The view from our cockpit when I started writing

IT’S amazing how much the weather affects your life on a boat, even before you go anywhere. We had planned to head into the DC area today to run some errands and see friends, but given this forecast from NOAA:

GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 19 IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON

STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING

GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO MIDNIGHT EST TONIGHT

. . . we decided to stay put and make sure the boat does ok. As I write, a full-on thunderstorm is booming outside, rain lashing the boat, wind gusts bashing us around. Ten minutes ago it was a beautiful, sunny — albeit windy — day. (The transition reminded us both of the crazy gale we went through on the Little Choptank a few years ago when I came pretty close to kicking the bucket in a foolish quest for fish.)

The same view, ten minutes later.

At least it’s not cold; the past week has been hard on both of us: temperatures in the twenties followed last week’s glorious 70-degree preview of spring, forcing us both inside and into way too much contact with each other. Not only have we been about to murder each other simply because an extreme introvert and an extreme extrovert were sharing a ridiculously small space, but the frustration was compounded by the fact that Philip spent the week futilely trying to get the engine to start — making us feel very, very STUCK — and I spent the whole week doing taxes. Which rather explains why we haven’t posted much: who wants to hear us snivel? No one, that’s who!

Of course, now that I’ve finished that paragraph, it’s sunny and calm again. Oh, no, wait, it’s sunny and raining. I’m sure by the time I hit “post,” the weather will have changed again. At least it keeps things interesting!