2018 Life Logs, Day 353: A Christmas Celtic Sojourn

2018 Life Logs, Day 353: A Christmas Celtic Sojourn
Date: Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 38, Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Shopping and cooking filled most of my day, and then this evening I traveled with Heather and family to New Bedford to see A Christmas Celtic Sojourn at the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. For 16 years, the very Irish Brian O’Donovan has presented this Christmas Irish music and dance program which is sponsored by his employer, WGBH in Boston. Heather works for WGBH and this fall when she mentioned to Brian that she had never been to the Christmas Celtic Sojourn, he invited all of us to attend as his guests. I went last year with Bruce and Jane Woodin and absolutely loved it and even though it was a nighttime performance, the boys all managed to stay awake way past their bedtimes to enjoy the show. And they all dressed for the occasion and looked so handsome. The featured guest singer this year, Hannah Rarity, is from Scotland and has a beautiful voice that was a delight. A string ensemble from Canada, The Fretless, and Windborne, a folk singing group who returned for the second year, were both really fantastic. But the young dancers from the Harney Academy of Irish Dance in Massachusetts always steal the show, and they did that again tonight.

2018 Life Logs, Day 352: Pain, No Pain

2018 Life Logs, Day 352: Pain, No Pain
Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Weather: Snow Overnight, Sunny and Windy Today; High 38, Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The of what causes my left knee to be fine one minute and totally disabled the next continues. But last night was the most dramatic happening. As I wrote in my log last night, the pain in the back of my knee returned yesterday afternoon causing me to have to use crutches to walk. At bedtime, I gathered my things and headed back to the bedroom on crutches. After three trips from living room to bedroom, I had everything I needed, but then I realized I hadn’t called my sister. My brother-in-law is in the hospital with his own strange medical mysteries, so I wanted to talk to my sister to see how her day went. I sat on the edge of the rocking chair in my bedroom while I talked and when the conversation ended, I got up to go to bed. No pain. Absolutely no pain in my knee. I had only been sitting there for 15 minutes and had done nothing else that would made the pain go away. This made no sense, but I enjoyed a good night’s sleep and woke up this morning, still with no pain. I had a 10:20 am appointment with my orthopedic surgeon’s assistant and when I told him the story he was also puzzled. He ordered x-rays so he could compare today’s knee to that on November 1 just after my Halloween Night fall. When we looked at the x-rays together, he pointed out that one of the bone spurs on my knee on November 1 is no longer there. And then he pointed out a small foreign object floating about in my knee cavity and suggested it was probably that bone spur. His best guess is that it gets lodged in just the wrong place, presses on a nerve and causes pain, and then dislodges and moves on leaving me pain free. I’m not sure I buy this theory because the pain I had yesterday was identical to the pain on the night of the fall and that bone spur was still attached to my knee at that point. The medical assistant asked if I wanted pain pills. No. He said it would be best if I could knee surgery right now, but that is probably not going to happen as scheduling is set months in advance. So, my only option is to keep those crutches close at hand so I can use them when the pain returns that doesn’t allow me to straighten my leg. The only good news was that he doesn’t feel that anything that has happened will impact recovery after the knee surgery. So I hobble on.

Otherwise, it was not a very eventful day. I drove to Woods Hole to pick Ollie up after a mid-day dentist appointment and took him back to school. When I got home, Peter and Karen Baranowski dropped by to visit for a bit and then it was time to go pick Jonah and Ollie up after school. Tonight, I baked some cranberry bread to give as gifts and will spend tomorrow making a list and checking it twice to make sure I have all Christmas gifts under control. I know of two things I need to out to buy tomorrow, but after checking the list, there may be more. Then tomorrow night I travel with the Goldstones to New Bedford to go to a Celtic Sojourn. I am really looking forward to that.

2018 Life Logs, Day 351: Noon Tunes

2018 Life Logs, Day 351: Noon Tunes
Date: Monday, December 17, 2018
Weather: Overcast and Windy; High 42, Low 25 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The highlight of my day was going to listen to Noon Tunes, at noon, of course. This is a group of Woods Hole Oceanographic employees that have formed a music group. Good friend, Bruce Woodin, plays guitar. There is a ukulele player, three violinists, a banjo and a mandolin player, one person playing percussion, and another playing concertina and an assortment of recorders from soprano to bass. The combined sound as they played holiday folk music from around the world was just delightful. They were playing in the Fenno House on the WHOI campus and people working in the building stopped by to enjoy the tunes, along with Jane Woodin and myself. It was a wonderful way to start the week leading up to Christmas Day.

Before going to hear Noon Tunes, I went to the gym to a pilates class. Not smart. Tonight I am back to wearing a knee brace and walking with crutches. I cannot figure out what is happening in the back of my knee that causes it to literally cease up and not allow me to put weight on my right leg or straighten it. It will probably be okay after resting it all night, but I am very glad that I have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon’s assistant tomorrow morning. Hopefully he can help figure out what is going on. Today after the noon concert, I tried to do a little shopping, but I found that my knee was not cooperating, so I came home. I sat at my computer for part of the afternoon and it was when I tried to get up that I discovered that I needed the brace and crutches. Ugh! How can one little fall cause so much trouble? I was hoping to do some holiday baking this evening, but that didn’t happen since I can’t stand on just one leg for long! Hopefully tomorrow will be a better knee day.

2018 Life Logs, Day 350: More Christmas Shopping and Travel Plans

2018 Life Logs, Day 350: More Christmas Shopping and Travel Plans
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2018
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 42, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Those Christmas shopping loose ends that I had hoped to “tie up” a few days ago are still out there dangling around. I did make progress today and that required a trip to Hyannis in the pouring rain. I am really hoping to get the shopping done so I can start working on baking cookies for Heather and Jed’s Solstice party on Friday evening. It rained yesterday and today and is supposed to clear up for the week. But, unfortunately, the rain is forecast to return on Friday. Not sure what that will do to the solstice fire plans. Make the forecast will change. We also are traveling to New Bedford on Wednesday evening to attend a Celtic Sojourn. I went last year and loved it, so I recommended it for the whole family this year. Sure hope they enjoy it as much as I did last year.

Sam returned from his weekend camp-out, a bit wet and sleep deprived, but he had a great time. He worked on his gingerbread house today and Heather sent a picture of the completed gingerbread village. It looks spectacular. Can’t wait to see it in person.

I have finalized my holiday travel plans. On Sunday, Heather and family, as well as myself will drive to Cambridge to attend Revels and afterwards we will continue on to Boothbay, Maine, to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Jed’s mother’s summer home. They will stay, but I will head back to New Hampshire on the 26th to visit with good friends Detta and Tom Porat, and early the next morning, I will drive to Nyack to spend a day or two with Ed and Lynne Kirwin. Then I drive back home to check on things and fly to Nashville to visit with my sister and brother-in-law. It is a bit of a crazy schedule, but I am really looking forward to visiting with friends and family.

2018 Life Logs, Day 349: Santa, Gingerbread House Decorating, Watching White Christmas

2018 Life Logs, Day 349: Santa, Gingerbread House Decorating, Watching White Christmas
Date: Saturday, December 15, 2018
Weather: Cloudy with Rain; High 42, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Did you know that Bing Crosby was an elf? Well, last night while watching Irving Berlin’s White Christmas with Heather and family, my nine year-old grandson Jonah said, “Bing Crosby has really big ears. And he has very blue eyes. I think he‘s an elf.” Needless to say, this comment brought more than a few chuckles. None of us will ever be able to look at Bing Crosby again without seeing the elf!

So I spent my evening at Heather and Jed’s having dinner and watching a movie. Back up from that, and I spent the afternoon there as well helping (mostly watching) as Jonah and Ollie decorated their gingerbread houses. This is an annual affair and this year they wanted to create scenes. The finished houses were set on pieces of cardboard. Then they added sidewalks and snowy drive-ways, complete with trucks and snowplows. These were definitely little boy gingerbread creations. Sam was not home as he is at his first Boy Scout winter camp-out. Thankfully it is not too cold. And I doubt that the drizzling rain will dampen the spirits of boys who love to spend their weekends in the woods just messing about.

Now back up again to this morning. I headed to Woods Hole with Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie. WE went to meet Santa who was arriving on the small research fishing vessel, the Gloria Michelle.Jed misunderstood Heather when she said the name and thought she said the name was The Glory of the Shell. A much better name for a fishing vessel in Woods Hole! Santa arrived and he passed the authenticity test of the boys. They decided this was the REAL Santa, but Ollie was still unwilling to sit on his lap and tell him what he wants for Christmas. He prefers sending a letter to the North Pole. This event was sponsored by the Woods Hole Aquarium, so we went inside and enjoyed the special activities. Watching a young female octopus (estimated to be about 8 months old) play hide and seek in her aquarium. She would hide in a flower pot in the aquarium to give her shelter and then come and out explore for a bit before retiring once again. I’ve never thought of an octopus as ‘adorable’, but this one was fascinating to watch and absolutely adorable.

2018 Life Logs, Day 348: Newcomers Holiday Luncheon

2018 Life Logs, Day 348: Newcomers Holiday Luncheon
Date: Friday, December 14, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warmer; High 45, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The Newcomers Holiday Luncheon was today. I had volunteered to help with check-in, so I left home before 11 am and didn’t get back home until almost 3 pm. I made a stop at the Post Office on the way home to send a package to Puerto Rico and then headed home to keep working on tying up those Christmas gift “loose ends”. Friends from my Dining-in Group, Karen Baranowski and Midge Frieswyk, organized the luncheon. The setting was lovely and the food was delicious. Good job, ladies. And in addition to the delightful luncheon, the weather today was a treat. It was sunny and warmer than it has been for days. That was rejoiced by all.