Day 29. A Pause

By
This post is a hard one. Let me start with the good stuff. We enjoyed Cliff Island immensely. I chased sea critters through the surf

And saw the island's thoroughly awesome skeleton of a right whale that washed up on the beach in February. It's only visible at low tide, and phew it stank. But so cool!

We sat in the beachside park and watched the 1st annual community corn hole contest & cookout. Those folks were having such a wonderful time, just made you happy to watch them.

Then our dear little Shelby did some "opportunistic scavenging" and ate something she found on the beach. By evening she was really sick. We nursed her through ok, but it's been 4 days of not being sure what would happen. She seems to be improving now. 

Then our daughter called to tell us my 95-yr old mother had had a massive stroke & was being placed into hospice care in Kentucky. This was the worst case scenario our family had discussed when deciding whether this trip was a good idea and we had decided it was a prudent risk.  She passed away this morning.

Luckily all four of our kids live close to her, and have rallied to sit vigil with her and take care of business. Among the challenges on my end is the very poor cell phone service in Maine's islands and zero internet. My mom had been adament that when her time came she did not want my brothers & I to "interrupt our lives to come home". I was 100% ready to disregard those instructions. We investigated options- what to do with the boat, fly or drive, etc.  But in the end after more family discussions everyone agreed it was best to wait & gather in the fall to celebrate her life. We'll share her favorite meal- ice cream,  pizza, and hot wings -in that order- along with a small house salad to make it a "healthy meal". LOL. Thanks, Mom, for teaching us the finer things in life!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

April 2-4, 2023 Myrtle Beach to Cape Lookout

By
Image
 We slipped away from our place on the dock after three nights at Myrtle Beach Yacht Club and turned into the ICW heading north. An hour later we turned into Little River Inlet to pass into the open Atlantic Ocean.   We sailed north about 30 miles before returning to the ICW via Cape Fear River.  The Cape Fear River was in flood tide, which was very helpful making 15 miles north to Carolina Beach.  We took a mooring provided by the city of Carolina Beach after talking on the phone with Larry the Dockmaster who is just about the friendliest guy you ever met. He was very welcoming.  Sam was anxious for some shore time, so we dinghy-ed to the town dock and walked 1 block to the ocean beach. She seemed happy to ve back near the surf. On our last visit Larry told us the best burger in town could be found at the gas station next to the dinghy dock. We enjoyed it last time & it seemed like a good way to shortcut dinner while also filling our fuel jugs. ...
Read more

Fri Sept 11 Patuxtent River to Little Choptank

By
Image
We woke up to a ruckus.  These two were being quite chatty and apparently we were anchored near their tree.  They would jabber to each other, fly off to do some fishing, then come back to the tree to brag about their catch and, undoubtedly, the one that got away. We had some nice sailing leaving the Patuxent River, light rain with the sun peaking through now & then.  The skies began to darken and the wind picked up about 3 hours into the sail.  We ended up skating though 4-6 foot seas with 17-20 kt windsfor the rest of the day.  Lots of waves over the bow, a few crashing up over the cockpit windows.  We received a text message from friends Ed & Lynn that they were anchored in the Little Choptank River.  We were not far (as the crow flies) from there, and decided to join them. A few more hours of navigating the rough water and we dropped our anchor 100 feet away from them just at dusk.  They kindly invited us over for snacks ...
Read more

Day 22 & 23 Glouster, Mass- A Brief Intermission....

By
Image
When we arrived in Gloucester, MA Sunday afternoon it was incredibly hot, part of a heat wave involving most of the nation.  We turned on air conditioning; it was lovely. Monday we had planned to relax and not move the boat, waiting for more favorable winds to allow us to move north.  That turned out to be a good call, because I was feeling under the weather and slept most of the day.  Brent made me some pizza for dinner and we played a couple rounds of cribbage. (He won as usual.)  Sometime in the evening it started to rain, and continued to pour down all night. We needed to pull out a quilt to sleep under. Tuesday morning the rain had washed the boat thoroughly, and instead of being unbearably hot we were digging into our cooler weather clothes for sweaters and wool socks. What a change! We grabbed a lull in the rain to take Shelby ashore and explore.  We walked for a couple hours in a mostly light rain.  We toured downtown Glouchester, enjoying th...
Read more