An Offer I Can't Resist

 Dear Hira,

With only four months left to complete our new Dreamspeaker Guide to Puget Sound, Laurence is busy drawing up his signature, watercolour charts that will make up the 120 destinations in PUGET SOUND – A BOATER’S GUIDE; the publishing date for the guide is May 2013.

To this end, we invite you to take the opportunity to commission a caricature of“Shatoosh & Pashmina” arriving with Dreamspeaker at one of your favourite anchorages or marinas. From Port Townsend to Olympia, there are 120 destinations for you to choose from (see attached list and example).

• Your chosen destination with “Shatoosh & Pashmina” will be published in the First Edition of PUGET SOUND – A BOATERS GUIDE, and your boat will become an integral part of the new Dreamspeaker Guide Series.
• On publication of the guide, you will be the proud owner of a commissioned, original watercolour chart signed by Laurence and ready for framing.
• As there will be only one original of each destination, we suggest that you select your favourite spot before someone else does!

The price of a commissioned original will cost between $200.00 and $300.00, depending on the amount of detail on the chart. A commissioned watercolour requires a payment of 50% of the total amount upfront; we will issue you a receipt and the original watercolour will be mailed to you on publication in May 2013.

We look forward to hearing from you soon to discuss your favourite destination and boat details. . Many thanks

Best Regards,

Anne and Laurence 

www.dreamspeakerguides.com

Gareth Curtiss- Lt Peter Puget Memorial

Today I met with Gareth Curtiss, the artist who will be doing the Peter Puget Memorial. His studio is near Olympia, Washington. We had a wonderful sharing session about designs, concepts, protocols and prices.
I was moved to wispy eyes when I saw the labor of his love, his attention to detail and the numerous memorials and full scale monuments he has done. The military ones and the Lewis and Clark ones really touch my heart. It will be an exciting time.

After discussions Gareth quickly sits down  at his table and comes up with these preliminary drawings.

Hira's Health Challenges

The weather has changed in the pacific northwest and Shatoosh and Pashmina  are safe under cover at Zittel's Marina in the south sound. Hira has a new challenge looming in the foreground, so I wanted to let all my readers know that I am having to get some diagnostic tests done to rule out breast cancer. Hopefully, by the end of this month, I will have some kind of diagnosis made.

I have shifted to writing on my Reiki Blog  regarding my health, healing process and state of mind. The postings begin on 11 Nov 2012. I don't want anyone to worry, as I am not worried.. Worrying doesn't get us anywhere and at this point, all I need is a diagnosis and for now please send me blessing, prayers or good thoughts in Puyallup, Washington. No matter what the diagnosis is, I have incredible tools to help me weather any storm that blows my way.

Hira on the Snake River 

You may email  me for personal conversations, comments. I feel a close connection to all my blog readers, and Albin Owners and this is why I am telling you now.

Rear Admiral Peter John Puget's Gravesite

Rear Admiral Peter John Puget was born on 16 November 1765 and died on 31 October 1822  in Bath, England. He was entombed 8 November 1822 in the All Saint's Churchyard, Woolley, England. This year marks his 190th year since his death, so our proposed Puget Memorial comes at an appropriate time.

I love a good story and long before Facebook, there was the "agony column" of the London Times; Our famous Rear Admiral Peter Puget's grave-site disappeared from the annuals of history. For over 140 years numerous people had tried to find his burial site, but to no avail. It was as though  his remains had disappeared east of the great pond. In the 1960's a die-heart historian and ship builder in the Pacific Northwest by the name of H.W. McCurdy of the Seattle Historical Society, wasn't about to give up in his efforts to bring honor to this Admiral.

As a final resort, he placed an ad in the"agony column" of the London Times, and within days he received a reply from a Mrs. Kitty Champion of Woolley, who stated they had a Rear Admiral Puget buried in their churchyard and unfortunately," it is the shabbiest grave in the churchyard." Unable to read any of the inscription, she began cleaning the tomb stone and researching the church records. Inscribed: "Rear Admiral Peter Puget C.B. of His Majesty's Royal Navy who after a long and laborious life spent wholly in the service of his country, terminated his earthly career in the arms of his family on the 31 day of October, 1822". In 1965, The Seattle Historical Society honored the grave-site with an memorial bronze plaque.

Today, I went on line to get an image of his grave and discovered some old photos from the archives of the Seattle Times are for sale on E-Bay. This photo was taken at the grave-site in Woolley, England at the ceremony in March 1965 when the Seattle Historical Society installed their plaque. I love serendipity. Amazing to see this old photo.

"A bronze tablet marking the recently discovered grave in Southern England of Peter Puget, the naval officer for whom Puget Sound was named, was dedicated in the churchyard of All Saints in Woolley, a suburb of Bath, in Somerset. J.E. Green, left, of London represented the Seattle Historical Society, which had sent the tablet to England. The Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Rt Rev. Edward Henderson, dedicated the plaque. More than 100 persons, including Wilfred H. Evans of Burton, Vashon Island, Washington, a civilian employee of the United States Navy in London, attended the ceremony." Seattle Times, 31 March 1965

So, on this Thursday, 8 November 2012, 190 years after his burial, let us all bow our heads and celebrate his extraordinary life and embrace our mission of creating a memorial to honor him in the waters he explored and the waters we, as boaters, so enjoy. McCurdy and the Seattle Historical Society honored Puget in England with a plaque and now its time to honor him with one in Puget Sound.

ref: Peter Puget, by Robert Wing and Gordon Newell, Gray Beard Publishing of Seattle, 1979

Chart of Peter Puget's Voyage 1792

Another week of rain has driven me indoors, so yesterday I spent all day drawing, coloring, and typing Puget's route through the southern waters. Email me if you'd like a printable attachment.

Olympia Budd Inlet- Puget Memorial

I return to Budd Inlet in Olympia again. This time I have my hand-held GPS off of Shatoosh to take some readings along the Olympia Port Plaza, which lies along Joseph Whidbey's historic latitude of 47 degrees, 03 minutes and 00 seconds. The Plaza is already staged for future memorial sites, which makes this a no-brainer location. Everything is so perfect about it.

You can arrive by boat, car, bus or by foot. You can dock and dine at Anthony's Home Port Restaurant, visit the Farmer's Market, amble down to the State Capital, visit art galleries, coffee shops and funky shops. There is enough to see for a week's trip.

Lt. Peter Puget and his exploration team would be delighted to see what has taken place in 220 years. I am getting way ahead of myself in the lengthy process of getting a memorial on this latitude, but I can already see it situated where I am standing. I'm going to keep my dream alive.

A Memorial to Lt. Peter Puget

Shatoosh, Pashmina and Hira are continuing in the wake of Lt. Peter Puget. It seems his following sea has pushed us from traveling in his wake, to having an article written in Sea Magazine, and now to launching plans to create a memorial to honor his historic adventure.

It has been over 220 years that the HMS Discovery anchored off the shore of Blake Island in May of 1792 and Lt.Peter Puget, Lt. Thomas Manby, Joseph Whidbey and Archibald Menzies and their crew of 16 able bodied seamen plied the southern waters in 2 small  launches in search of the Northwest Passage. To this date, there are no known memorial plaques to honor their efforts in Puget Sound.

I, along with Skip Dreps, a dedicated advocate for military/veteran recognition, and bronze sculptor/artist, Gareth Curtiss will be undertaking the creation of three memorials to be placed along Puget's Exploration Route to commemorate his incredible Exploration.

We are looking at Blake Island to commemorate the launching of the expedition on 20 May 1792, Cutts Island to commemorate a breakfast site on day 2, where they shot crow to supplement their food supplies and Olympia, Budd Inlet, where on 26 May 1792, Joseph Whidbey took his noon sight of 47 degrees, 03 minutes and 00 seconds. Lt. Peter Puget determines that the southern waters have been explored and the infamous Northwest Passage did not exist in these waters. He orders the men to store the oars, step the masts and the southerly wind fills their sails, taking them back to their mother vessel, the HMS Discovery which was anchored behind Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island. Captain George Vancouver honors Lt Peter Puget by naming the southern waters, Puget's Sound.

Don't you think it is time the boating community of Puget Sound and the State of Washington honor, Lt. Peter Puget? Lets make this long, overdue memorial happen.

Please see Gareth's beautiful work on his website: www.garethcurtiss.com.Gareth Curtiss