2021 Life Logs, Day 193: Dining-in at the Woodin’s
Date: Monday, July 12, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Rain and Mist; High Temp 75, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Dinner tonight was at Bruce and Jane Woodin’s with my Dining-in Group. Four years ago on Monday, July 17, 2017, I attended my first dinner with this group and it was also at Bruce and Jane’s. Since that time the four couples in the group plus myself have all gotten to be very good friends. Since our last gathering, we lost one member, Bill Frieswyk, when cancer took his life. So now we are three couples plus two singles.

The food tonight was spectacular. We had grilled grass-fed beef steaks and roasted potatoes, compliments of Bruce and Jane. The steak was grilled to perfection and was delicious. Peter Baranowski made one of his specialties, a Caesar salad with fresh greens he picked this morning at Coonamessett Farm and his homemade croutons. And we ended with a fresh fruit salad that I contributed. We did get to eat on the deck, but we weren’t sure that was going to happen until the last minute. Thanks, Bruce and Jane, for hosting such a wonderful dinner.

The weather today was overcast with periods of rain and mist. I’m beginning to feel like I live in the Pacific Northwest prior to climate change. It has been cloudy, misty, rainy, and cool for much of the summer so far. I’ll bet the people of the Northwest are missing this kind of weather since they keep getting unprecedented heat waves. But I’ve never liked cool, rainy weather. I’m ready for moderately hot and sunny days.

Jed’s mother, Marti, left for Maine this morning and Jed took Ollie to Boston for a Lyme disease follow-up appointment with his Rheumatologist at Children’s Hospital. I did not get a chance to find out the results, but hopefully all is well. Heather had an all-day meeting and then left for New York City where she will spend the night, attend a Board meeting tomorrow, and then head back home. With all of this activity, Sam, Jonah, and I decided to have an absolutely do-nothing day. I am proud to report that we were successful and all three of us felt well-rested and happy at the end of the day. Depending on the weather, we might have a repeat tomorrow!

2021 Life Logs, Day 192: Euro 2020 and Virgin Galactic
Date: Sunday, July 11, 2021
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High Temp 76, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

What people in the United States call soccer is called football in much of the rest of the world. So the UEFA, the Union of European Football Association, is the European governing body of soccer. They host a European Championship each year commonly referred to as the Euro and the final game of Euro 2020 was today. Yes, I know it is 2021, but because there was no tournament last year due to Covid the championship was played this year. I’ve been following the games along with the Goldpebbles but had only watched one semi-final game that was won by England. This was the first time England has ever made the Euro championship games. In fact, they haven’t won a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup. Today they played Italy in the final. The last time Italy won the Euro was in 1968, so both teams really wanted this championship. But I wanted England to win.
So, after an early afternoon walk around the reclaimed cranberry bogs on John Parker Road with the Goldstones and Marti, I went home to watch the soccer game with Shadow. I tried to watch and do other things, but I just couldn’t. So, basically Shadow and I sat on the sofa for three straight hours which is rare occurrence. England scored right in the beginning of the game, and they held the lead until late in the game when Italy scored. The tied 1-1 game went into overtime. No one scored. Then it went to a penalty shootout and Italy won. You could see the heartbreak on the player’s faces, but they are a young team and I’ll just have to hope they make the finals next year and win the championship.
I felt so guilty for sitting and watching the game that I hustled afterwards to take down the wooden shelves in the living room that I use for starting plants in the springtime. I took them down to the basement and reassembled them. I want to start some cool weather crops now, but I am going to try doing that in the basement. The grow lights are quite bright in the front window and have to be on 14-16 hours a day. I worry about keeping my 102 year-old neighbor, Doris, awake at night since her bedroom faces by front window, so I’m going to give the basement a try.

Most Sunday mornings, I try to watch Meet the Press. When I tuned in late this morning, I found that NBC was covering billionaire Richard Branson’s flight into space aboard a Virgin Galactic test flight. Part of me feels like the money that is going into this project could be better spent, but another part of me believes the investment in the future is a good thing. Either way, I was impressed with today’s successful flight. Galactic looks like an airplane and takes off on a runway hanging between two other planes. When they got to a set altitude, Galactic was released and continued on into space. On the return, the wings were feathered until time for landing back on the runway. Today’s flight went without a hitch and was impressive to watch. If you have a quarter of million dollars hanging around, the plan is that you, too, can buy a ticket to space and back. If you have that kind of money, I hope you find a more benevolent way to spend it.

2021 Life Logs, Day 191: Margie’s Marinade
Date: Saturday, July 10, 2021
Weather: Overcast, Some Rain, Clearing Late Day; High Temp 73, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I would imagine most families have favorite recipes that are passed down from one generation to another. There are certainly a few of those in my family, but my very favorite is Margie’s Marinade. My oldest sister Margie was married by the time I was born and by the time I was a teenager, she had a tradition of hosting her boat club at her home every summer for a luau. I was always invited to help serve the food. The main menu attraction was beef shish kebobs made with her special marinade. I invited the Goldstones and Jed’s mother Marti who is visiting over for dinner, and I decided to have shish kebobs. I had beef and chicken along with baby potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, and peppers. And, of course, everything was marinated in Margie’s Marinade. Margie is no longer with us, but her memory lives on through that marinade. And everyone seemed to really enjoy dinner tonight. It cleared up enough that we were able to eat outside and then we were invited over to the new neighbors, the Dearman’s, for after dinner drinks. Heather and Jed and Lara and Andrew seemed to hit it off, and their only child that is home right now, Lena, entertained Marti and I while Sam and Ollie went kayaking. As the last light of day lingered, Lena was invited to played soccer with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie and Marti and I had a chance to sit and talk.

My only living sibling is my sister Patsy and today was her 88th birthday. Happy Birthday, Patsy!

2021 Life Logs, Day 190: Stormy Day, Lovely Evening
Date: Friday, July 9, 2021
Weather: Tropical Storm Elsa, Rain & Wind; High Temp 75, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The remnants of Tropical Storm Elsa passed through today bringing rain and lots of wind. But by mid-afternoon the sun decided to try to peak through the clouds and we had a lovely evening. Jed’s mother, Marti, arrived at the Goldstones this morning just before the high winds hit. I was invited over for a sushi dinner and evening of the visiting. Because of Covid, Marti did not visit last summer, so this was her first time to see Heather and Jed’s new home. We had a wonderful evening of catching up and the whole gang will come here tomorrow afternoon for some boating fun followed by a cook-out.

2021 Life Logs, Day 189: Cloudy Day Fun
Date: Thursday, July 8, 2021
Weather: Cloudy with Misty Rain; High Temp 75, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Arcade games, bumper boats, mini golf, lunch on a new-to-us-beach, ice cream at Somerset Creamery, and a new-to-us table shuffleboard in my basement. What a day!
In anticipation of tomorrow’s arrival of tropical storm Elsa, and weather permitting, the arrival of Grammy Goldstone, we went a little crazy and did all of our favorite cloudy day activities all in one day. Sam, Jonah, and I picked Ollie up from his pottery camp which just happens to be right next door to Cataumet Mini Golf. And Cataumet Mini Golf happens to have a little arcade and bumper boats. We picked up Ollie, moved from one parking lot to another, and ended up in the arcade because it was totally empty. So, the boys played a couple of games and then it was on the bumper boats that they enjoy so much. We had agreed to do this much and then take a break for lunch before coming back for a game of mini golf. I was supposed to pack a picnic lunch, but I didn’t get that done. So, we went to a market to get lunch and headed a further north to a little beach on Buzzards Bay that Karen Baranowski introduced me to a couple of summers ago. The boys loved it and Sam decided he wanted to bring the Opti here to sail. Then it was back to play mini golf and to have a second bumper boat ride before going to the nearby Somerset Creamery for ice cream. The boys LOVE our local Smitty’s ice cream, but Somerset was a definite hit with all of them, possibly rating higher than Smitty’s—really creamy. Then to top off our afternoon, we headed to Karen and Peter Baranowski’s where Jed met us to pick up a table shuffleboard game that Peter wanted out of his basement. The Goldpebbles wanted it but their basement is just too full right now. So, I said I would take to my newly cleaned out basement for fun on rainy days. The table is 9 feet long by almost 3 feet wide and weighs over 300 pounds. Peter had taken the legs off and had everything packed and ready to move. Thankfully, he helped us get it in the van and followed us to my house to carry it into the basement and reassemble it. Thank you, Peter! I immediately decided that I liked the game as you really have to practice restraint to get the pucks to go just where you want them. Games that teach restraint seem like a good thing for all of us.

2021 Life Logs, Day 188: Eight Years Ago Today
Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 84, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Mark Daniel Handley was born on July 7, 1942. I met Mark in his 31st year on this earth, and within hours of meeting, we both knew we had met our true soulmate for life. And what a wonderful life we had together.

01 Captain Graybeard Sails to Treasure Island

02 Three Little Pirates Playing the Role to the Hilt

05 Justin and Coco

13 Justin Gets into the Act

20 Digging for Treasure

Since losing Mark to cancer in 2016, I spend every July 7th reflecting on my life with him. The one memory that always stands out as the greatest was his birthday celebration in 2013. It was the only birthday he spent with all five of his grandchildren. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco were visiting from Puerto Rico and the adult ‘children’ planned a pirate birthday for Captain Graybeard. We decorated Windbird in pirate flags and left Woods Hole for Tarpaulin Cove in the Elizabeth Islands. Jo planned a pirate treasure hunt on Naushon Island with official looking pirate maps. Ollie and Coco were only a year old, but the three oldest grandchildren really got into their pirate roles.

38 Captain Graybeard with His Best Crew Members–Jonah, Ziggy, and Sam

They even made a pirate map birthday cake. After Mark’s death, all of us returned his ashes to the waters of Tarpaulin Cove. All of us will be forever linked to that physical location and all of us will forever be Captain Graybeard’s pirates on July 7th. Happy Birthday, Mark!

2021 Life Logs, Day 187: Trampoline Fun
Date: Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy; High 77, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was supposed to be a beach day with the Goldpebbles, but they decided they wanted to spend the afternoon on the trampoline trying out the new trampoline sprinkler that arrived late yesterday. All three boys seem to be really enjoying the trampoline and on warm days adding the water sprinkler makes it even more fun. Tomorrow, after Ollie’s pottery class, we will head to the beach for a picnic lunch. It was in the 70’s today and should have felt warm, but the wind was blowing hard enough that when the sun went behind the clouds, I certainly didn’t feel warm!

2021 Life Logs, Day 186: Free and Easy Monday
Date: Monday, July 5, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Snippets of Sunshine; High 72, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It warmed up just a bit today and is supposed to be 80 degrees F tomorrow. Heather likened our recent weather to whiplash–hot one day, cold the next, then back to hot. But if the forecast is correct for the next seven days the high will be between 75 and 82 with nighttime temps in the mid-60’s. Now that sounds more like summer to me.

The clouds were still with us for most of today and the Goldpebbles were just not interested in heading to the beach, so I spent a quiet Monday. I did a little weeding and transplanting in the gardens, but that was my only burst of energy. Ollie is in a pottery-making camp in the mornings this week, but Camp Oma will kick into gear in the afternoons. If the current weather forecast holds, we’ll probably go to the beach tomorrow and Wednesday, play mini-golf and ride the water bumper cars on Thursday (a favorite Goldpebble summer activity), and settle into rainy day activities on Friday. And everyone is super excited that Grammy Goldstone will be coming to visit for the weekend!

2021 Life Logs, Day 185: July 4th
Date: Sunday, July 4, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Light Rain, Cool; High 65, Low 55 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Here on Cape Cod we celebrated the 4th of July with a 4th overcast day with periods of light rain. The sun actually tried to peak through a couple of times today, but it was not successful. This weather has managed to get me into a blah mood where I really just don’t want to do anything. So, Shadow and I spent the day alone doing nothing until about 4 pm. I finally decided to take Shadow for his morning mile walk and by the time we got back home, I was feeling much more energetic. I had planned to use the strawberries and blueberries left over from making fruit salad for Friday’s luncheon to make two red, white, and blue fruit flans as 4th of July gifts—one for Heather and family and one for Shirley and Doris next door. So, with my renewed energy after the walk, I did get them made but it was too late to deliver them. They will now get a July 5th patriotic food gift.

There were no 4th fireworks in Falmouth again this year, so I searched on the television for some sort of 4th of July celebration. I saw that there was a program called A Capitol Fourth on public television. So, after watching a recorded Meet the Press, I tuned into the public television program. It was a music concert of different artists around the country interspersed with lots of video of a very red, white, and blue enthusiastic audience on the mall in Washington, DC. They looked so happy and so normal and that set off emotions in me that I didn’t know were there. Just seeing normal, happy people in our nation’s capital brought back all the dark memories of January 6th and that made me both sad and angry. I have always loved Washington, DC–the mall, the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House. And not until tonight did I realize just how horrific January 6 really was and how it has affected me. I am not ready to ‘kiss and make up’ and act like nothing happened. Sacred grounds were denigrated and because the leadership of the Republican Party has not willingly wanted to cooperate in getting to the bottom of what really happened, I no longer feel like I live “in the land of the free and the home of the brave.” I feel more like I live in a land with a whole lot of cowards who put political gain ahead of democracy. Because of this, this 4th of July was tough for me. I did enjoy the fireworks during the last half hour of the PBS program. And just as the program ended, I saw the sky light up out of my living room window. I opened the door so I could the fireworks lighting up the Eel River. They, too, were beautiful and lifted me out of my dark mood. Happy 4th of July.

2021 Life Logs, Day 184: Mini Golf Brightens a Rainy Day
Date: Saturday, July 3, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Rain Off and On All Day; High 63, Low 56 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

What do you do on the third straight rainy day of a holiday weekend? One option is to ignore the rain and play mini golf. Heather and family have been camping in the rain since Thursday and they refused to let it dampen their spirits. On their way home today, Heather sent a text saying they were going to the Sandwich Mini Golf Course and then to Sweet Caroline’s for ice cream. Would I like to come? YES!!! The Sandwich course has 36-holes and we played the whole thing with very little rain. The boys like this course because a stream runs through it which gives them the opportunity to retrieve the balls that inevitably go astray and land in the water. Also, the Cape Cod Dinner Train that runs between Hyannis and Bourne goes right by course and it is always fun to listen to the train whistle and watch it pass by. We had only misty rain once in a while. Lucky for us, the pouring rain came down once we were had our ice cream and were on our way home. A good time was had by all and the Goldstones are one mini golf course and one Cape Cod ice cream shop closer to their goal of visiting all of them this summer.