Day 187, Year 7: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 13, 2012
Weather: Partly Sunny, 70 degrees F
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, N Falmouth, MA
Happy Mother’s Day to all of my favorite mothers, especially to Heather and
Jo, the mothers of my beautiful grandchildren. I worked on the deck all
day, but did take two hours out of the middle of the day to go to brunch
with Heather, Jed, and boys. It was a lovely break. The brunch was at
Coonemessett Farm where Heather and Jed are members. It is a twenty acre
farm where you can pick your own vegetables and berries, visit the chicken
coop and pick your own fresh eggs out of the nesting boxes, or just go for a
relaxing lunch. And there is a great play area for the kids. Sam and I
found four eggs today and Sam and Jonah both enjoyed frolicking on the lawn,
feeding the chickens, and just hanging out. Heather got the best Mother’s
Day present a new mother could ever ask for this morning. Oliver smiled
real smiles for the first time when the family was relaxing together in the
early morning. Heather has been trying to get him to smile for days and has
sworn that she has seen glimpses, but this morning was the real thing. And
the kitchen wall has the first, and now maybe the second coat of paint on
it, so the refrigerator project is almost complete. Justin called tonight
and we had a great conversation. He cooked a special breakfast for Jo and
then in the afternoon they took Ziggy to a movie. So I rest assured that
both Heather and Jo had great days.
But this mother is almost worked out. I was on the deck on my knees
cleaning out the grooves between the teak boards for two and a half straight
hours this morning. Then when I returned from brunch, I was back on my
knees for the next four hours completing the cleaning process and then
taping. It was after 5 pm when the taping was complete and I started the
caulking process. Around 4 pm, however, my knees gave out. I just couldn’t
kneel on the wood any longer. My knees feel like a fell on concrete and
scraped them badly, but I found a closed-cell foam cushion that gave me the
relief I needed to continue. It took all of this time to prepare only
twelve feet of deck to be caulked. When Mark got home, he helped with the
caulking, but we only got half of it done. If it rains tonight, I will
probably have to re-tape, but we were just both too tired to continue. I’ve
been taking a few photos and will try to do a step by step photo story of
the process-but not tonight. I’m just too tired. But tired as I am, I am
feeling good about the fact that I can do this. When we did the deck in
2004, I was just the helper. Now I can do the job alone. When Heather came
to help me with the starboard deck, she said she thought the job could be
done by one person. Mark had always thought it was a two-person job. But
Heather was right. It is possible for one person to do it . . . just slowly
and painfully.
When we stopped working on the deck, we headed to Heather and Jed’s to have
dessert. I know. We hadn’t had dinner yet, but we had promised to come at
7 pm to have a piece of that strawberry-rhubarb pie Heather made yesterday.
It was absolutely delicious. Having had dessert first, we then thought we
were going to have sushi for dinner. But the restaurant is closed on Sunday
evenings. Bummer. We came home and had a delicious dinner of curried
scallops, asparagus, and rice, even though I did have to prepare it myself.
Mark bought me a beautiful orchid plant for Mother’s Day. It is like the
ones that I lusted after in Thailand but never bought. Now I own one and I
love it. Here’s hoping each mother reading this had a wonderful Mother’s
Day and that you got something you love as well.
 |
| 120513 Day 187 Cape Cod, USA–Happy Mother's Day |
