2017 Life Logs, Days 132: Goldpebble Overnight
Date: Friday, May 12, 2017
Weather: More Sun, More Clouds; High 51 degrees F, Low 42
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

It was a bit of a disjointed day, but a good one. I started the day by meeting the realtor at a house that looked interesting when I was searching online. The address was Journey’s End Road, and indeed, it is on a dirt road that matches the street name. I loved the almost one acre fenced lot and instantly dreamed up all sorts of ways to use the land, and the house was nice, bigger than I need and in need of some minor renovations, but the kitchen was the deal breaker. It was just too tiny. I don’t think I’d ever be happy with a kitchen that small and I could see no way to expand it. The property still intrigues me, but this is probably not “the right one” for me. When I got home, it was time for a scheduled call with Creekside Resort in southern West Virginia where we are having the Martin family gathering in June. I worked through more of the details with the young woman there ! promised her a final count on the number of people and our food plan sometime next week. After the call, it was time for lunch and then out to do some food shopping. Yesterday I invited the Goldpebbles over for dinner and an overnight. I hadn’t heard whether or not they were coming, but I figured it was best to be prepared. Time flies, so by the time I got back from the store, it was time to go pick up Ollie at school and then to Heather and Jed’s to pick up Sam and Jonah. Actually, Jonah didn’t decide to come until the very last minute, and I was so glad he made that decision. He has to leave at 8:30 in the morning for a soccer game that is about an hour from here and had thought he would just prefer to stay at home. But he came and we all had a relaxed, fun time. And I’m really hoping Heather and Jed had a relaxed, fun evening. The boys are in bed now and I’m headed that way very soon.

Once every few days, I check on various friends and family on Facebook to see what’s happening in their lives. Tonight, I went to my daughter-in-law Jo’s page and what I read made my day. Jo wrote: “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m imagining I am the only person in my circle who came home from the beach today to find her horse in the living room eating her beloved house plants!!!” Too funny. Jo is the mother of those two beautiful grandchildren of mine, but also to a host of other mammals—dogs, cats, rabbits, and a horse, of course. Happy Mother’s Day, Jo!

2017 Life Logs, Days 131: Out of Focus
Date: Thursday, May 11, 2017
Weather: More Sun, More Clouds; High 55 degrees F, Low 44
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Today I felt just a little out of focus . . . many things to do but no way to know what to tackle first. So I punted. Instead of doing anything, I spent most of my day driving north off the Cape returning things I had bought before leaving for the Bahamas that either didn’t fit or were just the wrong thing. I had this whirlwind shopping trip before leaving and even though most things were just perfect, but there were a few things that needed to be returned. So now that is done. And I got back to Falmouth just in time to go pick up Ollie for our second day of after-school adventures. I thought we were headed back to the bike path, but we ended up going to my place where Ollie wanted to play on the dock, ride his little John Deere tractor on the desk, and ride his bike through the boatyard next door. We also dug out the kinetic sand that has been in hiding all winter and played with that. Tomorrow morning I meet with a realtor to look at a couple of houses and then come home to work on final plans for the June gathering of my family. The Goldpebbles might be coming to dinner and to spend the night, so I will need to gear up for that. And then it is the weekend.

2017 Life Logs, Days 130: Out and About
Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 57 degrees F, Low 43
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Today I was out and about. I left home at 8 am so I could get to Hyannis. I had a 9 am appointment at Hyannis Honda to get a new passenger seat air bag replaced as per a recall. While I was waiting for the work to be done, a young woman came out to the waiting area to tell me that May is the month for my state car inspection and asking if I would like to have that done. Sure. And thankfully there were no problems. By 10:30 am I was headed back to Falmouth and on the way, I did a drive by of a few homes that are for sale that looked of interest in my online search yesterday. By 12:30 pm, I was at the Congregational Church in downtown Falmouth for a presentation on life in India by my good friend Olivia White. Olivia invited Jane Woodin and I to attend this presentation being made to a woman’s group from the church. One of things they had expressed interest in was the saris that Olivia wears. So, the presentation began with a demonstration on how to properly wrap a sari. Olivia shared that saris are 6 yards long and 45 inches wide and then she had a woman from the audience come up so she could show how to turn this long length of material into a beautiful dress. She pointed out that she still has saris from when she was a teenager. No matter what your size, you can always wrap the sari to fit. You can gain weight and lose weight and still wear the same sari. I had the privilege of being called up to be wrapped in Olivia’s mother’s sari. In addition to the fantastic sari demonstration, Olivia shared how she came to this country in 1962, went to seminary school in Texas, and then continued on to get her PhD in science. She taught genetics for 20 years at the University of North Texas (at least I think I have the school right) while continuing to serve the church. And after she retired from teaching, she spent full time serving the church for a few years in voluntary positions before moving to Cape Cod in 2011. Her PowerPoint presentation included photos of Christian churches, Hindu temples, and Muslim mosques in India. I could have listened for the entire afternoon, but there was a time limit on the presentation, and we had to move on. Thankfully, Olivia is my good friend and I can hear more from her at a later time. But her presentation today was wonderful and I am so glad I was invited to attend. And it was great to see Olivia and Jane for the first time in weeks.

At 4 pm I picked Ollie up from preschool, not because I needed to, but because he asked his mom if I would pick him up and take him biking. I was more than happy to do this and we had such a wonderful time. The partly cloudy day became very sunny for the hour or so we were out biking and that made it all the more enjoyable. When I picked Ollie up in Woods Hole, he had Woofster Jr with him. This is a stuffed puppy whose daddy, Woofster Sr, was at home. Ollie explained that Woofster Jr wanted to go biking with him, so off we went. Woofster Jr was a very lucky puppy this afternoon. He got to see osprey, swans with their goslings, flying ducks, Canadian geese, and red-winged blackbirds. Plus, he even got to ride on the bike with Ollie, stuffed into his overalls. We went to the Shining Sea Bike Path where I walked while Ollie rode. He wanted to ride to the bridge across Trunk River. By mistake, I called it the Turkey River and that got a huge chuckle out of Ollie. He just said, “Oma, you are so funny.” Not really. I just forgot the name of the little river leading out into the Vineyard Sound. On the way home, we stopped by my place to drop off the rocks that had been collected on the bike ride. When I delivered Ollie home, I got the bike out of the back of my car, but Ollie said to put it back in because he wants to ride again tomorrow after school. That’s fine by me, so we have another biking date tomorrow at 4 pm.

Windbird Alert. At 9:34 pm I got a Spotify report from Windbird indicating that she was at the inlet at Little River, South Carolina. Sam and Dawn left Fort Pierce on Monday morning, and since tonight is the full moon, I thought maybe they decided they would have enough light to enter the inlet and make it to the marina. But I just got a text saying they are at anchor inside the inlet. They made 411 nautical miles in 60 hours for an average of 6.9 knots average. They said they had an incredible ride in the Gulf Stream with a high speed of 11.3 knots over ground with the chute up. Way to go, Sam and Dawn!

2017 Life Logs, Days 129: Stuck Behind My Computer Screen
Date: Tuesday, May 9, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 53 degrees F, Low 43
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

I didn’t even stick my head out the front door today. I was completely stuck behind my computer screen for the entire day—except for running to the oven to deal with the granola I was baking. On the computer, I was searching for possible homes to buy and working on the gathering of my family in West Virginia in June. And that just about sums up my day. The only thing I can add that is Windbird left Fort Pierce yesterday headed for Little River in South Carolina. They are making great time and should arrive there by Thursday morning if the weather holds.

2017 Life Logs, Days 128: Taking Care of Business
Date: Monday, May 8, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Windy; High 59 degrees F, Low 43
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Out of the last 97 days, since the first of February, I have actually been away from home one more day than I’ve been home—48 home and 49 away. And two of the weeks that I was home in March I was down and out with a terrible cold/sinus infection. So, it’s no wonder that I returned home from the Bahamas to a pile of papers that had piled up and needed to be gone through, filed, or thrown out. So that was my day today. I spent my time taking care of business. Going through the pile of papers and files reminded me that I still have lots of organizing to do for the Martin family gathering in June. In preparation for that gathering, I spent a great deal of time on family history research in March and April and I need to get back to that. Before leaving for the Bahamas, I was also trying to decide whether to stay in my present apartment for the next year or buy a home. It didn’t help that today the landlord payed me a visit and wanted me to sign a lease for the next year a month and a half early. He said everyone else in the complex is on a May 1 to May 1 contract and it would make him easier on him if I were on the same cycle. I told him I’d think about it and he left the papers to be signed. So now I have move quickly on that front. And then there are the eight days of Food Revolution interviews that I missed while I was gone. This is an internet-based annual ‘conference’ of sorts where experts on eating right to stay healthy speak for three hours each day. I listened to the Day 9 summary today, but now I need to find time to listen to the other 24 hours of interviews. The pile of papers is gone, but there’s still plenty to do. But I am taking time to get back into my classes at the gym. Today the class was 20-20-20. It was the instructor’s 40th birthday and she was bemoaning the fact that she is half way to 80. She has four decades to go while I have only one. Ouch!

2017 Life Logs, Days 127: Sunday is a Friends and Family Day
Date: Sunday, May 7, 2017
Weather: Sunny AM, Mostly Cloudy PM with Sprinkles; High 57 degrees F, Low 43
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

After spending my morning at home trying to get my life in order after being gone for two and half weeks, I headed out to Sam’s soccer game at noon. Sam got home this morning from his two-night Scout camping experience and then had to turn right around and get ready for the soccer game. It was a good game that ended with neither team scoring, but both teams played well. Jed co-coaches the team with a good friend, but Jed was on his own today and at the end of the game he was so proud of how well the boys played. I spent part of the time watching the game and part of the time shooting goals with Ollie. And then we headed back to Heather and Jed’s to attend a celebration next door. Mollie, “the girl next door” who is Jonah’s age, had her First Communion this morning and good friends and family were invited to the Keefe’s this afternoon. Mollie was a very proud eight year-old wearing a modified version of her mother’s First Communion dress. Mollie’s grandmother added a new skirt to the dress since Mollie is taller than her mother was at this age. Heather and Jed had to eat and run as they were headed to Hyannis to buy a new kitchen stove at Sears. They have had issues with their stove for the last couple of years, but this past week their oven just completely stopped working. So, it was an absolutely necessary and successful trip. A new stove will be delivered on Tuesday. But while they went shopping, I stayed at the Keefe’s with the Ollie, Jonah, and Sam. All of the boys in attendance interchanged playing baseball in the backyard with watching a Red Sox’s game in the livingroom. Ollie was the youngest and eventually he talked me into going next door to his backyard to be pitcher for him without the competition of the older boys. Then Sam and Jonah continued to stay at the Keefe’s while I went with Ollie to a nearby side street where he likes to ride his bike. Eventually Mollie joined us for biking and announced that the boys had gone to Heather and Jed’s to play and that her mom had put Sam in charge. At that point, I decided that we needed to go home to check on things, but all was well and we returned to biking for just a bit longer. It was a delightful afternoon. After Heather and Jed got home, I headed back to my place for the evening. Right now I’m getting ready to listen to President Obama’s acceptance speech of the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award. He is at this moment accepting the award, so I’ll sign off and listen.

2017 Life Logs, Days 126: Hanging Out with Ollie and Jonah
Date: Saturday, May 6, 2017
Weather: Rainy Morning, Some Sunshine Late Afternoon; High 65 degrees F, Low 50
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

My afternoon was spent with Ollie and Jonah. Just after noon, Heather headed to Boston to the Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair and Jed was still at the Scout camp-out with Sam. We spent the rainy part of the early afternoon playing indoors, but mid-afternoon it cleared and the sun came out. At that point, everyone wanted to be outside, so we spent the next hour riding bikes around the neighborhood with friends. I’m exhausted tonight because I don’t have a bike, so I was walking as fast as I could to make sure Ollie was safe riding with the older kids. The walking is good for me, but I think I need to buy a bike for the summer. Ollie can ride as fast as the big kids now, and I just can’t keep up. When we got close to the neighborhood ice cream shop, Smitty’s, Jonah suggested we all go get ice cream. Everyone agreed, but that meant I had to walk home to get money. Ollie rode along with me and when we returned I went to Smitty’s with five kids. After we all enjoyed an ice cream cone, the kids headed across the street to the library lawn which is on a pond. I sat and talked with a friend of Heather’s and the mother of two of the bike riders while the kids played. There were trees in blossom on the library lawn which made it look very much like spring even though the weather has not seemed much like that. But signs of spring always make a smile. All too soon, it was time to head back to Heather and Jed’s to get the car and drive to my house. Jed and I had been texting back and forth and had decided to meet at my place for dinner. Jed actually got home (Sam returns in the morning) just as we were leaving. We had raided the refrigerator for pizza toppings and Jed was going to stop to pick up pizza dough on the way. We watched the Kentucky Derby and ate homemade pizza. While we were eating, Heather joined us as she had just returned from Boston. After dinner while the adults talked, Jonah and Ollie found my snorkel gear that has not been put away and came swimming down the hallway floor on their bellies in full snorkel gear. I loved it! But I must admit it made me nostalgic for the warm, turquoise water of the Bahamas.

2017 Life Logs, Days 125: Back Home on Cape Cod
Date: Friday, May 5, 2017
Weather: Ouch! Overcast, Heavy Rain, and Cool, Temp in the 50’s F
Location: Back Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Yes, I’m definitely aware that I’m back home on the Cape and no longer in the Bahamas. I got off the plane in Boston wearing my summer slip-on shoes, light weight Columbia capris and a tank top with a short sleeve top over it. These were the warmest clothes I had with me, so thankfully I had also taken a polar fleece jacket because the temp in Boston when we landed was 47 degrees F. Ouch, ouch, ouch! Today went much smoother than yesterday. Brad and Sue got up with me at 5 am and they both took me to the West Palm Beach Airport. They were a real life saver for me yesterday. Brad and Sue, thank you, thank you! My flight was at 7:15 am. I boarded the plane and sat back to relax . . . until we took off. It was the bumpiest take-off I’ve ever encountered, but the decent into Baltimore was even bumpier. In fact, it was the first time I have ever been just a tad scared on a flight. So I was very happy that the Baltimore to Boston leg of the trip was a bit smoother, but the weather in both Baltimore and Boston was overcast, cold, and rainy. Yuck! My bag had been sent to Boston on the Delta flight that I couldn’t get on yesterday, but as promised, it was waiting in the Baggage Storage Office. I had to wait 45 minutes for the bus to the Cape and was relieved when I arrived at the Park & Ride and saw my car. You never know when you leave your car in a lot for a couple of weeks if it will still all be in one piece, but it was fine. I stopped to see the Goldpebbles before returning home. I sure have missed those little guys, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to call them ‘little’ guys much longer. Sam and Jed were getting ready to leave for a Scout camping weekend and Sam was wearing Heather’s hiking boots. And they fit! He’s not so little anymore. I didn’t stay long as I was anxious to get home, turn the heat up, and just kick back for a bit. I will spend most of tomorrow with Jonah and Ollie as Heather has to go to Boston to moderate the State Science Fair, so I’ll be with them until Jed gets home from the camp-out.

A few days ago I wrote this really comprehensive day by day overview of my Bahamas adventure on Windbird. But I have no idea where I saved it, if I did save it. So I’m going to post here a few photos that show the highlights of the seventeen days on Windbird in the Bahamas. We made tracks in that short period of time.

Arrival in Georgetown . . . Reuniting with Windbird . . . Meeting Piper the Sailing Dog . . . Happy Hour with Cruising Friends Rick and Robyn of Endangered Species . . . Dinner at the Chat ‘n Chill

Snorkeling Stocking Island . . . Monument Beach . . . Dawn’s Tacos in a Bag

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Warderick Wells South Anchorage with Isabelle and Dan on Epiic . . . Nassau Groupers . . . Hawksbill Turtle . . . Massive Lobster . . . Spotted Eagle Ray

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Beautiful Hog Cay Anchorage . . . Wild Dinghy Ride to Malabar Cays . . . Queen Angelfish and Triggerfish . . . Dawn’s No-Knead Bread

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Spinnaker Sail to Rock Sound, Eleuthera . . . Meeting Behan and Jamie on Totem . . . Dinner at Rose’s . . . Snorkeling The Ocean Hole . . . Glass Window Bridge . . . Queen’s Bath . . . Cave at Hatchett Bay . . . Governor’s Harbor . . . Searching for a Pink Sand Beach . . . Meeting the Kids on Totem

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Overnight Sail to Abaco . . . Great Guana Cay . . . Drinks at Grabber’s and Dinner at Nipper’s

Beautiful Hopetown . . . Candy-Striped Lighthouse . . . Quaint Village . . . Pink Sand Beach . . . Drinks at Reef Bar & Grill, Hope Town Harbor Lodge

More Spinnaker Sailing from Marsh Harbor to Allans-Pensacola Cay . . . Last Dose of Beautiful Water . . . Sunset on the Little Bahama Banks

Just Hanging Out on Windbird . . . Thank you, Sam and Dawn

2017 Life Logs, Days 123 & 124: Back in the USA
Date: Thursday, May 3 & 4, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny
Location: At Home with Sue and Brad Cook, Boynton Beach, FL

I’m not where I am supposed to be tonight which would be back home on Cape Cod, but Windbird did arrive in Fort Pierce this morning after a successful Gulf Stream Crossing. This is going to be what I call a skeleton log–just the basics–with a promise to write more detail when I get home. Yesterday Windbird left Allans-Pensacola Cay at 6:30 am, crossed the Little Bahama Banks, and arrived at Memory Rock around 9 pm and headed across the Gulf Stream for the Florida Coast. We had to motor much of the trip home due to the fact that what wind there was just didn’t seem to stay where we needed it to be. But anytime you cross the Gulf Stream without issues, I call that a successful crossing. We arrived in Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce at 10 am, hitched a ride to the Customs Office in an Uber car, checked into the country, and then then headed back to the marina via Uber. A minute or so after we arrived, I got a call from Brad and Sue saying they were in the marina and needed directions to find us. They drove up from Boynton Beach to pick me up and take me to the airport. We had a delicious lunch at the marina and off we went. When Sam and I went to Windbird to get my bags, I got teary-eyed. Saying goodbye to Windbird has always been hard but Sam, Dawn, Piper the sailing dog, and myself certainly had a fun-filled two weeks of sailing. I will write more tomorrow night about the Bahamas adventure, but tonight I am just plain tuckered out. For a day that started out so good, it surely ended up to be a frustrating one.

After lunch Sue and Brad took me to the West Palm Beach airport to catch a flight back to Boston. The problem was that I was flying stand-by on Delta and there was no room on the first flight, not on the second. By this time it was almost 6 pm and the next possibility for a Boston-bound flight was at 10:45 pm. I gave up and called Sue and Brad to come get me. As always, they were there for me, fed me dinner, and have offered me a place to sleep for the night. After failing the stand-by test, I won’t go into all of the details of problems I have had trying to book a flight home tomorrow–some airline website problems, some computer issues (I can’t send or receive email on my computer because I think it thinks I’m an alien!), and some money issues as next day flights were much more expensive tonight than they were this morning. But I finally found a 7:15 am flight. Brad will take me to the airport early in the morning and I will be flying Southwest home. This afternoon and evening were just one hassle right after another, so I’m hoping for smooth sailing tomorrow.

2017 Life Logs, Day 122: Last Night at Anchor in the Bahamas
Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny; Light Winds SE 10
Location: At Anchor on the West Side of Allans-Pensacola Cay

After listening to the weather this morning, the decision was made to head for Fort Pierce in Florida. The long-range forecast for getting out of the Bahamas was worse today than yesterday. It was either leave today or wait for at least ten days. So Sam cancelled the Delta flight out of Marsh Harbor and it was up-anchor and on our way. We motor-sailed northward through the Sea of Abaco retracing our track past Great Guana Cay, over the top of Whale Cay, past Treasure Cay to port with it’s beautiful white sand beach that seems to stretch forever, past Green Turtle Cay to starboard, and onward to Manjack and Crab Cays. The winds for today were forecast to less than 10 knots, so about the time we got to Manjack Cay, we furled the headsail, put out the spinnaker and had a nice sail for about an hour. Sam took this opportunity to climb the mast with his GoPro and get some amazing photos and video. While at the top, he also took the opportunity to control the autopilot with an app on his iPhone via the wifi built into the chartplotter. Amazing! Before we this morning, a decision was made to continue on past Crab Cay, Spanish Cay, and on to Allans-Pensacola so that tomorrow morning we will be ready to head just a little further north before heading to the west. By sundown tomorrow we will be leaving Bahamian waters and doing the Gulf Stream crossing overnight, arriving in Fort Pierce sometime tomorrow morning. Sam and Dawn have spent two wonderful months in the Bahamas and I have been here with them for two weeks. Each of us is a little sad to be saying farewell to the beautiful Bahamian islands, but they will return next November and I have such wonderful memories. And who knows . . . I might find a way to return.

When we reached the anchorage here at Allans-Pensacola Cay, Sam headed to shore with Piper in the dinghy and Dawn took off on the paddle board. I really wanted to try it, but I was afraid that I might fall and twisted or break something. With an overnight passage tomorrow, that just didn’t seem like a smart idea. So I declined the offer. But I got a real kick out of watching Sam take Piper out on the board. We are now getting ready to eat another of Dawn’s fantastic dinners. Tonight it is pork chops simmered in chicken broth with spices and then with the addition of sour cream, almost like beef stroganoff. Sure smells good and I’m sure it will be delicious.