by Judy Handley | May 12, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 214, Year 10: Day Trip to Boston
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny and Very Windy–SW 20; Light Fog in the Evening
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Bus to Boston’s South Station – subway to Cambridge – quick stop at a hardware store in Porter Square to buy an alarm clock – walk up the hill to Sue and John Reed’s to enjoy lunch with them on their deck – ride down the hill to the subway station to catch the T to Mass General – early afternoon appointment with Mark’s urologist – ride back to the Cape with Jed – side trip to Walmart to buy a new printer – back to Windbird. And in between all of this Mark was on the phone much of the day talking to car insurance providers. We’ve been home for four hours and we’ve spent most of the evening working on information to share with Dr. Kwak tomorrow and trying to figure out the car insurance options. Tomorrow morning we will be on our way to Boston by 6:30 am in order to fight the traffic and make it to Mark’s appointment with Dr. Kwak by 9:30 am. Dr. Kwak is Mark’s oncologist at Mass General. We haven’t seen her since our meeting in early October when she prescribed a winter cruise south and the current cancer treatment that has been working so well. So we have lots to discuss with her to figure out where we go from here. We are hoping to be able to pick up the new car tomorrow afternoon, but it might be a day too soon. Not sure everything has been processed yet and we do have to settle on an insurance provider. With another busy day coming up, it’s time to get to bed.
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 213, Year 10: About to Have a Fit
Date: Monday, May 11, 2015
Weather: Sunny; Fog in the Evening
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
We are just about to have a Fit . . . a Honda Fit, that is. After the drive home last night, we decided it was time to buy a car. So in between Mark’s doctor appointments today, we went car shopping. By the end of the day we bought a five year-old Honda Fit with 53,000 miles on it. We are buying it from the Honda dealer and it is certified meaning that we will have a full year or 12,000 mile warranty and a three-year warranty on the drive-train. The only hitch is the interest rate. We don’t know what that will be yet. If it is reasonable, we will close the deal. If not, we might have to shop around or reconsider. But for now it looks like we will be driving the new car in just a few days.
Mark’s early appointment today was just routine blood tests done prior to each cancer treatment infusion. The early afternoon appointment was to have a doctor check out his shoulder. The diagnosis is that he has stretched or torn the supraspinatus muscle in his shoulder. This muscle connects the shoulder blade to the upper arm bone. An MRI will confirm that, but we have to wait for a call from the hospital radiology department in order to schedule the MRI. In the meantime, he should keep icing it and step up the Ibuprofen regimen. Right now he just takes a couple here and there. But if he is to reduce the inflammation, he will need to take it on a regular basis. After this appointment we drove all the way back to Hyannis (about 45 minutes) to close the deal on the car. We finally stopped to get something to eat around 3 pm, but we obviously waited too long. While we were closing the deal on the car, Mark got disoriented. On the drive home, I got very worried that something serious was wrong, but a little rest as I drove completely revived him. I was headed to the hospital emergency room, but by the time I got there he was fine. We’ll have to have this checked out, but I think he was suffering from low sugar levels. He is used to eating something about every three hours and that just didn’t happen today.
Today was crazy busy and tomorrow promises more of the same. We are taking the bus to Boston in the morning, taking the T (subway) to visit with Sue and John Reed in Cambridge, taking the T back to Mass General for Mark’s appointment, and then hitching a ride home with Jed. He has to leave in the wee hours of the morning for a meeting in Boston, so we opted to take the bus a little later in the morning but then drive home with him. Busy as it will be, I will make sure Mark has things to snack on. And Sue Reed has invited us for an early lunch, so that will assure that Mark has plenty to eat.
by Judy Handley | May 10, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 212, Year 10: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny and Windy, High in the 60’s, Fog in the Evening
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers I know. I had a lovely day and hope that you did as well. Heather, Jed, and boys returned from their Scout camp-out this morning and called to invite us over for a late breakfast. Jonah made a card for Heather at school and drew a picture of her making pancakes for Mother’s Day. He wrote out very plainly that what his Mother would do on Mother’s Day was make pancakes, and so she did. We had pancakes with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and whipped cream. Yummy! Mark and Jed worked on the old blue Ford Taurus trying to get it running and Heather and I did some yard work. While I was in the backyard, I got a special delivery from Edible Gifts. Justin, Jo, and kids sent a bouquet of chocolate-covered strawberries. Yummy, again! Mark and I took the boys to the boat for the afternoon as they were absolutely dying to play with the new Lego sets and do a little ‘practice’ fishing. We then returned to Heather and Jed’s for a Mother’s Day dinner on the back deck. After dinner we talked to Justin and Jo via Skype video and got to see Ziggy and Coco. So one way or another I got to see my children and grandchildren, making it a very happy Mother’s Day for me.
The return trip to Windbird tonight was not the high point of the day. We drove the old car home and it had a couple of problems along the way. First the left front brake caliper was sticking, probably just rusted in place, but it heated up as we could tell by the smell. We stopped to check it out and that’s when Mark could feel the heat on the left front. I kept exercising the brake as we continued on and it finally broke loose. But the other problem was a little more worrisome. Something is causing the car to vibrate, sometimes a little, but sometimes a lot. Maybe vibrate is not the right word as at times it felt like there was a lump on one of the tires. But we stopped again to check that and found nothing. So we bumped along and felt lucky to get home in one piece. Then things got worse. It was so foggy tonight that we could see almost nothing as we headed the dinghy in the direction of Windbird. Mark thought he had turned on the mast light and since there was only one dim light in the distance, we headed for that. We motored slowly until we got close enough to a boat or a mooring line that we recognized and then we adjusted course and headed on. It was a little frightening. I could see how you could get totally turned around and never find your way home. We were very thankful when we found the red buoy that is not too far from Windbird. At that point we knew we would make it. After we got on the boat we realized that we could have turned on the navigation software on Mark’s phone if need be. So from now on when fog is a possibility, we’ll either come home before dark or make very sure Mark’s phone is fully charged. Now we just have to figure out what to do about the car situation. If we want to buy a car we are going to have to somehow become Massachusetts residents. Living on a boat doesn’t count, so we have to get creative.
by Judy Handley | May 9, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 211, Year 10: Re-Entry into the Real World
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2015
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cooler with a High in the 60’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Re-entry into the ‘real’ world always comes as a shock after cruising for a few months. We’ve got to get the old car running that has been sitting since October and deal with months of mail. Then there are the yearly doctor appointments to make with the dentist, dermatologist, primary care physician, eye doctor, and on and on. Mark has to be in Boston on two different days this coming week for doctor appointments plus getting his cancer treatment here on Thursday and meeting with the nurse practitioner for his primary care physician about his shoulder on Monday. We need a full time secretary just to keep up with the medical appointments! We’ll survive, but it is a bit of a shock after a winter of ignoring the world and just traveling and having a good time. How lucky we are to be able to do that, so I shouldn’t complain. I’ll just say that adjusting to life as it is lived on land takes a bit of time.
Late this afternoon we took the bus to Heather and Jed’s. It is so convenient as it picks us up about a half a mile from the boat yard and deposits us at the end of H & J’s street. They were still home when we got there, but were getting ready for their Boy Scout camp out tonight. But Heather did take time to give me tour of all the up-grades they have made in the house this winter and a walk through the garden to see the recently planted seedling emerging. Heather and Jed have added turned their den into a fantastic working family room and their new sofa in the living room is a wonderful addition. They have obviously been busy this winter and the house looks great. After the tour, they took their van to the camp-out and we borrowed their car. Tomorrow morning we’ll take the spare battery we have onboard to see if we can get the old car started and stop at Walmart to pick up the necessary fluids that it needs. It has a slow steering fluid leak and is quite empty right now. Mark went through all the mail and there was very little of importance. I got a few photos from the past few days up-loaded. I’ll try to load the compost bin we brought from Patsy and Joe’s into the dinghy in the morning. It is not heavy, but it is cumbersome. Heather’s request for Mother’s Day is time to deal with her bees and garden and get the new composter set up. So we’ll deal with kids while she works. I don’t think it is going to be a do-nothing Mother’s Day.
Almost forgot to mention how nice it is to be back in Quissett Harbor. I love the waterbirds and live and travel through here as they migrate north and south. Today we saw a common loon and a common eider–neither all that common later in the summer.
by Judy Handley | May 8, 2015 | Cape Cod, Sailing Logs Year 10 |
Day 210, Year 10: Passage to Cape Cod, Day 6–Back Home
Date: Friday, May 8, 2015
Weather: Dense Fog Overnight thru Mid-day; High Temp 70’s, Wind WSW 10-12
Latitude: 41 32.501 N
Longitude: 070 39.357 W
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
We are back home in Quissett Harbor in Buzzards Bay. We used a lot of diesel on this trip as we motored almost all the way, but it was a good trip with no really bad weather. If we had chosen to go inside in the Intracoastal Waterway, we would just now be getting to Norfolk and we would not be arriving here until Monday just before the strong winds from Subtropical Storm Ana reach here on Tuesday. That would have been cutting it too close for comfort for us, so we feel good about our decision to go outside and get home quick. Heather and Jed brought the boys out to The Knob to greet us. The Knob is a narrow spit of land that extends out into Buzzards Bay on the north side of the entrance to Quissett Harbor. There is a lovely trail leading out to the very end of the spit of land and the view of Buzzards Bay from there is beautiful. It is normally is very peaceful place with visitors wanting to enjoy the peace and quiet. But today the Goldstones walked out to watch us enter the harbor. It was joyous, but not peaceful. Ollie rang bells and Heather and Jed blew the conch and the air horn. We reciprocated by blowing our air horn in return. Then we watched Sam and Jonah bounding down to the rocky beach and trying to beat us into the harbor. It was a very special welcome that we will always remember. By the time we got the engine started on the dinghy and reach shore it was after 4 pm. We knew Sam had soccer practice at 4:30 and since Jed is the coach, they needed to take off immediately. But Sam really wanted to go out to Windbird. We resolved the issue by all of us piling into the van and heading to the soccer field. We were a tad late, but another parent had the boys on the field practicing when we got there. After soccer practice we picked up our sushi order and headed back to Windbird. We enjoyed sushi in the cockpit in the warmth of very warm day for this time of year. Mark and I thoroughly enjoyed our reunion with Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, and Ollie and look forward to a summer full of fun.
