2022 Life Logs, Day 347: Taking Care of Business and Visiting Family
Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Cool: High 44, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home with Brian and Judy Thompson on Lake Norman in NC

It is late and I can’t believe it has only been 28 hours since I landed in Charlotte. I have gotten a huge amount accomplished which makes it feel like I have been here for days. I literally had to go back and check the calendar to make sure I arrived just last evening. But it is good that I am getting things done for my sister. She has gained weight, coming up from 80 something pounds to 90 something pounds since I saw her in August. She looks good and after more than a year, she is finally starting to make friends in her assisted living facility. Tomorrow, we have a more relaxed day planned together after I do a morning hunt and kill shopping trip without her. Hopefully we can enjoy a relaxed afternoon together.

I took time out tonight to drive about 45 minutes south of here (took so long due to the traffic) to have dinner with my nephew Tommy, his wife Marilou, her parents, Bob and Ginny, and friends of Tommy and Marilou’s. Tommy made linguine with shrimp and clams accompanied by a hearty salad. It was delicious and, as always, I enjoyed visiting with them. And I spent a lot of time bonding with Izzy, their Bernese Mountain Dog, which made me miss my Shadow. And we did all of this in the light of their beautiful Christmas tree. Such an enjoyable evening.

2022 Life Logs, Day 346: From Cape Cod to Boston to Charlotte, NC
Date: Monday, December 12, 2022
Weather: Dusting of Snow in MA: High 54, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home with Brian and Judy Thompson on Lake Norman in NC

Today was a traveling day. I dropped Shadow off with Heather at 11 am and headed to Sagamore to catch the Plymouth & Brockton bus to Logan airport. I arrived earlier than I needed to, so caught an earlier express bus to the airport than I had planned. But that gave me time to have a nice lunch at the airport before my flight to Charlotte, NC. I arrived in Charlotte at 6 pm, picked up a rental car, and headed north to Mooresville to see my sister Patsy. If you read my log last night, she is my Rosemary Clooney sister. Patsy is 89 and was five years younger than Rosemary Clooney, but there were always the similarities between them in my mind.

It took almost 45 minutes with the traffic to get from the airport to my sister’s assisted living facility. When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised to see her happier and healthier than when I visited in August. I left an hour later with a bag of dirty laundry with specific directions on spot removal on some items. That is what sisters do. Right? They deal with dirty laundry? But I understand. Patsy is so particular about washing clothes that she doesn’t trust anyone else to do it. So, she hides it until someone she trusts comes along. Tomorrow, we have to travel quite a distance to a bank south of Charlotte to close her account. Another ‘have to do it’ day, but once the laundry and the bank business is completed, I am hoping we can spend some quality time together.

Tonight, I am with Brian and Judy Thompson, good friends of the family. I take care of Patsy’s medical issues and Brian deals with the financial end of things. But I am here to help with that this week. Brian and Judy have a lovely home on Lake Norman here in Mooresville. It is actually going to be near the freezing point tonight down here, but somehow the evening felt warm to me. I had to shed my winter coat when I arrived at the airport. It is supposed to be in the upper 40’s the rest of the week, with nights in the 30’s. A little warmer than at home, but not tremendously. But I am not here to enjoy the weather. I am here to be with my sister and that is a joyous thing.

2022 Life Logs, Day 344: Drizzly by Day, Concert by Tonight
Date: Saturday, December 10, 2022
Weather: Drizzly Rain and Chilly: High 41, Low 34 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 6:59 am & 4:13 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Chilly and drizzly makes for a nice day to stay inside and try to catch up on paperwork and photo editing. I am gloriously behind on both, but I did make some progress today. My math tells me we currently have 9 hours and 12 minutes of daylight. I guess that means 14 hours and 48 minutes of darkness. I can’t wait for Winter Solstice when minutes of daylight slowly starts to increase.

This evening Heather and I went out to dinner at Estia and took a few minutes to talk about Christmas. Then we went to a concert at the Falmouth Academy to hear the Sons of Serendip. Heather just heard about the concert yesterday and mentioned she was going. The singer in the group used to be with Hyannis Sound, a professional a capella group that gathers in Hyannis each summer. Heather loved his voice when she heard him years ago and remembered his name. I decided to go with her and what a wonderful decision that was. Micah, the singer in the group of four musicians, described them as four millennials who happen to be Black. The musical quartet met while in graduate school at Boston University, completing degrees in Law, Cello Performance, Harp Performance, and Theology. The one who started out as a lawyer, plays the keyboard and writes music, and the singer, Micah, was the Theology major. They are dynamic and you can feel through their music their dedication to making this world a happier, more caring place. I didn’t think anyone could make me cry just listening to a rendition of Nat King Cole’s The Christmas song . . . Chestnuts roasting on an open fire . . . but tears came to eyes tonight when Micah sang it. The program was not just Christmas music, but the group’s rendition of Oh Holy Night was also wonderful. Micah introduced the song by saying that it is song of hope. He described it like seeing one candle lit in the darkness making just enough light to give hope. And even if just one more person joins with their lit candle, it gives more hope . . . which is much needed in today’s world. He also shared his favorite poem that was written in answer to the question, “What is the most important thing inscribed on a tombstone?” The poet’s answer was the dash between the date of birth and date of death in that the dash represents all the life in between. What a beautiful thought.

In the first half of the program, the group took suggestions from the audience for a song that they would put together for the second half of the program. They chose Hey Jude, one of my favorites. The encore song was Leonard Cohen’s legendary Hallelujah. Micah had said earlier in the evening that it was his favorite song to sing. So, he ended the evening with that. When I looked up the meaning of serendipity, “the occurrence and development of events by change in a happy or beneficial way”, I realized that Sons of Serendip is the perfect name for this group. I think everyone attending left looking at life in a more positive, loving way.

2022 Life Logs, Day 343: Another Orthopedic Knee Appointment
Date: Friday, December 9, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny: High 42, Low 35 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset: 6:58 am & 4:13 pm
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was a cold one with wind coming out of the north. I guess the full Cold Moon is performing its magic. I had a morning appointment with my knee surgeon’s assistant. I saw him on November 1st and declined to get a cortisone shot. But since then, especially after I got home from Puerto Rico, it has become evident that I need to do something to control the pain. Today I was talked into the cortisone shot and a knee brace to wear when I am hiking or taking long walks, doing yard work and gardening. Vince, the PA, explained that doing these two things will probably allow me to do all the things I want to do until I finally have a knee replacement. I have waited too long for this year as my surgeon is booked until summer. And I do not want to be recovering from knee surgery in the summer! But I will meet again with the PA in June and decide then if a fall or late winter surgery is in my future. And if so, I’ll book the surgery then.

I came home and took Shadow for a walk, wearing the brace. It felt good enough that I wanted to keep walking. But I was told to take it easy for 24 hours after the cortisone shot, no long walks. So, we walked a half a mile and then came come and played ball down by the dock. Recently, each day when I walk down there to play, our presence scatters the water birds, usually just geese, swans, and common mallard ducks. Yesterday I noticed that there was a raft of new ducks in the neighborhood. They were there today, but they are such fast swimmers that they were too far away to get a good photo by the time Shadow and reached the water’s edge. From a distance, they look like hooded mergansers to me, but I think hooded mergansers are usually freshwater ducks. I took a photo and if anyone can tell what I was seeing, please let me know. It would make more sense if they were buffleheads, but I don’t think so. Tomorrow I will try to sneak down earlier without Shadow and get a better photo.

2022 Life Logs, Day 342: Holiday Luncheon and Holiday Wine Tasting
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny but Cold: High 44, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was a golf club and yacht club kind of day. It began with the Newcomers Holiday Luncheon at the Pocasset Golf Club. I had never been there and found it to be nice enough, but not my favorite venue for the Newcomers Holiday Luncheon. The food and companionship was good, however, so I shouldn’t complain. I sat beside the friend who actually got me to join Newcomers in 2017. Friends had tried, but I kept saying I didn’t join clubs. Then I met Lynda at the gym. I was interested in buying a bicycle. In our conversations, I found that she led a biking club. I wanted to join that, but then found out it was a Newcomers biking club. I finally gave in and joined Newcomers and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. If social connections, companionship, and keeping active are important to the aging population, Newcomers offers all of that and more. A brand new Newcomer was sitting beside Lynda. She is a young, still working for Novartis in Boston. She keeps a small condo there but wanted a house with a yard where she can pursue her interest in gardening. She chose Falmouth for that.

I came home after the luncheon, played with Shadow, and then headed back out for an evening of wine tasting at the Green Pond Yacht Club with my wine group. We did a blind tasting using Tasting Wine for Dummies as a guide. It was great fun, but it required hard work–not just deciding which wine you liked best. You had to try and identify the specific type of grape and the country of origin. Most of us at least knew if the wine was red or white!!!Following the wine tasting with delicious appetizers, we had a wine Yankee Swap. A wine cooler disguised as a woman’s bright red faux leather purse was the hit of the evening. I am not a wine lover, but I love my wine group. Drinking wine once a month is worth it just to be with that crazy, fun-loving group.

When I got home, I looked up to be greeted by the Cold Moon. It was full yesterday, but mostly hidden. Tonight, it was beautiful.

2022 Life Logs, Day 341: Full Moon Hidden in Cloud Cover
Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Weather: Overcast and Rainy: High 57, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

There was a full moon tonight, but it was hidden from view here on Cape Cod by a complete cloud cover. I do hope the full moon was visible in Rincon tonight as Justin and Jo were playing a full moon concert near the plaza. I spent my day talking on the phone dealing with various issues and doing laundry at Heather and Jed’s. Jed was home when I first arrived, and we spent some time talking about the boys various Christmas wish lists. I have no idea what I am getting for any of them, but hopefully the just right things will emerge over the next few days. Since I leave town on Monday, I really need to have things in order by then.

2022 Life Logs, Day 340: More Doctor Appointments
Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny: High 52, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was my annual wellness exam plus a chiropractor appointment. In between, Jane Woodin dropped by to pick up a couple of items she left last night. While we were having a cup of tea, Karen Baranowski came over to visit. She was working with her cousin, Caroline, to pack up things in Shirley’s house next door. She and Caroline had just found a small brass Cape Cod dory and Karen decided I had to have that. When she gave it to me, I noticed the numbers (maybe a date?) on the bottom. 7/7—Mark’s birthday. So, indeed, I think I needed that dory. So, doctor appointments, cleaning up from last night’s dinner party, walking and playing fetch with Shadow. That was my day.

2022 Life Logs, Day 339: Dining-In Group at the Cottage
Date: Monday, December 5, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy: High 47, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was my turn to host our dining-in group dinner. It stretches the ability of the cottage to accommodate eight adults for dinner and also make room for a Christmas tree, but I think it went quite well. Peter and Karen brought the appetizer which was showy and delicious salmon potato bites. Karen stacked the salmon on a slice of roasted red potato, put Crème Fraîche on top of the salmon, then bright red caviar topped with green fresh dill and a final little dollop of wasabi. It was definitely as good as it looked. My food contribution was lasagna. Bruce and Jane contributed a tasty, as well as a beautiful spinach salad which was topped with crumbled goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, and candied pecans, Terry and Olivia brought Italian garlic bread, and Midge provided the dessert, pecan pie with whipped cream. As always, good company and good food.

The drama today happened early. One of the Goldstone’s cats, Mel, went missing. No one had seen him since just before dinner last night and searching all of the normal places turned up nothing. It was not a happy morning. After school, Heather and Sam came over to borrow Shadow. They though he might be able to help find Mel. He tried, but it was simply another check in the basement that discovered him. We are all greatly relieved that he was found.

2022 Life Logs, Day 338: Falmouth Holiday Parade
Date: Sunday, December 4, 2022
Weather: Sunny: High 46, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The weather today was the total opposite of yesterday. It was crisp and clear, a beautiful day for the annual holiday parade. Heather and Sam left early this morning for a day of soccer, but Jed, Jonah, and Ollie stayed home to be in the parade. Jed led his Scouts down Main Street as Ollie carried the Falmouth flag for Troop 41. Jonah marched with the Lawrence band, playing his trombone. And I watched proudly from the ‘sidelines’. As always, I enjoyed the Clydesdales, the Newcomers float, and a glimpse of Santa at the end of the parade. I drove Jed and Ollie home, but Jonah walked from the middle school. Jed thought he was going to be driving Jonah to a 4:30 soccer game north in Marlboro, but Jonah decided to skip it. I think the spirit of the holiday season has arrived and soccer season is now officially over . . . except for watching the World Cup games.

Tomorrow, I host my dining-in group. I have already baked my main dish contribution, lasagna. So, my day will be spent getting the cottage ready . . . mostly decorating the tree. I will also spend time giving Christmas gifts a thought. I talked with Jed’s mom, Marti, this afternoon, about what the Goldpebbles might want for Christmas. It is definitely time to make those Christmas wish lists.