2018 Life Logs, Day 273—Another Happy Birthday Wish
Date: Sunday, September 30, 2018
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High 68, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Here’s to Heather . . . another Happy Birthday wish. We celebrated yesterday, but today was her real birth date. She chose to spend it working about the house rather than relaxing—way too much like her mother. But she did stop working mid-afternoon and took off all by herself with the three boys to go fishing and to have a simple picnic dinner at the beach. I surely hope that all went well. I know from experience that fishing with the three boys can be a challenging experience. So I will be anxious to hear how that went. In any event, I wish the happiest of happy to Heather in her next year of life.
I worked on projects at the Cottage in the morning, went over to Heather’s to help out a bit in the afternoon, and then went to the hospital to visit with Shirley, the woman from whom I rent the cottage. She had a heart attack last week and is struggling with recovery. She wanted to know all about how I have been spending my time and I shared with her that I have been picking apples off the ground from a big, old tree in her yard to make apple sauce. And when I left, I asked if there was anything I could do or get for her. All she asked for was some homemade applesauce. She is sure hospital food is trying to do her in and that homemade applesauce will make things better. So I’ll can some small jars and take them to her tomorrow afternoon.
From the hospital, I drove to Woods Hole to have dinner aboard S/V Star with Irene and Steve Macek. For more than thirty years, they have been sailing back and forth between Woods and the Caribbean, except for the years they spent sailing around the world. They spend their summers aboard their beautiful 3-masted sailboat, Star, in Eel Pond in Woods Hole, and their winters at their home on the island of Nevis in the Caribbean. Mark and I got to know them when we were living aboard in Woods Hole and Mark was working at West Marine. It has been much too long since we have been together, so tonight was a very special evening on Star. Irene served a wonderful dinner and we really enjoyed the time to just sit and talk. Woods Hole is a small village and neighbors do just stop by to say hello. So tonight the man who is the principal engineer in WHOI’s Deep Submergence Lab dropped by to say farewell to Irene and we all enjoyed talking about sailing. Irene is flying home to England tomorrow and when she returns, Steve will have Star ready for the sail back to the Caribbean. I am contemplating meeting Windbird in Nevis in January and will Steve and Irene in their home there if I make that decision. They made it sound very inviting, so hopefully that plan will work out.
