by Judy Handley | Sep 24, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 321, Year 7: Fall Cleaning Projects
Date: Monday, September 24, 2012
Weather: Cool Overnight, Beautiful Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
There was a chill in the air last night, but the day warmed up quickly with
sunshine. Mark took the car and went to work at West Marine and I stayed
home and started a fall cleaning project. Oliver arrived at noon and left
at 3 pm, but the rest of the day was spent cleaning out food storage areas.
Oliver slept on my shoulder most of the time but he woke up when Heather
arrived and played happily while Heather and I ate a late lunch. After
Heather and the baby left, I made a royal mess in the main cabin by getting
food out of the cabinets. I still don’t have all of it put away as I need
to go buy some new plastic storage containers, but I’ll get it back together
before we leave on Thursday for a trip north. Tomorrow we are supposed to
go to Heather’s to make chutney with some of the apples we got on Sunday.
On Wednesday Mark works and I will go to Heather’s to watch Oliver for part
of the day. Then we will go to Concord, NH, to storage on Thursday and get
those things we need for winter weather. We will drive back to Boston to
spend the night at Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John’s. On Friday morning, Mark
will have his parathyroid surgery. He should be released on the same day,
but we are going to spend the night in Boston, returning home on Saturday
morning. Sunday is Heather’s birthday and she is deciding between having a
party at her house with friends on Saturday afternoon or going for an
overnight sail. I’m hoping she chooses the overnight sail.
Mark bought a hand held depth finder today. As I clean out in anticipation
of our sail south in November, Mark is busy adding things we will need in
the Bahamas. It is very shallow there, so a hand held depth finder will
come in handy. You can put it in a bag of water in the bottom of the dinghy
and it will read the depths through the fiberglass hull of the dinghy. Or
you can simply hold it in the water as you troll around in the dinghy.
We’ll use it that way for ‘scouting missions’ in bays that are not charted
in detail.
by Judy Handley | Sep 23, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 320, Year 7: Out and About
Date: Sunday, September 23, 2012
Weather: Partly Cloudy Morning, Beautiful Fall Afternoon
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
I wrote in last night’s log that we might process apples today or scrap that and just have a quiet day. We opted for the quiet day and it was delightful. As the morning clouds disappeared and the deep blue Cape Cod fall sky appeared, we decided to sail to Falmouth Harbor to fill up with water and pump out the holding tank. It was a great excuse for getting out and about and enjoying the wonderful weather. We talked to Heather and invited Sam and Jonah to join us in Falmouth and sail back to Woods Hole with us. Sam jumped at the chance, but Jonah opted to stay home with momma and daddy. We had an absolutely lovely afternoon with Sam. When he is alone, he is much more like another adult than a child. Or at least we interact that way. But he plays like a child and had a great time building a ‘fort’ in the cockpit. We hang material for the walls of the fort and he builds inside with boat cushions and imagination. We returned to Eel Pond at the 3 pm bridge opening which felt a bit like a parade. There were two other boats returning with friends of Sam’s aboard. We followed Louis and Julie and their three and five year-old daughters back into the pond and Sam’s friend Alex and his Dad followed us. When we got settled, Julie and Louis came over to say hello and took Sam for a dinghy ride to say hello to Alex. These kids really enjoy their Eel Pond social life. When Sam returned from visiting, he and Granddad went out for a nice paddle about in the kayak. Then Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Oliver arrived for dinner. We’ve fallen into a pattern of having salmon cakes aboard Windbird on Sunday evenings. This is a family favorite and is a quick and easy dinner to prepare. Tomorrow the crazy schedules resume, but at least we all did have a quiet Sunday to get ready for another busy week.
by Judy Handley | Sep 22, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 319, Year 7: In Search of Apples
Date: Saturday, September 22, 2012
Weather: Overcast Morning, Sunny Afternoon
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
We spent this first day of fall in search of apples. At 10:49 am this
morning Eastern Daylight Time, fall officially arrived. Our daylight and
nighttime hours were equal today, but henceforth, our nights will continue
to increase in length until winter solstice in late December. I don’t mind
equal, but I must admit that when the nighttime hours increase, I would
prefer to be further south. But that will happen soon enough. For now, we
enjoy the daylight hours that we do have.
Today we spent our daylight hours in search of apples. It was not as simple
as we thought. The local newspaper, the Cape Cod Times, had an article
about apple picking this week and suggested the orchards that should be
visited for picking your own. We took that information and arrived at the
one we had chosen from the list only to find that they had had an apple
failure this spring resulting in a very small crop this fall-no apples to be
picked. With two little boys anxious to pick apples, this was not very
happy news. We then traveled to the next on our list only to find it
overrun with people and with few apples to pick. But we decided to make
this our destination for today. Thankfully they did have huge wooden bins
of apples that we could pick from, so we got our apples-just not the way we
had hoped. Sam and Jonah got to climb ladders and pick a few apples and
they got to ride on the tractor. That was by far their favorite activity.
It was a bit disappointing for the adults to not pick our own, but the kids
didn’t seem to be phased by that.
Mark and I got back to Windbird earlier in the day than expected and we have
had a delightfully quiet evening. We’ll check in with Heather and Jed in
the morning to see if tomorrow is apple processing day or if we will wait
until later in the week. They might just enjoy a quiet day at home with
nothing to do. And if so, we’ll do the same. Those quiet days are few and
far between, so we will enjoy.
by Judy Handley | Sep 21, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 318, Year 7: Last Day of Summer
Date: Friday, September 21, 2012
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Cool
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was the last day of summer 2012. Mark and I started our day by
heading into to Heather and Jed’s in time to walk Sam to school. We took
Oliver with us in the stroller and Jed left with Jonah headed for Woods
Hole. That left Heather alone in the house so her 8:55 am on-air telephone
interview with WGBH wouldn’t be interrupted with cries or calls from kids.
When Mark and I got back from walking Sam to school, it was time for Heather
to get ready to go to Sam’s class to teach a science lesson. Mark got ready
to go to work at West Marine and Oliver and I did what we are best
at-sitting in the rocking chair and napping together. Oliver slept until
11:15 and when he woke up I put him on his floor blanket and watched him
roll around and coo happy sounds until Heather got home. Then it was time
to head to Woods Hole so Heather could make her 1 pm meeting at the radio
station. Jed came and helped me get Oliver out to Windbird, and then Oliver
and I had another nap in the cockpit. We woke up just in time to see
Heather approaching the boat in the dinghy. Oliver’s six-month birthday was
today and it is fascinating to see how alert he is. He knows Heather’s
voice and when I tell him momma is coming, he actually smiles and verbalizes
something that sounds like ‘ma.’ I took Heather and Oliver back to shore so
they could go pick Sam up from school and I returned to Windbird to get
dinner ready. We invited the Whites and the Woodins to dinner tonight and
we had a fun evening together. The Whites are Olivia and Terry. Just
recently we attended Olivia’s 75th birthday party and her 50th year of US
citizenship. She came here from India to attend seminary school in Texas,
met Terry, and they were married. Their only child, Sherri, lives in
Falmouth, and they recently retired and moved here to be close to her. The
Woodins are Jane and Bruce. Bruce recently retired from working at WHOI and
we have spent many comfortable winter nights at their home when we were home
visiting with Heather, Jed, and kids. We spent part of the evening looking
at photos from our first two years of circumnavigation and Mark and I have
decided to we need to go around again. Looking at the photos conjured up
wonderful memories, but we’ll just have to live with memories. We are not
sailing around the world again. If we were ten years younger, we would be,
but we aren’t, so we are not. We’ll just have to look at the photos and
plan sailing trips that are closer to home.
This weekend is apple picking weekend. We’ll pick and then start making
apple sauce, apple butter, and chutney. It is the perfect activity for
celebrating the autumnal equinox.
by Judy Handley | Sep 20, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 317, Year 7: Market Day
Date: Thursday, September 20, 2012
Weather: Back to Glorious Fall Weather
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today was Farmer’s Market Day beginning at noon, so Mark and I stayed on the
boat and did various chores in the morning. Then just before noon, we
headed into town. We buy much of our fresh produce at this market, as well
as eggs and meat. Unfortunately the meat supplier, the Farm Institute on
Martha’s Vineyard, has stopped coming to the market, but they will be at the
winter market beginning sometime after the first of the year. In the
meantime, you can email them and they will deliver items via the ferry that
comes into Woods Hole. We met up with Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Oliver and
Jonah was all excited about a new book he had just bought at the downtown
children’s book store. It was about fire engines, but not just any old fire
engines. It was about the fire engines at the Falmouth Fire Station. While
Heather and I were shopping, Jonah asked Granddad to read the book to him.
Of course, his dad had just finished reading it to him, but he wanted to
read it again. Then he decided he just had to walk the block or so to the
fire station and he talked Granddad into accompanying him. Shortly after
they took off, we all followed and enjoyed talking to a firemen who showed
Jonah some special things on display. Heather and Jed then took the kids
and went to lunch and Mark and I headed to Heather’s. Mark did his public
radio consulting work while I roasted beets and cooked beet greens that I
bought at the market and prepared tomatoes for roasting and green beans for
canning. The tomatoes and green beans were from Heather’s garden. We ended
up staying for dinner. Heather and Jed get fish from the local fish
cooperative on Thursdays and today’s fish was Bluefin tuna. We had it
blackened and it was delicious.
Tomorrow is a busy day for Heather, so while Mark is working at West Marine,
I’ll be baby sitting Oliver. Heather has a live interview with WGBH via
phone at 9 am from home and then she heads to Sam’s kindergarten class to
teach a science lesson on insects. When Mrs. Creighton, Sam’s teacher,
found out Heather is a scientist, she invited her to come in every other
Friday morning to teach a science lesson. Heather then has a meeting in
Woods Hole in the early afternoon, so I’ll come with her and keep Oliver on
the boat. Tomorrow evening we have friends coming to Windbird for dinner.
So it is going to be a busy day for me as well.
by Judy Handley | Sep 19, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 316, Year 7: Fall is in the Air
Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Weather: Heavy Rain Overnight, Clearing in the Morning
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The weather forecast for today didn’t look good, but it ended up being
another beautiful day. We have had the most incredible summer weather, but
now the days and nights are both cooling down a bit. You can definitely
feel fall in the air. Carl and Matt emailed that they enjoyed this lovely
day sailing in Buzzard’s Bay. They ended their day at the East end of the
Cape Cod Canal and will buck the NE winds tomorrow to Gloucester. Mark
worked at West Marine today and I spent my day with Oliver while Heather
went to work. Actually I was only alone with Oliver in the morning as
Heather came home before noon. We then spent the afternoon getting laundry
folded and put away and playing with Oliver. He needs a little support, but
with that support he loves to sit up and play. He also loves rolling around
on the floor and he can travel great distances. He giggles and squeals and
‘talks’ on and on. Mark and I didn’t get to spend time with the other
grandchildren at this age. We were with Sam and Ziggy for their first month
and Jonah for his first three months, so we are thoroughly enjoying an
almost six month-old Oliver. He is one happy, beautiful baby. And we are
anxiously awaiting our meeting with Lady Coco. She will be almost three
months old when she arrives here in late October. It is going to be so much
fun to watch the little ‘cousins’ as they play together.
