by Judy Handley | Dec 1, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 42, Year 9: Arrival of the Twelfth Month
Date: Sunday, December 1, 2013
Weather: Overcast with High in the Upper 40’s F
Location: Home of Bruce and Jane Woodin, West Falmouth, MA
Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . the clock just keeps ticking along. I can’t believe it is already December, but the calendar tells me that the twelfth month of 2013 arrived today. We had a nice long Skype call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco this morning and then I spent the rest of my afternoon baking and shopping online. I also spent time emailing in-laws to coordinate what we are buying for our kids and grandkids. Heather called this morning and invited us over to dinner tonight, so at 5 pm we stopped the shopping frenzy and had a most enjoyable dinner with the Goldstones. When we arrived, it was already dark, but Heather was outside playing football with Ollie and Jonah. Sam’s friend Sebastian, who lives one street over, called him this afternoon to invite him over to watch the Patriot’s game. Sam assured his mom and dad that if they would watch him cross the street, he could go through a neighbor’s yard that has a ‘secret passageway’ to Sebastian’s backyard and get there all on his own. And he did. Some days I feel like he is six going on sixteen. Jonah and Ollie watched some of the game at home, thus the evening fascination with football. Ollie learned a new word—touchdown—and he loved running and then throwing his hands to the ground declaring—touchdown. After dinner, Sam and Jonah turned their attention from football to becoming cowboys. Those photos are shown here.
It was pouring rain in Culebra this morning when we talked to Justin and Jo. It is still the rainy season there until after Christmas, so a trip to the beach was cancelled today. I have to admit that I told Justin that I just couldn’t feel sorry for them! Ziggy has a new kitty named Purry Pearly Pearl and he is absolutely in love with this kitten. They are inseparable. Coco has been sick with the flu, but she is starting to bounce back. She is just the cutest little elf with her curly white hair and great big smile. Seeing them this morning made us even more anxious to see them in person in February.
Tomorrow Mark has chemo treatment #3 in this current round of six. So soon he will be halfway there. He is feeling so good right now. But as we well know, chemo treatment has its highs and lows. After this one, the next treatment will be the week before Christmas. Hopefully we have the timing just right so that he can enjoy the holiday week.
by Judy Handley | Nov 30, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 41, Year 9: Decorating for the Holidays
Date: Saturday, November 30, 2013
Weather: Mostly Sunny with High in the 40’s F
Location: Home of Bruce and Jane Woodin, West Falmouth, MA
Today was evidently the day our children decided to welcome in the holiday season by decorating trees. In two opposite ends of the United States, here on Cape Cod Heather, Jed, and boys decorated the tree in their front yard and on the island of Culebra in Puerto Rico, Justin and Jo decorated a tropical plant to be their Christmas tree. Very different, but both have the same fascination for the little ones. Heather’s dream is to have the big evergreen in their front yard decorated with all natural ornaments, but that is a work in progress. It is a huge tree, probably 30 feet high, and it requires large ornaments. So in the meantime it is decorated with glittery store-bought ornaments that the boys love. The tropical plant in Culebra is a little easier to decorate with all homemade ornaments and in one of the photos, it is evident that little Coco is mesmerized by the lights.
After Mark and I came home from Heather and Jed’s, we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing Santa Claus—deciding who we are getting what. Most of our shopping is being done on the internet. Amazon wins again.
Since we had spent our whole evening on the internet, Mark decided to check his Partners website. This is Mass General’s online patient gateway. He has been waiting for weeks for the results of the genetic test results on the cancer tumor removed two years ago. He found the results posted and if we read the results correctly, it is very good news for Mark. Once a doctor confirms our interpretations, I’ll explain more fully, but the short story is that his tumor was of the type that should be receptive to additional types of chemo drugs should that become necessary. On Thanksgiving Day, one thing our daughter Heather mentioned as being thankful for was the miracle of modern medicine. We couldn’t agree more.
I forgot to mention that while we were at Heather’s this morning, we took time to take some holiday photos. Here’s the best of Goldstone holiday photo shoot.
by Judy Handley | Nov 29, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 40, Year 9: Life in the Slow Lane
Date: Friday, November 29, 2013
Weather: Sunny with High in the 30’s F
Location: Home of Bruce and Jane Woodin, West Falmouth, MA
We seem to go at full speed all the time, living life to the fullest. So it is not easy for us to gear down and live life in the slow lane—but we are going to try. For the past few days we have been giving this a try and Mark feels SO much better. Yesterday he was able to eat a regular Thanksgiving Dinner, so the sore mouth is healing. That might have happened whether or not we slowed down, but we’ll not test that. We’ll try hard to keep in this slower lane for the winter.
Mark and I spent our morning at Heather and Jed’s with the boys while Heather and Jed both went to work for a couple of hours. When we arrived, Oliver was running about without his clothes on. This is his favorite thing which he calls going “nay-nay”—(naked). The big boys wanted to go out and ride on their scooters and bikes, but Ollie wanted to ride his little push bike inside–naked. I guess we need a new t-shirt that says, “Nay-nay Biking.” Mark stayed inside with him but eventually persuaded Ollie to come out and join us. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, but cold enough that any puddles outside were totally frozen over. Brrr . . . In the afternoon, we drove to storage to pick up some things and then I dropped Mark off at Falmouth Marine while I ran a few errands. He wanted to visit with Steve and Irene of Star. For the past twenty years or so, they have spent their summers in Woods Hole and their winter’s in the Caribbean. But this fall Steve found out he has colorectal cancer and is spending his winter in radiation therapy to be followed by an operation and then chemo. This is the first winter in many, many years Steve and Irene have spent in cold country, so Mark wanted to go commiserate!
With the arrival of December on Sunday, it is time to start thinking about the upcoming holiday season. We are trying to honor our children’s desire to keep things simple and buy only things that are truly needed. Heather has been reading about the Hundred Dollar Holiday principle outlined by environmental author Bill McKibben in his book by that name. I was all for that when I thought he meant spending $100 on each person, but he is advocating spending only a $100 in total or per family—not easy. Justin and Jo have asked that we try to avoid buying anything plastic and unnecessary things ‘Made in China’—again not easy. In fact, it is almost impossible to avoid buying things made in China, but when possible, we will. Today I walked into The Christmas Tree Shop in hopes of buying fabric gift bags that can be reused. They had adorable bags in various sizes, but all were made in China. It would take me an entire day or more to make bags like these, so it was very tempting to buy them. I picked them up, but then put them back down. I’ll find a simpler way. I agree with our daughter-in-law Jo who wrote recently, “I LOVE the holiday, the imagination, crafty preparation, magic and wonder elements (and the parties and feasting!). So I’ll focus my attention in that direction.
by Judy Handley | Nov 28, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 39, Year 9: Thankful for . . .
Date: Thursday, November 28, 2013
Weather: Sunny with High in the 30’s F
Location: Home of Bruce and Jane Woodin, West Falmouth, MA
There’s so much to be thankful for . . . but here’s my BIG 10.
Heather
Justin
Jo
Jed
Sam
Ziggy
Jonah
Ollie
Coco
Mark
And, of course, I have to add other members of my family and good friends. When we went around the Thanksgiving table this afternoon and everyone stated one thing they are thankful for Jonah said, “The whole universe.” I guess that says it all!
by Judy Handley | Nov 27, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 38, Year 9: Busy Kitchen Day
Date: Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Weather: Temp in the 50’s with Lots of Rain and Wind
Location: Home of Bruce and Jane Woodin, West Falmouth, MA
The wind was roaring and the rain was coming down this morning, but we braved the weather and headed to Heather’s for the day. I had hoped to continue cleaning windows—a project I started yesterday. But after an impromptu shopping trip, Heather and I returned to the kitchen and didn’t move from that room until late afternoon. Preparations for Thanksgiving dinner and for the beginning of Hanukkah tonight took over our day. The last time the beginning of Hanukkah overlapped with Thanksgiving Day was in 1888 and by estimates of some Jewish scholars, the next time this will occur is 79,043 years from now. That in itself is worthy of a celebration. We put Granddad in charge of Ollie and Sam played and helped us from time to time. Jonah was at school until later in the afternoon when he also pitched in to help. We produced two different kinds of pumpkin pie, a chocolate pudding pie, cranberry-apple juice jello, applesauce from the last of the apples we picked weeks ago, cranberry salad using the cranberries we picked from the nearby bog, and piles of shredded veggies to use in making latkes—potato, sweet potato, turnip. Mark and I didn’t stay for the Hanukkah dinner so I will be anxious to hear how the latkes from different veggies turned out.
Tomorrow we head to Boston with Heather, Jed, and boys to have dinner at the home of Sue and John Reed, Jed’s aunt and uncle. Sue and John have become friends of ours as they have offered their home as a place for us to stay when we are in Boston for medical reasons. So we look forward to seeing them. Our contribution to the dinner will be the pumpkin pie and cranberry salad along with a couple of dozen of local oysters that Jed and Jonah picked up this afternoon. I’ll also take a cranberry bread that I baked tonight. All of these goodies, added to the turkey and other things that John and Sue will have prepared assure that we will have a feast.
Here’s hoping your Turkey Day is a happy one and you will have the time to think of all the things for which you are thankful. I’m starting to compile my list right now.
by Judy Handley | Nov 26, 2013 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 37, Year 9: Weather, Weather
Date: Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Weather: Overcast with Temps in the 40’s, Lots of Rain and Wind Tonight
Location: Home of Bruce and Jane Woodin, West Falmouth, MA
The weather continues to be the center of attention. It is either colder than normal, windier than normal, or there is more precipitation than normal. Tonight it will be wind and precipitation that will dominate with winds 25-30 and gusts over 50 knots and 1-2 inches of rain. The temperature will continue to rise overnight and we will have a day in the 50’s tomorrow before the temp once again plummets to freezing on Thanksgiving Day. Today was overcast but it was quite mild. Ollie and I worked in the garden and in the yard and didn’t even need gloves or mittens. How delightful.
Mark is starting to bounce back, but continues to need more rest than normal. Tomorrow we will go to Heather’s to do some Thanksgiving Day cooking and to help her with a couple of projects. There is no school tomorrow for Sam, so with Sam and Ollie both at home in the morning and Jonah coming home mid-day, I doubt that we get much done, but we shall try. The project for Mark and I is to go to storage and try and find some decent clothes to wear on Turkey Day. We can’t find Mark’s shoes (other than sandals and sneakers) on the boat, so we figure we must have taken them to storage. It should be an interesting hunt. And speaking of shoes, here’s a great photo of Ollie today with his momma’s boots on.
