Day 283, Year 11: Another Day of Unpacking

Day 283, Year 11: Another Day of Unpacking
Date: Sunday, July 31, 2016
Weather: Overcast AM, Partly Cloudy PM, High in the mid-70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA

As always, Sam was up early this morning, but Jonah and Ollie slept in until almost 8 o’clock. We took it slow and easy, had breakfast, and weren’t ready to head to the beach until 10:30. It was overcast, so no one was eager to get to the beach, but once we were there, all three boys had a great time. They were adamant that they weren’t going to get in the water, but I knew that wouldn’t last long. Soon after we arrived, we were all in the water. Heather ran the more than four miles to the beach from her house to meet us, and shortly after her arrival, Jed drove to meet up with everyone. I headed home to get fishing rods and tackle boxes for the boys as they really wanted to go fishing with mommy and daddy. I then spent the rest of my day unpacking more plastic bins that Mary Ellen and Lee delivered last week from Windbird and some that we brought from the storage unit. Mark hung pictures on the bedroom walls and I finally have all of the books unpacked and on shelves. We are making progress, but there are still more plastic bins lining the perimeters of the apartment anywhere there is space. I’m really hoping that in the next couple of weeks we will finally be fully moved in.

160731 Day 283 Cape Cod, USA–Falmouth Heights Beach with SJ&O

Day 282, Year 11: Happy Birthday to Coco Annabelle

Day 282, Year 11: Happy Birthday to Coco Annabelle
Date: Saturday, July 30, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High in the Upper 70’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA

Happy Birthday to Coco Annabelle! Coco is our youngest grandchild (four months younger than Ollie) and she is our only granddaughter. Coco is a girly girl—loves pink, loves fancy dresses and has her own very definite fashion sense, loves dollies, and loves mothering baby animals. But never fear. She most definitely can hold her own with the four grandsons. She has curly, wispy, white hair and a smile that will take her far in life. We got to see her this morning via Skype video, and she was already in her party dress preparing for her afternoon birthday party. Coco, we love you.

160730 Day 282a Cape Cod, USA–Happy Birthday to Coco

Lee and Mary Ellen left this morning at 6:30 am. Mark and I got up to say our farewells, but headed back to bed once they left. They are headed to Illinois to visit with family and friends, but were only planning to make it as far as the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, area tonight. We so enjoyed their visit and are still amazed at how much we accomplished. Thank you, Lee and ME, for everything you did for us.

Mark spent a lot of time on the phone this afternoon with Sam, Windbird’s new owner. Although not all of the paperwork has been finalized, we have all agreed to proceed as if it is a done deal. Sam and his wife Dawn arrived in Little River today and will spend their first week aboard Windbird overseeing repairs and upgrades and just getting to know the boat. We both remember how overwhelmed we were with our first introduction to Windbird and we want to do everything we can to help Sam and Dawn. Mark assured Sam that we are just a phone call away and that he should feel comfortable calling as many times as needed. We are hoping to be able to fly to Myrtle Beach in late August or sometime in September to actually sail with them. We’re not sure Mark will be able to do this, but if he is, we would love nothing more than to personally show them Windbird’s ‘ropes’. Sam, Jonah, and Oliver are doing a sleep-over with us tonight while Heather and Jed are enjoying a night out. When I put Ollie to bed, he said, “Oma, I wish I was sleeping on the boat.” It is going to take time for all of us to get used to the idea that we can’t just drive to Quissett Harbor and spend the night on the boat. But we are so happy that Sam and Dawn chose Windbird. Or maybe Windbird chose them. Sam emailed the other night saying that he was reading our Year 10 logs and discovered that in March of 2015 he and Dawn crossed paths with us. Sam wrote, “On Sunday, March 29th as you were on your way from Warderick Wells to Hawksbill Cay, I landed in Nassau to pick Dawn up and then we flew across to Norman Cay to meet our friends. From there we flew quite low (500-1000 feet) down the Exumas to Staniel Cay, presumably passing right over Windbird along the way. You may have heard or seen us. And as we were over the Exumas Land & Sea Park, I was looking down at all the boats below in that spectacular water, both pinching myself at how lucky I was to fly my own airplane over it and also wishing I that had the time and a sailboat to explore it from the water. That short flight from Norman to Staniel Cay was one of the triggering events that made us decide to look into cruising sooner rather than later. And it turns out we were flying right over our future boat.” It is an amazingly small world.

160730 Day 282b Cape Cod, USA–Windbird at Anchor in the Bahamas

Day 281, Year 11: Long Day in Boston

Day 281, Year 11: Long Day in Boston
Date: Friday, July 29, 2016
Weather: A Tad Cooler, Sprinkles Early AM; High 80 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA

It was a long day in Boston, but both the weather and the traffic were much better than predicted. Heavy rain with flash floods was the weather prediction, but all we had were sprinkles on our way to Boston this morning. We drove in just after rush hour, returned right in the midst of late afternoon rush hour, and somehow lucked out on both ends. The endoscopic procedure Mark was having done in order to get a lung biopsy was easy and quick, but he had to wait a long time before the procedure was done. We arrived at 11 am and left at 4:30 pm. I was not supposed to go today as it was a Camp Oma day. But Heather sent a text late last night when she got home saying that she and Jed could share the kid load today. She really wanted me to go with Mark. So I did. Thankfully Mary Ellen and Lee were with me as I spent most of my day trying to figure out how to send a document from my phone to the Key Bank headquarters in New York City. This is the bank that held our boat loan until it was paid off a week ago. My problem with them today was that they will not accept any paperwork via email. The quest started shortly after arriving at the hospital when we received an email from Sam Weigel who is trying to purchase Windbird. I say ‘trying’ because getting all of the paperwork together is being a bit of a challenge. I won’t bore you with the details, but it took over an hour to figure out that the information on the Key Bank website about branch banks in Massachusetts was way out of date. There are none. The closest branch bank is in New York City. So going to a branch bank to get the paperwork processed was not a possibility. I talked to the head office again and was told that faxing the paperwork would be the next fastest option. This required me to walk to Staples in Government Center to print the document on my phone and fax it to New York. I would never have left the hospital today if I had been alone. When Mark is having any procedure done, I am always afraid to leave for fear that something will happen with no one there to deal with the situation. But today I had Mary Ellen and Lee to stay at the hospital while I ran around town, and this allowed the work to get done. The document got faxed and Mark’s procedure went smoothly. But he was a hungry bear as he had to fast all night and day until the procedure was completed. I bought some snacks for him to eat on the way home, but since the traffic was light during today’s rush hour, we decided we could afford to stop in Plymouth to eat dinner and for Mary Ellen and Lee to see the Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower. They leave early in the morning and we are going to miss them. They helped us accomplish the impossible—being storage unit free. And we are so very grateful. Thank you, Mary Ellen and Lee.

160729 Day 281 Cape Cod, USA–Mary Ellen and Lee

Day 280, Year 11: Ride on the Cape Cod Central Railroad

Day 280, Year 11: Ride on the Cape Cod Central Railroad
Date: Thursday, July 28, 2016
Weather: Even Hotter; High 90 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA

It was a great day for a ride on the Cape Cod Central Railroad. The temperature outside was hot, but the train cars are air-conditioned so we could enjoy the beauty in comfort. The ride went from Hyannis to Bourne which takes you along the northern shore of Cape Cod following the Cape Cod Canal. Before you get to the Canal, you ride through an area of salt marshes along the Cape Cod Bay. It is really beautiful and the train ride made it easy to see. Sam, Jonah, and Ollie loved the ride and were such good kids. Thank you to Mary Ellen and Lee for taking us all on the ride.

Last night I forgot to mention any thing about Mark’s procedure at Mass General yesterday. He went to have fluid removed from around his lungs and it was a super quick and easy process. He went in at 10:30 am and was out by 11:07. They extracted about a liter of fluid but it doesn’t seem to be helping with his shortness of breath issue. Tomorrow, Mary Ellen and Lee will once again drive him to Boston for a biopsy that will require an endoscopy. This means he will have to be sedated, so it will be a longer day. He goes in at 11:30 am but probably will not be out until 2:30 pm. That will put them right in the midst of Friday afternoon traffic headed to the Cape. I am so thankful that ME and Lee are here to help out with these Boston trips. They leave on Saturday morning, so I’ll be on my own once again.

Once again, it is late and all the things I wanted to write about last night are going to have to wait another day or so. When we returned from the train ride, we took the boys back home and I fixed dinner there for all of us. Heather had to work tonight and Jed was still out of town. After dinner Mark, ME, and Lee drove home while I stayed with the boys. I laid down with Ollie when I put the boys to bed and went right to sleep myself. Jed got me up when he got home at 10 o’clock. I drove straight home and got to see the last of Chelsea’s introduction of her mother and Hillary’s whole speech. Sure glad the conventions are over and we can get back to an earlier bedtime schedule.

Day 279, Year 11: Unpacking Continues

Day 279, Year 11: Unpacking Continues
Date: Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Weather: Same, Same—Sunny and Hot; High 84 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA

In between keeping grandkids and spending time with Mark’s sister and brother-in-law, the unpacking continues. Albeit slow, I am making progress.

Tomorrow we are taking a complete break from the daily routine. Mary Ellen and Lee have made reservations for all of us to go on the Cape scenic railway ride. So we will spend our afternoon doing that and then return to Heather’s for dinner. Heather will not be home tomorrow night as she is giving a presentation, so after dinner, Mark, ME, and Lee will head home and I will stay with the boys until Heather gets home. And Jed gets home from Vancouver tomorrow night as well.

It is late as Mark and I have been watching the Democratic Convention speeches tonight. We watched the Republican Convention last in its entirety last week and are trying to watch as much of the Democratic Convention as possible. Tonight was especially powerful with speeches by both our Vice-President and President. Mark and I are both political junkies that just have to see it all. But it is late and anything else I was going to write about will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Day 278, Year 11: Storage Free . . . Yippee, Yippee

Day 278, Year 11: Storage Free . . . Yippee, Yippee
Date: Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Weather: Hotter Than Yesterday; High 86 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA

After 13 years of paying storage fees, tonight we are storage free—yippee, yippee! Mary Ellen and Lee came with the agenda of helping us clean out our storage unit and they have worked doggedly to make it happen. By the time I got up this morning, Lee was saying that today was the day to finish the job. Neither Mark nor I thought it could happen. But it did. We moved the West Virginia cherry lumber to Heather and Jed’s storage shed. We loaded the van with things that needed to be taken to the town dump and then went back to the storage unit. There we loaded Lee and ME’s car with the last of the things that needed to be taken to our apartment and the remaining things in the storage unit that needed to go to the town dump in Heather and Jed’s van. Mark and ME headed home and Lee and I headed to the dump. I thought we were done for the day, but Lee insisted that we go back to storage to get the last bits that needed to be taken to Heather and Jed’s. He won and we completed the job. In order to take down an iron pipe that we had used as a clothes rack in storage, Lee climbed up on an antique chest to untie the thing. Thank goodness Lee is in better shape than any 75 year-old man I know, but I was sure glad when he jumped down and all was done. We still have an apartment full of things that need to find a home, but that can be done over time. So many people have helped us get to this point and we are so grateful.

Mark got two calls from Mass General today. He has to go to Boston tomorrow (Wednesday) to have fluid removed that has collected around his lungs. Evidently this is a routine procedure down by inserting a needle. Lee and Mary Ellen will drive him to Boston for this. Then on Friday he has to return for the first of three biopsies. The one on Friday is a biopsy in the lungs that is achieved through an endoscopy. That leaves Thursday open to have some fun, so Lee and Mary Ellen are taking us and the grandkids on a scenic train ride. Lee’s dad worked on the railroad all his life and Lee loves trains. This will be a special treat for all of us.

Tonight Lee and ME treated all of us, including Heather and boys, to a special dinner. Lee grilled steaks and asparagus and we had corn on the cob. Everything was delicious. Thank you, Lee and Mary Ellen. Unfortunately Sam didn’t get to enjoy the dinner. Heather thinks he was suffering from heat exhaustion as he had all of the classic symptoms. He slept through dinner but awoke with his high temperature significantly lowered. This happened to Jonah on Sunday. It certainly is hotter than normal here, and I think the boys get busy and forget to drink water. We actually turned on the AC in the apartment last night due to the heat and humidity and I think we will leave it on until Friday when the temperature is supposed to moderate.