Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A Pause for Respite and Catching Up with the Jessaholics

Hello All,

Its nice to be able to step back (temporarily) after a very intense fortnight, working through two weekends and late into the night ! Its all good though and very exciting setting up the new facility exactly how I want to. Another two weeks to go before the set up is complete.

Jessica is making excellent progress and is a third of the way across the Indian Ocean. I'm already thinking past April when she passes through the heads at Sydney and wondering how we are all going to cope. Its been one of the most memorable experiences I have had in recent times and one that I will personally treasure for a long time to come. I'm sure all of you feel the same way.

Good luck everyone and keep those posts coming !

Cheers
Jonathan

22 comments:

  1. 03-16-10 @09:09
    Welcome back Jonathan,
    I had it in my mind today to write to you and suggest that you take a break and relax for a little bit. But now I see that you still have about two (2) weeks still to go. That was definitely a big job. Like you say though, you can get it set up exactly how you want it.
    I have to agree with you as far as a memorable experience, this has been one that I have enjoyed very much and I will never forget the people that I have met by following Jessica’s voyage on this site. I have collected a lot of articles and pictures to make my own scrapbook of this voyage. It’s a shame I couldn’t have put the icing on the top, but some things are just not meant to be.
    Take care of yourself and don’t work to hard.
    Cheers,

    Michael

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  2. Jonathan,

    Welcome home. We missed having you as our responsible adult to keep us in line, but we were able to keep ourselves entertained while you were working hard. Even though it’s taken so much effort I’m sure that it will be very rewarding to have a facility that is set up just the way that you want it.

    I agree that there will be a huge void in all of our lives once Jessica reaches Sydney. However, I feel that it will just be the end of a chapter in her life and that she will plan new adventures for us to follow. I imagine that she will continue blogging while she fills all of her post-voyage commitments. I can’t begin to express how much her experience has meant to me as well as how much meeting all of you has meant. I suspect that all of you feel just as strongly as I do. It really is tearing at me that I won’t be able to make to Sydney for her arrival and to meet all of you. I still find it amazing just how strong of a magnet Jessica has been to so many. She is a very extraordinary person. Well, lets all have fun following Jess on her final leg and hope that no unforeseen major obstacles get in her way.

    Take care everyone.
    Mark

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  3. Hi everyone .... sad news from here today, my friend's husband died this morning. At least he's no longer suffering and I'm so glad I was able to spend the time together recently. I'll be going to the country to attend the funeral and support my friend as she grieves his loss.

    Glad things are shaping up ok for you, Jonathan.Sounds as though you've had a full and busy schedule.

    Yes, Jessica's getting closer to Oz each and every minute and we have to continue to hope and pray for a safe passage for her and EPL. What a fabulous sight it'll be as she enters the harbour! I'll be looking out for you all as well! :)

    Stay safe and well everyone and I'll be in touch again soon.

    Cheers .... Soldiers Mum

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  4. Dearest Soldiers Mum,

    Please accept my sincere condolences for your sad loss. I hope you are able to draw strength in the knowledge that our loved ones are ever present in all of mother natures wonders and may time ease your pain.

    Take care of yourself and I shall look forward to hearing from you again in due course.

    You're in my thoughts.

    Kindest regards,

    Sam

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  5. Dear Soldier’s Mum,

    You have my most sincere condolences in the loss of your close friend's husband. You are such a pillar of strength for your friend when she needs it most.

    Warmest regards,
    Mark

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  6. Hi Fellow followers and Jonathan,
    I feel so compelled to join in on the surge of excitement that is building that I can't resist the urge to attempt my picture contributions.It has been difficult and restricting but I've had a go and it keeps me entertained as well as feeling I make a contribution in my own special way. They sometimes come apart but oh well since there is no preview to check them I just have to take a chance???

    Sorry I missed the lunch but you were in my thoughts and I enjoyed the photo and putting faces to the names which have become so familiar.
    The ebb and flow of life with it's highs and lows can be so all consuming but having Jesse to follow round the globe has been a wonderful distraction.What a wonderful opportunity to ride with her on her Dream.
    I have registered to be e mailed directly for the Melbourne Ella B. personal appearance and hope to be able to attend...won't it be fantastic to see Jesse in person. I sort of feel she will be very overwhelmed by all the attention though.
    Here's hoping for a safe arrival in Sydney.
    Best wishes to all...(*)v(*)
    Sally in Melbourne by the Bay

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  7. 03-18-10 @15:19
    Hi Soldiers Mum,
    So sad to read of the loss, but like you say he's not suffering now. My condolences on this sad occasion. I will keep him in my prayers.

    Regards,

    Michael

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  8. Thanks for your kind words folks, much appreciated.

    Am most likely heading back to the country in the morning, so will say farewell for now and wish you all a safe, healthy and happy weekend ahead.

    Until next time ....... Cheers

    Soldiers Mum

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  9. Hello all fellow Jessaholics,

    Firstly, lovely to hear form you Nutralady, I hope you are feeling well, thanks for dropping us a line.

    To Jonathan, golly you must be tired of it all by now, here's hoping all your efforts (physical and brainstorming) are richly rewarded.

    Soldier's Mum, you are a kind soul, I hope I have someone like you around when I need them most.

    Sam, to lose two brothers in their thirties is extraordinary, I'm so sad to hear of your loss.

    Still no word from Bruce Watt? That's no good.

    Tony, Michael, Sally, SaltyDog, Magpie, Ailsa, The McGraths et all... howdy to you too!

    Jessica is enjoying her socialising I feel, which indicates to me that she will welcome a certain amount of interaction and celebration with friends and family and fans when she reaches home. But I still wonder if she's prepared for the media and Sponsor's onslaught. I think the fanfare be ENORMOUS!

    I must admit I was a little concerned about Jesse in the recent low pressure system. But thankfully, as always, she and Ella's Pink Lady seem to be getting by just swimmingly!

    Enjoy your weekends friends....

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  10. Hi Soldiers Mum,
    My condolences. Take good care of your friend. In times like these the comfort of a friend is more significant than at any other time. Keep in touch with us when you can.

    Hi Sally in Melbourne by the bay,
    Its good to see you back in action and having another go at your little computer llustrations.

    Hi Jonathan,
    I hope your reorganisation is going to plan. I guess the real test of success will come during the next few weeks as you find out what has worked and perhaps what has not. Good Luck.

    Hi everyone else,
    Jessica's seven week countdown has now begun and I expect her progress will be closely monitored from now on and her arrival effectively choreographed to occur around 6-9 May. A literal translation of the three weeks plus a month mentioned in the Latest Report for 18 March would suggest Saturday 8 May - which would give maximum exposure on Sydney Harbour and maximise value of the event to her Sponsors.

    At present Jess appears to me to be playing down her achievement and that is appropriate because she still has a long way to go and manymore weather systems to sail through before she gets home. She knows the danger of becoming complacent or over-confident at this stage and knows the value of continually maitaining Ella's Pink Lady.

    Her photos show that on deck she keeps all the gear very neat and tidy - that is the safest way to sail - and I expect when she arrives she will have EPL looking as smart as possible. It will be a great occasion.

    Continue to enjoy her blogs and photographs. Have a good weekend.
    Tony L (Mt Martha VIC)

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  11. Hello everyone,

    For those of you who saw my previous picture last night on Voyage Art and went back to have another look and noticed its a different picture, that's because it is.

    My apologies to you and, more importantly, to both the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 for getting their pictures mixed up.

    It suddenly dawned on me that there was something very wrong about this picture and it wasn't until I had both ladies beside each other that the differences became very obvious. They're not exactly identical twins, are they? :-))

    Thankyou everyone for all your very nice comments and kind words of support. I hope you continue to enjoy viewing these little "time frames" in Jessica's journey on Voyage Art as much as I enjoy creating them.

    Stay well and bye for now.....Sam

    http://jessicawatsonsvoyageart.blogspot.com

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  12. A warm hello all Jessaholics,

    Wow, how time is flying by...before we know it this incredible journey will be but a memory.

    Jesse posted an interesting blog today, and to me it was an incredibly honest account of life on deck, and how she has not had to 'go through the motions' as I for one had visualised. But I'm sure she does..it's just that to her it is simply the norm and nothing to write home about!

    Did anyone lose any posts on "A Bit of Everything"? I thought 275 comments was particularly low, and I lost 2 posts....the whole few days seemed slowish as far as the Blog was concerned.

    Anyhow folks, enough for me for now, so cheerio til next time.

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  13. Hi all, welcome back Jonathan. I hope you're looking after yourself and not working too hard.

    Poor Andrew says he's been flat out, out of control busy he's forgotten what his family look like.

    Collette, I know what you mean about the slowness of the blogs on Jessica's site. I noticed the last couple of updates from Jessica were not published until late at night, 10 or 11pm Perth time. I might be wrong but my theory is they're giving America and other parts of the world, 10 to 13 hours behind us a turn at getting in first, during their waking hours.

    I just sent you guys a photo I took last night of an Indian Ocean sunset. It was a beautiful day here yesterday but right now as I'm typing this hail stones/rocks are falling/flying out of the sky the size of tennis balls! There's nothing normal about the weather any more, is there? I went outside to take a photo of the storm and copped a hailstone on the temple above my right eye...OUCH!!! :-))

    Cheers...Sam

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  14. Hi everyone,

    I think that sluggishness in the blog has been frustrating for everyone. For awhile, I thought the same thing as you, Sam, but there have been times that I posted a comment and it didn’t show for 15 hrs or more. I’m on the west coast of the U.S. so I’m 18 hrs behind Sydney. I always calculate what time it is in Sydney when I post and I know that if it’s later than about 10:00 PM Sydney time that it won’t be approved until at least 8:00 AM Sydney time at the very earliest. And yet I’ll notice sometimes other people from the west coast of the U.S. will have a comment with a time stamp much later than mine and yet theirs show up hours before mine. So I’m not sure what the reason is. I was starting to get a complex and thought that maybe my posts were on a “black list” that required additional screening. I’ve just learned to practice a bit more patience. Hang in there, Collette. I always enjoy hearing from and it’s always worth the wait.

    Thanks for that spectacular sunset photo, Sam. You sure had me looking hard to try to see that little pink sailboat. It won’t be long now.

    I hope that all of you Queenslanders made it through the Cyclone O.K. And I hope everyone is doing well.

    Mark

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  15. Hi Sam,
    WA weather certainly has hit the "head"lines this week.
    Sorry to hear of your injury due to the wild storm, Sam. Still you seem to be able to laugh at it anyway.(~.~) Sometimes we pay a price in the pursuit of our craft(photography)
    ..........................O......?................o..............*.................
    ........*............?..////|||\\\.............................................
    ...................o...||.#...@.|||.......*......................................
    ....*..................||.....L....|||.....*..........o...........................
    ........................||\...__../||........._________......................
    .......................//..\___/..\\.......|....O......|......................
    .................................................|_______=.....................
    We also have had our share of hailstones.Take care.
    Hello to fellow followers also.Loving the friendly chatter.
    Sally in Melbourne by the(watch out for mother nature)Bay

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  16. In reference to the above mentioned comment on
    photography(especially to Sam) you may get a laugh out of Stephen Fry on You Tube .His encounter with the endangered bird of New Zealand, the Kakapo Parrot really points out how difficult nature can be.Hope you get a laugh out of it.I certainly did.
    GO MOTHER NATURE.....YOU WIN(hopefully)

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  17. Hi Sally
    Well done. If Sam hasn't yet had a laugh at her mishap she will when she sees your drawing. Keep up entertaining us with your drawings here if doing them on Jessica's blog becomes difficult again.
    Tony L

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  18. Hi again cyber pals!

    Sam, your storm made headline news this morning...I was quite chuffed that I already knew about it thanks to you and your run-in with the hailstone! Seriously though, I hope that was the only damage you sustained, as it looked very nasty on the telly. In 1974 in Queensland my family lost nearly everything in a cyclone and the ensuing floods. Not pleasant to say the least.

    Thanks to you and SaltyDog re Jessica's blog..I realise Andrew must be beside himself with it possibly because nobody ever imagined litle Jesse to command such and enormous following. The hours you mentioned SaltyDog would surely be Andrew's sleep time, poor thing! Many more posts were inserted to 'A Bit of Everything' yesterday.

    Cheers for now all, take care til next time.

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  19. Hi Sally, thanks for your concern but I'm fine, just a little graze above my right eye but I guess it could have been worse, it could have got my camera. Hahaha!...my verification code is "dent-l". :-)) That picture is so cute and you're very funny, thankyou so much, I love it! And I love your latest creation on Jessica's blog too. It's so good that you got your mojo back. Keep them coming as they're such good value. Take care. XX

    I can't believe how many people believed me about seeing Pink Lady in that sunset photo I sent out yesterday. To set the record straight, I was just pulling your leg(s). But it was fun to think how hard (some of) you must have looked "5 degrees left of centre" into the picture to see if she'd materialise. I know I do it alot, certainly everytime I look out over the Indian Ocean. Mark, you're right, if Jessica was passing our south coast within sight of land, I would climb the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin with my binoculars to get the best view. Sadly it's not to be.

    Collette, yes it was a good one and caused a lot of damage to property but fortunately no lives lost. Did you see the storm cloud formation over the city on the news? That was pretty specky. It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. I keep saying there's nothing normal about the weather anymore, is there?

    All for now, take care everyone and cheers...Sam XX

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  20. Collette,

    That’s so cool that you will be coming to the States next year. The reason that I’m so envious of you making good on your dream is because it’s been my dream since I was a kid to visit Australia and New Zealand. I’ll make it some day, but in the mean time it’s great to see that you’ll be able to visit the U.S. Do you know yet what parts of the country you plan to see?

    Mark

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  21. A Warm Hello again,

    Yes Sam, I saw the wicked cloud formation on the telly, it resembled a 'morning glory', only it got out of the wrong side of the bed that particular day! How's your brow?

    And yes SaltyDog, roughly (underlined), the plan is to enter The States via Vancouver and travel down the west coast, see a bit of Mexico, then across to the east, travel north and exit via New York....with the odd detour thrown in such as Mt Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Gracelands etc etc. I also want to see Kennedy Space Centre, or something pertaining to NASA. This will all materialise in April next year. I'd love to come visit you and your family.

    I neglected to mention that I may visit WEST VIRGINIA, they tell me a town called KINGWOOD is pretty pretty!!!!!

    Cutting a loooong story short, I was booked on an around-the-world flight ticket in 1990 when the Gulf War broke out. Suffice to say my friend, a teacher, ended up being held captive in Kuwait for 3 weeks, so the decision to cancel was (wisely) made way back then, because my son was only 9 years old. So here we go, it's only taken me an extra 20 years to get my a... into gear!

    Cheerio to you all,
    Collette....

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  22. 03-24-10 @ 07:33
    Hello Collette,
    I just had to write and wish you luck on your trip. That looks like quite an itinerary that you have listed. Will you be traveling by car or a motor coach?
    How long do you intend to be traveling? Something like that should/could take up to a year, so that you would be able to enjoy some of the sights that you intend to see, and not exhaust yourselves. Mt Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Graceland can be very time consuming to really enjoy them. You might not make it out of Las Vegas...lol...
    Some friends have just came back from the Space Center and raved about it. They said that they were there for four (4) days and didn’t have enough time to see all that they had wanted to see. There was so much history to be seen, history in our time.
    I noticed that you mentioned that you may even visit a town in West Virginia named Kingwood. I just wondered if you realized that I live in Kingwood, and I would be honored if I were able to meet you...lol...Just a little bit of levity there. If you are traveling up the East coast towards New York that would take you about 200 miles (one way) out of your way.
    I imagine it will take a lot of planning and scheduling, so good luck to you on the trip, I hope the best for you.

    Take care Collette,
    Michael

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