2019 Life Logs, Day 22: Lunch with Friends
2019 Life Logs, Day 22: Lunch with Friends
Date: Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Much Warmer; High 28, Low 19 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I had an early lunch date with friends to celebrate Karen Baranowski’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Karen. We met at a restaurant that opened recently in Falmouth called Estia. It is a Greek restaurant featuring traditional Greek food with a modern twist. We all enjoyed our lunch choices and the chance to be together. We ate and talked our way into the afternoon and finally dispersed as we all had other afternoon activities. Tuesday is my day to pick Jonah and Ollie up after school, so after a visit to the hardware store and a trip home to check on things, I headed to the school. The reason for going home to check on things was that when I woke up this morning, the indoor temperature was down to 52 degrees. Chilly!!! The furnace was running non-stop but just couldn’t keep up with the cold temps and windy conditions. I went home just to make sure the furnace was still working. It was, but the super cold, very windy conditions we have had since Sunday night had simply stretched the capacity of my little furnace. And especially so since I have really done no winter weather-proofing. You could feel the breeze coming in around the back door and this morning when I checked the new door installed in the basement, I found that there was an inch of space at the bottom of the door creating a breezeway. When Jed got home this evening, he went to the hardware store and bought weather stripping and came over to tighten up the back door and started on the basement door but ran out of stripping. Now that I know what to buy and how to do it, I will complete that job tomorrow. I also borrowed a couple of electric heaters stored in Heather and Jed’s basement to use the next time the temps go into the deep freeze. But tonight, everything is back to normal. So, no worries. I’m not going to freeze to death. I’ll just hope we don’t get many days below 20 for the rest of the winter.
But even with the bitter cold, the Goldstones went for a walk on a trail in the nearby Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. This is only a couple of miles from my house and mid-afternoon Heather came knocking on my front door with Jonah. He had refused to wear layers of clothing and got too cold, so she brought him here and went back for the others. Jonah helped me make hot chocolate for them and then while they were here, Sam opened his birthday present from me. A longboard-type skateboard has been on his list of wants for a bit, so that is what I got him for his birthday. He seemed very pleased and was anxious to get home to try it out. Then this evening, I went to the Goldstones for a family birthday dinner. It had already been quite an exciting birthday weekend, but the family dinner was very special. Sam opened his last gifts, a hatchet for Boy Scout camping trips from Jed
and his presents from Grammy Marti. And he had rare steak for dinner,
his very favorite food in the whole wide world. I think after a weekend of birthday fun, he was a very happy birthday boy. 
and Ollie spent a great deal of time drawing a Patriot logo and then making a sign he held throughout the game.
Go, Patriots! Sam also made a couple of creative signs. He made one that said OF-then a drawing of a picket fence and one that that said DE-and a drawing of a fence. He had great fun holding those up during the game.
Near the end of the game when the Patriots had to make a touchdown to stay in the game, Sam and I literally had to leave the room as we just could no longer stand to watch if they didn’t score. But as soon as we left the room, the Patriots scored. When the game went in to overtime, it was well past bedtime for little boys, but there was no way we were not going to watch. As soon as the game was over, we celebrated, and then the three boys went to sleep on the couch. They all looked out the window just before going to sleep to see that breathtakingly beautiful full moon and they were hoping to get up to see the total eclipse just before midnight. While waiting for Heather and Jed to get home, I watched as slowly the shadow of the earth started moving across the moon. At first it looked like someone took a bite out of it, then more and more, until there was just a crescent left. That’s when Heather and Jed got home and we tried to wake the boys. But only Sam stirred a bit, looked up and said “uh-huh” and went right back to sleep. By the time I got home, I got to see that Blood Red Wolf Moon totally eclipsed in a clear sky. Because it was so clear, the reddish tinge the full moon takes on during a total eclipse was quite dramatic. I do hope Sam does remember the little bit of the eclipse that he saw as the clock rang in his 12th birthday at midnight with that magnificent total eclipse. What a lovely birthday present!
and then home again from Australia for Sam’s first birthday party.
It is just hard to for me to believe that was twelve years ago. But, believe it or not, it was. This 12th birthday party was held at Ryan’s Amusements in downtown Falmouth which is a candlestick bowling alley and arcade, followed by an overnight at the Goldstones. Two of the boys Sam invited he has known since preschool but the other three are new friends he has met at Morse Pond since going there for 5th and 6th grade.
They all seemed to have such a good time bowling, playing arcade games, and just being together. It was wonderful to see Sam so happy.
We came home to have cake
and open presents from the friends. We get to do all of all over again on Monday when we will have a family dinner, cake, and open family presents on Sam’s actual birthday. But tonight Heather, Ollie, and I left the ‘big’ boys to watch a Star Wars movie and spend the night with Jed while the three of us came to my house to spend the night. There was just enough snow when we got home that we were able to make snow ice cream which Ollie thoroughly enjoyed and we watched a much shorter ‘movie’ of Ollie’s choice, a Wild Kratt’s special edition. Poor Jed. I have a feeling there won’t be much sleeping happening there tonight. 
at Terry and Olivia White’s home which we now refer to as The White House. They always put on a fantastic spread of Indian food. The evening started with Terry’s delicious pakoras which he makes with potatoes and spinach coated in a chickpea flour batter and deep fried. So yummy. Olivia’s raita
always gets the most beautiful dish award, and it was also delicious, as were all of the dishes.
concentrates so completely, and looks to mama for direction.
After playing the scales, he very carefully named each part of the violin for me. Then he went into the den and played the same scale on the piano explaining to me that anything you can play on the violin you can play on the piano. Unplanned, but such a precious moment. Finally, I returned home and turned the oven on once again. I did have that chicken and roasted root veggies for dinner and I am still sitting here in my workout clothes from the gym this morning. Tomorrow, I’ll make sure I get dressed early in the day! Some days don’t go as planned, but sometimes unplanned is good. 
