It has been a busy couple of days, here on Exploit’s Islands. We put the Dolphin II in the water yesterday. That’s her in the photo above.

Yes, we have a boat with two names. When she was repainted a few years ago, the fellow that painted her couldn’t find the template for the original name,so he renamed her after my (recently deceased) grandmother, Jean, and my (very much living) mother, Mary. It was so nice of him to paint her that I haven’t had the heart (or time) to change it.

The original name, Dolphin II was given to the boat by Grandma when she had the boat made 35 years ago. Her father, Harry Pickings, owned yacht or cabin cruiser called the Dolphin, so Grandma named her rodney or punt after that much larger Dolphin. I’m still not sure if she was joking or even recognized the irony.

So we still call her The Dolphin, but I haven’t changed the name for various reasons, mostly to do with gratitude and priorities.

We put the boats in the water yesterday and have been doing the million little things that need doing when the cottage is opened up for the summer. The kids have been flitting from thing to the next like ADD dragonflies, never settling long in one spot.

In the next day or two, everything will settle into place. For now, I’d best pull the gingerbread out of the oven.