After almost 6 years of traveling, we sailed into Woods Hole on Cape Cod. We continued living aboard for the next five years and I wrote about that, adding ‘and Beyond’ to the title of the blog. Then shortly before Mark’s death in 2016, we sold our beloved Windbird and my travel logs became land logs. At this point, I had written a daily account for each and every day for 11 years. I fully intended to end the blog at that point, but when I wrote that news in a log, I got many responses saying that I really needed to keep posting. At the same time, I realized that I couldn’t stop writing. Summarizing each day had become a permanent part of my life and I will probably continue writing until I can no longer. These postings reflect the ordinary, and sometimes the extraordinary, days in my life and I would like to invite you to join me on my journey.
2017 Life Logs, Day 1: Happy New Year
2017 Life Logs, Day 1: Happy New Year
Date: Sunday, January 1, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 47, Low 27 degrees F
Location: Back Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Happy New Year to all. I had a lovely day with Detta, Tom, their daughter Sarah, and her Golden Retriever, Callie. Detta fixed a delicious potato egg omelet and fresh fruit to start our day with just a little Mimosa on the side. Then Detta and I took Callie for a walk at the Great Bay Discovery Center.
It was beautiful, but there was a lot of ice and snow on the walkways. I wasn’t prepared for snow, but I wore a pair of Detta’s Wellies and did just fine. We sat and talked when we got back and then I started the three-hour drive home. I stopped at the Goldstones, but no one was home, so I came on home and had an early dinner since I skipped lunch. Heather called and explained that they were at a neighborhood party and would be home soon, so I drove back to pick up Sam, Jonah, and Ollie for an overnight here. I had extended the invitation to Heather yesterday and knew the boys were interested in coming over. When we got here, I let them open an eighth day of Christmas present from me. There was a small Star Wars Lego kit for each and they built and played Legos until bedtime. They played so cooperatively and so quietly. It was a wonderful way to end the first day of our new year.
This morning Detta showed me journals that she and Tom and their two children, Matthew and Sarah, wrote in twelve years ago on New Year’s Day. They each wrote their bucket list for the year and pulling them out this morning to see if they accomplished their goals was so much fun. Detta gave me some empty journals and I brought them home hoping to start a yearly tradition with the Goldstones. Tomorrow we will each write at least ten things we hope to accomplish during 2017. I’ll then tuck the journals in my Christmas box and we’ll bring them out next year to check our progress and to add things for the next year. I know one of the things I want to do is to keep in closer contact with distant friends. I write my log every night, but I am terrible about writing emails or sending letters or cards to keep in touch. I am so fortunate to have so many friends all around the globe who check in on me and I must do better about checking in on them.
I hope you had a lovely day and made a resolution to work on being even healthier and happier in 2017 than you were in 2016. Happy New Year!
Life After Windbird, Day 140: Dinner with the Woodins
Life After Windbird, Day 140: Dinner with the Woodins
Date: Friday, December 30, 2016
Weather: Clear, Turning Partly Cloudy; High 43, Low 27 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I ended my day by having dinner with Bruce and Jane Woodin at their house. Jane always goes all out with decorating for Christmas and this year was no exception. As Bruce said tonight, she takes Martha Stewart’s suggestions very seriously, and, as a result, everything was just beautiful. She made sure the candles were lit outside the front door to welcome me, and inside the lighting of the mantle garland, wreaths on the doors, and the centerpiece, the Christmas tree, were just right.
They have had two of their three grandchildren with them all week, so this was our first chance to get together. Thanks to Bruce and Jane for a lovely evening.
About an hour before I was to head out to Bruce and Jane’s, I got a phone call from Linda and Mike Stuart. These are my friends who are biking around the world. I didn’t hear from them at Christmas, so I was so hoping I would get a call around the New Year. I was elated to get the call. They are biking through the Andes Mountains in Ecuador right now, and I know from reading their daily logs that the lack of air in the high altitudes and the steep gradients have been most challenging. But they assured me that they are doing fine. It was just so good to hear Linda’s voice and to hear that all is okay. They will be in the mountains for two more days and will then head to the coast to the city of Guayaquil. They will be there for a few days and are then flying to the Galapagos where they will meet up with their son Garrett and his girlfriend for a cruise through the islands. When they return, they will be biking on to Peru and even more challenging mountains. Linda, I love you. And you, too, Mike. I send you all the strength that I have to give!
Back up a couple of hours, I got a call from Detta Porat. Detta and Tom are my good friends that live in Portsmouth, NH. They spent the Christmas vacation with Detta’s sister at her vacation home in St. Croix. I knew they were returning yesterday, but I didn’t know what time. I didn’t dare call Detta this morning for fear of waking her up after a late arrival. As it turns out, they arrived in Boston at 3 o’clock this morning. That’s either very late or very early, depending on how you look at it. We had tentative plans that I would drive up for New Year’s Eve and the phone call today confirmed that. So I will be heading to New Hampshire and plan to arrive in Portsmouth around 3 in the afternoon. I have some Home Depot and Costco shopping to do on the way, but I might try to work in a Zumba class in the morning before I leave. We’ll see just how energetic I feel in the am.
I frittered the rest of my day away working on photo issues on the website. Because Google is no longer supporting Picasa, all of the links to photos in my logs over the years were broken. I still have the photos, but no one can view them online. Justin has been working on getting them “reconnected” and he needed me to check out which photos are now ‘back’ and which ones are not. It took most of the day to just thoroughly check out Year 2, but at least I did get the 283 logs from that year checked out. Now I just need to do the other ten years!
Life After Windbird, Day 139: WINDY
Life After Windbird, Day 139: WINDY
Date: Thursday, December 29, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain Late, Then WIND; High 40’s, Low 30’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I lived on a sailboat for 13 years, but never did I experience the windy weather we have been getting here on the Cape in the past two years. Maybe I am just particularly aware after the microburst hit Windbird in Quissett Harbor in June of 2015, but for whatever reason, tonight I am finding the wind right down scary. WeatherUnderground tells me we are having winds from the southwest 20 to 30 with gusts up to 60 miles per hour. When we were in a marina near Cape Town, South Africa, we often had 55 knot winds, which is about 63 miles per hour, for hours on end, but somehow that steady wind wasn’t as frightening as these 30 mph winds that gust every five minutes to 60. The whole front wall of this apartment, which is mostly glass, quivers with every gust. Weather, weather!
I went to the gym this morning to participate in a class that proved just how out of shape I am. Or maybe it just proved how old I am. In two months, I’ll be 70. So maybe I shouldn’t go to a class called, “Butts and Guts.” The other class members are probably in their late 30’s or early 40’s, and maybe one woman is in her early 50’s, but all are much younger than myself. So I won’t let myself get too depressed. At least I survived the class. I was going to go to a yoga class tonight, but the wind kept me home. Tomorrow’s 20/20/20 class is a little more ‘user’ friendly, so hopefully I’ll feel better about myself after that. I did more writing today, canned bone broth, made soup, and went to Heather’s to take in the trash can and put out the compost buckets for Friday pick-up. Tomorrow I will talk to Detta and Tom Porat in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to figure out if I am going to drive up there for New Year’s Eve. Today they should have returned from a St. Croix Christmas vacation, so I’ll wait until tomorrow afternoon to call them and decide about the weekend. In the meantime, I’ll work on surviving the gusts of wind.
Life After Windbird, Day 138: Project Day
Life After Windbird, Day 138: Project Day
Date: Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Weather: Sunny Early, Turning Mostly Cloudy; High 43, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today was dedicated to working on a presentation that I will make on January 12th about the Voyage of Windbird. Working on that project was a good springboard for starting that long-time desire to write about Windbird’s voyage around the world. I’ll continue with both tomorrow. I also had a nice phone conversation with Lynne Kirwin. When I said I was a little chilly just sitting still and writing I heard Ed say in the background, “Then bake something or make some bone broth.” I took him up on his suggestion to make chicken mineral bone broth with the carcasses from two of the six Cornish hens we had on Christmas Day. Heather had already made broth with the other four. Simmering the broth did heat things up just a bit. Tomorrow I’ll can the broth, make a soup with the leftover chicken, and keep writing.
Life After Windbird, Day 137: Running Errands
Life After Windbird, Day 137: Running Errands
Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Weather: WINDY Morning, Mostly Cloudy Afternoon—High in the 50’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
The Goldstones left for Maine this morning and I got up and got ready to go out to run errands. It was really windy, but the wind was coming from the southwest and it brought warmer temps our way. I waited until the worst of the wind died down and left to run those ‘few errands’ that somehow that took the entire day. After a morning and full afternoon of running errands, at 3:30 pm I was in the Falmouth Town Hall Assessor’s Office trying to find out why I owe $258 dollars in back taxes on Windbird. While in the midst of that discussion, I got a call back from Jane Woodin. I had sent a text earlier to find out if she and Bruce were at home so I could deliver a cranberry Christmas bread. It turns out that I did owe the town the taxes and that Jane was headed to the near-by Falmouth Public Library. So I paid the tac and told Jane I would meet her at the library to give her the bread. But when I got to the library, I saw Bruce Woodin with his twin grandkids. I stopped right in the middle of the street, got out, and delivered the bread to Bruce. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Jane. I then delivered a Christmas bread to Terry and Olivia. I really intended on just dropping off the bread, but Terry answered the door and invited me to come in for a few minutes, so I did. I stayed longer than intended but in doing so, I learned some about Olivia’s Christmas food traditions growing up in India and Terry’s German traditions from his family who settled in the Evansville, Indiana area. It was a short, but very enjoyable visit. And the summary of my day is that I successfully managed to leave home before lunch and return just in time for dinner and get none of the projects done that have been on my to-do list. All of those projects are computer based, so Tomorrow I am going to chain myself to the dining room table to work on my computer for the entire day.
Life After Windbird, Day 136: The Second Day of Christmas
Life After Windbird, Day 136: The Second Day of Christmas
Date: Monday, December 26, 2016
Weather: Bright and Sunny; High Temp 45, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I had an active second day of Christmas. I didn’t get two turtle doves, but I did go to the gym, finally got my inflatable kayak rolled up and stored with Jed’s help, went to Heather’s and was on neighborhood bicycle duty with Jonah and Ollie,
had lunch, and then took Ollie to the bike path down by the beach and walked and walked while he rode and rode. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child so happy to get a bicycle and he just doesn’t want to stop riding. I chose a section of the bike path that was long and straight so that I could see him in the distance as there was no way for me to keep up with him on foot.
When I did catch up with him, he had made it to Trunk River and he had me take a picture of him on his bike in front of the sign so he can show his friends at school that he rode his new bike that far all by himself.
He also had me take a picture with the water in the background.
This stretch of bike path runs right along the beach and is absolutely beautiful. Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah met us on the bike path and Ollie was so excited to ride with them for a bit.
When we returned home, it was time for the Goldstones to get ready to go to Maine tomorrow morning. I helped with laundry, baked the last of the Christmas cookies for the kids to take to Maine, and then I headed home for the evening. It sure is going to be quiet around here for a few days without the Goldpebbles, but I have plenty of projects to keep me busy.
Life After Windbird, Day 135: Wonderful Christmas Day
Life After Windbird, Day 135: Wonderful Christmas Day
Date: Sunday, December 25, 2016
Weather: Bright and Sunny; High Temp 47, Low 28 degrees F
Location: Back Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
What a wonderful Christmas Day I had. I was with Heather and family on Christmas for the first time since 2007 which made it very special. The last time we were together was Sam’s first Christmas when Uncle Justin, Auntie Jo, Mark, and I traveled to Boothbay, Maine, to spent Christmas with the Goldstones. Mark and I were last with Justin and family for Christmas in 2014 and spent last year with my sister and brother-in-law in Nashville. I really missed all of them today, but thoroughly enjoyed being with the three Goldpebbles for the very first time. We were up at the crack of dawn and the boys wanted to dig into their stockings first.
The amount of excitement over just a pencil was quite refreshing. But when they opened their Santa presents the real excitement took over—a bicycle for Ollie,
a drone for Sam,
and a remote-controlled motorbike with a built-in camera for Jonah.
The boys were over the top, but unfortunately the euphoria didn’t last long. Both Sam and Jonah had technical difficulties with their gifts. There was a bit of a meltdown, but they bounced back and managed to have a good day even without their gifts from Santa. This is the second year in a row Heather has had to return Santa’s electronic gifts to the boys and she is thinking this is a sign that they should not request electronics from Santa again. Those darn elves must not know just how to put together high tech toys! But there were tons of other presents. I got Ollie a John Deere remote-controlled train,
Sam a beginner’s model train set,
and Jonah a soccer goal trainer.
All three were big hits. And, of course, there were lots of books and even Manchester, England, soccer shirts for the boys which they wore proudly all day.
I got all sorts of goodies, but my red sea glass earrings from Justin, Jo, and kids, and the promise of handmade set of pottery soup bowls from Heather, Jed, and boys were my favorites. The neatest thing about the earrings is that that Justin and Jo know the person who found the red sea glass and the person who made the glass into earrings. The neatest thing about the pottery soup bowls is that I can go see examples and custom order what I want from Heather’s neighbor, Sarah Caruso. Special, personal presents. After opening presents, I got a call from Justin. We did a Skype video call and the little cousins all got to see each other and Ziggy and Coco got to tell me all about their Christmas presents. Coco was holding her present from Santa which was a new puppy, a toy Yorkshire. What a cute little fur ball with his princess mother.
And Ziggy was excited by his robot gift from Santa, the Lego train from me, and the luxurious yard at the new house with lots of green grass.
A little later in the afternoon, Justin called again, this time from their new home, and I got a video guided tour via Skype. What a lovely place they have purchased. The house is very large, with four bedrooms and a huge living room and kitchen. And the two-acre lot is a tropical paradise. There are lots of banana trees bursting with bananas, mango trees, an avocado tree, a cinnamon tree, a mulberry tree, an ylang ylang tree, and even their own starfruit tree.
It was super exciting to talk to Justin, Jo, and kids, and share the wonders of their new home.
Mid-afternoon I had to return home to pick up the Rock Cornish hens I had bought to fix for dinner and Heather headed out with the boys to ride their bicycles. Only Ollie was new to a bike, and with training wheels on, he took off like he had been riding forever. He had never really been on a pedal bike before as he has used a Strider until now. But he made the move with no problem and actually biked for two straight hours. After an hour of riding, the other kids headed home, but Ollie was still at it and Jed had to come take-over for Heather who was freezing by this time. At sundown, after we lit the second Hanukkah candle, we had a decadent treat. We had chocolate fondue with fresh fruit as dessert before dinner. We dipped pieces of pineapple, strawberry, kiwi, banana, orange, apple, as well as raspberries and Hanukkah sugar cookies in the chocolate in the new fondue pot I got Heather for Christmas.
And then the real treat of the day was dinner. We each had our own roasted Rock Cornish game hen cooked with Jed’s special touch, Heather’s delicious kale, corn-on-the-cob, and a Goldstone version of kugel (a classic Jewish pasta dish). The table looked festive and we all really enjoyed the Christmas dinner.
Unfortunately, we had to eat without Ollie. He was so tired after his two-hour bike ride that he literally passed out on the sofa, and there was no getting him up. He’ll just have to have his Cornish hen for lunch tomorrow.
My nephew Rex called today, Ed and Lynne Kirwin sent a very nice holiday text message, and I had a nice long phone conversation with my sister Patsy. Thank you to all who are doing their best to keep me happy throughout the holidays. And a special thank you to Heather and Jed for hosting such a special Christmas for Oma. I have one more day with them before they head to Maine on Tuesday morning, so I will go there to visit after going to the gym in the morning. Christmas is over and it is time to get in shape for the New Year!
Life After Windbird, Day 134: Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to All
Life After Windbird, Day 134: Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to All
Date: Saturday, December 24, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High Temp 42, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home with Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, and Ollie, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas to all. Today was a day for melding traditions. It was the first day of Hanukkah and Christmas Eve, so Heather deemed it Christmukkah. I had an early morning phone call from Mary Ellen and Lee, Mark’s sister and brother-in-law, and then I got things together and headed to Heather and Jed’s. Heather was determined to have a clean house on Christmas morning, so she spent a great deal of her day sweeping and mopping. But she also did a lot of food preparation for dinner. I started to pitch in to help, but got a phone call from Kevin and Claire which got me out the work! They are in California with Kevin’s family and will be heading to Vancouver to be with Claire’s family after Christmas. It was great to talk to them and we were on the phone long enough to give Heather time to finish her cleaning. Whew, I got out of that work! I then made Hanukkah cut-out cookies with the boys and we made a Hanukkah snack bowl filled with pretzels and gelt (chocolate coins which are a Jewish tradition). While doing that, I got a call from Justin. He and Jo were working like crazy to get their new home ready for Christmas Day. They took possession this morning, cleaned all day, and although they have not moved any furniture in and have no electricity until Monday, they really wanted to have Christmas morning there. So they set up their Soul Pad tent and will sleep in the tent and cook on a camp stove. But they are so happy to finally have their own home that they don’t care, and I am so happy for them. But back to the Goldstones . . . we managed to light the first Hanukkah candle just at sundown. Ollie had the honor of lighting the first candle this year and he looked so adorable all dressed in his fancy vest and red Santa hat.
After the lighting of the candles, I had to go home to get my Christmas presents for tomorrow morning and get my overnight bag, which left Heather and Jed alone to fix dinner. By the time I got back
we had antsy boys as we all waited for the ribeye roast to cook. It took way longer than any directions indicated. Sam got the first serving as he is the meat lover in this family and he immediately said it tasted funny. Heather took a bite and almost choked. The very expensive, grass-fed beef roast that took forever to cook was not edible. What a disappointment for Heather who had worked so hard to prepare a wonderful dinner. Thankfully there was plenty of food without the roast. She had clams and shrimp for appetizers plus deviled eggs I made, and then there were beet and potato latkes and fabulous roasted Brussels sprouts with pine nuts. After dinner the boys played with the Super Stadium Baseball Game I got them as a Christmas Eve-Hanukkah present and then we all headed upstairs to read The Night Before Christmas and sing a few Christmas songs. Jonah has a beautiful voice and sang a couple of solos for us. And then the singing ended with Ollie and I singing, “Must Be Santa.” It is his favorite song this year and we have sung it together a few times with him singing parts of the song solo. Heather and Jed had never heard him sing this and they were duly impressed. Sam got the treats for Santa and his reindeer ready and set up his camera to video Santa when he appears.
This is an almost ten year-old little boy wanting proof that Santa really exists, so trying to catch Santa on video is his creative way of doing this. I tried to tell him his battery might not last long enough to catch Santa, but he was insistent on trying. After a couple of hours of wrapping stocking stuffers, the living room is absolutely filled with presents. Add Santa’s gifts and stockings to this, and I think we will have a full morning of opening gifts.
Life After Windbird, Day 133: Christmas Countdown
Life After Windbird, Day 133: Christmas Countdown
Date: Friday, December 23, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 44, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home at The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Had a great overnight with the Goldpebbles here last night and continued the fun this morning. I will head to their house tomorrow for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I love the holiday season but am finding it to be an incredibly difficult time for me this year. I know “this too shall pass” . . . but not easy.
Life After Windbird, Day 132: Christmas Baking
Life After Windbird, Day 132: Christmas Baking
Date: Thursday, December 22, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny with Afternoon Rain; High Temp 46, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home at The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today I baked small loaves of cranberry bread to be given away as Christmas gifts. And I haven’t done anything for weeks that felt so good. I started baking this particular cranberry Christmas loaf in the late 1970’s, but when I moved aboard Windbird in 2003, I left the small baking pans with Heather and have only made the bread a couple of times since. And now, for various reasons, I don’t even eat bread or anything made from wheat flour. But something about reverting to old traditions, the smell of the grated orange peel and the heavy scent of raw honey, made for an absolutely joyful afternoon of baking.
My morning was also joyful. The technician from the cable company came early and got the TV working again. Actually, my television and equipment were just fine. The problem was in the wiring coming into the apartment complex. But for now, I’m all set. Once he left I moved the Christmas tree back into its little corner and put the living room back in order. I have all the packages for Heather, Jed, and boys wrapped, so I put them under the tree.
While the Christmas lights and packages brightened the day inside, the little black and white Buffleheads brightened the harbor. These guys come down from Canada for the winter and I love watching them.
I then went food shopping once again, this time to find the fresh Rock Cornish game hens for Christmas day. I was prepared to drive to Hyannis to find them, but that wasn’t necessary. I struck out at the first store. They were supposed to get a shipment this morning, but didn’t. The other large supermarket didn’t have any in their meat section either, but I asked a someone to check in the back for me. It took a while, but he came out with a new shipment of eight and I bought six of them. I headed home with the bounty and started baking. I’m not sure the last batch of bread got completely done, but I had to take those little loaves out of the oven and head to East Falmouth to pick Sam and Jonah up from school. And at the last minute, I got a text from Heather asking me to pick her up on my way. She was at an office Christmas party that was on my way, so the two of us picked up the boys. They packed for the overnight and we then headed to my place. Heather was to meet up with Jed here when he delivered Ollie, so while we were waiting, Heather and I packaged up the Christmas loaves.
I had a delightful evening with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie, and tomorrow morning we will start another baking frenzy. We are going to make more Christmas cookies. And who knows what else we’ll get into tomorrow.