by Judy Handley | Sep 10, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 324, Year 9: Happy 99th Birthday to Aunt Ethel
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Daytime Temp Low 70’s F, Nighttime Temp Low 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
My Aunt Ethel turned 99 today. She still lives in her own house, gardens, and even cuts the grass on her very large lawn in Roanoke, Virginia. She is my aunt by marriage, so unfortunately I don’t have any of her genes for longevity. But over the years she brought joy into my life and she is an inspiration to all who know her. Happy birthday, Aunt Ethel.
Mark and I had a super productive day today. We got up early so I could go walking with my friends Jane and Terry. During the summer we have been trying to walk for an hour every Wednesday morning. It’s good exercise and it gives us a chance to catch up on what is happening in all of our busy lives. While I did that, Mark went to our storage unit and dug out a bunch of plastic boxes of books. We took the boxes to Heather and Jed’s so that we could sort through them and pack most of them up to donate to the library. Mark then took the empty plastic boxes and boxed up the things in the filing cabinets in Heather and Jed’s den. That room needs to be cleared out, painted, and readied for the installation of new storage cabinets and book shelves. While we worked on these jobs, I canned marinara sauce. At the end of the day I had 30 pint and a half jars plus seven pints of sauce ready to put on the shelf to be used this winter, about ten boxes of books to donate to the library, and Mark had about six plastic boxes full of things from Heather and Jed’s den. Slowly, ever so slowly, we will get these jobs done and we will pare down the amount of boxes in the storage unit. Our goal is to get down to a 10 x 10 unit. If we had it to do all over again, we would have sold everything before we took off on our voyage around the world. But I was just too attached to ‘stuff’ and couldn’t let go. We should have bought a piece of land and built a storage shed on it rather than pay the price of storage. But when we left we thought we would be back in three years . . . and that just didn’t happen. We have lived aboard now for 11 years and we have been paying for storage all that time. Not a wise financial choice.
by Judy Handley | Sep 9, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 323, Year 9: All About Tomatoes
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Weather: Mix of Clouds and Sun, High Temp in the Low 70’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was all about tomatoes. I de-seeded the already blanched and peeled tomatoes and then chopped heaps of carrots, celery, onions, and garlic to add to the tomatoes. Once all of this was burbling, I added salt, basil, red wine, and a little balsamic vinegar. The result was marinara sauce ready to be canned. Today I cooked and pureed the sauce and tomorrow I will can it. It is a three day process from tomato to sauce since I only work at it from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, but six hours of playing with tomatoes is enough for any sane person! At the same that I am doing this, Mark is working on a consulting job and when they get home from work, Heather and Jed are trying to get their living room book shelf renovation project completed. So we are a busy bunch of people.
Chris and Geoff left this morning for Martha’s Vineyard. We are having a cycle of north winds, so it is not a great time to head in that direction. While they are waiting for a better weather window they will tour Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. We sure enjoyed our visit with them and hope they have a great trip to Nova Scotia and back. Tonight we spent a little time looking at the calendar and realized that three weeks from tomorrow we will get the result of Mark’s CT scan which will decide are fate for the winter. And we both have very long lists of things that need to be done before we leave. Someone needs to slow down the hands of time.
by Judy Handley | Sep 8, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 322, Year 9: More Tomatoes, More Time with Friends
Date: Monday, September 8, 2014
Weather: More Clouds than Sun, High Temp in the Low 70’s—Cooling Down
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
The early part of today was spent processing 45 more pounds of tomatoes and the evening was spent having more time with friends. Chris and Geoff of Shambala are leaving Quissett Harbor in the morning so we invited them over for a bon voyage dinner aboard Windbird. Eleven years ago tomorrow they left Australia on their little cruise around the world, so we celebrated that by looking at a few of their photos from some of their favorite places. The sunset celebrated with us by putting on quite a show. It was a delightful evening.
This morning Mark and I went to Peachtree Circle Farm to pick up another 45 pounds of tomatoes. I started the process of turning them into marinara sauce and I will continue tomorrow and the next day to finish the job.
by Judy Handley | Sep 7, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 321, Year 9: Successful Overnight with the Grandkids
Date: Sunday, September 7, 2014
Weather: Beautiful Day, Temp in the mid-70’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
We had a very successful overnight with the grandkids last night. All three boys had a good evening and a great night’s sleep. Ollie had no major issues about missing mommy or daddy. This was only his second overnight, so we didn’t know what to expect. But he tells us he is a ‘big boy’ now and that he can do whatever his big brothers do. And he did.
This morning we sent Mark off to work at West Marine and then I took the boys to a beach just out of Woods Hole on the way to Falmouth. Actually Sam directed us there as he had gone there as a part of his summer science camp. He had come here to catch crabs during summer and we tried the same today. We didn’t end up with any crabs other than a few horseshoe crabs that had been washed ashore, but the boys had a great time playing in the water and on the rocks. I sat on the rocks and drank my coffee while watching the boys play and watching the traffic in the Vineyard Sound. There were people ferries and car ferries going to and from Woods Hole, lots of fishing boats, and a few sailboats. At one point, Jonah fell between the rocks and skinned his ankle and knee. Sam set up ‘hospital’ where Jonah could sit on a flat rock and Dr. Sam applied bunches of sea weed to cure the scratches. Ollie thought this was great and he had to become a patient as well. It is amazing where the imagination of young children can take you.
by Judy Handley | Sep 6, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 320, Year 9: Happy Anniversary to Heather and Jed
Date: Saturday, September 6, 2014
Weather: Partly Sunny and Humid, Temp in the High 70’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today is Heather and Jed’s 11th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary to our first born and her mate. Our gift to them was to help out with a home renovation project this morning and then when Mark went to work at West Marine, I was to keep the kids occupied in the afternoon so they could continue the work. And right now we have three sleeping cherubs here on Windbird as another part of the gift that was to keep the kids tonight and tomorrow morning. Heather and Jed were going out to dinner tonight, but not until they made sufficient progress. They are building shelving in the living room and putting in wiring for a new flat screen TV on a wall-mounted swivel arm. The project will continue tomorrow and for days to come, but as per an email just before they went out to dinner, the report was most positive.
This afternoon we all got a special anniversary treat. For their 5th anniversary, Heather and Jed were giving each other a fruit tree. Somehow that gift didn’t come to fruition until their 10th anniversary year. They planted the tree last spring and actually got a couple of peaches at the end of summer. Today we got to sample the first ripe peach of this year. It is a tiny, tiny tree, but the fruit is delicious.
by Judy Handley | Sep 5, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 319, Year 9: Thank Goodness for Fridays
Date: Friday, September 5, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Temp in the High 70’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
We all survived the first week of school but have been reminded of why people are thankful for Fridays. Mark worked at West Marine, I stayed home with Jonah and Ollie, and then Heather took the three boys to the beach after Sam got out of school. Jonah will start kindergarten full-time on Monday but had today off and Heather decided to let Ollie stay home with him. He had three good days at the daycare this week and she thought he deserved a day off. Geoff and Chris came over to Windbird for dinner and shared their story of getting totally lost on the Cape looking for the auto parts place that had the air conditioner compressor Geoff had ordered. But at the end of the day, all is well. Unfortunately Mark works all weekend, but he has tomorrow morning off and we are going over to Heather and Jed’s to help them with a construction project. It is their wedding anniversary and working on the house renovations problems is their gift to each other.
