by Judy Handley | Sep 6, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 249: Happy 19th Anniversary to Heather and Jed
Date: Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Weather: Cool and Rainy All Day; High 67, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a rainy, first day of the school year. Despite getting to bed late after their three day sail from Kittery, Maine to Buzzards Bay, the boys looked happy this morning. Sam is a sophomore in high school,
Jonah is in eighth grade,
and Ollie is in fifth grade.
Now let’s back up a few years, prior to the Goldpebbles. Nineteen years ago today, it was a beautiful sunny day in Boothbay, Maine where Heather and Jed were married by the ocean.
Even the cake had a nautical theme and Windbird was in the background watching the event.
It was such a fabulous day. Happy anniversary, Heather and Jed.
I had a bit of trouble focusing today. There were so many things to do, and I couldn’t figure out where to start. But it was the first day that my sister was going to have a companion with her, so I focused on my new role as my sister’s health care proxy. I am changing her primary care physician and needed to fill out paperwork to get records transferred and fill out forms about her health for the initial appointment with the new physician. I can do a lot from here, but it is becoming evident that I am going to have to make another trip to North Carolina in the next few weeks. For now, however, I am putting that on the back burner.
Speaking of the back burner, marinara sauce is on the stove burbling away tonight. And this afternoon, Shadow and I took our first walk together in a week. Last week, Lynne took him on all but one of his walks to give my back a rest. My herniated discs in my lower back are not healing as quickly this time as they did when I initially ruptured them in the spring of 2020. But I am not going to give up. In the meantime, there is a lot of low-level pain and walking long distances is challenging. But as today proved, if I can push through the first 15 to twenty minutes, the last half of the walk is not so painful. Right now, it is time to end this writing to get on my exercise bike and pedal away while icing my back. That feels so good.
by Judy Handley | Sep 5, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 248: The Goldstones and Eider Made It Home
Date: Monday, September 5, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 70, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather and Jed have been through the Cape Cod Canal before, but late this afternoon they came through aboard Eider (soon to be Ardenna) with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie.
I was so excited for them that I had to drive up to get photos as they approached and went under the Bourne Bridge.
I then drove to Marion to meet them when they arrived there. They are using the mooring of a work colleague of Heather’s and about 40 minutes after I got to the location they arrived. They were glad to be home, finally, with Eider, and they had a wonderful long weekend as a family getting her here. We picked up Cambodian take-out on the way home and by the time we finished dinner, it was well after 9 pm. Tomorrow is the first day of school, so it was definitely time for the boys to get to bed. But what a wonderful adventure they all had. I think they will all have sweet dreams tonight.
by Judy Handley | Sep 4, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 247: Empty Nest
Date: Sunday, September 4, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 80, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After five days of having guests, this morning Kevin and Claire left for New Jersey and Lynne left for New York.
With the Goldstones away, that left just me and my Shadow. The next was empty. I went to Heather and Jed’s to do a laundry and feed their cats and guinea pig and then ran a couple of errands. Somehow, I managed to be gone for more than two hours and returned home with another 30 pounds of tomatoes to process. Then I spent the next two hours on Skype with Justin, Ziggy, and Coco. I talked with the kids about their school year and then Justin and I tried to solve all the world’s problems. It was wonderful to see Ziggy and Coco and spend the time discussing life with Justin. The rest of the day was spent making another trip into town to do some food shopping and then home to start the tomato process. I heard from Heather that they made their destination for tonight. They had to motor most of the way, but they did get to sail the last two hours. When she sent the text, they were moored in Scituate and headed to shore for ice cream. Tomorrow they head through the Cape Cod Canal and on to their mooring in Marion. And now I am going to sign off and go straight to bed because all of sudden I can hardly keep my eyes open. Goodnight world.
by Judy Handley | Sep 3, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 246: Love at First Sight
Date: Saturday, September 3, 2022
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High 74, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Early this morning, I drove with the Goldstones to Kittery, Maine to meet the newest member of our family—their sailboat named Eider (although I hear she might soon be renamed Ardenna).
After we arrived and got down on the dinghy dock, I asked Jed which boat in the mooring field was theirs. He pointed her out and it was love at first sight for me. She looked so beautiful at anchor.
Then when I got out on the boat to take a closer look, I was even more impressed. I got a bit emotional when I stepped aboard and walked to the bow. Eider reminded me of a combination of our 35-foot Dickerson, Skybreaker, and our 42-foot Tayana, Windbird. It felt so incredibly good to have a boat in the family again and Heather looked so happy.
Eider is a 39-year-old boat that needs a few cosmetic upgrades, but otherwise is really in good shape. Ollie has spent time sailing on Eider, so he has favorite things to do like hanging from the jib boom like a koala.
They all had a nice sail for one day in Maine, but this is the first time they will be spending nights aboard. Eider (Ardenna) sleeps six so I can’t wait to spend the night. But until that happens, I am super excited about our plans for next Sunday, September 11. It is the day we celebrate Mark’s life each year, and this year I have been invited to sail across Buzzards Bay on Eider for the first time. We will sail to Kingman Marine to have lunch at the Chart Room and then sail back to the mooring in Marion. Mark will definitely be with us in spirit.
Heather and family made it to Rockport, Massachusetts tonight and are headed for Scituate tomorrow. Today was a beautiful day, but the winds were against them. They finally gave up and turned on the motor as an assist. It looks like the same might happen tomorrow and then on Monday when they go through the Cape Cod Canal, the winds with be with them, but it is supposed to rain. Not perfect weather for their first three-day passage together as a family, but here’s hoping they find a way to enjoy it. I loved the photo Heather sent me of Sam today.
He sure looked like he was enjoying life.
by Judy Handley | Sep 2, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 245: Great Day on the Water
Date: Friday, September 2, 2022
Weather: Gorgeous Day; High 73, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
At 10:15 this morning, Lynne, Kevin, Claire, Jonah, Ollie, and I piled into the Dearman’s motorboat and were off for 25 mile run
through the Woods Hole Cut into Buzzards Bay with not much wind, making it was a fairly smooth ride. Lunch was great, it was generally just a wonderful day to be out on the water, and the kids had a fun time together.
A great big thank you to Lara and Andrew. They return to their home in Larchmont, New York tomorrow as their three delightful kids start school on Tuesday as do the Goldpebbles. I love it when they are here in their summer home and will miss them until they return.
Tomorrow morning, I leave here at 5:45 am to go to Heather and Jed’s. I am headed to Kittery, Maine with the Goldstones to deliver them to their boat. They have a tough three-day trip from Kittery to Buzzards Bay, but if all goes as planned, they will have Eider at a mooring in Marion on Monday evening. Here’s wishing them three wonderful sailing days.
I will return home as soon as I drop them off, hopefully in time to have late lunch or early dinner with Kevin and Claire. They leave for New Jersey on Sunday and Lynne leaves for Nyack, New York on Monday. I pick the Goldstones up in Marion on Sunday night and the kids start school on Tuesday. All of a sudden, I think it will feel very lonely around here. Just me and my Shadow.
by Judy Handley | Sep 1, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 244: Holding On To Summer
Date: Thursday, September 1, 2022
Weather: Another Sunny Day; High 81, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather has been spectacular making it very hard to think about the fact that summer is coming to an end. I know fall equinox is not until later in September, but for me, the beginning of the school year has always been the end of summer. And I think Jonah, Ollie, and Sam feel the same way. So, we have been scurrying about trying to fit it the very last of the summer activities. Today when I arrived to pick up Jonah and Ollie, I discovered that Heather was working at home and Jonah and Ollie wanted to stay home and work on building a monumental pillow fort before going to the beach later in the afternoon. That was fine with me as it gave me the opportunity to go home and have a fabulous lunch with Kevin, Claire, and Lynne. Kevin and Claire eat their main meal early in the day, so after their morning walk or run, they begin the food prep. Kevin has been preparing the meals outside on the new to me glass topped table that Bruce and Jane Woodin were giving away. I took it and I love it. Thank you, Bruce and Jane. Kevin uses his electric induction plate to do the cooking on that table outside.
Today’s gourmet fare was Chicken Tikka Masala, without the chicken, which we ate outside on that table. Kevin uses marinated soy curls instead of chicken and I could not tell that it was not chicken. It was delicious.
After lunch and conversation, I headed back to the Goldstones to take Jonah and Ollie to the beach. The fort had just been completed and they wanted a little more time to play. While I was waiting, I got a call from Lynne telling me that Andrew’s son Charlie had come over to see if he could borrow a chain saw for his dad. Jed has a chain saw, so I offered to drop it off on our way to the beach. One thing led to another. Lena and Charlie ended up going to the beach with us and then Heather, Jed, and Sam came to the beach for a late afternoon swim and to take Jonah and Ollie home. But they wanted more time to play with Charlie and Lena. So, everyone came to my house. Heather and Jed ordered take out pizza and stayed the evening to talk with Kevin, Claire, and Lynne while the boys continued to play and play.
Andrew and Lara have invited Jonah, Ollie, Kevin, Claire, Lynn, and I to go boating with them tomorrow. We are going to the Chart Room at Kingman Marina for lunch. Then at 6 am on Saturday morning, I will drive the Goldstones to Kittery, Maine so they can start the last leg of getting their new sailboat, Eider, home to Buzzards Bay. I’m hoping to be back home in time for Kevin’s Saturday lunch special. We are all trying hard to pack in as many summer activities as possible before school starts on Tuesday!
Jonah is in eighth grade,
and Ollie is in fifth grade.
Even the cake had a nautical theme and Windbird was in the background watching the event.
It was such a fabulous day. Happy anniversary, Heather and Jed. 
