by Judy Handley | Jul 6, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 187—Falmouth Museums on the Green
Date: Friday, July 6, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Then Rain; High 77, Low 60 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After doing our morning chores, we ended this second week of Camp Oma on a patriotic note with a trip downtown to the Falmouth Museums on the Green.
The Bubble Guy was there spreading joy with his huge bubbles.
There were colonial games for the children to try like hoop trundling (rolling)
and the cup and ball toss.
There was red, white, and blue ice cream for everyone.
There were lots of friends and all of this was free. Nice! Bruce and Jane Wooden were there with their daughter Kate and her three children. Midge Frieswyk was there with her granddaughter.
And all of Ollie’s good friends from his days at the Woods Hole Daycare Coop were there. Jonah and Ollie ended up in the stocks which prompted lots of photo posing.
And Jonah and Sam took Ollie and I on a tour of the 1790 Dr. Francis Thomas Wicks home where there were docents in period dress giving us the history of the house.
The scrimshaw demonstration was delayed and we decided not to stay, but all of us are interested in seeing this at some point. We stopped at the playground before leaving town where we met up with more of Ollie’s and Jonah’s friends.
So, it was a fun Friday morning.
Friday afternoon didn’t quite go our way. We went home to watch the World Cup quarterfinal game between Brazil and Belgium. We are all big Brazil fans, but today Belgium won the day with an unbelievably strong defense that was effective in stopping Brazil. Belgium deserved to win that game, but that doesn’t make you feel any better when your team loses. It will be interesting to see if the boys lose interest in watching the rest of the World Cup or whether they adopt a new favorite team.
by Judy Handley | Jul 5, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 186—Lazy River
Date: Thursday, July 5, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 73 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Lovely weather continued today, so we headed back to Wood Neck in the afternoon to enjoy rides down Lazy River as the tide was rushing out to sea. The Goldpebbles did this yesterday with mom and dad and wanted a repeat performance. We split our time between the marsh and the beach and all three boys really enjoyed riding waves in from outside the sandbar where Lazy River meets the sea. The morning wasn’t quite as exciting as we did some chores around the house and then went to Walmart and Olympia Sports to make some purchases. We are working out the ‘kinks’ of decision making with three boys who always want to do different things, but the summer is young and I’m hoping we can become more cooperative as the summer progresses. Tomorrow, after doing morning chores, all three boys have agreed to head downtown to the Falmouth Museums on the Green. They are a Free Friday Museum tomorrow and there are some special activities . . . The Bubble Guy at 10 am and demonstrations of the art of scrimshaw using traditional tools and techniques starting at 11 am. Then we head home for lunch and the 2 pm World Cup match between Belgium and Brazil. Ethan, a friend of Sam’s will join us and we are hoping that Luke, Jonah’s friend can also come. Brazil is our team of choice, so you know who we will be cheering for tomorrow. Good friends Sebastian and Fofie flew home with their grandparents today and will be watching the game from their grandparents’ home in Belgium. We’ll be thinking of them while watching the game.
by Judy Handley | Jul 4, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 185—Fourth of July in Falmouth
Date: Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 86, Low 69 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Fourth of July!
Falmouth loves parades and has one for almost all major holidays. And certainly the Fourth of July is no exception. There is always a 10 am bicycle parade for young children on Main Street and that is followed by noon time parade in Woods Hole that highlights the science community. And then the day is ended with a spectacular fireworks display over the Vineyard Sound. Today, I engaged in all three. Heather, Ollie, and I did the bicycle parade with Ollie riding and Heather and I walking along.
Thanks to Olivia White for catching a photo of Ollie and me. Then it was off to Woods Hole for the parade there. The employees of WCAI, the public radio station where Heather works in Woods Hole, marched in the parade, so Heather,Jed, and all three boys participated while I walked alongside taking photos.
And finally, we ended our day on the beach with friends watching the spectacular fireworks.
Fun day!
by Judy Handley | Jul 3, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 184—More World Cup Soccer, More Kayaking
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 83, Low 69 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
On this eve of the 4th of July, Camp Oma today was all about watching more World Cup soccer and doing more kayaking. Today we invited friends, the Hennins, over to kayak with us. Jeanne, the mother, arrived with her two sons, Leo and Cole, as well as their small inflatable kayak. Ollie and Sam went out in separate kayaks while we were waiting for the Hennins to arrive and explored some new territory. Then when the Hennins did arrive, Ollie and I watched from the dock as Jeanne, Sam, and Leo went out in single-man kayaks and Jonah and Cole went in the two-man.
When they returned, it looked like the armada was descending upon us.
And then the boys engaged in a water battle on land. It was an afternoon of sun and fun and even though I didn’t kayak, I’m exhausted. Heather ran a 4.5 mile course from her house to here via the beach. It was her first long run since the hernia surgery and she admitted that it was harder than she expected. Once she entered the neighborhood, I drove to pick her up. Then she left in my car with Sam to take him to Woods Hole for drum lessons. A little later, Jed picked up Ollie, Jonah, and myself. He took Ollie and I to their house and traveled on with Jonah for a 6 pm annual physical. It was another long day, but Heather invited me to stay for Tuesday Tacos and I accepted. We are still working on plans for the 4th, but we know that the plans for the day will include participating in a Woods Hole mid-day parade and going to the beach to watch fireworks tomorrow night.
by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 183—Free and Easy Day
Date: Monday, July 2, 2018
Weather: A Little Cooler; High 79, Low 68 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Camp Oma started the week with a free and easy day and by the end of the day, the Goldpebbles and myself were all a little more relaxed than we were at the start. There was a bit of bickering in the morning, but that went away as the day progressed. When I arrived this morning, Jonah and Ollie were still in bed . . . tired boys, but Sam had been up for two hours. Evidently his internal clock just does not allow him to sleep in no matter how tired he might be. We watched the Brazil vs Mexico World Cup soccer game from 10 to noon and it was a good one. We are Brazil fans because the boys love Neymar, their star player. But Jonah also likes a young player on Team Mexico as well as their goalie who did a great job today. The World Cup Quarter Finals start on Friday, so we still have a lot of soccer games to watch! Afterwards the boys played with Legos for a bit and then we were off to my house for lunch and to scout out the perfect place to build a tree house. When Justin asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day I told him I wanted help with projects, specifically building a tree house for the boys. So that is what we will do when the Handley-Hunts arrive in two weeks. Because of the mid-week 4th of July holiday, Jonah then had back-to-back afternoon commitments. His Monday 4:30 guitar lesson was changed to 3:30 and then he had lacrosse practice from 5 to 7 pm. Sam stayed at home while Ollie went with me to Jonah’s lesson. The guitar teacher also happens to be the father of twins that are good friends of Ollie’s. So Ollie played with Roland and Meadow while Jonah had his lesson. Then it was home to get ready to go to lacrosse. Heather was home by this time, so she took Jonah while I stayed with Ollie and Sam. It was a long day for me as I hung around to go pick up Jonah at 7 pm. One of Jed’s roommates from his years as a graduate student at MIT is here on the Cape visiting from Colorado and was coming to dinner tonight. So, I offered to go get Jonah so they could visit. It takes a village.
by Judy Handley | Jul 1, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 182—Hot July 1
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Hotter Than Yesterday; High 90, Low 64 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
July decided to enter making a statement. The temperature reached 90 degrees today, so it was a hot July 1. I love hot, so it wasn’t a problem for me, but I did have to venture into the basement to find fans. I never really needed a lot of fans when I lived on the harbor as it was always windy, but I do have one. And there were two floor fans here when I moved in. Unfortunately, when I brought them upstairs, only one is working, so if this is going to be a hot summer, I’ll need to invest in a couple of window fans. For now, however, things are fine and that is because the nighttime temperatures are staying in the 60’s. That cools things down and makes for nice sleeping without a fan.
When I got up this morning and raised the shade in the bedroom, I was greeted with a lovely sight. There were at least three, maybe four, Northern Flickers hanging out around one of my raised garden beds.
They were pecking at the ground and appeared to be eating insects. Whatever they were doing, I love having them on the property. I have only seen one at a time prior to this morning and always on a dead tree in the side yard. They were being bold this morning. I had to take photos through the screen as I was sure they would fly away if I tried to raise it. So the photos are not great. They are beautiful birds and I hope they continue to hang out here.
Heather and gang went to a pool party this afternoon and I invited them over for dinner afterwards. So, I spent a bit of my afternoon preparing for that. I didn’t get the last of the plants I bought last week planted, but I’ll get that done in the evenings this week. The Goldstones arrived early and Jed brought their hammock and cleared an area in the side yard between two trees that is perfect for a hammock. I think I have a hammock that I bought in Indonesia, so I am going to have to find that and buy what is needed to hang it between those two trees. I’m not a hammock person, but the kids will enjoy it. While everyone was relaxing, Sam and I took the van and drove to Peter and Karen Baranowski’s to borrow one of their kayaks. Sam and Jonah have neighborhood friends who would like to come kayak with them, so we needed at least one more kayak. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, arrive in two weeks, and it will be nice to have the extra kayak then as well. Thanks for the loan, Peter and Karen! While we were there, Peter showed us the two-pound quahog clam he found today. It was huge and Sam was quite impressed. When we go home, Sam took it out for a trial run and I think Jonah and Ollie went out as well. Jed was on kid duty on the dock while I was getting dinner ready, so I didn’t really see who did what, but I do know all three boys were complaining about wet pants, so I think they all went out. We had a nice dinner together and then Heather and Jed took three tired little boys home. They didn’t get home until almost midnight from the Revolutions soccer game last night and none of the boys slept on the way home. They definitely needed to get to bed on time tonight.
Camp Oma will continue this week, but with only one grandmother as Marti returned to Maine today. It was so much fun to have both grandmothers for a week. Jed reported that Marti made the drive home just fine and she got quite a surprise when she got there. Jed’s brother Toby, who lives in Portland, Oregon, flew in unannounced for the week and was there when Marti arrived. Marti’s brother, who lives next door, is having a big 4th of July party and Marti was a bit concerned about getting all the tables set up. So I know she will really appreciate having Toby’s help, as well as just enjoy visiting with him.
