Moondriven

Small Z likes to know what is going on.

I pushed her little 23 month old mind a bit by
saying that “Mama has a Mama!”

Quizzical look…

I keep going. “Mamas Mama is Nana”.

Nope… too weird.

OK.

“Dada had a Mama”, “Her name was Fayette.”

“Fayette?”

“Yep, (swells with pride) Fayette”

“Fayette?”

“Yes. Dada had a Mama called Fayette”

“She’s not coming back?”

Huh???

What am I meant to say about this? Z is smart and wired but very little.

I blurt out… “That’s right”

My head swimming with ideas of being ‘honest’ with my kid.

A non committal couple of words. I mean anything can be “that’s right” right?

Z says again, “Fayette is not coming back?”

“That’s right Darlin’, Dadas Mama is not coming back”

She quickly changes the subject. Sings something.

I Freeze.

What have I done?

Small Z has seen little of my family. However she has a cracker memory and is as sharp as a tack when it comes to names and places. She remembers “Aunty Jan, Aunty Yvonne and Uncle Michael” They are in “Her Family”.

My sister Jan came to stay for a week recently.

Z loved her.

By coincidence my other sister Yvonne and her partner Micheal were in town for the day.

We hung out. It was a hoot. A real nice hoot.

See here for Vid of small Z on the day.

The nice thing about being an irresponsible member of society… i.e building a boat ‘as a job’. Is the ability to grab the girls and get away. Chase Tigers. Get chased by bears in the forest.

Binganwarri a couple of days after Christmas.

Got out on the creek after work.

Explored a few inlets we hadn’t seen before.
One entrance is tucked out of sight behind mangroves. A creek opens up and meanders on into the paddocks for ages. Mysterious. Strangely, our neighbours were up this same inlet at the same time as us… and for thier first time too.

I went for a swim and little Z, at 23 months, got to steer. That has to be kinda wrong.

Small Z is now 23 months. She sings all day long.

Jingle Bells.

The Wombles Song. (she was sang this a lot whilst she was in the womb)

Out onto Westernport Bay, Victoria. An overnighter on Surfarosa. The crew – Honeybone, Gibson-Roy and Adams.

PGR wastes no time…

We fish all day, sailing from spot to spot. All vague guesses. Only one of them any good.

We anchor in Chicory Lane for the night.

View Larger Map

Still and quiet except for a surreal humming coming from the rigging. A few red wines and ‘20 Questions’.

PGR mocks the Maldon Folk Festival within 30secs of waking up…

First fish of the morning.
12345 once we caught a fish alive. 6789 ten. Then we put him back again.

An amazing day on the water. Azure blue. Still.

Only… we have run out of water… Well… Honeybone has some.

The Lord of the Flies.

So after a brief trip back to port for bait, water and advice from a very wise but very wrong man we are back on the water.

PGR had the biggest fish fight of recent history in the last hour of our adventure. He had the monster on for so long that the rest of us lost interest and made coffee and fished on the other side of the boat. Eventually i pulled up the anchor and motored toward his catch. The monster had reefed out a lot line and PGR was getting none back. After a few circles of the boat and huffs and puffs the monster called it a day. Broke the line and swam off.

My Brother and Sister on a train our Grandad made.
Photo taken about 50 years ago.

Small Z found a train at a cafe. It became her favourite thing.
Photo taken last month.