Granite Day!

To those of you who have re-modeled your kitchens and elected to go with granite, you know all too well the plethora of choices that abound with all types of stone.  We are up to deciding on the counter tops now and since granite is standard on this boat, granite it will be.

True to his word, Tom B. had the yard in Taiwan send me samples of 3 shades of the granite I've narrowed down the choices to.  You can imagine the hubbub in the office when the receptionist announced (over the office intercom) that I had a package.  There was a procession of curiosity seekers following the person who "volunteered" to deliver the package right into my hands.  First of all, the package had all sorts of characters on it in addition to the address and my name in English.  Next, it was wrapped better than any gold ingots leaving Fort Knox.  It took quite a bit of time to open each sample. Each granite chunk, which by the way was close to 2 inches thick, was wrapped in a sort of leather wrapping with (a lot) of tape.  Once opened, I was delighted to see that I instantly liked 2 of the 3 samples.  Needless to say, I spent most of lunch time devouring online sources of that color, from quarries all over the country.  By the time I was done, I was bleary-eyed and out of my mind with the different nuances of this lovely stone.

Craziness breeds all sorts of insane ideas.  Thanks to the willingness of the KKY folks to field all questions, crazy and/or otherwise, I felt free to let this one fly: "can the yard take a picture of the actual slab they plan to use once I make my decision and send the picture to me"?  How else can I possibly decide?  How can I possibly envision a run of galley, master and guest head counter tops in this stone from a mere 2 inch chunk?  Tomorrow, I'm bringing the cherry wood samples along with the granite back to the office for the opinion of the one person whose taste is similar to mine to have a look at.  Hopefully my apartment neighbors have little interest in my antics; otherwise, I might get some strange looks as they go by.  There is ALWAYS something going into or coming out of my door.  Between a horse, golf and boat, you can imagine the sorts of things that go on.

I know I'm being evasive and not mentioning the color of the granite I have in mind.  Oh, I may have mentioned it in an earlier blog, but I don't remember if I did; I'm sure you don't remember either.  LOL
Once I decide, I'll take a picture of the chunk and include it in a post.  I might even do a little "decorating" scheme and include the cherry wood and settee fabric as a back drop.

For those who have never been aboard a boat, let alone built one from scratch, there is considerable amazement about what goes into a project of this magnitude.  Although this is my 3rd Krogen, I am blown away by the decisions required to make the boat a reality.  Since our 1st Krogen a 39, was a brokerage boat, my only concern was putting our personal effects aboard to make it more homey.  The gentleman we purchased the boat from was a bachelor - the boat very clearly stated that.  Serenity was completed at the time we bought her, so nearly all of the major decisions had already been made.  THIS boat is another story completely.  There is something so exhilarating about building a boat you know you're going to make your home, a boat that will make your dreams become reality.  It's hard to explain, but it's a feeling I wouldn't trade for anything in world.  Even at this vulnerable time of my life when I'm trying to find my way without my beloved partner, I am still happy and excited about my future on this boat.

Needless to say, every detail going into this boat is of major importance to me.  While I was selecting the faucets, my Tom finally said he didn't want to even hear the word faucet.  He was so tired of hearing me go on about the endless choices.  This is a labor of true love, though I wouldn't use the word labor.  While some decisions make me dizzy, they still thrill me at the end of the day.

Tom B. and I exchanged several emails today (as we do nearly every day).  When I commented on how well wrapped the granite samples were, he mentioned that the folks at the yard love to wrap things and couldn't wait for me to see how they will wrap my boat.  When I said I wanted to part of her welcoming committee, Tom B. said "no problem.  We can make that happen."  How great to be working with these people.  They only want me to be happy.  I can live with that!

I'm not sure what's on the agenda for this week, but will be sure to keep you posted.  I'm staying over with my daughter on Wednesday night while her husband goes out of town, so definitely no blog then. Going forward, Thursday nights are my golf league night - we have a 5 pm tee time every Thursday starting this week through the end of September.  We "dine" after our round, so probably no blogs on Thursdays.  All the other nights, I promise to check in with whatever happened that day.

Have a great week everyone!