2018 Life Logs, Day 338: It Takes a Village
Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 45, Low 23 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today’s high temperature was the same as last night’s low, and the nighttime temps over the next week are not going to get above freezing. A definite sign that winter is near. And today was the first of a string of crazy days happening over the next week. My morning was nice and calm and I went to the gym to use a stationary bike to exercise my knee. Today is the first day that my knee has really felt improved since my Halloween night fall, so that is good news. It was Early Release Day for Falmouth schools, so I picked Jonah up at 12:40. Sam rides the bus home from his school and Ollie was spending the afternoon with a friend whose mother is a teacher at the school. When I picked Jonah up, I asked him if Ollie just went with Raylan to his mother’s classroom and he said no. Jonah explained that Mrs. Carl had to stay at school for teacher in-service and that Ollie and Raylan were taking the bus home and would probably be with Raylan’s dad. Actually, it was Raylan’s grandmother who was babysitting. So one grandmother one this end and another on the other end. It takes a village.

When Jonah and I got home, we worked on finalizing his craft projects for the school Arts & Crafts Fair tomorrow night. The third and fourth grade students participate in this as an economics lesson and each child donates half their profits to a charity. Last year they chose to give the profits to Jonah’s cousins in Puerto Rico to help rebuild their farm, Finca Maravilla, after Hurricane Maria. This year the profits will be going to California for wild fire relief. Participating in the Art & Craft Fair is a great learning experience for the kids, but getting those crafts done at this busy time of year is always a push. Jonah finished his last few colorful votive candles and then made glitter pine cone decorations. We only had an hour to work on this as he had a 2 pm walk in the woods with the Cub Scouts. Jed came home to do the walk with him and then Heather came home for a couple of hours before she had to leave to go to New Bedford (across the bridge) for the evening. Well, actually she had to leave early to pick up farm-fresh milk for the small group of friends in Falmouth who share this pick-up duty. It is at least a 45-minute drive to the farm to get the milk once a week which is quite a commitment. But since the farm was on Heather’s way to New Bedford this evening, she was the pick-up person this week. Another instance of ‘it takes a village’. When Heather got home, I was going to slip out and take more bags of leaves to be recycled. But Heather and I got into a conversation about Christmas and before I knew it, it was time for me to take Sam to Woods Hole for drum lessons and time for Heather to head to New Bedford. I really enjoyed sitting in an outer room and listening to Sam’s drum lesson and meeting his instructor. And Sam and I had a great conversation on the way home where he announced to me that when he grows up he plans to live in a converted school bus or some other type of travel home. He finds that ironic since he wants to be an architect and design homes. It was dark when we got home and Jed and Jonah were in the front yard playing soccer. When Sam and I got out of the car, Jed said, “You don’t have Ollie?” No. Jed forgot that he and Jonah were supposed to pick Ollie up on their way home from the hike. So I high-tailed it to Raylan’s house. It was 5 o’clock by this time, but Ollie and Raylan were still having a great time and no one minded that we hadn’t picked Ollie up earlier. We thanked Raylan’s grandmother and then went home to help Jonah finish up the last glitter pine cones while Jed got dinner ready. Since we were doing the glitter craft on the dining room table, what is usually Taco Tuesday turned into ‘glittery’ Taco Tuesday. It was glitter off the table, tacos on. We had to rush as Tuesday night is Scout night for Sam and he was being picked up 6:30 pm. Whew! Even with our electronically synched calendars, keeping up with myself and the Goldstones is quite a feat!