2020 Life Logs, Day 348: Interesting Day
Date: Monday, December 14, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Rainy: High 42, Low 29 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Wednesdays are supposed to be wacky, but this was a wacky Monday. Heather got up early this morning and there was no Google. There was no way she was going to be able to work without it, but she was most concerned because this was the day the Electoral College was going to certify the election meeting online. When I got up, we gave it a few minutes, and then I tried to send myself an email via Gmail. It worked, so she tried again and found that Google was back up and running. I said that Google needs to borrow the Dunkin’ Donuts slogan. American doesn’t really run on Dunkin’, it runs on Google.

Now for the next wacky thing. On Friday when Heather was working in Shirley’s house, I snuck over to do a laundry. I put the clothes in the washer, hit the button and heard the lid lock, and came back home. I assumed the washer had started. Later, we sent Jonah over to put the washer load in the dryer, and then I went over to get it out of the dryer. I folded things and found that some of my dish towels just hadn’t gotten clean. But everything else looked okay. Then this morning when I took Shadow out first thing, I unlocked Shirley’s house and turned the heat up so Heather could work over there again today. And I put in another load of laundry. I then took Ollie to school and Heather started her workday at Shirley’s. She was hoping it would be warmer today as she almost froze on Friday. She had to come back to the cottage to get a fleece jacket and a blanket to keep warm. But the house temp was going up a bit, so we just wrote it off as Heather being cold blooded.

Today, when I got back from taking Ollie to school, I went over to put the washer load I had put in earlier in the dryer. But the clothes were still dry. I started investigating and saw that the water was turned off. No wonder the dish towels didn’t look clean on Friday. They had not been washed! And evidently Jonah hadn’t noticed that the clothes had not been washed when he was sent to switch the load. So, I turned on the water and started that washer load again. I then went back to the cottage to gather as many things as I could remember that had supposedly been washed on Friday so that I could really wash them. When I went back to Shirley’s to take the additional laundry, Heather mentioned that the temperature in the house was not going up. The thermostat had been set at 60 all weekend and three hours after I had turned it up to 70, it was still 52 in the house. Obviously, the furnace was not working. Heather moved back to the cottage and we called the plumbing and heating guys to come take a look. They said they couldn’t come until tomorrow or the next day, but late in the afternoon a young many named Tyler arrived to check things out. I let him in and asked him to come see me when he was finished. But I saw his van leave, come again, leave again, and then another van came and two guys came to my door explaining that they were here to replace a valve in my furnace. I assured them I didn’t need a new valve of any sort, but that it was for the house across the driveway. I told them to come me see when they were done. They did, but they had taken the key I had left in the door lock and locked the inner door to the house. They gave me the key and said they locked the outer door to the entry way to which there is no key. There is a sign saying not to lock that door. But it was dark and they obviously didn’t see the sign. I won’t continue with this story as it just gets wackier. But Peter Baranowski, who is married to Shirley’s niece Karen, had to come and pick the lock so we could get into the house and check on the heat. It was still in the 50’s, but we’ll give it overnight before calling the plumbing and heating guys back. Thankfully we were using Shirley’s house in her absence or the non-functioning furnace might not have been discovered until it was too late the pipes were frozen. Tonight it is going to be 29 degrees and tomorrow night it is supposed to get 10 degrees colder. It would have to stay like that for a period of time before the pipes would freeze, but I’m glad we caught the problem now.

Even with all of the wackiness, I think we had a pretty good day. Sam should get his Covid test results tomorrow and if he is negative for Covid, I might lose my housemates. We have had a good time together, but I know all of the Goldstones are anxious to be together as a family again.

2020 Life Logs, Day 347: Hip Hop Nutcracker
Date: Sunday, December 13, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny and Warm: High 57, Low 33 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today was another warm day, but this looks to be the end of the unseasonably warm weather for now. Tomorrow the daytime high will be around 40 and then the following four to five days the daytime high will be in the 30’s. Brrrrrrr. Heather, Jonah, Ollie, and I took advantage of the warmth this morning to go for a long walk with Shadow. I then headed to town to do some grocery shopping. When I got home, I watched as Heather and the boys worked on a craft together and before we knew it, it was time to fix dinner. We had our now normal Zoom dinner with Jed and Sam and then we watched the Hip Hop Nutcracker. This is a show you have to pay for that is streamed on your computer and we then connected the computer to the television, so we could see it on the big screen. Hip Hop dancing replaced ballet and Tchaikovsky’s music was given a modern twist. The dancers were phenomenal, replacing spinning on your toes with spinning on your head. And the violin player was exceptional. I wasn’t sure I would like this, but I loved it. Thank you, Heather, for footing the bill for this show. It was a great way to end the weekend and get ready for another school week. I know all of the Goldstones are so anxious to be together as a family unit again, but I have truly enjoyed having Heather, Jonah, and Ollie here with me.

2020 Life Logs, Day 346: Cooking, Laundry, and Two Movies
Date: Saturday, December 12, 2020
Weather: Overcast, Misty, and Rainy: High 56, Low 50 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

It rained all day. The rain was light in the morning, heavier in the afternoon, and back to a little lighter in the evening . . . it was a completely wet day. Ollie and I made granola, I canned chicken broth and made my mainstay veggie soup, and we did laundry. I don’t have a washer or a dryer other than my bathtub and an outside clothesline, but since Shirley has offered to let Heather work next door in her house, today we ‘borrowed’ her laundry facilities.
In between all of cooking and laundry chores, we found time to get my Christmas tree decorated and we watched two movies. In the late afternoon we watched ‘Claus’. It is an animated Christmas comedy telling a version of how Santa came into being and we all really enjoyed it. Then tonight the boys talked us into watching another animated film, ‘Spies in Disguise’. It is a James Bond spoof starring Will Smith. In the beginning I thought it was going to be too violent for me. But the character of Walter saved the film. He is a techie nerd that finds non-violent ways of fighting the enemy. Again, we all really enjoyed it. With the combination of a rainy day plus the family separated and the boys all missing each other, a little entertainment was most welcome today.

2020 Life Logs, Day 345: Quarantine Life
Date: Friday, December 11, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny and Warmer: High 52, Low 43 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

We have made it through the first four days of our quarantine life. Sam and Jed seem to be enjoying their time together, but they miss being together with Heather, Jonah, and Ollie. And visa-versa. We are having a good time at my house, but, of course, Heather, Jonah, and Ollie would rather be at home. The good news is that Sam is not developing any symptoms. Tomorrow will be five full days since his primary Covid exposure and he will get a test. But even if the test is negative, he cannot return to school as the school system requires a test on day 8. But the family might feel comfortable enough to reunite. We’ll just wait and see how things go.

After school today Ollie did some leaf clean-up work in a neighbor’s yard to make a little money. He was working in Andrew’s yard, the new neighbor that will be moving here in the spring. I was outside with him, playing with Shadow and we got to watch a beautiful red sunset. I sent a text to Heather and Jonah and they came down to the water to see the sunset as well. These are the happy times of being together.

As a reward for making it through this week, Heather and I told the boys we could watch a Christmas movie tonight. They chose Home Alone 1 which neither Heather nor I were enthusiastic about, but we actually really enjoyed it. As we have each evening this week, we connected with Jed and Sam via Zoom during dinner and we stayed connected all evening. Jed and Sam watched the same movie at their house and we could talk to each other during the movie. This is quarantine life!

2020 Life Logs, Day 344: First Night of Hanukkah
Date: Thursday, December 10, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Melting Snow: High 45, Low 32 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

The sun was shining today in a clear blue sky, the snow was melting, and I was out and about all day. I volunteered to take Jonah to school for an 8:15 am start, came home to get Ollie and take him to school for a 9 am start, and then drove to Mashpee to meet friend Midge Frieswyk. We have been wanting to get together but weren’t sure how to do this safely. I suggested we meet at the Cape Cod Coffee Shop in Mashpee Commons that still has outdoor seating. They have seating on the sidewalk where there is no shade, so I suggested we meet there. I thought we might freeze to death, but it was actually quite comfortable. The morning temperature was still in the 30’s, but by bundling up and sitting in the sun while sipping on warm tea and coffee, we were fine. Then I was off to the grocery store and then to the post office in East Falmouth to get some. advice on sending the last of the Christmas packages. Bill, the postman who mans the window there, is always so helpful no matter how busy. Until the changes made this summer by the new Postmaster General, there were always two windows open, but now it is just one which makes for long waiting lines. But Bill just keeps steady and takes time with each customer to make sure he meets their needs. He was one of my heroes during the time after Hurricane Maria when I was sending so many things to Puerto Rico. I hate to see him working so hard, but I sure am glad he is there. It was well after noon when I left the Post Office, so I headed home to get some lunch, get the packages ready as Bill instructed, and then back out again to Shadow to play with Sam for a bit after school. Sam said he needed a therapy dog today, so Shadow volunteered. While Sam and Shadow played, I went to the nearest post office to mail the packages and then went back to pick up Jonah and Shadow. Jonah walked home after school and waited for me in the driveway. He and Sam kept a healthy distance from one another and kept their masks on, but they at least got to say hello. Jonah, Shadow, and I then picked Ollie up after school and I finally got home for the day around 3:30 pm.

We spent the late afternoon getting ready to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah. Since sundown was at 4:10, we waited until we were ready to eat dinner to light the first candle. The we feasted on the best latkes I have ever eaten. I prepared the potatoes and Heather did the frying. She used avocado oil and the resulting latkes were crisp and delicious. We were on Zoom with Sam and Jed who were also having latkes. All of us opened Hanukkah bags of goodies sent to us from Grammy Marti and then we ended the evening playing a card game called Marshmallow Test. Jonah and Ollie were quite entertaining, and we all spent much of the game time laughing uncontrollably. As Jonah would say, that was quite satisfying.

2020 Life Logs, Day 343: Trip to See the Aunties
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Weather: Cold Day, Skiff of Snow Tonight: High 36, Low 31 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today was a traveling day. Shirley and Doris are sisters and they are aunts of Karen Baranowski. I rent the cottage from Shirley, so today Peter, Karen, and I drove north to Scituate to visit with the aunties. Shirley is 95 and Doris is 102 and they live in Doris’ home in Scituate part of the year and in Shirley’s home across the driveway from me the other half of the year. I had a Christmas greenery decoration to take to them, and Karen and I decided to take food for a nice holiday luncheon together. Covid-wise, it was probably not the safest thing to do, but we wore masks and stayed far apart. Thankfully Doris’ dining table is huge, so even at the table we were far apart. We had a wonderful visit and a delicious lunch. Karen cooked a pork tenderloin with potatoes, and I added applesauce, Brussels sprout slaw, and an apple pie made with the apple pie filling I canned recently. This was a first taste test of the filling and it passed with flying colors. The pie was really delicious. And it looked good, too. This morning when I was preparing the pie, I asked if anyone knew how to make a lattice pie topping. Ollie said he knew and I asked why it was only the youngest person at breakfast this morning who knew how to do this. He explained that Jed had taught him how to do this at Thanksgiving. He explained the process to Jonah and together they made the lattice pie topper. Ollie added an egg wash and it really turned out beautifully.

Our new temporary living situation went smoothly, I think, for day one. We are all learning new routines here at the cottage and Sam and Jed seem to be doing fine as well. The important thing is that everyone is still healthy. Let’s hope we can all stay that way.

2020 Life Logs, Day 342: First Snow on Jed’s Birthday
Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Weather: Snow: High 33, Low 25 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

What a surprise Shadow and I got this morning when we walked into the living room and looked out the window. It snowed last night! And it was still snowing. So we headed outside and played for over an hour. Shadow loved the little bit of snow we got last winter and he still loves it. He romped, shoveled snow with his nose, and ate snow. He was a happy puppy. When we came in and I checked my phone, I saw that Heather and Jed had made a decision on how to quarantine. Since Sam’s Covid exposure was yesterday, we safely had until the end of the day today to get things arranged as it takes longer than 24 hours for someone to become contagious. Jonah and Ollie are going to continue going to school for now and are staying at my house. Heather is staying here with them. Jed is staying at home with Sam and after school today was our last time all together. We were super cautious and wore masks. Today was an early release day, so I picked up Ollie at 12:30 and we then went to Grasmere to pick up Jonah. Heather came along at the end of the workday.
But as Ollie, Jonah, and I were getting in the car, Sam came out to wave goodbye to us. He looked so lonely standing in the snow. Hopefully this is only for 11 days, but I know he will miss his brothers and they will miss him.

Jonah and Ollie played outside in the snow with Shadow when we got home and a little later we made our first Christmas cookies. Heather arrived while we were doing that and she got her things put in the bedroom she and Jonah will share. Actually, tonight all three of them are sleeping in that room. After she got settled, I headed into town to pick up sushi for Jed’s birthday dinner. Heather made two orders, one for Sam and Jed, and one for the rest of us. I delivered Sam and Jed’s sushi, picked up Ollie’s violin and Jonah’s trombone, wished Jed a happy birthday, and rushed home for our 6 pm Zoom dinner. Jed’s mother, Marti, joined us from her home in Washington, DC, and Jed’s brother Tobey joined us from Portland where he was driving in rush hour traffic. It was fun, but not the birthday I know Jed would have preferred. I suspect we will meet on Zoom for dinner on most evenings during this quarantine. Happy Birthday to Jed. Jonah made a card for him that said simply “7 x 7”. The boys told him this was his ‘not quite old’ birthday. Next year is the big one.

2020 Life Logs, Day 341: Life in the Time of Covid
Date: Monday, December 7, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cold: High 35, Low 29 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Just last night I was with the Goldstones ushering in the holiday season. We were all so healthy and so happy to be together. Tonight, we are all still healthy, but there has been a ‘breach in the wall’ and everything has changed. Just like that. Sam’s principal called tonight to tell them that Sam and everyone in his class had a primary exposure today to someone who has tested positive for Covid. That means that any of the students exposed, plus their siblings and parents, must be in quarantine for the next 8 days when the students exposed can be tested (the schools require 8 days, not 5, after exposure before testing) and then the additional 2-3 days until the test results are returned. Or without testing, they all have to be quarantined for 14 days. So, what to do? Do all of the Goldstones stay together and all quarantine together and all take the risk of getting Covid? Or do they split up between my house and their house so that Jonah and Ollie can continue to go to school? In that case, one parent and Sam would stay at one house and one parent, Jonah. Ollie, Shadow, and I would stay at the other house. That is probably the safest option for all, but making the decision so quickly is so hard. Heather and Jed will decide tonight and we’ll take it from there in the morning. One way or another, if Sam does not get Covid, we can all be back together by Monday the 21st for solstice and then Christmas. In that case, we will definitely have a special celebration this year! Other things happened today, but whatever those things were pale in comparison to a Covid exposure that instantly changes the lives of so many. But there was one bright spot. I learned today that my friends Linda and Mike Stuart became first time grandparents. Welcome to Grant William Stuart. He arrived a little early and I will talk to Linda on Wednesday night to learn the details.

2020 Life Logs, Day 340: Ushering in the Holiday Season
Date: Sunday, December 6, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Cold: High 39, Low 28 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today the Goldstones and I ushered in the holiday season. This weekend would normally be the official Falmouth By the Sea weekend when Santa arrives in the harbor, the lights on the Green are officially lit, and the annual Falmouth Christmas Parade marches down Main Street. This year none of those things could happen because of Covid but scaled down versions of those things were video-taped and shown on community television today at noon.
Heather was volunteering this morning at the Christmas tree sale to raise money for the school PTO and other non-profits. When I arrived to get my tree, I saw an elf working in the lot. On closer examination, I saw that the elf was my daughter. The elf helped me pick out a tree and then Jed and boys arrived to get their tree. Sam and Jonah had to go to do a service project, so Ollie stayed with Heather. When I went back to pick him up, he had convinced Heather to buy a second tree. He wanted a tree for the basement, but it ended up in the all purpose room. Ollie put the tree in my car and we headed to my house where he helped me get my tree up. At noon we had an impromptu gathering of the whole crew at my house where we watched the parade and had lunch. Then tonight we had dinner at Heather and Jed’s and I got see the their two trees up and decorated. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco put their tree up last weekend. Mine is up but not yet decorated. Once it is, I’ll post photos of all.
Jed’s birthday is on Tuesday and at dinner tonight he received an early birthday present from Heather and the boys—a big gnome that they hope will be the first installment in a collection of gnomes in future years. Jed and his gnome were at end of the table and a stuffed Santa that I bought for Heather and Justin in 1985 sat at the other end. Hard to believe that Santa has survived 35 years, but then a Santa is forever.

2020 Life Logs, Day 339: Wind and Rain
Date: Saturday, December 5, 2020
Weather: Rain and Wind: High 50, Low 31 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

The forecast was for 100 per cent rain today with up to 30 mile per hour winds. And the forecast was right. It was a blustery day with the winds building in the afternoon. The temps were mostly in the high 40’s, but according to Weather Underground, it felt more like 40 with the wind chill factored in. All in all, it was a miserable weather day outside. But the perfect day to finalize Christmas gifts and get packages ready to send on Monday. So that is how I spent my day. I’m afraid I didn’t get everything done, but I did make progress. There’s always tomorrow.