Day 287, Year 6 Stormy Weather
Date: Sunday, August 7, 2011
Weather: Heavy Rain Overnight and All Day
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Stormy does not quite describe last night and today’s weather here in Woods Hole. Today was the 50th Anniversary of Cape Cod National Seashore but it certainly wasn’t a typical Cape Cod summer day for the celebration. Rain came down in buckets off and on all night and day and it was super windy, even here in protected Eel Pond. The temperature hovered around 70 degrees F, so at least it wasn’t super cool-just looks and feels like fall. But despite the yucky weather, we managed to have a great day. Just after 6:30 am, I heard “a little mouse” in the main cabin. I got up to check things out and saw that Sam was up and reading books. He immediately told me his parents had told him it was too early to be up, but I convinced him it would be okay if we went up to the cockpit to read together. Sometime later Jed delivered Jonah to the cockpit and the three of us ate cereal, built boats out of Legos, and read books together. By 8 am, Mark was up and ready to go to work. He ate his breakfast with us and played with the boys until 8:30 am. Then we put rain jackets and life jackets on the boys over their pajamas, put on our foul weather gear, and went to shore to deliver Granddad. Sam drove Jonah and I around the pond for a little tour after we dropped Granddad at the WHOI dock. It was pouring rain, but we were having a good time despite the wet. Sam came very close to a few mooring balls and needed a little help heading into the wind to do the last stretch to get back to Windbird, but otherwise he really drove the dinghy by himself with verbal directions once a while from Oma. Jonah helped steer some of the time and we all had a good time. When we got back to Windbird, mommy and daddy were up and helped get the wet boys aboard-but not for long. Jed wanted to go ashore to pick up a paper and some coffee, and both boys insisted on going along, so it was back in the dinghy for another wet ride. When they returned we had a second breakfast of bacon, eggs, bagels with cream cheese, and toast with Aunt Patsy’s strawberry jam. It was yummy. We listened to the three very loud and long blasts of one of WHOI’s research vessels going to sea for the a month and then decided to get properly dressed and go to shore for a little explore. There were tours of the Knorr, a second WHOI research vessel that has been in port for a few days, but the line was VERY long and the rain was pouring down. So we just looked at the Knorr from shore. We then visited the little aquarium in Woods Hole and enjoyed looking at some the world’s strangest looking fish and “petting” a few critters in the touch tank. But the highlight was watching the seals in the pool outside the aquarium swim round and round putting on a show for us. We did a complete walking circumnavigation of Eel Pond in the rain, visited the secret garden next to the bell tower, and returned to Windbird by early afternoon for lunch and naps-all of us. Walking in the rain must be exhausting as it caused all of us to be sleepy heads. Mark returned from work at 4:30 pm and shortly thereafter, Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah headed home. Now Windbird seems just a little quiet, but hopefully the whole gang will come back to visit soon.
We got an email from my sister-in-law Conda this evening with news of her grandson Josh. Josh is the oldest grandchild of my deceased brother Dickie and his wife Conda. He graduated from college this spring is now headed to New Hampshire to do a one-year stint with AmeriCorp. I can’t believe Josh is old enough to be out on his own, but since he is and is in our “neighborhood” we are going to have to find a way to visit with him or have him visit us soon. We haven’t been to New Hampshire to visit with friends since returning, so maybe we can combine the visits. We are anxious to see Josh and give him a proper welcome to New England. And hopefully when we do the weather will be better than it has been this weekend!
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| 110807 Day 287 Cape Cod, USA–Woods Hole in the Rain |
