by Judy Handley | Aug 1, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 267, Year 7: Great Time in Boston
Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Late Afternoon and Evening
Location: Sue and John Reed’s Home, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Sometimes it is not so bad to be ‘stuck’ somewhere. We’ve had a great time
the past two days despite car troubles and a not quite squeaky clean report
from the oncologist. We’ve done lots of walking, watched lots of Olympic
competitions, eaten great food, and have just generally enjoyed our time.
We got an unexpected surprise late this afternoon when the Streetwise car
repair shop called to tell us the car is repaired and ready to go-in less
time than expected and for the price as quoted. We thought it would be late
tomorrow before we could get the car back, so now we will get the car early
and head home.
We spent five hours of our day walking and taking public transportation to
do some food shopping. It was more a challenge than we anticipated, thus
the five hour time frame. Not knowing the public transportation schedules
and routes was the challenge, but we made it. There are things that we just
can’t buy on the Cape that would could get here, so we walked to the T
station, took the subway to Central Square (one of the MANY squares in
Boston and Cambridge), and then walked a mile to Whole Foods. We ate lunch
there and then made the short walk to Trader Joe’s. That is where we were
doing most of the shopping. We left there laden with a full back pack and
three bags and walked to where we thought we could catch a bus back to
Porter Square which is a short walk from Sue and John’s. We waited, and
waited, and waited, and walked, and waited, and finally we got on a bus but
it took us only to Central Square where we had to do some more walking and
then wait and wait to catch the subway back to Porter Square. Something
that would have taken an hour or so by car took us almost five hours, but
still we really enjoyed the time. We got home and relaxed for a couple of
hours and then walked back down the hill to a Thai restaurant for dinner.
We spotted the restaurant yesterday and liked the choices and the prices so
decided to give it a try . . . and it was a great choice. I had Tom Yum
soup and Thai Shrimp and Basil Fried Rice. Mark had his Thai favorite, Pad
Thai, along with vegetable rolls, and all choices were very good. AND they
had Singha Thai beer, one of our favorite beers from around the world. Mark
hasn’t had any alcohol since January but I am sure he was tempted tonight.
But even without drinking the Singha, the Thai beer and food brought back a
flood of happy memories from our months in Thailand.
Tomorrow our little unintended vacation will be over and it is back to life
as usual-no TV, no long hot showers, no restaurants with affordable prices .
. . but we will back onboard Windbird enjoying time with our three beautiful
grandchildren and smelling the salt air that beckons. I can enjoy a little
vacation, but I choose life as usual any day of the week.
by Judy Handley | Jul 31, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 266, Year 7: Stuck in Boston
Date: Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Weather: Partly Sunny
Location: Sue and John Reed’s Home, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Some days are better than others. Yesterday was a gold medal day for us
with the birth of Coco, but today we didn’t make the medal stand. The first
thing that took us back a bit was the meeting with Mark’s oncologist, Dr.
Kwak. We had hoped to get a clean bill of health for Mark, but what we got
was just a bit of caution. The CT scan from yesterday showed that
everything in the gastrointestinal area looks great, but there is a lymph
node on his trachea that was marked to be watched. Dr. Kwak could see no
real problems, but the radiology report noted the caution. The reason we
decided to have the scans done at Mass General rather than anywhere else is
their reputation for being able to catch problems before they get a chance
to develop. So this caution makes the CT scans every three months a must.
We just have to make VERY flexible future plans that include trips to Boston
every three months.
But this doesn’t explain the “stuck in Boston” name on this log. That came
next. We were driving back to Cambridge after the appointment at Mass
General to make sure we had Sue and John’s alarm system set properly. We
had some difficulty with it when we left in the morning and didn’t want to
leave town until we were sure it was right. On the way there we saw steam
rising from the hood of the car. Oh, no. When we paid the $1700 on
Saturday for the power steering work, we were told that we should watch for
a leak in the heating system. Evidently the metal tubing looked very shaky.
Well, it was and today it was leaking like a sieve. We called the garage in
Falmouth and were told to go buy gallons of water and keep putting it in.
We did that but realized that the dripping leak was starting to stream. We
called Heather to get the name of the garage she used to use when she lived
in Boston. We called that garage and after a referral to another and then
another, we found a garage that hopefully can solve our problem. The metal
tubing, called ‘the octopus’ by the mechanics, is a Canadian product and can
be delivered tomorrow afternoon. But it will be Thursday before the car
will be ready. So we are stuck in Boston. I guess the ‘glass half full’
view is that we have a place to stay within easy walking distance to great
restaurants AND we can watch the Olympics. So we’ll take that view and
enjoy the time.
by Judy Handley | Jul 30, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 265, Year 7: Welcome Coco Annabelle Handley
Date: Monday, July 30, 2012
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Welcome beautiful grandchild–Coco Annabelle Handley. Ziggy Milo now has a
sister, our son Justin and our daughter-in-law Jo have a ?tiny, precious,
and beautiful daughter?, Heather and Jed have a niece, Sam, Jonah, and
Oliver have a girl cousin, and Oma and Granddad have a granddaughter. She
is the first girl in the family and we were all in love instantly. She was
born at 7:41 am today New Mexico time and weighed 6 pounds 9 and ? ounces.
She is a bundle of joy and we are so happy that Jo was able to have her
naturally. She had to have C-section with Ziggy, so having Coco naturally
was not a given. But Jo was so hopeful and we are delighted that things
turned out as they did. Jo?s parents are visiting from England and are
there to take care of Ziggy. So all is well on the New Mexico front.
After hearing the wonderful news this morning, Mark and I headed to Boston.
It is cooler in Boston today than in Woods Hole. The temp in the city was
72 degrees F in the middle of the afternoon. We have been having daytime
temperatures in the 80?s in Woods Hole, so the cooler weather felt like a
preview of fall. The sun was shining, the sky was deep blue, and the air
was clear. It was just a perfect day to enjoy Boston. Mark and I have a
strange love affair with this city and with Mass General Hospital. In
general, we don?t like cities, but we always enjoy our trips to Boston. And
we really don?t like hospital, but we love coming to Mass General. Parking
is easy, the personnel are all friendly, helpful, and competent, there are
lovely places to sit and read or work on your computer using their free
wifi, the cafeteria has great food, and it is just a short walk to a Whole
Foods Market that has all of the things we can?t get on the Cape. So while
Mark was getting his scan, I shopped at Whole Foods and then sat in one of
those lovely sitting areas in the hospital and sent email messages to family
and friends welcoming Coco. In fact, I am writing this log as well. I am
going to send it early today to get the word out about Coco, so I?ll fill
you in on the remainder of our day in tomorrow?s log. We hope to have a
Skype video call with Justin, Jo, and Coco later this afternoon and then we
can spend the rest of the evening figuring out just how and when we are
going to get to see this new grandbaby.
by Judy Handley | Jul 29, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 264, Year 7: Olympics in London and at Home
Date: Sunday, July 29, 2012
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Misty Rain in the Evening
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Unfortunately we have no way of watching the Olympics here on Windbird, so
this afternoon we headed to Heather and Jed’s to get a glimpse of the games.
We find it absolutely amazing that they are hosting these games in the heart
of one of the world’s most bustling cities. We pulled ourselves away from
the women’s diving competition late this evening to return home, but I am
sure that I could have stayed for hours and continued watching. I think we
will be spending a lot of time at Heather and Jed’s in the next two weeks.
Oliver is staging his own form of Olympic sports here at home. He is trying desperately
to win the ‘roll over’ competition. He is almost there and just needs the
slightest push for roll from back to tummy. Both brothers and both
grandparents do all they can to help him and we suspect that before the
Olympics end, he will be rolling over all on his own. He is truly a little
chub, but he doesn’t let that get in the way of being a very active baby.
Tomorrow we head to Boston. Mark will have his baseline scan at Mass
General and then meet with the oncologist on Tuesday morning. We will stay
in Cambridge at Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John’s. They are in Maine for the
summer but neighbors have a key so that we can get in. The scan appointment
is at 3:00 in the afternoon and after that we will go to Sue and John’s.
Since we will be in Cambridge, we are planning on going to one of our
favorite sushi restaurants for dinner. We’ll also take advantage of being
close to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s to do a little food shopping.
by Judy Handley | Jul 28, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 263, Year 7: Time for a Fresh Start
Date: Saturday, July 28, 2012
Weather: Overcast with Rain in the Evening
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
For the past seven months, Mark and I have been so focused on his health
issues that we haven’t had time to think beyond that. Today was a bit of a
down day with no pressing chores and that gave us time to start thinking
ahead. During the next month or so, Mark will be rebuilding his strength
and we will be making decisions about the months ahead. Diet and exercise
will be the major focus. The goal of the past few months has been to keep
Mark’s blood counts and weight from dropping. Now we have to settle on a
diet and exercise regime that will keep us healthy. Another major focus
will center around the decision of where we will spend the winter months.
We love it here on Cape Cod in the warm months and hope to spend May through
October here, but we don’t want to live where we would have to cover the
boat in the winter. So we are deciding between the Bahamas, Florida, South
Carolina, the Chesapeake Bay, or a combination of all for the November to
April time period. We are going to have a very hard time pulling ourselves
away from the grandchildren, but we feel so lucky to be able to move our
‘home’ south for winters and back north for the summers. Mark had his
charts out today looking at possibilities, but the major deciding factor
will be his health. We have to wait and see how fast he recovers his
strength and figure out where we can go and still get back here for three
month check-ups. Mark’s baseline testing at Mass General will be done on
Monday and then on Tuesday he will meet with Dr. Kwak, the oncologist that
he will see now that the chemotherapy sessions are over. He also has to
deal with his parathyroid issues and see his urologist to figure out if
there are other things that need to be done in those areas. If everything
can be worked out health wise, we will head south in early November. But if
not, we might stay here. So we just need to be flexible and make plans for
various contingencies.
We bit the bullet today and paid for the work that has been over the past
week on our Ford Taurus. Massachusetts law demands that you be notified of
the costs of work that will be on our vehicle. We were not notified and
therefore never had to the opportunity to stop the repairs that added up to
almost $2000 on a car that is certainly not worth that much. We’re not good
at arguing over the price of things, but we were able to get a little
discount on the work and just hope that the car will run for the next few
months with no further problems. We are hoping to put health repairs and
car repairs behind us and look forward to boat repairs. There’s always
something!
by Judy Handley | Jul 27, 2012 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 262, Year 7: Summer Fun in Eel Pond
Date: Friday, July 27, 2012
Weather: Partly Sunny
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Nothing much to report today other than it was a fun summer day in Eel Pond.
Mark and I had all three boys on Windbird during the afternoon while Heather
had to work. It was actually nap time when they arrived and all three slept
like angels. After nap time, Heather arrived and announced that Alex, one
of Sam’s best buddies, was on shore and getting ready to come out to his
boat with this daddy. Sam watched and then he and Alex yelled back and
forth trying to figure out a way to get together. But then we saw Alex’s
dad immediately drop the mooring line. It was time for the bridge opening
but Cordelia (the name of Alex’s boat) didn’t move very far. Then Matt,
Alex’s dad, went back and pick up his mooring line. Soon after, they rowed
over to visit and we found out that Cordelia’s prop was so badly fouled with
growth that the boat couldn’t move very fast. We offered to let Alex stay
and play with Sam and Jonah while Matt went back and dove to clean the prop.
By the time he finished, it was too late to go out sailing so we invited
Matt and Alex to stay for dinner. We had wonderful fried fish that Heather
and Jed got through their local fish cooperative. They provided the fish
and I did the frying using Heather’s beer batter recipe. It is so easy and
so good–just one cup of beer to one cup of flour and one teaspoon of salt.
Mark felt really bad all day but then rallied when Matt arrived and wanted
to talk about boats. So the evening worked out nicely for everyone. After
dinner, the dads took the boys to shore for ice cream. Heather and Jed had
already decided to spend the night, so while the boys were gone we got the
beds ready and then had a Skype video call with Justin and Jo. Since Jo was
due this past Tuesday, we are assuming we will have grandchild number 5
sometime in the next week. Can’t wait and we’re sure Jo feels the same way!
