Day 281, Year 6 Ashfield to Boston to Cape Cod
Date: Monday, August 1, 2011
Weather: Hot and Sunny
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Breakfast at Elmer’s Store this morning was a great way to start the day. Ziggy with his white, fuzzy ‘almost’ hair and killer light blue eyes charmed everyone in the restaurant. He can be quite the two-year old adamantly saying no and then he can turn around and be Mr. Cooperation with a great big smile. So cute! After Elmer’s, we drove for two and a half hours to get us into Boston. We parked at Mass General Hospital because it is the cheapest parking in town and because Mark had an appointment there today. By the time we all walked to Quincy Market, it was time for Mark to turn around and get back for his appointment. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and I hung out around Quincy Market, some of us having lemonade and others having yoghurt cones. It was a hot day, but we still enjoyed the walk through town. By 2:30 pm we were all back in the car and headed to Logan Airport. Mark was with us because his appointment took less time than he thought. Basically the doctor just wanted to talk to him to see how he feels about continuing the self-catheterization and to recommend a neurological examination. The doctor has consulted with other physicians about Mark’s case, which he calls unusual, and the general consensus is that he needs to go through a complete neurological exam to rule out any causes from the nervous system. That is the next step. And if nothing new is discovered in that examination, it may then be time to do laser surgery to open the urethra slightly to see if that might help. The doctor knows of one other case similar to Mark’s where that solved the problem even though no one knew why.
We dropped Justin, Jo, and Ziggy off at the American Airlines departure point with their three huge bags, one very large case containing a sitar, one small case containing a violin, two backpacks, and two other personal carry-on items. They aren’t home yet, but we are anxious to find out how much it cost to take that much luggage cross-country. We so much enjoyed our few days together and we are really going to miss them. And we are more than a bit nervous about their return as the house sitters have seen two rattlesnakes in the yard and one in the house while they were gone. It has been super hot and their house is near an old open mine shaft–not a good combination. They are home for a month and then off again in their bus to Burning Man in northern Nevada. Their band, Silvermouse will be playing music there. But Burning Man is much more than a music event. It is a radical communal living experience that is as hard to explain as it is to explain a certain color to a blind person according to the website. I can’t wait to hear more about this in the week before Labor Day.
After dropping off JJ&Z, we headed to the International Terminal E to meet our friends Linda, Michael, and Garrett who were flying in from Amsterdam via London. I had the arrival time wrong by an hour, so we waited for the first flight from Heathrow to exit. It took more than an hour, but then we were pretty sure there were no more passengers from that flight. We saw another flight coming in from London on the board, so Mark went out to the car to check emails from Linda to see what flight they should actually be on. He returned and reported that it was the next flight, so again we waited, and waited, and waited. The terminal was looking empty and there was still no Linda, Michael, and Garrett. We finally gave up and headed home, sad to not get to see them. The first thing I did when we got back on the boat was check email, and sure enough, they had missed their flight. They will be flying in tomorrow but unfortunately we won’t get to see them. Garrett leaves for college in a few weeks so we really hope to find a way to meet in Boston and see him before he leaves.
Another two hour drive got us back to Windbird in Woods Hole on the Cape. Mark doesn’t work tomorrow, so we’ll spend the morning continuing our cleaning and polishing job on Windbird before I head out to pick-up Sam and Jonah from Summer Camp. What a lucky Oma I am to have three beautiful grandchildren. Ziggy, I miss you already. And Sam and Jonah, I’ll see you tomorrow.
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| 110801 Day 281 Cape Cod, USA–Farewell to JJ&Z |
