2023 Life Logs, Day 213: Shop ‘til You Drop Day
Date: Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 75, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Today was the day I put aside to go shopping for something to wear to a black-tie wedding. It has been many years since I have been to a dressy affair, so there is absolutely nothing in my closet that would work. So, off I went. I checked locally on Monday and found nothing. Today I headed to a mall near Boston. I tried Macys first, then Nordstroms. There are hundreds of dresses to choose from, but in my size and in black (yes, the invitation says all guests are requested to wear black) I only found six things to try on. Three looked awful on me, one was too small, and two were too big. The only one I really liked was a bit small and there was nothing larger. I checked a few other shops and found nothing. But in the process, I learned something about my taste in clothing. I like the style of Calvin Klein dresses. Who knew? I checked Google to see where else I could find Calvin Klein clothing and I saw that there is a Calvin Klein store at the Wrentham Outlet Mall. That was another 30-minute drive to the north and west, but I was successful. It will have to be hemmed, but that I can be done here in Falmouth. It was a long day, leaving home at 9 am and getting home at 6 pm, but that job is done.

The day also included an early morning stop at the cottage to put out the trash and recycle bins, a stop on the way home to check on my car, and then a stop at the cottage at the end of the day to put the bins away. Now that job is done. But the car stop took longer than planned because the exhaust shop where I had it towed says my problem is not in the exhaust system. They had no idea what the problem might be, but they helped me find a place on the Cape Cod side of the bridge to check it out. I drove to that garage to talk to them to see how soon they can look at it. They have an opening on Friday, so in the morning I will call AAA and have them tow my little Fit once again. In the meantime, I am driving Heather and Jed’s Civic. Hopefully sometime next week, I’ll have my car back.

2023 Life Logs, Day 212: Lazeeee Summer Day
Date: Monday, July 31, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 77, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I gave myself a gift today—a ‘lazeeee’ summer day of doing almost nothing. Jonah and Ollie are both away at Scout camp and Sam was working today. I had no grandkids, so my time was all my own to do nothing with. I spent most of my morning catching up on text and email messages that needed to be returned. I then worked on my jigsaw puzzle. It is a map of Martha’s Vineyard, and I enjoyed just slowly putting pieces together. Working a puzzle is like meditating for me. All thoughts are pushed out of my head, and I just concentrate on one little piece at a time. Workmen arrived to check out a leak in a kitchen skylight, and after they left, I did a quick shopping trip in Falmouth and Mashpee to find formal, black attire to wear to my grand niece’s black-tie wedding. As I suspected, I found nothing, so I will have to spend my day off-Cape tomorrow shopping. Shadow and I drove out to the cottage to put the trash and recycle bins out for pick-up tomorrow. On our way home, we stopped by Karen and Peter Baranowski’s for a short visit that turned out to be not so short. But it was good to catch up with friends. That was about it for my day.

The weather has moderated, and it is no longer so hot. The windows are open and AC is off. It is delightful. Tomorrow night we will have the first of two full moons in August. The almost full moon is rising right now, but I have discovered one issue with living here. I can’t watch the moon rise because of the tall trees in my backyard. I might have to become one of those Falmouth residents who goes to the beach to watch the full moon rise. But I’ll learn to live with this one little issue. Otherwise, I am loving living here. I do hope to be able to spend some time in the garden this week and spent time getting the last bits put away in the house. But that must wait until Wednesday or Thursday as tomorrow I have to continue my formal dress search. While off-Cape, I will stop in Wareham to check on my car.

2023 Life Logs, Day 211: Happy 11th Birthday to Coco
Date: Sunday, July 30, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 73, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

For some reason, I dated last night’s log with today’s date. I got a day ahead of real time. But today I know it is July 30th because it is Coco Annabelle’s 11th birthday. I just talked to her on Skype for a few minutes between activities and she said she has had a fabulous weekend. Friday night she and her friends went to see Barbie and then came back to Finca Maravilla and had an overnight in the newly renovated barn. There were seven girls, including Coco, and they went skating, played on the trampoline, swam in the pool, painted their bodies, and ate macaroons and birthday cake. And that all took place in the 32 hours before her birthday. The real birthday today was reserved as a family day of presents, some shopping, and tonight going out for a sushi dinner. Happy Birthday, Coco!

Jonah and Ollie were off to Camp Yawgoog in Rhode Island this afternoon. But not before a stop at Smitty’s for an ice cream farewell. This is Jonah’s third Scouting summer camp, but it is a first for Ollie. He just crossed over to Boy Scouts from Cub Scouts and has never been camping without his dad. So this is a big step for him. Sam and Jonah didn’t go to this camp until they were 12, a year older than Ollie. I sure hope Ollie adapts and that both boys have a wonderful week.

Heather asked me what I am going to do this week without any Goldpebbles to hang out with. I am looking forward to doing some things around house, like getting fully moved in, and working in the garden. I planted the garden the first of June and have done nothing since except pick tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil, and a little wild kale. It looks like a jungle and could use a little taming, as could the weeds that are growing to a giant size everywhere in the yard. I got a bit of a start this afternoon by weeding in the area in front of my deck. While doing that, I noticed that the swallowtail butterflies are loving the Echinacea I transplanted from the cottage. And they also love the weed that is so prolific in this yard. I don’t know what it is, but it has tiny daisy-like blossoms. I am going to leave that weed for the butterflies. And maybe I’ll get some lettuce, kale, and arugula planted for the fall. Hopefully it will be a quiet week and I can get a lot of work done. But I do need to go shopping for a dress to wear to my grand niece’s black tie wedding. Unfortunately, that will take one of the days.

After last night’s deluge, the temperature outside has modified. It was only 73 today and actually felt chilly when the sun went behind a cloud. It looks like we might have a week with cooler temps before we go back into the 80’s next week.

2023 Life Logs, Day 210: Car Trouble, Move Officially Done Celebration
Date: Saturday, July 29, 2023
Weather: Sunny Day, Late Evening Heavy Rain Thunderstorm; High 80, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

As the saying goes, if it is not one thing, then it is another. Heather and Jed got the last bits out of the basement of the cottage this morning, so the longest move in history is finally over. Hallelujah!!! But they no sooner got home from taking those last bits to the dump when my car decided it was not going to be drivable. I started having trouble yesterday and made an appointment to take it in on Wednesday to check it out. But as I was driving to the store this morning, the emissions light that came on yesterday started flashing and I could drive only 40 miles per hour. So, I turned around and headed to Heather and Jed’s. Very long story short, after waiting for hours for AAA to come tow it to a garage that might be able to deal with the issue, I can only hope that it is at that correct garage. At 4:30, after three hours of waiting, I gave up and came home in Heather and Jed’s Honda Civic. AAA finally told me to just leave the keys under the driver’s side floor mat. I did, but I never got any confirmation of it being delivered. I will check tomorrow to make sure it made it to the correct location which is off Cape.

The relaxed day I had planned certainly went pear-shaped, and by the time I got home to fix dinner for Heather and gang, it was after 4:30 pm. I sent a text asking them not to come until 7 pm and I launched into a frenzy to get the dinner ready. I invited them to thank them for finishing off the move and to celebrate the fact that everyone would be together. Sam got home late last night from the Scout Jamboree in West Virginia and Ollie and Jonah leave tomorrow for a Scout summer camp in Rhode Island. We did manage to squeeze in the dinner together before they had to leave to the beat the severe thunderstorm that hit tonight.

Sam had some great stories to share about his two weeks in West Virginia. He learned first hand the difference between the north and the south in this country. He got quite an education from the red necks from West Virginia, the red necks and Confederate flag fliers from Texas, and the red neck corn huskers from Iowa. And the news from another grandchild, Coco, is that she is having a wonderful 11th birthday celebratory weekend. More about that tomorrow.

2023 Life Logs, Day 209: Day at Cape Cod Inflatable Water Park
Date: Friday, July 28, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 87, Low 73 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Jonah, Ollie, Lily, and I headed to Yarmouth this morning to the Cape Cod Inflatable Water Park. Part of the park is an inflatable experience while the other part is a water park with huge inflatable slides. It was great having Lily with us as she hung out with Ollie while Jonah headed off with new friends he met in Lazy River where you get into an inner tube and ride the river, but Jonah and his new found friends turned it into a wild train ride. At one point they had almost all of the people floating through the river holding on to each other’s rafts to form a human train. I even joined in! After that, we stopped for lunch and then Jonah headed to the FlowRider where you try to stay on a swim board while the jets of water try to push you up and out. It is a wild ride.

Lily, Ollie, and I watched Jonah for a bit, and then Ollie and Lily went back to Lazy River where they rode in a double inner tube and then went on to other water excursions. I actually sat and read my book for a bit, but then I was back in Lazy River to cool off. We all met back at home base to have an ice cream break, and then everyone headed out for just a little more water fun. It was a fun day and due to the temperature of 87 degrees, it was a good day to be in the water.

2023 Life Logs, Day 208: Soccer, Restore, Star Wars, Megansett Beach
Date: Thursday, July 27, 2023
Weather: Sunny, Very Windy; High 81, Low 73 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Today was the last day of soccer camp for Jonah, thus my last morning of delivering kids to Cape Cod Academy. On my way home, I stopped at the cottage and picked up the wall shelf that Mark made for me when we lived in Salisbury, Maryland in the 1980’s. I have no place for it and neither does Heather, and I didn’t want to take a chance that it would end up at the dump. So, I stopped at a consignment store to see if they would take it. No. Too big. I then took it to the Habitat for Humanity Restore. I told them the history of the shelf and asked if they could find a good home for it. They assured me they could and they also looked at the photos of the other pieces I need to get rid of and said they would take those as well. I went to pick up Ollie to help me, and we spent the rest of the morning getting the small pieces of furniture to Restore. Tomorrow Heather will take the things from the cottage that need to go to the dump, and then we can celebrate. The move will f-i-n-a-l-l-y be completed. Woohoo!

Ollie and I decided to watch one more Star Wars movie this afternoon, number VII, The Last Jedi. And then we ended our day by meeting the crew from soccer camp at Megansett Beach. It was Jonah’s request to go there so he could jump off the dock and it was a good choice for today. It was way too windy to be on the beach as the sand was blowing sideways. Ollie was a grump because he really wanted to play with Seton, but he (Ollie) was afraid to jump off the dock which Seton was doing with great energy. Ollie tried to cover up his fear with anger, but with some gentle convincing from Jed, he finally started jumping off the dock and then wouldn’t stop!

To back up for a minute, Jed attended the closing ceremony for the soccer camp before coming to the beach. Jonah was awarded The Most Committed Soccer Player, and that he certainly is. Congrats to Jonah. Sam comes home from West Virginia tomorrow and this afternoon Heather sent me another photo of his team white water rafting. This photo really shows Sam’s exuberance. He had not been totally happy with his camping experience, but I hope the rafting trip made up for some of the other downers. We’ll hear all about that this weekend.

2023 Life Logs, Day 206: Soccer for Jonah, Mini Golf for Ollie
Date: Tuesday, July 25, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 81, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Every seven weeks, Shadow his appointment at Pampered Paws to get his hair cut and today was that day. That requires taking him up to near the Bourne Bridge, so Ollie and I decided that we would play mini golf and do the bumper boats in nearby Cataumet today before heading back across the Cape to pick up Jonah, Megan, and Seton from their soccer camp at Cape Cod Academy. And while we were up near the bridge, Ollie wanted to go to a remote-control hobby shop across the bridge in Bourne. So there was a fair bit of driving today, but we had fun in between. After picking Shadow up from his appointment, I had planned to drive Ollie and Shadow home and then go back to get Jonah and gang. But at the last minute, Ollie decided that he would like to go and he offered to hold Shadow on his lap. It was a bit crowded in my little car, but we all did fine.

Par for the Cataumet mini golf course is 42. I got my best score ever today with a 46 because I got 3 holes in one. Unheard of for me! I had one really bad hole, however, so Ollie beat me 44 to my 46. And after mini golf, you have to ride in the bumper boats and play at least one game in the arcade. So, we did.

We arrived early to pick up Jonah et all at soccer camp, so Ollie, Shadow, and I sat on a hill above the field and watched the kids play. Seton is Ollie’s age and plays soccer on Ollie’s rec team and he hung out with Ollie when he was not on the field. I should have taken photos of Jonah when he was on the field and totally spaced on doing that. It is my turn to take the kids tomorrow morning, so I will hang around a bit and get some photos then.

Ollie and I ended our day back at Stoney Beach in Woods Hole. Again, he declined to come with us, but Ollie and I had a great time. He practiced swimming and we snorkeled together. I shared with him just how relaxing I find it to just float in the water with my snorkel mask on, so he tried it and found it relaxing as well. He calls it ‘rag dolling it’ because when he completely relaxes, his hands and feet hang down and he looks like a limp doll. When I do it, my feet float. This led to a little discussion about how body fat affects the way you float in water. I guess that was our science lesson for the day.

2023 Life Logs, Day 205: A Lazy Summer Day
Date: Monday, July 24, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Ollie was determined to do ‘nothing’ today, so that is what we did. It was a beautiful, lazy day. We got outside a bit with Shadow and we watched the last half of The Empire Strikes back. I picked Jonah and two other kids up from soccer camp in the afternoon and then Ollie and I ended our day at Stoney Beach. We had hoped Jonah would go with us, but he was absolutely wiped out at the end of the soccer camp day. Plus, he had an early evening doctor appointment for an annual physical which would have shortened our beach time. There were no kids at the beach for Ollie to play with, so we snorkeled together, and he frolicked in the water while I walked in the water. It felt so good to spend an hour in cooling down and relaxing in the calm water Ollie went home for dinner, but he then returned and we watched The Return of the Jedi. I thought I had seen all of the Star Wars movies over the years, but I had never seen this one. We are getting to bed late, so hopefully Ollie will sleep in tomorrow morning. Then we are off to play mini golf.

2023 Life Logs, Day 204: Happy 17th Birthday to Lily
Date: Sunday, July 23, 2023
Weather: Sunny; High 83, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I left Ollie at home still asleep to join Heather at the cottage to try to finish cleaning out the basement. We also met a couple of people taking pieces of furniture that Heather advertised as free on Facebook. We have a few more pieces to get rid of and huge pile in the basement that has to go to the Swap Shop on Tuesday. Then I think I can say the move is complete. It has been a long month of moving, and I am ready to settle into living in the new house. I couldn’t have done this move without the help of Heather and family. I hated taking time out of their precious summer days but have truly appreciated all the help.

The Goldstones went to the beach in the afternoon while I stayed home to do a few things. I returned to the cottage to finish cutting the little bit of Shirley’s grass that did not get done yesterday. Heather would have done it while we were there in the morning, but I forgot the battery. It took much longer to drive there and back than it did to finish the mowing. Then I hurried home to get ready to go out to dinner for Lily’s birthday.

Lily has become a member of the family here. She is staying at Heather and Jed’s doing an internship at WHOI under Jed’s direction. Andrew, her father and my ‘almost’ next door part0time summer neighbor at the cottage, plus her Lily’s little sister Lena, drove here from New York to spend the day and evening with Lily. They invited us to all to dinner at Estia, and then Heather and Jed invited them back to their house for birthday cake and presents. Lily is such an unassuming young woman and I think she was truly overwhelmed that she would be showered with gifts. She will go home in a couple of weeks with a WHOI hoodie, a WHOI bracelet, a WHOI lunch bag, and a book about a WHOI female scientist. After cake and presents, the kids went into to have a dance party. The boys have a disco light blub that they screw in and instantly turn the living room into a disco dance floor. Happy 17th Lily!

2023 Life Logs, Day 203: Day at Home Alone
Date: Saturday, July 22, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 79, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I hardly knew what to do with myself today. Ollie left early to go home to play with his friend Seton which left me alone for the day. While the boys played, Heather and Jed and Seton’s dad drove to Mass Maritime for the ASLP graduation. Jonah and Seton’s sister Meagan were two of the graduates. They were home by noon and back to summer life in Falmouth.

I took the newly charged battery for the lawn mower and went out to the cottage to continue the grass cutting job Ollie started yesterday. The battery gave out before I was quite finished, so I will finish it up tomorrow. Because the grass is holding so much moisture, mowing was just a longer process than usual. Normally we can finish three quarters of Shirley’s yard before we have to charge. And then we can finish up with plenty of battery power left to do the yard at the cottage. But not this time. After mowing, I headed to Woods Hole to get a birthday present for Lily as she turns 17 tomorrow. Her dad, Andrew, is coming from New York to spend the day and evening with her and then we will all go out to dinner to celebrate.

The remainder of my day was very quiet. I spent way too much time getting angry and disgusted over something I read in the NYT Morning Newsletter. It was just one sentence from the newly adopted Florida Black history curriculum. It says “slaves developed skills” that could be used for “personal benefit.” It made it sound like slavery was a good thing. What kind of people write such nonsense? Any human with any amount of compassion for mankind knows slavery was not good in any way for slaves. They were stolen from their homeland, shipped across the ocean in conditions that were totally inhumane, then beaten, whipped, or hung, and if they did survive, they were once again separated from any family they made in this country. If I lived in Florida, I truly think I would have to leave that state. And if that was not an option, I would have to spend my days protesting. But I finally moved on and busied myself with things I really needed to do. Still this curriculum issue continues to haunt me. I took the time to buy my tickets to fly to Charlotte in late August and I rented a car. I caught up on email and also checked my finances. I have not even looked at my bank account since I moved here. Thankfully, Bill Pay is doing its job and I still have money even though some bills were automatically paid that I should have cancelled. Hopefully, I’ll get that money back at some point.

Tonight, Ollie is going to return to sleep over. It is already 8:30, so we’ll only have time to barely begin a new Star Wars movie. But begin we will.