Come Fill the Cup
A True Story of a Livaboard
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Come Fill The Cup
"Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of spring
Your Winter garment of Repentance fling;
The Bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter-and the Bird is on the Wing."
From the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The Maltby family’s lifestyle changed dramatically after the decision was made to become boat "Livaboards." At the time of this change we were living in Jacksonville Beach near the ocean. Gordon, age forty-four, husband, and father, was working as an engineer for General Electric Company. Barbara, wife, mother, and teller of this tale, was a forty-two year old housewife. David, our oldest son, age nineteen, was a college student studying architecture at the University of Florida. Danny, the second son, was a fifteen year old student attending high school (most days). Karen, age ten was in elementary school.
Boating Dreams
We all had talked now and then about living on a boat, but it was just a nice idle dream. One day Gordon returned from a day at the office to tell us we were being transferred to Miami. Now, South Florida has a perfect climate for living on a boat. It is warm and sunny and conducive to outdoor living most of the time. The Inland Waterway, Biscayne Bay, the nearby Keys and the Bahamas within cruising distance make it ideal for boaters. We realized it was now time to "Either fish or cut bait" regarding our dream of boat living. The thoughts of this life brought mental pictures of moonlit seas and strange lands all seen with the comforts of home right there with us. It would be the only way we could afford a yacht both money-wise and time-wise. We were weary of the status seeking world with its love and talk of appliances, what car we will get for Junior this year, and "My dear, how do you ever get along without a dishwasher?" Somewhere along the way we had traded dreams, ideals, love of lonely walks in the woods, and conversations on the philosophy of life for a
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About the Book
Come Fill the Cup is a humorous account of what happens when a family of five move aboard a "not -so-new" yacht and give up most attachments to the land. We laughed at all the bizarre things that happened, and cried when the leg broke, the tornado crossed Dinner Key and our dock, the head quit working, and when a fire burned the wiring in the bilge. This is not a "self-help" or a "how to" book, but it is a "how to live life fully" account. All the Maltby family look back on the years they lived on the "Rubaiyat" as the best years of their lives.
About the Author
Barbara Malt by was born in Bozeman, Montana, a long way from the ocean, but all her life she seemed drawn to water. She liked to look at it, sail across it and dive into it. Travel was another attraction to her and she went to Europe, the Bahamas, Mexico, Canada, Africa, Costa Rica, Egypt and Greece. Her interests were writing about her adventures, genealogy, camping, rock hounding, sculpturing and gardening. But almost everything had to do with water. She had a dream of living on a boat and that dream came true.