Day 337, Year 9: The ‘Bitey Stuff’
Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Weather: Clear, High Temp in the mid-60’s F, Cool Overnight
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
How can anyone not love the language of a two year-old? Ollie constantly comes up with phrases for things we are talking about and his descriptions are much better than ours. It was an early release day at school, so Mark and I picked up Sam and Jonah and headed to Woods Hole. We picked up Ollie and walked across the street to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI) Exhibit Center. Ollie knew we were going to see the WHOI underwater vehicle that was attacked by Great White Sharks and he knew that they tried to bite it. So he insisted on taking his favorite stuffed animal with him, his doggy, and when Heather took him over to see the vehicle, he told doggy, “Now we go see the bitey stuff.” Well said. And when we left the center, each boy had a little bag of goodies that we bought. Ollie proudly displayed his bag and said, “My bag of stuff new to me.” I love it. I missed the photo of the day when all three boys scampered up a hill on the way to the car. Sam and Jonah quickly made it to the top of the hill and the sight of their blonde heads bobbing against the clear blue sky was quite the picture. I wasn’t quick enough with the camera, but I was able to get Ollie struggling to get up the hill, wading through fallen leaves. The hill was so steep that he finally had to come back down and walk up the steps. I didn’t even attempt that hill!
 |
| 140923 Day 337 Cape Cod, USA–WHOI Exhibit Center and Weather Webinar |
Early this morning we got a call from our friend Lynne Kirwin. We sailed across the Indian Ocean with Ed and Lynne. Lynne’s 94 year-old mother died recently. We have talked to Ed, but not to Lynne, so it was wonderful to just hear her voice. Since returning from 17 years of sailing around the world, she has spent most of the past three years with her mom and I’m sure that gift of time gave her mother great joy. Ed and Lynne are now headed back to their boat, Constance, in Fort Lauderdale. They plan to head to the Bahamas, or maybe even Puerto Rico, this winter, so hopefully we will get to see them.
When we got back to the boat this evening, Mark spent an hour or so on the phone with Lee Kaufman. Lee and Lynda are our friends in South Carolina that might sail south with us this winter. Lee is new to single side-band radio and Mark was helping him learn how to send and receive email via radio. Then at 8 pm, we participated in a weather webinar on the computer. I am constantly amazed at how much I don’t know and tonight was a perfect example. We learned a lot about weather prediction as we traveled around the world, but we have so much more to learn. Sailing across the Pacific Ocean is a piece of cake compared to the Atlantic. So now we need to focus on the Atlantic and learn as much as we can.
