by Judy Handley | Jan 15, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 85, Year 11: Impromptu Visit with Good Friends
Date: Friday, January 15, 2016
Weather: Overcast and Warmer
Location: At Home with Kevin and Claire, Janelia Farm, Ashburn, VA
I really hate good byes, so saying farewell to the Goldstones once again was tough. But we had a nice morning with the boys before they went to school with promises of seeing them in a couple of months when Mark has to return to Mass General for another CT scan.
We then barely got out of Heather and Jed’s drive way this morning when Mark posed a question. Since we were going to be driving down I-95, should we call our good friends Kevin and Claire to see if they could meet us for dinner? They live on the campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, Virginia which is about half an hour off I-95. We should have thought of this last night to give them a bit of warning, but regardless, Mark called Kevin and the deal was struck. Actually we are now in their bed for the night and they are sleeping on an inflatable mattress in their living room. So we not only had dinner, but we found a home for the night. Thank you, Kevin and Claire.
We met Kevin and Claire the first year we lived aboard Windbird in Boston. Claire was a graduate student at Harvard Medical and had decided to buy a sailboat and live aboard instead of paying the high price of Boston housing. Although Kevin and Claire are the age of our children, we become good friends and have remained such throughout the years. Not long after we left to sail around the world, Claire got a post doc position here at the then brand new Howard Hughes Medical Institute generally referred to as Janelia Farm. She is planning to leave here next fall and they have down-sized from a McMansion to a studio apartment on campus. We had dinner in the campus dining facility tonight and the food was fantastic and very reasonably priced. I had the best filet mignon I have ever had and the cost for the meal was $14. And in addition to having great food, we got to meet a number of Kevin and Claire’s friends. One couple, Kelly and Dillon, came back to Kevin and Claire’s to visit. We drank some of Dillon’s homemade mead which was very good and then we went to the game room to play pinball, table shuffle board, and air hockey. It was a really fun evening and we are so glad this impromptu visit worked out so perfectly.
by Judy Handley | Jan 14, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 84, Year 11: Getting Ready to Head South
Date: Thursday, January 14, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cold, High of 33 degrees F,
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
Today was spent futzing about getting ourselves ready to leave here tomorrow morning. We will drive as far south as possible tomorrow and then make it to Little River in South Carolina on Saturday. Today I needed to do a little shopping to complete Sam’s birthday gift, exchange a couple of Christmas gifts, and do a little shopping for dinner tonight. Unfortunately we will miss Sam’s party on Monday (a school holiday) and his birthday dinner on his actual birthday on Wednesday, but we will be with him in spirit. Can’t believe our first grandchild is going to be 9 years old! The years do slip by so quickly.
by Judy Handley | Jan 13, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 83, Year 11: Could Be Better, Could Be Worse
Date: Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cold, High of 32 degrees F,
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
We woke up this morning with a skiff of snow on the ground from last night’s ‘thunder snow’–thunder and lightning with our little snow shower. That’s a first for me, but then we have had lots of weather firsts this past year. It was very cold and windy today for our drive to Boston, but then you don’t feel the cold when you are snug and warm in your car. However, the gusts of cold wind were wicked as we walked from the parking garage to the hospital. We met with Mark’s oncologists to hear the results of his latest scan. The news could be better, but it could be whole lot worse. As we have known for quite some time now, Mark has metastatic cancer. His original colon cancer spread to the liver and to the abdominal cavity. The radiation treatments he had in September and October were successful in that the cancer on the liver can no longer be seen in the scan. So that is good. The very small spots in the abdominal cavity are still there, however, and may be a little larger. So that is the bad news. But for now, no treatment is being recommended. That was definitely the news we wanted to hear. But, and there always seems to be a ‘but’, Mark has been having pain in the abdomen for the past few weeks. Dr. Kwak feels almost certain it is not cancer-related. She had a few suggestions for resolving the issue and wants us to try those things and report back to her in a month. If her recommendations work and Mark is feeling great, we are free for another month or so before he would need to return to Mass General for the next scan. Sooooooo . . . on Friday we will leave here and drive to back to Windbird in South Carolina. We will stay there until the stomach issues are resolved. If there is resolution, we will sail to Florida. If there is no resolution, we will stay put and return to Boston in a month to reconsider our situation. We may or may not make it to the Bahamas this winter. We’ll just take it one step at a time and have fun whatever we end up doing.
After we left Mass General today, we visited with my niece Lynn who lives in the Boston area. Then we made a beeline for home as we were to have an early dinner out with Jed and the boys. Heather actually joined us and then we took her to the Falmouth Library where she gave a presentation about the Paris Climate Talks she attended in December. I haven’t seen her make a presentation since she defended her doctoral dissertation in 2003. She was good then, but she is now a polished, phenomenal presenter. Forgive the bragging, but we are very proud parents. After the presentation, good friend Bruce Woodin took us out for a drink and a chance to talk and catch up on what all of us have been doing the past couple of months. Thank you, Bruce! Jane was hosting her book club at home, so we missed her company tonight. We’ll just have to look forward to our return to Falmouth in the spring to visit with both Bruce and Jane.
by Judy Handley | Jan 12, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 82, Year 11: Busy Day
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Weather: Overcast, High in the 30’s, Thunder and Snow Flurries Tonight
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
The days just get busier and busier. This morning I headed out to do some clothes shopping for Sam for his birthday next week. He needs new pants and if I ordered them online I knew the cost would be about $35 per pair. But with the sales in the stores, I could get the same pants for $12. So a ‘real’ shopping trip seemed worth it and I did find what I was after. Mark stayed home and he picked the boys up from school at 12:40 pm as this was an Early Release Day. I got home about one minute before Mark drove up with the boys and then we started our afternoon projects—working on Pinewood Derby cars for the upcoming race and cleaning the guinea pig cage. Before we knew it, it was time to fix dinner. Heather made the most amazing roasted cauliflower with an anchovy sauce. We had a variety of other things and it was like a holiday feast. I didn’t take a picture so you will just have to imagine the table with the roasted head of cauliflower surrounded by roasted baby zucchinis, spicy green beans, sliced chicken breast for the boys and chicken cashew stir fry for the adults, and the Lazy Susan dishes filled with fresh strawberries, sticks of cucumber and baby zucchini with a dip, and pistachios. The presentation of the whole head of cauliflower on the table was really beautiful and it tasted so good. Thank you, Heather.
Tomorrow we head to Boston again. Mark’s appointment with his doctors is at 11:30, so we will get up and go. On the way home I have a few more stops I need to make to complete Sam’s birthday gift shopping and we are going to stop to visit with my niece Lynn. Then we hope to get back here in time for an early dinner out. Heather is speaking to the Newcomers group at the public library tomorrow night and we’d like to go hear her talk about climate change and her experience at the Climate Conference in Paris. Somewhere in all of that, we will process the news we get from the doctors and decide when we can return to Windbird. If all is well, we could actually be flying to South Carolina as soon as Thursday morning at 5:10 am. Stay tuned on that one.
by Judy Handley | Jan 11, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 81, Year 11: Day Trip to Boston (and beyond)
Date: Monday, January 11, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Cooler
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
This was a travel day. We had only intended to drive to Boston to Mass General for Mark’s CT scan, but on the way there we realized that we had not sent the signed letter to the City Clerk in Concord, New Hampshire to have them send us ballots so we can vote in the NH Primary in early February. If we are really able to leave here this week, there will be no place for them to send the ballots. So I dropped Mark off and made a mad dash to Concord. It takes about an hour and a quarter to drive there and my goal was to be back at Mass General in time to pick Mark up as soon as his scan was completed. I knew I could only pick up my ballot, but I also knew that delivering Mark’s signed request would speed up the delivery of his ballot. The trip up went great, but when I got there all of the parking places required a quarter for the meter. I had no change at all with me, so I took the chance, parked and went into City Hall. When I returned five minutes later, I had a parking ticket. The price of being a good citizen just went up! It seems crazy to me that we still have to vote in New Hampshire, but evidently the law states that ‘transients’ (people who do not own or rent a home or pay utilities at someone else’s home) must use their last permanent address as their voting address. So we will be able to vote in the primary and I did make it back to Mass General just as Mark was finished with the scan and we made it out of Boston before the heavy rush hour traffic. So all in all, it was a successful day. We will return to Boston on Wednesday to meet with Mark’s doctors and get the results of today’s scan. In the meantime, we will be here having fun with the Goldpebbles.
by Judy Handley | Jan 10, 2016 | Sailing Logs Year 11 |
Day 80, Year 11: Rainy Sunday
Date: Sunday, January 10, 2016
Weather: Rain All Day, High in the 50’s F
Location: At Home with Heather and Family, East Falmouth, MA
It was a rainy, rainy Sunday, so we stayed inside all day. We played games, worked puzzles, and worked on projects with the kids. Not sure where the day went, but whatever we did, I’m exhausted. Mark worked with Jonah on a Scout project making a knight’s shield with symbols representing Jonah’s interests—soccer, the ocean, and sea turtles.
Mark also helped Ollie make a race car, but we didn’t get around to making race cars for the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby in two weeks. Tomorrow we travel to Boston for Mark’s CT scan. Sure hope the rain stops and the sun shines, but I shouldn’t complain as it is relatively warm out.
