2026 Life Logs, Day 65: Another Birthday Celebration
Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Weather: Another Rainy, Chilly Day; High Temp 38, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Another chilly, rainy day with another birthday celebration to brighten my day! Tonight, I had dinner with the Goldstones. Heather cooked the traditional Martin (my maiden name) meal—salmon cakes with kale and mashed potatoes. To be the true tradition, it would have been creasy greens, not kale. But creasy greens are definitely a southern thing, not found easily in New England. My gifts were a book with the title TROUBLE MAKER, but they assured me it was about ‘good trouble’! And since I haven’t had time to work a puzzle all winter, I got a puzzle that I can’t resist. It is 32 dog stamps, one of which is a little black doodle that looks just like Shadow. Thank you, Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie.

2026 Life Logs, Day 63: Prep for Tomorrow
Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 53, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Tomorrow I am hosting my dining-in group for a birthday celebration. One of us had a birthday yesterday, my birthday is tomorrow, and a third has a birthday on Sunday. When I learned that it was my month to host, I suggested this Cinco de Marcho birthday dinner. I spent my day cleaning house, grocery shopping, and prepping the main dish for tomorrow night, as tomorrow, I have meetings all day. It was a rare occurrence to spend most of the day at home. I must try this more often.

I thought a lot about my mom today. March 4 was her birthday. When I was a very young child, I can remember trying to figure out how she could have been born the day before me! Well, I am not going to be 120 years old tomorrow, but Ollie Lillian Martin was born 120 years ago today.

2026 Life Logs, Day 62: More Meetings
Date: Tuesday, March 3, 2026
Weather: Overcast, Some Snow, Then Rain; High Temp 33, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

After the protest training last night, I was drained of energy. And that continued today. I need a day off when I have no meetings, no responsibilities so I can just veg out. But that is not this week.

I had work to do today for the Board of Library Trustees, plus I had a Trustee special meeting this afternoon. And this morning I had a longer than expected meeting with an Encore friend who volunteered to help me with the May program about the history of the Cape Verdean people that settled in Falmouth. So, I went through the motions of the day, but was honestly very unproductive.
And just now, the power went out again. The generator is running and I am taking this as a sign that I need to go to bed and start again tomorrow.

2026 Life Logs, Day 61: Lifelong Learning
Date: Monday, March 2, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 28, Low 15 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The limp March lion continues. Today was just cold. And tomorrow we are forecast to get another inch of snow. But then the forecast calls for eight days with high temps in the upper 40’s, 50’s, and even the 60’s over the next nine days. For those longing for warmer weather and no snow, hope is on the horizon.

My morning was spent on Zoom with the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition. This organization was formed last January and now has over 400 members. We meet on Zoom twice a month and during every meeting I learn so much. The organizer and leader of the group is one of the most dedicated people I have ever met and I always learn so much from her. Then this afternoon I met with two women who have expressed an interest in helping with Indivisible meetings and trainings, serving as observers and coaches to help us make sure we are meeting our goals and getting our message across successfully. After our meeting, I realized just how much I am going to learn from our association. Then tonight, Aminta Steinbach and I led the Indivisible training on being a Prepared Protester. Aminta is twenty years younger than I, but despite the age difference, we have so much to learn from each other. She is dynamic presenter, but she needs someone to organize. I did the research, the organizing, and handling of all details and technical aspects of the training tonight, allowing Aminta to work her magic and make a powerful presentation. She is the chef and I am the sous chef. I know I am learning more from her than she is learning from me, but I also know we are both lifelong learners, seeking the most effective ways to get our messages across to people. It is exhausting and exhilarating and exciting, all at the same time, to be doing and learning so much at this point in my life. I feel blessed to have this opportunity and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

2026 Life Logs, Day 60: Welcome March
Date: Sunday, March 1, 2026
Weather: Overcast, snow flurries; High Temp 39, Low 11 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I’m not sure if I would say March came in like a lion, but it certainly wasn’t like a lamb. I am going to take the ‘li’ from lion and ‘mb’ from lamb and call it a limb, short for a limp lion. It was cold and overcast with snow flurries, but certainly calmer than the storm earlier in the week.

Today was a workday for me as I spent the day getting ready for tomorrow’s Indivisible training, The Prepared Protester. Another woman will be doing the presentation, but my job is doing the planning, printing the handouts and getting them onto the clipboards, and making the sure the Power Point presentation is just right. All of those things take time and before I knew it, it was time to go to a late afternoon birthday celebration for my friend Christina Brodie. She was honoring the special women in her life. It was a great idea and a very nice affair. Tomorrow is filled with meetings and then the training tomorrow night. So, I am going to cut this short to try and catch up on the news. And there certainly was plenty of that today. What a disaster.

2026 Life Logs, Day 59: Reciprocity
Date: Saturday, February 28, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Warmer; High Temp 51, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

No gloves, no hats were needed today. It was sunny and warm enough to be comfortable, not even needing to zip up your coat. When I first walked out the door with Shadow this morning, the birds were serenading as if maybe spring is coming. But … tomorrow will be 16 degrees cooler than today and we are supposed to get a bit of snow, less than half an inch. After the official 21-22 inches they say we got on Monday, four-tenths of inch seems like nothing.

The standout on the Green was great today. Some of us brought snow shovels, which really are not helpful at this point because the snow is so icy. There was one flat edged shovel that worked great, but for the most part, people were happy just walking through the snow. Next week there is the second National Day of Science. Last year this protest was held in Woods Hole, but this year we will be on the Green on Saturday as usual.After the standout, I went to the library to meet with Aminta who will be our presenter on Monday evening for our first Indivisible training leading up to NO KINGS Falmouth on March 28. We needed to scope out the room and decide on how we will set up the chairs. Then it was home for lunch before returning to the library for a 3:30 presentation by Wampanoag elder Leslie Jonas. Just before I was ready to leave, my friend and landlord Lynda stopped by to check on things after the snowstorm. She was in Pennsylvania this week and just returned today. I let Shadow out to play in the driveway while we talked and when we walked out, there was no Shadow to be found. I called and called, but no Shadow. I called Andy across the street to see if he was there. No Shadow. Lynda drove around the block while I went out on the front deck to call for him. Still no response. I saw no paw prints in the backyard so I assumed he must have escaped out onto the street by way of the driveway. Heather was going to the presentation at the library with me, so I quickly called to tell her I wouldn’t be picking her up as I was on a hunt for Shadow. Shortly after we got off the phone, she arrived with Jed and Jonah to help search. Lynda and Jed were driving all over the immediate area when Jonah walked back by the entrance to the studio apartment and saw paw prints going down the hill from there. Heather put on her snowshoes to follow Jonah down to the backyard to see if he might be trapped in some deep snow in the empty lot behind my house. And sure enough, he was there. Not trapped in deep snow, but frolicking in it. Jonah thinks he was chasing a squirrel. But whatever, everyone was very relieved. And I was doubly relieved to find him and to know he had not run off. He was just playing in what he considers his backyard.

Everyone disbursed and I headed to the library. The talk, ‘Relationality, Reciprocity, and Gratitude’, explored the ideas in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’. Falmouth has a community read each year and this is the book for 2026. I have been a follower of Kimmerer and I especially love the way she writes about the importance of reciprocity in the Native American culture—the Earth gives to us and in return we give back. Unfortunately, the rest of us got off track and just became takers with no giving back. The talk today made me even more excited about Encore’s April program which is a presentation by Leslie Jonas on the major elements in the Wampanoag culture—Earth, Fire, Water, and Air.

I loved a photo Heather shared tonight of Ollie at Chapaquoit Beach using his new camera to capture the sunset and the planetary alignment in the evening sky. I have been so busy that I didn’t even know about this. I Googled it and found that in the early evening there was a rare six-planet alignment of Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune where they appeared to be lined up. Only four were to be visible to the naked eye. I can’t wait to see what Ollie captured.

2026 Life Logs, Day 58: Impromptu
Date: Friday, February 27, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Warm Enough to Melt More Snow; High Temp 41, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This day got filled to the brim with impromptu happenings. Because I had no set meetings until 4 pm, I decided to start the day doing a post-storm house check in for friends who are out of town. Then I got a text from a neighbor where I used to live in East Falmouth asking me to go to their summer vacation house that they rent as an Airbnb. The internet/cable was not working. By the time I drove to East Falmouth to check on one house and then to West Falmouth to check on the other, it was noon. Then I got an email about a Board of Library Trustees issue that had to be dealt with today. Suddenly, I was immersed in that. Then, believe it or not, I got another email with another issue that had to be dealt with immediately. So, one impromptu happening after another brought me to my 4 planned pm meeting. That was in Woods Hole. When it was over, I made a trip to Waquoit, as far as you can get from one part of Falmouth to another, to pick up some items I had left at another friend’s house. While there, I got a very generous, impromptu invitation to dinner.

2026 Life Logs, Day 57: Lunch with Friends, Storm Recovery Progress
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Warm Enough to Melt Some Snow; High Temp 42, Low 19 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This morning, I was supposed to have a meeting with the woman who will be leading our Indivisible “Prepared Protester” training on Monday, but she had to postpone to the afternoon. I was relieved because I really didn’t have the PowerPoint presentation ready for her, so I worked furiously all morning to get it done.

But before I knew the meeting was going to be postponed, I headed out the door to take Shadow for his morning walk. We had some melting yesterday and it froze overnight, so our walk was short lived. I was so thankful to even make it around the block without falling. The pavement looked harmless, but it was dangerously slippery. When I got back, I had to launch into an unexpected shoveling project as the town had come through early this morning to clear the sidewalks. That process left piles of chunky, icy snow across the entrance to my driveway that had to be moved before I could get the car out.

So that was my morning. I finished the PowerPoint just before noon and headed to Mashpee for a birthday luncheon for friend Midge Frieswyk. We had a delightful lunch, and I didn’t check my phone until I got home to let Shadow out quickly before heading to Woods Hole. That’s when I found out that the meeting was going to have to be postponed until tomorrow. That gave me time to take care of another Indivisible issue and all of a sudden it was 7 pm.

I am writing this early as I am taking the rest of the night off. I think I’ll just veg in front of the television. But one last thing. There is good news for Falmouth residents on the power restoration. We have gone from 93 percent without power initially, to 70 percent by the end of yesterday, to 22 per cent today. Eversource is hoping that by 6 pm tomorrow, everyone will be back online. That is wonderful news.

2026 Life Logs, Day 56: The Haves and the Have Nots
Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Weather: Cloudy, Some Mixed Precipitation; High Temp 38, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The decision on whether of not I was cancelling tomorrow night’s film screening at the library had to be made by 9 am this morning. That meant I needed to know if the library had power restored. It did not, so that made the decision. I then spent the rest of the morning getting all of the resources organized for Monday night’s Indivisible ‘Prepared Protester’ training.

By noon, I was ready for a break, so I took time to deliver a few books to my friend Karen Baranowski. She and Peter still have no electricity, no internet, and no cable television. So she needed something to read! The Baranowski’s have a generator, so they are not without power. But three days with no contact with the outside world has left them feeling very isolated. That reminded me of just how lucky I have been through this storm. I have been one of the ‘haves’, whereas most people in Falmouth have been the ‘have nots’. At the end of today, still 70 per cent of the town’s properties are without power. That includes, the rec center, the Senior Center, the library, I assume most stores on Main Street, but more importantly so many people without heat. I am incredibly thankful for my good luck, but very worried for so many without.