UNDER ONE ROOF

From New Mexico

My Aunt Hazel here in New Mexico asked me the other day if we had a way of covering up our household belongings when it rained. I guess she thinks we live on a Tom Sawyer raft, but that's my fault, isn't it? I clearly haven't done a good job of describing our boat or living quarters.

Yesterday my sister brought over a jigsaw puzzle, and everyone was surprised to hear that I do puzzles onboard. "You have enough room to do a puzzle???"

Well, bad for me.

Here's some proof, if not flattering proof, that we can do puzzles onboard:

Puzzling on Bell Island with Karen & Dale from Jessie Marie.

We can entertain guests:

Our kids with Chip's parents, Nancy & Ted.

They're being affectionate, not crowded.

We have entertained as many as eight guests below (in the living room/kitchen) without feeling too cozy.

We have room to make our guests do chores:

Remi & Casey doing chores in the Exumas.

We have a full kitchen where we can both work at the same time:

This is an old photo. I promise another one soon.

Three burner stove, double sink, big refrigerator and freezer.

We have a beautiful bedroom with a queen-size bed:

We have a complete bathroom with sink, toilet and shower, and another bedroom with a queen-size bed -- and it is all covered by a roof!

I realize that by land standards, this is very tight quarters, but for a cruising sailboat, it is quite spacious.

And our backyard is spectacular.