by Judy Handley | Dec 31, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 72, Year 9: On the Seventh Day of Christmas . . . New Year’s Eve
Date: Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cold, High in the 20’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today Mark had a chemo treatment and I stayed home and worked on organizing clothes. There’s not a lot of room on a boat for clothing, and I decided that I needed to get summer clothes to storage before the start of the new year. I should get a hint from the outside temperature that it is no longer summer. I took a few things to storage weeks ago, but have never gotten back to finishing the job. Time has a way of slipping away without getting things done, so I’ll just say better late than never. I got that job done today.
We are have some ‘freezy’ weather and will continue to be in the deep freeze through next week with the exception of this coming Sunday and Monday when things will warm up just a tad. This is looking like it is going to be a much colder winter than we had two years ago when we lived aboard here, and we are certainly having more precipitation. We are supposed to get snow again on Thursday and Friday and then more rain over the weekend. Justin called to wish us a happy new year late this afternoon and reminded us of how warm it is in Puerto Rico. Tomorrow we will start the countdown—41 days until we fly to Puerto Rico to visit with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco.
The best news of the day is that Heather, Jed, and boys made it home safely in record time. They were home from their visit in Washington, DC, by 3 pm. Heather called and invited us over for dinner. We jumped at the chance to go over and see the boys. We have really missed them. After dinner the plan was for us to stay with the boys while Heather and Jed went out to celebrate. But by the time dinner was over and Heather got Ollie to sleep, they lost their momentum and decided to stay home. They had a wonderful visit with Jed’s parents but they were all tired from the long drive home. So I’ll wager that everyone in the Goldstone household, even Jed who is a real night owl, will be asleep before midnight.
After dinner, we all shared our resolutions for the New Year. Jonah calls them ‘revolutions’ and in a way, they are. You resolve to overthrow your old ways and start anew. What’s your ‘revolution’? Whatever it may be, I hope you can make it happen. Happy New Year!
by Judy Handley | Dec 31, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 71, Year 9: On the Sixth Day of Christmas . . . Fight with My Computer
Date: Monday, December 30, 2013
Weather: Overcast, Windy, Temperature Dropping
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
I spent my day fighting with my computer. How frustrating! We take a huge number of photographs which are individually named, put in folders, uploaded to Picasa online, and then attached to the appropriate log. Our website tells me I have posted 2,588 logs in the past eight years and most of them have photographs posted with them. Today Picasa told me I have 1,722 photo folders. Evidently that is too many because trying to go back over the past two years to post a few photos that were missing from a few folders took all day and all evening. It was just sooooooo slooooooow. But the job is done and I can end this year with all past photos neatly arranged in their proper folders and posted online.
Heather, Jed, and boys decided to spend another day in DC, but they should arrive home tomorrow evening. Without them here, life has been very, very quiet. Since Mark and I are both still battling a sinus issue, even after taking antibiotics to get rid of any infection, the days of rest have been welcomed. But honestly, the more I rest, the sicker I feel, so I think it is time to get back to work. Once the Goldpebbles are home, we’ll have no trouble staying busy!
Tomorrow is a chemo day for Mark. This is number five out of six that he will have prior to surgery in late February. He had a bit of a fever today and if that is still the case tomorrow, they will probably delay the treatment. But we are hoping that he will be better in the morning and that things can go along on schedule. I’m planning to work on photos again tomorrow, but this time I’ll just be going through my photo files and will not have to deal with a slow internet. The temperature is dropping as I write and tomorrow it will be about 15 degrees colder that it was today. So it should be a good day to sit inside and read, work on photo files, and make some notes for that book that I keep promising to write someday. The book that I have been reading about a young couple crossing the Pacific has jogged my memory and I want to write down my thoughts before I lose them.
by Judy Handley | Dec 29, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 70, Year 9: On the Fifth Day of Christmas . . . Rest and Read
Date: Sunday, December 29, 2013
Weather: Overcast, Heavy Rain in the Evening, Temp in the 40’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
It was a very quiet day here on Windbird. Mark and I are both still fighting sinus issues, so we planned to spend the day just resting in hopes that rest will equal better health. We did rally mid-morning and went out to fill the water tanks and wash the deck down. We didn’t get to do that just before the plastic cover was put on for the winter, and those dirty little bird friends of ours made sure that they left their droppings so we wouldn’t forget about them once we were covered. I have gone up and vacuumed, but the temperature was warm enough today to do the wash down, so we did. We then spent the rest of the day reading. Mark is reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book, The Bully Pulpit, about Teddy Roosevelt, William Taft, and the journalists at the time. I am reading a book given to me by my friend Linda Stuart in New Hampshire. It is called Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche. Torre meets a young man named Ivan who is planning to sail around the world. She is swept off her feet by Ivan, but she REALLY doesn’t want to sail. She is truly frightened to death by the ocean. But love takes over and they take off. The book doesn’t say when, but it must have been in 2005 when we left because they meet a couple that we met in the South Pacific during our first year out. Needless to say, I love reading the book and reliving the trip across the Pacific with Torre and Ivan.
Tonight we watched Hamlet. This is the first video we received from Netflix (a Christmas gift from Heather and Jed to Mark). You set up a list of films you would like to see and Netflix automatically sends you the first one. When you send that one back at no cost for postage, they send you the second one on the list. Looks like we will see lots of films this winter.
by Judy Handley | Dec 28, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 69, Year 9: On the Fourth Day of Christmas . . . Work and Rest
Date: Saturday, December 28, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny, High Temp in the Upper 30’s F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Mark worked today at West Marine and I rested. That’s basically it. I’m still not feeling up to par. I guess I have some version of the stomach flu that is going around in these parts. Just not sure. The one thing I did do today was post photos of Christmas in Culebra starring Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. So those can be viewed here.
I also got on Facebook and ‘borrowed’photos from Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, and Ollie’s visit to Fort McHenry today. During the War of 1812 when Fort McHenry was being bombarded by the British, Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Heather noted in her Facebook entry that the boys declined to belt out their favorite song while at the fort, but I’m sure they enjoyed seeing the place that inspired Key to write what is now our national anthem.
by Judy Handley | Dec 27, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 68, Year 9: On the Third Day of Christmas . . . Shopping
Date: Friday, December 27, 2013
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Morning Becoming Cloudy in the PM, High 35 degrees F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Now I know why almost all of my Christmas shopping was done on Amazon. It is just so easy. Today I had to return one gift and went shopping to use a gift certificate sent to me by Justin and Jo. I could have used the certificate online, but the shipping was going to cost as much as the items. So I spent three hours driving and shopping. I did get what I wanted and I did need to try the things on, so the trip was necessary. But in three hours, I could have ordered hundreds of items on Amazon and returned them if they didn’t fit. We are Prime members and pay no shipping charges, even on gifts sent to Puerto Rico. So Amazon definitely gets my vote as the best shopping choice. I really don’t know what I ever did without it.
We heard from Heather today and they are having a wonderful time in DC. They did the museum thing today and are going to Arlington Cemetery tomorrow. Ollie has a bit of a stomach flu bug, but it is not slowing him down. I think I have the same thing, but thankfully it has by-passed Mark. He worked today and is feeling great. We also got emails from Justin and Jo this evening with lots of holiday photos attached. I’ll get those posted with tomorrow’s log. They are really enjoying their first holiday season in Puerto Rico. They had an all-day beach day on Boxing Day. I’m so jealous . . .
by Judy Handley | Dec 26, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 67, Year 9: The Second Day of Christmas . . . Boxing Day
Date: Thursday, December 26, 2013
Weather: Overcast and Rainy
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
It was a quiet day in these parts. We ventured out mid-day to return a couple of gifts via UPS and then in the late afternoon we went to a Boxing Day Open House at Bruce and Jane Woodin’s. These are the friends for whom we recently house sat. We got to see their adorable twin grandchildren, Aurora and Jasper, as well as meet a number of their friends. Tomorrow Mark works at West Marine and I have a day all to myself. Unfortunately, I have errands to run. But then Mark works again on Friday and my plan is to stay at home and read a good book.
Today was Boxing Day. I had never heard of this until moving to New Hampshire, but it is quite commonly celebrated in these parts. No one definitively knows how it got its name, but it seems to stem from British tradition. Whether it was named for bosses giving employees a holiday ‘bonus’ in a box the day after Christmas or churches collecting money in boxes to distribute to the poor the day after Christmas, no one knows. Whatever, it is a day of celebration for many in New England and we had fun on this second day of Christmas.
