2021 Life Logs, Day 183: Lunch Celebration
Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Light Rain All Day; High 71, Low 61 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Heather, Jed, and boys seem to be surviving camping in the rain. Heather sent a photo of Jonah and Ollie fishing late in the day but she didn’t say if they caught dinner. I started my day by going to feed Mel and Leo, the Goldstone kittens, and Zuzu the guinea pig. Heather and Jed have an entry way and then a glass door that enters the rest of the house. The door is always kept closed these days to make sure the kittens don’t get out. This morning they were both sitting patiently waiting just inside the door for me to feed them. It was so cute, but I didn’t think fast enough to get my phone out to take a photo. Tomorrow morning I’ll be ready.

At noon, Karen and Peter Baranowski and Midge Frieswyk joined me at Shirley’s home across the driveway for a lunch celebration. Since I missed Shirley’s 96th birthday luncheon on Monday, this was my make-up birthday lunch plus we celebrated the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend. I made it easy on myself by buying lobster rolls and potato salad from Jack in the Beanstalk, a little locally owned market. I added a fruit salad for dessert and we all enjoyed. I can only hope if I live to be 96, or a 102 like Doris, that I am as mentally alert and sharp-witted as those two women.

2021 Life Logs, Day 182: Totally Lazy First Day of July
Date: Thursday, July 1, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Late Afternoon Rain; High 86, Low 73 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Heather, Jed, and boys left this afternoon for two nights of camping at Nickerson State Park in Brewster up near the Cape Cod Bay. The park has lots of ponds for swimming, a bike path, and hiking trails, but the weather forecast is for rain for the whole time they will be there.
They got rain just as Sam was building the fire for cooking dinner, and hopefully that was their only rain for the evening. At least here in Falmouth, we have not gotten more rain. Heather posted a photo of a roaring fire on Facebook with the caption, “Come what may . . .” So even if they do get more rain, I hope they will find creative ways to enjoy their camping trip.

With no Camp Oma today, I took full advantage and did almost nothing. It seems like every single day since the official first day of summer has been jam-packed with activity, so I truly enjoyed the day of nothingness. I did make a quick run to Hyannis this evening to pick up some items from Whole Foods that I can’t get in any of the stores here. But that was it for me today.

2021 Life Logs, Day 181: Trampoline Water Park, Beach, Wine Group
Date: Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 84, Low 73 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The Goldpebbles and I packed a lot into this last day of June. I thought we were going to the beach, but just as I was leaving home, I got a text from Heather saying the boys had set up a misting hose and had turned their backyard trampoline into a waterpark adventure and they were not going to be ready to head to the beach quite yet. So, we adjusted plans and I watched as they had a great time keeping cool. Their goal was for each of them to be able to do two bounces on their bums and then land on their feet, one Goldpebble after another. They practiced and practiced and achieved their goal which resulted in squeals of joy. They then headed to the deck to make roll their own roll up for lunch and then we were off for a couple of hours at Menauhant Beach. As has become their beach routine, Sam plays hard in the water and then takes breaks to sit on the shore staring at his phone. Typical teenage behavior. Jonah and Ollie play hard in the water and then expend more energy digging in the wet sand and making fortresses of one sort of another.

At 5 pm, I handed the boys off to Heather who came to join in on the beach fun and I headed to a gathering of my wine group. We met all winter on Zoom, so it was a true treat to meet in person. Our theme was New Zealand wines and I took a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc along with copies of a photo taken when Mark and I visited that vineyard . . . the most beautiful we visited. The photo shows the beautiful, cloudy, and layered mountains that are the backdrop of Cloudy Bay Vineyard. My memory of the evening is a little cloudy. I think I enjoyed a little too much wine!

2021 Life Logs, Day 180: Laid-back Soccer Day
Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 70 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

When the Goldpebbles were younger, Camp Oma summer days were planned and organized ahead of time. But as the boys have gotten older, each summer has become gradually less focused on organized activities and more on just enjoying summer days. I take my cues from the boys now, not the other way around. So today they were feeling lazy and decided they didn’t want to go to the beach. They watched the England-Germany soccer game on television, fixed their own lunches once I set out the choices, and then we went to Trotting Park. Sam was meeting other members of his soccer team for a couple of hours of practice on the soccer field. Ollie and Jonah planned to spend that time in the adjacent skatepark on their scooters. But after a bit of that, they decided they wanted to play soccer, too. We went home to get soccer gear and they got themselves invited to play with Sam’s friends. When I took them home, Heather decided that we all needed to head to the closest beach to cool off, so we did. It was another wonderful summer day.

2021 Life Logs, Day 179: Afternoon at Menauhant Beach
Date: Monday, June 28, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Windy; High 77, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Sam is going to high school in the fall (How is that possible?) and Jed took him for an organized tour from 12 to 1 today. This, plus the boys seem to move like turtles these days, delayed at arrival at Menauhant Beach.
It was a beautiful beach afternoon even though it was very windy. Recently, when we have gone to the beach and it is windy, I have needed to wear a long-sleeved shirt to keep warm. But not today. The wind was coming from the southwest and it was warm. I was so hot while at Heather and Jed’s getting lunch for the boys that I had to take off my blouse that I use as a beach cover-up. And I forgot to put it back on. Thankfully, it was not a problem. The air temperature was 80 degrees F and that along with the full sunshine, kept me warm. The boys dug a hole so they could sit in it and be protected from the wind. Ollie and Sam frolicked in the water while Jonah sat on the beach relaxing. I told him he looked like Mr. Hollywood.  And they played spikeball on the beach.  While much of the country seems to be boiling hot, I’ll take our beautiful weather here on the Cape.

Today’s weather is supposed to continue for the next couple of days, so we will take advantage of it and go to the beach again tomorrow. Heather met us at the beach after work. Jonah is still a reluctant swimmer, so she plans to meet us on as many afternoons as possible to encourage Jonah to swim with her.

Today my neighbor, friend, and landlady celebrated her 96th birthday. Ollie and Jonah made cards for Shirley, and we delivered the cards with a dozen roses and sang happy birthday to her. The boys are so thankful that Shirley lets us use her dock and store our kayaks under her deck. They expressed that in their cards. Happy Birthday, Shirley!

2021 Life Logs, Day 178: Final Tribute to Lynn Denise Martin
Date: Sunday, June 27, 2021
Weather: Mix of Sun and Cloud, Windy; High 77, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The Boston Red Sox Welcome the
MARTIN FAMILY
Honoring the Memory of
LYNN D. MARTIN

Today’s baseball game at Fenway Park was a rout for the Red Sox, 9 to 2, and the third win over the Yankees in three days. But more importantly, it was the final formal tribute to my niece Lynn. I did not attend the game, but all of the ‘cousins’ did. When they sent me a photo of the big electronic billboard in the stadium with the message above, I cried. Lynn was more into individual sports than team sports, but she would be so proud to see her name and the Martin family name on that billboard.

The other photo today that touched my heart was one of Jonah after getting his first Covid vaccine. He has looked forward to turning twelve and getting the vaccine since that was a possibility. He never wants to have to wear a mask while playing soccer again and I so hope he doesn’t have to. If only everyone would just get the vaccine!

The only big activity today was that Sam and Ollie came over to cut the grass and do some trimming for two neighbors. Just as they finished doing our new neighbor’s yard, they returned home with two extra kids. Friends from their hometown of Larchmont in New York arrived by boat. So suddenly there were three nine-year-old kids and one seven-year-old. Ollie wanted to make more money but playing tag and organizing a club in my basement took precedence. That was fine with Sam as he made more money.

Tonight I talked to my friend Lynne in New Zealand. She mentioned making Vegan tuna salad called No-Tuna Salad. I asked how that was possible. Well, chickpeas take the place of tuna and avocado takes the place of mayonnaise. Can’t wait to try it.

2021 Life Logs, Day 177: Birthday Celebration for Jonah; Celebration of Life for Lynn
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2021
Weather: Cloudy; High 79, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

06 Bubba, Now Jonah, Day Two

07 Opening More Presents

Happy Birthday to Jonah! Twelve years ago, Mark and I flew home from Malaysia for the birth of two grandchildren. Ziggy was born in New Mexico in April, so that was our first stop. Then we flew to Cape Cod to await the birth of Jonah on June 26, 2009. Because of our sailing schedule, we were able to stay for three months after his birth, but then we didn’t get to see him again until we arrived home on Windbird just two days before his second birthday. When he was born, Jonah was long and thin, had dark hair, and incredibly long and expressive little fingers. But when we returned from our trip around the world, we found a chubby, curly blonde-headed little boy. Now Jonah has what I call BIG hair. It has become his unique personal signature. I loved this year’s birthday picture of him with Shadow who has more curly black hair than any dog ever needed! They make a striking pair.

On this birthday, I could not be here for Jonah’s party as I was driving back to northern Massachusetts for a celebration of a very different kind. Family and friends were gathering at 1 pm at the Tewkesbury Country Club to celebrate the life of my niece that died in October. So, I started my morning at the Goldstones where Jed and Sam assembled my birthday present to Jonah—a trampoline. We stopped halfway through to have a birthday breakfast as I had a two hour drive and needed to leave. Before I had to leave, Jonah got to see the assembled trampoline without the side screening in place and he opened his other presents. Later in the afternoon three friends came over and they played lawn games and spent a lot of time on the trampoline. Two of the friends got him the same gift—a beach ball sized soccer ball that was perfect for play in the trampoline enclosure. And getting two was perfect as he can use one at the beach and one on the trampoline.

When I got back from Tewkesbury, Heather and Sam had gone to my house to get Shadow and I met them all back at Heather and Jed’s for a birthday dinner. During Jonah’s party while the boys were jumping on the trampoline, Heather and Jed cut back bushes to clear a permanent area for the trampoline. We had done the measuring of the location for the trampoline back in March before things started to grow. When I looked yesterday morning, my heart sunk as I saw there was no way the trampoline was going to fit there. So, we set it up temporarily in the yard. I figured it would take the next few weeks to clear the area. But tired as they were from the late last night, Heather and Jed did most of the clearing during the party when the boys were playing on the trampoline. And still after dinner Jed found the energy to ride bikes with Jonah and Ollie to see the last hour or so of a Commodore’s baseball game. The field is so close that you can hear the announcer from Heather and Jed’s deck once in a while. Hearing that little bit while we were eating dinner on the deck convinced Jonah that he just had to go SEE the game. I headed home and Heather and Sam crashed. But Jonah had a great birthday from morning to night.

The Celebration of Life for Lynn Denise Martin was just what Lynn would have wanted. It was a wonderful gathering of family and friends. Lynn was the first grandchild for my parents, and Lynn’s parents, my brother and his wife, lived in the same town. I was seven and had just completed first grade when she was born, so I felt more like her sister than her aunt. In fact, she always refused to call me aunt once she was an adult. But when Lynn was only ten, my brother Bennie died at the age of 33. My brother’s wife, Sue, was from the Boston area, and she moved back home with her three children. But my entire family kept in close contact with Sue and the three children over the years and as adults Lynn and I reconnected. Today there were lifelong high school friends of hers in attendance, some I haven’t seen since the 1970’s. Lynn came to spend a few weeks with me in Cleveland, Ohio, in the summer of 1972 and four of those friends made a road trip to Cleveland and crashed at my apartment. It was fun to reminisce about those days. There was another friend of Lynn’s who spent a week with us on our farm in West Virginia in the early 1980’s. And I got to talk with Gina Vanderloop for the first time in years, a close friend of Lynn’s that I consider a friend of mine as well. Gina follows my blog and I check in on her Facebook page from time to time. She mentioned that grandson of mine with the great hair and I said it was his birthday. She loves Jonah hair!

And it was wonderful to have the afternoon with my other nieces and nephews who were there. Lynn spent her life working to make this world a better place. She spent many years working as the Director of Communications for IPPNW, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. And she was a political activist, not just in name. She always put her personal time and energy into volunteering and marching for causes she believed in. And she also loved the outdoors—hiking, cross country skiing, sitting on the beach and reading.
She managed to get me to go cross country skiing with her, drug me to street corners to hold signs for political candidates, made sure I attended political rallies with her, and Mark and I invited her to fly to Samoa to spend time reading on the beaches with us. Lynn invited me to a special event with Ted Kennedy once and at another event I sat next to Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, at a dinner Lynn had organized. On the night of the 2004 Presidential Campaign, she and I spent the entire evening walking the streets of Boston watching people like Al Franken and David Gergen getting made-up for appearances on MSNBC live from Quincy Market, walking to the hotel where near mid-night John Kerry came out to address the crowd because the election was too close to call but not looking good for him, and then crying all the way back to Charlestown to Windbird . . . special memories that will always be with me.

2021 Life Logs, Day 176: Visiting with Family
Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
Weather: Cloudy, Then Misty; High 77, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Family from Florida, North Carolina, and West Virginia arrived this week to attend tomorrow’s (Saturday) celebration of my niece Lynn’s life. She died way too young last October, and due to Covid the memorial was delayed until now.

One of my grandnieces that lives in Westford in northern Massachusetts invited us all to her home for dinner last night. And she encouraged everyone to bring their bathing suit as she and her husband just had a new inground pool installed. The Goldpebbles and three of their cousins that they had never met before had such a good time in the heated pool that they were in it from the time we arrived until we left six hours later. It was overcast and misty for the first couple of hours, but the kids didn’t mind and there were enough deck umbrellas to the adults dry. The kids only got out of the pool long enough to eat dinner. So, the kids played in pool while the adults kept a watchful eye and talked the evening away. I drove up with Heather and Jed and was so appreciative that I didn’t have to do the driving as we didn’t get back home until almost 1 am. It was a late night, but a wonderful time with family.

2021 Life Logs, Day 174: Camp Oma, Day Two
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 71, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

What we do on any given day of Camp Oma evolves from an agreement between the Goldpebbles, Heather and Jed, and me. As we roll along, we will get better at planning and making decisions ahead of time. But for now, I leave my house a few minutes before noon dressed to go to the beach or not, with a food cooler packed with food to have at the beach or elsewhere, and with a car packed with all the beach gear we might need. I arrive at the Goldstones, pry boys away from whatever they might be doing, and we head out. This being the first day with no school in the morning, the boys lazed in and slept and read until I arrived. They were dressed but there was no agreement of what we would be doing. Sam wanted to go to my place and sail and then go to the beach. Ollie adamantly wanted to go directly to the beach, either Woodneck or Menauhant, and Jonah would have happily stayed home to play on his tablet. But that was not an option. I opted for Sam’s idea of doing both things—sail and go to be beach and eventually all three boys agreed. So, we did.

When we drove into my drive-way we were met by a surprise. Charlie, the 12 year-old son of the new neighbors preparing to move in for the summer, was waiting for us in my drive-way. When I talked to his dad, Andrew, a little later, I found that he and Charlie had arrived from New York City last night and the rest of the family will follow tomorrow. Andrew was in phone business meetings all of today and when Charlie got restless, Andrew suggested he come knock on my door and see if my grandson’s might be visiting. Charlie did that but noticed my car was not there, so he was just sitting and waiting to see if we magically appeared. And we did. Sam and Ollie had met Charlie when he was here a couple of weeks ago, but Jonah had not met him. They immediately hit it off and headed into Shirley’s side yard to play soccer. The Goldstones had opted for ‘make your own pizzas’ for lunch, but they were so busy playing soccer and catching crabs at the dock while Sam launched the sailing dinghy and was out trying to sail with no wind, that I ended up making the individual pizzas and delivering them to the dock. Eating was low on their priority list, but I insisted, and they did eat. Then they decided that we should take Charlie to Menauhant Beach. Andrew agreed that he could go with us, so we were off. We only had an hour and a half at the beach but the four boys really enjoyed the time developing a new in the water soccer game. We had to cut the afternoon short as the Goldpebbles needed to be showered and in Class A Scout uniform dress and on the field by 5:15 pm to open the Boy Scout night of the Falmouth Commodores baseball game. After delivering them home, I came home to walk Shadow and rinse and hang out to dry today’s beach gear. Then I collapsed. I was tired but happy after an afternoon of watching the Goldpebbles and new friend Charlie having so much fun. Summer 2021 is off to a great start!