Matt and I had talked about crew selection and criteria. We felt youth and strength were critical particularly since the captain, although spry and fit, is 74 years old. As Matt updated me on conversations with the captain, I would occasionally ask if we knew ages. Matt said one was a woman in her 50’s and the other male was thought to be in his 60’s. “What?” I say to Matt. “What about our criterion about age?” He shrugs his shoulders and said he left the final decisions up to the captain. He buys some chocolate as surprise provisions for the crew. “Maybe you shouldn’t buy so much,” I say. “How do you know you’re not going to end up with a bunch of geriatric diabetics?” Matt smiles. “More for me,” he says.

A leaf print on the sidewalk

Our days are spent mostly working on boat tasks but we get out to the fort and hurricane wall and exercise in the mornings. The boys and I do school at the library and run errands. It’s a town with about 10 gorgeous buildings (church, library, high school, etc.) built for the town by a Standard Oil exec. We get to the glass museum in New Bedford and have seen the passage of time in the changes in the leaves.