Day 206, Year 11: Continuing the Journey
Date: Sunday, May 15, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Much Cooler
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA

The journey from being cruising live-aboards to becoming land-based people continues. We are making progress and today we made a giant step in that direction. We transferred our first load of “stuff” from Windbird to a land-based storage unit. It was hard day on Mark, so as soon as we unloaded and arrived at Heather and Jed’s, he just had to sleep for a couple of hours. But he was able to eat dinner and this evening he feels great. Let’s just hope he has the energy to repeat this next Saturday when we move furniture from Lowell to the Cape.

This journey from sea to land started in February when, instead of heading to the Bahamas as planned, we had to turn around and sail north. We got ourselves from Florida to Cape Cod with the help of our friend Kevin Russell. Then my niece Lynn offered her unoccupied condo as a temporary home for us. It was a very generous offer and we have enjoyed our time there. Today we met our friends Heather and Jon Turgeon who brought a trailer load of our personal belongings from Windbird in South Carolina. We switched the trailer from their SUV to our rented U-Haul truck, had a fabulous lunch with them at the Blue Ribbon Barbecue in Newton, Massachusetts, and then headed to the Cape. We were met at the new storage unit by Jed, Jonah, and Ollie, and we unpacked the trailer contents into the storage unit. Hurray! This was one big step toward becoming land-based. Unfortunately, there are many steps to go, but one step at a time, and with the help of many wonderful friends and family, we will make it. Tonight we once again want to thank Lynda and Lee Kaufman for packing up all of our things from Windbird, getting that huge amount of stuff to a storage unit, and then packing about half of it into the trailer we received today. My nephew Tommy’s son, Ryan, helped with the trailer packing, and then Heather and Jon so gallantly volunteered to haul the trailer north for us. Now we just have to figure out how to get the other half here.

160515 Day 206 Massachusetts–Heather, Jon, and the U-Haul Trailer

Day 205, Year 11: Making No Headway with Mark’s Nausea
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Warm, High 79 degrees F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

No matter what we try, we are making no headway with Mark’s nausea. The peppermint essential oil in the diffuser does seem to calm him down when he gets a wave of nausea, but it doesn’t prevent it. Tomorrow he is going to try the medication that worked the best in the past couple of weeks, but that medication caused edema. Or at least we thought that was what caused the edema. His ankles and feet are still slightly puffy, so maybe it wasn’t that drug at all. It is frustrating, but we will continue to search for the magic bullet. The next week is not going to be easy on Mark, but there’s really nothing we can do about it. Tomorrow we head out by 10 am to go get the U-Haul truck we are renting to haul the trailer with stuff from Windbird that has arrived from Little River. We have to drive about 15 minutes to pick up the truck and drive back home to drop off the car. Then we head south about 45 minutes to meet Heather and Jon and the trailer. Mark will be able to sleep while I drive, but that is not the same as being at home. We will have lunch with Heather and Jon, or at least Mark will attempt to have lunch, and then we drive another hour and half to the Cape to unload. I could leave Mark at Heather and Jed’s while they help me unload the trailer, but I’ll bet he will want to watch the process. We will spend the night there but have to leave by 7:30 am to return the trailer just north of the Cape. We will then drive the truck back up here to turn it in by 10:30 am. What a process! I am so sorry I have to put Mark through this, but it just has to be done. Unfortunately, he has two days at Mass General this week, and then on Saturday morning we move out of this condo. Once we get the furniture to the Cape, Mark can stay at Heather’s while the truck is unloaded and I will drive back up here to turn in the truck and get our car without him. I’m sure those little Goldpebbles will take good care of him while I’m gone. Maybe playing a little soccer will help the nausea!

I spent my day organizing and packing. My niece Lynn who owns this condo has been in the hospital and follow-up rehab for the past month, but she gets out on Monday. I have tried to get all of her things organized so it will be easier for her to do the final decision making on what goes to her new apartment. After we turn the U-Haul truck in on Monday morning, I will drop Mark here at the condo and go to the rehab center to pick up Lynn. If she is up to it, we will spend the afternoon sorting through things and making decisions. I will not be available to help her on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I’m hopeful that we will get most everything done on Monday. She has a lot of paperwork to sort through, and she can do that while Mark and I are at Mass General. Hopefully by Wednesday night we will be ready to move most of the rest of her things. Once all of this moving is done, I’m going to hope we all stay put for a very long time!

We did take a walk today to commune with the turtles, the geese, and the red-winged blackbirds. We haven’t seen any signs of the beaver for a couple of weeks now. When we move we are going to miss our wildlife friends here in Evergreen Preserve.

160514 Day 205 Cape Cod, USA–Turtles, Geese, and Red-winged Blackbirds

Day 204, Year 11: Mark Visits NHPR
Date: Friday, May 13, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Sprinkles
Location: Back at Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

Maybe because it was Friday the 13th or more probably because Mark’s morning routine was disrupted by travel, Mark spent a great deal of the day either nauseous or very sleepy. But regardless, he felt like he had a good day. At 10 am we headed to New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) where Mark was being interviewed for an NHPR history project. I stayed in the car and wrote emails for the almost two hours he was inside the station. I enjoyed the time to catch up on email correspondence and Mark really enjoyed visiting the station. When he was finished, Scott McPherson walked out to the parking lot with him. Mark hired Scott in the mid-1990’s to produce NHPR’s first call-in radio program with Laura Knoy, and both Scott and Laura are still there. They are the longest standing employees at the station, both with 20 years of service. Soon after Mark and Scott emerged from the building, Laura came out to say hello to Mark. And then Betsy Gardella, the president and CEO of NHPR that followed Mark, came out on her way to a meeting and it was wonderful to see the four of them interacting.

160513 Day 204 Cape Cod, USA–Visit to NHPR

It was unfortunate that Mark had been nauseous all morning, but he did make it through the interview and was glad he had done it. After the gang of four completed their conversation in the parking lot, Mark and I headed back to Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg to pick up a couple of mirrors that accompany some bedroom furniture they are giving to us for our new apartment. Mark didn’t feel like eating much, but while we were at Alan and Helaine’s he did have some of our granola that we had brought with us.

We got home around 2 o’clock and my sister-in-law Sue and her husband Brad came by to visit. We usually visit with them in Boynton Beach in Florida, but they come up to spend their summers in Kennebunkport, Maine. They arrived this week and drove over today to visit with their daughters, my nieces Lynn and Candi, and with us. Unfortunately Mark was exhausted and simply had to lie down and rest while they were here. Then when they left, he actually slept for about two hours. When he got up, he felt much better. Tomorrow will be a quiet day at home and hopefully when is back into his daily routine, he will feel much better.

Day 203, Year 11: Boating Friends, Here and There
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2016
Weather: Warm and Sunny
Location: At Home with Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg, Bow, NH

Today was all about boating friends, both here and down south where Windbird resides. Late this afternoon we drove to Concord, New Hampshire, to attend a Concord Yacht Club (CYC) meeting. And the very good news is that Mark had a good day and a great evening. He was basically nausea free all day. Yea!!! Yesterday Dr. Kwak encouraged him to try taking a very small amount (4 mg) of a corticosteroid called dexamethasone (Decadron). She told him to take it early in the day to see what the results might be. It is used for lots of things, but one of those things is to fight nausea. No one seems to know how this really works, but it did work for Mark today. He is still feeling weak and a bit shaky, but he was able to eat all day without being nauseous and tonight he was able to socialize and actual eat a huge salad for dinner. It is like pulling teeth to get him to eat a salad these days, so I was thrilled.

The yacht club meeting tonight was at the home of Sue and Eric Leadbetter on Gould Hill in Hopkinton, NH. Their house sits on land that was settled by the Leadbetters in the 1700’s and it overlooks a huge apple orchard that was started by Eric’s father more than a 100 years ago. But the view is not only of the apple orchard which is in bloom this time of year; it also includes a panoramic view of New Hampshire’s mountain ranges. You can see from Mount Kearsarge in the south to Mount Washington in the north. It is just absolutely stunning. And it is always so nice to socialize with the CYC group. Mark has been attending meetings since 1990. At that time, he was one of the younger members. Those ‘younger’ members in 1990 are still attending and are still young at heart. But age is catching up with all of us. A few younger members have joined over the years, but the majority now are in their 60’s or 70’s. When Mark joined in 1990, some members were in their 80’s and 90’s. So I guess you could say this current group is still young by comparison. But young or old, they are a great group and we always enjoy our time with them. Our good friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg invited us to spend the night at their house, so after the meeting we headed here. Tomorrow morning Mark will go to New Hampshire Public Radio to try and do some audio documentation of the history of the station and then we’ll return home. Sure hope that Decadron does the trick for Mark tomorrow as it did today.

This afternoon, our friends Heather and Jon Turgeon, picked up the trailer loaded with about half of our personal belongings from Windbird and headed north. Lynda and Lee meet them at the U-Haul storage place and helped them get hitched up. Earlier in the day, Lee and Lynda returned to Windbird to pack up all of our books and to empty the refrigerator and freezer. We didn’t know they were going to do that, but we are so grateful. They feel like everything that is personal is off the boat now. There is still a ton of boat-related stuff that we are leaving behind and all we can think is that when Windbird finds a new owner, he or she or they are going to be very happy with the bounty. We are still amazed and overwhelmed with the help we have received from friends to get all of our things packed up and brought north. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Day 202, Year 11: All About Moving
Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Weather: Another Sunny and Warm Day
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

It seems everything in our lives these days is all about moving. Moving things from Windbird to here. Moving things from this condo to my niece’s apartment. Moving things from here to Cape Cod.

This morning, Lee and Lynda Kaufman plus Ryan (my nephew Tommy’s son) packed a U-Haul trailer with much of our belongings from Windbird. The 5 x 8 trailer was not big enough for everything, but through telephone consultation, the most essential items were included . . . we hope. Tomorrow, friends Heather and Jon Turgeon will arrive in Calabash, North Carolina, pick up the loaded trailer, and head north. On Sunday we will meet them a few miles south of here and transfer the trailer from their vehicle to ours. We will then take the trailer to the Cape to unload into a storage unit. We still have a hard time believing that this is really happening. Thanks to everyone who has helped with this move—Lee and Lynda Kaufman, Jane and Roger Bonner, Ryan Martin, John and Beth Schwab, and Heather and Jon Turgeon. The whole process has amazed us and convinced us that . . . it takes a village.

Wednesday is Mark’s infusion day, so we spent our day at Mass General. Mark continues to struggle with nausea and we have one more ‘experiment’ to try tomorrow. Dr. Kwak prescribed a steroid that she thinks might stave off nausea and give Mark a little energy boost. We hope it works as we are headed to Concord, New Hampshire tomorrow evening to attend a Concord Yacht Club meeting. We will spend the night with friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg and on Friday morning Mark will go to New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) to be interviewed for an oral history project documenting the development of public radio in New Hampshire. Mark was the general manager for 15 of NHPR’s 35 years and took it from a Concord-based public radio station, WEVO, to the state-wide network it is today. After the interview, we will return here to Lowell.

This evening I worked with my niece Candi and her husband Char to move a couple of the heavier pieces of furniture from here to my niece Lynn’s apartment. There are a few more things to move from here to there, but the bulk of the moving has been done. Our moving timeline looks like this:

Sunday, May 15—Meet friends with trailer full of Windbird’s contents and take the things to a storage unit in Falmouth.

Saturday, May 21—Move the very last of the things that my niece Lynn wants to keep from here to her apartment and then pack the moving van with the remainder of the furniture that will be taken to our storage unit in Falmouth.

Sunday, May 22—Move ourselves from here to Heather and Jed’s in East Falmouth.

Wednesday, June 15—Move everything from storage units to our new apartment located on Falmouth Harbor and move ourselves from Heather and Jed’s to our new home.

Then . . . unpack, unpack, and unpack forever.

160511 Day 202 Cape Cod,, USA–Packing the U-Haul

Day 201, Year 11: Wonderful, Wonderful
Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Warm!!!!
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

Tonight we had a wonderful dinner with wonderful friends, and Mark made it through the evening just fine. He did not have a good day today due to persistent nausea, but somehow he rallied for the evening. But then evenings are always his best time. And he so desperately wanted to go out to dinner, so I think he willed it so. On a convoluted road home for the night, good friends Tom and Detta Porat came here after their work day. They live near Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the coast and drive inland to central New Hampshire each day for work. So this evening they drove south to visit with us before heading east to home. Despite our efforts to encourage getting take-out for dinner, Mark insisted that we go out to Blue Taleh in the UMass Lowell area for dinner. Blue Taleh is a restaurant specializing in Japanese and Thai cuisine. We ordered sushi take-out from there when our whole family was together the end of March and we were very impressed with their sushi. Mark loves sushi, so this gave him the incentive to make it through the evening. Mark and I enjoyed sushi and Detta and Tom enjoyed Thai. But more important than the good food was the good company. We love spending time with Tom and Detta, so this was a very special evening.

The saga of the packing up of Windbird continued today. Lee and Lynda returned to the boat and called us to do a storage area by storage area final check. Even with all of the boxes and boxes of things that have been taken off the boat, we have left loads behind for a prospective new owner. All of our books are still onboard as well. Some could be given away, but we have a number of books that I just would not want to part with. So we are going to have to plan another ‘assault’ to get books from Windbird and the remainder of the things that can’t be brought in this trip. The job is not completely done, but it is certainly miles and miles ahead of where it was a week ago. Lee and Lynda have done a herculean job of getting our things packed and ready to be transported north. Tomorrow my nephew Tommy’s son Ryan will work with them to pack up the trailer. It truly warms my heart and gives me renewed hope for humanity to see what people are willing to do for friends. Lynda and Lee leave next week for a 50th anniversary trip to Hawaii and then on to Portland to greet their first grandchild that is due the middle of June. They have spent way too many of their days packing up Windbird, but once that trailer is packed tomorrow, they can finally relax and focus on their upcoming trip. Thank you, Lynda and Lee. We have no idea what we would have done without your very generous offer to pack up the boat. I know you had no idea how much stuff a boat like Windbird could hold, but you have found her innermost hiding places and boxed up all those things. No easy feat. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom on our hearts.

Day 200, Year 11: The Food Revolution
Date: Monday, May 9, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy, High mid-60’s F (freeze warning for tonight)
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

I mentioned in last night’s log that I was working on a summary of what I learned in the Food Revolution Summit and that I would share that tonight. Well, I started writing and I realized that it is just too complicated and controversial to address in this setting. And besides, who needs one more opinion on what we should be eating to maintain our health? We are all looking for the magic bullet, but I don’t believe that exists. You can go with the Mediterranean diet or you can go Paleo. You can be a vegan or a vegetarian or you can eat the standard American diet. We used to have the food pyramid to guide us, but that no longer exists. The federal government does make the following statements.

A healthy eating pattern includes:
• A variety of vegetables from all of the subgroups—dark green, red and orange, legumes (beans and peas), starchy, and other.
• Fruits, especially whole fruits.
• Grains, at least half of which are whole grains.
• Fat-free or low-fat dairy, including milk, yogurt, cheese, and/or fortified soy beverages.
• A variety of protein foods including seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, legumes (beans and peas), and nuts, seeds, and soy products.
• Oils.

A healthy eating pattern limits:
• Saturated and trans fats, added sugars, and sodium.

I agree with some of those recommendations and take issue with others, but what I do believe that I want to share is that no matter what you choose to eat, you might want to consider going organic. And if you eat meat, you might really want to consider buying only meat from 100% pasture-raised, grass fed animals that have never come in contact with feed laced with chemicals, hormones, or antibiotics. And you might want to consider the fact that greenhouse gasses could be cut by two-thirds if we all ate a plant-based diet. That would make a huge step in battling the effects of climate change. Of course, not all of us are going to eat only plant-based foods, but if each of us moved just a little in that direction, it would have a huge impact. There is no one diet that is best for everyone. What you choose to eat depends on your age, the amount of activity in your life, and your individual health needs. So relax and just remember to buy ‘real’ food (not boxed, canned, or processed), eat less of it, and work toward eating more plants than meat. Also, buy organic when you can. I know that doesn’t sound like a revolution, but if each of us did just that, it would have a revolutionary impact. That’s my soapbox plea for tonight.

Lee and Lynda Kaufman continued packing up Windbird today and we helped by pointing out hiding places. As Lynda said, boats have an amazing number of hidden storage areas, but she thinks Windbird has more than most. On Wednesday they will pack as much as they can into a U-Haul rental trailer and on Thursday that trailer will head this direction with Heather and Jon Turgeon. In the meantime, on this end we are moving a few things each day from this condo to my niece’s apartment. By the end of the day on Wednesday, we will have most of the furniture that goes to my niece’s apartment moved there. Then we will start with the smaller items. By the end of the weekend we will have our belongings from Windbird in a new storage unit in Falmouth. And next week, we will make the final assault to get things ready for our move to the Cape on Saturday the 21st. Two weeks from today, we will have made the move and will be living temporarily with Heather, Jed, and boys. Finally my mid-June we will move into our new apartment. I’ll sure be glad when all of this moving ends!

Day 199, Year 11: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 8, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Some Rain, High mid-60’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers that we know, but most especially to the mothers of our grandchildren–our daughter Heather and our daughter-in-law Jo. We saw both today, one in person and the other via Skype video, and in the same way, we saw our five grandchildren. It is such a wonder to see the children of your children growing up and we cherish every moment we are with them. Heather and gang arrived at about 8:30 last night and Ollie was fast asleep. But we did get to spend time some time to talk with Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah.

160508 Day 199 Cape Cod, USA–Mother's Day with the Goldstones

Sam recently came in second place in a Cape Cod poetry contest and they brought the newspaper article about that with a photo of the contestant winners. He is a very proud poet and we are very proud of him.

160508 Day 199a Cape Cod, USA–Poet Sam

This morning we had more time together. The three boys got up and immediately went in the living room to snuggle with Heather and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. Then we went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Once we sat down at the table, I made a toast asking the boys to guess who I was describing—the most beautiful, intelligent, talented, clever, caring and loving mother in the whole wide world. The boys all responded in unison, “That’s momma.” And I could have made the same toast with Ziggy and Coco and they would have responded, “That’s mummy.” So here’s to a very special Happy Mother’s Day to Heather and Jo.

When we talked to Justin via Skype video this afternoon he gave us a tour of their new, but temporary, home. They had to move out of the home they have been renting since the fall of 2014. They are in the process of buying a home, but that is a long process in Puerto Rico, so thus the need for the interim home. It is in the town adjacent to their old home, so not too far away, and they seem to be settling in just fine. While we were talking, Ziggy drew a picture with chalk on the drive-way. At first it was just Oma. Then he added Ziggy and Coco, and after we hung up he added Windbird. I made Justin promise to take photos of the drawings and send them to me and he did, as you can see here.

160508 Day 199b Cape Cod, USA–Ziggy's Pictures

While all of this was happening, we were also Skyping back and forth with Lee and Lynda Kaufman. Today other friends, Jane and Roger Bonner, joined them and they were making an all-out assault to get our belongings packed up and off of Windbird. After packing yesterday, they had to go buy more plastic boxes, and then today around lunchtime, they had to go buy even more. It is amazing how little fits in a box. While they were packing up Windbird, we were packing the books off my niece’s bookshelf in the living room. I really didn’t think it was all that much, but in the end, it took six big boxes to pack up those few books. So I certainly understand why Lee and Lynda keep running out of boxes. We had to make some decisions today to leave lots of things on the boat. And we will be donating a lot of our food stuffs to Helping Hands. Since I had just stocked the boat for a couple of months in the Bahamas, we had more canned and boxed food than we would normally eat. Hopefully the folks at Helping Hands can take advantage of that. Lee emailed this evening that they now have 30 big plastic boxes in storage, plus lots of other smaller boxed items and miscellaneous things like fishing rods. We didn’t get a photo of today’s results, but yesterday this is way the storage unit looked.

160508 Day 199c Cape Cod, USA–Windbird's New Storage Unit

What they are seeing is that all of our things are not going to fit into a 5 x 8 trailer. They have already rented a storage unit to put the packed boxes in until time to load the trailer and we might need to keep that unit to hold the things that won’t fit in on this first trip. It looks like we might need to find a way to get more things here in another trip. There is so much stuff even with that we are giving away and leaving on the boat. But we have so many wonderful friends. We have already received an email from Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg offering to fly to Myrtle Beach and drive a one-way rental truck back with the additional gear if needed. Add that to the gargantuan efforts by Lee and Lynda and you can understand why we feel blessed with such wonderful friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Today wrapped up the Food Revolution Summit I have been listening to each day for the past week. The Summit presented 3 one hour-long interviews each day and each interview was jam-packed with information on what we should be eating and doing to keep ourselves healthy. Every one of the people interviewed is regarded as the best in their field. All of those people and all of the scientific research findings that were presented came up with the same recommendation that author Michael Pollan came up with back in 2008. I don’t want to sound like a broken record as I have quoted him over and over, but those famous words are worth repeating. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” These seven words are withstanding the scrutiny of time and research. I’m working on a little summary of what I gained from the Summit and will share that with you in tomorrow night’s log.

Day 198, Year 11: The Goldstones are Coming
Date: Saturday, May 7, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High mid-60’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

It is Saturday evening and we are just sitting here waiting for the arrival the Goldstones. Heather was a judge at some sort of science fair at MIT today, so Jed brought the kids to Boston for the day as well. Then they went to visit with friends. It will be time for bed for the Pebbles when they get here, so we will visit in the morning.

Lee and Lynda called this morning and had a change in their plans for when they would be packing things up on Windbird. Someone is flying in to look at the boat on Monday, so they did some packing today and will do more tomorrow and Tuesday. Lee doesn’t think everything is going to fit in a 5 foot by 8 foot trailer, but they have rented a storage unit to hold the things until time to pack the trailer. If everything doesn’t fit, it can stay in the storage unit until we can get it. They are doing an amazing job and it wears me out just to know what they are doing! I don’t know how we are ever going to repay them. We are just so grateful for their help.

Mark was nauseous early this morning, but otherwise has had a good day. He thinks the swelling in his legs and feet is a little better today. If that continues to be the case, we will assume it was the new anti-nausea med that was the culprit. If not, we’ll just have to learn how to deal with the edema. More science experiments!

Day 197, Year 11: Moving, Moving
Date: Friday, May 6, 2016
Weather: Partly Cloudy, High mid-60’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA

This afternoon we left the condo so a home inspection could take place. Hopefully that went well, and if so, this condo is sold and we will be moving out two weeks from tomorrow. Today we also reserved a U-Haul pick-up truck for next Sunday so we can take the trailer coming up from South Carolina to the Cape to put our belongings from Windbird in storage. So everything here is centered around moving. During the next two weeks we will be moving some of my niece’s belongings to her apartment, and then on Saturday, May 21, everything will be moved out. My niece is giving us the furniture she cannot fit into her apartment, so we will take that furniture to the Cape to join our belongings from Windbird in a new storage unit. It will not be until the middle of June that we make the final move into our new apartment, and I know both Mark and I both will be very glad when that final move is made. In the meantime . . .

Tomorrow night the Goldstones will spend the night here so we can celebrate Mother’s Day together on Sunday morning. Mark is planning a special Sunday breakfast that he and Jed will prepare. On Monday and Tuesday we will be ‘on call’ with our friends Lee and Lynda Kaufman in Little River, South Carolina. They will be packing up everything on Windbird and putting it in a rented U-Haul trailer that will be picked up by other friends, Heather and Jon Turgeon, on Thursday. We will spend Wednesday at Mass General as we do every week. Then on Thursday we will drive to Concord, NH, for the May meeting of the Concord Yacht Club. After the yacht club meeting we will spend the night with our good friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg and catch up on what has been happening in their lives. Then on Sunday we will meet Jon and Heather Turgeon for lunch and make the transfer of the U-Haul trailer with all of our boat belongings. Whew! Busy times. But even busier times for our friends who are doing so much for us in packing up our personal belongings and hauling them north for us. We truly feel like we have guardian angels and we are so thankful.