Four suitcases in the hallway. Could be three. Might end up being all four. We’re not at the freaking-out-and-pulling-things-out stage yet, but it’s coming.
This is the first full summer on Dulcibella and the plan is to make her feel a bit more like ours. The previous owners took beautiful care of her, she’s in great shape, but it’s time for a little interior refresh. New window treatments, recovered seat cushions, some throw pillows. The kind of thing that takes a week and makes everything feel different.
The approach is to spend as little as possible doing it. The kringleloopwinkel is a great resource in the Netherlands but it can be hit or miss, so I’ve been raiding my own house instead. The fabric for the roman shades I’m currently making is deadstock from the clearance rack at H&R Fabrics here in Tempe. The lining is old bed sheets repurposed instead of using them as quilt batting. On the cutting table right now, going in the bag when they’re done.
The dining table is covered in sewing supplies including thread, needles, Velcro, notions, fabric for more cushions and window treatments I’ll make once we’re there. I bought a vintage sewing machine on FB Marketplace before we left last season, so the studio is already set up. I’m just stocking it. Some of this will come back in the fall, some of it will just live on the boat. There are also a couple of throw pillows I already finished and they are currently doing double duty as packing material around the fragile stuff.
The tech pile on the counter looks more alarming than it is. We bring a VHF radio as backup — some bridges in the Netherlands still run on VHF if they don’t have a “camerabewaking” or a phone number for the bridge tender. The rest is cables and the usual assortment of things you think you might need.
Most of what’s in the food bags isn’t actually for us. I like to travel light on the personal front and figure out the local flavor profile when I get there. But the boatyard crew and the B&B in Grou where we stay on arrival and at the end of the season — they take good care of us, and I like to bring them things they can’t get locally. Trader Joe’s, Desert Botanical Garden goodies, and this year a bag of seasoning from Sweet Magnolia Smokehouse — a local joint that just started selling their rub and I couldn’t leave it behind.
The bags themselves are secondhand, picked up here in Phoenix. They don’t come back since once we’re unpacked in Grou they go to the transfer station. Someone else gets a decent suitcase for cheap, and we don’t have to figure out where to store four large bags on a boat. Works for everyone.
