by Judy Handley | Oct 3, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 358, Year 10: Ain’t No Sunshine
Date: Saturday, October 3, 2015
Weather: Overcast and Cool, Wind NE 15-20
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
There was no sunshine today, but on the more positive side, there was also no rain. It was a little cool and windy and will probably be the same tomorrow, but maybe we’ll have sunshine again by Monday. It is a great relief to know that Joaquin is not going to be a threat, so we don’t have to do the hurricane preparations tomorrow that would have been necessary if Joaquin’s track had brought her up the coast.
Today we spent a quiet morning on Windbird and went to Heather and Jed’s shortly after noon. I am starting to cook for the passage south and for the company we will have next weekend, so we spent the afternoon there with me cooking and Mark playing with the boys. The entire afternoon had a science theme with Sam and Jonah doing everything from searching through sand for fossils to digging through Oma’s science box in the basement to experimenting with electrical snap circuits. Sam also recreated an experiment that he had done at school and showed Jonah what happens when you put drops of food coloring in milk and then touch the drops of color with a Q-tip soaked in dish detergent. Mark also spent some time with them learning about thermal expansion—trying to fit a steel ball through a ring and using heat and cold to make it happen. I don’t know about the boys, but Mark had a great time doing this. When it was time to prepare dinner, I turned the kitchen back over to Heather. She called last night and invited us to dinner this evening, and in a short time she produced a fantastic dinner. And while she cooked, Mark and I built Lego Duplo with the three boys. At first we were just building with Ollie, but then Sam and Jonah joined us. Again, we had a great time playing together. For dinner we had chicken tikka masala and rice, curried cauliflower, kale, and corn-on-the-cob. Everything was yummy. So thank you, Heather!
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I haven’t talked much about our upcoming travel plans, but they are coming up quickly. Mark completes his radiation treatments on Monday, October 19, and almost immediately, weather permitting, we will be sailing south to South Carolina. We will be taking Sue and John Reed’s 18 year-old grandson, James, along with us as crew. Sue and John are Jed’s aunt and uncle and are the folks who have so graciously hosted us so many nights in their home in Cambridge over the past four years. We are very excited to be able to offer this travel opportunity to James and to have the help along the way. Once we get to Lightkeepers Marina in Little River, South Carolina, and get Windbird settled in a slip there, we will be flying back to Boston for Mark’s post-radiation scan. And just a couple of days later on Thursday, October 19th, we will be flying to Puerto Rico to spend two weeks with Justin and Jo. Heather, Jed, and boys will join us for the first week and we just can’t wait to see all five grandchildren together again. Jed will already be in San Juan for a conference when we, along with Heather and the three boys, arrive. We just booked a room tonight in the same hotel where Jed will be staying for that Thursday night. The Caribe Hilton has lots of swimming pools, so on Friday while Jed is still in meetings, we will play in the pools with the boys. After Jed’s meetings end, we will all head to the west coast of Puerto Rico to visit with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco in Aguada. We can’t wait.
by Judy Handley | Oct 2, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 357, Year 10: Cold and Rainy
Date: Friday, October 2, 2015
Weather: Rain All Day, High low-50’s F, Wind NE
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
It is cold and rainy here, but it is very good news that Joaquin looks to be headed out to sea and not up the coast. Well, at least it looks that way right now and we can all hope that trend continues. Last winter when we were in the Bahamas and listening to daily weather reports from cruiser weather guru Chris Parker, he often mentioned that forecasts based on the newer Euro model were proving to more reliable than the US Global Forecast System (GFS). That proved to be the case this time as it was the Euro model that kept telling us that Joaquin would not turn to the west and hit the US coast. Our computer programs have lagged behind the European model due to funding issues. Sure wish we could get the government funding to bring the model used by the National Weather Service up-to-date.
I drove to Boston this morning, took Mark to Mass General for lunch and his treatment, and then drove back to the Cape. It is supposed to go down into the upper-40’s tonight. Brrr. We baked dinner in the oven which added a little heat inside Windbird and right now we have the propane Mr. Heater turned on. We’ll turn that off before going to bed, but it sure is taking away the damp chill.
Our hearts are with the people of Rosebud, Oregon tonight. Those of us who believe that we need stronger gun control laws in this country need to speak out . . . NOW. We’ve remained silent far too long.
by Judy Handley | Oct 1, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 356, Year 10: Weather Watch
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2015
Weather: Overcast/Misty All Day, Rain Tonight, High mid-50’s F, Wind NNW 10
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
It is the first of October and we have all been put on a weather watch. What will Hurricane Joaquim do? I’m going with the model that says it will go out to sea rather than up the coast. If we are lucky and it does this, we’ll still get some wind and moisture, but better that than a direct hit. I think we’ll all know more tomorrow when Joaquin exits the Bahamas.
Today was a quiet day. I did a little ‘house’ cleaning, caught up on some correspondence, and headed into town to pick Sam and Jonah up from school. Heather had to go to a dinner in Boston tonight, so I stayed and fixed dinner for Jed and the boys. I’ll go to Boston in the morning to take Mark to his Friday afternoon radiation treatment and then we will head home to the Cape. It is raining now and the forecast calls for rain all day tomorrow. I’m not a lover of rainy days, but we do need the moisture . . . in moderation. When I talked to Mark tonight he wanted to know the wind speed here. At that time and until just a minute ago, the wind was fairly steady at 10 knots. But after I wrote that in the heading of this log, the wind started to pick up with periodic higher gusts. Rain, wind, cold . . . not my favorite kind of weather.
by Judy Handley | Sep 30, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 355, Year 10: Happy ‘Real’ Birthday to Our Daughter Heather
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Weather: Overcast and Rainy, Very Warm Today, Cooling Down Tonight
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
The year was 1975. My first child was due on September 27, but that day passed and no baby. Then came September 28 and still no baby. We were living in the Washington, DC, area at that time, so on Monday, September 29, I decided to go down to the banks of the Potomac River and stare at the water. I was sure that would do the trick. And it did. When I returned home at 4 pm and was starting to fix dinner, I had the first pangs of labor. A very long 31 hours later this amazing child entered our lives. And 40 years later, she has grown into an accomplished, .beautiful woman, a wonderful mother and wife, and the best daughter in the whole wide world. Heather, you have had a couple of wonderful celebrations leading up to today, but you still get to enjoy the official day of birth. Ma and Pa love you and wish you a very Happy ‘real’ Birthday.
It was definitely a soggy September 30th. The rain started early and continued on into mid-afternoon. We have had only drizzle since then, but it will be coming back tomorrow or Friday for sure. The wind is now coming out of the NE and the temperature is dropping quickly. The high today was in the 70’s but will be in the 50’s tomorrow. The weekend is supposed to be more of the same and we have the threat of Hurricane Joaquin coming our way the first of the week. July, August, and September were beautiful, so I guess we deserve a rude October wet chill. Mid-afternoon when the torrential rain calmed down, I went to shore. I picked Sam and Jonah up from school, delivered them to Woods Hole to celebrate WCAI’s 15th birthday, and then I headed to meet friends for dinner. As soon as dinner was over, I went back to Heather and Jed’s to ride herd on the boys while Heather was on an hour-long conference call. The boys engaged in building Legos and were amazingly good. I’m back on windy Windbird now, doing a bit of rock and roll in the gusty winds. I talked to Mark tonight and he is doing great. Heather has to be in Boston tomorrow night for a dinner and she is going to spend the night with her dad. He’s really looking forward to that. And then on Friday he returns home to help with hurricane prep. At this point it is impossible to tell what Hurricane Joaquin is going to do, but best to be prepared . . . just in case. Note: Since we are three days past a full moon we are having extremely high tides (spring tides). Add to that all of the rain, and you get super high tides flooding the road from the boat yard to the yacht club. I have never seen such a high tide here. My photos don’t quite capture it, but the water was half way up the tires of the cars on the road.
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by Judy Handley | Sep 29, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 354, Year 10: Focus on the Weather
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Weather: Partly Cloudy, One Rain Shower, Wind SW, Temp upper-70’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
Today, and for the next few days, I think the focus is going to be on the weather. Today could have been rainy, but it wasn’t. The forecast for tomorrow looks like rain all day and evening, but we’ll just have to wait and see what really happens. But by Thursday, the winds will switch from coming from the southern sector to the northern. And the daytime high temperature is forecast to plunge down to the 50’s F. That’s a 20 degree drop from today, it will feel quite chilly. And the rain is forecast to continue until Saturday or maybe even into Sunday and Monday. We have had such an incredible run of gorgeous weather from July to August to September. We’ll just have to wait and see what October throws our way.
This week I’m spending my mornings doing a little boat cleaning. So this morning I attacked the forward closet and head. After that I headed to Woods Hole to pick Ollie up at 1 pm. He was fast asleep by the time we got home and then I spent some time talking to Heather. I see her on most days, but rarely do we get a chance to talk. We worked through the next couple of weeks so I would know when I was needed to help out with the boys. Tomorrow is an incredibly busy and complicated schedule, but I think we got it worked out. So I’m going to head to bed early and get ready for a busy tomorrow–another morning of boat cleaning and an afternoon and evening of helping out with the boys. And in between, I’m going out to dinner with friends. Sounds like a great way to spend a rainy last day of September . . . and the last warm day for the next week or so.
by Judy Handley | Sep 28, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 353, Year 10: Travel Day
Date: Monday, September 28, 2015
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Warm, Temp in the upper 70’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA
This was a travel day. Jed drove his mom, Marti, home to Washington, DC, and I drove Mark to Boston and then returned to the Cape. So the Handleys and the Goldstones put on a few miles today. Heather had to stay home with Ollie as he had a slight fever and when I got back from Boston, I stopped by Heather’s to help out in Jed’s absence. Sam and Jonah both had Scouts tonight, so Heather went with them. This was Jonah’s very first Scout meeting. Last winter he said he didn’t want to become a Scout when he was old enough because it required too much sitting and listening, but over the summer he changed his mind. He seemed very excited when he came home tonight wearing his Boy Scout shirt and hat. It seems he is going to like Scouts more than he thought. While the big boys went to their Scout meeting, I stayed at home with Ollie. He is feeling much better and will probably be able to go to school tomorrow, but Heather thought it best that he stay home tonight. The two of us had a nice, relaxed evening together.
Tomorrow is an Early Release Day for Sam and Jonah, so once again Heather will have to be home in the afternoon, this time with the big boys. Ollie could stay at preschool all day, but I will pick him up at 1 pm and bring him home so he can have a long nap in his own bed. It looks like a lot of rain is headed our way this week, but hopefully it will hold off until Wednesday so the boys can play outside tomorrow afternoon. Along with the rain will come much cooler weather, so tomorrow might be the last summer-like day for playing outside for a few days.
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