Stars...

Yesterday's post referred to my discovery of "many florescent stars glowing on the ceiling" on my berth.
I'm in contact with the sellers and I texted to thank them for the lovely surprise I saw when I turned off the berth-side lamp.
I received a text explaining the stars' genesis.
When their youngest girl was smaller (she's six now) her mother writes, "she hated going to bed while the bigger kids got to stay up. So, I stuck the stars on the ceiling and we would talk to the stars and make wishes about all the things she would do when she was big."
I love the image of a mom and daughter stargazing in what's now my floating home.
I'm big already, but I'll keep that tradition and stargaze, too. Why let age and size stop me from making wishes about all the things I'd still like to do?

Two weeks a Swabbie

Two weeks of swabbing - pressure-hosing, (fellow mariners imply the many spiders spinning many webs are a feature of "this time of year"), scrubbing decks and cabin - and uncovering hidden features of my houseboat.
I've a defunct hot water heater and pump under my berth, a solar panel on the upper deck, no running water aboard, and a head (toilet) not hooked up. The sellers mentioned the water and head in passing and, in a romantic haze, I figured, "easy-enough fixes."
I wasn't too far off the mark. A handy-mariner on another houseboat with a reputation for great work and reasonable prices said, "it's not a big job" - and lowered himself into the water to work between the pontoons. Water is not cold but it is deep and he had to flap his fins to float as he replaced an old and leaky pipe. Voilà, cold running water (hot running water is a future fix).
Hooking up the head will require immersion, too. (The marina has restrooms but bladder and bowel shrink as fellow mariners watch one head towards the public head.) I hope the plumbing is done when I return to the boat in three or five days.
Day four this week is July 4th, the most celebrated holiday on the Delta. Mandeville, a local island, is the place for anyone who has a boat. "Like Burning Man on the water," I've been told. (Unlikely I'll attend this year but this drone's-eye view from 2015 gives a sense. Disclaimer: I don't know the drone's remote pilot - or recognize the music. It's You Tube public domain.)
Another discovery: first sleepover in the main berth, I turned off the lamp to discover...many florescent stars glowing on the ceiling. Thank you, sellers, for the lovely surprise.