Besides writing ... there is this ...

Although I haven't been writing much, at least not anything I would let another human being read, I have been indulging my other passion ....

The first week of August I went to the Bahamas, lived on a 65 foot sailboat with 22 other divers and a crew of 5 and made 19 dives, learned a little about free-diving, beautiful weather, great friends.  Here is a link to a short video my friend Brian Erickson made of our trip, I have the long version which is even better.

Here are some pictures I took above the water ....

A dinner out before boarding the following day for a week at sea.

Our home as we boarded the first day.

It was the opening of Lobster Season!

 One of many beautiful sunsets in the Exumas Cays of the Bahamas.

Friends

How can you not want to jump in?

Beautiful.

I thought often of how much Dad would have loved the boat, the diving, the Bahamas, and most of the people I was with. It was a great trip.

After only being home a week I then traveled to California where my children, my sisters, their children and husbands, grandchildren, step children, husbands, boyfriends/girlfriends gathered and spent a day on the San Francisco Bay to scatter dad's ashes. It was chilly but a perfect day on the bay on a boat called Glory Days. On the way out under the Golden Gate we met a Russian Tall Ship coming in, full sail with the crew all on deck, incredible, then just out under the Gate to a spot where we quietly scattered dad's ashes and then were greeted by a pod of dolphins breeching all around the boat. Could not have asked for anything more perfect for dad.

It is just such a beautiful, picturesque bridge ...

A Russian Tall Ship on its way into port, can you see the crew on deck?

The family, saying goodbye to Dad, Grandpa, Great Grandpa, Mitch.

I felt like my life was a little out of control and I wasn't very happy. I decided that there really was little reason that I shouldn't be happy but it was up to me to make the necessary changes in my life. So I  decided I would work less, write more, play more. I now work one day a week, except for a couple of times that I have agreed to help out to cover for someone else's absence or need to be gone.

While we were in California for the ash scattering my daughter Cait had a few interviews about jobs. While sitting in the airport to come home she got a call from one and lo and behold she was moving back to California. So the first week in September the two of us took off on a whirlwind cross country drive. She now lives in San Francisco, temporarily at my sister's home and works at a high end hair salon in the Marina district. She is also starting school again this month to complete the additional one hundred hours she has to do to be able to take the state board test in California for her cosmetology license.

A long drive but we finally made it ...

3 days straight in the car but here, my little Cait ... overlooking Donner Lake

In October I took another trip, this time with a small group of only five people to Cozumel, Mexico. Another 20 dives. This time I added in another hobby, underwater photography. I'm not very good at it .... yet, but it sure is fun. Not sure how smart it is that many of my favorite hobbies can be a bit pricey, but oh well, it's only money.

Turtle

One of many beautiful swim-throughs

Splendid Toadfish

Angel Fish

Large Grouper amongst a bait-ball of Sardines

Lobster

Lobster

That is me behind those Sardines

Green Moray Eel

Since Dad has died I have started to fill my time with what makes me happy. I wish he were here to share some of it. My daughter has started her new adventure in California, I'm hoping she finds happiness there. My son returned from Afghanistan in June. He didn't get to see his Grandpa before he died but my dad did know that Brendan had gotten back to the states safely. And Brendan has gotten married to a lovely young woman named Elizzabeth. They are living in Virginia. So Brendan has found happiness as well.

So my next move is to dive back into the writing, the memoir, this blog, some fiction ... and maybe a move to somewhere tropical as well ... who knows? Oh but first, for New Years I think I am headed to Grand Cayman for another week of diving.