2019 Life Logs, Day 157: Fickle Weather and Faithful First Ladies
2019 Life Logs, Day 157: Fickle Weather and Faithful First Ladies
Date: Thursday, June 6, 2019
Weather: Rain Overnight, Cloudy Day; High 73, Low 56 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Interesting weather day. It rained a little overnight and was cloudy and coolish this morning when I left to go to the gym for a class and to ride that stationary bike. When I came out of the gym, the sun was shining, and it felt hot and humid. I got home, changed into capri pants and a short-sleeved shirt to go out and work in the garden, but by the time I got outside, it was cloudy, windy, and cool. So, I went back inside and changed into long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. A person could spend their entire day just changing clothes to match this fickle weather! In between changing clothes, I did get a bit of gardening done while also doing some cooking. Then it was time to head to Heather’s. I was to be there by 3:30 when the kids got home from school, but I wanted to go an hour early to do some gardening there. I transplanted some lettuce plants from garden to hers, added some fencing to one of her raised beds, and finished putting tomato cages around tomato plants I planted in the last few days. There’s more to do tomorrow when I hope to be able to report that most things are planted. We shall see. I’ll work at home in the morning and then head to Heather’s in the afternoon. Today I was the after-school care for the Goldpebbles when they got home from school. Sam got home first and talked about the placement test he took today for his new school next year. He moves from Morris Pond to Lawrence where all Falmouth students attend grades 7 and 8. 
When Ollie and Jonah got home, Ollie was so excited to show me the academic achievement award he received at the East Falmouth Elementary town meeting this morning. Jonah also received an academic achievement award and will have his graduation ceremony next week. These little ones are growing up way too fast.
The opposite of fickle is faithful, or constant, loyal, true, committed, or any of another 200 or so words. Today while riding that stationary bike, I finished Michelle Obama’s autobiography, BECOMING. In 2015, I read A MEMOIR by Barbara Bush. Both books were incredible accounts of the lives of these two women, who at first glance appear to be so very different. But what hit me as I finished Michelle’s book is that the two actually had more in common than they had differences. Both women were madly in love with their husbands and stood by them no matter what. Both women loved and supported their children above all else. The big differences between the two is that one was born into wealth and privilege while the other was not. But the one who was not born into wealth and privilege ended up with a law degree from Harvard and had her own successful career before meeting her husband, while the one from wealth and privilege gave up college to marry the love of her life. Many differences, but a deep and abiding love of family is what they had in common. Whether you are a woman or a man (especially if you are a man), a Democrat or a Republican (especially if you are a Republican), I highly recommend you read Michelle Obama’s book. It is a wonderful documentation of life in today’s crazy world and helps put things into perspective.
Olivia White brought me a copy of the 2019-2020 Chamber of Commerce Falmouth Official Guide as it as a photo from a Camp Oma activity last summer. I took the Goldpebbles to the Falmouth Museums on the Green activity where the boys got to play games from colonial America. A small photo of Sam rolling a wooden hoop with me looking on is on the page sponsored by the Museums in the Official Guide. Thank you, Olivia, for pointing this out to me and bringing me a copy of the guide. Otherwise, I might not have ever seen it. It is this kind of thing those of us in this dining-in group do for each other and I feel blessed to be part of it. One couple in the group had a death in their immediate family just a few days ago, but they came tonight because I think they feel like me. It feels good to be surrounded by friends that you know you can depend on, especially in times of need.
Martha’s Vineyard (MV) has a population that goes from 17,000 during the winter to 200,000 by August. There are many reasons that it is such a popular vacation destination, but one of those reasons is the beauty . . . the Aquinnah Cliffs (formerly known as Gay Head), peaceful countryside, dramatic ocean views. I have seen all of those things before, but today I went there to do a tour of the African American Heritage Trail. The markers on the trail are just simple plaques, but the stories behind those plaques are fantastic. It all started when a woman from Ireland, Elaine Cawley Weintraub, was a high school teacher on the island and saw a need to give African American students a sense of their history from the days of slavery to the present. Twenty-seven Falmouth Newcomers made the trip to Martha’s Vineyard today for this tour. We got off the ferry and piled into three mini-vans with three different tour guides. Elaine Cawley Weintraub was one guide, but the van I got into had a Christie Vanderhoop as our guide. Christie is part African American and part Native American. Her husband is also both African American and Native American and he is the post master at the Chilmark Post Office on the island. Chilmark is part of the island where the ‘rich’ people live. It is where the Kennedy property is located, where Carly Simon lives, where John Belushi lived and where he is buried, where Alan Dershowitz lives during the summer, and on and on. As Christie said today, everyone has to go to the post office, so her husband knows all of these people and as a result, he and Christie often get invited to special affairs with the rich and famous. So not only was she knowledgeable about the Heritage Trail, she added all sorts of interesting tidbits about the island and its people. It was a five-hour tour and I certainly came away knowing more about Martha’s Vineyard than I had anticipated learning. African Americans I had never heard of were honored, as well as more familiar people like Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and Senator Edward Brooke, politicians from the 20th century, and the Obamas who vacationed their while in the White House. The Kennedys and the Clintons, neither African American nor Native American, also hold special significance to those groups on the island as the Kennedys have owned land there for years and the Clintons also vacationed there while in the White House. It was a fantastic tour, but the highlight of my day was at the end of the day when we when visited the Aquinnah Cliffs overlook. I was last there with Mark in July of 2016 and the photo of us has been the photo on my blog site since that time. I have never updated. But today I had a fellow Newcomer take a photo of me in the exact location where Mark and I stood almost three years ago and that will become the updated photo for the blog site. It is time to update from ‘we’ to ‘me’, and I feel good that the photo keeps the same background, same connection. I think that would make Mark smile.
Today was the 2019 East Falmouth June Jog run by the East Falmouth Elementary PTO. The great thing about this race is that it is low key. Some people run or walk 4 miles, others run the 10k, all along the beach and then up Davisville Road to the school. This year all of the Goldstones ran while Oma watched with pride. Sam, Jonah, Jed, and Ollie did the 4-mile walk/run, but Heather ran the 10k (approximately 6 miles). My friend Meghan Hannawalt, the ‘goat lady’, was the first person I knew who came in. In the Goldstone family, Sam came in first, then Jonah, and then Jed and Ollie who did a combo of walking and running and finished strong. Heather was the last Goldstone in and was extremely pleased with her time, the fastest she has ever run. Many Goldstone friends ran, so it was a social event as well as a race. After the official race, there is a Fun Run for the kiddos in grades K through 4. Ollie ran the quarter mile with the first graders and Jonah blew away the fourth-grade half mile race. He got in the lead early and then just kept it up. Sam, his good friend Ethan, both in sixth grade, and a girl in fifth grade, all East Falmouth alumni, talked the organizers into letting them run as well. Like Jonah with the fourth graders, the young lady got the jump on Sam and Ethan and almost lapped them. But they ended up with a freeze pop, the award for running the Fun Run, which made them happy. This is a great event. Everyone is so supportive of all runners, regardless of age. Maybe I should walk it next year. But then there would be no one at the finish line to take photos. Good excuse.
