2020 Life Logs, Day 288: Museum on the Green Tour
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2020
Weather: Beautiful Fall Day; High 71, Low 61 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
What a beautiful day, in every way. I attended a morning long tour of the Museums on the Green in downtown Falmouth, had lunch with friends at a Greek restaurant on Main Street, and ended my day by picking Ollie up from school and then taking Ollie and Shadow to the Falmouth Dog Park to play. And yes, I did watch the Joe Biden Town Hall on ABC tonight. or
Good friend Olivia White organized a special tour of the Museums on the Green (MOG) for the Newcomers Teacher Group today. MOG is closed due to Covid except for their outdoor historic walks a few mornings each week. But Olivia was able to arrange for us to do some inside touring, promising that the groups would be limited to four people, all wearing masks. And she also arranged for us to have a presentation by Falmouth artist Karen Rinaldo. In the 1990’s, Karen was commissioned to paint an historically accurate depiction of the first Thanksgiving in 1621. The result changed her life as the painting took on a life of its own. It hung in Plimouth Plantation for 20 years and it was to be on display in the Museums on the Green in Falmouth this summer and on through 2021. Because of Covid, it has been there, but the public has not been able to come in to see it on display. Today, in our small groups, we were allowed to view the painting while having the artist describe to us the process used in its development. Then we took a walking tour around the green, learning more about the history of the people who founded the town and learning the history of the Village Green and the surrounding churches and homes. This included the Congregational Church founded in 1708 housing a bell made by Paul Revere, St. Barnabus Episcopal Church founded 1888, and the first home of Katharine Lee Bates who wrote America the Beautiful. Falmouth is lucky to have such an active historical society that works hard to keep history alive.
When Shadow and I picked Ollie up at the end of the school day, Ollie wanted to go where he could play ball with Shadow. We first went home to check in and then we headed to the fenced soccer fields at Trotting Park. Unfortunately, there was a team practicing, so we couldn’t let Shadow run free. Ollie suggested we try going to the Falmouth Dog Park. I took Shadow there once when he a tiny puppy and neither of us enjoyed that experience. But I was willing to try that again and today’s experience was great. When we arrived there were too many people and dogs in the main area, so we headed to the small dog enclosure. But there were three dogs there that didn’t appear particularly friendly. But the owners were friendly and they suggested we use the area dedicated for dogs new to the park to let Shadow get acclimated. There were no dogs there, so it was perfect. Ollie could use the ChuckIt to throw the tennis balls a long distance and Shadow ignored the dogs in the enclosures on either side and just played ball. Then we saw that the small dog enclosure was empty, so we went there. A bernedoodle named Millie, a cross between a Bernese mountain dog and a poodle, joined us and the two dogs really enjoyed playing together. Then we saw that the main dog area was almost empty, so we all moved to that enclosure. There was a much larger Airedale terrier named Rocky in that enclosure and he immediately established himself as top dog. But that was fine with Shadow and he just continued to romp and play with other dogs that arrived. At one point Rocky almost knocked Ollie over, but Ollie handled it like a pro and declared that he was having a great time. So maybe Ollie and I will take Shadow back to the park after school a couple of afternoons a week. Another great Falmouth treasure.
