OneHankyQuilter sails off with Captain Hornblower

Margo Takacs Marshall always wanted some of her ashes to end up on the ocean.

Born in landlocked Hungary, she fell in love with the big blue ocean when she read the very first book in the Captain Hornblower series in the late 1930s , as a small child.

She always delighted in telling the story of the school librarian not believing that such a young (girl) reader, with English as her second language to boot, could possibly read such an adult (and male-oriented) book so quickly.

She was marched off to her teachers, before all concerned agreed she could and had read the Hornblower book and wanted more books of adventures on the sea.

When she and her husband Rowland rounded a corner, on a 1955 trip out into the country from their home at the edge of the town of Dartmouth, and saw the open ocean 10 feet from Highway 207 in  the community of Seaforth ,they instantly fell in love with that view.

They resolved this is where they wanted to live and to die.

So, on a wild and windy day in November, some of Margo's ashes were sent off into that ocean she loved so much.

The peak of high tide on Wednesday November 24th 2010 was 9:30 AM - the retreating tide, as that water fell down to its lowest point, would hopefully take the boat containing some of her ashes far out to sea.

But late Tuesday afternoon it began to rain and pick up in wind - and it got worse and worse throughout the night.

Thankfully just before dawn the rain stopped and the wind calmed a bit.

Family members and friends - her husband Rowland, son Michael, granddaughter Rachel,co-mother-in-law Bev Leal, daughter-in-law Rebecca and family friends Leslie Savoy and a cat called ORANGE gathered at the very very end of Seaforth's Causeway Road - where land meets open ocean.

A ceremony was held, starting with the reading of Psalm 23, prayers, and ending in the singing of the hymn Amazing Grace.

Pictures were taken of the group and the boat bearing Margo's ashes.

It had a rose from Margo's garden - she loved her garden like a child - and a sail of her quilting material - she loved her quilts like her children.

She also loved animals - cats in particular - and it was very nice for Orange to hang about the fringes, uninvited but welcome.

Leslie arrived to take some more pictures - for Facebook and for distant friends and relatives.

As the boat drifted off in the waves and the wind, as a final gesture ,we all threw in red (Margo's favorite color) carnations on behalf of relatives who could only be there in spirit....

If you click on any picture it gets big enough to see all the details - the movie also needs a click to start.