End of August

This is an experiment, to see whether I can create a blog entry at the boat with the new computer, thereby simulating the conditions in Europe. Here's a picture of me at work. (How's that for self-referential?)

Arlyn editing her blog at the Pied-a-Mer

An article appeared in the New York Times about people doing what we're planning. But, while we're thinking of being "homeless" for about ten months and then reclaiming our furniture, the people cited in the article have decided to be homeless forever. One doesn't even have a storage unit, just travels with all his necessary belongings. I can't picture ever going that extreme.

Researching the Orkneys last week led us to expand our ideas in the British Isles. We're now thinking of spending a few days on genealogy-related tourism. Les' mother's family came from the Meltham area near Manchester. And that's fairly close to Leeds, where my grandmother was born and lived until she went to New York City at age 30. We have some addresses in those places, so it would be fun to see what's there now—probably not the houses that were there a hundred year ago. But we might be surprised, because a few years ago in Bathurst, New Brunswick, we found the house where Les' mom lived as a child, even though we didn't have an address.

Shaw family home (1916)

Same house (2010)

We'll probably have to rent a car for a day or two to do our searching, if Les gets over his fear of driving on the left side. And an Esperantist we're fond of lives in Edinburgh, so we'd like to spend a few days there. Considering the previously mentioned Schengen Agreement, all of our time in England and Scotland is "free"—that is, not counting toward the 90 days permitted for the rest of the countries we'll be in.