Day 353, Year 10: Travel Day
Date: Monday, September 28, 2015
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Warm, Temp in the upper 70’s
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

This was a travel day. Jed drove his mom, Marti, home to Washington, DC, and I drove Mark to Boston and then returned to the Cape. So the Handleys and the Goldstones put on a few miles today. Heather had to stay home with Ollie as he had a slight fever and when I got back from Boston, I stopped by Heather’s to help out in Jed’s absence. Sam and Jonah both had Scouts tonight, so Heather went with them. This was Jonah’s very first Scout meeting. Last winter he said he didn’t want to become a Scout when he was old enough because it required too much sitting and listening, but over the summer he changed his mind. He seemed very excited when he came home tonight wearing his Boy Scout shirt and hat. It seems he is going to like Scouts more than he thought. While the big boys went to their Scout meeting, I stayed at home with Ollie. He is feeling much better and will probably be able to go to school tomorrow, but Heather thought it best that he stay home tonight. The two of us had a nice, relaxed evening together.

Tomorrow is an Early Release Day for Sam and Jonah, so once again Heather will have to be home in the afternoon, this time with the big boys. Ollie could stay at preschool all day, but I will pick him up at 1 pm and bring him home so he can have a long nap in his own bed. It looks like a lot of rain is headed our way this week, but hopefully it will hold off until Wednesday so the boys can play outside tomorrow afternoon. Along with the rain will come much cooler weather, so tomorrow might be the last summer-like day for playing outside for a few days.

150928 Day 353 Cape Cod, USA–Sam and Jonah in Scout Uniforms

Day 352, Year 10: Of Fish and the Moon
Date: Sunday, September 27, 2015
Weather: Gorgeous Day Ending with a Lunar Eclipse
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

This was a day of fish and the moon, and what a gorgeous day it was. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue with not a cloud all day and has been mostly clear tonight with only a few scattered clouds. Mark and I made a decision to just hang out on the boat and relax all day, an almost unheard of experience around here. In the morning we did go to shore to drive into Woods Hole to buy eggs and milk and on the way back to the boat in the dinghy we found ourselves in the middle of huge schools of small fish–peanut bunkers, AKA pogies or menhaden. They were so thick that Mark felt like it was momentarily difficult for the motor to move us forward. We’ve never experienced anything like this before. And it got even better as the day progressed. When we came out into the cockpit to eat lunch we looked into the water to see huge schools of 5-8 inch long fish. These were definitely not peanut-sized and I’m not totally sure what I was seeing. I assumed they were bunkers or menhaden, but Atlantic Menhaden are supposed to have gray tails. These fish definitely had yellow tails. Gulf (of Florida) Menhaden have yellow tails, but they should not be here. So hopefully someone with some local knowledge can help me out here. What I do know is that they were everywhere around the boat, all swimming in the same direction as if leaving the harbor. I watched until my vision got blurry as they swam just barely under the water. By the time I had finished my lunch, they were gone, at least gone from our location in the inner harbor.

Mid-afternoon we drove down to the beach and took a 2-mile hike on the bike path. The bike path is called the Shining Sea Bikeway and today there was certainly a shiny, sparkly sea beside us as we walked. It was after 4 pm when we got back to the car, so we headed to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. We thought we were having left-overs, but Jed’s mom, Marti, decided that she would treat us all to the take-out of choice. That choice ended up to be sushi which we all enjoyed immensely. Thank you, Marti! Jed will head to Washington, DC, with Marti in the morning. She will be returning home after being away for the summer and Jed will help get all systems up and running before flying home on Tuesday. Unfortunately the weekend was not good for Ollie’s cold and he will be staying at home tomorrow with momma. I will drive Mark back to Boston and then come home to get ready for what looks like a week of rain and strong winds from the northeast. If the weather forecast is correct, tomorrow will be the last day without rain for the next seven.

Tonight the total focus has been on the total eclipse of that beautiful supermoon. Right on cue, just after 9 pm the eclipse began. The lower left portion of the moon began darkening and an hour later you could only see a shadow of the moon with just a tad of highlighting on the bottom right side. It is now after mid-night and the light is returning to the lower left side of the moon. We are so lucky to have had such a clear sky so we could watch this incredible show. Today was a triple feature with the schools of very small fish, the schools of much larger fish, and then the total eclipse.

150927 Day 352 Cape Cod, USA–Schools of Fish & Supermoon Total Eclipse

Day 351, Year 10: Win, Win, Win
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2015
Weather: Another Beautiful, Albeit a Bit Cool, Fall Day
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Sam had an early morning soccer game and his team won. So one win for today. At noon Jonah’s team played and they won their game. A second win for today. And late this afternoon, Heather and Jed hosted a birthday party for Heather. It was also a winner. So I’ll call this a win, win, win day.

It was another beautiful fall day, but it was even cooler than yesterday and tonight will be in the low 50’s F. I’m hoping it warms back up a bit as it feels chilly tonight. But we didn’t let a little chill in the air stop our fun. For Heather’s party, Jed grilled marinated flank steak and grilled salmon on cedar planks. Both were delicious. Marti made most of the appetizers and everyone brought side dishes. It looked and tasted like a fall feast. But as the sun went down it got even chillier, so Jed built a fire in the fire pit and everyone enjoyed the warmth from that. Heather’s actual birthday is this coming Wednesday, so she has a few more days of celebration before the real deal. Party on.
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150926 Day 351 Cape Cod, USA–Saturday Soccer and Heather's BD Party

Day 350, Year 10: Early Birthday Celebration for Heather
Date: Friday, September 25, 2015
Weather: Another Beautiful Fall Day (cooler than yesterday)
Location: Back Home on Windbird in Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Mark and I shopped our way home from Boston this afternoon. We made the obligatory stops at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Costco and arrived at Heather and Jed’s before 5 pm. We bought a number of items Jed needed for Heather’s ‘Fall Feast’ birthday party tomorrow, so we stopped to drop those things off before heading to Windbird. Jed’s mother, Marti, arrived yesterday, and when we arrived this afternoon she was slaving away in the kitchen fixing an early birthday dinner for tonight. She invited us to stay and the aroma emanating from the oven wouldn’t let us refuse. Before dinner Jed and the boys surprised Heather with birthday gifts. She was presented with 40 roses, one for each year of her life to date, and a couple of Adirondack chairs for the backyard. After dinner, Marti distributed ‘unbirthday’ gifts for each of us and had a mask for Heather with new earrings attached to it. The mask was the upper part of a woman’s face and it looked so funny when Heather put it on. Then Jed and the boys then each took turns and it was hilarious. Heather just might have to wear that mask for the party tomorrow.

150925 Day 350 Cape Cod, USA–Early Birthday Celebration for Heather

Mark’s run of feeling fantastic ended during the night. He doesn’t have radiation or take the chemo pills on the weekends, so he starts the week off feeling great. Then the side effects accumulate and by Friday he is feeling yucky again. At least that is our best guess. But at least he is still able to function, he just doesn’t feel great like he did on Tuesday through Thursday. We’ll see if this pattern repeats itself next week.

Day 349, Year 10: Meeting Michael
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2015
Weather: Beautiful Fall Day (more like summer)
Location: AstraZeneca Hope Lodge, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood, Boston, MA

Meeting Michael was definitely the highlight of our day. He is a scientist working for Genzyme, a Sanofi company located in Cambridge. Genzyme’s mother company, Sanofi, is a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Paris, France. Michael works in the oncology unit, searching for therapies that more specifically target certain kinds of cancer. We met him at the dinner hosted by Genzyme/Sanofi at the Hope Lodge this evening when he asked if he could join us at our table. The food was delicious and as Michael explained it was prepared in the Genzyme cafeteria and delivered and served by employees. When I say the food was delicious, I really mean that . . . herb encrusted chicken breast, barley and mushroom risotto, grilled squash and carrots, quinoa and arugula salad with cranberries and orange pieces. Yum, yum, yum. And Michael told us the food is always that good. The company wants to keep its employees well fed and happy while they work. It was delightful sit and talk with Michael during dinner, meeting face to face one of the scientists that has dedicated his life to cancer treatment research. Thank you Michael and all of your colleagues, Genzyme, and Sanofi for the important work you do. We are the face of appreciation.

150924 Day 349 Cape Cod, USA–Dinner at Hope House

So obviously, I drove to Boston today to spend time with Mark. The weather was just absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed a walk down the street to get a Subway sub for lunch. We then drove to Mass General and spent the remainder of the afternoon there. Mark is looking and feeling great. The haircut he got at the hospital two days ago looks really good and he has more energy than I do. So all is well here. His radiation appointment tomorrow is at noon. After that we’ll do a little food shopping and head back to the Cape before the rush hour traffic begins.

Day 348, Year 10: Definitely Feels Like Fall
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2015
Weather: Wind NE, Daytime Temp Upper 60’s F, Nighttime 50’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Today it is official. Fall has arrived and it definitely feels like it here on the Cape. The days are quickly getting shorter and the temperature took a ten degree dip over the weekend. The mornings are cool, the sun warms things up quickly for the day, and then it gets really cool once the sun goes down in the evening. I brought the down comforter home from storage this evening. I think we are going to need it sooner rather than later.

I started my day with a walk with Jane Woodin. It was great to see Jane and the walk was a perfect way to welcome fall. I then went to storage to measure Justin’s surfboard. Now, you might ask, why in the world was I doing that? Well, we are flying to Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving and Justin would like us to bring his old surfboard. And it will need some special packaging to make the trip. A few days ago we found out that Jed is going to San Juan for a conference the week before Thanksgiving. We started talking and Heather decided that she would take the kids out of school and fly down for the end of Jed’s conference and then go visit her brother. We couldn’t let that happen without tagging along. Heather booked the tickets last night, so we are all going to Puerto Rico!!! Mark and I love seeing all five grandchildren together, so we can’t wait. Heather, Jed, and boys will spend one week and then we will stay an additional week to have some special time with just Ziggy and Coco. Our fall schedule is certainly a full one with lots of travel, but we are looking forward to it.

I went to Heather’s after visiting storage and did a little house cleaning as an early birthday present for her. I also did some fall gardening. I finished shoveling out one of the compost bins and finished the fall planting. Today I planted kale, cilantro, and Swiss chard to go along with the arugula and various kinds of lettuce I planted a couple of days ago.

Tomorrow morning I am going to drive to Boston to spend some time with Mark. I’ll only be there about 24 hours before we head home on Friday afternoon. He has three different appointments tomorrow afternoon, so we’ll spend most of our time in waiting rooms. But that’ s okay. I just want to keep him company and be his chauffeur for the day.
Note: Quissett Harbor was once again teeming with Menhaden this morning.

150923 Day 348 Cape Cod, USA–Menhaden in Quissett Harbor

Day 347, Year 10: Another Day with Ollie
Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Weather: Wind NE, High Temp in the Upper 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Ollie was better this morning and could have gone to school, but he didn’t sleep well last night and needed rest. So we hung out together again today. He is so easy to be with—always looking for something funny to make us laugh, always cooperative. We ate an early lunch and then headed to the closest Home Depot to buy some ‘mums for momma’ for her birthday. I told him the flowers we were buying are called chrysanthemums but that most people shorten that and call them ‘mums’. He thought it was funny that we were buying ‘mums for momma’ and announced this to everyone in the check-out line. It was a good day and he got a long afternoon nap. When he woke up, he announced that his cold is all better. Let’s hope he is right.

Mark also had a great day in Boston. He had to be at Mass General at 8:30 am this morning and was done with that procedure by 9 am. His radiation appointment was at 3:30 pm, so he was not sure what he was going to do with his day. I suggested he walk down to the Aquarium in the harbor and hop on the ferry to Charlestown where we lived on Windbird before taking off to sail around the world. I thought it might be interesting to see how things have changed. After getting a haircut in the hospital barbershop, he decided to take me up on my suggestion and did really enjoy it. It meant that he had to walk over three miles to and from the ferry, but he felt great and that was no problem. But then on the T ride home at the end of the day, the T once again stopped about a mile from the Hope Lodge and announced that everyone had to get off and catch the next trolley. The other day when this happened, he just walked home, but today he was already tired and decided to wait for the next trolley. It actually came too quickly and he had to run to catch it. That did him in, so he is tired out tonight. Still he feels invigorated by the day’s activities.

. . . maybe tomorrow I’ll make it to the storage unit.

150922 Day 347 Cape Cod, USA–Heron on the Beach

Day 346, Year 10: Summer to Fall
Date: Monday, September 21, 2015
Weather: North Wind, High Temp in the 60’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Saturday felt like a beautiful mid-summer’s day and this morning it was obvious that fall is here. The change from summer to fall was abrupt, but at least it is still sunny and beautiful . . . just cool. The high temperature today was only in the mid-60’s and tonight it will dip into the 50’s. Brrrrr. But no one here can complain. We have had the longest and warmest summer we have ever experienced in New England and it was glorious. But it is now time to break out the polar fleece jackets and down comforters. Fall has come to New England.

I slipped out of bed this morning trying not to wake Mark. I rowed to shore and headed to Heather’s to take Ollie to school. But his cold had gotten the best of him and he needed to stay home today. Heather knew I had to take Mark to Boston and Ollie was fine with traveling with us, so the decision was made that he would be with me for the day. I stayed at home with him for a bit and then we headed back to the boat to get Mark. Ollie was convinced that when you are sick you should be allowed to watch Berenstain Bears videos. So he watched a short video while we got things ready to head to Boston and then continued watching in the car on my computer. We took Granddad to the Hope Lodge to drop off some of his things and then we drove on into downtown Boston to drop Mark off at Mass General. Then Ollie and I headed back home. We got here in time to pick Sam and Jonah up from school. Unfortunately Ollie’s cold seemed worse, not better, by day’s end, so I might have him again tomorrow. If not, I’ll head to the storage unit to dig out the down comforter and continue to go through the boxes in the hopes of finding lots of things that can be tossed. My good friend Linda Stuart and her husband Mike just biked across the border into Mexico. A BIG congrats to them. And everything they own is carried on their two bikes. I’ll never get to that level, but a few less boxes in storage would sure be nice.

150921 Day 346 Cape Cod, USA–Ollie and Granddad Driving the Dinghy

Day 345, Year 10: Sunday Fun Day
Date: Sunday, September 20, 2015
Weather: Cooling Down
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

We had another great day just hanging out with Heather and the boys. I’m calling this day Sunday Fun Day. It wasn’t until the end of the day that I remembered that we had thought about going to the boat show in Newport. We were having way too much fun to think about that. Sam was the first one up this morning, then me, and then Jonah. While they quietly played MineCraft on our phones, I started getting breakfast. About that time Heather got up and Sam rowed her to shore so she could do an early morning run. When he returned he told us that an osprey was sitting on the top of our mast. I love osprey and I love to see them sitting on the top of masts on other boats—just not mine. It is not the sitting that I object to. It is the little ‘presents’ they drop on the deck that drive me crazy.

Ollie (Ollie had a good night with very little coughing) and Mark got up while Heather was out running and we were all finished eating breakfast when she returned. She swam out to the boat from the beach, had breakfast, and then headed back to the beach with the boys. Sam rowed the dinghy, Mark and Ollie went for a kayak ride and then Mark dropped Ollie off on the beach, and Heather and Jonah swam over. Jonah had to wear his ‘swimmies’ (floatation device), but he loved swimming in the deep water with mama. He has always been very tentative about swimming, so this is a true break-through. And besides, he was interested in swimming with the huge schools of fish we saw yesterday and today. In last night’s log I didn’t mention schools of little fish that we watched in the water yesterday afternoon, but I must mention them now. Sam discovered the fish yesterday as he was out exploring in the dinghy. He was amazed by the huge number of fish swimming around the dinghy and he came back to the beach to take us out to see the phenomenon. We’re talking thousands and thousands and thousands of little fish. I saw a fishing boat putting out a net and I sent Heather and Sam over in the dinghy to ask them what they were catching. They told us they were netting peanut bunkers and catching larger bunkers. When they returned with their report we all looked at each other and asked, “What’s a bunker?” Ollie found one on the beach minus his back half, but it was enough for us to use as positive identification. After a little internet research we found out that they are actually Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus). They are also called pogies. The ‘peanut’ version is about 3-5 inches long and the fully mature fish are about a foot to 15 inches in length. These fish are silvery and are in the herring family. The word Menhaden comes from the Native American word munnwhatteaug which translates as “that which manures” or fertilizer. The Native Americans used the menhaden to fertilize their crops. Pogy also has a Native American origin coming from the words pauhagen or pookagan and these words mean the same as munnawhatteaug. So where does the term ‘bunker’ come from? Evidently it can be traced to a similar looking fish found in the Netherlands, the Marsbanker, changed to Mossbunker in this country, and then shortened to ‘bunker.’ Whatever you might call them, they have totally taken over Quissett Harbor. If you are sitting on the beach, it sounds like raindrops as they jump up out of the water. And the osprey, cormorants, and seagulls are here in abundance catching these little guys. It is quite a show and we all really enjoyed watching it up close.

Jonah was on a crab catching mission this morning and caught calico crabs and hermit crabs while Sam just frolicked in the water. Ollie did a little of both, but it was a cloudy morning and soon everyone was a little chilly. So Heather, Jonah, and Ollie on this boogie board, swam back to Windbird while Sam and I rowed. We all headed to Heather’s to play and to work in the yard and garden. Garden work was definitely on the agenda for today and we got a lot done. Heather did most of the weeding and clean-up and Jonah and I worked together using the push plow to get the garden ready for planting cool weather crops like lettuce, arugula, spinach, Swiss chard, and kale. We should have planted a couple of weeks ago, but there just wasn’t time. So we’ll hope it stays warm enough, long enough, to harvest the fruits of our labor. Jonah and I also emptied one of the compost bins in the garden and Jonah collected masses of earth worms from the compost to repopulate the worm box in the basement. The whole time he worked with me, he kept saying over and over how much fun he was having. So I kept working so he could continue having so much fun. While we did this, Sam kept himself busy with neighborhood friends, and Granddad and Ollie read and took a little nap. Heather and I were both exhausted at the end of the day, so we had Thai take-out for dinner. We did nothing grand this weekend, but Mark and I both enjoyed every minute of it.

Tomorrow starts another busy week. I’ll take Mark back to Boston tomorrow and return in time to pick the boys up from school. I’ll stay here on Tuesday and Wednesday and then return to Boston on Thursday and stay with Mark until we come home on Friday afternoon. Saturday is Heather’s 40th birthday party. Lordy, Lordy, Heather’s gonna be 40! Can’t believe my baby girl is going to be celebrating her 40th.

150920 Day 345 Cape Cod, USA–Sunday Fun

Day 344, Year 10: Super Saturday
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2015
Weather: Beautiful Summer Weather
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, MA

Today was a super Saturday filled with grandkid activities. We went from Sam’s soccer game to Jonah’s soccer game to the elementary school fun day to the beach in Quissett’s inner harbor to dinner on Windbird. Jed left for Maine this afternoon and Heather came to Quissett with the boys and all are spending the night with us tonight. Ollie is getting a cold and coughed a lot last night. Sure hope he has a better night tonight.

Mark and I started the day by moving Windbird back into the inner harbor. We were in here for most of the month of July after dragging our mooring in the outer harbor. When we returned from Fiddler’s Cove where we had work done on the boat, there was no room in the inner harbor so we were once again outside. There’s nothing wrong with being on the moorings in the outer harbor, but it sure is more convenient to be inside. It is very close to the dock and it will be a lot easier for me during the week when Mark is in Boston. The kids love it because the boat is so close to the beach where they play. We can row and swim back and forth easily. Of course, the swimming time is nearing an end, but we’ll continue to act like it is summer as long as we can.
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150919 Day 344 Cape Cod, USA–Soccer and School Carnival