2019 Life Logs, Day 150: Free and Easy Day in Nyack
2019 Life Logs, Day 150: Free and Easy Day in Nyack
Date: Thursday, May 30, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Rain Late Afternoon; High 66, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home with Lynne Kirwin in Nyack, NY
It was another free and easy day here in Nyack with Lynne. Our goal for this visit was just to be together with no agenda, nothing we had to do, and that is what we have done. Late morning, we walked uptown to the post office and then look a long, circuitous route home. We had lunch, and like yesterday, we managed to talk away the afternoon while packing things into Lynne’s car. We were able to put a small bookcase in the backseat of the car which delighted Lynne. When she arrives in Michigan, she will be staying in a room at her sister’s home for the summer and fall, so she won’t have a lot of space. Still, having at least one small bookcase was a priority. Lynne will be working for the next three days at the Nyack Library annual book sale, and then on Monday she will finish up the last of the packing and head to Michigan on Tuesday. It seems so far away, but I know we will find ways to visit. We were supposed to go to her grandson’s baseball game this evening, but we had late afternoon pouring rain and the game was cancelled. Instead of an evening at the ball field, we had another lovely dinner at home. Tomorrow morning I head back to Massachusetts, but will be making an afternoon stop at the Newbridge on the Charles retirement village in Dedham, near Boston, to visit Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg in their new home.
I watched Ollie and Sam walking up the library walk with their Scouting buddies and once everyone was in place, the ceremony began. Afterwards there was a group photo of all the Scouts attending and then we headed home. I stopped at the gym to ride the stationary bike on the way home and then headed to Heather’s.
She was working on assembling another raised bed and the boys were relaxing in the backyard—Sam in the hammock and Ollie in his hanging tent. I planted the tomatoes I bought yesterday in the large containers that will be their home this summer, and then mid-afternoon, we all headed to the cottage.
Heather, Sam, and Ollie went kayaking and I sat on the dock in the sun and watched them for a while. I also watched the osprey in the nest on Wallers Island and eventually walked back to the cottage to start organizing dinner. After a bit, I walked back down to the dock and found a very wet Sam. At the end of his kayaking expedition, he somehow ended up in the water not far from the dock. He actually enjoyed the spill. But then he realized that his prized Ipod was in his pocket and his world fell apart. What had been a lovely day up to that point suddenly changed. We rushed to the cottage to get the Ipod wiped down and put in a container of uncooked rice. We won’t know for a couple of days whether or not this will save his Ipod. We all tried hard to regroup and about that time Jed and Jonah arrived from their drive home from Maine. I feel so bad for Sam. He struggled, but eventually he was able to enjoy the rest of the evening. I suggested that Heather take a quick trip home with Jed to show him the things she accomplished this weekend, and while they were gone, I let the boys have a water battle before cleaning up for dinner. Evidently, blasting your brothers with water solves all the world’s problems! We had a delightful dinner together to end our Memorial Day weekend. The high temperature for tomorrow is forecast to be 20 degrees cooler than today, so I guess our little slice of early summer is over. But it was wonderful while it lasted. 
He eventually got dressed and went out to continue his Farmer Ollie job of using his little battery-operated tractor to deliver bricks to my house from Shirley’s across the drive-way. He got the job done, but he spent an enormous amount of time just driving in circles. He was Ollie’n around, but a little boy should have the time to do this, so I just let him drive in circles. When I thought it was time to take him home, he decided that he really needed to kayak for his first time this season. 
And so he did. I sat on the dock and watched him as he paddled out toward Wallers Island.
It is close enough that I could hear him call my name if he needed help, but usually Sam is out there with him, so this solo ride made me a bit nervous. I know he loves to try and kayak in the narrow cut through the island, and that is what he tried today. I couldn’t see him, but I could his orange-tipped paddle. As I suspected, he made it half-way through the cut and then started going backwards as he had gone aground. What I didn’t know is that when he got stuck, he simply stood up and turned his body around so that he could paddle his way out. When he got back to the dock, he was beaming with pride because people in the yard close to the cut had congratulated him on his ingenuity. I have to admit that I’m not sure I would have thought of doing that. Once I convinced him that it was time to head home, he announced that he needed to drive that tractor in a few more circles before we put it in the car headed home. It was almost 1 o’clock when we got there. I dropped Ollie off and then headed into Falmouth to buy some organic tomato plants for Heather. There is only one source of fully organic plants in Falmouth and it was closed . . . on Memorial Day Weekend. The woman who grows these plants is named Jenny and to be closed on this prime garden planting day on Cape Cod led me to believe that she has either sold out all of her plants for this year or some sudden personal issue came up. Whatever, I was now on a quest to find tomato plants that have not been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides. I went to a nursery that I thought would have the closest thing to certified organic plants and they did. BUT the place was crazy busy. I had not had lunch, so I decided to return to Heather’s, have lunch, and check with her as to whether these mostly organic plants would be okay before fending my way through the frenzy of people. After a lunch break, I was ready to go back into the fray. I took Heather’s van as Sam and Ollie advertising car washes and my car definitely needed a good cleaning. Heather was having neighbors over dinner and needed somethings from the grocery store, so I volunteered to do the food shopping while out to get the tomato plants. I accomplished my mission, but by the time I got back, I certainly didn’t have time to do any planting. Maybe tomorrow. Heather invited me to stay for dinner, which I did. I really enjoyed the dinner and the conversation with Heather’s neighbors, Jean Harper and Dan Hennen. Tomorrow morning begins with a Falmouth Memorial Day Parade and ceremony before we can get back to gardening. Hopefully by tomorrow evening, we will have most of Heather’s garden planted and mine as well. If not, I can finish up on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, I head to Nyack, New York, to spend a couple of days with my friend Lynne Kirwin. She is moving from Nyack to Michigan the first of June, so I want to have one farewell visit. Michigan seems so far away, but I know we will find ways to continue seeing each other. 
