Author: Ning Xue

19/09/2020

I got a reply from Yrvind this morning saying he’d be honored to have someone translate his work and told me to start right away!

But today was a busy day. This morning, while I was listening to Jazz on Saturday and tidying up the cabin, as a couple wanted to come over to look at the boat. They brought another couple over to look at the boat together. After they left, another couple came, and when this couple left, the previous couple came back and brought someone who seems to know more about boats then them. We have a feeling the second couple is more likely to buy our boat.

In the afternoon we went for tea at Bob’s, topics expanded to the universe, like the black holes… When we happened to talk about blind people, he cried suddenly, as if he could feel the great grief of a blind Thai girl he met in a temple in Thailand. He did not want to talk about it more, just wiped his tears and we changed the subject.

We had pumpkin soup in the evening, not as sweet as the last time.

18/09/2020

It’s Friday again, the week goes by so fast. In the morning, I applied teak oil to the sides of the bow cabin, and after it dried, I might use oil paints to touch up the faded areas, which will make the boat look newer.

In the afternoon, we took the bus to the post office to pick up the alternator, and then went to the mall to buy some chicken to make butter chicken, using Spice Tailor’s ingredients, I added pumpkin and carrots. Yummy!

I wrote an email to Yrvind this evening hoping he would respond, his website says he doesn’t like to write emails, so I hope this will be an exception. This amazing old man is in his eighties and has been working on building small seagoing boats for decades. Now he is preparing for a ocean crossing voyage. I read his memoir article and was so inspired that I hope to get his permission to translate it into Chinese with my illustrations so that I can share it with my friends and family.

He refused to wear tuxedo even when meeting the Swedish royal family, just in his normal clothes and being himself.

16/09/2020

In the morning, I continued to paint the Airlie beach hotel scene, which is almost finished. One night when we passed by here, I saw this lively scene. This is the scene many Victorians would miss now in lock down. Yet we will cherish the golden moments with family and friends more in the future…

It is challenging to paint bright light in dark background with watercolour. Need more practice.

In the afternoon, we went to Bob’s place for tea and a chat, told him that the boat is not sold, so he didn’t need to rush to move out, although he has been busy moving stuff out of the boat for the past few days, and the boat is already quite empty.

Had pumpkin rice noodles with a little laksa sauce for dinner, yummy!