Hurricane Lee, Solar Panel Update, and Ghost Pipes

Here I am, in a nice hurricane hole in Onset, with a beautiful blue sky and lovely breeze.... and my weather report says that in a couple hours the skies will cloud over and winds will rise. The storm is so huge, however, that the worst will not hit until about forty hours from now, then rapidly abate. I've worried a good bit over the last week, but the worst appears to be missing us and I probably won't see winds over 35 knots or so. I laugh at this so-called storm!... just kidding: this is always serious.

My new solar panels are working well. I am slowly cooking some slices of sweet potato for Monty over my induction burner and am still adding power to my batteries. I've even turned off my propane since I hardly use it. Very satisfactory.

Monty seems sad, perhaps because Cynthia and lucy departed yesterday. On the other hand, we are both glad to be back on board: the beds seem to bother Cynthia's back, so we spent her visit ashore except for the weekend she spent visiting friends in the Springfield region. I missed my boat!

Finally, some weeks ago I walked through a yard in Chatham and spotted what I first thought were unfamiliar fungi, but on closer look appeared to have vestigial leaves and definite flowers. I identified them as Ghost Pipes, a native parasitic plant living on nutrients stolen from the roots of other plants. Rather beautiful and quite cool!

Carpe diem: I should go swimming right now before the temperature drops and the wind rises....