Coffee On the Boat

Coffee is a part of our life, every morning.

In preparation for living aboard the boat, we knew we did not want to take our electric coffee pot on board. So we started using the coffee press a couple years ago, and we researched and trialed different ones. 

Our initial coffee press had a glass carafe encased in stainless frame. We took this out on our trailer sailboat several times and were very happy with our pressed coffee. In fact, we were so happy with the resulting coffee from the pressed coffee we started using it more and more, instead of our electric coffee pot.

The bad parts about the glass carafe, as we found, it would not keep the coffee warm for very long. And on a boat which rocks and rolls the glass was too fragile to keep safe. So we looked into other options of coffee press. We finally settled on the Frieling all stainless steel insulated press. It holds up to 32 ounces, we can get 4 cups of coffee out of it. It keeps the coffee warm for at least a couple hours. On a typical morning, we will make two of these pots. Also, it can sit on top of the wood stove to keep it warm, although we typically boil water in our tea pot not the press.

In our downsize, we got rid of our electric grinder, now we are looking for a good substitute. I've been using the mortar and pedastle, but it's a lot of work. In time, we may purchase a grain miller that can mill grains and grind coffee, a multifunction gadget would be ideal, less to store on a boat.

Natural Air Freshners on our Wood Stove

Our wood stove has been running all day long with temps outside hanging around 40 degrees. With that said, I decided to try a natural air freshner. I've read some online about different herbs being placed in water and slowly heated to release their aromatic properties.

I tried cinnamon and cloves, this lasted a couple days on top of the stove. It smelled nice.

I tried the lavender I picked this summer. It lasted a day. At first it was very aromatic, then it just stopped.

I plan to try out the rosemary from our plant growing in our cockpit, and in time I'll have all sorts of herbs to freshen the air in our musty old boat!

My New Purse and Wallet Combined, a Lanyard, Downsizing Continues . . .

I'm guessing I was a teenager when I first started carrying a purse with a wallet. Now, 30 years later in my forties, I gave up my purse & wallet carrying ways and downsized to a lanyard.

It cracks me up to think of the hundreds of dollars, or more, I spent on purses and wallets over the past 30 years. And now to only have a lanyard with a key chain, it holds everything I need (bankcard, marina gate key-card, license, library card, museum card, boat insurance card, co-op card, and a grocery rewards card), it is the exact opposite of social expectations I was used to.

In our society, women are expected to carry a purse & wallet, and men carry a wallet. This is just how it is. Retailers advertise this in various repetitive ways. When I was a shopper I used to go to the local department store and drool over the new line of purses with matching wallets. It was like these were toys we had to have to be cool and look good. The logo was everything, and if it began with certain letters that meant you were socially higher and probably more economically stable and richer than others. Ironically, as I experienced myself and watched others do, the people who had these purses with logos where not economically stable or socially higher or richer. We got stuck in a trap, suckered into over-spending to show a certain fake facade to others. Billions of us did it, and we made some people very rich.

I sort of climbed this mountain throughout the past 30 years, lets call it Mt. Social Norms. I started at the bottom not exactly sure if I was gonna make it to the top, because after all only certain people made it there and had the nice things. I got to the foothills of this mountain it was foggy, I got lost and confused, incurred some debt. I kept going higher and higher, the bills stacked up, then altitude got me and I passed out. When I awoke there were billions of others laying next to me, and only a few made it to the top of Mt. Social Norms. Those that made it came down to us and told us don't bother trying to get up there because we weren't the right kind of person, and they already took their stake in it and to just go back down to the bottom. Upset at this we stayed there in that high altitude area, determined to prove them wrong, every now and then passing out dazed and confused from those high altitudes. In time, some just left, but others they stayed and are still trying.

For me, I got too sick of that mountain and headed down fast. And I never looked back because it felt so good to be away from it. They can have that stinking mountain because I prefer to be a happy outcast, rather than a miserable climber pushed down by society.

Now when I leave the boat or car I sometimes want to reach for my purse, it is habit; or when I leave some place I am looking for my purse. Then I look down and find relief because it is hanging on my neck, phew! I cannot believe how easy it is to carry only a few items of importance and have them hanging on your neck. Maybe it's not the most expensive, or prettiest, or socially acceptable, but it works for me.