Landlegs? Maybe.

I got back to my native Merrie Land on Sunday and my hands are softening up at an alarming rate.
On Monday we went to the first AWE (Antietam Women's Ensemble) choir rehearsal, and it was great to see all the ladies again. Tuesday I got a haircut and ran errands for mom, Wednesday and yesterday as well as today have been pretty quiet, just getting things done around here, sleeping, snuggling with Circles my little feline angel, watching Oscar Wilde plays with the Parental Units, etc.

The day that Mom and Dad came to pick me up we were going out in the evening to drop anchor and fire off our carronades for the 1812 Overture being played ashore, so they came along on the ship to get an idea of what 'd abandoned them for, unfortunately it was a pretty awful outing, as it rained the entire time and wasn't very exciting. I also wasn't on the ship most of the time, as I got put on the work floats we were using as light barges to illuminate the ship so the people on the shore could see that we were sitting there with our sails up looking pretty. When I was on the ship I was on a gun crew handling the tools. My favorite position, and our crew was the fastest, so that was pretty exciting, for me at least.
It wasn't until afterward when we had to go back out and fetch the barges and I was sitting in Cutter I soaked through and shivering, holding a flashlight in one hand and a radio in the other, watching the rain streak through the lights on the floats and thinking about sleeping in a dry, warm bed in a room all to myself the next night and starting to feel as though I was going to start crying that I realized how much the ship had become home.
It was hard to leave, but it's good to be back home, well, at this home at least.

Tall Ships Erie

Also known as "Niagara holds a party for her tall ship friends and asks for money."

And partying we are. We had an awesome parade of sail yesterday, 67 degrees and 20 knots of wind, waves crashing over our bow; it was glorious.
We got in, secured everything and went to the crew party. It was a good meh, according to me. I'm not a big party-er, and despite spending two summers on a tall ship, I still don't think I ever will be. I did dance though. Oh, excuse me, I mean to say I moved around awkwardly while others danced around me. But it was fun. They'd all been in the marlinspike punch and free beer, so I figured the next day no one would remember how dumb I looked.

Today we woke up crazy early (well, not crazy early, just early) and helped set up "cattle chutes" (aka rope guidelines for the public) for the other ships. Minor catastrophes ensued, but nothing too serious. They got up and seem to be staying pretty well, yay!
Then tours. Tours and tours and tours and throngs of screaming schoolchildren, some of which I was sorely tempted to cudgel. (Can you tell I'm in a good mood today?)
Then lunch and my watch got stood down, whee! Stood down meaning go away and find something to do for a few hours. Okay, that's easy, SLEEP. Nope. Ran into Dan, a model shipbuilder and shipmate who sailed with us for a bit earlier this season and got to talking about the 5 foot operational model he has with him and was displaying earlier. We also got to play with the tiny model carronade that fires. I got to push the button that fires it, now that was awesome.
Then I came up and checked in to say hi to Selena, one of our ship moms and emergency cook for awhile. She didn't have any helpers as was promised, so I grated cheese, cleaned dishes and then swept and wiped up counters. Now I'm even more ready for that nap, which will happen directly after submitting this post.
So probably an hour and some of sleep, then back at it.

Victory, Milwaukee, Chicago and Homecoming

The last race in the Challenge went well for us. We got out of Sturgeon Bay and had some roaring good sailing with the other ships nearby for the first night, and stood the evening watch (1800-2300) with a beautiful sunset and the Pride of Baltimore II framed against it. (Note new heading picture; unfortunately Blogger isn't working with me at the moment and I can't change the writing's color....yet.)
Over the night our wind died and came from the wrong direction, so we ended up tacking past the finish line and then back to cross it fourth or fifth (not sure exactly) and then deployed our sea anchor and had a swim call.
Though we didn't cross the line first, we did win the race once the times had all been corrected and handicapped.
We then made our way to Milwaukee, where we hunkered down for maintenance and rest. The first day I spent meandering around and getting delightfully lost in the art museum and then making my way over to the Irish Fest to catch a few performances and dance a few sets.
Second day I had maintenance all day and in the evening got to see one of my favorite bands, Gaelic Storm. It was rainy and gross weather and an outdoor stage, but it was awesome.
The rest of the stay there continued in similar fashion, painting and partying.
Milwaukee is the homeport of Denis Sullivan so after a few days they showed up and we had another crew to hang out with.
We left Milwaukee and sailed some more, headed for Chicago. One night we anchored near the Roald Amundsen and had their crew over to watch Blues Brothers projected on one of the royals.
Chicago was huge, crazy and awesome. Tours were from 10 to 9 at night, which meant we set to work at 8 and ended sometime around 11 in the evening. (0800 to 2300) Long, long, exhausting days.
I didn't get very far into town, mostly I spent my time on the ship working or in the crew lounge that Navy Pier provided for us.
On Saturday Jadestone and Kiki the Great, two Musers from Chicagoland came to visit, and we spent the day talking, taking pictures and hunting down WiFi.
We left Chicago and booked it straight to Erie, since the powers that be decided to give us some time to rest and get ready for Tall Ships Erie, which happens next week.
Since we got off after work yesterday I've been lounging and following a very strange schedule. Last night was one of those times when at 4am it seems a great idea to run around the parking lot and have crabapple battles.
It's going to be an interesting adjustment going home, but I'm ready.