Christmas 2007

It’s that time of year again, when we let all our friends know the tragedies, comedies, successes, failures and otherwise odd things that have occurred in our lives over the past year.  As I scan through my diary, I am stunned at how busy it has been.

David retired from the Human Rights Campaign and we spent much of the early part of the year consolidating the two condominiums in DC down to one and moving all of the art around in the West Virginia house.  (Those of you who have been up recently will know that David’s taste in art runs to “outsider” and new art and so the glorious schizophrenia of the décor at StagsHead has become even more strange!)

As you may know, in 2006, David and I rented a boat and sailed (alone and with no crew) around the British Virgin Islands.  This was such a success that we decided to do the Grenadines in 2007.  This, in retrospect, was not such a good idea.

We arrived in St. Thomas on March 24th to glorious weather and spent the day outfitting the boat with essentials (rum, pate, rum, little munchies, and rum).  The next day we boarded our 38 foot monohull and headed out of the little harbor only to find that the seas had 8 foot waves, there was lots of mist and, unlike the Virgin Islands, there was no “line-of-sight” sailing.  (Thank God for the motor and GPS).  After a couple of rum punches, however, we felt much more comfortable and headed off to Canovan where we moored at a buoy and went ashore for dinner and drinks.  The next couple of days had very strong winds and rough seas so we only put the sails up a couple of times and spent most of the time motoring from island to island, snorkeling, exploring and generally relaxing.  Everything changed, however, when we went to Mayreau.

We had been warned before leaving that many of the mooring buoys were unstable and that at some islands we would have to anchor.  When we arrived in Mayreau harbor mid-morning on the Wednesday, we motored in past all the other yachts filled with bronzed, confident, beautifully dressed people who actually know how to sail, and dropped the anchor.  As we were a bit nervous we decided to have a beer and check that the anchor had set, which resulted in the “I think we’re moving” “No, it’s just the boat swinging around” “No, really, I think we are moving” conversation for about 10 minutes until this very nice gentleman on the boat behind us shouted “Hey, you guys do realize that you are drifting out, right??”

At this point he did offer to help, but wanting to not appear foolish and incompetent, we politely declined and promptly tried to start the engine in order to pull up the anchor and motor back in and try again.  Imagine our surprise and horror when the engine made a horrible clunk and refused to start!  At this point there was lots of rushing around, checking that all the stupid buttons and switches were in the right position (while trying to appear calm and beautiful for the edification of all of the folks watching this little production from their safely anchored boats).

Meanwhile we had now been swept out past all of the other boats and were slowly heading out to the middle of the ocean.  On top of this there was a reef just north of us called the Devil’s Table and one just to the south called something equally terrifying (like the Widowmaker or something).  At this point, we did what any other idiot who can not actually sail would do, we dropped then entire anchor out, which now meant that we had 300 feet of heavy chain with a bloody great anchor at the bottom just hanging from the front of the boat as we are still heading out to sea with enormous waves now crashing around us.

We were still being very calm and attempted at this point to put up the jib (the sail at the front of the boat), which promptly, due to the incredibly strong winds, ripped the ropes right out of the windlass (the clickety thing that pulls the ropes) and wrapped the whole sail and ropes around all the wire things at the front of the boat.  Meanwhile we were slowly and inexorably getting closer and closer to the reef.  The mainsail was all jammed up because of the ropes flapping around and entangling the boom and it was at this point that I started seriously thinking about what was involved in abandoning the ship and, as I found later, so was David.  We both remained very calm, however, and David casually stated; “Honey, don’t you think its about time we called the boat rental company or the Coast Guard?”  (Thank God for cellphones!)

Suddenly this tiny little motorboat with two local guys appeared who yelled “Hey Mon, are you ok?” and, of course we shrieked back (calmly, remember?) “@***^$% No – Help!”  One of them leaped on board and tied their minute craft to the side of ours, helped David pull the anchor and chain up by hand, then towed us back into the harbor where, red-faced, extremely self conscious and utterly exhausted, we tied up to a buoy and gave them every bit of cash that we had, and a couple of beers, in thanks.

As we sat and waited for the repair people to come and fix the engine, I reflected on how really we should not be in the Grenadines in the first place and really should not be on a boat at all.  Neither of us could sail (other than a tiny dinghy) and the smooth seas of the Virgin Islands had definitely made us overconfident.  Also, as we had learned, the middle of an emergency is not a good time to try and remember which one of us packed and where we had put the only copy of “Sailing for Dummies”.

We went ashore and recovered from our ordeal with a lovely dinner and plenty of rum and decided to change our plans and head to Mustique the next day, which I had heard was a fabulous island and not too far.  (Princess Margaret had a house there, Mick Jagger has a house there, all private and terribly trendy!)  This sounded like a good plan so the next day off we motored, moored without incident and decided to relax for a couple of days.  Mustique is totally gorgeous.  It has the most magnificent and beautiful houses I have ever seen, mindblowing scenery, crystal clear water, a couple of gourmet restaurants and not a single ATM.  (Remember our tipping our rescuers earlier!).  One of the restaurants took credit cards but it did put a little damper on our visit as we couldn’t take a taxi or actually do very much.

The next day we motored off to Bequia (again in huge crashing waves, incredibly high winds, and a mist that reduced visibility to about ¼ mile) and about halfway there noticed that smoke was pouring out of the engine.  David asked me at this point if I had remembered to put oil in the motor (as the repair people had suggested and which I had completely forgotten – I don’t even remember to do that in my car so why anyone would ask me to do it on a boat I have no idea!).  We watched the engine nervously but finally made it to Bequia and went ashore to drown our miseries in Painkillers (very, very good drink!).  The next day, we stayed in Bequia (they had an ATM) and celebrated my birthday and the fact that we were still alive.

On the final day, we motored back to St. Vincent in some of the worst weather I have ever seen.  There were 50mph gusts of winds and 12 foot waves.  The boat was crashing up and down so hard that at one point I really thought it would snap in two.  We finally got back to the rental company and vowed at that point never ever to do this again.  (That is, unless we hire a captain and crew to do the sailing).  We did feel a little better when we were informed by some folks that night that the week had been some of the worst weather and most difficult sailing that they have had for quite a while.   On that note, we are never going to talk about this trip again!

The rest of the spring was taken up mostly with preparing for and hosting two events.  The first, the Home and Garden Tour, came about as a couple of years ago we won an award for best landscaping from one of the local garden clubs.  Last fall we were asked if would allow the house to be on the house and garden tour and without thinking, agreed.  Little did we know how much work was actually involved in this but it was great fun and the over 2,000 people who came through the house and gardens over the weekend seemed to enjoy it.

A couple of weeks later our friends Dave and Deb got married in the back garden down by the pond and we had a sit down, black tie wedding and reception in a huge tent set up for the occasion.  It was wonderful fun and there are many pictures on the www.iangibsonsmith.com website.

In June we went for a long weekend to Rehoboth Beach and expanded our family.  While we were there we bought two baby Caiques (small parrots) who are the funniest and most affectionate animals.  They have a big cage in the great room but spend most of their time sitting on our shoulders and playing.   We also put a fish tank in my study so the household now has Scruffy the dog, 22 years old and still going strong even though the vet says we should call Guinness;  Zoe the dog, 15 years old and thinks that all towels, pillows, seat cushions and mats are put on this earth for her to scruffle up so I spend my life racing after her tidying things up so that she can then mess them all up again; Thor the dog, 6 years old and 150 lbs but thinks he is a lapdog, Emma the cat who is supposed to be an outdoor cat but now spends her life planning a parrot buffet; Gus and Cleo the birds and about 50 fish.  (We’re thinking of adding some llamas next!)

We had a lovely summer, mostly at home and spending time with friends.  Almost every weekend we had houseguests and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with many of our friends.  David’s niece, Samantha, came for a long weekend, followed a few weeks later by a wonderful weekend visit from his mom, Martha.  It was just a joy to have them visit.

The fall was taken up with the Renaissance Festival, as always, and a wonderful trip to Northampton, Massachusetts to celebrate the wedding of my friend Chris to a wonderful lady, Rachel.

In the middle of November, we went on a cruise to the Caribbean with our friends Sue and William and relaxed, read books and learned how to play craps!  (Great fun but I think this could be dangerous).

Finally, we just finished our annual Holiday Party and Fundraiser for the IanThom Foundation (www.IanThom.org) which was a great success and raised over $18,000 and we are getting all ready for the Holidays.

In addition to all of the above, we continue to go down to DC regularly to attend the Shakespeare Theatre, Smithsonian and various other arts and cultural events and there have been all sorts of other fun events but this letter is getting long enough.  We both continue to play and be addicted to World of Warcraft and have managed to hook quite a few of our friends.  My father Cliff and nephew Duncan play regularly too and we now have our own guild – The Idiots of the Apocalypse!  If you ever decide to play, make sure you use the Greymane server and look for Morgantier (me), Prian (David), Torv (Cliff) or Ebbitt (Duncan).

On the business front, things have been somewhat rougher.  The collapse of the dollar against the Pound and Euro combined with the fact that the US has no money for repairs has meant that our business has been down for the year.  We have been doing more commercial work and I took a few business trips during the year, including a couple to the US and various places around the US as well as Seoul, Korea (which was amazing but involved some of the strangest food I have ever eaten in my life).  My Contracts Manager, Pam, and I flew out there for three days and I can honestly say that I have never been so tired in my life.

A number of very sad events occurred during the year as well.  Nathan, who had been to visit at the end of 2006 and looked fabulous, was diagnosed with a brain tumor and passed away in March.  He used to joke that we remained much better friends than we ever were as a couple and I am thankful that the last couple of years, as friends, we spent so much time together.  David and I went out to Ohio a couple of times to visit him before the end and he was surrounded by love and cared for so well by his wonderful family.  It was a horrible shock to everyone and we miss him very much.  We also lost our dear friend Ken Swank from a heart attack and will always miss his extraordinary sense of style.

I continue to do a great deal with my stamps and attended a number of shows around the US over the year as well as participated in (and spent far too much at) a number of auctions.  I am still working on my exhibit and our friend Charles, who is an expert at this sort of thing, will be visiting in the New Year to help me put it together.  David and I also attended a number of events at the National Postal Museum in DC (which, if you have never visited, is definitely worth a look!)  David continues to work with his pottery and the house is overflowing with his creations.

We look forward to hearing your news and wish you and yours a safe, happy and healthy Holiday Season and New Year.

All our love,

P.S.  For many folks, we do not have current email’s so if you would let us know your correct email address at Iangibsonsmith@iangibsonsmith.com, we can keep in contact!