by Judy Handley | Aug 22, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 292, Year 8: Miniature Golf and Bumper Boats
Date: Thursday, August 22, 2013
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Warm but Not Hot
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Sam, Jonah, Mark, and I pretended we were tourists today. The weather was not great, so we went to the closest tourist ‘fun spot’ and proceeded to have some fun. Sam and Jonah had never played miniature golf before, so Mark went with me to help get them started. When we got to Hole 5 Mark had to leave to go to work, but by that time, Sam and Jonah were old pros and we proceeded to have a great time. The next door neighbor children, Molly and Joey, were there with their daycare provider, and Sam and Jonah loved seeing them. What a coincidence. After the 18 holes of miniature golf, we then got in big round tubes in the water to play bumper boats. This was a really big hit with both boys. Then we stopped for pizza for lunch before going back to Windbird for Jonah’s nap time and Sam’s quiet time. Sam wrote and drew in his journal and then I worked with Sam to set up fishing poles for him and for Jonah for the weekend. Heather, Sam, Jonah, and Ollie will be going out sailing with us for the weekend and we plan to get serious about fishing. Those boys really want to catch a fish—any kind of fish!
by Judy Handley | Aug 21, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 291, Year 8: Move into the New Storage Unit . . . A Family Affair
Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Weather: Sunny and Hot, Again
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The move into the new storage until became a whole family affair this morning. The plan was for Jed to help us and for Heather to take Sam, Jonah, and Ollie to the beach. But when Heather came to drop Jed off, the boys really got into helping out and the beach went by the wayside. I think Heather was disappointed to miss a beautiful day for going to the beach, but the boys seemed to have a good time helping out and opening boxes to discover new treasures. They found Robotix and Capsela building toys from the 1980’s and they felt so grown up to be able to help out. Of course, their help can sometimes be more time consuming for the adults than it is helpful, but at the same time, it is important for them to feel like they are contributing. We got the job done, but the smaller 10 by 15 foot unit is stuffed to the brim. I will spend my extra time in the next few weeks slowly going through boxes and finding things that can be sold or given away—which is at least half of what is in the unit. I made an appointment today with a local consignment shop to take a pine trestle table with benches and the same shop will take dishes and Corning Ware of which I have A LOT. The appointment is not until September 24, so I have lots of time to choose the 20 things to place in consignment at D’s. At the end of this month I have an appointment at a consignment shop for clothing, so slowly, ever so slowly, I think I can pare down the ‘junk.’ I am a keeper, so there is plenty to go through and throw away. It is painful for me, but neither of my children have my bad habit and that makes it easier. Well, that’s not exactly true. Justin used to be like me and at least a third of what we have in storage belongs to him. But he now says to just throw it out. Easy to say, but not so easy to do. But Heather is like her dad who keeps nothing. In about 30 minutes today, Heather went through boxes of memorabilia from junior high school and her high school years at St. Paul’s and threw almost all of it away.
Tomorrow is a Camp Oma day. The weather is supposed to continue to be warm and beautiful, so we might just go to the beach one more time. At this point the weather forecast for next week looks like rain, so we’ll take advantage of this beautiful weather while it lasts.
by Judy Handley | Aug 20, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8
Day 290, Year 8: The BIG Move . . . with a Little Help from Our Friends
Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Weather: Sunny and Hot, High Temp 90 degrees F
Location: Back in Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
The temperature in the 90’s today didn’t make the move of all of our stuff in the Concord, NH, storage unit any easier, but with the help of good friends, we did it. We packed everything in the U-Haul truck and traveled back to the Cape. The packed U-Haul truck is spending the night within the gates of our new storage place here and tomorrow morning, Heather, Jed, and boys will help us unload. Mark and I were able to load all of the boxed things this morning and then we called Tom Porat who came to help with us with the big stuff. Alan Kanegsberg had come by earlier and suggested that we call a consignment store to come haul off the things we had planned to take to the Salvation Army. That was a great suggestion. Some of the things we wanted to get rid of were very heavy and by having the consignment truck come, they did all the heavy work. But even at that, by the time Tom arrived to help, Mark was really overcome by the heat. He had to take it easy for a bit, but between Tom, Mark, and me, the big stuff got loaded. And then Helaine Kanegsberg brought lunch for all of us. It was sooooo delicious. The storage unit was mostly empty by the time she came, but we found some milk crates and she served an elegant lunch on the concrete floor. Her chicken macaroni salad is to die for and the fresh cucumber and tomatoes tasted better than any I have ever had. So a great big thank you goes to Alan for his suggestion that made our day so much easier, to Tom for giving us that critical help to move the big items, and to Helaine for providing such a wonderful lunch. Friends helping a little makes such a big difference.
I’ll back track a little to our visit with Leslie and Rich Kole last night. We hadn’t seen them since last summer, so we had a lot of catching up to do. Leslie and Rich went to Turkey and Greece last fall and we got to hear all about that trip and see the photos. They arrived in Istanbul in Turkey, traveled by boat to other locations in Turkey, visited the islands of Rhodes, Santorini, and Mykonos in Greece, and then they did a mainland tour of Greece ending in Athens. It was a fabulous trip and hit all of the places that Mark and I would have visited had we gone through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. We’re still glad we didn’t do that, but doing a tour of Turkey and Greece by flying there and chartering a boat is still a distant dream. Listening to Leslie and Rich talk about all of the wonderful things they encountered made me realize just how lucky Mark and I are that we were able to sail around the world. We saw so much that it was truly like being on overload all the time. I really, really need to get that book written to document and finalize the experience. It’s just so hard to find the time. Leslie and Rich are going to Switzerland to the Prague this fall, so we’ll look forward to seeing them next summer to hear all about that.
Now back to today. We left the storage unit before 2 o’clock. Mark drove the U-Haul and headed to Hanover, Massachusetts, to drop off more furniture at a consignment shop. I was to take metal trash to the metal recycling center and then drop off all the rest of the trash at the town dump before heading south to meet Mark and help unload the furniture at the consignment shop. That plan got derailed. The traffic in Boston was bumper to bumper, and shortly after getting out of the tunnel that goes under the city, I realized I had a flat tire. I was in six lanes of traffic that was barely moving and couldn’t even think about pulling over and blocking rush hour traffic. So I just kept creeping along hoping the next exit would come along soon. In the meantime, lots of drivers tried to be helpful by yelling across the traffic to let me know I had a flat. But I knew that! I dreaded to think what damage I was doing to the tire, but I kept going, got off at the exit, and stopped at the first filling station. I got no help there, so I tried to figure out where my spare tire might be located. I had the 200 feet of anchor chain in the back of the car weighing about 350 pounds which complicated the search and the thought of jacking up the car to change a tire. The owner’s manual did not help me find the spare, so I called Jed and asked him to try to find a place nearby that could repair a tire. This was one time when I wished I had a smart phone, but Jed did the searching for me. He also helped talk me through the possible locations for the tire which I finally located. Thank you, Jed. I called the tire repair shop that was close-by, but unfortunately they told me they were closing in ten minutes and couldn’t help. But when I gave them my location, they told me the filling station directly across the street actually had mechanics on duty. So I walked across to see if they could help. At first they were resistant, but finally they told me to drive across and they would see what they could do. The fix was actually very easy. A young man inflated the tire and started examining it to find the leak. He couldn’t find anything, so he drove forward to expose another bit of the tire. I immediately spotted a tiny silver fleck, touched it, and could feel air coming out of the tire. Bingo. He used needle nose pliers to pull a nail out of the tire, sprayed the area with a liquid that looked like pink dish detergent, and then inserted a piece of rope-like material (soaked in the same liquid) into the hole. He sprayed the area with more pink liquid. There were no bubbles, so he told me I was good to go. The cost was $10 and he promised I could drive on this tire indefinitely. I won’t feel safe about doing that, but it did get me home. In the meantime, Mark had found help unloading the furniture at the consignment shop and he waited for me so he could follow me home . . . just in case that tire didn’t really make it. Thankfully, we did make it home safe and sound. And tomorrow morning we will continue to storage unit adventure.
by Judy Handley | Aug 19, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 289, Year 8: Back in New Hampshire
Date: Monday, August 19, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High Temp in the 80’s
Location: At Home with Leslie and Rich Kole, Portsmouth, NH
It’s the yoyo effect. First we are on the Cape. Then we are in New Hampshire. Then we are back on the Cape. Now we are back in New Hampshire. We love coming here to visit with good friends, but that three hour drive is a killer—especially when you do it on consecutive days. Hopefully when we drive home tomorrow we won’t do a return trip for a while.
We stopped by Heather and Jed’s before leaving the Cape this morning and picked up a piece of bedroom furniture to deliver to a consignment shop south of Boston. We dropped that off and made our next stop north and east of Boston at an REI in Reading to buy a pair of pants for Mark. Then on we went to West Marine in Portsmouth to pick up 200 feet of anchor chain. Finally we made it to Leslie and Rich’s home. Leslie is another friend from my teaching days in Concord who is now retired and living in Portsmouth near the shore. We had a lovely evening together with a fantastic meal. We had grilled swordfish, corn-on-the-cob, and one of Leslie’s fantastic spinach salads jam-packed with fresh fruit and avocado. Then we had home-made blueberry pie. So yummy.
Tomorrow morning we head to Concord. We hope to arrive there by 9 am and start packing that U-Haul. I know it will be a hard job, but we’ll feel so good when it is done.
by Judy Handley | Aug 18, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 288, Year 8: Back on the Cape
Date: Sunday, August 18, 2013
Weather: Partly Cloudy Day, Light Rain in the Evening
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
We’re back on the Cape, but now for long. As my friend Leslie said in an email this evening, we sure are getting in a lot of windshield time this weekend. We drove the three hours to Greenland, New Hampshire, yesterday and then drove back here this morning to get Mark to work by noon. But when we got to West Marine, we found out that the schedule had been changed and that Mark wasn’t working today. What a bummer that we drove all the way back here for nothing and that now tomorrow we drive all the way back to New Hampshire—six hours on the road that could have been avoided. Even worse was that the schedule change has Mark working on Tuesday. But that is just not going to happen. We already have the U-Haul rented, so we are going ahead with our plans. I guess West Marine will just have to survive without Mark on Tuesday.
After last night’s birthday party on Pickering Point on Great Bay, we drove a mile or so back to the ‘twin’ point where Detta and Tom Porat live. The two points of land stick out into Great Bay and both sets of friends have telescopes so that they could actually ‘spy’ on each other if they wanted. Detta and Tom’s son, Matthew, who recently had gall bladder surgery while recovering from Typhoid Fever, gave up his bedroom so that we would have a place to stay. Thank you, Matthew. This bedroom is on the bottom floor of the house in the original cottage. This morning we found out that Matthew has been keeping a secret from us all. The view from his bed is truly spectacular. The wall on the water side of his bedroom is all glass and as the sun rises, you look out and feel like you are floating on the water. Those windows give the real meaning to ‘picture’ windows. The rest of the house has beautiful views of the water, but this was different. Because you don’t see land when you look out while lying on the bed, you truly feel like you are one with the water. Wonderful!
Detta fixed a fantastic breakfast for us and baked banana bread this morning to send home with us. And while she was at it, she baked banana bread for the guests at friend Sue’s home as well. We were giving her hard time about doing too much for other people when Matthew piped in and took up for his mother. He kindly reminded us all that there are a lot worse things than going out of your way to do special things for the people you love. What a wonderful compliment from one’s son. And Detta is not the only member of that family that gives freely to others. On Tuesday, Detta’s husband Tom is going to come help us load the heavy stuff from our storage unit to the U-Haul. Thank you, Porats, for being such wonderful, loving friends.
Tomorrow we will head back to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where we will pick up 200 feet of anchor chain at the West Marine there. The Falmouth store had none and when Mark checked the computers at work, he found that there was no chain of the size we need in the warehouse. So he checked the availability at stores in New England, and Portsmouth popped up. Since we had planned to spend tomorrow night with friends in Portsmouth anyway, this was fortuitous news. We currently have 300 feet of anchor chain, but we have rarely used this much chain. So we are cutting back to 200 feet which will weigh about 300 pounds. We haven’t figured out how we are going to get rid of the 300 feet of rusty chain we have, and nor do we know how we will install the new chain, but I’m sure we’ll find a way. Our old chain is at least 10 years old and has been used in anchorages all along the 40,000 miles we traveled around the world. It is WELL used and has never been re-galvanized. So this is a purchase that we have looked forward to for some time. After we pick up the chain, we will go to have dinner and spend the night with good friends Leslie and Rich Kole who live on the ocean side of Portsmouth. Their home is less than a mile from the Wentworth Marina where we kept our previous boat, Sky Breaker, when we first sailed her up here from the Chesapeake. It is a beautiful area and we look forward to revisiting the area tomorrow. Then on Tuesday morning, we will head to Concord early and start loading that U-Haul. Not looking forward to that, but we sure will be glad when the job is done.
by Judy Handley | Aug 17, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 287, Year 8: AM on Cape Cod; PM in New Hampshire
Date: Saturday, August 17, 2013
Weather: Another Beautiful Day—Still Feels Cool
Location: Great Bay, Greenland, New Hampshire
After a morning and early afternoon on the Cape, we headed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for the birthday party of friend Sue Wolowitz. I had a great morning with Sam and Jonah. They had a whole agenda planned for what we should do, so we just did exactly as planned—play on the playground at the Woods Hole Day Care Cooperative and then go to the beach. We added a little duckling observation. What a perfect morning.
Mark went to work early today so we could get off by 2:30 pm to head to Greenland, New Hampshire for the 60th birthday party of good friend, Sue Wolowitz. I saw a few people that I taught with Concord a number of years ago and had great fun catching up. We got to meet Camellia Rose, Sue’s first grandchild and see Sue’s two daughters that we haven’t seen for years. We are staying at the Porat’s tonight, but we will be back on the road by 8:30 am headed back to Falmouth so Mark can be at work by noon. On Monday we head back this way to have dinner with friends Leslie and Rich Kole and then head to Concord on Tuesday morning to move that storage unit. While in Portsmouth on Monday afternoon we will pick up 200 feet of new anchor chain. Yeah!
