Thanksgiving an ocean apart

Eloise and I enjoyed Thanksgiving day today in San Leandro with my mom, brother, and his family.  Lemon sage turkey, homemade wild rice bread, cashew pea salad, etc.  Brian celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday on the island of Wallis (of Wallis and Futuna) with Jeff Ault his friend and crew member.  They ate a pressure cooker meal of chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.  The recipe was taken from Michael Greenwald "The Cruising Chef" page 65. 

We are very far apart and yet I am incredibly thankful that Brian is safe and has all that he needs to make the repair to the forestay that broke while at sea a few days ago.  A broken forestay can sometimes lead to a dismasting or worse.  But all it resulted in so far was an uncomfortable motorboat ride to an unplanned stop on a tropical island in the Pacific. 

The consistent prayer I and my family have prayed for this passage is that Brian will have everything he needs for whatever he encounters.  So far that has been the case.  For example, the ship computer crashed.  That's the way he communicates.  But thanks to my mom asking me about it, while I was in New Zealand  I loaded backup software on our laptop to allow Brian to use that computer for emailing while at sea.  Without that, he would have had nothing.  As it is communication has continued uninterrupted. 

Here in Santa Cruz, Eloise is learning new words every day.  I'm working a little bit to help my mom write a curriculum she's been hired to put together.  Otherwise, Eloise and I are taking walks, re-connecting slowly with friends, and starting to get organized to move in to the dome up the hill from my mom.  Eloise misses Brian and her Kiwi Nana and Papa.  She talks about them, looks at their pictures in a flip book I put together, and watches the videos Brian made of him saying hi to her.  And it looks like another four weeks minimum until we're reunited.  This is HARD.  I don't like it at all.  I guess Brian has it harder.  At least I'm not rocking around having to repair things, AND I get to have Eloise to snuggle with.

Here's one photo.