email and weather. and a car radio with which we can listen music. Everything is protected with plastice against the ever preasent seaspray. All our navigation is done electronically on a laptop.  Skipper knows very good how to use all this equipment. And he handles the boat well. My occupation is seawife. I do the cooking. Sometimes I also make custard. In the morning when I get up, I roll the fishing line out. and I look around if there is flying fish or squid laying on deck. If there is, then we have it for breakfast.
We have plenty good books and read what we're observing whilst we sail across the big oceans.  That makes the big grey interesting.
When the sun is so very hot, we put up sunsails then we have a shaded cockpit. The sun burns me. I must always be covered or hide.
Mylady has a high side railing which helps to keep us safe onboard when we have to be on deck.
When the sun set we look if the green flash will appear. It's only visable when there is no clouds. And we take out the stellarium program and learn something of the stars. In the mornings the sunrise is as impressive as the evening sunset. From my bunk I can see the stars and if the same one stays in sight, I know that the boat is staying on course. Mylady has a windvane steering. Steering all by herself.
It's very hard work and very tiring to just 'walk' in the boat when out at sea. It's interesting how one 'walks' with arms, knees and body. In this story I don't show about the rough and tough times in bad weather. However I'll confirm here that all you see in the films about disasterous weather, is true.
I'm scared many times. I'm frustrated many times. I'm sick many times. But I'm always fascinated by Creation in this amazing life I have.
Thanks for watching.