by Judy Handley | Sep 1, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 244—Tomatoes, Tomatoes, and a Monarch Caterpillar
Date: Saturday, September 1, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 80, Low 60 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I am still buried in tomatoes! I knew trying to do 60 pounds of tomatoes in one week was too much, but I am leaving town on Thursday won’t be back for a week. By that time, there might not be any tomatoes, so I dove in. Today was the day to turn those blanched, peeled, and deseeded tomatoes into sauce and then let it burble for a few hours. Somehow that took longer than expected and I am just now taking the first load out of the canner. I have at least 4 more canner loads to do. That won’t all happen tonight, so I will finish up tomorrow morning. Then I will move on to making rose hip jam. I also discovered a Monarch Caterpillar in the garden on the milkweed I planted recently.
It is that time of year.
by Judy Handley | Aug 31, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 243—Last Day of Camp Oma 2018
Date: Friday, August 31, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cooler; High 77, Low 58 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This was not only the last day of August, it was the last day of Camp Oma for 2018. We had our end-of-summer celebration at the waterpark yesterday and spent today at home wrapping up summer projects. When I got home, I started feeling guilty that we hadn’t done something spectacular today, but as the boys get older, they really enjoy just hanging out at home. They were having friends over for dinner tonight and that was going to be their celebration. So we spent our day finishing up summer projects. Then I came home and looked back at my logs for the past few years to see how we spent our last day in previous years. My search reminded me that the summer of 2013 was when we first coined the term of Camp Oma. That year Ollie was in daycare, and I had Sam and Jonah part-time. Mark joined us when he could, but he was working full-time at West Marine. Ollie was with us during the last part of the summer and our last day of Camp Oma that year was spent in Woods Hole. We visited the Exhibit Center and played in Alvin . . . still one of the favorite activities of all three boys six summers later.
01 Ollie, Sam, and Jonah Play in Alvin
and our last day that year was spent in Quissett Harbor on Windbird just messing about in boats and on the beach. Heather and Jed joined us in the afternoon for a full family celebration. Such happy days.
Summer 2015 was the first year that all three boys ‘attended’ Camp Oma full-time. We explored Cape Cod from one end to the other and ended with a mini-golf tournament at Pirate’s Cove Aaargh, Matie.
00 Ahoy, Maties
Last year, 2017, we spent our last day at Wood Neck with friends. Jonah’s friend, Luke, joined us,
and neighbors Cole and Leo were there as all the boys explored the marsh.
DCIM100GOPRO
by Judy Handley | Aug 30, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 242—Fun Day at the Cape Cod Inflatable Park
Date: Thursday, August 30, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Hot; High 92, Low 65 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Going to the Cape Cod Inflatable Park was on Jonah’s summer bucket list. We are running out of days, so today was the day. None of us really knew what to expect, but we all loved it.
It is an expensive venture, but it was the perfect way to spend a hot day. There are actually three parks—one with dry inflatables, one that is the water park, and the challenge park with zip lines and other high flying circus-type experiences. We couldn’t go to that park as Ollie is not tall enough, but the dry and wet inflatables were more than enough to fill our day.
There was a Lazy River like our beloved one at Wood Neck,
tall slides,
short slides,
twisty slides, and Ninja-type adventures where you try to walk across a pool on inflatable pads without falling in the water,
rock climbing adventures,
and even an inflatable soccer field.
The main play area for the kids had every imaginable water engineering challenge you can think of and enough slides to keep kids and accompanying adults busy all day. If I had gone to something like this when I was kid, I’m pretty sure I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven. Great day!
And now I have to get to work on processing the last 15 pounds of tomatoes. The fun never ends.
by Judy Handley | Aug 29, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 241—Enjoying the Last Days of Summer Vacation
Date: Wednesday, August 29, 2018
Weather: Still Sunny and Hot; High 86, Low 72 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The Goldpebbles have been united and adamant that we just sit back, relax, and soak in the last days of their school summer vacation. So that is what we are doing all morning and into the early afternoon. Then we head to the beach to meet up with Heather and Jed to soak up that aspect of summer. Today we met at Wood Neck which allows us to enjoy the waves off the beach and the explorations of the marsh. At night, Heather, Jed, and myself are elbow-deep in tomatoes and Heather and Jed are scurrying to get other end-of-summer jobs done—ordering new school clothes and shoes for the boys and working on those continuing house improvement projects. Today we added one more project. Yesterday Heather and Jonah picked a bucket of rose hips before they left the beach, so today we washed and prepared the rose hips and cooked them for about an hour. Tomorrow we turn the pulp into rose hip jelly. 
We are also on caterpillar watch as the Monarch butterfly eggs have hatched and we have tiny caterpillars that are voraciously eating milkweed leaves. And it has been so hot that we have had to give the guinea pigs a cool-down bath each day before we head to the beach to cool ourselves off. So we are just embracing all aspects of summer and enjoying these last days of school vacation.
by Judy Handley | Aug 28, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 240—Time for Tomatoes
Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Weather: Still Sunny and Hot; High 91, Low 71 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
When I got up this morning and checked my phone for overnight emails, there was one from Carrie Richter at Peachtree Farm letting me know that she had 60 pounds of tomatoes waiting for me if I wanted them. Carrie knows that I usually can marinara sauce at this time each year so she always contacts me when the tomatoes are ready. So the tomatoes were ready, but I was not really ready for the tomatoes. Regardless, Jonah, Ollie, and I went to the farm and came home with 30 pounds. If I get those processed, I’ll go back for more, but I know from past experience that it takes me a full day to do 60 pounds and a half day to do 30 pounds. And all the time I have is a couple of hours in the evenings. Tonight I blanched, peeled, and deseeded 15 pounds and I’ll do the other 15 pounds tomorrow night, cook the sauce on Thursday night, and can it on Friday night. At least that’s the plan.
Sam, Jonah, Ollie, and I are really savoring this last week of summer vacation. The boys are spending their mornings playing together at home, doing a few chores, working on summer book reports, and then mid-afternoon we head to the beach to meet up with Heather and Jed. This morning Sam stayed home to work on the book report project while Jonah, Ollie, and I picked up the tomatoes, went to the nursery to pick up some more milk weed plants, and stopped by my house to drop off the tomatoes before heading back home. The high temperature today was 91, so our mid-afternoon trip to the beach was truly refreshing.
And Heather and Jed are really enjoying meeting us and getting in a little summer beach time and the boys always enjoy it. Today we got our annual silly beach photo.
Tomorrow I think we are planning to meet at Woodneck Beach.
by Judy Handley | Aug 27, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 239—Long Day
Date: Monday, August 27, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 86, Low 70 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This was a long day for me. I had a 7:45 am appointment with my doctor for my annual physical. The doctor’s office is 30 minutes from here, so it was up early and out of here. The doctor’s assessment was that I am healthy and should just continue what I am doing. He was particularly pleased that I have continued to lose weight over the past two years and hopes that downward trend in weight will continue. All this was good news. And even with the morning appointment, I made it to Heather and Jed’s just after 9 am, only a few minutes later than usual. The boys really wanted to spend the day at home just playing and doing their daily chores. So, we did just that until mid-afternoon when we headed to the beach to meet up with Jed. The weather this last week of summer before school starts is perfect for celebrating summer, so Heather and Jed are trying to take turns leaving work early and meeting up with the boys at the beach. The boys have had lots of summer beach time, but Heather and Jed have not. So, they are trying to pack in as much beach time as possible while the weather is hot and the water is still warm. Today Jed rode his bike from Woods Hole to meet us at Menauhant, our neighborhood beach. Once he arrived, I had to leave as I had a late afternoon appointment. But Heather was going to come join them at some point and provide the transportation home. I didn’t get home until after 6:30 pm and I immediately launched into garden watering. The sunny, hot days dry things out very quickly in our sandy soil. So daily watering is a necessity. But water or not, I have to face that it is the end of the summer gardening season. Sadness doeth prevail.
