by Judy Handley | Mar 7, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 138, Year 9: Home for the Weekend
Date: Friday, March 7, 2014
Weather: Partly Sunny, Warming Up a Bit
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark is home for the weekend. Ollie and I made an unexpected trip to Boston to pick him up. He was going to have to wait and take the 2 pm bus to the Cape as there is no 1 pm bus, so after our Friday morning trip to story time at the library Ollie and I headed north. Ollie slept and I drove. We make a perfect team! And then Ollie and Granddad had fun playing together this afternoon. Once Heather got home, I brought Mark home to Windbird to force him to rest. He managed to keep himself quite busy this week and this ‘doctor’ has declared that he needs to slow down a bit. But it won’t happen, so I might as well not pretend. He really enjoyed his trip to Concord to attend the Concord Yacht Club meeting last night and he’s very excited about the arrival of his sister Mary Ellen and her husband Lee on Tuesday. Tonight we have been researching the possibilities for St. Patrick’s Day fun with them in Boston. The Handley’s came from Ireland and have always loved celebrating St. Patrick’s Day . . . and Boston is great place to do that.
by Judy Handley | Mar 6, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 137, Year 9: Happy Birthday, Alan
Date: Thursday, March 6, 2014
Weather: Partly Sunny, Continued Cold Punctuated with Snow Flurries
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
The cold weather continues to dominate the scene, but despite the cold Mark decided to hop on a bus and go to Concord, NH, to attend a Concord Yacht Club meeting and celebrate Alan Kanegsberg’s birthday. Happy birthday, Alan. I wish I could have been there as well, but Jed is leaving in the wee hours of the morning headed to Washington, DC, to spend a few days with his mother, and this means I need to be here to help Heather with the boys. So we’ll just have to wait for another opportunity to celebrate together. We were with the Kanegsbergs in New Zealand in 2007 for our birthdays and that was certainly a most memorable occasion. Maybe next year Alan and Helaine can fly to Puerto Rico for a joint celebration!
Tomorrow Ollie and head to the library for story time and late in the afternoon Granddad will arrive home on the bus. I’m hoping for a low-key weekend so Mark can get some rest. He has a cold that he needs to get rid of sooner rather than later. His sister arrives on Tuesday and he needs to be in tip-top shape for that visit.
by Judy Handley | Mar 5, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 136, Year 9: Cold, Windy, Snowy Birthday
Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Weather: Light Dusting of Snow Late Day; Cold and Windy Tonight
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
I got home from Heather and Jed’s at 8:15 this evening and was greeted by an indoor temperature of 60 degrees F. Brrrrr. It’s cold and windy and I’m beginning to sound a bit like Eeyore, but this weather is enough to push one over the edge. I read the weather forecast last night and saw nothing about snow, but it did snow a bit again today. This morning Heather asked Jed if it was supposed to snow today. He replied by asking, “Is it Wednesday? It seems to snow every Wednesday.” And so it did. But other than the cold, windy, snowy weather, it was a good birthday. I spent the morning on Windbird and then went to Heather’s to stay with Ollie and Jonah while Heather went food shopping in Hyannis. When I walked in the house, it smelled like chocolate. Heather and the two boys had spent part of their morning making a chocolate birthday cake for Oma. It smelled great, but in the chaos of baking with the help of two little ones, Heather forgot to put in the water. We didn’t end up eating that cake tonight, but we are going to try it with some whipped cream on another night. Tonight we had a lovely little cake that Heather bought at Trader Joe’s. The boys wrote the 6 and the 7 on the top and we blew out the candles (not 67 of them) together with Granddad helping over the phone. I got a special birthday surprise gift from Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco today. They sent a three-tiered hanging planter that will become a mini-garden on Windbird . . . if it ever gets warm enough to plant anything. Oops. There I go again sounding like Eeyore. The GoPro camera we bought to take to Culebra was supposed to be my birthday present from Mark, but he also bought me a long-range wireless USB adapter to boost my internet reception. We have free wifi here at Fiddler’s Cove, but my computer’s built-in antenna isn’t strong enough to let me use it. Over the years we have tried all manner of wifi signal boosters and they have been either too complicated or they haven’t really worked. This one is fantastic. It is small and I just have to plug it into a USB port on my computer. Bingo. I have great internet reception without using our expensive ATT hot spot. But the best birthday present of all was a call from my sister telling me that my brother-in-law’s early morning heart catheterization found a blockage that they were able to clear and put in a stent. He should be as good as new by tomorrow. So despite the weather, it was a very nice birthday indeed. Now could someone just turn up the temperature, wipe out the snow, and cue the sunshine!
by Judy Handley | Mar 4, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 135, Year 9: Happy Birthday to JEK
Date: Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Weather: Very Cold Overnight (12 degrees F), Mostly Sunny and Cold Today
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
It’s birthday time. My mother was born on this day in 1908 and my brother-in-law, Joseph Edward Kerwood (JEK) shared her birth date of March 4. My mother had hoped I would be born on her birthday, but stubborn daughter that I was, I waited just a few hours and was born on March 5. So I get to celebrate tomorrow. In a number of logs recently I mentioned that I was working on a photo project, but I never explained what it was. Well, it was a “This is Your Life” birthday book for my brother-in-law who turned 80 today. I did the book on Shutterfly and submitted it a week ago. They printed it and sent it out immediately and he opened it this weekend. Two of my nephews were there and they called to break the news to me that I had made a ‘little’ mistake. The print on the back binding said, “70 Years of Mark Daniel Handley” not “80 Years of Joseph Edward Kerwood.” I couldn’t believe it. I had used the cover of Mark’s book as a pattern for Joe’s and I thought I had made all the necessary changes. But not so. Joe still loved the book but I contacted Shutterfly to see if there was anything they could do to correct my stupid mistake. They were unbelievably generous and offered to reprint the book with the change at no cost. What great customer service. So happy birthday to Joe and a big thank you to Shutterfly. They definitely have a loyal customer in me.
My current photo project is editing the underwater photos from Culebra. So that is keeping me busy while Mark is away. And, as always happens, Windbird decided to give me a go at problem solving while the Captain is away. Last night I heard the water pump go ballistic and I ran to the aft cabin to find it filling with what looked like smoke. I opened the engine room door and steam, not smoke, came pouring out. I then shut off the water pump and called Mark to help me figure out what was going on. A hose coming from the hot water tank was the culprit, but unfortunately I’ll have to wait for Mark’s return this weekend to fix it. Good thing I take showers in the clubhouse because there is no way I’d be taking cold showers in this weather. No new problems have surfaced tonight, but I’m sure there will be something else while he is gone.
Ollie and I had another good day. The mornings go by so quickly and then it is time for lunch and Ollie’s nap. After nap, we drove to pick Sam up from school and went to the car wash. The new red Honda was covered in salt as I drove it to Boston yesterday and it desperately needed a rinse. The car wash is one of those do-it-yourself places and Sam really wanted to do the washing. So Ollie and I put in the quarters and let Sam go at it. The spray hose has a bit of a quick to it when you pull the trigger, but Sam was able to handle it nicely. Later when Jonah got home, he had a picture he had drawn today. The people in the picture were hearts and Granddad was great big yellow heart. There was a green ‘thing’ and Jonah explained that it was Windbird and I was at home in the boat. He wanted me to take a picture of the drawing to send to Granddad, so it is attached to this log. I ended up staying at Heather and Jed’s for dinner and afterwards Ollie put on a dance show for us. He got Sam’s little tape player with headsets, put on the headsets, and danced away. While he was doing that, Sam and Jonah were building with Legos and Jonah was singing ‘Hark the Herald Angels.’ These little guys provide non-stop entertainment, so no worries about me being bored while Mark is away.
by Judy Handley | Mar 3, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 134, Year 9: Mark’s Second Week in Boston
Date: Monday, March 3, 2014
Weather: Snow Overnight, Heavy Winds Early, Overcast All Day–Cold
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was the start of Mark’s second week of radiation/chemo treatments in Boston. I drove him to the city this morning and stayed for visits with both his oncologist and radiation oncologist. He will stay with Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John again this week. The treatments go on until the middle of the first week of April and the effects are cumulative. So far he is doing great and we’re hoping to beat the odds and keep him that way as long as possible. At this point he is planning on spending the whole week in Boston with no trip home until the weekend. Then next week his sister Mary Ellen and her husband Lee are flying up from Florida to visit with Mark in Boston. By the time they fly back to Florida, Mark will have only 2 weeks of treatment left. And hopefully by then we’ll have a little spring-like weather to make us all feel better.
The weather—ha! March has certainly come in like a lion and it looks like it is going to stay this way for the foreseeable future. When I look at the 10 day forecast I see only 1 day when the temp might get out of the 30’s and zero nights above freezing. And there is snow forecast here and there throughout those 10 days. Sure hope I’m not still reporting this on the 3rd of April. I bought seeds for the garden yesterday, although it is going to be the end of March before we can get the garden ready for seeds that are usually planted by the middle of March. But I know spring is coming because the crocuses in front of Heather and Jed’s are getting ready to bloom despite the unprecedented cold. Go crocuses!!!
by Judy Handley | Mar 2, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 133, Year 9: Tribute to Papa G
Date: Sunday, March 2, 2014
Weather: Overcast with a Sprinkling of Snow Throughout the Day
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Jed’s father, known as Papa G (Goldstone) to Sam, Jonah, and Oliver, passed away last night after a long battle with cancer. Our thoughts are with Marti (Grammy to Sam, Jonah, and Oliver) and Jed and his two brothers, Toby and Ben. There will be a celebration of Donald’s life in Maine this summer. I’m assuming it will probably be a clam and lobster bake which Donald loved to host. Jed will be flying to DC this week to be with his mother, but Heather and the boys will stay here. I know Sam and Jonah are going to miss Papa so very much. They talked about him all the time. They had a great visit with Papa and Grammy at Christmastime and will have those happy memories to carry forth.
