Sylvia's Journal

On a clear day like today, If you don’t wake up early you miss it: the cove bathed in pink light, backlit by the sun rays that bounce of the houses and windows across from us. They turn the cove into a magic place, where you would expect a coming and going of small dragons with gauzy wings. If the tide is very low, as it was this morning, you can still see the remnants of the old Indian fishing pier, where the forerunner of Masconomo Street ran straight into the Bay.  And then humans with dogs show up, the light changes and everything becomes normal again.  If the weather holds I will get to see this a lot during my vacation.

Yesterday was another weird weather day that nearly messed up our flying plans. Despite the considerable and low cloud cover we managed to fly all around Boston and back, though not to Martha’s Vineyard as we had hoped. We hang around the flight center with lots of other pilots or would-be pilots, hitting the breeze for about an hour before the clouds were high enough for us to venture out, through and over them. The tops and the bottoms of the clouds were lower than last week. We did not need to go as high up to stay above them but I still got unnerved by a wall of white fluffiness moving fast in our direction. Once again I handed the controls to Bill.  I watched in awe (and a bit nervously) as he turned and ducked to stay clear and legal. If you are with someone who knows how to fly in these situations it’s more exciting than a Disney ride and you don’t have to go to Florida.

We made it as far as New Bedford and gave up on our plan to continue to Martha’s Vineyard; flying with low clouds over open waters is not a good idea. We landed, got out for a drink of water and watched the clouds intently. On the way back we stayed below them, trying to keep our assigned altitude while gauging how much room we had to maneuver. I am having my share of new experiences in these intense cloud-filled cross county rides, each time getting a few notches closer to taking the plane out on my own for a cross county.  I landed and taxied back to the flight center with great satisfaction but also exhausted.

The electrical storm that rushed in a few hours later is one reason why I would not attempt any trip that is very long or goes very far. I was glad to be safely on the ground.

I started my on-the-ground vacation with more sewing projects, a perfect activity during a rainstorm, working my way down the half-finished project pile and enjoying the anticipation of new ones. But those will have to wait until Wednesday next week as we are off to Maine today for three days with Katie Blair at Small Point. We have decided not to bring the kayaks, only water colors, books and good walking shoes that can handle any weather.

We will be staying at a small cottage named Isaiah’s Head. Its phone can only receive calls and cell phones don’t work out there. We will find out how addicted (or not) we are to our computers and the internet. One consequence is that the blogging will happen off line, or not at all, and nothing is likely to be posted until late Wednesday night or Thursday morning. I have never missed three days in a row. This is my one regret of being out of touch.