Vivo O Sonho | Living the Dream

- If the Shoe Fits
  
  Posted at 2:38 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on October 5, 2021
  
  “Seriously, Heidi, do you really need 50 pairs of shoes?”
  
  My girlfriend had dropped by for a chat and caught me in my bi-annual shoe-purge. I was sitting on the floor with a huge mound of leather, vinyl, rubber and sequins in front of me. “You don’t wear all of those, do you?” she asked incredulously.
  
  “If the shoe fits,” I quipped, slipping a darling, light teal, bejeweled kitten heel sandal on my foot and waving it in the air. “And there’s not 50 pairs anymore. I’m down to 37.”
  
  “You do realize that you live on a boat?” she laughed.
  
  Yes, I live on a 42 ft sailboat. No, I don’t really have a shoe fetish; I only buy a few pairs a year but I take good care of my shoes and keep them forever. My husband gave up on lecturing me on the fact that high heels really don’t belong on a boat and installed a fabric shoe holder behind my hanging clothes, against the hull. So my collection doesn’t take up needed space and is out of sight. But I know they are there; and that makes me happy.
  
  Posted in You Live on a Boat?! | 0 Comments | Tagged 2LWA, 2WLAFlashLit, BoatingLife, FlashLitOct, LifeOnboard, LiveAboard, LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor
- Sailing South … as Crew
  
  Posted at 10:38 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on October 1, 2021
  
  We are committed to crewing with our dockmates, Scott and Joanne, on the Baja Ha-Ha and, come Hell or high-water, we are going to be sailing south on their gorgeous Bavaria Vision 46 for the first three weeks of November 2021. (Please, God, don’t take this as a challenge to mess with our plans. We really, really need this sea time!)
  
  What, pray-tell, is the Baja Ha-Ha? (Doesn’t it just make you smile to say it?!) It’s not a race … it’s a cruiser’s rally that starts in San Diego, makes a couple of stops along the coast for rest and partying, and ends in Cabo San Lucas. There’s no trophy for being first to an anchorage or to finish. The goal is to safely traverse the Baja Coast in the company of others. Basically, the Ha-Ha is a 10-day slow journey south buddy-boating with about 150 other vessels. Power boats are welcome, but since there’s really only one stop for fuel, it’s generally about 99 percent sailboats. It’s a great segue for folks looking to spend a winter (or a few years) in Mexico, prepare for the big Pacific Ocean crossing to the Marquesa Islands or Hawaii, or perhaps continue south to Central or South America or go through the Panama Canal to reach the Caribbean. Just thinking about the possibilities makes me yearn for our turn to go.
  
  Posted in You Live on a Boat?! | 1 Comment | Tagged Baja Ha-Ha, BoatingLife, LifeOnboard, LiveAboard, LivingTheDream, VivoOSonho
- Lagoon Blues
  
  Posted at 9:53 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on June 27, 2021
  
  Tara drug the small rubber dinghy from the surf onto the sand and turned to the ocean behind her just in time to catch the final glimpse of her beloved sailboat’s mast as it sunk.
  
  Single-handing is risky, even for an experienced sailor such as Tara. Safety was always her top priority and she had double-checked the paper and electronic charts before venturing slowly into the island’s cove to take shelter from the storm closing in on her stern. Nothing prepared her for the loud crunch and sudden hard stop when her keel struck the reef. She was thrown forward, hitting her head and wrenching an ankle, but quickly gathered her wits and assessed the situation. Water was gushing into the cabin below, faster than the automatic bilge pump could empty. She grabbed the hand-held radio, ditch bag with her important documents and a few precious mementos, and went on deck to deploy the life raft. With one last glance at her home of over a decade, she abandoned ship.
  
  Posted in Random Topics | 1 Comment | Tagged FlashLitChallenge, LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, ShortStory, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor
- Feathered Friends
  
  Posted at 7:44 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on June 16, 2021
  
  “Feathers? Seriously, Amy, this get-up is too much.”
  
  Dora eyed her friend’s outfit. Amy was known for her flamboyant get-ups, but this one was over the top. Turquoise feathers were attached to a sheer body suit, strategically covering her private bits. Barely.
  
  “Really?” Amy answered, “It took me days to create. I’m wearing it.”
  
  “Well, you better wear a coat or they won’t let you in. You’re practically naked.”
  
  “I look fabulous! You’re such a prude, Dora. Why don’t you let me do your make-up tonite?”
  
  “Fine. Just don’t make me look like a clown. I’m a firm believer in ‘less is more.’ “
  
  Despite Dora’s predictions, the girls had no problem getting into the night club. And as expected, all eyes were riveted on Amy as they made their way through the crowded room to the bar. Amy loved being the center of attention and Dora didn’t mind being in the wings. She was a psychology student and was fascinated by the lengths that men would go to flirt with Amy. She often used these outings as case studies for her assignments and was sure there would be plenty of fodder tonight.
  
  Posted in Random Topics | 0 Comments | Tagged FlashLitChallenge, SailingWriter, ShortStory, ToLiveandWrite, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor
- Easter Memories … Easter Angst
  
  Posted at 10:52 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on April 4, 2021
  Easter is a day of conflict for me and exists in my memory bank in two different settings: Before and After 1982.
  Before the Double-Handed Farallones Race in 1982, Easter morning was always awakening to a basket filled with chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs, malted milk balls in pastel colors and, my favorite still to this day, those sickly sweet, sugar-coated marshmallow Peeps. (I’ve tried them all and the yellow chicks are still the best.)
  
  In our early years, my sister and I would be dressed in matching frilly frocks and we’d go to the morning service at the First Presbyterian Church in Alameda. This is the church that my Nana and Papy joined when they settled in Alameda after immigrating to America from Belfast, Northern Ireland in the late 1940s. My parents were married there in 1963 and my sister and I attended Sunday School when we weren’t away for the weekend on our family sailboat.
  
  After the service, we’d head to Encinal Yacht Club for the traditional brunch, a visit from the Easter Bunny, and an egg hunt on the lawn overlooking the Estuary. In my teen years, my mother was the Social Chair and I was recruited to be the Easter Bunny for several years. Why they thought that a young girl going through puberty would look good in a grey leotard, tights and bunny ears, is beyond me. It didn’t bother me then, but I cringe now when I think about it … and wonder if anyone else saw it as a weird and inappropriate version of a Playboy Bunny. But times really were more innocent then, and the children loved it.
  Posted in Random Topics | 2 Comments | Tagged LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor
- Pandemic Killed the Blog Star
  
  Posted at 11:43 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on March 28, 2021
  
  Deep breath. You can do this, Heidi. You can focus and get back into that groove, that happy place, where words come easily and you pull stories and recipes and musings about living aboard out of your brain and heart and soul (and yes, sometimes it seems, out of your ass!) and they flow into your lightning-fast typing fingers onto the page. You’ve faced far worse challenges where you felt like you were drowning and always burst through the waves for that big gulp of fresh air and a fin-flip to take you in a new direction. So why not NOW?
  
  For two solid years I posted at least once a week on this Blog. If I knew I’d be busy, I’d write the posts and schedule them to go live so I wouldn’t miss a week. Not a single week for two years … over 100 posts and now at nearly 200. I had a nice following of people from around the world that read my writing and the feedback was always positive from friends and family. I would joke to my husband that I was an “International Blogger” and I had to keep up my Blog so as not to disappoint my “Fans.”
  
  I wrote daily and scheduled time to write. I went on writing retreats, met with our writing group at local coffee shops, and found inspiration all around me. I submitted my work in competitions and read it aloud in front of live audiences. After not believing that I was good enough for decades, I proudly proclaimed myself a “WRITER.”
  
  Then COVID-19 swept across the globe. Life turned upside down. Our plans to go cruising were put on hold. Again. I became the caregiver and Head Schoolmistress for my beloved grandchildren. I had to cease swimming at the gym and working out with my personal trainer. Grocery shopping was more for survival than for enjoyment so meals became boring. We watched the terrifying news of the infections and deaths as they rose and panic and fear were the prevailing emotions. Add the election, with so much hatred from the Trumpers, and there seemed to be very little light in the world.
  
  Posted in In the Galley, Random Topics, Story Shelf, You Live on a Boat?! | 0 Comments | Tagged SailingCook, SailingWriter, TinyKitchen, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor
- Adventures in Bread-Making Onboard
  
  Posted at 12:12 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on January 9, 2021
  
  In the past decade-plus of living on board I have learned to cook, at first by necessity and later because I enjoyed it. When the Captain and I moved aboard Cool Change (Aaron’s dad’s Freedom 32) in 2009 we ate simply. Mainly because neither of us knew how to cook very well and the space was also challenging. The galley is pretty teensy with only two burners, an oven about the size of a toaster-oven, and an ice-cooled refrigerator. Since it was summertime, we barbecued/grilled chicken, beef, fish and veggies the majority of evenings.
  
  Growing up, my mother did all the cooking for the family and never invited my sister and I to participate. (And the rare time we did, the majority of the meals were from cans and boxes.) In my previous marriage to Brett he did all the cooking. I worked 60 hours a week and came home after long days and late meetings to a warm meal nightly. I rarely ventured into the kitchen and when I did it was mostly reheating. He enjoyed cooking so it wasn’t an issue and we hosted many dinner parties for family and friends with him in the kitchen and me doing the event coordinating. It wasn’t that I didn’t like cooking; it was more that I never really had the encouragement, motivation or opportunity until I was in my forties.
  
  Posted in In the Galley, You Live on a Boat?! | 1 Comment | Tagged AlamedaRiviera, GalleyCooking, LivingTheDream, SailingCook, VivoOSonho
- Reflections in the Wake of 2020
  
  Posted at 12:01 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on January 1, 2021
  
  2020 flat out sucked. The pandemic changed everything. We went from anticipating our life on the open ocean and exploring foreign ports to basically locking down at the marina. Our busy social life and wide circle of friends closed to just family and dock neighbors.
  
  Eleven people that had some form of effect on my life died. Of those, three were my husband’s family members (Uncle Bob, Uncle Bill, and his mother, Donna Perry), one was a dear childhood friend’s mother (Margaret Sloane), one was a much-loved sailor (Jim Hild), one was a special writing group friend (Catherine Phillips), and five were influential in my careers (Cliff Benson, Julian Polvorosa, Charlie Gilcrest, Dr. Marshall Mitzmann, and Tom Guarino). I have never experienced so much loss in one year.
  
  Posted in You Live on a Boat?! | 0 Comments | Tagged LivingTheDream, sonho, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor
- Mac ‘n’ Cheese
  
  Posted at 9:19 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on November 15, 2020
  
  Macaroni and cheese is one of our favorite comfort foods. I’ve made it a kazillion ways using different varieties of cheese, baked, straight from the pot, with a bread crumb topping, and without.
  
  This recipe was invented because I had a half cup of Alfredo sauce in my fridge and didn’t want it to go to waste. I figured it would meld well with the other ingredients I had on hand, and I was right! It was ooey, gooey cheesy and so easy to throw together.
  
  Variations: Choose your own cheese blends and try different flavors of creamed soup and Alfredo sauce. (The sauce I had was garlic flavored; otherwise I would have added a couple of minced garlic cloves as we are garlic lovers.) Add a diced jalapeno pepper or a dash of cayenne if you like it spicy. Use different pasta shapes, but I suggest staying with one that will hold the cheese, such as shells, elbow or penne.
  
  Continue reading →
  
  Posted in In the Galley | 1 Comment | Tagged BoatingLife, Cruising, GalleyCooking, LifeOnboard, LiveAboard, LivingTheDream, MarinaLife, SailingCook, TinyKitchen, VivoOSonho
- The Horse I Rode In On
  
  Posted at 12:04 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on October 26, 2020
  
  They needed someone to blame for the course of nature. And so they chose a black stallion as the horse that I would ride to my death.
  
  It was a grey October morning and I watched the sun rise slowly over the wide expanse of forest from my prison tower window. Those trees and the life within had been my home since I could remember. My entire family had died of the plague and the town’s spinster herbalist took me in as her own before I could walk.
  
  I thought about the creatures and plants, the changing seasons and the incredible joy I felt within the dense woods. Mother Martha, as I called her, had taught me the secrets of the earth; which species could heal and which could cause death. I had learned well and succeeded her when she left to die alone in her woods two falls prior.
  
  I had been called to the Queen’s bedside to help with the pain of delivering the first heir to the throne. I knew from the moment that I arrived that the child had already died and it would be an arduous task to expel the fetus from her body. I also knew better than to announce the death as I would be called a “seer of evil.” I would do what I could to ease the birth and leave the decree to the royal physician.
  Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Story Shelf | 2 Comments | Tagged 2LWA, SailingWriter, ToLiveandWrite, Writing Sailor
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Vivo O Sonho

Heidi Benson Stagg

I live aboard a 42 ft Tayana Vancouver sailboat, hull #5 laid in 1979, with my husband and little dog. We are preparing to circumnavigate the globe in Fall 2020 and I enjoy blogging about our preparations for our journey, cooking in my tiny kitchen and writing short stories.

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