The Landlocked Sailor

Actually, he has not been out on the water yet, but since he is the son of two sailors, I think it’s fair to call him a little sailor boy!

So this is why I have not been blogging lately. I’ve been busy taking care of this little one. He’ll be 6 weeks old on Wednesday! I had originally planned to reopen my Etsy store on August 1st, but that was just wishful thinking. Then I pushed it back to September 1st, which is only about a week and a half away, so we’ll see!

Anyway, I wanted to name him after the wind and the sea, so I did… in Hawaiian. Isn’t he sweet?

I’ve mentioned before that I really love the many meanings of nautical signal flags. Once you catch on, some combinations that were probably meant to be randomly decorative become really funny. For example, the combination Mike-Golf-Victor, or “MGV,” means “Patient has foreign body in the nose.” If your initials are MGV, it might be helpful to know that before using nautical flags as your monogram.

The idea for this R+J bag, though, simply came from the idea that Romeo+Juliet would make a cute combination. The red side is the “Romeo,” flag, which can be interpreted as simply the letter R, or if at sea, “Preparing to Replenish.” The blue and white “Juliet” flag, or letter J, means “I am on fire and have dangerous cargo; keep clear.” Looks like Juliet is running away from Romeo!

I thought I’d better look up the meanings of R & J together, and this is what I found: According to the International Code of Signals, R+J means “You should keep your engines ready,” whereas J+R means “I expect to refloat,” that is, after having run aground. So, nothing too embarrassing if you happen to carry this handbag in the presence of a medical officer who happens to be well-versed in the International Code.

As a practical matter, there are SO MANY combinations of signals that mean so many things, especially the very specific medical emergency code; it is unlikely that anyone has actually memorized the entire thing. Unlikely, but not impossible!

If you’d like to order your own custom bag, contact me through my Etsy shop: http://www.thelandlockedsailor.etsy.com or the big red Etsy button at the bottom of this page.

Whadd’ya think?

I really love the many meanings of nautical flags. One of my favorite combinations is Romeo + Juliet.

One version of the meaning of Romeo, or the “R” flag (the red one pictured here) is “The way is off my vessel. You may feel your way past me.” Juliet’s response? “Fire on board. Keep your distance.”

This combination of Romeo + Juliet is made from up-cycled sweaters, and will soon be a handbag.

Whadd’ya think?