Reentry to Nantucket - August. Summer's End

     We are now back home and adjusting

      Barbara's book about Anna Gardner was launched by the Nantucket Historical Association. She gave three speeches where numbers were limited, everyone was masked, including her. It is challenging to enunciate and be loud enough wearing a mask. But, each night went well with many friends showing up. In addition, she has had good press - front page in Inquirer, an article in the Cape Cod Times as well as an article in a paper in Charlottesville, Virginia.

    We plan to use our garden (Kelbyville) as our new living room. To that end, we have ordered a propane heater so it can be used when the weather gets chilly. We have enjoyed seeing friends outside such as Barbara and Jim, Nonie and Joanne.

    We have stuck to our pledge to watch less news and, consequently, are getting poor scores on the weekly New York Times news quiz. And, we are proud of our low scores! 

   We have managed to get out in the boat some which is also stress reducing, for sure. There are jellies out there (global warming) so we have not swum much.

    

    

Back to Concord for 3 nights, August 8-11

    

We had an easy ride back to Concord to Jecca and Willy's empty apartment. We stopped at 4 Corners to get some tomatoes, corn and a melon. And, when we got to Concord we went to the Cheese store and got some wonderful blue cheese and a Brie along with a baguette as almost as good as we'd find in France. That was our dinner.

  The next morning, we headed for Bridgewater to sit on the deck with the folks. We got their early to beat the heat. Alice, who just turned 98, wasn't feeling great, but, as always had a smile. Afterwards, we drove to Westport to see Ted and Bev where we had a lovely chat. We haven't seen each other since the pandemic. Then - back to Concord

    The second morning, we drove back to Bridgewater, even earlier than the day before because it was going to be in the 90s. We sat on the deck and ate Burger King food that Mark went and got. (We had impossible, meatless burgers; Sandy a whopper, Cal a fish sandwich and Alice a little bit of a vanilla milkshake.)

    And, the third morning, we drove to Hyannis where Mark met with Dr. Manning about his hips. Barbara waited in the truck - more effects of Covid. The doctor said that both Mark's hips are in bad shape and said that most people with hips like Mark's are in walkers!

We never thought of Mark as a stoic, but....guess we need to reassess that. So, the plan is to address both hips between now and Christmas, the first one in mid September. Then, we got take out from Bangkok kitchen and had a picnic in the parking lot at the Steamship and boarded the 2:45 home. Once home

Reflections on a trip off island during the pandemic

     We were more unsettled than we expected to be, having been cloistered for 4 months. 

    We had not been in anyone's house until this trip and we went in 6 houses which was also unsettling. Two of them were very brief visits inside (Pittsfield and Taunton). We went into Bridgewater one afternoon as it was too hot outside. And, of course, we went into Jecca and Willy's house in Maine, our cottage in N.H. with Nick as well as in Ted and Bev's. 

    Everywhere we went we did see people in masks, but to varying degrees. In northern Maine, they have had less than 12 cases in their entire county, so it was understandable, although we saw masks at the supermarkets and other places. Grafton County in N.H. has also had few cases. Everyone was masked at the supermarket, but no one had masks at Budget Lumber except for us.

    Bathrooms were easier than we thought. The Maine Turnpike's were very clean and they had ever other stall locked. 

    It was really good for us to be off the grid in Maine, to get a respite from the daily stress of the news which is horrible with the pandemic out of control, erosion of so many institutions etc. We both hope to be less connected.

    

    

    

New Hampshire August 2- 8

    We left Great Wass feeling so happy that we'd had such a wonderful week. Mark left his hat and flip flops there, so we went back once, but were in no rush.

    We left 95 around Augusta and had a long ride across Maine on small roads. We stopped in Bethel at the visitor center for a bathroom stop. The things you have to factor in during the time of pandemic. We did not stop to eat, but snacked on things in the truck. 

    Nick did a great job of shopping for food and we had some Beyond Beef Burgers our first night.Ashley did a great job on the ceilings.

    On our first full day here we drove to Norwich to the King Arthur store to get the material to make our own bread. The store limits their capacity to just 20 people and seemed to have good precautions in place. We got everything except the Dutch oven and that we ordered on line. We also stopped at Four Corners and got corn and tomatoes (really delicious!). And, we stopped at Fogg's to get a stud finder so can put up a railing to the second floor which was taken off by Ashley who finished the ceiling in the upstairs in the spring. (And, we put up the railing successfully)

      We got wood at Budget Lumber to build closet doors similar to the ones the Hutchesons have in their loft at Great Wass. We will start with the den closet doors downstairs and then our bedroom. It is Mark's winter project.

    We floated in the lake twice; the weather was not terrific.

    We did some clean up (dump run) but no other projects. We don't really want to be out and about during the pandemic, so chose to read and relax mostly. And have good meals, of course.

  

 

    

Great Wass Idyll, Part 2

    The food we had has been extraordinary. For one, the bread has included bread with dried cherries and other combinations. Jecca also made homemade bagels one morning. We have had 

pumpkin cake and blondies. We have had homemade empanadas (with homemade dough), an amazing fish chowder with smoked cod, crab and shrimp. We had crab cakes made after an expedition by Willy, Jecca and Mark to a fish market. And, I am sure I am forgetting one or two. It was a gourmet extravaganza which is quite amazing considering it is a pandemic and the shopping is limited. 

    One day we all went to Sandy River Beach outside of Jonesport. We all went swimming, even though we were not in wetsuits. Mark totally immersed himself, but Barbara did not. We had a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and the homemade bread and it was like we were dining at gourmet restaurant they tasted so good. 

    One of the most special expeditions was a ride in their Lund boat to Roque Island, owned by the Isabella Stuart Gardner family. We put in at Jonesport and drove about 8 miles to the island. Hank was left home as 6 is too many people for the boat. En route, we saw a flock of razorbills with a lot of fledglings. They look a bit like penguins with bills a bit like a puffin's. 

    The sandy beach at Roque Island is huge and quite rare as Maine has mostly rocky beaches. The family allows visitors to land there. We had it almost to ourselves. Everyone went swimming. (Mark and Barbara in wetsuits.) It was a day to remember, for sure.

    We got to see a fair amount of Jake Hunkler who is now teaching in Maryland. (after teaching at a Quaker school in Ohio and then in American Samoa). He is such a personable guy. He and Hank flew a kite (in the tree!) and swam together. One night all the Hutchesons went over to their house for a family campfire, but we opted not to go.

    One morning, Otis got up to the news that the largest airplane in the world was at the airport in Bangor. (An Antonov) So, he took their truck and drove there and back, staying a good deal of the day. It is strange to think of Otis being old enough to be able to do that.

    We saw several movies while there. We saw Ford vs Ferrari which we had already seen, but enjoyed. We also saw another with Christian Bale where he played Dick Cheney in Vice. It was a strangely made movie and we were mixed about it. And, we saw a dreadful movie called Pacific Rim. One day, Otis tackled a new set up for the A.V. and made a tower for the projector, computer and speaker. It had to be altered to accommodate the disk player and he added another level to raise up the computer which solved that problem. (He has such an engineer's perspective.)

   

    Other observations:

     There have been very few cases (under 10) in the entire Washington county, so the attitude about Covid is quite relaxed. Nevertheless, there were a fair amount of masks in evidence. 

    The plans that Middlesex has for Covid seem inadequate to us all as they are planning to have the dorms full and have hybrid classes.

    Jecca has spent a lot of her vacation interviewing for new jobs in the English department.

    Having a full week off the grid has been good for us. We have not read the Times or followed politics much. We did have NPR on the radio, but listened very little. It brings home how much stress we are all dealing with and we are hoping to focus less on the news than we have been throughout this.

Idyllic Visit to Great Wass, Part One

   

July 26- We drove to Great Wass from Concord, our longest drive in quite a while. We stopped once to use the bathroom at a rest area and it felt quite safe. We stopped for gas in Ellsworth. It was a pretty easy drive. The "cottage" on Great Wass was much improved in the two years since we have visited there. A contractor finished the floor (hardwood and tile) as well as the ceiling and enclosed a bedroom for Otis above the dining room. There is now a beautiful metal spiral staircase going to the new room. We are living up there and are impressed with it all, especially the closets built into the eaves. (We want to copy the design for at home.)

    For the whole week we were there, we had amazing weather. We had packed to wear flannels and long pants, but only wore those in the evenings. The sea was calm the entire time. The fog rolled in the day that we left. 

    That first day, Otis took both Mark and I out for separate boat rides in his homemade boat, "The Best Yet." It is very impressive. Mark and he went down toward the DownEast Institute and he took me over to one of the Ram Islands where we briefly docked and then went around it.

    Almost every morning that we were there, Jecca made homemade bread. She also gave us a lesson and we intend to try to make our own loaves once a week or so. She does sour dough, but we won't.

    On July 27, we took a family expedition over to the Ram Island, which is about 1.5 miles out. Jecca, Willy and Barbara took the kayaks and Otis took Hank and Mark in the boat. Mark and Hank chose not to go in the water, but Otis actually dove in, sans wetsuit. He, Jecca, Willy and Maggie, swam across the channel to a littler Ram Island. Barbara got wet, but not entirely.

On the way home, Barbara and Hank traded transportation modes. But, we towed Hank for a good bit en route home.

    I am not going to remember which days we did what, but in the first half of our week, we got fresh lobsters from the cove from the neighbors, the Hunklers. Willy made a campfire and we cooked them over that. Some were stripped for lobster salad and some were eaten hot. It was all very delicious and so very fresh. The meal was followed by smores.

    

Preparing for Pandemic Road Trip, July 2020

    

 The new norm is to make backyards and gardens into the new living rooms. Knowing that we hope to visit people in their gardens, we have experimented with doing it in what we call "Kelbyville" our garden.  It is tempting to get some sort of firepit or heat source so we can continue this habit into the cold weather.

   We had visits from Mark C., Barbara B., Sally U., and Paul and Callie at 73. It felt very safe and distanced. We also visited Sally in her garden with Alex and her boyfriend Paul. 

    

    

    

First Trip off Island since Pandemic - July 23-25 - based in Concord

    We took the early boat off on July 23. The new protocol is to stay in your vehicle, which we did. The only time we went upstairs was to use the bathrooms. We are in the truck. It is our first trip off the island and it feels surreal and weird. We are so used to being off island and doing shopping, for one.

    We drove directly to Bridgewater where we saw on the outside deck with Cal and Alice and Sandy. We went to Hanson's to get corn. That was also strange. Every shopper had a mask on, but the cashier did not. When we asked her about it, she was quite sarcastic, asking us, "Do I look worried?" Then we went back and had corn with the folks. 

    Afterwards we drove to Jecca's. They are at Great Wass. We are lucky as the heat broke en route and the apartment, which can be quite hot, was very comfortable. We slept in Hank's bedroom which has an a.c.

    The next morning, we drove to Pittsfield to visit with Nan and Jim and to see their new house. It was a lovely day. We love their house and they pulled out all the stops to give us an over-the-top lunch with crabcakes, broccoli salad, cole slaw, melon salad, corn on the cob. Everything was delicious and they gave us a big bag of peaches to take back with us to Concord. We took a nice walk around their new neighborhood with Boo and Quinn.

    The next day, we drove to Taunton to visit in Matt and Maureen's backyard. They had scones and muffins. Maureen has a sprained ankle. We watched their chickens which are quite entertaining. Four are "adolescents" and not yet laying eggs, but soon. Two are fully grown layers. 

    

 From there we went back to Bridgewater. It was too hot to sit outside, so we had to go into the t.v. room, which was a little alarming for us as we've been so quarantined. But, there was no choice, and we also saw Rob, Sandy and John while there. It was great to see Cal and Alice as they both look well.