Unskilled Labor

"Ocean Blue" kanji

By the way, here are those kanji I was talking about.

umi (ocean/sea):

a less stylistic umi:

and aoi (blue) (also pronounced "sei", but then it means "young"):

These are some of my favorite kanji, in a purely aesthetic sense. (also I find them easy to remember :-)

Thanks for all the fun comments!!

Wow dude.... I hadn't even checked this page for several weeks because *I* wasn't posting on it, but you guys are great!!! I really enjoyed reading all the comments up here! :-D

I have to agree with Bob..... Although "sea cucumber" isn't the most poetic of names, (lol) I really like the sound of "nameko". I'll have to think of something to give that name. Muahaha.

I can't believe it has really been a whole month. I guess this is what happens when you take several long weekends to actually go kayaking, and actually work (oh.... and celebrate birthdays) during the week. The boat has not physically progressed; however, I have decided how I'm going to lay my strips (some of them are red cedar, others are yellow cedar; fancy designs can be attempted, and although I had been planning to chicken out on fancy designs, I have been inspired by Robert and Wendi's Kings (http://repeatmasker.org/~rhubley/launching/).

And the boat has a name now. Its name will be Ocean Blue.... after my own personal theme song (you'd have to catch me in the right mood to find out more, but which is largely composed of the phrase, "sails the Ocean Blue" :). Wendi has (only briefly so far, but I intend to find out more later :) told me how she did a veneer inlay in her bow, and I am going to inlay the 'umi' and 'aoi' kanji into my deck. Or, try my darndest to do so.

They also came up with the neatest method of writing their boat names on the inside of the cockpit coaming: laser printer on rice paper which was bonded on with epoxy. It looks great! I am lucky to have such great examples and nice-people-resources close at hand. :)

So Bob & Michiko have finished the Hina Doll project... I have to keep moving on this kayak. Actually, I have a lot of motivation now that I have paddled Robert's boat (Redfish King) recently and am reminded of what nice boats they are.
And Meredith: I would love to have you visit up here... see if you can convince Mom & Dad ;-)

~melissa
PS: as soon as possible, I will get a few pictures up here from my recent (and upcoming) Vancouver Island kayak trips.