DAY 13 - WEDNESDAY 19th SEPTEMBER 2007

Wompatuck State Park & Issac Winslow House (Miles to date 782)

We were woken at 2.00am by the phone with the sad news that Karen’s mother had passed away. This news was upsetting but not unexpected – it was a little while before we got back to sleep. Fortunately last night was warmer than the night before so this helped us get some sleep for the remainder of the night.

When we finally awoke it was a cloudy morning but the nip in the air we had had for the past four of five days had gone. We had a leisurely breakfast whilst the kids got on with some of their school work – getting them to do this on a regular basis is challenging but slowly the message does seem to be getting through. Jack is generally the most resistive to start but when he does gets on with it – on the other hand Emily is better at starting but keeping her focused is the main issue.

Karen got talking with the family opposite who seem to be like ourselves leading a nomadic life. Their life seems very complicated and whilst our journey is to some degree out of choice theirs is not and they are living in a tent whilst they get the place they plan to move into is finished – apparently this has been their way of life for over 2 months. Whenever you get to feel life is not great it is not difficult to find others who are in a much worst predicament.

After the morning was next to over we decided to go to Starbucks to take advantage of their wireless internet connection so I could check flight times for Karen. Whilst I tinkered Jack read Barry Trotter (an amusing parody of Harry Potter) and Karen and Emily played some board games kindly provided by our hosts. After several mornings of really bad coffee it was good to get something more palatable.

Refreshed to some degree we set of south to explore the coastal towns further down the Massachusetts coast line. We passed through some very nice towns, including Scituate, which seemed to have a few different sections including a pleasant harbour.

As part our planned outing was to provide the children with some historical studies we pulled into the Issac Winslow house which is maintained by a local historical society. We were greeted by the very jovial character, Mark Schmitt, Director of the museum, who turned out to be the proceeded to give us a very personal tour of the house. It was great to meet someone so enthusiastic and knowledgeable on their subject. Edward Winslow was one of the Pilgrims who traveled across on the Mayflower in 1620. Edward was not the one to build the house it was actually his grandson, Issac, who did the deed in 1699. Jack and Emily were fascinated by the tour, which covered the kitchens, great rooms, parlour and bedrooms. They were particularly captured by the story of lady Penelope’s ghost who apparently haunts one of the bedrooms. During the tour we learnt some new meanings of common use phrases, including:

• Pop Goes The Weasel. The "weasel" refers to a spinner's weasel, a mechanical yarn measuring device consisting of a spoked wheel with an internal ratcheting mechanism that clicks every two revolutions and makes a "pop" sound after the desired length of yarn is measured. "Pop goes the weasel", in this meaning, describes the repetitive sound of a machine governing the tedious work of textile workers toiling for subsistence wages


• House warming. This is where the kindly people in a community would take up some of the hot coals from their own fire an take it around to some of their neighbours to help light their fires.


• Sleep tight. This is reference to the colonial beds which didn’t have springs but instead had rope strung across the bed with a feather and down mattress on top. The practice of the day was to tighten the rope by means of some wooden staves which were twisted into the ropes.


• Turning a man down. This phrase was bought about by the tradition in the colonial times of a gentleman coming to ask for a woman’s hand in marriage providing a gift of a mirror. The lady if she desired to accept would look into the mirror and smile but if she so inclined to say no she would turn the mirror facing down on a table – hence “turning the man down”.

To end the day we went slight further south to the village of Duxbury, which has some of the most fantastic houses with views across the very pretty bay with boats moored out on the water. At the end of the town is a wooden bridge which takes you out to the sand spit of Duxbury beach. Despite the drizzle and the cool weather Emily and Jack decided to brave the elements and went for a paddle in crashing waves. I joined them momentarily - long enough to discover the water was freezing.