2020 Life Logs, Day 278: Appointments and Visits
Date: Monday, October 5, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny; A Little Rain; High 64, Low 49 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today started by taking the car in for an oil change and tire rotation. Then in the afternoon, I had a dental appointment to get my teeth cleaned. I missed my appointment in March and two subsequent appointments due to Covid, so this was a long overdue cleaning. Tomorrow I have a chiropractor appointment and an appointment with my knee surgeon’s assistant. So, this feels like the week of appointments. Wednesday I drive to Scituate to visit the aunties who alternate living next door and closer to Boston in Scituate. The auntie’s niece and my friend, Karen Baranowski, will drive up and take lunch. Yesterday was Doris’ 102nd birthday, so we will have a little celebration.

Tonight I am thinking of my niece Lynn who was moved to a hospice house last week. In fact, I think of her all day, every day. Because of Covid, I am not allowed to visit, but my other niece Candi and my sister-in-law Sue keep me updated every morning and evening. The hospice nurses think Lynn has only a few days to live, so I expect to go visit with the family later in the week. Plenty to keep me busy this week.

2020 Life Logs, Day 277: Great Progress at 43 Grasmere
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 65, Low 53 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Great progress was made at 43 Grasmere this weekend, culminating in Ollie and Jonah getting to move into their bedroom tonight. When the Goldstones moved into their new home in April, the carpeting was stripped from the two upstairs bedrooms and it has been a constant project to get walls removed. walls painted, and wood flooring laid. They got a little help with the removal of walls in Jonah and Ollie’s bedroom and painting in that room, but otherwise, Heather and Jed have done all the rest of the work themselves–painting walls and trim and laying wood flooring themselves. This weekend they made a huge push to get Ollie and Jonah moved out of the bonus room over the garage and into their new bedroom. Jed finished off the flooring before the weekend, but they had to get the trim in, assemble the new beds and desks, and remove a ceiling fan. By dinner time tonight, the move was mostly complete. The bonus room was turned into an office and quiet space and furniture was moved into Ollie and Jonah’s room. They still need to work on lighting and a few small details in the new bedroom, but it looks great.
I got a few photos tonight, but will have to get better photos of the completed project during the day. I am just so happy that so much progress was made and that now all three boys have completed bedrooms that they love and that the bonus room can now be used as a school space for Sam and his friend Robert, and a quiet get away for everyone else in the family who needs a change of scenery from their school and office spaces in other parts of the house. Redesigning a home to accommodate working and schooling at home is quite a challenge during these cornonavirus days, but I think the Goldstones have nailed it.

I talked to my good friends Kevin and Claire tonight. Mark and I met Kevin and Claire when we were both living aboard our sailboats in Boston in 2003. Mark and I were living aboard Windbird and Kevin and Claire were living aboard Merganser. Even though Kevin and Claire are in the same age bracket as our children, we became friends for life. More recently, they have been living aboard Merganser in Philadelphia while Kevin worked from home and Claire was managing a research project at Princeton in New Jersey. In mid-September, they sold Merganser and are moving their land yacht, a motor home, to the Los Angeles area where they will continue their work remotely. They called today because they have finally left Pennsylvania and are headed cross country. They are in Ohio tonight and will be heading to Bloomington, Indiana, tomorrow, and have promised to keep me updated on their travels. Their destination is the Golden Shore RV Park in Long Beach, California. Kevin’s mother, his sister and her family, and Claire’s only sibling, a sister and her family all live in the LA area. So, they are very excited to get there to be closer to family. Here’s hoping they have a wonderful trip across this country and reach their destination safely.

2020 Life Logs, Day 276: Pamper the Puppy Day
Date: Saturday, October 3, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 66, Low 47 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

This was not a national ‘pamper the puppy’ day—simply a day when I had the time to pamper my puppy. Shadow had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago, but he is definitely still a puppy. Today I had the time to walk with him, play catch multiple times, give him a bath, sit in the sun with him while he was drying out, and then sit and read while holding him. That was just about it for my day. I did have a great phone call with Helaine Kanegsberg tonight and I finished my Louise Penny novel. Nothing more productive to announce, but it was a great day.

2020 Life Logs, Day 275: Free Friday
Date: Friday, October 2, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy & Cooler; High 68, Low 49 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

I basically took the day off . . . phone conversations, sneaking time to read my current book, two walks with Shadow plus time to play catch, and finally getting a little house cleaning done. Early this morning, I talked with my niece in North Carolina that has recently been diagnosed with kidney cancer and will be having her left kidney removed mid-month. She has her ups and downs accepting this, but when talking with her this morning, she seemed to have a really positive attitude. It is difficult for me to watch two of my nieces battling cancer at the same time. My heart and positive thoughts are with them both. After talking with my niece, I went for an extra long walk with Shadow and then returned home to listen to the construction noise of putting in a new septic system one house away. They have been working on this all week, but today they were finally starting to bury the new system and this required some very loud banging for hours. Shadow usually barks at every noise, but somehow the loud banging only bothered him when we walked too close to the construction site. After I ate lunch, I launched into a cleaning frenzy, sweeping and mopping the floors. Once that was done, I decided to take the rest of the afternoon off and read my current novel. I have read the October and November book club assignments, so I am currently reading the 16th book in Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache series just because I love the series. “Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec digs beneath the idyllic surface of village life in Three Pines, finding long buried secrets—and facing a few of his own ghosts.” The name of this newest book is ‘All the Devils Are Here’ and it has me totally sucked in. The other 15 novels in this series take place in Quebec, mostly centered around the little village of Three Pines. The author lives in a small village south of Montréal, the location of the fictitious town of Three Pines featured in this series of mystery novels. However, this latest novel takes place in Paris. It is fun to learn a little about Paris while enjoying the mystery. Then tonight I caught up on the news of the hospitalization of our President. I got a text from Heather early this morning saying that it was announced during the night that the President and First Lady have both tested positive for Covid. If you read this log, you probably are aware that I am not a fan of this President, but I would not wish Covid on anyone. I sincerely hope both he and the First Lady get through this without complications. But it is my hope that the White House might start following the same Covid “rules” that are recommended for the rest of us to live by. And by doing so, encourage everyone in this country to do the same so we can get this virus under control. I think that is wishful thinking, but I’m allowed to hope.

2020 Life Logs, Day 274: New Month, Full Moon, Good Life
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 71, Low 58 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

I love the first day of the year and the first day of every month. Just like refreshing your PC, the beginning of the month gives you a chance to start anew. In September we see the end of summer. But in October, we always hope for a period of unseasonably warm weather that we refer to as Summer. This new month is beginning with a full moon. I don’t think there is any significance to that other than it is a lovely night outside.

This first day of October was filled with activity. At noon I headed to Karen and Peter Baranowski’s to meet with my Newcomers Dining-In Group. Before Covid, we met monthly inside. We didn’t meet in the early spring, but then we started meeting outside on decks. Last month we met here on the deck next door at 4:30 pm, but we realized that the shortening days and cooler late afternoons were not going to continue to work for gatherings. So, we decided to try meeting in someone’s garage at noon. Karen and Peter volunteered their garage which is always cleaner than my house and we took them up on the offer. What we didn’t know was that Peter decided to pour a new Epoxy-based floor in the garage and clean it from top to bottom. It felt more like being in a fancy restaurant than it felt like being in someone’s garage. When Olivia and Terry White arrived, Olivia said she didn’t know she was being invited to the Taj Garage. That brought a smile to everyone’s face and I think the term will stick. With all the garage doors and windows open, it was almost like being outside and we felt Covid-safe. It was so successful that we are going to try it again in November. We all bring our own food, but today Karen made one of her famous carrot cakes for all to share since Jane Woodin’s 75th birthday is coming up next week. We had a lovely luncheon and birthday celebration in the Taj Garage. Happy birthday to Jane. And thank you to Peter and Karen for hosting.

I got home with just enough time to play a round of ball with Shadow before the first meeting of the year of the Newcomers Technology Tips group on Zoom. Today we focused on bank apps, paying by phone, and money transfers. Each meeting ends with a bonus app and today it was an app called Frameo. You get your children to buy you a Frameo digital frame as a gift. Then you use the Frameo app which allows your kids to send photos directly to the frame that you put on a timer so that it is rotating photos all day and goes to sleep at night. You can then enjoy up-to-the-minute photos of your grandkids without doing anything. The photos just slip right into your current rotation.

And speaking of photos from your kids, today I saw some current photos of Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco that Jo had posted on Facebook. If the photos are an indication of how they are doing, they are doing great while living in what looks like paradise. I also followed a link from Jo’s Facebook page to watch a video accompanying Silvermouse’s newest single release called Imagining. They hung an iPad from a tree to video the four of them making a mandala together while the song played. A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols and the video showed JJZ&C clearing a space on the forest floor and then building a beautiful design by gathering and placing leaves, sticks, and flowers in the space they cleared. The result was awesome, as was the accompanying electronic music produced by Justin and Jo. You can see the video on YouTube by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OdsU58f74&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0WFiukBjm682gyZMWVNAjfMlblOixpwRnAHmU9gw_JInQASNq6OLmJBsQ

2020 Life Logs, Day 273: Happy 45th Birthday to Heather
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Weather: Rain Early, Then Mostly Cloudy & Windy; High 72, Low 59 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

After 31 hours of hard labor, Heather Martin Handley was born late on the last night of September in 1975. She was born in an apartment in Alexandria, Virginia. Yes, she was born at home with a doctor and a mid-wife in attendance. As I look back, I can only ask, “Can that really have been 45 years ago?” I chuckled this evening when I heard Heather telling Ollie that 45 is an important birthday because it means you are halfway to 90. Go, Heather! She was always a very serious child and by the time she was into her second summer, Mark and I looked at each other day and said, “This child is more mature than either of us.” It was scary and we had to get our act together. Whether she was helping with the garden, training one of our sled dogs, or trying to read one of her dad’s books, she did it with extreme care and seriousness. At tonight’s birthday dinner, I was glad that finally, when she is halfway to 90, she has shed some of that seriousness. She made sure we had one serious photo and one crazy family photo to mark this momentous event. Happy Birthday, Heather.

2020 Life Logs, Day 272: Love Affair with Cape Cod
Date: Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Weather: Cloudy with Some Sunny Periods; High 74, Low 68 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Note: This log was written prior to tonight’s debate. I’ll address that debacle tomorrow night.

Today was a day of wonder and awe for me. I know I live in a beautiful corner of this earth, but today I fell in love with it all over again.
I picked Ollie up after his half day of school and loved hearing him say he thinks he has the best teacher in all the world. What a wonderful thing to hear. Then I headed to Woods Hole for a tour with the Newcomers Teacher Group. The tour was arranged by friend Jane Woodin. Thank you, Jane. It was a small group and all of us wore masks and tried to keep a good distance between ourselves. The tour guide was a Woods Hole native and as he talked about the history of the tiny little village, you could hear the love of the place in his voice. I’d seen everything we were looking at many, many times, but somehow the quiet passion of the tour guide gave me a different perspective. We learned a few things about the history of the village that I didn’t know and reviewed things I did know about the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), the Marine Biological Lab (MBL), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), all within a 5 minute walk from one to the other. Wow! That’s a lot of science in one little village. Near the end of the tour we walked through the community gardens, past the majestic copper beech trees, and back to the Woods Hole Historical Museum. There is a little stone marker there noting that Woods Hole resident Michael Walsh made the Cape Cod Rambler Rose world famous. Walsh was a Welsh man of Irish descent who came to Woods Hole in 1875 to work as a gardener for a local summer resident. In the 1890’s he began developing the rambler rose and today the beauty of this rose is an icon of the Cape and Islands.

On the way home, I took the beach road that goes past Nobska Lighthouse, one of my favorite views in the world. And when I got home, I sat down by the dock and soaked in the beauty of the marsh while playing ball with Shadow. At that point, I truly felt like I had spent my afternoon literally inhaling beauty. So lucky to live here. But it is not just the scenery. On a night when I plan to watch the presidential debate, it is comforting to know that I am surrounded by beautiful people here on the Cape. One of those people is Jerry Lanson, a fellow Newcomer and the person who led the Memoir Writing class that I participated in last winter. Due to Jerry’s support, I made progress toward writing the story of the Voyage of Windbird. Hopefully that will become a book at some point in the future, but not without the encouragement of people like Jerry. I contacted him today to sign up for a new Newcomers Zoom group, Public Policy in Turbulent Times. In doing so, Jerry sent me a link to a piece he wrote that was in yesterday’s Cape Cod Times. People like Jerry are the other reason I love living here . . . beautiful scenery and beautiful people. Here’s Jerry’s opinion piece.

OPINION/MY VIEW: Why political signs matter
By Jerry Lanson
Posted Sep 28, 2020

“I like your sign,” a neighbor shouted out, walking past with her dog. Another neighbor, passing Kathy in front of our house one morning recently, told her the same.

We bought a smallish 18? by 24? Biden/Harris sign on Amazon last week and planted it in the front yard by the driveway. I’m realizing it’s serving a more important purpose than just to make us feel good.

Even here in East Falmouth, in ostensibly liberal Massachusetts, there are plenty of Trump supporters and plenty of people who are upset about the protests that have swept the country. Neighbors on one side of us and neighbors a few houses up across the street have planted “Support the Police” signs in their front lawns.

I actually share that sentiment, though I’d supplement it with signs reading “Retrain the Police” and “Improve the Police” and “Diversify the Police.” What’s offensive to me about these signs is the blue stripe they boast, a not-so-subtle reminder of the “Blue Lives Matter” movement, a suggestion that the lives of cops matter more than the lives of citizens of color whom they are empowered to protect.

What I’ve come to realize, as a retired journalism professor and before that a working journalist, is that this is not an election for me to play it safe, to sit on the sidelines, to quietly stand by my beliefs and let others do the work, give the donations and do the talking. I now can speak my mind freely.

What’s more, I fully and firmly believe that American democracy is on the line this November, that our institutions and Constitution are under attack. Global survival, too, may be on the ballot. I look at our western apocalypse of flames, the hurricanes lashing the South, the crumbling ice of Antarctica. I see our eroding beaches right here on the Cape, and I know it’s not a time for silence but a time for action.

Signs, of course, are anything but new to political seasons. And the signs up and down my street convey a range of political views, as is always the case. Still, posting signs this election cycle seems more important to me than ever. I want to do my part to affirm for those who share my views that they are in plentiful company. I want to tell those with whom I disagree that while I respect them personally, their views don’t dominate my block. And I want to encourage others to join the messy debate that is democracy. To speak out, plant signs, make phone calls and work in whatever way possible to bring about change.

Next week we’ll be getting another sign from Amazon. It reads “Hate Has No Home Here.” Beneath it, from left to right, are an American flag, a heart with the words “Black Lives Matter,” and a rainbow heart.

If some believe America is not big enough to welcome everyone, in my view that is their problem, not mine. Those who share my views should not just stand quietly by their beliefs in the turmoil that is the United States today, but give those beliefs voice, clearly, firmly, openly and, ultimately, at the voting booth.

Jerry Lanson is a retired journalism professor and a resident of East Falmouth.

2020 Life Logs, Day 271: Taking Care of Business
Date: Monday, September 28, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 72, Low 65 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

All summer long when I am in Camp Oma gear, I essentially ignore everything else. And since summer activities continued until school started last week, I am just now starting to think about all the things that need to be done. I haven’t made a list, so that will be my next job, but there were a few things that had top priority, so I started there today. My car inspection needed to be done in September, so I took care of that today, plus making appointments for a few other things. And I did a lot of ‘thinking’ about other jobs that need to be done. Actually, I don’t know where the day went, but so go my days.

2020 Life Logs, Day 270: Flooring, Biking, and Exploring
Date: Sunday, September 27, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 76, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

It was another lovely fall day. I spent a leisurely morning at home and took the opportunity to the environment. It was hair washing morning, so I used a new shampoo and conditioner that Heather gave me the other day. I made the switch from Pantene 2 in 1 about two years ago, and at the time I was convinced that nothing could replace it. I started using Lush which is a bar type shampoo and conditioner. I have found a combination that really works for me but the bars are soft and don’t last very long. Heather and family used to use Lush but have recently switched to HiBAR.
This product is a hard bar, feeling like a bar of soap, and comes packed in paper. It is advertised as having “no soap, sulfates, parabens, phthalate or silicones . . . just beautiful hair.” And the company is proud to say that it is totally plastic-free hair care. I was leery, but I have to say that when I got out of the shower and started combing out my long hair, it was tangle-free. I’ll make a final determination after seeing how my hair feels tomorrow and the next day. But this product looks promising.

I told the Goldstones last night that I would check-in around lunch time today to see how I could be of help. It was another day of laying wood flooring. Heather lays the flooring and Jed cuts the boards. This morning the boys helped by running boards up and down the stairs and by also helping Heather lay the flooring. When I arrived they had stopped for lunch and were all proud to announce that they were half-way there. Ollie and Jonah were ready for a break, so I took them to Trotting Park to ride their bikes on the trails through the woods. We were only in the woods for about an hour, but the boys had a good time. When I brought them home, Jonah and Ollie decided they wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon at home helping with the flooring. Ollie has taken a particular interest and demonstrated for me just how it is done. I was very impressed with his expertise. I then took Sam to a mid-afternoon Boy Scout leadership planning meeting and I headed home to pick up Shadow. We went for an explore that actually took us on a complete circumnavigation of Falmouth. We drove from my house in East Falmouth back into town and then on down to Woods Hole. Then we drove back north through West Falmouth on our way to North Falmouth to walk the trails in the Wings Pond area. Robert’s mother, Grace, took Robert and Sam there on Friday and the photos she took and Sam’s raving about the walk were so inviting that I really wanted to go explore. The paths run through the cranberry bogs and then on into the surrounding woods. Shadow and I certainly didn’t explore the whole area, but it was a delightful place to walk together. The edges of the paths are lined with lots of poison ivy which adds a lot of fall color to the landscape. The poison ivy leaves range from a deep burgundy to red to orange and bright yellow. Something that causes people so much trouble shouldn’t be so beautiful! We then drove eastward to Mashpee where I picked up a few items at Rory’s Market. And then headed home, arriving just in time to sit down by the dock and watch the sun go down behind the trees. I threw tennis balls for Shadow to retrieve and when he got tired, he just laid down in the grass beside me watching the sun go down behind the marsh. The view is so peaceful. It was a lovely way to end a lovely day.

2020 Life Logs, Day 269: September Saturday
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 72, Low 63 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

I’m having difficulty believing that September is coming to a close. But today was such a perfect September Saturday that I finally began to believe that summer is gone and fall is here. It was mostly sunny, warm without any wind, the plants in the garden are dying off, and the vines in the woods have turned a bright red and orange. It looks and feels like fall. I spent a lazy morning with Shadow, sleeping in longer than we should have, and a little before noon, I headed to the Goldstones. They were hoping to begin the flooring project in Jonah and Ollie’s bedroom today, but they were getting a slow start as well. The boys were off on their bikes with a neighboring family and had gone to the middle school to play tennis. Heather and Jed were struggling with a couple of spots on the sub-flooring that were uneven and needed sanding. I arrived just in time to put a laundry in for me and run to the hardware store for them to pick up some course sanding discs to make the sanding job quicker.
Once the boys got home, from their biking and tennis outing, Sam and Ollie decided that they would like to take their bikes to a track where we go to the skatepark. There are woodland dirt bike trails and they wanted to give that a try. Sam decided to stay home as his bike is more like a racing bike and would not withstand the woodland trails. He stayed home to help with in the beginning stages of the flooring while Ollie, Jonah, and I took off and had a fun time. I took my chair and my book and followed them into the woods so I could watch. The sun was shining through the trees and it was a delightful place to spend part of the afternoon. When we got home, Heather and Jed had really gotten into gear with the flooring and the boys pitched in to help. The work will Heather and Jed have worked out the kinks and things are moving along, it will be easier for all three boys to help out tomorrow.

I had invited the Goldstones over to my house for dinner tonight, so when I left to go fix dinner, Jonah and Ollie decided to come with me. We left Sam behind to the be helper. Each floorboard that needs to be cut is carried down the stairs and out to the driveway where Jed has the saws ready to do the cutting. Then the board needs to be run back upstairs. This is what Sam was doing while Jonah, Ollie, and I went home to play with Shadow and get dinner ready. I think tonight was our final hamburger cookout with corn-on-the-cob for this season. The fresh corn bin at the grocery store has been replaced by small squashes. Plus, there is the fact that it is just too dark to cook out. I guess it is time to start thinking about squash and pumpkins and other fall delights.