by Judy Handley | Nov 30, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 22, Year 7: ’tis the Season
Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy, High in the Low 50’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
The green in downtown Falmouth is being decorated for the holidays. There is a Christmas train, carolers, Santa and his reindeer, a Christmas mailbox, and a manger. As we drove by after school today, Sam asked me to explain why we are seeing so many mangers on display around town. What an interesting conversation that spawned. Trying to explain why a man named Jesus was born in a manger and why a manger is on display with Santa and his reindeer is not easy!
We spent the day after our trip to storage sorting through things, packaging some things and sending them to New Mexico-some Christmas surprises and other’s just a delivery, and even wrapping the first Christmas re-gift. We found things in storage that we thought our kids would enjoy and we are wrapping them for what I am calling Christmas surprises. They are not new, but they will be fun to open. After nap this afternoon, Sam and Jonah both sat on my lap and we read and sang Raffi’s Christmas Treasury of holiday songs over and over. That was after already reading-singing The Twelve Days of Christmas a couple of times before nap. Sam and Jonah never tire of singing, so if Granddad hadn’t come in and needed something, we could still be sitting there singing the day away.
Mark and I had dentist appointments this morning. It had been two years since we were here for the last check-ups. I am fine, but Mark has to return tomorrow and another time in the next few weeks to have cavities filled. Tomorrow he may have to have a crown removed to deal with a cavity. But basically all is well.
by Judy Handley | Nov 29, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 21, Year 7: Competition for the Cats
Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Weather: Overcast with Sprinkles; High in the Low 60’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
If a cat can have nine lives, I guess I can give them some competition by doing the same. And today when we were looking through things in our storage unit, I kept saying to myself, “This is from another life.” I opened one box with memorabilia from my childhood-an organza eyelet apron from a dress when I was just a wee one, my high school varsity jacket. That was the first life. Then there were the multitude of things from our back to the land years-a horse-drawn plow, an Aladdin oil lamp, boxes of farming books, and on and on. That was another life. Next were boxes of memorabilia from our children’s elementary years on the Eastern Shore of Maryland-a surf board, a boogie board, a Jedi village, Cabbage Patch dolls. Let’s see. That’s at least three lives. The New Hampshire years are evidenced boxes containing the contents of Mark’s office at New Hampshire Public Radio, and box after box of Judy’s teacher materials. And now there are boxes of cruising books and things bought from around the world on the Voyage of Windbird. So I figure I’ve survived at least five of my nine lives and am starting life number six. Right now we are semi-dirt dwellers doing a bit of arm chair sailing and planning for future adventures. We’ll call these the years of grandchildren. These are good years and we’ll gladly stay stuck here for a bit. But back to today’s tasks, aside from the trip down memory lane, we were successful in finding most of the things on our list. We simply ran out of time and energy and will have to return in the spring.
So everyday is an adventure in these many lives we lead, and today was no exception. We got off to a great start. We were at the Falmouth Hospital before 7:30 am where Mark had a heart ultrasound. We were out of there and on our way in less than an hour. We made a stop north of the Cape at a Target where I had shopped on Saturday. I bought a number of small stocking stuffers, but when I got home, only half of them were in the bag. Either I forgot to pick the bag up or the check-out person forgot to hand it to me, but the Customer Service folks were great. They didn’t even question my story and let me pick out the missing items. We were very impressed with their customer friendly attitude. Our next stop was IKEA and just before we got there, I checked with Mark to make sure he had brought the keys to our storage unit. Uh-oh. No keys. We called the storage company and they have no master key to the locks they sell. The only choice was to turn around and try again another day or have the lock cut off and buy a new one. We choose the second option. We stopped at IKEA, had a free coffee and tea, ate a 99 cent breakfast while sitting next to the children’s area watching Nemo on the kiddie monitor, bought the items we needed, and carried on. We arrived in Concord at the same time as the rain, but thankfully the sprinkles didn’t last long. When it was time to stop for lunch we went to the local Circle K filling station, convenience store, and Subway sandwich shop to fill up on gasoline and get a sub for lunch. When we went to pay for the gas, Mark didn’t find his debit card in his wallet. Second ‘uh-oh’ of the day. The last time he had used it was at IKEA, but when we called we were told that it would be after 5 pm before the daytime cashiers would be turning in their cash bags with any credit cards left behind. So we decided to stop there again on the way home to check in person. Losing something like a debit card always knocks the wind out of you, but we took a deep breath and returned to storage to try and finish our job. We rushed and got back to IKEA just before 6 pm. No card. So we called the bank to have the card canceled. The woman on the phone asked Mark if he had checked in his wife’s purse, but he ignored her thinking there was no way the card would be in my bag. They canceled the card and as soon as Mark got off the phone, he did check my bag and the card was there. Neither of us have any idea how it got there, but it was too late. Once a card is canceled, it is final. But we can go into the bank in the morning and he can get a new card on the spot. We finished the day doing MORE shopping at an outlet center. I was continuing my search for a pair of wool pants. They just don’t exist. I went to Talbot’s, Ann Taylor, Eddie Bauer, Jones of New York, and others stores I’d never heard of. All of the store clerks we asked just said, “No one wears wool any more.” I felt more than a little dated. I guess I’ll have to start all over and look for corduroy, just not the hip hugger variety.
by Judy Handley | Nov 28, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 20, Year 7: Enjoying Gloriously Warm Weather
Date: Monday, November 28, 2011
Weather: Overcast and Even Warmer
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
This weather is just too nice. It is so warm during the day that even wearing a fleece jacket is too much. And it is almost December. Unreal. Tonight the low temperature will be in the 50’s and then tomorrow it will be in the 60’s. After that the temp begins to drop and by the weekend the daytime temps will be in the 40’s with nighttime temps in the 30’s. So we have to enjoy it while we have it. We are headed to Concord, New Hampshire tomorrow after an early morning doctor’s appointment for Mark. There are things that we somehow missed when we went a month ago and we want to do this before the cooler weather hits. We had hoped to be able to go on Thursday so we could go to the Concord Yacht Club December meeting, but Mark has a late afternoon doctor’s appointment that couldn’t be rescheduled. The cardiologist here is trying to complete all testing before next Monday when Mark goes to Mass General for his pre-op testing there. The medical issues come first, so all other scheduling has to be done around that.
Mark worked at West Marine until 2 pm today and then he came to Heather and Jed’s. Heather came home early and she and her dad started putting the lights on the very large evergreen in the front yard. With a tall ladder and a long boat hook, they successfully got the top half of the tree decorated with lights. But then they ran out of the newer LED lights that Heather wants to use, so she will buy more and they will continue later in the week. While they were doing this, there was a spectacular red sunset with the sliver of a crescent moon setting in the western sky. Sam and Jonah delighted in watching the magical lights go up with such a beautiful red backdrop. It was quite beautiful.
Tomorrow starts early as Mark has to be at the hospital at 7:30 am for an ultra-sound of his heart. The doctor is fairly certain that his recent breathing problems are not associated with his heart, but he wants to do this one last test.
I’ll end with a mention of something our son Justin has been doing in support of his father-in-law’s current battle with prostate cancer. Justin joined a group called Movember, Australian-based, that wants to change the face of men’s health. So Justin has grown mutton-chops and looks like a cowboy on a “wanted” poster. We think it is great that he has done this for Phil, his father-in-law. If you want to check out Justin’s new look or make a donation to the cause, go to: http://www.movember.com/m/2449050
Then choose Movember United States – Home.
by Judy Handley | Nov 27, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 19, Year 7: Wrong Generation for eBay
Date: Sunday, November 27, 2011
Weather: Mostly Overcast but Warm; Daytime Temp in High-50’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
I am definitely in the wrong generation for buying on eBay, especially when it requires a bidding war. How frustrating! We tried last night and again tonight to buy Lego Duplo blocks for Ziggy for Christmas on eBay, but we are yet to succeed. We get down to the last minute of bidding as the high bidder, but we always get skunked by someone who is wiser in the ways of online bidding than we are. It would be much easier to buy new but we are trying not to add any new plastic to this already over-plasticized world. We will persist and I hope we will get smarter about how to do this.
We started our day by once again washing down the deck. No matter what we do, the birds visit us early each morning and make a royal mess of the deck. After I cleaned the deck, Mark put up the Christmas lights. And then Mark went to work at West Marine while I continued the holiday shopping spree. Today I drove to Hyannis and I finally found a pair of gray slacks. They are not wool, but they will do. I found these in the mall in Hyannis. It was my first trip to a mall since arriving here in late June and I’ll be happy if I don’t have to return for another six months. I raided Trader Joe’s and stopped at a feed and seed store north of Falmouth to stock up on bird food for Heather and Jed. For the second year, they will not have a Christmas tree in the house. They decorate the big spruce tree in the front yard with lights and bird food decorations. This year we’ll also feed the squirrels since there are absolutely no acorns on the Cape. When I went to buy peanuts in the shell, I found out that there are very few peanuts as well due to a crop failure. So I bought the last bag of peanuts and added some dried corn. They should like that.
by Judy Handley | Nov 26, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 18, Year 7: Beginning to Think About the Holidays
Date: Saturday, November 26, 2011
Weather: Another Sunny Day, Daytime Temp in Mid-50’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
It was another beautiful day today with the temperature being much warmer than normal. I love it. And tomorrow should be more of the same. Unfortunately Mark has to work, but we are hoping to get up early and put up our Christmas lights. When we lived aboard in Boston, we wrapped lights from the top of the mast down the forestay and down the backstay, and that is what we plan on doing tomorrow morning. Since we are the only people living aboard here, the lights are not for show. They are just for us to enjoy. Heather suggested we put them on a timer so they are on when we come home each day and then go off unless we are expecting evening company. It seems an extravagant use of precious natural resources, but I do love twinkling Christmas lights and am willing to pay the price, even though it is a higher price than most of you pay. According to an article in the Cape Cod times, the average cost of electricity is higher on Cape Cod than it is in any other state in the continental US. Only the people of Hawaii pay more.
In keeping with the holiday spirit, I spent my afternoon shopping after dropping Mark off at work. As I’ve pointed out previously, shopping for anything other than food requires that you travel off the Cape or go to Hyannis. This afternoon, I drove north to Wareham. Actually I was continuing my search for a simple pair of gray wool slacks for myself and just snuck in a bit of holiday shopping at the same time. I was much more successful at the Christmas shopping than I was in finding a pair of slacks. So that hunt will have to continue. I was also looking for some clothing items for Justin and Ziggy. Justin has asked that we try to avoid buying anything made in China and I found it a real eye-opener that almost everything I looked at was made in China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Egypt, or Guatemala. The Made in the USA label is hard to find. Justin’s request for avoiding Made in China was specifically relating to toys as he’s trying to avoid being a contributor to the slave labor of children in other countries. But unfortunately if you want to wear affordable clothing, you can’t avoid it. Just as with plastic toys, the best alternative is to buy things used so that at least you are not the first-hand contributor.
My last off-Cape shopping stop for the day was at Home Depot to pick up some 1 x 3’s in 6 foot lengths. These are for making a door for our winter enclosure. I then returned to Falmouth and picked up Mark. We went to the local hardware store to look at snow sleds as a possible Christmas gift for Sam and Jonah. I was hoping to buy locally, but they only had a long sled intended for three or four adults. So my shopping continued online after I got home. And it will probably continue again tomorrow after I take Mark to work.
by Judy Handley | Nov 25, 2011 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 7 |
Day 17, Year 7: Visiting with Friends
Date: Friday, November 25, 2011
Weather: Beautiful Day, Daytime Temp in Upper 50’s
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, Massachusetts
The sky was robin egg blue this morning and there was very little wind, so we took the opportunity to take down the headsail and the staysail. The boat is now ready to be covered for the winter, and we were so happy to get those sails down while they were nice and dry. Thanks and praises for this milder than normal November weather. The tide was so high this morning that water was covering the boardwalk that runs along the waterfront. We checked the calendar to confirm that it was New Moon, and indeed it is. After getting the sails down, neatly folded, and put in bags for winter storage, I did some preparation for the evening’s dinner with Bruce and Jane Wooden. Then it was time for the McPherson’s to arrive. Mark hired Scott McPherson to work at New Hampshire Public Radio in the mid-1990’s. By the time Mark retired ten years later, Scott was Assistant General Manager of New Hampshire Public Radio. We were always close to Scott and his wife Kelly, and by the time we returned home to visit after the first year of the Voyage of Windbird, Scott and Kelly had managed to double of the number of McPherson’s in their household. Twin boys, Alex and Will, were just over a year-old when we met them in January of 2007. Today almost six year-old Alex and Will came to visit with the newest addition, sixteen month-old Jay. Scott’s parents, John and Pat also came. We met Scott’s father this summer when he came to Woods Hole to run in the Falmouth Road Race, but we hadn’t met Scott’s mother, Pat, until this morning. John has followed the Voyage of Windbird as we traveled around the world, so even though we hadn’t known him previously, we feel very connected. We had a nice visit on the boat, and then Pat and John took the three boys back to their home in Plymouth giving us a time to have what they called a “quiet lunch” with Scott and Kelly. We went to the Landfall in Woods Hole and spent a couple of hours just catching up on each other’s lives. It felt so good to have time to reconnect with people who have been very good friends.
By the time we got back to Windbird, it was time to get ready for dinner with other good friends, Bruce and Jane Wooden. Bruce works at WHOI and we met him years ago when Heather was doing her graduate work. We have often stayed with Bruce and Jane when home visiting during the Voyage of Windbird and we have become friends. They had never been on Windbird before, so tonight was their introduction. They just returned from a Caribbean cruise and we got to hear all about that experience. Jane loved the pampering you get on a cruise and has decided that cruise ship travel should definitely play a big role in future vacations.
We had hoped to make a quick trip to our storage unit in Concord tomorrow, but Mark got a call this afternoon asking him to work tomorrow. So he will work at West Marine both tomorrow and Sunday and I’ll focus on Christmas and probably do a bit of shopping. The weather report is for more of the same lovely fall weather, so I’ll make sure to enjoy that as well.
