2021 Life Logs, Day 133: Live Long, Die Short
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 66, Low, 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Hurray! Hurray! Sam, my 14 year-old grandson, got his first Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine today. It was just approved for kids in the 12-15 year-old group this week and it is already in arms. Fantastic.

Jed took Sam to rowing today as the vaccine appointment was just prior to practice. That gave me extra time to enjoy this beautiful spring day with lots of sunshine and a little less wind. As I was playing ball with Shadow in Shirley’s side and front yard, I took time to smell the roses. Well, not roses, but all of the beautiful blossoms in that yard that Shadow and I play in every afternoon. I have a table and two chairs down by the dock, but this afternoon I didn’t sit down. I just walked the perimeter of the yard taking photos of the blossoms. My very favorite today was the apple blossoms on a very old apple tree. Just beautiful. And I took the time to give thanks for living in such a beautiful setting.

After playing ball, I launched into putting together a garden bench that I bought earlier in the afternoon. I saw online that Job Lot had a teak 4-foot long garden bench with a back and I took off immediately to buy one. I love it, but what a pain to assemble. I need to tighten the bolts tomorrow morning and then it will be ready to sit on and admire my raised garden beds as they grow.

Just as I started on assembling the bench, Justin called. He was on his way to Home Depot to buy items to get Finca Maravilla ready for storm season. Already? That is two and half months away, but since they will be heading to England the middle of June and not returning until the middle of July, they need to get ready now. It was great to talk with him, but he asked me a question that haunts me. Why do we live in a country where truth is no longer revered. My father taught me that the worst thing in the world a person can do, other than kill another person, is to lie. I am sure I tried to teach my children the same thing. So now my adult ‘child’ wants to know why we would rely on Facebook, or any company, to control a politician’s lies. Should not that be done by the government? Should there not be a law that protects our democracy by saying that any politician that is found to lie repeatedly is removed from office? Food for thought.

My morning was spent attending the last meeting of the year for Falmouth Newcomers. Attending in this case meant tuning into a Zoom presentation. The title of presentation was Authentic Health and Successful Aging and the description sounded interesting. “Dr. Roger Landry is a preventive medicine physician, author of award-winning Live Long, Die Short: A Guide to Authentic Health and Successful Aging, contributing author to ‘80 Things to Do When You Turn 80’, and President of Masterpiece Living, a group of multi-discipline specialists in the field of aging who partner with organizations to assist them in becoming destinations for continued growth and Centers for Successful Aging.” Dr. Landry was in Colorado today, but he and his wife life in East Falmouth. In today’s presentation, he focused on 10 things that will extend your life and keep you healthy as you age. His top 10 items were:

1. Use It or Lose It
2. Keep Moving
3. Challenge Your Brain
4. Stay Connected
5. Lower Your Risk (which includes your diet)
6. Never Act Your Age
7. Wherever You Are, Be There
8. Find Your Purpose
9. Have Kids in Your Life
10. Laugh

Dr. Landry’s information meshes with that of my health gurus, but it is always great to have what you know validated . . . and to be reminded. I was so glad that I tuned in as I had just decided to skip a couple of upcoming Newcomers’ socials. When Dr. Landry talked about staying connected, I went back to the Newcomers website and signed up. It is time to come out of my Covid bubble.

Okay. I just felt a strange ‘something’ at the base of my hairline on the back of my neck. I instinctively ‘attacked’ and came out with a tick and part of my scalp. Yikes! Ticks are around all year long, but last spring I had a few sightings, and that has evidently begun again. I hate ticks!

2021 Life Logs, Day 132: Gardening Day
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 64, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Gardening today mostly consisted of transplanting San Marzano tomato seedlings from their seedling cells to larger containers. The seed starting system I use is self-watering which is great. But as the seedlings start to mature, I have discovered that the soil is actually too wet. I need to work on the system, but today I decided to take the first flat of 24 seedlings and place each of them in a yogurt container filled with compost. I am hoping the seedlings that were starting to turn yellow will bounce back. It is really too early to plant the tomato seedlings outside, but I planted four outside as an experiment. On Cape Cod, I have gone by the rule that tomatoes and beans should not be planted outside until Memorial Day. But I planted the experimental tomato plants today and will plant bean seeds tomorrow and see what happens.

I had intended to stop working early enough to visit with Karen Baranowski for a bit before picking Ollie up at the end of the school day. But I totally lost track of time and got to Karen’s with just enough time to get a tour of the ornamental plantings she and Peter have been doing for the past couple of days. They have put in some really interesting plants and bushes. I will have to return to get a second tutorial as I can’t remember the names of the most interesting things. But I was most impressed that evidently Lupin is not a plant rabbits like to eat as there was rabbit basking in the sun next to two flowering Lupins. Good to know.

2021 Life Logs, Day 131: Book Club Day
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 61, Low, 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was Book Club day. We met in person for the first time since last fall when we met outside. It was delightful to see everyone in person. And it was made even more enjoyable by meeting on the back deck of one of the members overlooking her landscaped gardens. All of us were very jealous of the beautiful landscaping. My favorite thing, however, was a planter on the deck with young firecracker plants. Evidently hummingbirds love this. It is not a native plant, so best to keep it in a container. It is also called cupea or ‘honeybells’ and is long blooming, heat loving annual that is fun for hummingbirds. The Latin name is Russelia equisetiformis. I am going to look for this locally for Heather. She keeps hummingbird feeders on the deck, so her hummingbirds should have this plant to ‘play’ in.

We were enjoying being together in person so much that the Book Club went overtime and before I knew it, it was time to pick Ollie up from school and then take Sam to Hyannis for rowing practice. I got home from that around 7:30 pm, took Shadow for a walk, fixed and ate dinner, and am now writing this log. A day in the life.

2021 Life Logs, Day 130: A Little Gardening
Date: Monday, May 10, 2021
Weather: Rain Overnight, Mostly Sunny; High 59, Low, 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Gardening was on the agenda for today and I got a few things done. But I started the day finishing my monthly Book Club book as we meet tomorrow. I spent the first couple of weeks after the last Book Club meeting continuing to read Obama’s latest book, ‘A Promised Land’. I got so into it that I just couldn’t put it down. But when I got halfway through the last chapter, I realized I had to put it aside and start reading ‘Code Name Hélène’ by Ariel Lawhorn for my next Book Club meeting. I started reading too late and wasn’t going to finish the book by tomorrow without setting aside most of this morning to finish it. So, I did. This is another World War II book, based on the true story of a young woman named Nancy Wake. In real life, she was from New Zealand and moved to France for adventure. She became a journalist and during the war she joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive. She becomes a major force leading the Maquis, the rural guerrilla bands of French Resistance fighters called maquisards, during the Nazi occupation of France. Her story is well worth reading. What a woman!

2021 Life Logs, Day 129: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 9, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny and Windy; High 59, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Happy Mother’s Day! Early in the day I got a Mother’s Day message from Jo and shortly after, Justin called. We did a Skype video call so I could see Ziggy and Coco and then they headed out for beach with their paddleboard. A little later I got some photos and a great video of Justin on the paddleboard with their puppy, Lenny, and the kids in the water. I wrote back to Jo to tell her that the sunshine and sound of the ocean waves in the video was a great gift. It looked so warm and wonderful. I only have to drive two miles to hear the ocean waves, but the warmth is not here yet.

My wish for Mother’s Day was that Heather and gang would come over to help me with some outside work and my wish came true. Jed cleaned the gutters and trimmed some tree branches that were way too close to the house. The boys helped me drive fence stakes in the ground to support raspberry vines, carried heavy bags of compost to designated areas, helped me get summer items out of the basement and into the yard, and a host of other small jobs that needed their help. Heather organized the garden seeds and also helped with getting items out of the basement. It was a very productive work session. Thank you, Goldstones!

2021 Life Logs, Day 128: Back and Forth x 5
Date: Saturday, May 8, 2021
Weather: Cloudy, Windy, Felt Cold; High 53, Low, 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today’s temperature was only five degrees cooler than yesterday, but with no sunshine and lots of wind, it felt chilly. It was a Goldpebble soccer day, but Ollie did not play. The thought of what could happen if he were hit by a fast-moving soccer ball on his upper left arm where the PICC line is inserted is just too scary, so Heather and Jed decided against soccer. But we all met up at Jonah’s game. During the first half, Jonah’s team didn’t score, but in the second half, Jonah was on fire and scored five or six goals and assisted in the only other goal. After the game Jed took him back to Scout camp and Ollie decided to go home with me. We barely got home when I got a call from Jed asking if I could go pick Sam up early from Scout camp to take him to his game as he had to go home to get his uniform that he did not take with him to the camp out. Jed thought he had everything with him, but Sam had assumed he would be going home to get dressed. Jed had another meeting, so I went to get Sam, took him home to get dressed for the game, dropped him at the soccer field, and drove home where I had left Ollie. We hadn’t had time to eat lunch, so we did that and went back to town to see part of Sam’s game. Sam plays defense, so he made no goals, but he played a good game.

The back and forth continued. After watching a quarter of Sam’s game, we headed back to my house to do the work we had started earlier. When I took Ollie home in time for his infusion, I returned home and thought I was there for the evening. Then Heather sent a text inviting me to an impromptu lobster linguine dinner. Jed was gone for the evening, taking Jonah most of the way to Boston for his second soccer game of the day. Jed is allergic to lobster, so while he was away, Heather and Ollie decided to splurge. I really didn’t want to drive into town again, but how could I refuse a free lobster dinner? I couldn’t! Thank you, Heather and Ollie.

I’m not sure any of us know what we are doing for Mother’s Day tomorrow, if anything. Jonah and Sam get home around noon from their Scout camp-out. They will be exhausted and will definitely need showers. We will just let the day develop after that. After running up and down the highway yesterday and running in and out of town all day today, sitting still sounds like the perfect Mother’s Day for me.

2021 Life Logs, Day 127: A Lot of Running Around
Date: Friday, May 7, 2021
Weather: Sunshine; High 58, Low, 43 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I feel like I have been running in circles all. Actually, it wasn’t in circles, but it was up and down the highway—just a lot of running around. Shadow had his once every six-week appointment with the groomer this morning. The groomer’s location is all the up Route 28 to the Bourne Bridge. When I dropped off Shadow and started to drive home, I stopped. As long as I was that far north, why not do a couple of shopping ‘jobs’ on my to do list? So, I switched direction and headed on across the bridge, did the shopping, and got back home three hours later. Exactly eight minutes after I got home, I got a text saying Shadow was ready for pick-up. It was three hours earlier than usual, so I got back in the car and went to pick him up. That took almost another hour. I came home, had lunch, and then it was time to pick up Ollie. We pick up Dunkin’ Donuts for everyone on Fridays, so we took those to 43 Grasmere, but then Ollie decided he would go back home with me for an hour to earn some money. So, we drove back to my house where he mowed Shirley’s side yard for me. The landscapers should be coming soon, but the grass in the side yard was so high that I wanted it cut. I played ball with Shadow in Shirley’s backyard by the water while Ollie cut the grass in the side yard where we usually play. Ollie is a good little worker and never takes a break until the job is done. But at one point, I threw a tennis ball too far and I needed Ollie to go down on a neighbor’s dock to get it. I could get down on their lower dock, but I was not sure I could get back up! After cutting the grass and putting lawn mower away, we had a little time for him to help me open and distribute a couple of bags of compost in one of my raised beds. I needed to get him home by 5 pm so he could have his daily antibiotic infusion, so we were in the car and back down the road again.

Tomorrow is another ‘Soccer Saturday’. Jonah and Sam are camping with Scouts this weekend at Tony Andrew’s Farm in East Falmouth. So, Soccer Saturday will require Heather and Jed to pick up one boy and then the other for their games at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm. Then Jonah has a second game off-Cape tomorrow night. Tomorrow is going to be Heather and Jed’s turn to do a lot of running around.

2021 Life Logs, Day 126: Saying Farewell to Windbird . . . Again
Date: Thursday, May 6, 2021
Weather: Sunshine; High 65, Low, 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Sam and Dawn Weigel, the current owners of Windbird, purchased her from Mark and I in the summer of 2016. They were both in their mid-30’s and have spent the last five years living aboard a sailboat that I love with my whole being. They originally thought they would live aboard and sail her for three years, but that extended to five years. Sam is a pilot for Delta. Daddy D, as Sam sometimes refers to his employer, was kind to him and allowed him to fly June through October and sail from November through May for the past five years. I have known since January that they were putting her up for sale and moving on to a new chapter in their lives, but it was an Instagram post today that made it real. They left Miami three days ago headed to Lighthouse Marina in Little River (North Myrtle Beach). That is where Mark and I left her in February of 2016 and where they bought her five months later in July. Today’s Instagram post said, “What a passage! An incipient cold front forced us into Winyah Bay 55nm short of Little River, but we sailed 460nm offshore in only 57 hours, averaging over 8 knots (and sailing almost all of that) thanks to a free lift from the Gulf Stream and uniformly pleasant south wind. Dawn’s cousin Katana came with and had an excellent first sail, no seasickness and lots of dolphins. It was a nice way to say goodbye to Windbird; last night on our way into Winyah Bay we passed 12,000nm on her. She’s been a great boat for us, and I’ll miss her a lot. It’s time for the next chapter of our lives, though; can’t wait to see what the next adventure brings.”

When Sam and Dawn reach Little River, they will pack up their things and head west to Washington state. They bought a parcel of land on an air strip on an island off Seattle. Before Windbird, they owned a Piper Cub and once they build their new home, they plan to buy a new one. They have been wonderful owners of Windbird and she is a better boat for it. I have enjoyed sailing aboard Windbird with them . . . three weeks in the Bahamas in 2017 and in 2018, I joined them in the Dominican Republic and sailed the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico. I wish them the best and hope that John, the same broker and friend we used, will find new owners for Windbird that deserve her! She is a special sailboat who taught me so, so much. Thank you, Windbird. You deserve only the best.

Today was a beautiful day. I spent part of it outside and part of it inside. The morning started with the arrival of the plumber to install a new faucet in the kitchen sink. The old one had all kinds of issues and the new one is wonderful. Slowly, slowly I am getting the raised garden beds ready to plant. I hope to continue that project tomorrow.

2021 Life Logs, Day 125: Coffee and Cleaning on Cinco de Mayo
Date: Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Some Rain; High 51, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

What is Cinco de Mayo other than the fifth day of May? When I asked myself that question, I had no answer. So, I looked it up. Cinco de Mayo is a festive day commemorating the Mexican army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Some say this battle gave the Mexican’s the incentive to eventually drive out the French. And some say that this could have changed the course of American history as the French would have supported the Confederacy in the Civil War. For whatever reason, it is more widely celebrated in the US than in Mexico. Who knew? Not me.

My Cinco de Mayo began with a coffee date with a friend. If, and when, I drink coffee, which is not often, I drink decaf with cream. That is what I had this morning when my friend Midge had tea. So, it seems unfair to coffee to call this a coffee date. I’ll have to come up with some other name.

When I returned home it was noon. I had lunch and then launched into a kitchen cleaning frenzy. The plumber comes tomorrow to replace the kitchen faucet. Since I moved into the cottage, the kitchen faucet has had a pinhole on the front tip of the faucet. I have continually applied Super Glue and have been successful in keeping it from spraying in the face most of the time. In addition, the faucet leaks around the base which keeps the plywood under the sink damp all the time. So, it is time to have the faucet replaced. And that gave me the incentive to clean the whole kitchen.

My next cleaning project is to reorganize the basement. The natural gas company’s energy assessment team comes on May 21. When they give the go-ahead, a whole list of energy saving projects will be done. One of those is insulating the basement walls above the half shelf (I’m not sure that is the correct term). The cottage basement has a three-foot deep and about three-foot high shelf all around and the concrete block wall above that needs to be insulated. In order to do that, I was told on during an earlier assessment that everything I have stored on the top of the wall has to be relocated. My goal for Mother’s Day is to get that done. Then hopefully I can get back to writing.

2021 Life Logs, Day 124: Dog Training Dilemma
Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Weather: Rain Early, Overcast; High 52, Low, 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Shadow and I spent our morning with a dog trainer named Ian. It was supposed to be a short assessment session, but I had so many questions that our session lasted more than an hour and half. Before Shadow was six months old, I entered a training program with a local trainer. The name of the training was “People Training for Good Dogs” and I flunked the course. Shadow’s determination to be the leader of the pack continued, but it has gotten to a point where I have to do something to stop his running and jumping on people. I have used a choke collar to do corrections and it just doesn’t work with Shadow. Despite his behaviors, I love the little critter. I really don’t know what I would do without him. So, I have to do something. In today’s assessment I was told that I need to go back putting Shadow in a crate overnight, anytime I am away from the house, and when he does not do as he is told when other people are around. Putting him in the crate is not because he misbehaves but because being free in these situations adds to his feeling of being ‘top dog’. I hate putting him in a crate and am just not sure I can do it. That, plus the fact that the training is even more expensive than the “People Training” course, is making me reluctant to commit. Shadow is a very smart dog and a wonderful companion . . . as long as I am the only person around. Add anyone else, especially the grandchildren, and I just can’t control his exuberance. I’ll probably give in and ‘break out another thousand’ for the training. But if I do, I have to make sure I am willing to follow the rules. I’ve kept a kennel of fourteen sled dogs and raced them, had a wonderful Collie for twelve years, and then had a very spoiled Cocker Spaniel for fifteen years who could probably have used some training. There were issues, but I never felt like I was being held hostage by my dog as I do now. What to do?

It was an Early Release Day in Falmouth schools today, so I spent my afternoon with Ollie and Jonah. Then, as I do now on Tuesdays, I took Sam to drum lessons at 3:30 pm and then on to Hyannis for rowing practice. We don’t get back from that until about 7:15 pm when I drop him off for his Scout meeting. I then stopped by Heather and Jed’s to hear Ollie play a new Suzuki violin piece, Gavotte. It is the last piece in the Suzuki Violin Book 1 and a plucky tune that was always one of my favorites. Heather told Ollie about my crazy dancing to this tune when she played it as a little girl. I tried to revive those dance steps tonight, which included a bit of ballet, but I fear my days of ballet are over! But Heather remembered the steps and was quite good at it.