by Judy Handley | Aug 6, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 289, Year 11: Working Hard to Empty Plastic Bins
Date: Saturday, August 6, 2016
Weather: Very Windy, Threat of Rain All Day; High mid 80’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
I keep working hard to empty all of the plastic bins of our belongings, but I do believe they are multiplying when I am not looking. But no matter how hard I work, they just don’t go away. I carried five empty ones out of the apartment today and there is only one more from Windbird to be unpacked. But never fear, there are many more that came from our storage unit.
Mark was really not feeling good this morning, but he is better this evening. He was actually nauseous this morning, in addition to having pains in his abdomen. We have added onions and garlic back to his diet and that could be the problem. Or maybe it was just a result of the biopsy. I’m hoping it was the latter, but whatever, he is much better tonight. So we are going ahead with plans to go sailing with Bruce and Jane Woodin tomorrow morning. It’s been almost six months since we have been on a sailboat and we are definitely having withdrawal symptoms. Bruce and Jane’s boat is a small day sailor, but it is a sail boat. Can’t wait.
by Judy Handley | Aug 5, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 288, Year 11: Another Long Boston Day
Date: Friday, August 5, 2016
Weather: Great Summer Weather; High in the 80’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
It was yet another long day to Boston and back. But to be fair, we extended the length of the day by driving to Yarmouth (here on the Cape) on the way home to get our Massachusetts driver’s licenses. You can’t get a driver’s license without a utility bill with your name on it, and we finally had that. Or so we thought. We had a letter from the electric company with the new address and both of our names, but the bill for July had only Mark’s name on it. So Mark could get a license, but not me. But we weren’t willing to give up easily. Our bank happened to have a branch across the street and we walked over to see if we could get a bank statement in my name with the new address. Mark had changed the address a couple of weeks ago, but it was not on record. So we struck out there. We went back and Mark got into one of the guest computers to print out the name and address information from the electric company. He added my name and printed out the sheet. The ladies doing the screening still rejected our attempt. But they finally agreed to let us talk to the manager and that worked. Hurray! Now we can drive legally and we can vote in Massachusetts. We wanted the licenses, but we really wanted to make sure we were registered to vote. In this state, you are automatically registered to vote when you get your driver’s license. So we are all set. But between the horrible traffic from Boston to Yarmouth (the worst we have seen this summer) and the time we had to spend getting the driver’s licenses, we arrived home thirteen and a half hours after leaving this morning. Mark’s liver biopsy went smoothly, but that process was long as well. The good news is that he is finished with the testing. Now we just have to wait to see what his oncologist, Dr. Kwak, recommends for his next treatment.
We got a couple of text messages from Puerto Rico today with photos attached. Today was Ziggy’s last day of sailing camp and the picture shows off his new Rincon Sailing shirt and his sunburned face. But sunburn or not, we are especially proud of the youngest sailor in the Handley family.
01 Ziggy in Sailing School T-shirt
And we also got a photo of Coco in one of the bathing suits we sent her for her birthday. She just turned four, but all of a sudden she looks so grown up. But that beautiful smile hasn’t changed a bit.
01 Coco in Her New Birthday Swimsuit
by Judy Handley | Aug 4, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 287, Year 11: Gorgeous Weather
Date: Thursday, August 4, 2016
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High 78 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
The big news of today was the weather. Yesterday and today have both been banner days—lots of sunshine, temps in the upper 70’s, no humidity—Cape Cod perfect. Heather returned from Nantucket and Jed took the afternoon off so they could both go to the beach with the boys. That allowed me to return home and spend the afternoon with Mark doing things that needed to be done like cutting Mark’s hair and making granola. In the late afternoon, I talked with good friend Jane Woodin and broke my pledge to do absolutely nothing socially until all of these plastic bins are unpacked. Bruce and Jane invited us to go to an event at the Falmouth Museums on the Green tonight and we decided to go–not so much because we wanted to go to the event, but because we really wanted to see Bruce and Jane. It was great to see them and we came back to our apartment to hear the last half hour of the Falmouth Town Band concert from across the harbor and to just talk and catch up on happenings. Thanks, Bruce and Jane, for jolting us out of our self-imposed hibernation.
Tomorrow we head to Boston at 5 am for Mark’s liver biopsy. I guess I’d better get to bed. It could be a looooooooong day!
by Judy Handley | Aug 3, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 286, Year 11: Happy Thoughts About Boats
Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Weather: Beautiful Day, No Humidity; High 78 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
We talked to our son Justin this afternoon and he explained a photo that we saw on Facebook on Monday. It was a picture of our grandson Ziggy getting on a small sailboat called a Sunfish and the tag said, “Ziggy, keeping the Handley’s afloat. It’s a family tradition!” When we talked to Justin this afternoon he explained that Ziggy is taking sailing lessons and he’s loving it. This certainly elicited a big smile from Granddad and me. Justin was never in love with sailing. He would always rather be on a surfboard. Ziggy has followed in his father’s footsteps to this point and loves surfing. But evidently he has also inherited the sailing gene. Go, Ziggy!!!
And good luck to Justin. We found out in our conversation that Justin had just accidentally split open the entire length of his left index finger. Jo applied butterfly bandages and Justin was not planning on going to the Emergency Room. But he was in extreme pain and we are worried.
Today we received another photo, this one from Sam and Dawn, the young couple in the process of purchasing Windbird. They are spending the week on Windbird and today Sam was out and about in the dinghy. We assume Dawn got the great pic of Sam zooming through the harbor. Sam reported that after six months of dormancy, the dinghy engine started on the third pull. Of course, this was after having to cut off the lock that secured the motor to Windbird’s rail. We think we have the key, but we don’t know where. So Sam and Dawn were able to use the bolt cutters on the boat to cut off the lock.
I don’t dare show this photo to our four year-old grandson, Ollie. Almost daily Ollie reminds us how much he misses driving Windbird’s dinghy. Hopefully before summer’s end we’ll get Ollie, and the rest of us as well, out on the water in some sort of boat.
I had a short day with the Goldpebbles today. Heather left for Nantucket today and Jed took the boys for the afternoon. Mark and I used the free time to do some hardware and grocery store shopping and then came home to spend the evening together. Heather returns mid-day tomorrow and I think she plans on taking possession of the Goldpebbles once she gets home. So Mark and I might have another afternoon together. Then on Friday we head to Boston for yet another biopsy. Once we have the results of this biopsy, we should be able to make a decision on what the next treatment will be for Mark.
by Judy Handley | Aug 2, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 285, Year 11: Falling into the New Daily Routine
Date: Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Weather: Overcast and Cooler, High in the low-70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
The first three weeks of Camp Oma were all about heading to the beach each morning for swim lessons and then just enjoying the beach time. Last week our schedule changed when classes at the School of Science in Woods Hole began. Sam was sick the latter half of last week, so we are just now falling into our new schedule. I arrive at Heather and Jed’s at 9 each morning and they take off with Sam and head to work in Woods Hole. Sam stays with Heather and reads until his class starts at 10:15 am. In the meantime, Jonah and Ollie enjoy time just playing at home. At 11:00 we stop to eat lunch and at 11:15 we head to Woods Hole to drop Jonah off for his class and pick Sam up. Sam, Ollie, and I have been driving back to Falmouth while Jonah is in class, getting lunch for Sam and playing at our apartment. I leave Sam and Ollie playing with Granddad while I drive back to Woods Hole to pick up Sam. This keeps Ollie and Jonah from having to spend so much time in the car. But when I return with Sam and get lunch for him, we then all drive back to Heather and Jed’s so the kids can just play away the afternoon. I busy myself with laundry and house cleaning chores, and before you know it, it is after 5 pm and Heather and Jed return from week.
At the same time that the schedule changed for the boys, Mark’s schedule also changed. We no long go to Boston on Wednesdays, but this week we go on Friday for Mark’s last biopsy. Soon after that we should hear Dr. Kwak as to what her recommendation will be for treatment. Lots going on and I just can’t keep up with correspondence. If you have sent emails my way and I haven’t responded, please forgive me. I will write to you as soon as I can. Right now I’m treading water and losing ground.
by Judy Handley | Aug 1, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 284, Year 11: You Can Take the Girl Out of West Virginia . . .
Date: Monday, August 1, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High in the mid-70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
I’m from West Virginia and as the saying goes, “You can take the girl out of West Virginia, but you can’t take West Virginia out of the girl.” I’m sure many of you have pictures in your mind of a West Virginia backyard filled with old cars, old refrigerators, and old anything else. Not knowing it, I think I have spent most of life fighting that image. I’ve always tried to keep things tidied up, but the move to this small apartment with WAY TOO MUCH STUFF has put me over the edge and I’ve fallen back into my West Virginia ways. We have this huge deck and I decided that it would be fine to store a few things tucked away in the back corner. There is a window there that always has the blinds closed, so we figured it must be someone’s bathroom or maybe a storage area. We could never figure out to whom that window belonged. Today the woman in the apartment next door moved out and this evening when I got home, I got a call from Camille. She and her husband Paul own this property with all of its apartments and the docks on Falmouth Harbor. She wanted to invite me to see the apartment next door that had been vacated today and point out that “the window” that looks out onto the cluttered back corner of our deck is a living room window in the next door apartment. And the view of the water was being marred with our plastic bins, fishing rods, kayak and paddles, recycling bins, our beach wagon, and other nefarious items. Camille explained that the tenant that moved out never mentioned the obstructed view, but when she and Paul were inspecting the apartment after the move, they opened the blinds and saw the mess. She offered a key to the dock house down on the dock where we can keep our kayak and explained that there was no hurry in tidying up. But it was obvious that we need to clean up our act. And this triggered something inside of me that sent me over the edge. All of a sudden all of these blue and gray plastic bins that are sitting everywhere in our apartment became overwhelming, almost choking me. That, plus the fact that Sam, the new ‘almost’ owner of Windbird called this evening wondering where he might find the key to the lock attaching the dinghy motor to the rail of the boat. We remember seeing lots of keys in a bin that was sent north in May, but neither Mark nor I can remember what we did with them. In fact, we can’t seem to find anything. So we are doing nothing other than unpacking, storing, or throwing out items until everything has a new home. Our wonderful friends, Tom and Detta Porat from New Hampshire, sent a text this evening wanting to take us out to dinner on Wednesday night on their way home from Rhode Island. But I had to stay strong and decline the invitation. We simply have to spend every free moment completing this move. Sure hope Tom and Detta will forgive us, but that text just came at the very worst time. Maybe things will look brighter tomorrow. At least I sure hope they do. Otherwise you might read about this crazy woman found throwing plastic bins into the Falmouth Harbor!
Declaration: I love West Virginia. It is a beautiful state and I am always proud to declare my origins. John Denver had it right when he wrote the song “Almost Heaven, West Virginia.” Still the reputation for trashy back yards is well founded in many parts of the state. Hopefully that has changed since we left there in the early 80’s.
