by Judy Handley | Sep 4, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 318, Year 9: First Day of Kindergarten for Jonah
Date: Thursday, September 4, 2014
Weather: Another Sunny Day with a High Temp in the 80’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was the first full day of kindergarten for Jonah and he had a great day. Only half his class was there today and he won’t meet the other half until Monday. But there is a little boy named Storm that he seems to really like and of course, he loves having Molly, the girl next door, in his class. They are like brother and sister and it is great that they are in the same class. So now all three boys have officially started school and it is such a relief to see that all three of them seem to be settling in just fine. Hurray, hurray. Ollie’s doing great, but Heather is going to keep him at home tomorrow just to give him a break. The other half of Jonah’s K class will be in school tomorrow, but Jonah will be at home. So he and Ollie can have a fun day together with Oma. I finished canning all of the marinara sauce late this afternoon, so tomorrow we can just play the day away.
My morning was spent canning marinara sauce and my afternoon was spent shuttling Geoff about in search of an air conditioning compressor to replace the one his boat that is no longer working properly. It runs Shambala’s freezer. When I left Heather and Jed’s to pick Mark up to take him to work, Geoff came along. After dropping Mark off, we went to the Napa Auto Parts store to see what kind of compressors they keep in stock. The unit Geoff needs to replace is an auto AC compressor, thus the reason we went to Napa. We were dealing with the Manager and he was just fantastic. He didn’t have what we needed in stock, but he loaned Geoff the catalog with photos of all of the hundreds of different types of car AC compressors and suggested that he go back to the boat to take photos of the compressor that he needed to replace and come back in narrow the search. Before doing that, I took Geoff to some other possible sources, but no one was nearly as helpful as Eric at Napa. So I then took Geoff out to Quissett. It took him a bit to get the photos and study the catalog to find possible matches, and then we returned to town to Napa. Again, Eric was unbelievably helpful. He determined that it would be next Wednesday before the unit Geoff needed would arrive here from New Jersey and then checked arrival times if Geoff paid for special shipping. Monday was still the best that he could do. So then Eric started calling other sources to see if they could get it quicker. After spending at least two hours with us today, he found a competitor that could get the unit here tomorrow. So he didn’t get the sale, but he certainly provided fantastic customer service. Thank you Eric and thank you Napa.
After taking Geoff back to Quissett, I made a quick run to Heather’s to put on the last canner load of marinara sauce and then went to pick up Mark. After I picked him up, we went back to Heather and Jed’s for a dinner celebration in honor of Jonah’s first day of kindergarten. He had requested calamari for dinner and in addition to that we had beer-batter deep fried fish and fresh Quahog clams supplied by Mark’s friend Sue at West Marine. We had a feast and enjoyed the evening together.
by Judy Handley | Sep 3, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 317, Year 9: Tomatoes and Friends
Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Weather: Sunny Day; Temp in the 80’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
I spent my day with tomatoes and friends. Mark, Geoff, and Chris went with me to Heather and Jed’s this morning. Jonah had a one-hour ‘meet the teacher’ event, so he didn’t get home until after 10:30 am. At that time, Heather and Jed headed to work and I was already up to elbows in tomatoes. I blanched and peeled the tomatoes yesterday and today I chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to add to the pot to make the marinara sauce. Jonah played beautifully on his own allowing me to continue working on getting the sauce going. Geoff and Chris worked on their computers using catching up on email correspondence, gathering weather information, and contacting people re boat problems. At noon Chris, Jonah, and I took Mark to work at West Marine and then we went downtown to the hardware store. I needed to buy canning jars and Chris took a quick tour of downtown Falmouth. Jonah had a 1 o’clock playdate with his good friend Luke, so we delivered him to Luke’s house and headed back home to continue working on that marinara sauce. It was an all day affair, and when we left to go back to Quissett Harbor around 4 pm, I had one pot completed and in the refrig but the other pot still needed to cook for another couple of hours and then be put through the food processor. So I had to leave that for Heather and Jed to do. I took Geoff and Chris to Quissett and then went back into town to pick up Mark. Then we had dinner aboard Shambala. Thank you to Chris and Geoff for a delightful evening.
Geoff and Chris had thought they might be heading north tomorrow, but they have a problem that has developed with their freezer compressor. This means they will have to stay around tomorrow to check out possibilities for finding a replacement compressor, so we will get to enjoy their company for at least another day.
by Judy Handley | Sep 2, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 316, Year 9: First Day of School for Ollie and Sam
Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Weather: Hazy Morning but Bright, Sunny Day; Temp in the High 80’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was the first day of school for Ollie and Sam. Jonah meets with his kindergarten teacher tomorrow morning for an hour, but his first full day of school will be on Thursday. I took Mark to work at West Marine and then drove back to Woods Hole to get a photo of Ollie walking into ‘school’ on his first day. I just had to document the big event. Drop off went smoothly and he had a great first day. Ollie had a not so pleasant experience in daycare previously, so we were all elated that today went so well. And Sam is an old hand at school now that he is second grader, so his day went smoothly as well.
Jonah and I spent our morning processing the 45 pounds of tomatoes that we got yesterday. He washed the tomatoes on the back deck and passed them back into the kitchen to me to blanch and peel. By the end of the day, we had all of the tomatoes prepped and ready to make sauce. Making the sauce will be tomorrow’s job.
Our friends Geoff and Chris of Shambala arrived here in Quissett Harbor this afternoon. They sailed up from Norfolk and are here for only a couple of days before they head on to Nova Scotia. While I worked on tomatoes, Mark came out to visit with them. We will pick them up tomorrow morning and take them into town with us so they can run some errands. And tomorrow night we have been invited to Shambala for dinner so we’ll have time to catch up. On goes this crazy life!
by Judy Handley | Sep 1, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 315, Year 9: Cuttyhunk to Quissett Harbor
Date: Monday, September 1, 2014
Weather: Overcast and Hazy ‘til 2 pm, then Sunny and Beautiful
Miles Traveled: 14
Location: Back Home in Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
What a wonderful Labor Day weekend we had sailing with Heather, Jed, and boys. We hope you had a wonderful weekend as well. We had beautiful weather until it started to rain last night. And then we awoke to overcast skies this morning. It was a bit like this when we visited Cuttyhunk last year and Sam noted that he wouldn’t want to live there. He wanted to go home to sunny Falmouth. So we did. We got a bit of a slow start, just enjoying the morning, before starting our sail home. We had 10 knots of wind right behind us and Mark decided he wanted to sail wing and wing. He poled out the headsail and had an absolutely delightful sail home. Once we got back in Quissett Harbor, it felt much warmer and Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie decided to go for a swim. The boys wanted mommy and daddy to swing off the boom and jump into the water, so we rigged that up and applauded their jumps. Sam really doesn’t like swimming in water that is over his head, so he watched from Windbird’s deck, along with Oma and Granddad. Then he got into the dinghy with Jed and Ollie and rowed about for a bit. So whether swimming or rowing or watching, we all had a great time.
We know the first day of fall is still three weeks away, but today felt like the last day of summer. I’m having a very hard time adjusting to the fact that Ollie starts ‘school’ tomorrow. We have spent at least four days a week with him since last November and letting go is making Oma teary-eyed. But if he adjusts easily to his half days at the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative, I will be the happiest Oma in the whole wide world. Heather and Jed have adjusted their schedules so that one or the other of them will leave work by 1 pm each day. That person will then bring Ollie home for a nap and be there to pick Sam and Jonah up from school each afternoon. Jonah doesn’t have his first full day of kindergarten until Friday and that will be another emotional time. But Jonah, like Ollie, are both so excited to go the school that we will all be elated if they are still as enthusiastic after their initial days. Sam is an old hand at school now, excited to be going to his first day of second grade tomorrow. These early years pass so quickly and Mark and I are just so appreciative that Heather and Jed have allowed us to be here to share these years with their boys. We are very lucky grandparents.
When we took Heather, Jed, and boys to shore to head home today, Mark and I went to Peachtree Farm to pick up 45 pounds of organically grown tomatoes that we will turn into marinara sauce to be canned. This is a staple in the Goldstone household so we will all work together this week to put up as much sauce as we can. And as soon as we get this first round of 45 pounds of tomatoes canned, there will be more tomatoes coming our way. I dub this first week of September ‘the week of tomatoes’!
by Judy Handley | Aug 31, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 314, Year 9: Battleship Cove to Cuttyhunk
Date: Sunday, August 31, 2014
Weather: Totally Overcast All Day, Winds 15-20 SW
Latitude: 41 25.487 N
Longitude: 070 54.811 W
Miles Traveled: 32
Location: Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts
After a motor back down the river, we had a great beam reach sail all the way to Cuttyhunk. We had 15-20 knots of wind, so Mark reefed the main and the headsail. But he also put out the staysail and we had a speedy sail across Buzzards Bay. Just before we got to Cuttyhunk it got a little rowdy, so Mark furled the headsail and we came in with just the reefed main and the staysail—still going 5.5 knots. Cuttyhunk is the little island at the bottom of the Elizabeth Island chain. We decided to pick up a mooring instead of anchoring and almost immediately Jed jumped in the water for a swim. And he jumped right back out. The water was too cold for him, but then Heather decided to brave it and she swam to shore following Sam and Ollie in the kayak. Behind them came Jed, Mark, and Jonah. And then Mark came back to the boat for me. Cuttyhunk is a tiny island with a spit of land extending northward from it. We are moored behind that spit and when we went to shore, we walked across to the south side. There we found huge rusting steel frames for what looked like remains of an old dock. As we walked the beach toward to the main island, the steel structures continued. Mark and Heather thought there might once have been a commercial dock along this shore, especially when they found gigantic cleats for tying off huge boats. We were so curious that we decided to walk on into town on the main island to see if we could find out the origin of these structures. The boys were enjoying the walk, but we didn’t have to go too far until Mark met a couple of women from the island that gave him the history he was seeking. At one time, the people of Cuttyhunk brought in old wooden barges with steel framing and beached them on the sand spit to build it up. It was too late in the day for us to visit the little The Cuttyhunk Historical Society and Museum of the Elizabeth Islands today, but we might stick around tomorrow morning just long enough to go visit and find out the full story. At some point in our walk this afternoon, Jed turned back to go get the dinghy and to get shoes for the boys and some money for ice cream-some things are more important than others. The rest of us made it to where the sand spit meets that main island before Jed caught up with us in the dinghy. We hopped in and went straight for the dinghy dock next to the ice cream shop. We bought their last ice cream of the 2014 summer season and sat on the dock and enjoyed it. There were also cooked lobsters for sale and they were very, very tempting. But we decided to head on back to Windbird to have Heather’s favorite camping meal from her childhood days—canned Dinty Moore beef stew with Kraft Mac ‘n Cheese and a salad. It doesn’t quite measure up to steamed lobster, but it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. And after all these years, it was a fun walk down memory lane.
As I write this log, it has started to rain. And Heather and Jed are out on deck trying to help a young couple who went out to dinner on another boat and got completely lost on their way home. Somehow they contacted the boat where they had dinner and those folks were going to get in their dinghy and shine a bright light on their boat. All in the rain. They wanted to hang onto our dinghy until they could see their way home. Finally their friends shined the light on their boat and they are on their way home. And while I’m on the topic of people who don’t know where they are, I have to correct last night’s log. I wrote that we were in Fall River, Rhode Island. Fall River is most definitely not in Rhode Island. It is Massachusetts—but right on the border with Rhode Island.
by Judy Handley | Aug 31, 2014 | Cape Cod USA, Sailing Logs Year 9 |
Day 313, Year 9: Battleship Cove
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2014
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Temp in the 70’s
Latitude: 41 42.405 N
Longitude: 071 09.695 W
Miles Traveled: 14
Location: Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts
It is only 9:30 in the evening and everyone is fast asleep except Jed and me. We had a big day—a good one—but we are all exhausted. We started our morning with a bit of an emergency drill that ended up not being an emergency at all. As we prepared to raise anchor to leave Third Beach this morning, we all wondered what had happened to the speed limit buoy that had been fairly close to the boat when we anchored yesterday. It was nowhere to be found, so a bit of panic set in. All we could figure is that we had swung and caught it and that it was wrapped around our prop. Mark made the decision to raise the sail so that we could sail off the anchorage rather than turn on the engine, put the boat in gear, and risk breaking all sorts of things if we were really caught. He figured that with the sail up, if we didn’t move once the anchor was up, we would figure that we were caught on the buoy. We raised the anchor and we seemed to be going nowhere, so we figured the worst. Mark put on his dive skin and got out all of the paraphernalia to dive under the boat. There’s a longer story here, but basically in the end, he dove and discovered that we were not caught on anything. We are all still wondering what happened to that buoy.
We motor sailed the 14 miles up the river to Battleship Cove and picked up mooring next to the USS Massachusetts. We spent the rest of the day touring the battleships and submarine from the World War II era. The tour of the USS Massachusetts was a real eye opener. None of us had any idea of what it took to keep a ship that going, especially in a time of war when it was often under fire. My photos from today tell the story but it will be a few days before I have the time to get those photos posted. I have to admit that even for me, a person totally uninterested in touring any sort of battleship, today’s tour was utterly fascinating.
We ended our day at The Cove, a waterfront restaurant a short dinghy ride from our mooring. The boys were all great during dinner, so it was a delightful evening for all. Tomorrow we head back down the river and back toward home. We are hoping to go to Cuttyhunk if the winds allow it, but if not, we’ll find some other place close to home to tuck into for the night. Then on Monday morning we head home. School starts of Tuesday. Can’t believe the summer is almost over.
