2017 Life Logs, Day 51: Puerto Rico to Cape Cod
Date: Monday, February 20, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High in Boston 42 degrees F
Location: Back Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

The flights from Puerto Rico to Fort Lauderdale and then to Boston went without a hitch. But the timing for a person fighting a cold were less than perfect. I left Justin and Jo’s at 12:30 am and landed in Boston at 10 am. I did get some rest, but almost no sleep, so tonight I am way worse than I was at this time last night. I had a three hour nap this afternoon and hopefully a good night’s sleep will get me back on track.

Heather was in Boston at a science conference from last Thursday until this morning. Jed and boys joined her yesterday and spent the night in her hotel room and this morning went to see her host Living Lab, her Monday morning radio program, broadcast live from the Boston Public Library. They then came to South Station to pick me up as I had taken the free Silver Line bus/trolley from the airport. We loaded my luggage in the back of the van and headed for Charlestown which is just across the river from Boston. Since this was the first day of February vacation week for the boys, and it was Presidents Day, the boys were interested in doing a little history tour of Bunker Hill and the surrounding historic areas of Charlestown. The Bunker Hill monument is an obelisk just like the Washington Monument in Washington, DC—just shorter. But what we learned today is that the Bunker Hill monument was built before the Washington Monument. All of us had just thought that it was built to look like the looming monument in Washington, but not so. Sam is very interested in the history surrounding the American Revolution, so he focused on trying to mesh the information he has read about Bunker Hill with the facts posted on the information boards around the monument. Jonah was just interested in climbing the rails surrounding the monument and Ollie went sledding on patches of snow on a piece of cardboard he found. Then we walked to the historic Warren Tavern to have lunch. Sam has been fascinated with Paul Revere and I think he enjoyed having lunch in a tavern that was once frequented by his Revolutionary War hero. Even though I felt awful, it was a fun tour. I just hope that the Goldstones don’t get whatever this bug is that I brought home from Puerto Rico.

2017 Life Logs, Day 50: Saying Farewell
Date: Sunday, February 19, 2017
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Rain; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

Saying farewell is always difficult and the weather and this nasty cold I have didn’t help matters. But we still managed to eek out a nice day together. I worked puzzles with Ziggy and Coco this morning giving Justin and Jo a little extra sleep time. When everyone was up, we had breakfast and headed to Rincon to the Sunday Farmer’s Market. I walked down the street to a Farmacia to get some Sudafed while the kids spent their weekly earnings and Justin and Jo bought some food essentials. Ziggy has become quite a little bargainer and Coco is following in his footsteps. And I stood in line for an eternity to get fresh squeezed orange juice for the kids and myself. The woman hand presses the oranges, thus the long wait, but the juice is delicious and the smell is irresistible. We had lunch when we got home and then I laid down for a nap—something I almost never do. I couldn’t really sleep, but the rest helped. We went to Cowboys for dinner. This is an under roof, but almost outside restaurant that serves great food and has plenty of room for the kids to run around. Tonight, Ziggy’s music teacher from school provided live entertainment. And when we got home, I got to read bedtime stories to the kids and we had our farewell hugs. Always so hard. I leave here just after midnight to drive north to Aguadilla to the airport. I’ll turn in the rental car, check-in at the airport, and hopefully be on my way to Fort Lauderdale by 4 am. I have a short layover there and then head on to Boston, arriving around 10 am. So goodnight and farewell to Finca Maravilla, a magical little homestead that Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco now have as their very own.

2017 Life Logs, Day 49: Crash Boat Beach Day
Date: Saturday, February 18, 2017
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

Today was a family beach day. We had discussed various locations and this morning it was decided we would go to Playa Crash Boat or Crash Boat Beach just a few miles to the north in Aguadilla. It is a very popular beach, especially on the weekends. So it was a bit crowded, but it had a little of everything for everyone. Thus, a great choice. There are a number of concrete docks that extend out into the water and make a great platform for anyone wanting to jump or dive. And the piers that extend down into the water make for good snorkeling. The beach itself is nice and in the right conditions, it is a good place for surfing. Many of the beaches here have a coral shelf right at the shore line which makes negotiating your way out into the water a bit difficult. Crash Boat is all sand which is great, but the waves do tend to crash right at the shoreline, so you have to wait for a quiet time to get further out into the water to avoid the crashing waves. But those crashing waves are not the reason for the name. There are various stories about how the name came about. One obvious reason for the name is the huge boat skeleton that lies half on the beach and half in the water just south of the main part of the beach. The other story is that during World War II the docks were built to accommodate the Air Force Crash Rescue Boats Squadron that rescued bombers that didn’t make the Ramey Air Force Base runway and the ‘crash’ part of the squadron name stuck. One thing is for sure. The huge concrete docks were built to accommodate fishing boats, but Mother Nature had a better use. The piers allowed the local currents to transfer a huge amount of sand to the area making it very shallow and impossible to dock a boat . . . but perfect the jumping into the water and snorkeling and diving. Thank you, Mother Nature.

We all had a great afternoon playing in the water. All except Justin. He has his post-surgery appointment on Tuesday but was given strict orders not to go in the water until then. He is still struggling with a low level of pain but he hung in there today as an observer. And he spent a little time repairing Ziggy’s surfboard. Jo and Ziggy did a lot of jumping off the docks and Coco did a lot of climbing up and down the ladder to join them while Justin and I watched that activity. Justin, Ziggy, Coco, and I walked down to see the crashed boat and the kids climbed the cliffs and in and out of the little caves and tunnels above the crashed boat. It was definitely a fun day.

Tonight was supposed to be a home movie night. I was excited because I was going to get to see Moana. But before I could get dinner ready, Coco was falling asleep on the sofa. It was then we discovered that she had a temperature. For two days she has been telling me she has a cough, but it was not really noticeable. I have been fighting off a cold for two days, and at the same time that Coco crashed tonight, so did I. I’m hoping that both of us will wake in the morning feeling just fine, but my drippy nose tells me otherwise.

2017 Life Logs, Day 48: Putting the Laundry to Rest
Date: Friday, February 17, 2017
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

This morning I was on a mission to finish all the laundry loads from the old house. Once all the loads were done, I could head to the laundromat for the required drying on high heat to make sure there would be no transfer of the tick infestation from the old house to the new. I’ve been doing a couple of loads every day and line drying, but today I did five more loads and put those in bags to dry at the laundromat. As the clothes came out of the dryers, I piled them on a long table in the center of the laundromat. I didn’t take a photo of the mountain of clothes, but believe when I say it really looked like a mountain. The good news is the push to complete the job was a success. Justin, Jo, and kids joined me at the laundromat to fold as much as we could before their 4 pm school conference. There is still a huge bag of unfolded laundry that can be dealt with over time. But for now, the laundry has been put to rest.

While Justin and Jo went to the parent-teacher conference for Ziggy, I headed to Marina Beach with the kids. Today there was not a trace of the crashing waves we had yesterday. The water was almost flat when we got there, but there was enough action to keep the kids entertained. In the evening Justin and I took Ziggy and Coco to the downtown plaza for a once-a-month outdoor moving night. Tonight’s movie was The Little Prince. Justin ordered personal pizzas for each of us from a restaurant across the street. The dough is yucca-based, and therefore, gluten-free . . . and delicious. After the movie, the kids love playing with friends on the plaza. It was a fun evening.

Jo couldn’t join us as she had to take Barney and Yaya to meet the adoption lady. Last week Jo finally gave up on trying to break this duo of their chicken killing habit. She took them to the pound where they would have been put down by now if no one wanted them. But then she found out that the dog adoption lady in town might take them and find a home for them on the US mainland. So Jo had to go back to the pound and officially adopt them back from there and then keep them until the adoption lady was ready for them. Thankfully she could keep them at the old house so the kids didn’t have to go through losing them a second time. I know this whole process has been hard on Jo, and unfortunately tonight didn’t put this job to rest. Things were going great, but before Jo left them, Barney somehow scaled a five-foot wall and stood there right beside Jo. The woman who does the adoptions still wanted Barney and Yaya, but Jo had to bring them home tonight until the woman can get the fence fixed. Hopefully tomorrow that job will be done and Jo can make a final trip to get the dogs settled. Evidently the dogs will go through a training process and then be sent to Virginia for adoption.

I’m hoping we can get a little beach time in tomorrow and Sunday before I leave here at 1:30 am on Monday morning. My flight is not until 4 am, but I have to go early to return the rental car. But when I do get on the plane, the return is much quicker than the trip down. I should arrive in Boston by 10 am. It’s going to be hard to give up wearing sandals!

2017 Life Logs, Day 47: View from the Front Porch
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2017
Weather: Sunny Day; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

Today was supposed to be a trip to San Juan to IKEA, but that plan was abandoned and instead it was a laid-back day. Jo had to take dogs to the vet and Justin had to work, so after Ziggy left for school, I played with Coco and continued the never-ending loads of laundry from the old house. I now have six large plastic bags of washed and dried clothes that need to go to the laundromat for a high heat dry to make sure no trace of ticks make it into this house. But there are still more loads of laundry to be done. Not sure I’m going to get it all done, but I have certainly made a dent in the task. Coco decided she wanted to wash her doll house furniture and dollies, so I helped her with that task. We were washer women with a mission. After lunch, we decided to head to the beach, but before that happened I spent some time just sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch admiring the view. And it is absolutely amazing what you can see from Justin and Jo’s front porch. Directly in front is a very tall cananga tree (Cananga odorata), more commonly called ylang-ylang. Today there was a huge iguana climbing to the top of the tree and that led to the view of the flowers of the tree that are known the world over for their wonderful smell. It is actually the flowers that are properly referred to as ylang-ylang (EE-lang EE-lang), but as the tree spread from Indonesia around the world, people just started calling the tree by that name as well. Turning to the left from the ylang-ylang tree, you see breadfruit trees (Artocarpus altilis). This is a tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) originating in the South Pacific and brought to the Caribbean islands in the late 1700’s. The leaves of the breadfruit tree are ginormous and as I looked carefully today, I saw a flower . . . soon to be breadfruit. Now, turn to the right and you are looking at banana trees. The one immediately to the right of the porch is hanging heavy with a bunch of green bananas with the inflorescence hanging below. Inflorescence is simply the flower of the tree. And I know if I looked further, there would be many other varieties of trees that can be seen just from the front porch. In addition, Coco has discovered a huge flower pot under these trees that is home to a whole family of coqui, Puerto Rico’s adorable little frogs. Fabulous.

Coco and I headed to Marina Beach but it was high tide with huge waves rolling in . . . making it a bit too rough for our taste. We spent some time in the water, but then decided to just play in the sand. We drove to Steps Beach just a little further down the road, but it was also too rough for going in the water. But we had a great time playing on the beach and just sitting together looking at the powerful waves rolling ashore.

Tomorrow is a school day for Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, so I’ll do a little work at the old house in the morning. But due to parent-teacher conferences, everyone will come home at noon. We don’t have a plan, but I’m sure one will emerge.

2017 Life Logs, Day 46: El Galeón
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Weather: Another Sunny Day; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

We had a change in plans today. Jo, Ziggy, and Coco were supposed to go to school and I was supposed to be cleaning out the old house and doing laundry. But none of those things happened. Jo got word that El Galeón, an authentic 170 foot wooden replica of El Galeon Andalucia arrived in Mayaguez during the night. This ship was part of Spain’s West Indies fleet in the 16th century A friend that lives in Mayaguez suggested that we drive down and all go to tour the ship together. So that became the new plan for the day. We drove to Jo’s friend’s house and then drove as a caravan to the harbor where the ship was docked. The ship was there and we were given a school pass because we had school-aged children with us. But the gate attendant told us that there were four school groups ahead of us and that we should return at 12 noon for our tour. Jo, Ziggy, and Coco went back to Missy’s house which was only a mile away, and I headed to Home Depot. I wanted to get good quality water hose to get water down the hill to the animals and I wanted to buy a steel cart to help get the 50 pound bags of feed to the animals as well. I did my shopping and made a stop at a Pep Boys to buy rubbing compound to get rid of some lovely paint left on my rental car where someone side-swiped it while it was parked at FreshMart last week. The young man who helped me decided that he would like to take a look at the scrape before selling me the rubbing compound. And he actually ended up removing the paint scrapes for me. I tried to pay him but he said he could take no money. He just did it as a favor because he loves his work. How wonderful! I then returned to Missy’s and we all returned to see the ship. When we arrived, all four groups ahead of us were on the ship or in process of getting off the ship, so we basically had the ship to ourselves. This is the second time El Galeon has visited Mayaguez and two years ago, when it was here, Missy took her three children and found it to be so crowded that you couldn’t really enjoy it. But today was delightful. As we approached the ship, I kept having flash backs of seeing this ship somewhere in the past. As we were walking up the gang plank to get onboard, I suddenly remembered that Mark and I had seen it at the dock in St. Augustine in January two years ago. But we didn’t pay to tour it. The mayor of Mayaguez pays for everyone to tour the ship for free when it is here, so today was a special treat.

When we returned home, I took Ziggy and Coco to Marina Beach for some late afternoon water fun and when we got home, I made salmon cakes for dinner. While I did that, I enjoyed listening to Justin giving Ziggy a guitar lesson. When we came to the table, Ziggy swore he doesn’t like ‘fish’ cakes, but he and Coco finished off the entire batch. It was a full day of fun and after dinner we were full of food and ready for bed. Everyone else is asleep now and I keep falling asleep while writing this log. So if it makes no sense, forgive me. It is definitely time for me to head to bed.

2017 Life Logs, Day 45: Happy Valentine’s Day
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Weather: Sunny with Blue Skies; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

Happy Valentine’s Day from sunny Puerto Rico. Today was a gorgeous day here. The temperature doesn’t fluctuate much, but most of the days since I arrived have been a mix of sun and clouds with a few sprinkles here and there. Today it was just the way I like it–pure sunshine. And then there was a beautiful sunset.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take advantage of the beautiful day by going to the beach. Instead, I ticked a few more jobs off the ‘to do’ list. I needed to go shopping for some food essentials and for some supplies for Ziggy to make some bug habitats. I offered to take Ziggy to school since Tuesday is an at-home day for Jo and Coco and then go shopping. There is a big supermarket in Rincon not too far from Ziggy’s school, but unfortunately it doesn’t carry most of the things I needed to get. This meant dropping Ziggy off in Rincon which is about four miles down the mountain and then driving back north to downtown Aguada to shop. Most of the supplies I needed for the bug habitats I found at the hardware store, pet store, dollar-type store, and school supply store. Town was busy today and traffic was heavy. After getting the habitat supplies, I had to drive another few miles to different part of Aguada to go to Walgreen’s and FreshMart. Buying organic, gluten-free, and dairy-free products is a challenge here, but with enough time and persistence you can find most things you need if you are willing to pay the price. The problem is with my day is that doing the little bit of shopping I did took three hours! It was noon by the time I got home and Coco was having a playdate with her friend Naula. We all had lunch together which gave me a chance to check in with Justin. He was feeling pretty rough today, but that was anticipated for this first day off pain meds. We are just hoping that tomorrow will be a better day for him.

After lunch, I hung up more clothes from the old house to dry and then Justin and I drove to Rincon to watch part of Ziggy’s afternoon skate board class. It is pretty awesome to have a skate boarding class as part of your school day and I wanted to see this in action. Justin was feeling terrible, so we didn’t stay for the whole hour, but at least we got to see Ziggy in action. When we got home, Justin had an afternoon nap and I drove to the old house to gather up all the remaining clothes. That filled a box, a huge black plastic bag I could hardly carry, and a very large suitcase full of clothes. Lots more to wash, hang out to dry, and add to the bags that will go to the laundromat for a final drying to assure we don’t transfer ticks to this house. Justin and Jo started the move to this house on Christmas Eve as closing was late in the day on December 23. And as I remember, Justin spent the entire first day scrubbing the tile floors before moving anything in. That is no easy job as the living room alone is at least 40 feet by 15 feet, and then there is the kitchen, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an entry alcove, a front porch, and a back deck—all tile. He cleaned, they moved some essentials, enjoyed Christmas Day, spent the next day moving as much as they could, and then Justin got the umbilical hernia and could not move anything else. So the old house, which they have until May 1, is still sitting there full of stuff. Thankfully there is no furniture to move, and I have now moved the remainder of the clothes, but tomorrow I will spend part of my day trying to get as many of the other things out of the house as I can and will continue the laundering of the clothes from there. My days are running short as I think Jo, Coco, and I are going to IKEA on Thursday and on Friday and Saturday we are hoping to do some touristy things. That leaves only Sunday as I fly home during the wee hours of Monday morning. I’ll get as much done as I can and hope that it helps. I know Justin is terribly frustrated by not being able to do any lifting or strenuous activities for the next ten weeks, so I want to do as much as I can to help him while I am here. Jo has to do all the animal chores now which entails carrying water a very long way down the hill to the three goats, rabbits, and chicken, and she has to milk the momma goat every morning. I am proposing that we purchase hose to deliver water to the animals. I haven’t measured the distance, but I know it is more than 300 feet. They want a more permanent system, but in the meantime, I think the hose will do just fine. Maybe Jo and I can get the hose when we drive to San Juan to IKEA.

When Ziggy got home from school, we worked on building some bug habitats with the supplies I bought and he and Coco went out with the purchased habitats I gave them for Valentine’s Day. Coco found a coqui (very tiny Puerto Rican frog) and Ziggy found a creepy crawly. But we had to cut the bug hunting short as it was time to get ready to go out to dinner. My Valentine’s treat for the family was to take everyone to The Pool Bar for dinner. This is a little outdoor restaurant that features a sushi menu and has a swimming pool to entertain the kids. Great place and great evening.

2017 Life Logs, Day 44: Sand, Not Snow
Date: Monday, February 13, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny with Occasional Sprinkles; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

I share this glorious tropical day with sand, not snow like back home, with other good friends. Bruce and Jane Woodin are on a Caribbean cruise and are in St. Lucia soaking up the sun. Lee and Lynda Kaufman made it to the Bahamas last week and today Windbird arrived in the Bahamas. Sam and Dawn left Fort Lauderdale yesterday and arrived in the Bahamas today with Sam’s brother as crew. And just before they left Fort Lauderdale, I received an electronic airline ticket from them to Georgetown in the Exumas in mid-April. So in two months I’ll be joining them and be back aboard Windbird once again. How good does life get! We sold a boat and inherited a new family. Thank you, Sam and Dawn.

Today was a work day for Jo, school day for Ziggy and Coco, and an at-home workday for me and for Justin. Justin is feeling better every day, but tomorrow will be the real test. He runs out of pain meds tomorrow and we’ll hope he is ready for just Ibuprofen. My job today was to start doing loads of laundry from the old house. I think I have explained that Justin and Jo have the old house until May 1st and there is still a lot of stuff there that needs to be moved here. Loads of clothes have been moved, but there is still more. And the ‘clothes move’ includes washing the clothes and taking them to a laundromat to be dried at a high heat before being brought into this house. There was a tick infestation in the old house and no one wants to bring those little creatures here. So I did loads of laundry today and hung them on the lines to dry. There are many loads to go, however, and when they are all done, I’ll haul the lot to the laundromat for a quick high heat dry. That process will continue tomorrow along with a trip to the old house to get the remainder of the clothes and to start the cleaning out process. This new house has a big, open shed just across the drive-way and there are clothes lines all around the perimeter. That way things can be hung out to dry even when it rains. No need for a dryer at home in this climate.

Jo and I went to pick Ziggy and Coco up from school and took them to the El Faro Lighthouse that looms above the beach. The kids wanted to ride on their scooters around the lighthouse and Jo planned a snack picnic for them overlooking the beach. It is hard to see in the photos, the water below was spotted with surfers. After hearing all the winter weather news from up north, all I could think was “Sand, Not Snow.”

2017 Life Logs, Day 42: Chicken Killer Blues
Date: Saturday, February 11, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR

When I got up this morning, I walked out of the guest room and saw Justin and Ziggy. I said good morning to them, but Ziggy came right back with, “This is not a good morning.” By this time I could see he was crying and then I got the whole story. This was a day for the chicken killer blues. During the night, the dogs killed most of the laying hens. This is certainly not the first time these dogs have killed chickens, but Justin and Jo decided that it will be the last. Or at least they hope so. Barney and Yaya are a mother and son combination and Jo took them to the pound today. They will try to adopt them out, but if not, they will be put down. But they have tried everything and lost chickens, quail, and ducks to these guys over and over. It was time to make the hard decision. Losing the chickens was hard and making the decision to put down the dogs tough for both children and adults. So it was not the happiest of days around here.

Regardless, we made the best of things. While Jo was dealing with the dead chickens and a badly wounded rooster, Justin made blueberry pancakes with the kids. We had breakfast and then I drove to the pharmacy in Rincon to get a medication for Justin and antiseptic spray and gauze to wrap the rooster’s wound. No one thinks he will survive, but you have to try. And late this evening, that rooster actually started drinking water. If he makes it through the night, then he might have a shot at survival. He was wounded eight days ago by the dogs and he survived that ordeal. So we’re hoping he can do that again. While in Rincon, I also went to two different grocery stores for things. One store has organic grapes that the kids love and the other has Boars Head deli meats that they love. I was moving as fast as possible because I had promised Ziggy and Coco I would take them to the beach. When I got home, we had a little lunch and then took off for a beach called Steps. A set of concrete steps sits on the beach there, thus the name. We got off to a rocky start, literally. We had to walk across the inner coral and rock shelf to get to the water. And we no sooner got into the water than the waves started hitting us with a force too great for Coco. She was being swept back on to the rock shelf. I grabbed her bathing suit strap and held on for dear life, but the waves were too strong for me as well. I fell down, but still held on. We averted crashing on the rocks by skin of our teeth and made our way back to the beach before another wave could hit us. Ziggy was fine, but he didn’t put up a fuss about getting out of the water. We walked down the beach in the opposite direction to a place where their inner reef provides a protective barrier where there are shallow pools. This was totally calm and we spent our afternoon there exploring the tide pools and playing on the beach. And we stopped at the snack shack afterwards to have a coconut drink. It was delightful.

Ziggy, Coco, and I have decided we will try to visit every beach in Rincon this week, so after the Sunday Farmer’s Market, we’ll head out for another beach experience. This sunshine and warm weather is glorious. And the update on Justin is that he is doing okay. Today was not quite as good as yesterday, but he is hanging in there. A major problem is that he is much too much like his mother and just won’t rest!