Marty's Misadventures

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This year's messabout report must begin on a sad note about Kay Ann. Hugh's words from her Cedar Key obituary follow:

Kay Ann Haske-Horton, of Cedar Key in spirit, died quietly Wednesday July 6th 2011, “at home” in St. Clair Shores, Mich., of pancreatic cancer. With her were her husband Hugh, her sister Joy Hellmann, and her friend, nurse Gayle Mitchell.

Kay Ann was the bow paddler of Hugh’s life. She made possible his involvement with small boats powered by oars, paddles, and sails.

Their friend Barbara O’Hair wrote, 'My enduring image of Kay is from a perfect day on the Detroit River, serene and graceful in her kayak, surrounded by light and rippling water. You couldn’t help but watch her: She was so graceful and she radiated such obvious, openhearted pleasure in the morning, in the movement of the river, and the company of friends. It was Kay as she always was, naturally and unaffectedly beautiful, like the water and the sunlight and the sky, and it made you a happier person just to be part of her world."

Hugh wrote in 2003, “It’s your laughter as much as anything why I love you,... .” An idea common to her extended family, and old and new friends, was she incited happiness. Older relatives remember her quick but kind wit, and, as a little girl, her beautiful “golden halo” of hair. “Humble grace,” are Gayle’s words for Kay.

Tizzi, eighteen, and her adored dog, Sammy, five, miss her. St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and nature-ecology, was her saint. Like her father-in-law, Hal, who died forty days before her, she gave to the Humane Society and World Wildlife Fund.

Compassion unfailingly poured from her. Her vibrancy was unparalleled. Her beauty remained to her last minutes of life.

Kay Ann leaves her husband, Hugh and their companionship of twenty seven years. She leaves her daughters, Jennifer Iris Vitale born in 1979, and Erica Beth Matwyuk 1983, and her husband Gabe. She leaves her sister Joy Hellmann 1943, her husband Ed, and her nephews Paul Edmund Hoeft 1966 and Scott David Hoeft 1968, and his daughter Grace Rawlins Hoeft 1999, and her mother Michelle Denice (Miller) Hoeft. She leaves her ‘double’ first cousins Richard James Lance 1935 and his wife Nancy Kay (Waple) Lance, and their two daughters, their grandson and two granddaughters, and six great granddaughters; she leaves Patricia Louise Lance 1937, and her two daughters and son, her granddaughter and two grandsons; she leaves Dianne (Lance) Blasciuc 1945, and her son and daughter, and her granddaughter and grandson; and she leaves Monica (Lance) Pinkenburg 1946 and her husband Bill, and her daughter and two grandsons. And she leaves six more first cousins, and five additional second cousins.
Her ashes, some with Hal’s, will find their way to places she, and he, loved, including near the home Hugh had been building for them at Cedar Key.

Kay Ann also left behind a raft of women who wanted to get to know her better and I know I am not speaking solely for myself when I say I looked forward to the Messabouts in large part to get to hang out with Kayann. I did enjoy the boating and bicycling there, but I can do that at home here in Ohio. In Ohio I could not, however, take a walk down a dirt lane past ripe red raspberries and perpetual garage sales solving all the world's problems with Kay Ann and Sammy walking peacefully at her side. We discussed no world problems this year, we opened no bottles of wine. We ate good, homemade food, but we didn't roll on the floor crying with laughter afterwards. We talked about Kay Ann whenever we could, but mostly we mourned our friendships with her that had only just begun. Hugh's presence was a comfort to me, as was Sammy's.

Now, here are some photos from the 2010 Messabout:

A freighter turns copper in the setting sun.

Bill Ling enjoys a crescent moonlit paddle.

Ron, kicking back.

Forest of masts.

Hugh

Marty, who may be about to mouth the question, "Freighter? What freighter?"

This may look like just another water photo, but we are smack dab in the middle of the shipping channel. And also on the International Boundary. Canada on the left, US on the right.

Two Ships That Pass In Black And White.

We witnessed some beautiful sunsets in 2010.

We were also missing another Messabouter, Hugh's genial dad, Hal. Hal is seen here holding court on the back deck which was his home away from home for many hours during his time at Kay and Ron's. Here Pete is showing him some of the photos on his laptop screen he had just snapped of boats in action. Photography is a shared passion amongst many Messabouters.

Munuscong River above.

Below are the 2011 Messabout photos.
Enjoy!

Our room with the view. It was a wonderful place to sleep, to hear the waves splishing (or crashing) all night, a wonderful place to watch the full moon travel across the night sky.

Below is the full moon over the bay with early morning mist shrouding the shoreline.

Above are some photos taken during a rainyish afternoon. Marty ignored the light drizzle and went out sailing anyway. The rest of us read, chatted, met each other for the first time, viewed laptop slide shows, pored over maps, lounged with Sam the dog, raided the refrigerator and watched Meg's belly.