Sep27

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #7

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #7

IMPATIENT TO CRUISE

Husband and Prairie Girl couldn’t wait for any opportunity to take the ON EDGE out on the water. Two busy professionals had to scramble to find extended periods of time to take off on their annual two week sailing vacation at the end of each July.  They would be so covetous of their time on the water that they usually chose to ignore the weather warnings.  Sometimes this worked in their favor, and other times…not so much! Prairie Girl ALWAYS trusted husband’s decision-making! (After all, he wouldn’t be trying to OFF his new wife, now would he?) Husband is responsible, but when getting out on the water might mean a delay, his common sense might have … Read the rest

Sep20

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #6

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #6

The Y KNOT Gets a NEW Name!      yknewbottompaint

Husband and Prairie Girl just didn‘t like the name of their new (old) boat. The Y KNOT was just a little too common, even though they could justify it as a cheeky response to their impulsive sailboat purchase, in the first place. They’d had several brainstorming sessions over the winter months, trying to find the “just right” name, but to no avail.

Finally, their scheduled two week cruise mid-summer arrived, and the Y Knot had been provisioned, complete with a new shower bag to use while in anchorages. The crossing from West Van to the Gulf Islands was smooth and everything seemed perfect. (Seemed is the key word here.) They had … Read the rest

Sep12

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #5

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #5

THE FIRST OVER-NIGHTER at ANCHOR

                   … How did he get Prairie Girl back onboard again?

Well, let’s just say, husband didn’t get Prairie Girl back onboard for that entire fall and winter- and not just because she was still traumatized from moving marinas! No it was too late in the season and husband had a TO DO LIST 3 pages long to deal with before setting sail. He was anxious to have the boat updates done before next summer when they’d be ready to go cruising – of course they would be!

yknewbottompaint

So the kinds of projects that husband took on brought the reality of boat ownership home quickly to Prairie Girl. Mooring fees were one thing, but … Read the rest

Sep11

FUN HAPPENS! CHANGES URL

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FUN HAPPENS! CHANGES URL

ATTENTION ALL FUN HAPPENS! FOLLOWERS 

I am in process of moving my blog to a new site: https://www.marylaudien.com

I value your visits to my  WordPress Blog and the comments you leave.  I am hopeful that you will subscribe to my new site of

FUN HAPPENS!:

HUMOROUS KIDLIT & TENDER, SASSY POSTS

You can expect to find two types of posts:

  • TENDER TUESDAYS 

  • FUN KIDLIT FRIDAYS

I’m looking forward to meeting up with you on my new site.  Please copy the URL now, so that we can continue to share fun stories with one another. (https://www.marylaudien.com)- easy to remember if you know my name…

mary_helming

 

… Read the rest
Aug23

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #4

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES #4

YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO TAKE IT OUT ON THE WATER!

Sailboat ownership was new territory for Prairie Girl. She was so busy getting the new school year launched, that she barely had time to perseverate on the fact that they now owned their very own Catalina. Warm, fuzzy feelings descended upon her whenever she’d mention to her colleagues and parents at her school that they were now proud sailboat owners! (Oh yeah, she was still locked into her rosy vision of the beautiful people sailing in white, flowing nautical clothing, sipping champagne in the evening under the stars.) Obviously not grounded in reality! DUH! Instead of seeing a Catalina 27 that had had better days, she was transporting herself … Read the rest

Aug19

I Am What I Read: 5 Ways to Nurture Reading Identity by Paula Bourque — Nerdy Book Club

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I Am What I Read: 5 Ways to Nurture Reading Identity by Paula Bourque — Nerdy Book Club

Over the past few years as a K-8 literacy coach I’ve worked with students to help them create and connect with their writing identities. I wanted them to live “writerly” lives and explore what it meant to be a writer. I wrote a book about that exploration (Close Writing). I know, as writers we […]

via I Am What I Read: 5 Ways to Nurture Reading Identity by Paula Bourque — Nerdy Book Club… Read the rest

Aug16

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 3

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 3

WE BOUGHT AN OLD TUB! REALLY? REALLY!

One Sunday afternoon, as husband (that’s right-no longer boyfriend) and Prairie Girl took a walk around Granville Island on a hot summer afternoon, they ended up in a boat broker’s office. What a surprise! Of course, husband had been checking out sailboats for a very long time! (Prairie Girl was too busy to notice…) The broker just happened to mention that there was a one-time owner Catalina 27 languishing in a slip nearby that would be reasonably priced and encouraged them to go aboard to check it out. They had nothing better to do, so Y Knot?

One could tell that the boat had been much loved by its former owners. … Read the rest

Aug10

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 2

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 2

I know, I know… it’s back to Wacky Wednesdays.  So hard to keep on a schedule while traveling and working on one’s book!

YOU WANT PRAIRIE GIRL TO DO WHAT?

-A SAILING GET-AWAY? ARE YOU CRAZY?

My boyfriend (now husband) had enthusiastically sailed in his earlier years, and when he suggested that we should charter a boat for a weekend and give it a try, I somewhat reluctantly agreed. After all, I was PRAIRIE GIRL, what did I know about sailing the Pacific Northwest? Absolutely nothing! He, on the other hand, had apparently moved to Vancouver Island for a stint in his early 30’s and immediately notified the Royal Victoria Yacht Club that he was … Read the rest

Jul27

TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 1

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TENDER TUESDAYS – PRAIRIE GIRL SERIES # 1

WARNING: RACE TO BUOYS AT YOUR OWN RISK!

We can be spontaneous! Can’t we? Plans changed, our expected company cancelled, and guess what? A long weekend out on our Catalina 28 stretched before us (the first one all season, where the gods had aligned us with a free weekend and a perfect wind and sunshine prediction). At least, that’s what we envisioned…

With 4 free days ahead of us, we toyed with destination possibilities and settled on the nearest – Mark Bay (between Newcastle Island and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island) – a mere 2.5 hour sail away from home! My working senior husband was exhausted from attending corporate meetings in Vancouver and his retired author wanna-be wife was due for … Read the rest