HOTSPUR (Monday, January 25, 2010)

In case I haven’t mentioned it, the Tartan TOCK has a new name... well, WILL have a new name. Her name will be Hotspur. Now, Jim has wanted to name a boat Hotspur for years after the C.S. Forester character’s first command. In the novel Hornblower and the Hotspur, Horatio Hornblower is promoted from Lieutenant to Captain. Even though both kids and I were desiring to name the Tartan Athena, we agreed that a mutiny now was not in anyone’s best interest. So, Hotspur it is! And after all, we love Hortatio Hornblower.

Now, having been raised by a mother who instilled in me that the meaning of a name is very important, I have done quite a bit of research to come up with an appropriate symbol or icon that we can put on the boat decal. Already two friends have misunderstood the pronunciation of "Hotspur" and have referred to her as "Hot-Skirts" and the other referred to her as "Hot-Spurts". Maybe a visual next to the boat name will help? In case you’re wondering, the kids and I are all feeling a little like Athena would have been much more simple and less embarrassing. Mutiny now? No, not yet.

Faulkner is old English for "falconer". Falcons are birds of prey. Birds of prey have spurs. Okay, see where I’m going? In Native American symbolism, falcons are good leaders and show to have excellent judgement in sticky situations. They "soar" in their abilities. The Falcon animal totem comes to us when we require higher vision, or higher knowledge in solving dilemmas in our lives. And the Peregrine Falcon, for example, is migratory. All good qualities we would like to have aboard our boat!

 So, I have come up with a draft of the decal we’d like to have made of our boat name. It's fairly simple and I like it, but Jim’s only comment was, "Looks expensive." Okay... MUTINY! MUTINY! MUTINY!