2022 Life Logs, Day 298: Peaceful Day of Little Consequence
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Weather: Foggy Morning, Then Overcast; High 69, Low 61 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Foggy morning–so peaceful. Went to the chiropractor – walked with my friend Olga Mitchel and Shadow – enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather – spent time working on an upcoming Newcomers field trip – visited with Karen Baranowski – played fetch with Shadow down by the dock while enjoying views of the changing colors of the marsh grass – went to CVS to get my flu shot – went to Heather and Jed’s to do laundry – took Ollie to soccer practice – brought Ollie home and finished the laundry. Those were my ‘moments’ today.

2022 Life Logs, Day 297: Down the Rabbit Hole
Date: Monday, October 24, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Mist Tonight; High 65, Low 59 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today I got sucked down a rabbit hole. I was checking my email when I saw an update from Ancestry. I usually ignore those emails, but this one said there was an update to my DNA information. I know better than to get into Ancestry as I love digging and digging into the past and always lose track of time. But they hooked me today when they listed the top four surnames that come up in my DNA pool on my father’s side of the family. His surname was Martin. He was born out of wedlock in 1903 but adopted when he was three by his supposed real father when he married my father’s mother. Now, fast forward to the mid-1940’s. Sometime before I was born, a man with the last name of Atkins or Adkins tracked my father down to tell him that he was his real father. As the story goes, my dad would not talk to him, but my mother listened to his story. My dad never talked about this again, but my mother told my brothers and sisters what they man said. When I was in fourth grade my mother told me about this, but I refused to believe her. My father looked just like his father, so I have been sure all of these years that Fred Martin was my father’s real father. Until today. The top two surnames on the DNA matches listed were Atkins and Adkins. I could hardly believe what I was seeing. You can only imagine how this took my breath away and led me down that Ancestry rabbit hole. It will take hours, even days more, to keep digging into this. But dig, I will, to see how I am related to the people with that last name.

I made up for some of those lost hours down the rabbit hole tonight. I went to pick Jonah up for soccer practice in Harwich tonight at 6:20 pm. As I walked in the front door, wizard Jed and gorilla Ollie were headed out for a Cub Scout Halloween party. They were in a hurry so I didn’t get a photo, but I did take a photo of the little decorated pumpkins on display outside the front door, plus Ollie’s big, carved spider pumpkin. Then Jonah and I left, but before we drove out of the neighborhood, he saw a new message pop up on the soccer app. Soccer practice had been cancelled because the park where they practice had not turned on the lights. It was raining lightly, nothing serious, but I guess they decided it was too wet for practice. I turned around and dropped Jonah off. I then came home and added two and half hours to my evening at home.

Something else I found when checking my phone this morning was a Facebook post by my daughter-in-law Jo. She re-posted something she had read, and I want to share it with you. It went like this:

“While reading with my girls, my 7 year old quietly says, ‘Mama? We’re having a tiny moment right now.
‘Hmm. How so? I ask.’
‘Today my teacher said life is all tiny moments. You can write stories about tiny moments. Tomorrow I am going to write about us, together, right now.’”

I love the concept of a person’s life story being a made up of all those tiny moments.

2022 Life Logs, Day 296: Soccer Sunday
Date: Sunday, October 23, 2022
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 60, Low 57 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The serious rain didn’t start until near the end of the Ollie’s afternoon soccer game, but the whole day was overcast with misty rain from time to time. Jonah’s game was early this morning in Harwich with only a few dibble dops of rain. Jonah’s jersey number is 35. I kept trying to get a photo of him, but all I ever got was his backside sporting the number 35. Ollie’s game was back in Falmouth this afternoon. It was misting from the beginning of the game, but closer to the end it started to seriously rain. Early in the game, Ollie made the first goal, but then the Falmouth goalie hurt his hand, and Ollie had to sub as goalie for the remainder of the game. After the game, Heather left for Martha’s Vineyard. She will be back tomorrow evening, but not in time to take Jonah to soccer practice. Monday night is Cub Scout night and Jed has to be there. Sam volunteered to miss rowing practice, so instead of taking him, I will take Jonah.

I found out today that the month of November is going to be a busy one. Heather flies to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on November 4 to the attend COP27, the UN Climate Change conference. She returns on November 15, and I fly to Puerto Rico the next day, returning the day after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, rowing practice ends before either of us leaves town. Instead of the three of us carting kids to practices, for most of November, there will only be two of us. It will be a busy time.

2022 Life Logs, Day 295: A Lot of Reading
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 64, Low 45 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth,

I spent much of today reading. It was another beautiful day, so I also spent time outside walking and playing fetch with Shadow. Later in the afternoon, I took Sam to a party hosted by his rowing coach. Jed and Ollie are on a Scouting camp out this weekend and Heather and Jonah were on an all-day geology field trip for a Scout merit badge. Sam’s party was in Hyannis, so I did a bit of shopping at Whole Foods. That was my day. Unfortunately, it looks like we have a couple of rainy days starting tomorrow. I will miss the glorious sunshine.

2022 Life Logs, Day 294: Ten Years Ago Today
Date: Friday, October 21, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Warmer; High 63, Low 47 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth,

This morning when I checked my phone, the first thing that popped up was a photo from ten years ago today, October 21, 2012. The photo was from an album labeled, “Grandparent Heaven.” It was the day that all five grandchildren were together for the very first time. Ollie was born in March of 2012 and Coco the end of July. We had not gone to New Mexico for Coco’s birth since Mark was in the midst of chemotherapy. So, Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco came to see us. That first day together was wonderful.

08 Ziggy in Heaven Holding His Cousin’s Hand

22 Oliver and Coco Late in the Day

00 The Music Makers

After school today, we had a burial ceremony for Ollie’s guinea pig, Zuzu. The burial plot is right beside the trampoline and when we turned to leave Heather realized that the brand name of the trampoline was most fitting for the occasion. It is a Zupapa. And Ollie was definitely Zuzu’s papa. So, the boys hoped on the trampoline in celebration of Zuzu’s life. Then before Sam and I took off for Harwich for rowing practice, Ollie showed off his little John Deere tractor that has a new engine. It was a beautiful day and once Shadow and I delivered Sam to Long Pond, we took a nice walk to enjoy the warm weather.

2022 Life Logs, Day 293: Nada
Date: Thursday, October 20, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy, Cool; High 57, Low 45 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA

I had nothing, nada, on my calendar for today. What a wonderful feeling. I had my whole day and evening to do just what I wanted and that was almost nothing! I spent a chunk of time outside with Shadow on walks and playing fetch. I did a bit of house cleaning. I made granola to take to Puerto Rico with me in November. I made lasagna for Jed and the boys to have on Sunday when Heather is off to Martha’s Vineyard on a work related overnight. And I had a little time to read between activities. It was a feel good day.

Justin called late in the day with some sad news. Justin and Jo’s horse, Hopi, had a baby boy they named Barnaby in the spring of 2020. I loved seeing the photos of the two of them together just after Barnaby’s birth. Yesterday Barnaby slid down a hill in the mud, broke his neck, and had to be put down. He was such a good-natured horse that everyone loved. Sadness doth prevail.

2022 Life Logs, Day 292: Nice and Easy Fall Day
Date: Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy, Cooler; High 56, Low 44 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today was delightful—a strong breeze that made it feel cooler than it was, but not cold; a few puffy white clouds, but enough sunshine to make you forget about the slight chill. The morning was beautiful, just begging you to get out and walk. And so, Shadow and I went for a long walk. However, when I came inside to have lunch, the clouds took over and the sunshine went away for an hour or so. But by the time I went outside to play ball with Shadow, the sunshine was back, and we frolicked in the yard side which has a beautiful covering of red and yellow leaves. It was a picture-perfect New England fall day. But I now know that I am not a true New Englander. The other day I read something that brought me to that conclusion. Basically, if you have turned your heat on at this point in the fall, you cannot call yourself a true New Englander. Oops! I turned the heat on the first time the day after the first official day of fall on September 24. The temperature dipped into the 40’s overnight and I had Covid. The cool morning just didn’t feel good, so I turned on the heat. Then on subsequent days when it has been cool and rainy with no sunshine, I have succumbed and turned it on for a few hours. I resisted this morning even though it was cool inside because I knew the sunshine would warm things up quickly. Are you a true New Englander or have you cheated a few times in the past month?

This afternoon a attended a meeting of my Newcomers Public Policy group. The topic was: Unequal Opportunity – Race in Education. We had a speaker, Dr. Seyana Mawusi. She is life-time educator “with an extensive background in leadership development, curriculum design, mindfulness, trauma, neuroscience education, racial equity, restorative and social justice. Dr. Mawusi founded and is currently CEO of Intuitive Integrative Consultants. She coaches, consults, and intuitively guides leaders locally and internationally to reinvent, rethink and reframe their next steps to enhance their lives personally and professionally. Her clients include school districts, human resource departments, and city agencies.” Our group is small, so after her introduction, we had an intimate ‘conversation’ with Dr. Mawusi. My take-away from the conversation was to get involved in local politics, attend school board meetings and town meetings, and always ask, “Why?”

2022 Life Logs, Day 291: In Tribute to Zuzu
Date: Tuesday, October 18, 2022
Weather: Mix of Clouds, Sun, and Little Rain; High 66, Low 42 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA

I was playing Mah Jong this afternoon when I saw a text message from Heather saying Ollie’s beloved guinea pig, Zuzu, was dying. Heather was supposed to drive Sam to rowing practice this afternoon, but naturally, she didn’t want to leave Ollie and Zuzu. I immediately left the Mah Jong game and headed to the Goldstones. Ollie and Heather were sitting with Zuzu on the back deck. It was heartbreaking to see Zuzu listlessly lying there but looking toward Ollie every time Ollie petted him. Zuzu held on until 7 pm tonight. Ollie is such a compassionate kid. He is sad but knows it was Zuzu’s time to go.

2022 Life Logs, Day 290: Errand Day
Date: Monday, October 17, 2022
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Drizzle; High 64, Low 59 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Mondays are one of my ‘short’ days that basically end at 3 pm when I drive into town to pick up Sam and take him to rowing practice. On the hour drive to Harwich and on the drive home, Sam and I have the most interesting conversations. I really cherish that time with him. But I don’t get back home until 8 pm when I fix a quick dinner, watch a little cable news on MSNBC, write my log, and then head to bed to read. Today in the hours that I had prior to 3 pm, I walked with Shadow, spent some time making doctor appointments related to my back and my knees, spent some time on the phone dealing with some issues for my sister, did some deep cleaning in the kitchen, and then headed to town to do some food shopping and run a couple of other errands. By the time I got home, fixed lunch, and then ate, it was time to go. So went this Monday.

2022 Life Logs, Day 289: NH Rowing Championship Regatta
Date: Sunday, October 16, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 69, Low 47 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, Falmouth, MA

When I stepped out the front door this morning with Shadow, the sunshine and warm air felt sooooo good. I decided with that first step outside that I was going to reverse my decision to NOT drive to New Hampshire today to see Sam row in a regatta. I instantly decided to drive the two and a half hours to see Sam for about five minutes total and then drive home. It sounded crazy, but I was going. I drove to Heather and Jed’s to check on Ollie who had chosen to stay home alone this morning. I was still there when Jed got home from Harwich with Jonah. Jonah’s soccer game did not go well, but he still seemed in good spirits. I said farewell and off I went.

I arrived at the race site about 40 minutes before Sam’s race was to begin. His coxless quad was given start slot number 8 out of 9 boats in that division, but when Heather and I spotted the boats rounding the curve in the Merrimack River, it looked like Sam’s boat was in fifth position. They ended up getting fourth place which I am sure did not make the ‘boys in the boat’ happy, but the coach and parents were elated with their performance. The girls quad also came in fourth.

After Heather and I watched Sam’s boat pass by our location, we walked as fast as we could to the finish line and watched as the boats came out of the water and were carried on team shoulders back to the trailer to be transported back to the Cape. Two hours after I arrived, I was back in the car and headed home. Jed was fixing dinner for all of us upon our return home. I stopped by the cottage to take Shadow for a walk and ended my day back at the Goldstones. The drive to New Hampshire was long, but it was beautiful. It gave me a chance to soak in the beauty of the autumn leaves. While we were gone, Ollie and Jonah watched the Liverpool versus Manchester City soccer game and then Ollie pulled his wagon load of Scout popcorn around the neighborhood, going door to door to sell his share of popcorn for the Scout fundraiser. All in all, it was a lovely day and all of us were grateful for such beautiful fall weather.