2022 Life Logs, Day 228: A Wonderful Surprise
Date: Tuesday, August 16, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 76, Low 63 degrees
Location: At Home in Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Months ago, I was contacted to give a Tuesday Talk at the Cataumet Schoolhouse. Tonight was the night, and I was just not in the mood to do it. But I knew I had to go, so I did. In the 1990’s a group of Cataumet residents turned a neglected 1894 building into a magnet for educational programs and community events. The summer Tuesday Talks are part of that. I arrived, got the technical details set up, and then spent time introducing myself to people in attendance. A couple came through the door and the woman looked familiar. Suddenly I was thrown back in time and realized it was a teacher from the Concord School District, much younger than myself, that I had worked with 17 years ago. It was Kate Daniels. She has a summer home here on the Cape and saw a sign about the Tuesday Talks. Then she saw the speaker was Judy Handley and knew she had to come. What a wonderful surprise to see her after all these years. Kate reminded me that one of the last times we were together was in New Orleans when I had taken a group of teachers there for a conference. Kate was my roommate, and I spent my evenings studying Morse Code for my upcoming test to get my Ham radio operator’s license. She now teaches at St. Paul’s School in Concord, where Heather and Jed went to secondary school. And she has a husband and brought along her younger cousins to hear my talk. It made the presentation so much more fun. And afterwards, a woman came up to talk to me that has just moved to Cataumet after living in Honolulu for the last 55 years. She has traveled to many of the places that I highlighted in my presentation and wants to get together to share more stories. You just never know when wonderful things are going to pop up in your life.

It was a day of assessing what clothes the Goldpebbles need for the start of the school year and a trip to Staples to buy school supplies. Tomorrow morning, I have a breakfast date with long-time sailing friends, Jim Hammett and Susie Klein, who sailed into Quissett Harbor today. I am not sure when I last saw them. Maybe the summer of 2019, before Covid. So, I am looking forward to that and then picking up Jonah and Ollie for lunch and a movie date. Sam can’t join us as he works tomorrow.

2022 Life Logs, Day 227: Life Goes On
Date: Monday, August 15, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 77, Low 61 degrees
Location: At Home in Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was a better day. We have three more weeks until school starts, so Camp Oma continues.
All three Goldpebbles came over to spend the afternoon and do yardwork in my yard and gardens, as well as Shirley’s yard. Jane Wooden came by and we had an impromptu lunch. Then Karen Baranowski stopped by, and I invited her to join us. So, while the boys worked, we ate lunch and had a nice visit. Tomorrow night I give a Voyage of Windbird presentation that has been scheduled for months, so my morning will be getting ready for that. Then I’ll pick up the Goldpebbles to do some school shopping. It feels good to get back to somewhat summer normal.

2022 Life Logs, Day 226: Sadness Doth Prevail
Date: Sunday, August 14, 2022
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 80, Low 59 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This has been a tough weekend. My neighbor and my friend Shirley Wiedemann passed away peacefully late this afternoon. Her niece Karen Baranowski and I visited with Shirley on Friday, but late last night she took a turn for the worse. Karen spent the day with her, but she was not aware. Shirley was 97 and her heart and her kidneys were simply giving up. Shirley was the owner of the cottage I live in and the three years I have lived here have been wonderful. I will always be grateful to Shirley for giving me the opportunity to live here for sharing her love of living here on the marshy end of the Eel River. She loved the marsh bird life. I caught a photo of an egret standing on the lower dock this weekend. I think he was standing watch over Shirley.

On Friday I learned that Tom Walker died. He and his wife Bette Lee became sailing friends as Mark and I started our sailing trek from Panama across the South Pacific. Their boat was a St. Francis catamaran named Quantum Leap, large enough to host a number of people, and host they did. Tom was a friend to all and he will be missed by the members of the Class of 2005. That is the name Tom gave the group of us beginning our journey across the South Pacific beginning that year.

I also learned today that my sister-in-law’s husband, Brad, is in the hospital and has sepsis. He was also recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. When my brother died in his early thirties, he left behind his wife Sue and their three young children. Sue remarried and Brad became the father of those children, embracing them as his own. My thoughts are with Sue and Brad tonight, hoping he has the strength to fight this very serious infection.

So where is the good news? The Goldstones returned from Maine this evening and came over for a late dinner. It was so wonderful to see them. I got to hear a little more about the sailboat that I have still not seen. I can’t wait to meet Eider, the current name of the boat. They are thinking of changing the name. At first, they thought the new name would be Messin’ About. But the current favorite is Ardenna, the scientific genus name of the great shearwater bird. Another happy thing from today was seeing a photo of Jo and Coco having a mermaid experience. There is a woman in Rincon offering a merfolk school where you can explore the mermaid tail as a means of getting about the reef and exploring the underwater world. As Jo said, “Why have two fins when you can be an actual fish?! Exciting!!!”

2022 Life Logs, Day 225: Glass Half Full or Glass Half Empty
Date: Saturday, August 13, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 74, Low 57 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Since getting home from North Carolina, I have been struggling to stay positive. I keep seeing the world as if the glass is half empty. I am haunted by the fact that my sister is so alone and that seems to be affecting how I view everything. Then there is the fact that I am experiencing constant low level pain in my lower back. My back has been this bad before and I simply focused on doing all the things that I know will help. But the past few days I have struggled to do those things and keep doing things I know I shouldn’t. I need to weed my garden, but that makes my back worse. I did yard work yesterday and that made my back worse. And right now, I should be on my exercise bike, and I can’t seem to make myself do that. I’m hoping that writing about this will make me feel guilty enough to do it after I send this log.

I heard from Heather this afternoon and they will be coming home from Maine tomorrow. I’m sure seeing them will brighten my outlook, but I imagine Heather and Jed are also struggling to stay positive after the week they have had. As Heather wrote, “Between illness, injuries, weather, work, and boat repairs, this week has not been what we planned. An overnight sail was not to be. But today was a good one — came into the dock for fuel and pump out, spent a few hours sailing a respectable fraction of wind speed (5ish?), Sam and Jonah jumped off the boom and Ollie started the dinghy motor himself for the first time.” Because of all this, their plan to sail the boat home has been put on hold for now. When I heard from Heather it was late afternoon and they were heading back to Jed’s mom after their annual stop at a Boothbay candy shop. This evening they were going to have their annual croquet tournament and after dinner listen to music on the old phonograph. They are still stuffed with fluff from their summer colds, but at least they all feel fine. Ollie had to go to Urgent Care to get a large splinter from the boat dock removed, but hopefully that is on the mend as well. I invited them over for dinner tomorrow night. Can’t wait to see them and hear the details of their week. Maybe once they get home, my empty glass will begin to fill.

2022 Life Logs, Day 224: Visit with Shirley
Date: Friday, August 12, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 76, Low 63 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I knew I was going to be in and out of downtown Falmouth a couple of times today, so on my first trip in to feed the critters at Heather and Jed’s, I threw in a laundry load. Then later in the morning I returned to put the load in the dryer and had Karen Baranowski pick me up from there to go visit her aunt and my landlord and friend, Shirley, who has been in the Falmouth Hospital for almost two weeks. Shirley is 97 and dealing with kidney and heart issues. And even though she has been living with her older sister in Scituate instead of next door to me, she insists on coming to Falmouth if she has to be in the hospital. She was sitting up in a chair for the first time in eleven days and was quite cheery despite her condition. She will need to go to a rehab facility next, but the ones here on the Cape that she would choose are all full. Hopefully by Monday, something will open up.

After our visit, Karen returned me to 43 Grasmere so I could fold my dry laundry. While there, I picked up the lawn mower and weed eater and came home to do a little lawn work in Shirley’s yard. We are in the midst of a drought, so there’s not much grass to cut. But evidently weeds don’t need water as there were weed patches in Shirley’s yard amidst the dry, brown grass that has not grown since the last cutting in early July. While doing the yard work, I got a call from Kim from Barn Pottery saying Ollie’s pieces that he did in his pottery class in July were fired and ready for pick-up. So, Shadow and I ended our day by driving to Pocasset to pick it up. On the way home, I picked up some Thai food and had a quiet evening with Shadow on my lap. Since getting home from North Carolina that seems to be his happy place.

2022 Life Logs, Day 223: Tommy Hilfiger Gone Missing
Date: Thursday, August 11, 2022
Weather: Overcast and Rain; High 74, Low 65 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

First thing this morning, I headed to Heather and Jed’s to feed their critters and then drove to Mashpee for an appointment with my chiropractor. He can’t do anything about the ruptured discs, but he was able to get my back in alignment which immediately relieved the pain in my left hip and leg. While in Mashpee, I went to the organic market to get Swiss chard to make a batch of leaf pie as it was overcast and definitely a day for cooking comfort food. And leaf pie, the leaves being Swiss chard, has always been that in our family. Bummer. There was no organic Swiss chard at Rory’s and none at Stop ‘n Shop. So, I decided to go home to eat breakfast and then take Shadow and go to the once-a-week Farmers’ Market. Surely one of the farm stands would have Swiss Chard. By the time I was ready to leave, it had started raining, so I went to the hook by my front door to get my rain jacket. It was not there. I thought maybe I took it to the basement when I cleaned out a closet for my friend Lynne to use while she was here. There was no rain jacket in the basement, nor in any of my closets. Where was it? About that time, Heather sent an update text, and I asked her if I had maybe left my jacket at her house. She responded, “Yep. Tommy Hilfiger is in the kids closet in the front hall!” In my response I mentioned that maybe I should go buy an umbrella as well as I haven’t been able to find mine for two years. Heather responded that they have multiples and she told me to just grab one of theirs. So I did.

Unfortunately, there was no Swiss chard at the market. I made one more stop at a different grocery store. Bingo! They had organic Swiss chard. I headed home to start making leaf pie, but about that time, friend Karen Baranowski stopped by to visit. It was great to see her and talk through some of the medical hurdles I am facing as I take over the responsibility of being my sister’s medical POA. After Karen left, I did make leaf pie AND a strawberry rhubarb crumble. Another comfort food. Then I ate. That was my day. Unfortunately, it is not clear out and that full moon is just a fuzzy orb in the sky. Maybe it will be clear tomorrow night.

2022 Life Logs, Day 222: A Wonderful Day Doing Almost Nothing
Date: Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Cooler; High 75, Low 65 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

When I got home last night, the cottage was so hot and humid that I could barely breathe. I left windows open when I was away, but I did not leave the fans running. Evidently it has been hot and humid here. It was so hot inside that I honestly thought about going to Heather and Jed’s to spend the night, but after a very little bit of rain, things cooled down just a little. I left all the fans blowing full force all night and this morning I woke up almost cold. I don’t love cold, but I have to admit it felt good this morning. Today was cloudy and overcast with a high of 75 degrees F and it looks like it is going to stay in the 70’s and 80’s over the next week. Maybe the extreme heat has passed.

Heather and family are in Boothbay this week. They had planned to sail home, but that is not going to happen. On Sunday, Jonah returned from Scout camp with a nasty summer cold. He has rebounded, but Heather got the cold next and is still not feeling good, and yesterday Ollie came down with it. Jed and Sam spent yesterday working on the boat and it seems the list of repairs that need to be done keeps getting longer, not shorter. I’m hoping they at least get to go out for a couple of days. Tomorrow night at 9:36 pm will be the best time to view this month’s full supermoon and seeing it from their boat at anchor or on a mooring would be beautiful. But if that doesn’t happen, we know there will be more full moons.

I am now my sister’s medical caretaker, and I did spent part of my day dealing with that. Then tonight, I had my first challenge. My sister called her daughter Janet (not the one with cancer) to say she had chest pains. Janet didn’t know how to contact people at my sister’s assisted living facility, so she called me. I called Terra Bella, figured out how to reach a night shift staff member, and within minutes they were in my sister’s room. I talked to my sister briefly before they arrived, and she honestly sounded fine. She said she had chest pains AND indigestion. I explained that the chest pains could be caused by indigestion. The nurse then came in to check her out and called me to me know she thought it was indigestion, certainly not a heart attack. They offered to get my sister to the ER, but she refused and I decided not to override her decision. But I can see how challenging it is going to be to make health decisions for her being so far away.

Most of my day was critter oriented, taking Shadow for walks and going to Heather and Jed’s to feed the kittens Zuzu, the guinea pig. Shadow is still sticking to me like glue, and it was just what I needed to comfort me. My back got worse everyday that I was away, so sitting and petting Shadow suited me just fine. But it was when I took him for a walk that things started to get better. The first quarter mile was excruciating, but the next quarter mile felt better. I headed home at that point and did the rest of my daily mile late this afternoon. That was much easier. Walking and eating my normal diet for just one day seems like what the doctor ordered. Tomorrow morning I go to my chiropractor. I have a feeling he is going to say to keep walking but curb other strenuous activities. I desperately need to weed the garden, but that might have to wait.

2022 Life Logs, Day 221: Long Trek Home from North Carolina
Date: Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Weather: Sunny Morning in NC, Rain on Return to Boston; High 85, Low 69 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

After an eleven-and-a-half-hour trek, I finally got home tonight at 7:30 pm. Much of my day was spent traveling to and from airports and waiting for transportation. And my bus ride home from Boston was longer than my flight from Charlotte. Regardless, the good thing is that I am home with my Shadow. And he really is my shadow. He will not leave my side. It is so good to be home.

I could go on and on with a laundry list of all the things that were difficult and challenging this past week, but I don’t want to subject you to that. I will just say that home has never felt so good.

2022 Life Logs, Day 220: Flying Home Tomorrow
Date: Monday, August 8, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 91, Low 71 degrees
Location: At Home on the Shores of Lake Norman with the Thompsons, Mooresville, NC

My niece is stable, and I am flying home tomorrow. I’m so tired, that’s all I can write. More tomorrow night when I get home.

2022 Life Logs, Day 219: Still Holding
Date: Sunday, August 7, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 89, Low 70 degrees
Location: At Home on the Shores of Lake Norman with the Thompsons, Mooresville, NC

After a very, very difficult week, I just had an amazing evening. Family friends invited me to spend the next couple of nights with them. They were out for the evening when I arrived, so I had an hour or so all to myself. Their home is on Lake Norman, and the first wonderful surprise happened when I turned onto their street. There were two adult and one young deer at the entrance to the street to greet me. I let myself into the house and then immediately walked down to the dock. It was just before sunset and the view was breathtaking. I moved from the sitting area down to the floating dock on the water as the sky was changing colors. Fish were jumping and a turtle stuck its nose up out of the water to say hello. I felt like I was on a sailboat as the dock rocked with the incoming waves from passing boats. For a few minutes, I felt like I was in heaven. Such a special moment in such a beautiful setting. But now back to reality.

I checked out of my home for the past seven days this morning, went to Lowe’s to get a couple of items for my sister, and then spent the rest of the day with her. Just before sunset, I drove to my new home for tonight and tomorrow night with family friends, Brian and Judy Thompson. If my niece remains stable, I have decided to fly home on Tuesday and return as soon as my niece passes. Tomorrow’s job is to talk to hospice to see if they can find someone who will stay with my sister until I can get here after my niece’s death. My niece’s situation has not changed in the past 24 hours, so we are just waiting. I have given up on the idea of driving down here with Shadow. When I return, I will fly.

My sister really didn’t want to go out today, so I stayed at home with her all day and evening. I have eaten what I would consider real food for a week, and I agree with her that the food in her assisted living facility is not what I would choose to eat. But today I did, and I am still alive!