by Judy Handley | May 24, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 226, Year 10: Signs of Summer
Date: Sunday, May 24, 2015
Weather: Sunny, Wind SW 20+, Temp in the Lower 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
It continues to be cool and windy out here in the middle of Quissett Harbor on Windbird, but this morning Heather and I took the boys to shore to play on the beach and it was delightful when we got out of the wind. The high here today was only 61 degrees F, but with the sunshine, it was warm enough for the boys to play on the beach, run in the water, and act like summer is here. The other definite sign that summer is just around the corner is the traffic. It starts here on the Cape just before Memorial Day weekend and continues until after Labor Day. And a drive through town tells you that it has definitely arrived.
After the beach adventure, we headed to Heather’s. We had hoped to get lots of gardening done, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day. After a Memorial Day parade tomorrow morning and another trip to the beach, we’ll try to sneak in a little planting tomorrow afternoon. Today we did get most of the tomato plants in the ground and tomorrow’s goal will be to plant bean and corn seeds and the squash and cucumber plants we bought this week. But both Mark and I have come down with colds, so I’m not sure how much energy we are going to have to do anything. We thought we had fought off the colds, but tonight it has become obvious that we weren’t successful in that endeavor. We’ll get to bed early and hope that a miracle happens overnight.
by Judy Handley | May 23, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 225, Year 10: May Fest
Date: Saturday, May 23, 2015
Weather: Sunny, Wind SW 20+, Temp in the Upper 50’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
It was a fun day and we are particularly happy tonight to have Heather and the three boys on Windbird for an overnight. Today was sunny, but the strong winds and high temp only in the 50’s made for a cool one. It was a busy day and we are all turning in early tonight. Heather’s strawberry shortcake sale at May Fest was a financially successful venture for the Woods Hole Day Care Cooperative and the boys really enjoyed the day in the park in Woods Hole. All three boys marched in the early morning parade through Woods Hole announcing the beginning of May Fest. Sam and Jonah are both now alumni of the Day Care and they joined with other alumni in carrying the WHDCC banner through town. And, of course, we all enjoyed eating strawberry shortcake. Tomorrow morning Mark goes to work at West Marine and Heather and I will split our day between messing about in boats with the boys and doing the traditional Memorial Day planting in her garden. Then early on Monday morning, Sam has to march with his scout troop in Falmouth’s Memorial Day Parade. So we don’t lack for things for keep us busy on this Memorial Day Weekend.
by Judy Handley | May 22, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 224, Year 10: On the Road
Date: Friday, May 22, 2015
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy, Temp in the mid-60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
I spent most of my day on the road and Mark spent his day either on the road or in the imaging center at Mass General. Early in the morning, I drove him most of the way to Boston and then dropped him at a T station so he could take the subway in for the last 15 traffic-jammed miles. I then headed back to the Cape. Hyannis is not on the way home, but I diverged and went that way to take the Honda Fit to the service department to have a ‘check tire pressure’ light investigated. It was on when I picked the car up on Wednesday, but I didn’t notice it until I was in the middle of rush hour traffic and not wanting to turn around and go back. Instead I called the salesman and told him I would bring it in today. Mark and I checked the pressure in each of the tires and found the front right tire to be extremely low. We could have just put air in it, but I wanted the Service Department to do that in case there was a bigger problem. Luckily there was no problem and I only had to wait 10 minutes. But while in Hyannis, I went Home Depot to buy some garden plants and to Trader Joe’s to do a shopping spree for Heather. By the time I drove the 45 minutes to Heather’s from Hyannis and unloaded the car, it was time to drive to Woods Hole to pick up Ollie. I spent a couple of hours herding kids in the backyard after school and then Ollie and I headed back to Hyannis to pick Mark up. He was supposed to take a bus from Boston to Falmouth, but everything took longer than expected and he ended up on a bus to Hyannis instead. He was going to take another bus home from there, but it took almost three and a half hours to get just as far as Hyannis. The last bus leaves Hyannis at 6:30 headed to Falmouth and it was 6:45 when his bus rolled in—thus the need to go pick him up. At least we had no traffic on the drive back to Heather’s and we discovered that Ollie is a delightful travel partner.
Heather spent her afternoon in the kitchen washing pounds of pounds of strawberries for tomorrow’s May Fair in Woods Hole. Later in the afternoon, three other parents showed up to help cut up the strawberries. Tomorrow morning we will head in early to help her pack all of the makings for strawberry shortcake into the van and then we will all be spending the day in Woods Hole. Heather will be overseeing the sale of strawberry shortcake and Mark and I will be helping with child care . . . while eating a little strawberry shortcake, of course.
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 223, Year 10: No Sleeping-in This Morning
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015
Weather: Most Sunny, Windy with Temp in the Low 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
There was no time for sleeping-in this morning. We were up and at the Falmouth Hospital by 7:45 am for Mark’s MRI of his shoulder. Mark doesn’t panic about going into the tube for an MRI. He just views it as an extra opportunity to take a nap! We were back aboard Windbird shortly after 9 am and then Mark really got to take a nap while I sorted through boxes from storage. This morning’s box was papers from Justin’s elementary years. I cannot believe I have saved all of those ditto sheets for all of these years. I pulled out a few pieces of art work and some writing samples and tossed the rest in the trash as I should have years ago. I had hoped to leave Mark on the boat to rest and go to the public library to hear Olivia White give a talk at 11:30. But I lost track of time reliving Justin’s elementary years and then got a phone call from Geoff and Chris, our sailing friends from Australia. They are still working on Shambala in the boatyard in Beaufort, North Carolina. We can’t call them as they have no phone signal, so we wait for them to call us. We have missed two calls recently, so I was anxious to talk to them to see how things are going. They are hoping they will be done in about two weeks and will then head up this way. I missed Olivia’s demonstration of how to tie a sari, so I’m hoping I can convince her to give me a one-on-one tutorial.
By 12:30 it was time to head to Woods Hole to pick-up Ollie and head to Heather’s for the afternoon. Jed left today for Norway and will return next Thursday. And this weekend is a very busy one for Heather. When Sam was in pre-school she took on the job of fund-raising for the daycare. One of the annual fund-raisers entails selling strawberry shortcake at the May Fair in Woods Hole. May Fair is on Saturday, so tomorrow she will duck out of work early and start the preparations. There are pounds and pounds of strawberries to be washed and cut up. I will take Mark part of the way to Boston early tomorrow morning as he has another MRI and a CT scan at Mass General. I will drop him at the T station and he will take the subway to Mass General. I will then head back to the Cape before the Memorial Day traffic becomes impossible. Mark will take the bus home. Somehow the buses get through the traffic a lot faster than I can in a car. At least that is our hope.
by Judy Handley | May 20, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 222, Year 10: A Normal Day
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Weather: Most Sunny, Windy with Temp in the Low 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was just a normal day. We haven’t had many of those recently, so it was greatly appreciated. Since we didn’t get home until after mid-night last night, we slept in this morning and then spent the rest of the morning reading. I’m reading a book highly recommended by our friend Alan Kanegsberg called “Spring Chicken” by Bill Gifford. I love the subtitle, “Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying).” It is about aging and is quite interesting. But shortly after noon, we had to tear ourselves away from reading to go pick up Ollie from school. The first thing he said when he got in the car was, “What is this book?” My book was on the backseat and he wanted to look at it and asked me to tell him what it was about. Explaining that made for an interesting conversation with a three year-old. On the way home we stopped at Peterson Farm to see the sheep. Ollie was hoping to see baby lambs. There were young lambs, but they must have been born in February. They already look like miniature fully grown sheep. Last year we saw them at the end of March and there were frisky little babies. He also got to see the llama that lives in main pasture. We couldn’t stay long since it was nap time, but I think Ollie enjoyed seeing the animals.
When Sam and Jonah got home from school, I was working with the compost bins in the backyard. The two compost containers were covered with snow much of the winter and no air could get in to allow the compost to do its magic. So I emptied one of them into the new composter we brought from Calabash so that we have a place to throw the new food garbage. When Ollie got up from his nap all the boys decided to go outside and ride their bikes. I sure hope I have a strong heart because watching them ride their bikes down the down driveway is a heart stopper, especially little Ollie. I don’t think Sam was allowed to ride down the driveway until he was five or six, but at three, Ollie has to do exactly what his brothers do. Granddad said I was being a bit of a ninny as he thought what they were doing looked safe enough. But then, he’s a guy. Of course, he thought it was fine! Anyway, I was happy when Ollie decided to he wanted to swing and Sam and Jonah wanted to play baseball. Granddad was the pitcher and I played outfield. Ollie stayed on the swing and cheered us on. Again, I was shocked to see him in a big boy swing, swinging high of his own accord. He barely needs a little push and he can pump to keep himself going. I don’t think the other boys could do this until they were at least four, maybe five. The youngest one grows up too quickly.
We are turning in early tonight as Mark has to be at the hospital at 7:45 am for an MRI of his shoulder. The shoulder is much better, so I’m hopeful that the MRI will show that it is healing nicely and will continue to do so on its own without surgery. This MRI will be done here in Falmouth. But on Friday morning, it is off to Boston again for another MRI and CT scan. Jed leaves tomorrow for a conference in Norway and won’t be back until Thursday of next week. So we’ll be trying to pitch in to help Heather in his absence. I have a feeling there will be no more ‘normal’ days for a while.
by Judy Handley | May 19, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 221, Year 10: Flip-Flop
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Weather: Overcast with Rain All Day, Low 60’s F, Foggy Night
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Staying with my theme from yesterday of “some days work, some days don’t”—today we flip-flopped and had a day that worked. I got up early and walked with friends Jane and Olivia and then came back to pick up Mark and take him to work. I then went to storage and started going through boxes while waiting for Hyannis Honda to call. It was after 3 pm when I got the call, but I quickly closed up shop at the storage unit and headed to Hyannis. I was back in Falmouth just in time to pick Mark up from work at 5:00 pm. And I was in the Honda Fit . . . finally. Earlier in the afternoon Heather called and asked if it would be possible for us to babysit tonight. She and Jed wanted to go out to dinner with neighbors Melissa and Brian and wait for the results of today’s election. Melissa was running for School Committee and both Melissa and Brian were on the ballot for Town Meeting. Success!!! They were elected to all three positions. Congratulations, Melissa and Brian.
I feel lucky to be back aboard Windbird tonight. It was almost mid-night when we got home and it was foggy. We had a light and left the dinghy dock thinking we were headed in the right direction. But we got completely turned around. Without the track we laid on the navigation software on Mark’s phone I think we would still be out there going in circles. We should have had the navigation software up and running when we left the dock, but we have done this a couple of times in the fog and been fine. Not sure what happened tonight. But other than that little glitch, today was a good day.
