by Judy Handley | Feb 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 54: Arrival in the San Blas Islands
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 41, Low, 34 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The outside temperature today reached 41 degrees F, but there was a bit of wind making it feel much colder. Most of the snow has melted, so I know it wasn’t as cold as it felt. Tomorrow is windy and Thursday is even windier. Both days will be sunny or partly sunny with a high in the low 40’s. Then on Friday it will be cooler, but with very little wind. I’ll bet Friday will feel the warmest since the winds will be lower. If that’s the case, I might take the day off writing and do some preliminary gardening work. I need to do a little shopping around to find the best organic compost available. One thing I learned in the gardening docu-series I have been watching is that you need to add 2 inches of compost to your garden every year. And I also need to add biochar that helps your soil retain moisture and Azomite rock dust that adds minerals. I had never heard of biochar or Azomite. So, I have some researching to do to even find out where to purchase these things. And, yes, I also need to order seeds. But purchasing these things can be on yucky, rainy days. I’ll do the outside prep work on Friday.
I titled yesterday’s log, ‘Stuck in the Netherlands Antilles’. Today I found out the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved as a political entity in 2010, so I can longer be stuck there. Today the Caribbean islands that were part of the Netherlands Antilles remain a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The group is now commonly called the Dutch Caribbean. Who knew?
Today in my writing process, I made it to the San Blas Islands in Panama. I can’t wait until morning to write about the short but really exciting time we spent there. I’d like to think I might then get through the Panama Canal tomorrow, but that probably won’t happen until Thursday. Writing this book is a slow process. It is going to take all of 2021 to complete it. Right now, I am ignoring almost everything else in my life, but I can’t continue to do that unless I hire someone to clean my house, cook my food, do my gardening, walk my dog, and exercise for me. You get the picture. I am enjoying reliving each and every experience so much that I could literally just sit here and write non-stop. At least today I remembered to turn the lights on late in the afternoon so I wouldn’t be writing in the dark. I really don’t even notice when it gets dark, but I feel sorry for Shadow sitting in the dark wondering what in the world is wrong with me. The problem is that there were just too many wonderful experiences in The Voyage of Windbird. I know I can’t include them all, but it is difficult to decide which ones to exclude. Probably half of what I am writing now will eventually be cut, but for now I’m cramming it all in.
by Judy Handley | Feb 22, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 53: Stuck in the Netherlands Antilles
Date: Monday, February 22, 2021
Weather: Overcast, Then Rain; High 41, Low, 31 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I’m beginning to feel like I live in two realities. One of me is immersed in sailing around the world while the other is trying to make it through a New England winter. Guess which one is having the most fun!
The weather today was a bit warmer and the snow was beginning to melt a bit. But it was a dreary, overcast day for the most part. And then late in the afternoon the rain came tumbling down. When I took Shadow out after dark, t was really yucky out. But I spent most of day ignoring the weather and sitting at the dining room table writing my way from Bonaire to Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles. Three islands in this territory are in the northern group in the Leeward Islands, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten. Bonaire and Curacao, the islands I was writing about today are in the southern group down near the coast of Venezuela. Until I started rereading my logs from our time in Bonaire, I had honestly forgotten just how much we enjoyed our time there. So, I got stuck there today writing about the place. Before I stopped writing, I at least got out of Bonaire and on to Curacao. Hopefully tomorrow I will write about leaving Curacao and heading to the San Blas Islands. We were only in the San Blas for two days, but what a special two days those were. I can’t wait to write about that experience. The Panama Canal will have to wait until Wednesday.
Today I got an email from Margaret, my daughter-in-law Jo’s mother in England and loved what she wrote about her experience in getting her Covid vaccination. I do hope she won’t mind that I quote her here. “Well, we have had our vaccinations! The aim in the U.K. was for everyone in the top 4 risk categories to have been offered one by 15th February . . . we are in group 4 which is the over 70s, although I must confess I still struggle with the idea that we are vulnerable people! And we had ours on Saturday 13th February. It was the most amazing feeling when we had had it, and for the first time in many months I started to look forward positively, rather than existing on an almost daily basis. The vaccination centre we went to is normally a village hall and was staffed by volunteers although obviously qualified staff actually gave the injections. We had seen a video on the BBC news with the actor who played the Earl of Grantham from Downton Abbey working as a volunteer … and he was there to greet us too! I think this was all part of a drive to boost take up in the vaccinations, but so far numbers have exceeded even the most optimistic expectations.” Now I want to go to England to get my Covid vaccine. I think it is fabulous that the Earl of Grantham from Downton Abbey was there to greet Margaret and Phil. We need to get more creative in the campaign to get everyone vaccinated and use some of our star power!
And speaking of star power, today I downloaded and read an article from the December 2020 edition of Yachting magazine about Windbird. Sam had an article published about the life he and Dawn have led living aboard Windbird since they bought her in 2016. And the photos were fabulous. Congratulations to Sam for getting the article published. It made me feel so proud to see that sailboat that I love so much looking so good. And it gave me even more incentive to get that book written.
by Judy Handley | Feb 21, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 52: Bright White
Date: Sunday, February 21, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 32, Low, 22 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The white snow cover is still with us and with today’s bright sunshine, I had to put on my sunglasses in order to see anything on my first walk with Shadow this morning. The sun shining on the white snow was blinding, but beautiful once I had my sunglasses on and could see. I diddled away the rest of the morning, went for a lovely walk with Heather, Jed, the boys, and Shadow in the afternoon and heard all about their week of skiing and snowboarding in Maine. They had a wonderful vacation week. Heather said the house they rented was expensive, but it was worth every penny to get away, forget about work, forget about Covid, and just enjoy life. And they did. I came home and continued my writing until I realized it was absolutely dark in the house because it was already 8 pm. Yikes. Time flies when you are having fun. I got to Kralendijk, Bonaire, this evening. What a fabulous three-day passage we had from Union Island in the southern Grenadines to Bonaire. Hopefully I’ll get through the Panama Canal tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Feb 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 51: Winter Wonderland
Date: Saturday, February 20, 2021
Weather: Snow Overnight, Mostly Cloudy Day; High 33, Low, 20 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
When I took Shadow out late last night, we were welcomed by snow. And by this morning, our world looked like a winter wonderland with snow laden branches bending under the weight of the heavy snow. I think we got another inch or two of the white stuff. It is so beautiful, but those bird songs I hear on my walks with Shadow are beckoning spring. It is a long way off, but I’m hoping that at least this is the last of the snow. Shadow, on the other hand, would probably like snow all year round. He loves to dig tunnels in the snow with his nose. I don’t know what he is looking for under there, but he sure was funny looking this morning when he emerged with a white, snowy face.
I spent a bit of time this morning trying to figure out how to make an appointment for a Covid vaccine. Unfortunately, I didn’t know until Thursday evening that the 65+ group can now make appointments in Massachusetts. The announcement was made Thursday morning and almost immediately the state website crashed for a couple of hours with so many Baby Boomers trying to make an appointment. I did try yesterday with no luck, but I had gotten some advice from a member of a Newcomers group I am in and thought I’d give it another go. The advice didn’t help. All available appointments in Massachusetts are currently booked, but the websites do say to keep checking as things could change from day to day. Some people who unsuccessfully tried all day on Thursday got up at 4 am on Friday and found success. I’ll be patient and keep trying, but I must admit that this is a frustrating process.
After striking out in my attempt to get a Covid vaccine appointment, I headed out to do some chores in town. I did a little shoveling to make a path from the road down the driveway to Heather and Jed’s front door, delivered the two pans of lasagna to their refrigerator, changed the guinea pigs’ bedding and fed them, did a couple of errands in town, and drove to water plants for friends who are out of town. I didn’t get a lot of writing done today, but I certainly enjoyed rereading the logs I wrote on our three-day passage from the eastern Caribbean to Bonaire. The first night’s log was entitled, “Somebody Left the Porch Light On.” On the first night of that passage, I’ll never forget coming up to the cockpit for my first watch and searching to find what light Mark had left on. The full moon was that bright. Sailing on the ocean offers so many wonderful experiences. And today while I was watching my gardening docu-series, I was reminded of the expanse of the world’s oceans. They contain 97 percent of the water on earth. The episode today was about the importance of water to plants. Not sea water, of course. But the focus was on giving plants the water they need without wasting a drop. There was this quote by scientist Sylvia Earle, “No water, no life. No blue, no green.”
I got a text from Heather around 5:30 pm saying they were a few minutes from being home. She sent a couple of photos of the happy winter vacation crew. They shared the rental in Bethel, Maine, with the other family in their pandemic pod, the Simpkins. The five boys looked very happy, but in one photo four of the boys were pointing at Sam’s feet. He was outside and barefooted. That’s our Sam. I’ll be anxious to talk with them tomorrow to find out all about their week skiing and snowboarding and to hear the result of the lasagna cook-off.
by Judy Handley | Feb 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 50: Happy Island
Date: Friday, February 19, 2021
Weather: Icy Rain; High 33, Low, 27 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Instead of snow today, we got icy rain. Thankfully, the temp was just enough above freezing that it mostly melted when it hit the ground and wasn’t as slippery as it could have been. It looks like we might get a little snow overnight and then I am ready for this to end. Watching the gardening docu-series is making me long for warmer weather.
As with everything in my life, I never seem to get as much writing done in a day as I had hoped, but I did finish Chapter 6 of The Voyage of Windbird and will launch into Chapter 7, Onward to the Pacific, tomorrow. I’ll share one little bit from Chapter 6 here.
“A unique experience we had while in Clifton Harbor in the Union Island anchorage was our visit to Happy Island. It is still there and when you Google ‘Happy Island Caribbean’ you find exclamations like “The World’s Coolest Beach Bar.” Happy Island is a very tiny man-made island just out on Newlands Reef which was in front of the Union Island anchorage. It is not everyone that decides to build an island, but a Union Islander named Janti Ramage did just that. He had a bar on the main island in Ashton. But few tourists got over there. He also worked for tourism and was trying to clean up the town. One of the major problems was all of the conch shells the fishermen left on the beach. So, he brought the conch shells to Newlands Reef, built his island, and opened his bar and restaurant in 2002. It was a barefoot kind of with water lapping all around you. If you let Janti know ahead of time, he would prepare a dinner for you, or you could just go out to enjoy the setting sun with a rum punch or a beer. The cost per drink was $10.00 EC (Eastern Caribbean dollar) which is about $3.75 US, twice the price of anywhere else we had been in the Caribbean, but it was well worth it. Happy Island is a little bigger now than it was in 2006 when we were there and Janti built has built a home next to the bar. Hives on his little island full time. In a current YouTube video he says he has gained his independence and lives a life free of stress. Janti, entrepreneur extraordinaire of the Caribbean.”
by Judy Handley | Feb 18, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 49: Snow, Perseverance, Compost Tea, Laundry, Lasagna, and Snorkeling
Date: Thursday, February 18, 2021
Weather: Snow (about 2 inches); High 32, Low, 22 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What do snow, Perseverance, compost tea, lasagna, and snorkeling all have in common? The answer is me—my day. It is not every day that I can attach a title like to my daily log. I didn’t really get a lot of writing done today as I had planned, but I did finish writing about our time in Bequia and got us to the Tobago Cays where we had a fabulous snorkeling experience. This was enough to keep me warm today while the snow was falling outside. The rest of my day was filled with researching lasagna recipes and making the meat sauce, doing a laundry while feeding the guinea pigs, learning how to make compost tea for my gardens, following the successful landing of Perseverance on Mars, and walking and playing in the snow with Shadow. Oh, and I worked on my jigsaw puzzle. Basically, it was a day that included a little bit of everything.
I spent a bit of time this morning looking for a good recipe for lasagna with béchamel sauce. I asked Heather on Sunday night how her experiment of making lasagna for the boys went. It was an experiment because lasagna is not something they had ever eaten—too many things mixed together. But I was delighted to hear that both Ollie and Sam liked it. With that, I offered to make lasagna for them as a welcome home gift when they arrive back in Falmouth on Saturday. Lasagna used to be a staple food in our household, but I make it rarely these days. I looked forward to making it for the Goldpebbles. But then Heather added that the lasagna she made was a lasagna with meat sauce and béchamel sauce. Uh oh, I’ve never made béchamel sauce. Don’t even think I’ve ever heard of it. But I said I would give it a try. Then Sam chimed in and said he thought I should make two lasagnas, my special recipe and the lasagna béchamel. They could have a lasagna taste test. So, that is what I am planning to do. But this morning I was having trouble finding a recipe for a meat sauce-based béchamel lasagna. The béchamel seems to go with spinach lasagna. So I am just making up my own recipe. That will be tomorrow’s activity, although I did make the meat sauce tonight.
After my recipe search, I started writing. But at some point, I looked up and saw that it was snowing a little earlier than I expected. I knew I had to stop and go into town to feed the guinea pigs right then in case the roads were unpassable later. And while I was at it, I was going to put in a load of laundry. Last night I fed the guinea pigs later than usual so I could go mid-day today and just make the one trip due to the anticipated icy roads. Good plan, but the snow came so fast and so hard, that by the time I fed the g-pigs and did some grocery shopping for the lasagna cook-off, the drive home was a little dangerous. I just made sure I kept far away from other cars and did make it home safely.
I had already done my daily mile walk with Shadow, so when I got home, I brought him out to play in the snow. By this time there was almost two inches. I cleaned off the car again and did some shoveling while Shadow played and then I went in and got back to work. I finished watching yesterday’s gardening docu-series about making compost tea to feed your plants and I learned about biochar which can help your soil retain moisture. I need to learn more about this. And then it was time to check in on the landing of Perseverance on Mars. After traveling 293 million miles, this rover that is about the size of a car landed successfully on Mars. What an incredible feat. I then got the lasagna sauce on to burble for about an hour while I continued writing. It was so exciting to go back and read my log describing the day of snorkeling on the outer reef at Tobago Cays. I felt like I was right there discovering a whole new world underwater. I look forward to continuing to write about it tomorrow.
