by Judy Handley | Jul 26, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 207: I Love It Hot
Date: Sunday, July 26, 2020
Weather: Another Gorgeous Summer Day; High 88, Low 73 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
When the thermometer on Cape Cod goes into 80’s during the summer, I am in my glory. I love it hot. Today was another one of those days, but because it was a weekend day, I had planned to do more chores around the house instead of getting out and enjoying the beautiful weather. I started taking down the shelves I put up in my living room for starting plants in the spring, but about that time, I got a call from Heather giving me an update on what they have been doing this weekend and inviting me to dinner tonight. They went to Martha’s Vineyard to visit friends yesterday and when they got home last evening they watched Hamilton on the Disney Channel. Today both Heather and Jed were working on projects around the house. When Heather called she had just finished sanding and putting a primer coat on the upstairs bathroom. Jed had to go the hardware store and the boys convinced him to drop them off at the skatepark. The new trick scooters for Jonah and Ollie arrived yesterday and they were very anxious to try them out. I used that excuse to stop working on my project and head to the skatepark to watch them break in those new scooters. Long story short, I ended up staying at the skatepark for the remainder of the afternoon as the boys showed off their new skills on the scooters and their skateboards. And they took a break to play some soccer on the adjacent fields. Heather joined us for a while, but I convinced her to go back home as I was enjoying watching the boys while reading my book. It was 5 o’clock when left the skateboard park, we headed to Smitty’s to get chocolate frappes even though it was almost time for dinner. What the rest of the world calls a milkshake is called a frappe in New England and the idea of cold ice cream drink sounded like the perfect way to end a hot afternoon. 
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While waiting for the frappes, Ollie took some great photos of a blue dragon fly with the craziest green eyes. Once we had the frappes, I somehow managed to drop mine and spill half of it. But they are so big that it was probably best for my health that I didn’t drink the whole thing. But the spill prompted Jonah to share some of his frappe with me and then Ollie shared some of his with Sam. Next time, we’ll buy only two frappes for the four of us and share. We went to my house to pick up Shadow and then headed to Grasmere for dinner. But first the boys put a harness on Shadow and went for a run around the neighborhood on their skateboards. Shadow loves it, but he is a tired puppy tonight. For dinner we had clams that the Goldpebbles brought back from a clamming outing on Martha’s Vineyard yesterday. Ollie wanted to see if Shadow would eat clams and we discovered that he LOVES clams as much as he loves pulling Sam on his skateboard.
by Judy Handley | Jul 25, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 206: Errand and Chore Day
Date: Saturday, July 25, 2020
Weather: Gorgeous, Sunny, Hot Day; High 85, Low 72 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day—definitely a beach day. But I had a long list of chores to do and errands to run. So that is how I spent my day. Shadow got a much needed bath, laundry got done, food that was delivered or bought at the grocery store was put away, bottles got recycled, books needed for book club reading were bought or ordered, and the last bits of hardware needed to do the drip irrigation system at Heather and Jed’s were bought. That was it. All of the emails I wanted to write didn’t get done. Maybe tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jul 24, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 205: The Joy of Grandchildren
Date: Friday, July 24, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 80, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was supposed to be a day off for Camp Oma as Heather and family had planned a vacation day on Martha’s Vineyard. But the weather was not perfect, so this morning that trip was put off until tomorrow. I stayed home during the morning, but just before 1 PM I called Heather to ask if they had eaten lunch. The answer was no, so I offered to deliver lunch from Subway. Yesterday Sam mentioned that he hadn’t had Subway for months, so we did it today. Sam was especially grateful and the smile on his face was a great big thank you to me. Jonah was just as grateful, not for the sub, but for the chocolate chip cookie I got for everyone. Jonah definitely has a sweet tooth and is absolutely sure that chocolate is a food group.
After lunch Sam helped me with my drip irrigation project for plants on their deck and that required a trip to the hardware store. Heather was working on sanding the upstairs bathroom and just before I headed to the hardware store, one of sanders bit the dust. Sam went with me to the hardware store where we got a new sander, the parts we needed for the irrigation system, and fancy dancy PVC pipe cutter.
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I then suggested that he run across the street to the skateboard shop to see if they had bearings and spacers for his new skateboard. Last week it became evident that all three boys needed their own skateboard, so I suggested that Sam order the parts he would need to build his own. He was super excited by this idea and his smiles and thank you’s have given me great joy. He spent a lot of time last week trying to order the just right parts, but wheels in particular just weren’t available until August. We checked the shop downtown and they didn’t have them either. But the board shop in Hyannis had them, so Jed picked those up yesterday when he took Sam and Jonah to their Scout outing. That left only two parts needed for board completion and those are to be delivered next Tuesday. But this afternoon I thought that if needed in the board shop and completed the building of board when we got home. Just watching him building his own skateboard was joyous, but look of accomplishment on his face was total joy. And Jonah and Ollie were also overjoyed as they now each have their own board. This called for a trip to the skatepark. On each visit to the park, the boys increase their skills as they get a really good physical work out. There are falls and scrapes, but no one complains too much. I love watching them improve their skills and they are very proud of their accomplishments on both the skateboards and the scooters. Ahh, the joy of grandchildren.
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.
