2021 Life Logs, Day 163: Rainy Saturday
Date: Saturday, June 12, 2021
Weather: Rainy, Clearing Late Day; High 67, Low 56 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

No soccer today as it rained of-and-on all day, so I had more time to work in the basement. Almost done! But then I realized that there is a wooden bed frame in the attic that has to be taken out. It is not mine, but there can be nothing stored in the attic when the work begins on Wednesday. So out it will go. The end is in sight, but I have a feeling I’ll be working right up until Wednesday morning when the insulation work begins.

I spent my early morning with Shadow going for a walk and then went to meet with a neighbor of Heather and Jed’s who happens to have her own publishing company. Laura has been reading my chapters and today was our first chance to meet so that I could get her take on how my writing is going and to learn how to get a book published. She had some great suggestions that will require a little more work on my part, but I felt her ideas were right on target. It is probably overly optimistic, but I am still shooting for finishing up year one of the Voyage of Windbird before the start summer fun with the Goldpebbles. She agreed that I am probably writing a trilogy—the beginning, the middle years, and the final year in the Indian Ocean and heading home around the Cape of Good Hope.

It was mid-afternoon when I got home. By the time I walked and played ball with Shadow, ate a late lunch, and then spent time in the basement, it was 7 pm. I should have started fixing dinner, but I had been thinking about my friends Kevin and Claire all day. I decided I had to call to make sure all was fine. All was fine, but it was definitely time to check in with them. They are no longer in California. Kevin is in Mexico working on their new sailboat, White Raven, and Claire is in Canada spending some quality time with her parents. They will get back together the first of August for a family gathering in New Jersey and then after a month or so of visiting friends and family, they will both head to Mexico to their new ‘home’. The plan is to move aboard White Raven in November and spend a few months getting to know the boat while living aboard and sailing in the Sea of Cortez. I can’t wait until they settle into their new life aboard White Raven so I can go visit them.

2021 Life Logs, Day 162: The Aunties Return
Date: Friday, June 11, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 68, Low 54 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

My next door neighbors, Shirley and Doris, fondly called ‘the aunties’, returned today for the summer months. Shirley is my 95 year-old landlady and Doris is her 102 year-old sister. They live independently with daily helpers who help them get their day started and then come back again in the late afternoon to help them with dinner and get them to bed. Just so happy to have them back next door.

I spent most of my day ‘down under’. I’m still working on getting the basement ready for the insulation team that comes next week. And I spent the other part of my day in communication with my 87 year-old sister, Patsy, who moved into an assisted living facility in North Carolina today. She arrived in North Carolina from Tennessee on Monday and made the move in today. So far, so good. She seems very happy in her new apartment and already feels safe and cared for by the staff. I just hope this upbeat attitude continues. The isolation that came with living alone during Covid was hard on her and I was so delighted tonight to hear her so happy.

Wow! I got a notice from Shutterfly with photos from early June 14 years ago. They were photos from Dravuni Island in the Astrolobe Reef in Fiji. We arrived there with two other boats, Ranger and Safina. Paul and Marie of Ranger were from the West Coast of the US and Jean-Pierre and Colette of Safina were from Montreal, Canada. We had a wonderful time visiting that tiny island—even learned how to scale a coconut tree! The photos were a true blast from the past. I miss my cruising friends. Seeing the photos this afternoon convinced me that I need to do a road trip to Montreal to visit with Jean-Pierre and Colette and then on out to the Pacific Coast to visit with Gerry and Donna of Scot Free II in Vancouver, Paul and Marie of Ranger in Oregon, and a number of other cruising friends we met from Washington and California. This is my new goal for the fall of 2021or 2022. Probably 2022, since I think I need a new car to make the trip.

2021 Life Logs, Day 161: Loss of a Good Friend
Date: Thursday, June 10, 20
Weather: Sunny and Cooler; High 73, Low 53 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

In these logs, I write a lot about the people in my Newcomers Dining-in Group. There are four couples plus myself and we have all become good friends—Bruce and Jane Woodin, Terry and Olivia White, Peter and Karen Baranowski, and Bill and Midge Frieswyk. But last night I learned that Bill Frieswyk passed away late yesterday afternoon. Bill has been fighting one health issue after another for quite a while now, but when our group met a little over two weeks ago, we made plans to meet again in July and assumed Bill would be with us. We will all miss Bill’s kind and gentle presence. He fought long and hard but that dreaded ‘c’ word disease won the battle. I saw Midge this evening and she seems to be doing as well as can be expected. She is surrounding herself with friends and family which would be my recommendation for the surest path to a new normal for her.

The Newcomers installation of new officers event took place late this afternoon in the Poppy Tent at the oceanfront Popponesset Inn. This is in the adjoining town of Mashpee. I have only been there once before when we were searching for a location for Heather and Jed’s wedding. It is a gorgeous location and I can’t remember why we didn’t choose it for the wedding. But today when I went to bar to get a glass of wine and it cost $12 it made me think that maybe the reason for that decision was that it was just too pricy for the wedding. But for an hour and a half Newcomers gathering, the first in-person major gathering since February of 2020, it was the perfect choice.

The only other activity of the day was getting more things out of the basement to prepare for the insulation team that arrives next Wednesday. Peter and Karen Baranowski came over this morning and took some things that they put on their street corner. They were gone before Peter could get back to his house to get the “Free” sign. I will continue the work tomorrow and hope I finish up. If not, I still have next Tuesday. Tomorrow my next door neighbor, landlord, and friend comes home for the first time since last August. It will be wonderful to Shirley and her sister Doris next door for the summer. Saturday I meet with the woman who has been reading my book chapters to get pointers on how to get the book published. Sunday I travel to the New Hampshire border to have lunch with my good friends Detta, Leslie, and Cheryl to celebrate Detta’s birthday. And on Monday I go to Newport on a Newcomers field trip. So getting the basement ready either happens tomorrow or Tuesday.

2021 Life Logs, Day 160: Yard Work
Date: Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 85, Low 61 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a busy day in the neighborhood. It was an early release day for all grade levels, so Ollie and Sam came home with me to cut grass for me, for Shirley next door, and Andrew next door to Shirley. Ollie had a friend over for the afternoon, so he did not join us. This was Sam’s first day back at school after being his with some sort of heavy duty cold. More than half his class has been out with this, and Sam was hit hard. Still, he wanted to come cut grass so he could make some money. I tried to make sure he drank plenty of water since it was super hot today. And we took a rest period mid-way through the jobs. Actually, the break was made necessary because we had to charge the lawn mower battery. Our leaf blower, weed eater, and lawn mower are all battery operated and super quiet. It is a bit of inconvenience that the lawn mower battery only lasts an hour, but today that break was needed. Sam and Ollie make a good team. One mows while one trims with the weed eater. Andrew, the new neighbor from New York, was actually in town today and got to see the results of the boys’ work. He sent a text tonight saying what a great job they did. I don’t have to oversee Sam at all. He is a really good worker and wants to do a good job. Ollie still needs a little direction on trimming—knowing what to cut and what to keep. But he is a fast learner. Next time, I won’t need to oversee the work.

It is truly satisfying to see the boys earning money for doing a good job and taking pride in their work. Andrew sent their pay to my bank account via Zelle. This launched a discussion of bank accounts, a savings account versus a checking account, and the various ways to transfer money from one account to another—Zelle, Venmo, Paypal, Google Pay, and on and on. And that conversation led to more discussion of credit versus debit cards. The conversation in the car when I was taking the boys home was so interesting that I forgot to stop at the bank to withdraw more cash. I was $5.00 short of being able to pay Ollie fully for his work. I said that I would pay him tomorrow ‘with interest’ and that started a whole new learning conversation. What is interest? What is a fair interest rate? The whole afternoon was a great learning opportunity for Sam and Ollie, not to mention that three homes have beautifully manicured lawns.

2021 Life Logs, Day 159: New Bathroom Sink and Book Club
Date: Tuesday, June 8, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 77, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Turning the water off completely in my bathroom sink has gotten more and more impossible. Having arthritic wrists has not helped, but I had two different plumbers look at it and both agreed that there was no way to correct the problem other than replace both the sink and the faucet. Today was the day. How nice it is to be able to easily turn the water off and on. And no more worries about wasting water. I can’t count the number of mornings I have gotten up find the slow drip of water from that faucet.

The plumber was running late which caused me to be a little late arriving at my book club meeting. But once there, I launched into the discussion of this month’s book. That quickly led to a discussion all of the prickly issues we are facing as a country. The book was American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. Everyone in our group agreed that this book should be mandatory reading for all people in this country, especially in this time when we are facing the hard issues of immigration. The author personalizes the immigration issue by portraying a mother and her young child in Mexico who have to flee their home and run for their lives . . . to the US border. Although the subject is devastating, the book is beautifully written and I highly recommend it to all.

2021 Life Logs, Day 158: Gardening; Cleaning House and Shadow
Date: Monday, June 7, 2021
Weather: Sunny AM, Mixed Sun and Clouds PM; High 76, Low 61 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a workday, but I worked at a slow and easy pace. I planted the last of the tomatoes and spent time and money to keep a pesky chipmunk from eating my strawberries. Ollie pointed out to me yesterday that the netting I had over the strawberries would keep birds out, but not other pests. Then this morning, all of the ripe strawberries were gone. I saw a little chipmunk running across my front porch and I knew he was the culprit. I had to buy hardware cloth with half-inch squares and surrounded the strawberries with this—in addition to the chicken wire that was already there. Then I put the netting over the hardware cloth fence. I hope this does the job.

Tomorrow the plumber comes to put in a new bathroom sink, so I decided I needed to give the bathroom a deep cleaning. And while I was at it, I gave Shadow a bath. The woman who grooms Shadow every six to eight weeks gave me a tip that helped tremendously. In the past when I gave him a bath, I waited until he was totally dry before trying to brush out his coat. The tip was to do this while he was still damp. Much easier!

2021 Life Logs, Day 157: New Boat in the Family
Date: Sunday, June 6, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 86, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Heather and Jed bought an Optimist sailing dinghy and this afternoon Heather and Ollie tried it out. An Optimist is often called an ‘opti’. It is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy for children up to the age of 15. But since Ollie has never sailed anything but a kayak with a broomstick and tablecloth sail, Heather got in with him today to give him his first lesson. It was not a smooth maiden voyage, but they did finally sail. The tide was too low and there was not enough water to let the centerboard down. And without it, the boat just slid sideways. Then when they did get going, they hit hidden sandbars and rocks. Lots to learn and figure out, but hopefully Ollie will get the hang of it soon . . . during high tide.

I got a call mid-day from the other Judy Handley that lives in Falmouth during the summers. She returned to her condo today to find that she had received a big box. She opened it and it was a computer. But she didn’t order a computer. Then she looked at the address and found the box was addressed to a PO box in East Falmouth. She put two and two together and gave me a call. Indeed, my sister who is moving had sent her computer to me. It was supposed to be sent to Heather and Jed’s as Fed Ex and UPS do not deliver to PO boxes. And besides, the computer was for Sam, not me. Thankfully, Judy had met last fall and she had my number. How Fed Ex decided to deliver the box to her is a mystery as we live in two different parts of town. All we could figure is that because she conducts all her official business under the name of Judy Handley and I use Judith Handley, a box addressed to Judy went to her.

2021 Life Logs, Day 156: Saturday Threesome Plus a Little Covid Scare
Date: Saturday, June 5, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 64 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Sam got his second Pfizer Covid vaccine late yesterday and during the night he developed a very sore throat, a headache, coughs and sneezes, and the need to use a ton of tissues. Instead of playing Saturday soccer, he spent his day in bed and on the sofa. Heather tried and tried to reach his pediatrician with no luck, so when she took Jonah to the park for his mid-afternoon soccer game, she dropped him off and took Sam to get a rapid Covid test. I went to the game and three-quarters of the way through, I got a text saying, “Yay!!! Negative.” So evidently Sam has a cold that might have been ‘enhanced’ by vaccine side effects. Whatever, he has been hit hard. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him.

My Saturday threesome consisted of gardening, going to Jonah’s soccer game, and working on basement organization. Heather dropped by around noon with the van and we loaded up the things in the basement that came here during their move. I thought this would take a whole day, but it only took half an hour. So, I’ll take that extra day to do more clean-up and organization. I ran errands early this morning and then worked on gardening. By the end of the day, I got tomatoes, peppers, and basil planted. The tomatoes took the most time as I planted ten of the paste tomato plants that I grew from seed in an area that I just cleared. And I planted six regular tomato plants in containers that I had to fill with soil. And in the middle of this, I went to Jonah’s soccer game.

What fun it was to watch the soccer game this afternoon. It was the sixth and seventh grade boys against the sixth and seventh grade girls. Of course, I wanted Jonah’s team to win, but as the game progressed, I found myself cheering on girls at times. The boys dominated the ball for most of the game, but the girls did a fantastic job on defense. They had two good goalies that kept the boys from running away with the game and girls on the field that could definitely hold their own with the boys.
At one point Jonah was headed for what looked like a for sure goal, when out of nowhere came Faye who blocked his shot. Faye has a brother who has always played soccer with Sam. Faye’s block brought memories of she and Jonah playing for fun on the sidelines or in an unused adjacent field while Sam and Gus were playing a game. They were Ollie’s age or younger. The years really do fly by so quickly. But after Faye’s block today, Jonah did make a beautiful goal near the end of the game. He kicked the ball high to avoid the deft hands of the girls’ team goalie, and then the ball just arced right down into the net. That was impressive.

Jed and Ollie spent their day at a Cape and Islands Cub Scout affair called The Chuckwagon Derby. Ollie’s Pack won an award for teamwork and a third-place overall award. Not sure what all of the activities were, but I love the idea of winning the teamwork award.

Late last night I talked to my good friend Lynne Kirwin who is still in New Zealand. She was supposed to come home for the summer and fall of 2020, but due to Covid she could not. She will come back to visit family at some point, but as she pointed out, why would she leave a country where the leadership is competent and is allowed to make decisions to keep everyone safe. And everyone follows along with the decisions for the greater good of all. She said that following what is happening politically in this country is so depressing that she just has no desire to come back here except to visit family. I miss her, but I can’t blame her. Life is good in New Zealand, and I am just so happy for her.

2021 Life Logs, Day 155: Second Day Down Under
Date: Friday, June 4, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Mist; High 63, Low 57 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

At the end of my second day down under, the basement is coming along. I need to spend one more day moving some things out of the basement to Heather and Jed’s and another day getting the last bits off the shelf and away from the wall. But I did make a lot of progress today. I am exhausted even though I don’t feel like I did enough to warrant this level of ‘tired’. Just a reminder that I am no longer a spring chicken.

2021 Life Logs, Day 154: A Day Down Under
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 67, Low 60 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was my plan to write and then plant tomatoes today. Neither of those things happened. I got a call early this morning from Insulate2Save saying they will be coming on June 16 and 17 to insulate the cottage attic, walls, and basement. “And you are aware that you have to clear everything away from the basement shelf and at least three feet from the walls. Right?” Yes, I was aware of that, but I had been told the insulating would be done in the fall. Evidently, the cottage is a priority, for what reason I don’t know, but the state requires that the work be done by June 30. Okay. Time to get to work. When the call was over, I headed to basement, down under, and spent much of my day just standing and staring and becoming even more overwhelmed with how much ‘stuff’ has ended up there in a haphazard way.

The cottage has a full basement with a shelf-wall on all sides. The shelf is about three feet high and three feet deep. When I moved in, I figured that shelf was the perfect place for storing things. When it was totally lined with plastic storage boxes, I then lined the entire perimeter of the basement floor with more storage boxes at the base of the shelf walls. And over the last three years, the whole middle of the basement has filled up as well. I will get everything organized and in the middle of the basement in the next few days, but it will mean making that THE priority. I do have to get the tomatoes planted, but writing is going to be put on hold. I am so close to finishing up year one, but it is just going to have to wait. The down under calls.