2025 Life Logs, Day 80: Happy 13th Birthday to Oliver Preston Goldstone
Date: Friday March 21, 2025
Weather: Rain Early, Then Cloudy; High Temp 47, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Happy 13th birthday to my grandson Ollie. Today he became a teenager, and in July my granddaughter Coco turns 13. When that happens, my ‘Fabulous Five’ will all be teenagers, with one headed to college. How wonderful it is to be able to watch your grandchildren growing up.

Ollie and his friend Simon, who was born on the same day in 2012, planned a combined birthday party. They invited four shared friends to spend a couple of hours bouncing on trampolines, climbing a rock wall, attacking a ninja warrior course, and more at Nova Trampoline Park in Plymouth. The two dads went along as chaperones, while the moms stayed home to make birthday cakes. Heather made a chocolate cake for Ollie. Simon’s mom made an ice cream cake for Simon.

And when the boys got home, everyone had a bit of both. Tonight, Heather and Jed are hosting an overnight for the six boys. The wonderful thing about being a grandparent is that you can say goodnight and go home for a quiet night’s sleep!

After three months of not taking Shadow to the groomer, I caved and took him today. It is so expensive, but for a dog who has hair that grows, versus fur, you really have no choice. He was a matted mess, but when I picked him up, he was his handsome self. I’ll be taking him to be groomed regularly once again.

After dropping Shadow off, I went to a PT session for my neck, and then I spent the remainder of my day searching for an intro class to welding as a birthday present for Ollie. The place that seemed the best fit for the best price was in Plympton, near Plymouth. Their website gives only an email address. I emailed a week ago but had heard nothing back. So, I drove to Plympton with only a street name, no detailed address and no phone number. I put the name of the welding shop in Google Maps, but when I got there, I did not find a welding shop. I went to the Town Hall. Closed on Fridays. I went to the Fire Department next door and couldn’t find anyone around. I thought that surely someone would know where I could find the shop. I finally went to the Police Department and no one there had ever heard of the place. But the receptionist and two officers did everything they could to search for me. They finally found a phone number which they called, but no one answered. Finally, they found an address. Success! I was able to arrange for a private 4-hour intro to welding class for Ollie and Jed.

While driving around today, I listened to NPR. How depressing it is to listen to the news these days. But tonight, when I got home, I hopped on my exercise bike while watching The Rachel Maddow Show. Watching the replay from today of our Secretary of Commerce Lutnick was not just depressing, it actually brought tears. It really hurt to watch him saying that if Social Security didn’t send our their checks this month only fraudsters would complain. Fraudsters? I live on a fixed income. My teacher retirement and Social Security are my only sources of income. I paid into both of those for the 30 years that I was an educator. I have a few thousand dollars in savings, but literally just a few. Lutnick’s exact words were, “Anybody who’s been in the payment system and the processes, knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing,” If I don’t get my Social Security check, I will have to use my meager savings to pay the rent. But there are thousands of people who worked hard at even lower paying jobs than a teacher that have no savings. Those of us in this situation are going to ‘scream’ and we are not stealing. We would only be asking for what we have earned. Hearing Lutnick’s words was just a step too far for me. “Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their check this month. My mother-in-law is 94. She wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She would think something got messed up and she’ll just get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming, yelling, and complaining.” Obviously Lutnick’s mother doesn’t depend on her Social Security to pay her rent!

2025 Life Logs, Day 79: Luncheon, Meeting, Meeting, Town Hall
Date: Thursday March 20, 2025
Weather: Cloudy, Foggy; High Temp 47, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

These are busy days. I attended an Encore Lunch In at noon, wedged in a short meeting where I decided to run in the town election for a 3-year position as one of the Trustees of the Public Library and went to Town Hall to pull my papers to make it official, attended an Encore gathering of new board members for next year, and then traveled off the Cape for a 6:30 pm Town Meeting with our Representative to the US House, Bill Keating.

Keating entered the political world in 1977, so he is certainly not new to representing his constituency. And in the past 60 days, he has stood up for what is right. But tonight was a tough meeting. There were a few very angry people who want to know what Democrats in Washington are going to do to stop the dismantling of our government. Keating calmly explained that there is not a lot Democrats can do right now. But that answer was not what these people wanted to hear. I guess it is an answer that none of us wants to hear. I support what Keating has been doing up to this point, but I agree that playing by the rules might not be a strategy against actions made by the opposing party who is not playing by any rules. The one thing that was made clear is that it is up to the people to make their voices heard.

2025 Life Logs, Day 78: Meeting, Meeting, Meeting, Meeting
Date: Wednesday March 19, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 48, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My two-year term as Co-President of Encore is coming to an end, but I somehow got myself nominated to be the Vice President of Programs for next year. At some point, I did say I would fill the position if absolutely no one else would do it. Evidently, no one would. So, this morning I met with the woman who will be the Assistant VP with me, along with the other Co-President and next year’s President. The woman I will be working with next year on programming is a delightful person. I look forward to working with her to bring interesting programs to our Encore monthly meetings.

Next was a Woodwell Climate Research Center (WCRC) webinar entitled, “Navigating Federal Policy with Woodwell Climate.” I wanted to tune in to this to try and understand how Woodwell plans to keep their presence at the federal government level in these trying times.

I had a lunch break, took Shadow to the Vet for annual vaccinations, answered some emails, and then was off to an Exploring Public Policy meeting. Charlotte Harris, Chair of the Town of Falmouth Planning Committee, came to talk with us about the role of the Planning Committee in terms of dealing with Falmouth’s affordable/attainable housing crisis. I had never met Charlotte, but she has been on the Planning Committee for ten years and is a wealth of information.

One more meeting to go. I went to Woodwell for a documentary screening and Zoom ‘conversation’ with John Francis. The documentary tells the story of his 17 years of silence and 22 years of walking. John Francis. Born in Philadelphia in 1946, the son of a West Indian immigrant, he moved to Marin County in California as a young man and has been an American environmentalist for over 55 of years. It all began with the oil spill in the Gulf of San Francisco in 1971. His struggle to rationalize his lifestyle in the face of such destruction led him to give up traveling in motorized vehicles and eventually to stop talking for 17 years. He felt like he needed to listen, not talk. He started walking from California to Oregon where he stopped to get a college degree. He walked on to Montana where he got his master’s degree, all the while remaining silent. Walking on to Wisconsin, he got his Ph.D. And then on to Washington, DC, to assist the US Coast Guard in their response to the Exxon Valdez disaster. He is an amazing man and question and answer session with him afterwards was truly inspiring.

2025 Life Logs, Day 77: Archie by Day, Indivisible Meeting by Night
Date: Tuesday March 18, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cooler; High Temp 43, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I was at home today, dog sitting a puppy for a friend who was leading a field trip today. The puppy’s name is Archie, and he is very cute but very shy. He and Shadow tolerate each other, but don’t play together. It took me all morning, but I finally got Archie to sit on my lap and Shadow joined us.

Tonight, I attended the weekly Upper Cape Indivisible meeting. The meeting began with a view out the windows of an incredible sunset. Then, we had guest speakers from PFLAG speaking on behalf of the transgender population at this very trying time. One speaker was transgender and there were two speakers who are parents of adult transgender children. It was terrifying to me to hear how afraid they are for the lives of their children right now. It was a very informative and emotionally moving meeting.

2025 Life Logs, Day 76: Rainy St, Patrick’s Day
Date: Monday, March 17, 2025
Weather: Rain, Rain, and More Rain; High Temp 54, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

What does one do on a rainy, rainy St. Patrick’s Day? You don’t plant peas, which is the Cape Cod tradition. I went to see a movie with a friend. We went to see Anora because it won so many Oscars. I had heard terrible reviews from anyone I know who has seen the movie, but I wanted to see it for myself. I must say I have never heard the ‘f’ word so many times in a movie and the explicit sex scenes had nothing to with love. They were scenes of sex workers at work which comes across as raw porn. Definitely not a family movie. But the feisty sex worker who refuses, at least at first, to be bullied by Russian mafia types, made her a hero. When she did cave, she lost all. So, standing up for herself, even in the face of physical violence, gave Anora, aka Ani in the movie, real appeal deserving of Best Actress.

Tonight, I went to hear a presentation on two articles that will be voted on in April’s Town Meeting. Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart from The Green Institute here in Falmouth, presented the details behind the two articles they are sponsoring to do local research on using Urine Diversion to help solve our nitrogen pollution problem. Most every home in this country must use some method of getting rid of all the water that flushes through your home. You are either tied into a sewer system or a septic system. The problem with both is that after the wastewater goes through either of these systems, the treated water still has most of the nitrogen from urine in it. Most homes in Falmouth are still using traditional septic tanks. Hilda and Earle are trying to educate and convince the masses that urine diversion is cheaper and actually gets rid of most of the nitrogen, thus more environmentally friendly. After tonight’s presentation, I certainly had a much clearer understanding of Innovative/Alternate (I/A) septic systems and Urine Diversion.

The woman who introduced Hilda and Earle tonight ended the evening with a quote I had never heard before. It comes from tennis great, Arthur Ashe, and applies in so many situations.

“Start WHERE you are.
Use WHAT you have.
Do WHAT you can.”

2025 Life Logs, Day 75: Sunny, Warm Sunday
Date: Sunday, March 16, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Winds S 10 AM, 22 PM; High Temp 61, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

On this last Sunday of winter 2025, we had a wonderfully warm day. No hat, no gloves, no coat needed. And somehow. I just melted into the day and now it’s time to go to bed. The south wind that brought us warm weather today is bringing rain during the night, and it is forecast to stay with us all day tomorrow and tomorrow night, ending early Tuesday.

I did accomplish one thing today, but only with Jed’s help. A computer desk that my son Justin left with us when he moved out west in 2007. Mark and I kept it in storage while we sailed around the world and at some point after we returned, Heather and Jed used the desk for awhile. When they no longer needed it, it was disassembled and stored in their basement. Fast forward to this February. When I started PT for my neck pain, the therapist recommended adjusting the height of my computer. I tried a make-shift desk using a wooden card table. It was better than what I had been using, but it was still causing problems. Then I remembered that steel and glass computer desk and asked Heather and Jed if they still had it. They did, and this morning Jed got it out of their basement for me. They had used it at one point but then took it apart to store it when it was no longer needed. I took the parts home, and later in the afternoon Jed came over to put it back together for me. We were missing some special screws with large flat heads and one of the rubber pads needed for the glass desktop. I got into my box of screws and bolts and found a plastic bag with some screws that looked just like the ones we needed. When Jed opened the bag, he couldn’t believe it. It was the original screws and that missing plastic pad that have been hidden away for years. I tend to keep things forever, which can sometimes cause a space issue, but today it was a lifesaver.

2025 Life Logs, Day 74: Science Fair and 2025 All Cape Jazz Festival
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
Weather: Overcast, Foggy; High Temp 46, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The annual Falmouth Public Schools Science Fair was held this morning in the high school gymnasium. Ollie was the only Goldpebble with an entry this year. I enjoyed having him explain his experiment to me, as well as talking with other budding scientists about their projects.

This afternoon I went with Heather and Jed to Hyannis to the Sturgis East Charter Public School who hosted the 2025 All Cape Jazz Festival. Jonah was the Goldpebble in this event. He plays trombone and this afternoon he played in the Falmouth High School jazz band and then in the All Cape Jazz Big Band. There were exhibition jazz bands from Nauset, Sandwich, Barnstable, Sturgis, and Falmouth. I might be a bit biased, but I thought Falmouth’s jazz band was the best, by far.

2025 Life Logs, Day 73: Taking Care of Business and Trivia Night
Date: Friday, March 14, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Warmer; High Temp 51, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

No meetings, no political events, just a day of sitting at my computer taking care of business. Then tonight, I went to the high school for Trivia Night, a fundraiser for their spring play. I really don’t like Trivia because I am terrible at it, but a friend pleaded with me to fill an empty seat, and I just couldn’t say no. Actually, it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated, but I think I embarrassed my oldest grandson, Sam, by being there. I had no idea he would be there, but when I saw him, I went over to say hello. He said he saw my car when he arrived and wondered what in the world I was doing there! I loved that in the first three rounds, my group had more points than his. But in the end, they surpassed us. And it was great that the winning group was a table of Falmouth High School teachers, not students. Their team’s name was “Over Educated, and Under Rated.” Good, healthy, fun competition.

I chose not to go to Hyannis for the Veteran’s protest at the Hyannis rotary today. I really needed a day off. But I am so proud that Cape Cod’s Indivisible groups showed up and made the national news tonight on the Rachel Maddow Show. Rachel believes that the local pushback is working, so she highlights protests from all around the country that are happening every day. Today was our turn. Pushback, pushback, pushback.

And tonight, on Rachel’s show the April 5 HANDS OFF! national protest by Indivisible, 50501, and many other organizations was announced by Ezra Levin from Indivisible. Local groups from all over the country have been pushing for one centralized protest in addition to the protests springing up all over the country. So, plan your trip to DC now for the April 5 event. Until this February, I don’t think I have ever participated in a protest in my life. Now I have been to four in four weeks, and I certainly plan to go to DC. Hope to see you there.

I’ll end with a quote I borrowed from a Robert Reich post:
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” ? Theodore Roosevelt

2025 Life Logs, Day 72: Encore Monthly Meeting to Full Moon
Date: Thursday, March 13, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 41, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today started with an Encore monthly meeting and is ending with the anticipation of the full moon in the middle of the night at 2:55 am. There will also be a lunar eclipse during the night, beginning just before midnight. Since it is already 11:30 pm, I’ll get to check out the very beginning. But I am choosing not to get up during the night to see the full eclipse.

What else happened today? Kevin and Claire tried to call me on my birthday last week so Kevin could sing Happy Birthday to me, but the timing was not working for me. It took until today for us to find a common time to talk. They really want to get the boat repair work completed and get the boat into the water to cruise the Sea of Cortez next winter. They have friends on two other boats that they would love to cruise with. So, here’s hoping they can get all the work done in time. After that I tuned into the every Thursday afternoon at 3 pm Zoom call with Indivisible (national). The main topic today is the decision the Democrats have to make by tomorrow on how to vote on the budget. Go along and keep the government open or go against and shut down the government. Almost a no-win situation.

Then this evening it was off the a Falmouth Democratic Town Committee (FDTC) meeting. I’ve never attended one before, but I decided it was time to check it out. And when I got home from that, I made one more trip out for today. I delivered by old Canon camera to Heather and Jed’s so they can use it to try and get photos of the eclipse tonight. That gave me a chance to catch up with them and found that they had attended the installation of art pieces for a display at WHOI done by the Ninjas (Ollie’s middle school art honor group). Jed sent me a photo of Ollie sitting beneath the piece he worked on. Once again, so proud.

2025 Life Logs, Day 71: Falmouth’s All Bands Night and More
Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Weather: Sunny, but Cooler; High Temp 46, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The Falmouth Schools’ All Bands Night has become one of my favorite nights of the year. I think all of the mamas, the papas, the grandmas, the grandpas, and the brothers and sisters in attendance love hearing Falmouth’s 5th grade band, 6th grade band, middle school band, and high school band, all gathered in the high school gymnasium playing music. The evening starts with the high school band playing the Star-Bangled Banner. Then the youngest musicians play one piece, and the next and the next, on up to the high school band. Just hearing the progression of expertise is always “music to my ears.” They then start over, with each band playing another piece. There is a short pause while the jazz bands at each level come forward. They each play two songs, always upbeat and a delight to hear. The evening then ends with all of the musicians playing America the Beautiful written by Falmouth’s own Katherine Lee Bates. How they pull this off with only one practice run just before the concert begins is amazing to me. It is always a tearjerker but tonight, with the situation in our country, it was even more so. America is beautiful and for just a short period of time tonight, everyone in that gymnasium set politics aside and became one. Thank you, Falmouth School District, for the opportunity you offer your students and the gift you give each of us in attendance on this one special night each year.

I started my day with an all-morning Encore Board meeting, followed by a Shamrock Luncheon at Liam MacGuire’s hosted by Newcomers. Next was an Exploring Public Policy meeting with Town Moderator and state representative speaking with us about local government and how to get involved.

In between each of these activities, I would hurry home to let Shadow out. And then the day ended with the All Bands Night. Busy, but wonderful day.