2023 Life Logs, Day 122: Wonderful to be Home with My Shadow
Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Weather: Windy and Cool; High 59, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Although I didn’t get to sleep until 2:30 am, I was up early to go get my Shadow. When I got home last night, I was so lonely without him. He is not an easy dog to handle, but I love that little guy. When I arrived at the Woodin’s this morning, Shadow seemed as happy to see me as I was to see him. Bruce and Jane had Shadow’s things packed and ready to go, and they swore they enjoyed having Shadow. They admitted that he is rambunctious, but despite that, they bonded and had a great time. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to my dear friends, Bruce and Jane Woodin.

Shadow and I got home and before I knew it, it was time to head to a 1 pm meeting with Christina Brodie. Christina and I have just been voted in to be the co-Presidents of Encore and we needed to meet to go over what needs to be done before July 1 when we take the helm. We meant to meet until 3 pm, but the first time I checked my phone, it was 4:45 pm. We had no idea that much time had passed. Christina had another meeting at 5 pm, so we were both out the door quickly. We will have to touch base again later in the week to finish that to do list.

It was windy and cool today. In fact, I have been freezing since I arrived at Logan Airport last night. It was not that much warmer in North Carolina, but I didn’t need to wear a winter coat. I am going to get my winter coat out of the closet tomorrow morning. Walking Shadow this evening was just not comfortable.

Tomorrow morning, I am off to Boston to the Isabella Gardner Museum with the Newcomers Field Trip group. There are over 7,500 paintings and sculptures on display. I visited the museum once a few years ago with Mark, and I am looking forward to visiting again.

2023 Life Logs, Day 121: April Fool’s Day in May
Date: Monday, May 1, 2023
Weather in Charlotte: Partly Cloudy, Cool, Windy
Location: Back Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in my life. I had way too much to do for my sister before I flew home tonight and at every turn, I was blocked. I felt like it was April Fool’s Day on the first day of May. Surely the things that were happening were a joke. These things do not all happen to a normal person in one day. I guess I am not normal, as they really happened. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will list the major issues. Literally everything I did today went awry.

Made a special trip to Terra Bella where my sister lives at 10 am to talk to the Director and Manager of House Maintenance about issues with my sister’s apartment–Both out sick today.

Went to pick up my niece and sister-in-law at their hotel and ran into a yellow construction tape blocking the entrance—Had to turn into a one way exit to pick them up.

Got online to order lunch for my sister, my niece, my sister-in-law, myself, and my sister’s helper—First choice closed permanently, second choice closed on Monday). Asked my niece to call and order from a third place at a set time so I could pick up on my way back from a 30 minute drive each way to get a pair of shoes for my sister in her favorite brand and known size—On my way home, my niece called and said she could not get online and that the restaurant would not take an order called in. So I stopped to get lunch when I returned to Mooresville.

The Amazon Prime delivery to Terra Bella did not arrive with the outfit I had ordered for my sister to wear to her granddaughter’s wedding in August. It is early, but I will not be back and there is no one else to buy her clothes. I paid $50 to get it delivered before I left, but that didn’t happen—So I taught her helper how to take a photo of my sister in the outfit and how to send it to me when it does arrive. Hopefully it will fit, but if not, I will deal with that later.

Took two pairs of my sister’s pants to the cleaner/alterations place I took things to in December—Closed permanently, no forwarding address. I brought them home with me and will have to get it done her and send back to her.

Thought I had done all of her dirty laundry as she will not allow the people at the assistant living facility where she lives to touch her clothes—Found another whole drawer of hidden dirty clothes, along with a treasure trove of junk mail that she has saved that needed to be thrown away. I was able to take the bag of paper out back at Terra Bella and put it in the dumpster, but I had to make a special trip to the Thompson’s to ask them to do her laundry and get it back to her.

Delivered my niece and sister-in-law to my nephew’s during rush hour so they could visit while I took off to go to a Whole Foods to drop off a box of things I had ordered for my sister to be returned that didn’t fit—All the Whole Foods employees were in the parking lot to tell people their electricity was out and no one could enter the building. Unbelievable. They did get the Amazon Coordinator to come talk to me, but nothing was resolved. I left the box with two pair of shoes and told my nephew to give them to the poor.

By this time, I was exhausted and in tears. But I had a quick dinner at my nephew’s and took off for the airport with my niece and sister-in-law who were taking the same flight to Boston. There was not one gas station on our way, so I dropped them off and went to get gas before returning the rental car. Once I returned the car, I went into the airport to check in with Jet Blue at Terminal A. That went smoothly, but it was after 6:30 pm and by this time all terminal security check-in stations were closed except Terminal E. So I had to walk the entire length of the airport to Terminal E, go through security, walk the entire of length of the airport back to Terminal B and then walk another gauntlet in a different direction to Terminal A—During this time I got an email saying our 8:40 pm flight to Boston was delayed until 12:54 am. But they were working on that. By the time I arrived at Terminal A at 7:30 pm, the flight was back to only a 30-minute delay. That seemed like nothing compared to waiting to 1 am to take off. At least the flight went smoothly.

I had not checked my bag because I didn’t want to wait at Baggage Claim in Boston. Bad mistake. I was in seat 6C and had to take my bag to 15A to find a place for it. That meant I had to wait until everyone up to that part of the plane departed before I could go back to pick it up and there was no one I could ask to help me get it down. But I was able to get it down without injury to my very fragile back. This is the first time since 2016 that I have not checked my bag to protect my back and it is the very last time ever that I will not check my bag.

Arrived at Logan and got to Central Parking where Heather had left my car. I misinterpreted her directions and could not find my car which was on the very top of the parking garage. I walked the entire perimeter and up and down the rows of cars before I finally found it. I then had to get the ticket out of the car and go back to the terminal and down to Level 4 from Level 7 to pay for the ticket. I have no idea how much it cost as I was almost catatonic by this time.

Got in the car and drove down to ground level to exit. There was an oversized truck blocking the exit and I had to wait for airport personnel to come and get the long line of cars I was in to back up while they backed the truck out.

Exited the airport to go through the Williams Tunnel to find a traffic jam at midnight! They were doing maintenance in the tunnel and the lanes went from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1 and we moved at 4 miles an hour. It took 35 minutes.

Finally, I was out of the tunnel and on the way home. That went smoothly and I got home at 1:55 pm to find my Anderson glass storm door stuck halfway open. I could not open it all the way nor close it. It had obviously blown open due to wind and had probably slammed back against the house and back to being shut enough times to totally bend the rod. I slipped in and went to bed. I’ll deal with that tomorrow.

If you read this far, thanks for reading my rant. I needed to get that off my chest. It was one hell of a day!

2023 Life Logs, Day 120: A Day with Family
Date: Sunday, April 30, 2023
Weather in Charlotte: Rainy, Then Clearing, Then Windy; High 70, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home with Brian and Judy Thompson, Mooresville, NC

I was off to the Charlotte airport again early this morning to drop Heather off for her flight home. She enjoyed time here with her cousins and their children but was anxious to get home to her own children. She took the bus from Boston Logan straight to Harwich on the Cape to see Jonah and Sam play in soccer games. After dropping Heather off, I went to my nephew Tommy’s, and we decided to have everyone go to lunch together before they started their drives home to West Virginia, Georgia, and Ashville, NC. I then drove back to Mooresville to pick up Candi, Sue, and Patsy. We drove back south to meet up for lunch with everyone, back to Marilou and Tommy’s to visit, and then back to Mooresville. I feel like I have done nothing but drive this weekend and have already had to fill the gas tank once!

I dropped Candi and Sue at their hotel, my sister at Terra Bella, and then I went on a shopping spree for my sister. That lasted only an hour as the stores were closing at 6 pm. I will have to continue that in the morning. I was exhausted, so I went back to say goodnight to my sister and deliver the things I bought for her. Then I stopped for quick dinner at Fresh Chef and home to the Thompsons. I have spent a good deal of time tonight going through all the photos from yesterday. I will share those on Facebook.

2023 Life Logs, Day 119: Celebration of Life for Jennifer Kerwood Price
Date: Saturday, April 29, 2023
Weather in Charlotte: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 72, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with Brian and Judy Thompson, Mooresville, NC

Today was the Celebration of Life for my niece Jennifer Kerwood Price. Jennifer died in September, but her husband Bill decided to have the celebration in the spring as close to Jennifer’s birthday as possible. She was born on April 27, 1960, so Bill picked today as it was the closest Saturday. Bill and the two children Jessica and Jacob put together a perfect afternoon with the help of sister Janet and cousins Rex and Tommy. I know Jennifer was smiling from above in approval of this beautiful tribute.

2023 Life Logs, Day 118: Gathering the Forces
Date: Friday, April 28, 2023
Weather in Charlotte: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home with Brian and Judy Thompson, Mooresville, NC

The gathering of the Martin family members is underway. Wednesday, a niece Janet, and one nephew Rex arrived in Mooresville. Yesterday I arrived. Today my niece Candi arrived and this evening, Heather and Candi’s mother Sue arrived. And Rex’s family, his wife Diana, and his daughter Rachel and her two children, Emma and Kit, drove in from West Virginia. This gathering of the forces is to celebrate the life of my niece, Jennifer Price, who died last September. Her two children, Jacob and Jessica arrived this afternoon to support their dad, Bill, who is hosting the celebration tomorrow afternoon and evening. More family arrives tomorrow, along with many friends. Quite a mighty force.

I spent my day driving to and from the airport in Charlotte twice and, along the way, checking out a few bridal venues looking for a dress for my sister Patsy to wear to her granddaughter’s wedding in August. Once I returned from the airport with my niece Candi, we went to visit with Patsy. It was such a warm and beautiful afternoon that we decided to take Patsy out to Brian and Judy Thompson’s to sit on their lovely porch overlooking Lake Norman. Normally my sister resists sitting outside, but today she loved it. Brian and Judy are very close family friends that I am staying with this weekend. Sometime after 5 o’clock, we pried ourselves away from our lovely afternoon visit and headed back to Mooresville to run a couple of errands. We dropped my sister off before heading to the airport to pick up Heather and Sue and ended the day at my nephew Tommy’s to just sit and visit. We’ll do more of that tomorrow and Sunday before everyone heads back home. For just a couple of wonderful days, we will be together to share the stories that bond us together as family and to celebrate the life of one of us who died too young.

2023 Life Logs, Day 117: From Cape Cod to North Carolina
Date: Thursday, April 27, 2023
Weather in Charlotte: Rainy Arrival; High 61, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home with Tommy and Marilou Martin, Huntersville NC

Note: When I wrote yesterday’s log, I recorded the high and low temperatures in Charlotte, NC, not in Falmouth. It was NOT 61 degrees yesterday, but only in the 40’s. No wonder I was cold.

It was a long day today, but at 8 pm my plane landed in a very foggy, rainy Charlotte, North Carolina. After getting my rental car, I drove north to Huntersville to my nephew Tommy’s home for the night. As I drove into the driveway, I got a call from him saying to back out and drive down the street to a friend’s home. It was pouring rain, but Marilou came out to flag me down. Tommy and his wife Marilou and my cousin Rex were at the neighbor’s house watching the NFL football draft taking place in Kansas City. Another neighbor was at the affair, so the neighbors here were having a “watch” party. Once we headed home to Tommy and Marilou’s we stood around the kitchen island talking past midnight. Good to be here.

This morning I took Shadow to Bruce and Jane Woodin’s. They are keeping Shadow for me while I am away. Bruce and Jane, you are my Superheroes! I know Shadow will be treated like a king. I just hope Bruce and Jane can survive keeping my little buddy. I love him and miss him, but he can be a little rambunctious.

2023 Life Logs, Day 116: Day Off
Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2023
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 61, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The high temperature today was 61 degrees F, but I was chilly all day. I had a list of things to do before leaving for North Carolina tomorrow, but you what? I didn’t get those things done. I gave myself the gift of a day off and did only what I wanted to do. Tomorrow morning I’ll be sorry. But then I’ll be on a bus and then a plane to Charlotte and whatever those things that needed to be done will be a distant memory. I did spend a lot of time getting my March and April photos in order. I always update and save my photo files on a hard drive before any trip, just in case something should happen to my computer while traveling. I did get that done. And I took Ollie to saxophone practice.

While playing in the yard with Shadow this evening, I saw a woolly worm. It is almost May and usually they have spun a cocoon and are ready to emerge as moths by this time of year. At least that is what I thought. Whatever, that just added to my feeling that it was just too chilly today. Hopefully North Carolina will be a few degrees warmer.

2023 Life Logs, Day 115: Repeat, Boat Work and Sam to Rowing
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 65, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was a repeat of yesterday, starting with morning work on the boat, late lunch at home, then off to Harwich with Sam and Shadow at 3 pm. Shadow and I walked in the bogs beside Hinkleys Pond while Sam rowed.

In between all of this, I continued my online search for dresses for my sister to wear to her granddaughter’s black tie wedding in August. The bride, Jessica, specified that Patsy must wear black, champagne, or nude—all my sister’s worst colors. She eliminated nude right off the bat. Now, one day she goes with champagne, but the next day she says if she has to look awful, maybe she should just wear black. I had hoped to have something for her to try on while I visit North Carolina this weekend, but it is proving harder to find the ‘just right’ choice, in the right color, and in a size 0 or 2 on such short notice.

I have also been doing online research into teak finishes for Heather and Jed’s boat, but time is running out. Not sure what we are going to do. Whatever, one way or another, the boat goes in the water on May 29. At least we have all the old varnish removed. Maybe it will just stay naked for a year and get “dressed” next spring! We need to turn our attention to getting the bottom ready for splash down. It cannot go in the water without being “dressed”, so that has to become the first priority.

2023 Life Logs, Day 114: Varnish Removal Done, Sam to Rowing in Harwich
Date: Monday, April 24, 2023
Weather: So So AM, Sunny PM; High 64, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Finally, I can say that any varnish removal that I can do on Heather and Jed’s boat is done. Woohoo! There is still the removal of varnish on the underside of the bow sprit and the toe rail, but that has to be done from a ladder and I will not be doing that. Tomorrow I will go do some sanding, some clean-up, and then I will work on covering the wood that has been sanded to protect it from moisture until we can get back to work. Since Heather and I are both going to be in North Carolina this weekend and Jed will be busy carting boys from soccer game to game, no boat work will happen until the following weekend. The boat has it’s winter cover on, but it is canvas and has developed a few leaks, thus the need to protect the sanded teak from moisture. It has been a bit of work getting that varnish removed, but I actually look forward to getting back and starting the process of applying new protection to the wood.

I got home from the boat at 1 pm and spent the next hour and a half eating lunch, relaxing a bit, and taking a shower to get rid of the sanding dust from my morning’s work. At 2:30, Shadow and I took off to go pick up Sam and take him to Harwich for rowing practice. After practice, he ate the dinner I bought for him, and then I dropped him off for soccer practice at Monomoy High School in Harwich where he met up with Sebastian and Jonah. I then headed home as Sebastian’s mom would take him home.

Tomorrow will be a repeat of today—boat work and driving Sam to Harwich to soccer practice and then home to Falmouth to his weekly Scout meeting. Wednesday is my day to get ready to travel and Thursday I am off for North Carolina.

2023 Life Logs, Day 113: Reinforcements for Boat Work
Date: Sunday, April 23, 2023
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Beginning in the PM; High 53, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The Goldstones made it home from their week in DC with Grammy Marti late last night and I had reinforcements for boat work this afternoon. Even with all of us working, we still have parts of the toe rail and the underside of the bow sprit that need varnish removed. I hope to finish the toe rail tomorrow, all but the underside that will have to be done from a ladder from below. We also started sanding today. I will do a couple of hours tomorrow and again on Tuesday, but then I will set aside boat work and get ready for my trip to North Carolina for the Celebration of Life for my niece who died in September. I leave on Thursday and return on Tuesday. Heather will fly down on Friday evening after work and return on Sunday.

I joined the Goldstones for dinner, and everyone shared the experience they liked most this week. Sam loved his tour of Georgetown University. Can I really have a grandson old enough to be looking at colleges?!!! Jonah liked the tour of the monuments at night and the zoo. Ollie loved all of the different food adventures, foods from around the world. And he was also very proud of the fact that he stood on the exact spot where Martin Luther King gave his “I Have a Dream Speech.” Heather agreed with Jonah and Ollie, loving the tour of the of the monuments at night when they are all lit up, various zoo experiences, and the foods from around the world. Jed enjoyed the tour of the Capitol but was disappointed that they didn’t get to see the Senate and House chambers. Something for next time. The highlight of my week was my tour of the Massachusetts Alternative Septic Systems facility. It was a great school vacation week for all.