by Judy Handley | Jun 21, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 230, Year 8: Happy Birthday, Jo . . . and Welcome Summer
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013
Weather: Another Beautiful Cape Cod Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Happy birthday to our daughter-in-law, Jo. What a spectacular weekend to celebrate! The moon will be ‘officially’ full in the wee hours of Sunday morning, but that means that it will look equally full to us tomorrow night and Sunday night. And it even looks spectacular tonight because this is both the fullest and closest to earth full moon of this year . . . thus the term super super full moon. Astronomers call this a perigee full moon. Anyway, I’m sure this full moon will be gorgeous in the New Mexico night sky. So enjoy, Jo, and here’s hoping you had a wonderful day.
Mark and I started our day together with Jonah and Ollie. Heather got Sam off to his last day of Kindergarten and then she had to head to work in Woods Hole for the morning. I had a physical therapy appointment at 11 am, so we all went and Mark played with the boys outside. Then we took Mark to work at West Marine and Jonah, Ollie, and I headed home to officially welcome summer into our lives. For a one and a four year-old, that means water play, so we got out the inflatable pool and turned the back deck into a water park. Later in the afternoon, after Heather got home, we began the preparations for tonight’s Goldstone summer camp out. Heather and Jonah put the tent up in the backyard and inflated an air mattress for tonight’s family body pile. After Sam got home, he helped build a temporary brick fireplace so they can have a fire for roasting marshmallows for S’mores. So with the pool on the deck and the tent in the backyard, we declared it officially summer.
Around 6 pm, Heather and I headed to Woods Hole with all three boys. We dropped one car by West Marine so Mark would have a way home and went on the Woods Hole to have dinner at a restaurant called Quicks Hole—a restaurant with Mexican fare and a focus on seafood. And just about the time we finished, Mark and Jed joined us. Jed flew home from visiting his parents in Washington, DC, this afternoon and took a new train that runs from Boston to Buzzards Bay and then on the Hyannis. He got off in Buzzards Bay and took a shuttle bus to Woods Hole from there. Then we all boarded Sea Dragon, the visiting scientific research sailing vessel. Sam and Jonah were amazed at the difference in size of the steering wheel and winches on the 72-foot sail boat versus on Windbird. Everything is almost twice the size.
by Judy Handley | Jun 20, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 229, Year 8: Magical Day
Date: Thursday, June 20, 2013
Weather: Beautiful Cape Cod Day, Blue Skies, Temp in the Low 70’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Today I had one of those magical days that don’t come along very often. I went to shore in the dinghy at 9:30 am to pick up Jonah. Sam was in school and Ollie was at daycare, so it was just Jonah and I for the day. As we had the handoff from Momma to Oma, Heather noted the high-pitched, whistling calls of ospreys flying overhead. As Jonah and I headed back to the dinghy, the osprey calls continued and we watched two of them soaring overhead. We wondered if it might be a momma teaching her baby to fly. Then as we got into the dinghy, a mother Mallard duck swam over to us and we were literally nose to nose with her. I’ve never seen a duck come so close, but there we were nose to nose with a duck and those ospreys were still circling and whistling above us. I knew it was going to be a good day.
I finally started the dinghy motor and the mother Mallard swam away. Jonah and I headed out to Windbird to get ready for our day. We changed into our beach wear and packed our bag for beach play. Mark went with us to shore as he was going to take the bus to work and Jonah and I headed for Stoney Beach. As we walked we noted the bright pink blossoms on the salt spray rose bushes as well as the beach peas. And the blackberry bushes were in full bloom. We took pictures so that as the summer progresses, we can remember what these plants looked like at the beginning of summer. Stoney Beach is on the side of Woods Hole that faces Buzzards Bay instead of Vineyard Sound and today when we arrived, we were the only people on the beach. I don’t think we will have that luxury again September, so that in itself was so very special. It was low tide so the beach stretched far down to the water’s edge and the sky was Cape Cod blue with not a cloud. It was absolutely beautiful. I spread out a rice mat and sat down to watch Jonah run from the high tide line which we chose as home base down to the water’s edge and back—over and over. He was collecting water, watching divers work just off the beach, and just enjoying the day. At one point we just both lay back on the rice mat and marveled at the blueness of the sky. Then we walked down to the rock jetty and explored. I encouraged Jonah to pick up the rockweed to see what might be underneath. He was absolutely ecstatic to find periwinkles, even tiny, tiny baby-sized ‘winkles’. And then he saw a different kind of shell and was very excited to learn that these were whelks. Of course, he wanted to take all of them home and we had to have the talk about taking nothing from the beach but pictures. So I took lots of photos so he could remember what he had seen. On our way back to Eel Pond from the beach, we stopped by the Bell Tower and did a little yoga. Jonah taught me the Woods Hole Daycare yoga song about welcoming friends by saying Namaste. We practiced a few yoga poses and then headed back to Windbird for lunch and naptime. I felt like a very lucky grandparent to be able to share this special morning with Jonah. It was truly magical.
Tomorrow is the last day of school for Sam and at the end of the day we all hope to come to Woods Hole to board the 72-foot visiting research vessel, Sea Dragon. For the past two years, Sea Dragon has traveled over 70,000 checking out the state of the marine environment around in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The crew has been studying plastic pollution and coral health, and has been focusing on remote island communities. Sea Dragon is operated by Pangaea Exploration which has a two-part mission:
• To actively strengthen the health of marine life through Exploration, Conservation and Education work.
• To inspire and develop a new generation of leaders in conservation science, communication, education, art, and policy leadership.
Their website says: We go to sea to observe, document, learn, listen and communicate. As J.Y. Cousteau believed, “We must go and see for ourselves”. The site continues by quoting Dr. Seuss from The Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
by Judy Handley | Jun 19, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 228, Year 8: All in a Day’s Work
Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Weather: Partly Sunny Morning, Clear Afternoon
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
We were busy today just doing those things that have to be done. We arrived at Heather’s before 8 am to watch the kids while she did her Wednesday morning two-way live on-air commentary on WGBH in Boston (done via cell phone). After that, we all walked Sam to school and then the craziness started. I had to go to the hospital lab for blood tests (routine part of annual physical) and then to the dermatologist for an annual ‘inspection’—all okay. Ollie had two different doctor appointments today and in between all of this we drove to Hyannis to Home Depot to buy another set of storage shelves for Heather and Jed’s basement. Mark went along to go to the West Marine store in Hyannis to look at a gyroscope for our auto pilot. The Falmouth West Marine where he works doesn’t carry this and he just wanted to see in person how it hooks up. The bummer of the day was when we got home and found that the shelves that we bought were broken. This necessitated another very long trip to exchange for unbroken shelves. Mark made that trip alone while I watched the kids and Heather spent a good deal of time splitting her beehive and getting the second hive ready to accept the new queen that arrived this afternoon. All in a day’s work . . .
by Judy Handley | Jun 18, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 227, Year 8: Unofficial Beginning of Camp Oma
Date: Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Weather: Partly Sunny, Rain Threatening Tonight
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Camp Oma ‘officially’ begins next Tuesday, but since Jonah is already out of school and Heather has to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Jonah and I spent our day together scouting out things to do during the summer in Woods Hole. We started our day at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s (WHOI’s) Exhibit Center which has a model of the control center of Alvin that kids can play in. Alvin is WHOI’s manned submersible that can go down to depths of three miles. It is the world’s oldest submersible of this type, and actually the just-launched updated Alvin can go down four miles. Jonah really enjoyed his time playing in the Alvin model and watching a video showing us some of the wonderful things Alvin has seen. We then walked to the other end of Woods Hole to the aquarium. We watched the 11 am seal show and then explored the exhibits inside. Jonah’s favorite is the big, blue lobster, but today he was fascinated by the life-size models of three kinds of sea turtles—the loggerhead, the leatherback, and the green. It is wonderful that there are such educational and fun things to do in Woods Hole, and it is even more wonderful that they are free. Well, there is an expected donation of $2 at the Exhibit Center and a place for making a contribution at the aquarium, but it is certainly affordable and interesting enough to do multiple times during the summer. Jonah and I invited Heather to have lunch with us on Windbird and then Jonah and I headed to Heather and Jed’s for the afternoon. That way Jonah could take a nap at home and we could both then walk to pick Sam up from school at 3:30 pm.
Mark spent his day on Windbird replacing a broken valve in the forward head (the valve that allows going between going overboard and going into the holding tank), inflated the kayak, installed the blocks along the toerail to run the reefing line for the staysail, and finished the job of securing the pump from the aft shower to a shelf in the engine room. He then came into town with Heather at the end of the work day and we all worked together to entertain kids and fix dinner. Mark and I left after bedtime stories and hope that all three boys went to sleep without too much difficulty. Since Jed is out of town until Friday, we will try to help out each evening until he returns.
by Judy Handley | Jun 17, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 226, Year 8: Another Happy Day with Grandkids
Date: Monday, June 17, 2013
Weather: Most Sunny, Winds 10-15 from the SW
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
I did it again. I took Mark to work at West Marine and managed to spend the rest of my day with grandkids. Monday is Jed’s day to stay home and take care of Jonah and Ollie while Sam is at school and Heather is at work. But today, I kept Jonah for a morning of fun in Woods Hole. Jonah and I started by giving Windbird a fresh water wash-down after yesterday’s rough seas and 35 knot winds that threw salt water all over everything. We then drove Mark to work at West Marine, bought a paddle ball set and went back to Woods Hole to play in the park. Jonah has been doing yoga at the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative and he wanted to go to the Bell Tower to ‘meditate’—but when we got there, there were a number of artists set up to capture the beauty of Eel Pond. That broke the spell for Jonah and he decided that we wouldn’t meditate today, but we easily found other things to do. When I took him home for an afternoon nap, I then played with Ollie while Jonah napped. Oliver had the best time with a basket in the living room floor. It was a woven basket big enough to sit Ollie in, but with no extra room for maneuvering. When I put him in, he immediately tried to figure out how to play ‘peek-a-boo’ by ducking his head under the basket handle. Too cute! Next week is the start of Tuesday and Thursday Camp Oma days, but this week Mark and I will be doing our best to fill in for Jed while he is out of town. Jed’s father is fighting the cancer monster, so Jed is going to visit him for a few days. Jed’s parents live in Washington, DC during the winter months and in Maine during the summer. But they might not get to Maine this year due to Donald’s health issues, so Jed is flying down as a Father’s Day gift. He’ll come on Friday, Sam’s last day of school, and next week will be the official start of summer.
by Judy Handley | Jun 16, 2013 | Cape Cod, USA, Sailing Logs Year 8 |
Day 225, Year 8: Happy Father’s Day
Date: Sunday, June 16, 2013
Weather: Sunny to Overcast, Winds from 5 to 35 knots
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there. Unfortunately Mark had to work today, but Heather, Jed, and I went sailing for him! The weather was quirky and we ended the day with 30-35 knot winds in sloppy seas. But all was well onboard. I was amazed at Heather’s ability to steer a boat while holding a baby and helping to raise sails. Wish I had gotten a photo of that, but we were all too busy sailing to stop for photos. Because of the weather, which was overcast and thus cool, we abandoned our idea to go to Tarpaulin Cove to the beach. Instead we went to Martha’s Vineyard and the boys enjoyed ice cream cones onshore. And Heather got to go to her favorite kitchen store and buy a couple of Father’s Day gifts for Jed. Not quite the same as playing on the beach, but that would have been no fun in today’s weather. We made it to Falmouth Harbor just in time to pick Mark up. We had hoped to get there early and have the boat’s holding tank pumped out and the water tanks filled as a Father’s Day gift. But he got off work early and was there to help with the jobs. We had a bit of a fight with the wind getting back to Woods Hole, but we were home on the mooring by 6:30 pm. Mark then grilled tenderloin filet mignon steaks for dinner which we all enjoyed immensely. What a great dad!
