2022 Life Logs, Day 254: Celebration of Mark’s Life, Year 6
Date: Sunday, September 11, 2022
Weather: Cloudy; High 78, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
This was Mark’s favorite quote . . . as messing about in boats was his very favorite thing to do. Every year on the anniversary of his death, Heather and family do something with me that brings us all together near the water to celebrate Mark’s life. Today was a very special celebration because it was my first sail on the Goldstone’s new sailboat. What a delight to sail 4, 5, 6+ knots in only 5 to 7 knots of wind. Eider glides seamlessly through the water with all three Goldpebbles as crew members. Today, Heather was at the helm for most of the sail,
but Sam and Jed both took turns as well.
Jonah and Ollie helped with sail trim and dinghy driving and Ollie assisted Jed with dropping the mooring line and picking it up.
How proud Mark would have been to see Sam, Jonah, and Ollie taking on these responsibilities and to see his daughter in command of her own family sailboat.
Jonah had a mid-afternoon soccer game north and west of Providence, Rhode Island, so we had to head in just after 1 pm. Jonah, Jed, and Ollie hopped in the dinghy as soon as we picked up the mooring with Jonah driving in and Ollie bringing the dinghy back to pick up Sam, Heather, and myself. The four of us then went to Fisherman’s View restaurant on the Canal for lunch. Heather’s salmon poke bowl looked spectacular,
and we all had a spider crab ‘toast’ in honor of granddad’s love of soft-shelled crab.
We then ended our day with a shopping spree in Hyannis. Sam wanted to go to West Marine and Home Depot. Heather wanted to go to West Marine and Whole Foods. And we all wanted to go to Trader Joe’s for specific items. WE shopped and then the Goldstones headed home to regroup and go to a 7 pm group appointment at CVS for Covid boosters. Ollie is not eligible age-wise for the new booster, but everyone else was. I was not aware that the new booster was out already. I’ll have to get online tomorrow to make an appointment.
