by Judy Handley | Jul 23, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 204: More Skatepark and Water Play
Date: Thursday, July 23, 2020
Weather: Sunny AM, Partly Cloudy PM; High 81, Low 71 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Camp Oma Afternoons roll on. Yesterday the boys and I checked the weather forecast for today and made plans for today based on that. It looked like we could have thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we planned to make it a Lego afternoon at their house. But it was a beautiful, sunny morning, so when I arrived to pick up the boys, everyone wanted to go to the skatepark. We had to plan a short afternoon as Jed was taking Sam and Jonah to a Scouting activity at Camp Greenough this evening, as he did Ollie on Tuesday, so we decided to go to the skatepark, go to my house for lunch, and play Legos there. Jed would pick up Sam and Jonah at my house which is on the way to the Scouting venue. The boys usually spend an hour or less at the skatepark, but today everyone wanted to stay longer. By the time we got to my house and had lunch, it was almost time for Sam and Jonah to get ready to go. Instead of Legos, the Sam and Jonah changed into swim wear and launched into a water battle while Ollie headed down to the dock to launch a kayak. My driveway became the battleground for the water battle and Sam and Jonah had a great time. When the magic time came, they stopped and got dressed and then they were off with their dad for their evening of adventure.
It was just after 3:30 when Jed picked up Sam and Jonah and I then headed down to the dock to check on Ollie. He had launched a kayak but was waiting for me before taking it out. He spent the next hour kayaking and jumping off the dock into the water. From the water, he practiced getting into the kayak without capsizing it. He practiced pushing the kayak from behind by becoming a human propeller. And he practiced swimming with a kayak paddle moving him forward. When his older brothers are around, he is often reluctant to try new things. But this afternoon he really enjoyed his alone time in the water and perfected a number of skills. Then we headed to the driveway to have a water battle with the two of us. I definitely lost that battle, but I had a good time losing! When I drove Ollie home, Heather, Ollie, and I had take-out on the deck for dinner, celebrating another fun summer day.
by Judy Handley | Jul 22, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 203: Just Hangin’ Out
Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Weather: Overcast AM, Some Rain, Partly Sunny PM; High 80, Low 71 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather today improved as the day progressed, but that made it difficult to make prior plans for our Camp Oma Afternoon. When I arrived at the Goldstones around noon, the rain had mostly stopped, but it was still cloudy. We decided to take our chances and go to the skatepark and we won on that decision. There were a few dibble dopps of rain, but the pavement was dry and the boys were able to get in their practice time. Then we headed downtown to the skateboard shop called BoardStiff. Sam has tried for a few days to buy all of the parts for a new skateboard online, but he has not been able to find some parts with an acceptable delivery date. Evidently lots of parts are backordered and that was confirmed by the sales person at BoardStiff. He said they have not been able to get wheels all summer. But we did find a beautiful deck in the size Sam wanted. The bottom is red with the word C-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e written across it in natural wood tones. The deck is made by Chocolate Skateboards out of Torrance, California. They are good looking, but also have a great reputation. The company declares that their boards can handle anything. Even Sam? They are known to be extremely durable and can last for years. So he chose that one. There are other parts that we still need, so I called the skateboard shop in Hyannis and think I have found the last bits needed needed. Hopefully by the end of next week, we will have a third board put together and all three boys can enjoy skateboarding without having to vie for their time on the two boards we have.
From downtown, we drove to my house for lunch and for some play time with Shadow. Sam put a harness on Shadow and he pulled Sam on his skateboard while running after Ollie on his scooter. Jonah brought up the rear on his skateboard and wished he had brought his scooter as Shadow can run faster pulling Sam than Jonah can keep up with on a skateboard. The clouds were clearing by mid-afternoon, but still the boys didn’t want to go to the beach.
Instead, they put on bathing suits and engaged in water play in the sand/mud box.
Then, just as we were about to call it a day, the sun came out and everyone wanted to sink and retrieve kayaks. It seemed like the perfect way to wash off the mud, so off they went. As I watched, I got a kick out of watching Jonah swim using a kayak paddle. All you could see was his head and alternating paddle blades—a human kayak paddle. While Jonah was doing that, Sam was kicking hard to push the mostly sunken kayak. He looked like a human propeller. Ollie stayed afloat today, but in or out of the water, all three boys enjoyed their kayak adventure.
by Judy Handley | Jul 21, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 202: Fun Afternoon at Wood Neck
Date: Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 88, Low 69 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Sunny, hot weather made a trip to the beach a perfect activity for this afternoon. We chose Wood Neck and were having so much fun that I didn’t get a chance to take any photos. I was in the water with the boys the whole time. We walked back into the marsh to an area the boys have designated for diving. Ollie and I collected jingle shells on our way to the diving area and then all four of us dove in the water looking for quahogs and the boys had boogie board surfing contests. We then walked back to our home base and had lunch before heading across to the ocean side of Wood Neck where the boys used the skim board in the low tide area and jumped the waves further out. We had to leave early as Ollie and Jed had to drive to Camp Greenough for a Scouting activity. Jonah and Sam went home with me to play with Shadow. Jonah and I spotted a red-tailed hawk on the top of the light pole at the end of my driveway and then Jonah spent time trying to photograph the osprey that was circling to drive the hawk away.
Unfortunately, the battery in the camera was dead and by the time we got it replaced, the osprey was higher in the sky making getting a photo difficult. When it was time to head home, Heather sent a text asking if the boys would like to join her at Surf Drive for a late afternoon swim. Sure! So, we were off again.
by Judy Handley | Jul 20, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 201: Skatepark, Legos, and Beach
Date: Monday, July 20, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Hotter; High 84, Low 70 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The window fan in my bedroom shows the current temperature and this evening when I got home it was 80 degrees in the bedroom with the fan going full blast. That is the hottest it has been this summer. We have had a couple of days where the outside high was 80, but today it was 84. That must have been just enough to cause the indoor temperature to rise to an almost uncomfortable level. Even I, the person who loves hot weather, was hot inside this evening. The saving grace is that the outdoor temperature is going down, slowly, so hopefully it will be a comfortable sleeping night. Jed went to Boston today and he said it was 96 degrees F there. That really is hot and thankfully we just don’t usually get high temps like that here on the Cape.
Each of the Goldpebbles wanted to do different things today. I tried to accommodate all their wishes, but that made the day too rushed. Lesson learned. Sam and Jonah wanted to go the skatepark, so we started there. Then we went to my house to have lunch and to play with Shadow and then back to the Goldstones to play with Legos. That was a request of Ollie and Jonah.
Then we headed to the beach in the late afternoon. That was the perfect way to end a hot day, and although we had all agreed that we would just spend an hour at the beach, it just wasn’t long enough for any of us. I got in the water and did some snorkeling today. We were at Surfside Beach and there were lots of small, and some large, fish in the water. Jonah found a big scallop that would open and shut for him. It was great, but we all just needed more water time. So tomorrow we’ll do skatepark and then head straight to the beach, have a picnic lunch and stay for the afternoon. We agreed to save the Lego play for non-beach days.
by Judy Handley | Jul 19, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 200: Lovely Sunday
Date: Sunday, July 19, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Hot, Windy; High 80, Low 71 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a lovely Sunday. My landlord and friend, Shirley, who lives next door, will be leaving tomorrow for an undetermined length of time. She and her 101 year-old sister Doris live together, half time here at Shirley’s home and half time closer to Boston in Doris’s home. Tomorrow is the day they head back to Doris’ home, so I decided to host a luncheon for them. The idea was to have a fully coronavirus approved luncheon on their deck, but it ended up to be too windy for them, so we ate indoors. I was a bit nervous for them as we weren’t wearing masks and we were indoors, but hopefully we are all coronavirus free. Karen Baranowski is the niece of Shirley and Doris, so she and Peter joined us for lobster rolls, salad, and corn on the cob. 
Karen provided a blueberry roll for dessert and everything was delicious. I haven’t visited much with Shirley and Doris since March due to being coronavirus careful, but I will miss knowing they are next door. Both are amazing women that I am proud to call friends.
After lunch, I headed to Heather and Jed’s to pick up Sam and take him down town to Board Stiff, the local skateboard headquarters. He is trying to put together the parts for a new skateboard and we both thought it would be helpful to see things in real time rather than on the internet. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the parts he needs to put this ‘perfect’ board together, but he got some good advice and we will be ready to order tomorrow after he does a little more research tonight. I dropped Sam off and hurried home to connect via Skype with Justin and family. They are doing okay so far despite the fact that the coronavirus is on the rise there. Justin recounted an event that happened in their town yesterday. Econo is the name of the local supermarket and they have a security person on duty at the door to make sure that anyone entering is wearing a mask. Evidently a tourist from mainland USA wanted to enter the store without a mask and was told that was not an option. He promptly spit in the face of the security person and had to be subdued by bystanders until the police arrived. Justin said that everyone that lives in Rincon just accepts that they must wear a mask and it was shocking to see such a display by a tourist. It makes me feel so blessed to live in Massachusetts where everyone just automatically wears a mask. But here on the Cape I have heard of similar incidents as Justin described with visiting tourists—not quite as violent, but just as defiant. I just cannot comprehend why people don’t accept that wearing a mask is good for them and good for everyone around them.
After my Skype call, I headed to a gathering of my Newcomers Wine Group. It is the first time I have been with the group in person since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and it was great to see everyone. We met in one member’s backyard with individual tables set very far apart. We all felt very safe and really enjoyed being together.
We hope to have a beach gathering in August. I didn’t get a photo of the group, but I did capture the saying on the napkins: “Alcohol—Because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad.”
by Judy Handley | Jul 18, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 199: Waste of a Beautiful Summer Day
Date: Saturday, July 18, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 84, Low 67 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Technology is great until it isn’t. Here’s the long story. My phone dropped out of my back pocket Thursday a week ago when I was in the Menauhant Beach parking lot. I was packing the back of my car after an afternoon at the beach when my phone plopped face down on one little piece of gravel in the dirt parking area. That’s all it took to make my screen look like an intricate spider web. The phone was still usable, but I knew I had to get the screen replaced. Without checking, the next day I called the Cellfone Fixer and said I needed a new screen for a Samsung J8. I was sure that was what I had bought. The woman who answered the phone said that they didn’t have a J8 in stock and since it was a Friday, it would be in on Monday or Tuesday. She would call. But she didn’t. This week flew by and yesterday I called to see if the screen was in. Yes. I was instructed to bring the phone in anytime time and 40 minutes later, it would be fixed. So today around noon I headed to the Cellfone Fixer in Mashpee, about a ten minute drive. When I got there, the guy who does the fixing took a look and told me my phone was not an J8 as I had told them. So much for being sure and not checking. He said it was an S8 and he didn’t have any of those screens in stock. Ugh. But he had a slightly used S8 that he assured me was just fine and he could take the mother board out of my phone, put it in the new phone, and I would be all set. Since I didn’t want to spend any more time on this, I agreed. While I was waiting, I walked down the street in the Mashpee Commons to the little organic grocery store I have been using since the early days of the coronavirus. I can always order from Rory’s and have things delivered on the same day. But since it was just down the street, I went in today and picked up a few items. When I returned to check on my phone, the phone still wasn’t ready. So I waited another 10 minutes in the car. Finally, it was done. It looked like everything was fine, so I drove home. Next on my ‘to do’ list was to check on the delivery of the planters that I ordered for Heather and Jed’s deck on May 9th. Finally, on July 1, I got a message from UPS that said the packages had been labeled. But there has not been an update since then. This afternoon, I tried a back and forth messaging ‘conversation’ on my computer with UPS and got nowhere, so I decided to call. That’s when I got a message telling me I had no mobile network connection. Sure enough, when I looked closely at my home screen, it showed no bars. I tried turning the phone off and on and checked the settings, but I got nowhwere. So now I needed to call AT&T. But, of course, I got another ‘no mobile network’ message. I turned on my computer and tried to call via Skype. That worked and I got a real person almost immediately who couldn’t help me. She had to transfer me to technical support and I had to wait about 30 minutes to get someone who asked me if the person who worked on my phone replaced the SIM card. I had no idea. She gave me instructions on how to pop open the door to the SIM card on my phone, but the instructions didn’t work. She explained that I was going to have to call the person who worked on it, ask him, and then call back and go through the waiting time again. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I used Skype to call the Cellfone Fixer. No answer and a nice little message that said they have a busy little shop and in order to talk to someone, I would need to come in. I won’t say what I thought about that message, but I got back in the car and drove back to Mashpee. The ‘fixer’ listened to my story, opened the back of the phone, and discovered that evidently in Samsung phones you also have to transfer the mother board plus the mechanism that holds the SIM card. The fix was fairly quick and the phone does work fine now. But what a waster of a beautiful afternoon.
Unfortunately, the day was almost over by the time I got home and I just couldn’t face trying to battle with UPS over where in the world the deck planters are, so that will have to wait until Monday morning. Instead, I headed outside to remove some of the briars that I obviously missed in the spring when I worked on prickly briar removal. Everyday when I take Shadow for a little walk in the woods by the cottage, I get caught by these prickly vines. I made some progress, did some watering in areas not yet covered by the drip irrigation system, and called it a day. In between all of this, Heather and gang stopped by on their way to a late day stop at the beach. All of the beach equipment like boogie boards and buckets and shovels are in my car, so they stopped to get that. Then Peter Baranowski stopped by to share the bounty of clams he got this afternoon. It was way more than I could eat, so I, in turn, sent a text to Heather and said I’d drive to the beach when they were ready to go home and share some of the clams with them. The clams saved an otherwise wasted day. Thank you, Peter!
