2020 Life Logs, Day 338: Yardwork Day
Date: Friday, December 4, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Windy: High 56, Low 45 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

I finally made it outside today. I simply put Christmas to one side and made a little dent in the yard work project. Normally at this time of year, the landscapers would come to put Shirley’s yard ‘to bed’ for the winter and they would do some work in my yard as well. The landscaper was the guy who owned the house next to Shirley. But he sold that house in late summer and now I, along with the Goldpebbles, are doing all three lawns. But the Goldpebbles are doing school 5 days a week now and the weekends have been rainy or full of other activities. Andrew, who bought the house the landscaper used to own, was visiting this past weekend and appreciated that the Goldpebbles had cleared the leaves from his yard. He and his family will be moving in next spring, so we will do what is needed in the yard until they arrive. But today I focused on Shirley’s yard. I got all the leaves out of the yard and along the edges, I didn’t get to the landscaped areas that are mulched. There are tons of leaves that need to be raked out from under the plants and carried away. I really love doing yard work, so I am going to focus on one little area at a time. Hopefully before Christmas I’ll get the job done. And if the Goldpebbles have time to help, it will be done sooner.

Today was Shadow’s day to be groomed. Pampered Pets is up near the bridge, so it takes at least 20 minutes to get there. Shadow got up early and we went for a walk before I took him for his 9 am appointment. I then left him for a few hours and waited for them to text when it was time to pick him up. When I picked him up this afternoon, he was wearing the cutest little red and green necktie and I was given a Christmas present. I had to rush to pick Ollie up and I asked him to look in the bag and tell me what was in it. It was a clear Christmas ornament filled with some of Shadow’s hair inside and his name written in white on the ball. It was very sweet and Ollie suggested that since I have Shadow the Goldstones could have the ornament for their tree so they have a little bit of Shadow with them during the holidays. That is what we will do.

We have 100% chance of rain tomorrow, so I will focus on getting packages ready to send to Puerto Rico. Then on Sunday, I will go get a Christmas tree and decorate. Jed’s birthday is on Tuesday, so I have invited them over for dinner on Sunday evening so we can celebrate.

2020 Life Logs, Day 337: Still Caught in the Christmas Scramble
Date: Thursday, December 3, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny: High 49, Low 44 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Yet another beautiful day that I spent mostly inside, either doing online shopping or actually going out to shop. I got a text from Jo this morning saying that she heard the governor of Puerto Rico was going to ban all shopping for non-essential items which means no Christmas shopping. She was so sad for many of the children in Puerto Rico that would get no Christmas presents as their parents might not have the financial where withal to do online shopping. And she was hoping I could help her by buying stocking stuffers for Ziggy and Coco. She and Justin can order bigger things online, but that’s tricky for small stocking stuffers. My niece in Tennessee also contacted me this morning to help her with some online shopping. And I needed to complete my online orders for my gifts for JJZ&C in Puerto Rico. Right now things are being delivered on time, but I fear a rise in Covid cases could interrupt that. So, I put aside my outdoor activities for today and focused on shopping. It is going to take another entire day to sort things out. While I was in town shopping, I took a laundry load to Heather and Jed’s. While there, I asked Heather if there were things I could get for her while I was shopping. She made a quick list, so I was buying for all the grandkids at one time. Now I just need to get things sorted and delivered or put in the mail. I was working at the speed of light and will need to go back and make a list of the online orders. I couldn’t’ get everything on Amazon, so I have things coming from here and here. I did get a lot done . . . I’m just not sure what!

As I ended my shopping frenzy, I got another text from Jo saying she things she misunderstood the governor’s mandate. She thinks it only applies to Sunday. So what I didn’t get today, I don’t need to worry about. She can take over from here. At that same time, I got a text from the office of the governor of Massachusetts telling me that Covid cases on the rise in my town and that I need to protect my loved ones by avoiding groups. I read that to mean that I need to avoid shopping in stores, so I was glad that I had made the decision to do this today instead of waiting for a rainy day. The rainy days will come, but the Covid situation might require staying at home. I keep hearing people say they are so done with Covid, but it is obviously not done with us. It is time to become extremely vigilant.

2020 Life Logs, Day 336: Christmas Scramble Continues
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Weather: Dip in the Temperature; High 46, Low 34 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today was mostly cloudy and the temperature continues to dip. But tomorrow looks like it will be a bit warmer with no rain. Maybe I’ll get outside to do some of that yard work I have been wanting to do. Today, however, the Christmas scramble continued. This necessitated a trip off Cape. Since the reason for the trip is a Christmas secret, I’ll not say what I was doing. But I will say that friend Karen Baranowski and I masked up and drove together. When we returned to Falmouth, we got take-out from Le Bon Jour and ate lunch in the Taj Garage with doors open and the Mr. Heater going. I hope to spend the early hours tomorrow getting a package together to send to Puerto Rico before I head outside to do yardwork. That’s the plan. Stay tuned to find out what really happens.

Ollie’s favorite Christmas joke of the day: Who gives presents to baby sharks? Santa Jaws!

2020 Life Logs, Day 335: Christmas Scramble
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Weather: High 60, Low 40 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

The weather today went from warm this morning to much cooler this afternoon. But I didn’t spent much time outside today. I was on my computer most of the day ordering Christmas presents for Justin and family in Puerto Rico. I called it a Christmas scramble because what I thought I was getting for Ziggy totally changed over the weekend as well as what I thought I was getting for Justin and Jo. So, I really had to scramble today to get new ideas. I felt like one of Santa’s elves by the time I had to wrap things up and head out to pick Ollie up after school. On our way home, Ollie talked about some things that he is going to put on his Christmas list and when we got home, Jonah shared his Christmas list. So, Puerto Rico is almost done and tomorrow I start working on gifts for the Goldstones.

2020 Life Logs, Day 334:  Almost December
Date:  Monday, November 30, 2020
Weather:  Overcast to Stormy; High 59, Low 56 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

It’s almost December and time to get serious about the upcoming holidays . . . Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, and then Christmas.  I spent today doing some Christmas gift research and will continue that tomorrow.  I also finally got the apple pie filling canned that I have wanted to do for days.  I was looking forward to seeing the full moon tonight, but it is totally overcast and very stormy outside, so no view of the November full moon.

2020 Life Logs, Day 333: A Little Outdoor Time
Date: Sunday, November 29, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 52, Low 44 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

It was another beautiful day, but somehow I managed to not take full advantage. I enjoyed my day, but didn’t get the yard work done that needs to happen before we start getting winter weather And when I look at the weather for the next nine days, I see that rain is forecast for more than half of those days. So, I will have to plan the outdoor work carefully and take full advantage of dry days. I had hoped that the Goldpebbles were coming over this afternoon to do yard work, but that didn’t happen. Heather did come over with another van load of leaves. I am trying to fill in an area between the back yard and the woods and the leaves are doing that job for me. I washed my car, hung out a laundry, and cleaned out the shed where I store my bicycle. I’m a slow starter in the mornings and that is a real detriment right now as it gets dark so early in the afternoon. You have only four hours between noon and sundown. I use my mornings to walk Shadow and today I headed into town before noon to attend a weekly Black Lives Matter vigil. I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to pop a laundry load in, but I knew I would have to bring the wet clothes home and hang them out as Jed has disconnected the dryer to rerun the exhaust hose. They were getting a lot of moisture in the laundry area while drying clothes and when Jed investigated, he found that the exhaust hose to the dryer was not connected and all the lint had built up in the opening and was blocking any exhaust. By the time I picked up my laundry after the Black Lives Matter vigil, got home to hang up the laundry and eat lunch, there were only a couple of hours of daylight left. I did enjoy the time I had outside and have promised myself to be more focused on future sunny, dry days.

I got the most interesting photos from Justin this afternoon. The first one was of what I call a big banana spider, but it is also called a golden-orb weaver because of their beautiful webs. Justin had placed his hand behind the web to show that the spider with outstretched legs was as big as his hand. In the second photo, he had placed Coco at a distance behind the spider and its web that gave the illusion that the spider with outstretched legs was as big as her face. She added an appropriate look of fear to make for a very entertaining photo . . . unless you are an arachnophobe!

2020 Life Logs, Day 332: Beautiful Day
Date: Saturday, November 28, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 54, Low 37 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

It was a beautiful day, weather wise, and just in general. Andrew, the young man that bought the house next Shirley, texted that he and his daughter were visiting from New York City just for the morning. He said his 14 year-old daughter Lily that was coming with him would like to meet Shadow. So, I took Shadow down to the dock which is adjacent to Andrew’s back yard. We kept our distance, but still had a nice visit. Then he and Lily were off to explore Falmouth and then back to New York City before dark. I did some outside chores and then Heather texted that they were headed this way to work on the dock. Sometime in September, it developed a serious lean and Jed thought he could put in some cross beams that might help. It took a couple of hours. We couldn’t do everything needed as we didn’t have the enough long bolts. But it definitely looks better. There was a nice sunset as we wound up the work, they set off for Menauhant Beach to try and catch the full sunset. When they left, I came inside and decided to watch a film Heather and family had watched last night and highly recommended, “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.” All of us have watched David Attenborough’s films through the years, but Heather said this one was truly special. Attenborough recalls his incredibly life of visiting what were still the wild places on earth before wildlife diminished. He shares his realization that at some point he realized that things were going terribly wrong, but he ends by offering a vision for the future. It has been called the most important film of 2020 and I whole heartedly agree. He ends with this statement:
“We’ve come this far because we are the smartest creatures who have ever lived. But to continue we require more than intelligence. We require wisdom.”

Here are some of the statistics he presents to substantiate his story. I copy them here for you to contemplate.

World Population 1937: 2.3 Billion
World Population 1954: 2.7 Billion
World Population 1960: 3.0 Billion
World Population 1978: 4.3 Billion
World Population 1997: 5.9 Billion
World Population 2020: 7.8 Billion

Carbon in Atmosphere 1937: 280 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1954: 310 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1960: 315 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1978: 335 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1997: 360 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 2020: 415 parts per million

Remaining Wilderness 1937: 66%
Remaining Wilderness 1954: 64%
Remaining Wilderness 1960: 62%
Remaining Wilderness 1978: 55%
Remaining Wilderness 1997: 46%
Remaining Wilderness 2020: 35%

2020 Life Logs, Day 331: Thanksgiving Hangover
Date: Friday, November 27, 2020
Weather: Overcast; High 56, Low 41 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Can too much food give you a hangover? I think so. We feasted yesterday and gave thanks for so many things, but today I just couldn’t get going. I sat and thought about the many things that needed to be done, but none of them happened today. It was overcast outside, but warm enough to allow me to do many of the outdoor jobs on my list. They didn’t get done. Maybe tomorrow. I did get some planning for the upcoming holiday season. That includes Hanukkah, Christmas, and the celebration of the winter solstice. Tonight, I am watching the first two episodes of an MSNBC special on Obama. That will make this another late night, but I have to watch to give me the strength to continue believing that this too shall pass. The current attack on democracy, the current attack on people of color, the current attack on civility, the current attack on who we are as good people—these things must stop. Easier said than done. But I will watch tonight to give me the strength to move forward and then set the alarm for tomorrow morning and get up and get to work.

2020 Life Logs, Day 330: Thanksgiving Day
Date: Thursday, November 26, 2020
Weather: Rainy; High 59, Low 45 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

01 Kevin Carving His Turkey

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day we had at Heather and Jed’s today. Our ‘pandemic pod’ family gathered for the occasion. This includes Heather, Jed, and the boys, me, and the Simpkins family—Mike, Grace, and their two boys, Robert and Joey. At the beginning of the school year this pod was formed so that Sam and Robert can do their remote learning school days together. So far, all of us have managed to stay healthy and we were all so grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving Day together. We all contributed food and had a true feast. I’ll start with the appetizers. When we arrived, Heather and Jed had the homemade pomegranate juice and orange juice punch on the table, along with a clever ‘vegetable train’—carrots and celery in green peppers making the train cars with cucumber wheels. There was cheese and crackers, I added deviled eggs, and the Simpkins brought asparagus wrapped in cheese and prosciutto. We snacked while some watched a football game and some escaped to build a marble run. We feared that we wouldn’t be able to eat dinner after such yummy appetizers, but the five boys, three of them teenagers, assured us that nothing would stop us from stuffing ourselves with turkey. And they were right. Heather and Jed provided the turkey. Jed was in charge of cooking the turkey which was moist and delicious. Thanksgiving turkeys are usually dry and just not my favorite meat. But twice in my life, today and Thanksgiving at my sister’s in 2014 when she lived in North Carolina, stand out as memorable. My very good friends, Kevin and Claire, came to North Carolina for that Thanksgiving and they volunteered to be in charge of cooking the turkey using Kevin’s special process. They roasted the turkey early, which involved using a lot of butter and basting, and when it was done, they left the turkey in the roasting pan, wrapped the pan in layers of thick towels, and let it sit for three hours. Jed’s method today was the more traditional method of roasting, carving, and serving immediately. Evidently both methods can produce a delicious turkey! I made Mark’s traditional cranberry salad and my traditional stuffing. Heather made the gravy and roasted Brussels sprouts with a balsamic dressing. Grace and Mike brought mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans and corn, and their traditional stuffing with sausage. And then there were desserts—pumpkins pies, chocolate pudding pie, Jed’s apple cranberry pie, Mike’s pumpkin squares (totally decadent and delicious), and lots of whipped cream. Whew! Lots of food, wonderful conversation, and an after-dessert ‘in plain sight’ scavenger hunt. This is a Goldstone tradition and you cannot believe how it is to find things that are strategically place in plain sight. Jed placed the items and Heather was the first to find all the objects, following by Sam. It took the rest of us quite a bit longer, but eventually we were all successful.

When I first arrived this afternoon, we had a family Skype video call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. Near the beginning of the call, one of their goats wondered into the house and plopped herself right on Justin’s lap. We met Ziggy and Coco’s pet hamsters, and Jed and Justin counted up that they have twelve different kinds of animals at Finca Maravilla, with multiples of most. Heather, Ollie, Jonah, and Coco had a riddle battle, typing their riddle questions in the Chat box. “Why did Pilgrims have trouble keeping their pants from falling down? Because they wore their belt buckles on their hats.” Very silly, but a lots of fun. And then I had my traditional Thanksgiving call from Kevin and Claire. They are currently living in their motor home in Long Beach, California, and loving it. Long Beach is an industrial area and there are sometimes air quality problems, but the motor home park is ocean side and they often see dolphins on their morning walk. The weather is perfect, and they are close to Kevin’s mother, his sister’s family, and Claire’s sister’s family. I was so happy to hear that their new California life is good.

From our Thanksgiving table to yours . . . here’s hoping each of you had a special Thanksgiving Day.

2020 Life Logs, Day 329: Getting Ready for Thanksgiving
Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Weather: Overcast, Warmer, Misty Evening; High 55, Low 49 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Not a lot to report today. Just like you, I was scurrying around getting ready for Thanksgiving Day. I will spend the afternoon at Heather and Jed’s.