2017 Life Logs, Day 240: The Joy of Watching Kids at Play
2017 Life Logs, Day 240: The Joy of Watching Kids at Play
Date: Monday, August 28, 2017
Weather: Sunny with N Winds Cooling Us Down; High 73, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today was a day to just let Sam, Jonah, and Ollie play at home. After being gone for two weeks, they just wanted to hang out with the neighborhood kids. And it was a joy to watch them. Unfortunately, I didn’t anticipate that I would need my bike in order to keep up with them. But I used Heather’s bike and that worked out just fine. By lunch time, we had Cole and Leo and Zack playing at the Goldstones, so I fed everyone lunch. There next plan was to ride bikes down to the cranberry bogs to slide on the huge sand bank. They all ride their bikes through the bogs with abandon, looking much like wild ponies. Sam and Jonah can go there without an adult tagging along, but Ollie is by far the youngest in the group and he can’t go with adult supervision. So, I sat on the bank above the bog and just watched them play. We were there for over an hour before that got boring and then the decided to head to Cole and Leo’s to have a water gun fight. I stayed there with Ollie so he could be a part of the water battle, but when it was time for the big boys to have a treat at the Hennon’s, Ollie and I went next door to Smitty’s for our treat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a little one enjoy an ice cream cone as much as Ollie did this afternoon.
And then the group decided to move on to Zach’s house. I went along with Ollie to make sure he was going to be included in the group, and once I was comfortable that the big boys would look after him, I left them and went around the corner to Heather’s. She was home by now and checking on her bees.
Another delight to watch. My only job today was to revel in the joy of watching children, big and little, play. Lucky me!
All of us are feeling like summer went by too fast. I thought maybe it was just me that felt that way, but Cole Hennon shared with me at lunch time that he just doesn’t know where this summer went. He said that he looked forward to it for so long and that it doesn’t feel quite fair that it went by so quickly. I agree. The fact that the kids didn’t get out of school until the last week of June and then the weather was cooler than usual didn’t help. But we are going to make sure we enjoy this last week of summer 2017. The wind from the north is making the days cool and the nights chilly. But with sunshine, we’ll do just fine, especially since warmer weather is forecast to arrive early next week. School might be starting next week, but summer’s not over yet.
Ollie fell asleep on the plane and slept through Customs, but as we made our way to a close-by restaurant to get some dinner, we started to see eyes. During dinner, all three boys were so animated in relating their adventures and I’m sure I’ll hear even more stories tomorrow. Some of the highlights of their trip can be seen on Heather’s Facebook page—heather m. handley goldstone.
whereas I need the sheet music.
But each time I go out with him, I learn a little more while truly enjoying being out on the water. After a couple of hours, we returned so that Jane could go kayaking and somehow I ended up deciding to go out with her. Jane is an experienced kayaker. I am not. But the only way to learn is to get out there and do it. So I did. We kayaked in the West Falmouth inner harbor and its by-ways . . . so beautiful and peaceful. Thank you to Bruce and Jane for including me in their water adventures. It was a great day.
I think it qualifies. After picking the bounty from the garden,
I decided that I should cut the grass. Sam showed me how to use the battery-powered lawnmower before to Sweden, but I obviously wasn’t a very good student. I could start the mower, but it wouldn’t cut. The mower is an Ego Power+ run by a lithium-ion battery. No gasoline, no electric cords, just a compact battery that once I got it going, ran for about an hour and half before needing to be recharged. Once I figured it out, I think it is the easiest lawn mower I have ever used. Love it. Jed and I exchanged a few text messages but I still couldn’t get it to cut, so I decided to go home for lunch, check out ‘how to’ videos on youTube, and then return and try one last time to get the mower going. I found just want I needed on the internet and got most of the yard cut before the battery ran out of juice. I’ll return tomorrow to finish the yard after I go sailing on Pooh with Bruce Woodin. This is supposed to be a sail where I do everything from start to finish. I watched Bruce last time, but this time is all mine. Hope my memory for what to do on a boat is better than how to start a lawn mower!
I stopped to take photos there before heading home. I was only away for two nights, and even though I REALLY enjoyed the time with Ed and Lynne, it is always good to be home. 
It was a quick version of what I do when I go to my 20/20/20 class at the gym, but great to find out about this video that I can use on days when there is no class. We had breakfast out on the roof-top deck overlooking the Hudson River
and a little later we went down to the pool. We had planned to read in the sunshine, but we ended up spending most of the time talking to Ed’s grandson, Frankie. Lunch was a soup and zucchini flat bread (gluten-free) that was delicious.
Lynne worked at the soup kitchen for a couple of hours in the late afternoon while Ed and I stayed home and read and I watched a couple of episodes of two different internet-based programs, one called GMOs Revealed (quite eye-opening) and the called Interpreting Your Genetics and using that information to live a healthier life style. Then it was time to get dinner ready and just enjoy each other’s company. After dinner, we watched the Nova program about Monday’s solar eclipse and then watched a special on Voyager. Lovely day on the wonderful planet on which we are privileged to live. 
