Day 205, Year 7: Roller Coaster Ride
Date: Thursday, May 31, 2012
Weather: Gorgeous Day, Very Warm and Sunny
Location: At Heather and Jed’s in E Falmouth, MA

Poor Mark. This chemo treatment is like a roller coaster ride with its ups and downs. He feels good for a few days during the second week after his treatment, but then he gets another treatment is knocked down again. The visiting nurse came just before noon today to remove the drug pack that pumps chemicals into his body for 46 hours after his bi-weekly infusion. He was already wiped out, but as soon as the pump was removed, he crashed. He slept most of the day, but at 3:15 pm he got up and went to the boat with me so I could finish AwlCaring the port side of the hull. I waited until late afternoon so that side of the boat was in the shade so it wasn’t so hot. While I polished, Mark drove over to Dick and Claire Wiklunds to invite them to dinner this weekend. A mutual friend is sailing down from New Hampshire and will be here on either Saturday or Sunday evening and we thought it would be fun if we could all get together. My plan was to have all of us come here to Heather and Jed’s, but we are now thinking that it would be nice to have everyone meet at the clubhouse at Fiddler’s Cove for dinner. The mutual friend is Carl Stein. We met Carl and his young son, Alex, in 2005 on the town dock in Lewes, Delaware. This was the very beginning of our voyage around the world and the emergency stop in Delaware was made to repair a faulty transmission. We actually ended up replacing the whole engine, but one of the nice things that happened while we were there was meeting Carl and his family. Alex is no longer a little boy and he is very interested in the prospect of sailing around the world. Carl bought a sailboat recently and he, Alex, and an older son are sailing down this weekend. We haven’t seen them since 2005, but they have followed our travels. While in Delaware, Carl invited us to his home for dinner. It was then that we discovered that we both knew Dick and Claire Wiklund. So this will be quite a reunion. And in addition, my nephew Tommy and his son Josh are going to be here visiting this weekend. That’s why we need a clubhouse!

I spent another good hunk of my day working in the garden. I replanted green beans, lima beans, and corn that came up spotty from an earlier planting. I also secured the peas to the fence by wrapping string from one end of the row to the other, over and over. They have grown so tall that they were starting to fall over, thus the need for the extra support. We have peas growing on two different sides of the garden and I only got one side done today. The other will get done tomorrow. The garden is looking good, but it does take a bit of work to keep it that way. Thankfully, this is work that I love.

We talked to the New Mexico crew a couple of times today. Oliver is still struggling with a cold, as is Heather, but despite that it sounds like everyone is enjoying the visit. I’ve been promised that photos will be coming my way and I will share those as they arrive.