2022 Life Logs, Day 189: Celebration of Life, Final Pottery Class for Ollie
Date: Friday, July 8, 2022
Weather: Another Beautiful Summer Day; High 79, Low 64 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
At noon I went to the Concord Curling Club for a celebration of life for my friend Olga Mitchell’s husband, Peter. I only met Peter twice before the pandemic hit. He passed away in January of 2021, so the celebration of life was postponed until now. Both Peter and Olga were originally from Canada, both had PhD’s in physics, and both spent their lives working in the Bell Labs in New Jersey. But outside of work, Olga was an avid skier and a stunt pilot while Peter was a curler. Today many of the attendees were curlers with Peter in Canada, New Jersey, and here in Falmouth where Peter and Olga spent their retirement years. Peter was a force in the curling world at both the local and national levels. Today was beautiful celebration of his life. On the back of the program there was poem that I will copy at the end of this log. So beautiful.
I left the celebration and took Ollie to Somerset Creamery for an ice cream cone before his final pottery class in this session. He has another week of classes the first week of August, but we needed to celebrate this week. When he saw the ice cream cone he said, “How can this be a small?” I agreed. It was a small cone with a mountain of chocolate ice cream atop. But he had no trouble wolfing it down. While he was in class, I drove home to have lunch and then returned later to pick him up. When I arrived, he was still sitting at one of the wheels practicing.
Then I got to see the pieces he made this week of which he was very proud.
The Barn Pottery really was once a barn, but it has been transformed into a great space for pottery classes.
After saying farewell to the instructor, Kim, we headed home as Ollie’s friend Simon was coming for dinner and an overnight. Ollie said that even though he is enjoying his time alone without Jonah, he really misses him. He was excited to have a friend over for tonight.
Poem by Mary Elizabeth Frye:
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am the thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
