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.
Day 146, Year 11: Searching Housing Possibilities
Day 146, Year 11: Searching Housing Possibilities
Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Weather: Overcast, Hi Temp 40’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA
We spent a bit of today searching housing possibilities in Falmouth. Heather pointed out that no matter what I saw, I immediately found something wrong with it. She’s right, but this is difficult. Finding something, actually anything in Falmouth that is in any way suitable and affordable, is not easy. The cost of housing here is 44 per cent higher than the national average and our budget, at least until Windbird is sold, is quite limited. So the search will continue. We are also going to see if there is any place we can find a slip for Windbird. There is only one place where she can stay in the water for the winter and that is Fiddler’s Cove where we have spent two of the past four winters. But their summer cost is quite high and the likelihood that they have an open slip for the summer is slim. The same is probably true for the two places that have a little dock space in Eel Pond in Woods Hole. But we will check. Mark does not feel that he has the energy to live out on a mooring, but living at a dock would work. So the search will continue.
Tomorrow we head back to the condo in Lowell. We will first stop to have lunch with my niece Lynn and then we will go to Mass General for Mark’s 3 pm appointment. I sure hope we come away with more answers than questions. After all, it is St. Patrick’s Day, and we are need of little good luck.
Day 145, Year 11: Another Day in the Life
Day 145, Year 11: Another Day in the Life
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Hi Temp 40’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA
This was another day of running to and fro . . . taking kids to school, doing laundry, grocery shopping, and picking kids up from school. But I must confess that in the midst of all of this, I stopped and took a late morning nap. I have the same cold that Heather has, so I decided that a little rest was in order. Heather came home from her speaking engagement in Boston and spent a couple of hours napping this afternoon. I am actually better tonight, but I’m not sure I can say the same for Heather. There are just not enough hours in the day for a working mom with three little boys to ever get the rest needed to be healthy.
Mark heard from his oncologist this afternoon in response to an email he sent to her. She is hoping to set an appointment for him on Thursday, but we don’t know the time. And we don’t know if she has heard anything about Mark’s eligibility for the drug trial. But right now, we just need to talk with her about the best way for Mark to manage the pain and nausea he is having. He is somewhat better since adding the anti-nausea medication, but after dinner tonight he felt really terrible. We are definitely at a point of needing additional guidance, so hopefully an appointment will be set and we will find out something. And I am beginning to panic about the prospects of finding a place to rent here on the Cape starting in May. Heather helped me negotiate through Zillow tonight, but the offerings are few and they are either places I would totally not want to live in or they are too expensive . . . the plight of life. Hey, all I want is a lovely small cottage on five acres of oceanfront property. Why can’t I find that for a price I can afford?!!
Day 144, Year 11: Still Waiting
Day 144, Year 11: Still Waiting
Date: Monday, March 14, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Some Rain, Lots of Wind, Hi Temp 40’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA
We are still waiting to hear from Mark’s oncologist about whether or not he qualifies for the drug trial. Waiting has never been a strong point for either of us, but at least we have lots of things to keep us busy. Mark is doing better now that he is taking an anti-nausea medication and once again has an appetite. But the pain meds do not keep the pain totally at bay. So overall he is better, but not great. Today was a run here and there day for me. Heather left early as she hosts an hour long show from 9 to 10 am on Monday mornings. She has a terrible cold and her voice sounds like she is in a barrel, but the show must go on! The rest of my day was spent running back and forth to Woods Hole to take Ollie to school and pick him up, doing laundry, having late morning coffee with Bruce and Jane Woodin at their home, and picking Sam and Jonah up from school. No major accomplishments from me today, but everyone got where they needed to be and got picked up. Sam and Jonah had Scouts tonight and Heather had to fill-in as Den Leader for Jonah’s Den in Jed’s absence. The activities around here just never cease—so plenty to keep us busy. Tomorrow is more of the same as Heather has to leave here at 6 am to head to Boston for another speaking engagement. The Oma Express will be up and running early in the morning.
A little note to those very good friends who have sent emails in the past week—I have received and very much appreciated your emails but have not found time to get back to you. Rest assured that I received your emails and will get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for understanding.
Day 143, Year 11: Thanks to a Dear Friend
Day 143, Year 11: Thanks to a Dear Friend
Date: Sunday, March 13, 2016
Weather: Sunny, Hi Temp 60’s (Lowell), Low 30’s F
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA
Jed left during the night to head to New Orleans and Heather left this morning around 10 am to go to a luncheon off Cape where she was the guest speaker. Mark got up briefly to eat a little breakfast, but he went back to bed. So Sam, Jonah, Ollie and I were headed out to the garden when my phone rang. It was a dear friend from southern West Virginia that we visited briefly in mid-December on one of our ‘walks down memory lane’. Jean Mason still lives on her farm in Wikel and she, like Mark, is battling cancer. Since our visit, Jean has been reading our logs, and she called this morning concerned about Mark. Reading about the pain he has been experiencing, she just wanted to make sure that he was taking an anti-nausea medication to help with the stomach issue. Mark has the medication she recommended in Lowell, but not once had we ever thought of taking it. We had to call Mass General to get the prescription on file sent to our local CVS and tonight Mark feels SO much better. He is up smiling, humming, and reading. Thank you, Jean, for your concern and for the wonderful suggestion. After talking to Jean, I also talked to Heather’s neighbor who is a nurse, and she also suggested the same anti-nausea med. It does take a village!
While talking to Jean, the boys escaped and went to the garden without me. I was watching from the deck as they got every garden tool imaginable out of the shed and put them to use. Rakes and hoes were flying, so I had to sign off with Jean and get to the garden. It was a beautiful day and Heather wanted the spring peas planted. We don’t have a rototiller, so I had challenged the boys to see who could dig the most holes in the garden as a form of tilling. Sam dug one hole almost three feet deep! By the end of the day we had lots of holes and Ollie and I had cultivated and planted the peas along the fence line. The peas will hopefully start to climb the fence in a month or so and the boys will ‘harvest’ them as snacks when the time comes. The older boys went on to other adventures when neighborhood friends came over to play soccer, but Farmer Ollie stuck with me in the garden all day. By lunch time, there were so many kids that I just put a plate of sunny butter and jelly sandwiches out on the deck and did an all call. The sandwiches disappeared and so did Sam as he had soccer practice. I friend’s mother picked him up and brought him home. Her son, Ethan, then stayed with us for the rest of afternoon and at one point there were so many children between our house and the Keefe’s next door that I lost track. Heather was home by this time, but even she didn’t know all the kids. Molly Keefe, who is Jonah’s age, had a couple of girls visiting that we didn’t know. Certainly all of the children in this neighborhood enjoyed the warm and glorious day spring-like day. But Ollie keeps reminding us that it is not yet spring. His birthday is March 21 and he doesn’t want anyone declaring spring until this birthday. And when I looked tonight at the forecast for this week, his advice is right on. It is going to be 20 degrees colder tomorrow than it was today.
This evening, after a great taco dinner with fresh salsa made by Heather, the boys enjoyed a bubble bath. They love to give themselves funny hair styles and beards with the bubbles as you will see in the photos posted here.
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| 160313 Day 143 Cape Cod, USA–Lots of Kids and Bubble Bath |
Day 142, Year 11: Spring Peepers
Day 142, Year 11: Spring Peepers
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny, Hi Temp 60’s (Lowell), Low 40’s F (Cape Cod)
Location: At Home with the Goldstones, East Falmouth, MA
Heather heard spring peepers tonight, indicating that spring must be right around the corner. Hurray! They must have known that the time changes tonight, so they came out to sing a little chorus in celebration. We spent most of the day just hanging out in the condo in Lowell, and then mid-afternoon we drove down here to Cape Cod. Jed leaves at 4 am headed to New Orleans to a conference this week. He doesn’t get home until Thursday night late, but we will probably head back to Lowell on Wednesday. Heather needs us tomorrow, Monday, and Tuesday, but she can go it alone after that. Mark seems to feel a little worse each day, so we will be calling his oncologist at Mass General on Monday morning to make an appointment to reassess pain management.
Mark and I suggested a sushi celebration tonight for dinner. Jonah is the only one that doesn’t love sushi, so I bought breaded calamari for him. That’s his sushi substitute. Dinner was fantastic.
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| 160312 Day 142 Cape Cod–Sushi Dinner with the Goldstones |
Heather has a speaking engagement tomorrow and another one on Tuesday, both off the Cape. Thus the need for the extra support in Jed’s absence. So granddad and I are alone with the boys tomorrow. Sam has soccer practice and is going to go home with one of his soccer friends to play in the afternoon. I’m hoping to invite one of Jonah’s friends over for a play date and maybe we’ll start getting ready for Ollie’s birthday party next Sunday. We have to devise an obstacle course in the backyard that includes the slack line we gave the boys for Christmas. So if granddad has any energy at all, we’ll work on that.
Day 141, Year 11: Afternoon Trip to Concord (and a little surprise)
Day 141, Year 11: Afternoon Trip to Concord (and a little surprise)
Date: Friday, March 11, 2016
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Hi Temp 50’s, Low 30’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
Humans are naturally social animals. Relationships with one another are what make the world work for us. Just as in all aspects of life, when you are battling cancer, reaching out to others is a very important part of the healing process. So we have been making an effort to see friends that we haven’t seen for way too long. This afternoon we drove north to Concord, NH, to see a young woman who Mark hired when he was general manager of New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR). Mark met Laura Knoy when she came up from Washington, DC, to help celebrate NHPR putting a repeater station on the air in the town where she graduated from high school. It became apparent that there was mutual interest in her hosting a program on NHPR. She left Washington, moved to Concord, and still hosts The Exchange, a very successful daily call-in program. We haven’t seen her for a number of years and it was great to catch up with her this afternoon. Laura always said Mark was the best boss she had ever had and certainly Laura was one of Mark’s very favorite hires. I really enjoyed watching them interact this afternoon.
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| 160311 Day 141 Cape Cod–Mark with Laura Knoy |
We then went to see Roger and Carol Brooks. Roger was the principal at the elementary school where I taught in Concord. He found out less than a month ago that he has cancer, but thankfully it is the type of lymphoma that is very treatable and curable. We have emailed back and forth over the past month, but it was great to see Roger and Carol in person and to offer them our support. We have been supported by so many people and it feels really good to be able to give back. I also enjoyed getting an update on their sons who are now in their early thirties. I had their youngest, Cameron, as a student in my first grade classroom. Today seeing photos of his wedding was so special. These kids do grow up. We wish Roger the best in his personal struggle with cancer and hope to see him often now that we are back in the northeast.
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| 160311 Day 141 Cape Cod–Visit with Roger and Carol Brooks |
And now for the “little surprise” which has nothing to do with driving to Concord this afternoon. This morning I received a text from our daughter-in-law Jo asking if March 31 through April 4 would be a good time for them to fly up from Puerto Rico to visit. My first reaction was to say that they shouldn’t spend the money to do that. Being a mother, I always worry about practicality. But I quickly dropped that line of thinking and just got so excited that they might really come. I let Jo know that those dates would be fine and later I heard from her that their flights have been booked. They offered to rent an Airbnb, but I responded that I’m sure we can figure out a place for them to stay. They might find the space a little cramped, but there is room for them to stay here with us. We’ll just get a couple of queen-sized air mattresses and have a weekend-long slumber party!
Day 140, Year 11: Rainy Day
Day 140, Year 11: Rainy Day
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain, Hi Temp mid-60’s, Low mid-40’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
It was a slow day here. It was overcast and rainy—not a lot of rain, but just enough to be irritating. In the afternoon, Mark and I went out to run an errand, and, of course, this is the one time today that it poured rain. By the time we got home, it had settled down again. Hopefully tomorrow will be a sunny day. In the best of times, I find rainy days a bit depressive.
I spent my entire day working on a couple of Shutterfly books to be given as gifts. I love doing this but it does take a lot of time. And for the second day in a row, Mark spent most of his day sleeping. He is experiencing more and more pain and even the pain medications don’t solve the problem. I sure hope we hear soon whether or not he will be included in the drug trial. In the meantime, we continue to research other things that might help slow the growth of the cancer and deal with the pain. The information is overwhelming and it is very difficult to figure out what is valid and what is not. Something we have stumbled upon in this most recent search is the information about cannabis (marijuana) in the battle against cancer and pain. I’ve heard of this before, but dismissed it. The more I read, however, the more convincing the argument. Of course, the problem is that it is illegal in most places. Most cancer patients that use cannabis use it as an oil that can be included in drinks and food. Medical marijuana is illegal in Massachusetts but you can buy hemp oil and hemp protein powder. Hemp is related to, but not the same as marijuana, but it still has some positive effects. So Mark is now drinking a green smoothie each morning with hemp oil, hemp powder, and chia seeds added to it. At this point, we’ll try almost anything!
We have received even more supportive emails from friends and family regarding our decision to put Windbird on the market. Thank you so much for pointing out all of the positives of living on land. And thank you for being there.
Day 139, Year 11: Dinner with Friends
Day 139, Year 11: Dinner with Friends
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Weather: Sunny and 80 degrees F!!!
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
It was 80 degrees here today. Wahoo!!! But otherwise today was quiet until about 2:30 pm when I got a call from friend Tom Porat. I had just sent an email to Tom and to Detta giving them directions for getting here for dinner tomorrow night. Tom called to say that they thought they were coming to dinner tonight. Evidently Detta had sent a text yesterday asking to change the dinner date to this evening. I totally missed that text, so the mix-up was totally my fault. I told Tom I’d pull things together and we’d be ready when they got here at 5:30 pm. But getting ready meant going to the store to buy the fish for dinner. Should be easy, right? Wrong. The Google Maps app on my phone could not connect, so I had to drive from here to the supermarket in Nashua, NH, from memory. We’ve only driven the backroads to there one time and I got ‘a little lost’ on the way there. But I was able to figure it out after only a couple of wrong turns. The trip home was not so easy, however. I got really lost and finally had to stop and ask a young couple to help me. Unfortunately, they were visiting in Lowell and had no idea how to help me. It was a very warm afternoon and everyone had their car windows rolled down. A guy in a car that rolled up to the stop sign heard my plea and told me to follow him. This guy was straight out of the 1950’s—white t-shirt with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve. Haven’t seen that for years. This kind man drove way out of his way to get me on the right path. Thank you, Mr. 1950’s!
So I did find my way home and I got dinner under control. Tom and Detta arrived and we had a great evening together. It is so nice to be close enough to get together with our New Hampshire friends. And speaking of friends, thanks to those of you who sent emails of support to us after reading last night’s log about putting Windbird on the market. I think our son Justin pegged the problem when he said, “It is good to be sad about moving on to a new part of life – means you’ve been having a great time.” And a good time we have been having living aboard Windbird for the past twelve years. And then our daughter Heather emailed telling us that the Goldstones will do their best to make life on land “as much fun as possible.” No need to be sad with promises like that.
Day 138, Year 11: Belated Birthday Confession
Day 138, Year 11: Belated Birthday Confession
Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, High upper-50’s, Low upper-30’s F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
I celebrated my 69th birthday on Saturday, but something much more momentous than my birthday happened on that day. I just have not had the strength to talk about. Windbird, that beautiful sailboat that we have called home for almost thirteen years, went on the market on Saturday. This is something that we have talked about, but in my mind it always seemed to be something that would happen in the future . . . not now. As the person who never thought she could live on a sailboat, much less sail around the world, it seems particularly ironic that I am the one who has resisted any thought of ending our life aboard Windbird. But the time has come and I am working hard to get with the program. Mark and I had a wonderful life before Windbird came along. But when Mark and I added a third partner to our relationship, our beloved Windbird, she took us to new levels. It is really hard to explain how a person can be so attached to an inanimate object, but Windbird is strong, she is forgiving, she has traveled over 45,000 miles around the world with us, protecting us all the way, and she has never, ever disappointed. If she doesn’t sell right away, I will still find a crew to sail her back to Cape Cod for the summer. But once the summer is over, Mark and I will find a place to live on land. I have loved the cruising life and am not looking forward to life on land, but I’m sure I will somehow relearn the joys of land living. I’m relying on you, those die hard family members and friends who have stuck with us throughout the Voyage of Windbird, to support us through this next transition.
A friend from Lightkeepers in Little River is our sales agent. John Schwab with Triton Yacht Sales is our broker. When we left Windbird in Little River on February 25th, I had no idea that we would be putting Windbird up for sale before I returned to sail her north in May. I left her looking very lived in. When I looked at the photos that John has taken of the interior of the boat for the listing, I actually laughed out loud. The bag of clothes pins is still sitting on the nav station and a winter’s worth of toilet paper is still in the hanging bag in the v-berth. I did not leave the boat in any shape to be shown to prospective buyers. But John has worked to make her look as good as possible in that situation. Thank you, John! And if anyone does come to look at Windbird, they can rest assured that nothing has been hidden. I’m copying the link to the listing below in case you are interested in taking a peak. Now I just need to figure out how to adjust to life on land. If you have any good suggestions, please send them my way.
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| 160308 Day 138 Cape Cod, USA–Windbird for Sale |
Day 137, Year 11: Birthday Dinner with Family
Day 137, Year 11: Birthday Dinner with Family
Date: Monday, March 7, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, High 50, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in Evergreen Preserve, Lowell, MA
This afternoon we drove just a few miles down the road to visit with my nieces Lynn and Candi. Candi keeps her youngest granddaughter, Hailey, on Mondays, so we also got to see little Hailey, her mom Katie, and Candi’s eight year-old granddaughter Grace. When we arrived we got to play with Hailey. Hailey will be one the end of April and she is a feisty little one. So cute! We enjoyed visiting and then Candi served a fantastic dinner. Brad Jr. joined us and we had a lively political conversation during dinner. Dessert was a birthday cake in honor of my 69th, but the cake had only 16 candles. Grace wanted to know hold old I was and I told her to count the candles. She didn’t fall for that! It was a lovely evening. Thank you, Candi!
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| 160307 Day 137 Cape Cod, USA–Visit with Candi and Lynn |
Otherwise the day was business as usual. Mark worked most of the day on his consulting job. I edited, named, and posted photos and made a very frustrating trip to the closes supermarket. It is in the center of the city and the traffic going to and from was crazy. And the selection at this Market Basket was not great. I’ll have to find a better alternative.