Day 254, Year 6 Getting Organized
Date: Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Weather: Sunny, Warmer Day, Temp Hovering Around 80
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Getting ourselves “organized” for this new life on Cape Cod is not proving to be easy. We can’t even figure out the cheapest and best plan for a cell phone and internet. But we are making headway. I know I will be taking care of Sam and Jonah every weekday afternoon, but I have to figure out how to best spend my mornings. My goal is to get our website updated and then start writing a book about our voyage. Mark only knows his work schedule the week prior, so he has to be super flexible. Things should start falling into place now that Heather, Jed, and boys are back from Maine, but in only three weeks, Justin, Jo, and Ziggy will arrive from England and we will be spending time with them. So just as in cruising, flexibility is the name of the game.

I dropped Mark off at West Marine this morning at 8:45 am and then launched into a flurry of chores-went to the grocery store to get things to fix dinner for Heather and Jed, picked up a prescription for Mark at the drug store, went to the gas station to fill up the Honda (Heather’s old car that we have been driving), and went to the Falmouth Library’s Buck a Bag book sale. What a deal. I was able to get the Northwest Caribbean cruising guide that had been priced at $20 on Sunday for $1, plus the whole bag of books for the same price. I then went to Heather and Jed’s and divided my time between gardening and computer work. The gang got home from Maine at about 4:15 pm and I had to leave an hour later to pick Mark up from work. I was in the garden when Heather, Jed, and kids got home, so everyone ended up in the garden doing various chores. Jonah decided he need to weed while Jed and Sam helped me put up tripods around the hills of pole beans and squash. Heather spent time trying to figure out how to best stake some of her tomato plants that have grown out of their tomato cages. It is so delightful to see that gardening is definitely a whole family activity for Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah, just as it always was for Mark, Justin, Heather, and me.

The weather today was gorgeous and was a tad bit warmer than it has been. But when we return to Windbird in the evenings and sun goes down, I have to close the hatches so I don’t freeze to death. Well, I’m sure no one ever froze to death with temps in the 70’s, but the breeze through the boat is too much for me. And just about the time we get acclimated, fall will come and the temps will drop even more. Oh me, oh my. What will we do then?