2020 Life Logs, Day 268: Kiss the Ground
Date: Friday, September 25, 2020
Weather: BEAUTIFUL DAY; High 76, Low 58 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Tonight I watched a movie on Netflix called ‘Kiss the Ground’. In just an hour and 24 minutes this documentary makes the case that we can “balance the climate, replenish the water supply, keep species off the extinction list, and better feed the world” by regenerating the Earth’s soils. If only all of that could really happen in less than 90 minutes. The film simply outlines how, using existing solutions, we could not just halt climate change, but also reverse some of its effects. It is definitely worth a watch. The focus is on regenerative agriculture. And if you don’t know what that means, then you really do need to watch the film! It is a story of hope in this very dark time.

I spent the rest of my day again driving to Chelmsford to visit with my niece who is the last stages of pancreatic cancer and then having lunch with her mother Sue who is visiting from Florida. I think Sue and I both really enjoyed our time together and then I headed home. As I did on Monday when I went to visit, I stopped at Costco and IKEA on my way home. I took Shadow with me today and took him for walks at the various stops. The leaves are changing colors much earlier this year, so each of those stops gave me a chance to soak in the beauty. But when we got home, we both crashed—thus watching the movie mentioned above.

2020 Life Logs, Day 267: Very Satisfying Day
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 76, Low 59 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

When one of my grandsons, Jonah, does something that makes him feel victorious, he loves to say, “That was SO satisfying.” I didn’t do anything that made me feel victorious today, but I did feel satisfied. I rearranged some furniture and created an office deck for myself in the bedroom that Ollie claims as his. I simply took out the puppy playpen that Shadow never used and moved in the antique treadle Singer sewing machine from the living room. It was a good move. The top of the sewing machine will serve as my desk and the living room looks so much bigger without that one piece of furniture. I also got a start on reorganizing the basement. So satisfying!

Tomorrow morning, Shadow and I get up early to take Sam to Robert’s house for school and then we are going to drive north to Chelmsford to again visit briefly with my niece Lynn. I won’t stay long, so I can leave Shadow in the car. But I just want to drive up and see her as often as I can.

2020 Life Logs, Day 266: A Day in the Life
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Weather: SUNSHINE and Warmth; High 72, Low 59 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

After a summer filled with daily activity with the Goldpebbles, it is always a slow and lonely process for me to get back to ‘normal’ life. So today was just a day in the life, slowly moving myself back into normalcy. I make a good start on one of my goals—house cleaning–by reorganizing my ‘pantry’, an IKEA storage unit the size of a wardrobe in one of my bedrooms. It is the smallest bedroom that Ollie has claimed as his and my goal for tomorrow is to reorganize that whole room. To back up a bit, I got up early and went to take Sam to his friend Robert’s house for the school day and then came home. I had a long conversation with my niece Jennifer, took a shower, and took Shadow for a long walk. I then worked on the pantry reorganization, ate lunch, and decided that I just had to get outside in the sunshine. Since I didn’t get to bed until 1 am and got up at 7 am, I decided to take a nap in the sunshine. Halfway through my allowed naptime, my friend Karen Baranowski appeared. We sat in the sunshine and had a long conversation about the state of this country. So many things are happening every day that it is hard to keep track of and none of it is uplifting, but it was wonderful to spend some time with Karen. The rest of the day was spent making a trip into town to run some errands and check in with the Goldstones. My bike touring friends, Mike and Linda Stuart who are now residents of Lakewood, Colorado, called to catch me up on their daily activities. Like me, Linda is determined to live without products that come in plastic containers. She is so far ahead of me, but we compared shampoo, conditioners, dish soap, and laundry detergent. Once I test out some of her recommendations, I will pass those long to you.

Tomorrow will be more of the same—cleaning and working outside in the sunshine. At least I hope there will be sunshine.

2020 Life Logs, Day 265: Welcome Autumn 2020
Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Windy, Still Cool; High 62, Low 53 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Welcome Autumn. The first day of fall here was an overcast, windy one. It was windy enough last night and today to fill my front steps with little branches of green oak leaves and acorns blown from the trees. We have had wind from the north for a few days and it has felt chilly. But the wind is switching back to the south and it is forecast to be 10 degrees warmer tomorrow with some sunshine. I look forward to that and will celebrate the coming of fall once I see the sun!

I did not drive back to Chelmsford today to pick up my niece’s kitty. She has decided to stay in her apartment and pay for round the clock nurses instead of going to the Hospice House for now. She really doesn’t want to part with her kitty, so I hope this works out for her. She will move to the Hospice House when the present situation becomes untenable. We will just have to see how this goes, day by day. And last night I got bad news about another niece who was hospitalized and was found to have a huge mass on her left kidney. She is back home but will have to return soon to have the kidney removed. This niece, Jennifer, is the daughter of my sister Patsy who lives in the Nashville area. Patsy is 87 and has hardly been out of her house since March because of Covid, but now she really wants to go see Jennifer who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is so hard to sit here and watch these devastating health issues play out with ones that I love so much. But travel is just not wise, so I fear I will have to sit and watch from afar, sending my love and most positive thoughts.

The second day of remote schooling was exhausting for everyone. Hopefully it will get easier. Both Sam and Jonah have to ‘change’ online classes every 55 minutes or so. Sam has 5 minutes between Zoom classes, but there is absolutely no time between Jonah’s classes and he has to get out of one Zoom class and find the link and get on to the next one. This takes a minute or two, so he is late to the next class. He so desperately wants to do a good job, so he is very frustrated with being late. Heather and Jed are not always available to help as they are also on Zoom calls. Hopefully someone will realize that these kids in the middle grades need a little time to switch gears. I pitched in this morning by picking Sam up and taking him to his friend’s house for day of classes. At least the two of them can support each other and so far they seem happy with the arrangement. I will start my day tomorrow by picking Sam up at 7:45 and taking him to Robert’s house. Today when I got home I did some cooking. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get that much needed house cleaning done.

2020 Life Logs, Day 264: First Day of School & Trip to Visit My Niece
Date: Monday, September 21, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still Cool; High 61, Low 48 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Today was the first day of school for Falmouth Public Schools. I don’t know about the high school, but all other grades are remote for this week. But Heather couldn’t break the tradition of taking photos on the front steps even if the boys weren’t headed out to school. Actually, Sam is doing his remote classes from a friend’s house this week. Robert is one of his best friends and they are ‘schooling’ at Robert’s home this week. Both of his parents work from home during the pandemic and can give the two boys more individualized attention for this first week. Robert’s brother is in high school and doesn’t need as much direction. This gives Heather and Jed a chance to focus on just Jonah and Ollie for this week, hopefully getting them off to a positive start.
I took photos of Sam and Jonah at their desks yesterday and they looked so studious and happy. I didn’t get a photo of Ollie at his desk yesterday, so Heather took that this morning. He looked serious, but no smiles. I think he just wasn’t quite awake. I did check in at the end of the day and found that everyone had a good day. It is not the same as going to school with friends, but we have to make the best of this for now.

It is a two-hour drive to my niece’s apartment in Chelmsford, Massachusetts—just a few miles from the New Hampshire border. I was going to visit with my niece Lynn before she moved to a Hospice House this afternoon. But the move didn’t happen. My other niece Candi and my sister-in-law Sue thought things were all set. But then at the last minute, Lynn decided she needed more time. Hopefully she will make the move tomorrow. She is not happy that she can’t take her new kitten with her and really doesn’t want to leave her. On the way home, I decided that I would offer to return tomorrow and bring Susie, the kitten, home with me. My hope is that if Lynn is assured that Susie is relocated in a loving home that it will be easier for her to part. So, at this point the plan is for me to drive back tomorrow and come home with a spritely little playmate for Shadow. Heather mentioned that Jonah would like a kitten, so maybe Susie will end up there. Either way, she will be loved and hopefully my niece can then make the move with peace of mind.

2020 Life Logs, Day 263: Happy Birthday, Shadow
Date: Sunday, September 20, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still Cool North Winds; High 60, Low 46 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

My little buddy, Shadow, was born one year ago today. I didn’t meet him until he was eight weeks old, but we will always celebrate his birth date. We got up this morning and went for our morning walk. I gave him a couple of new chewy toys, and then, unfortunately, I left him for the day. It as a day of getting ready for the new school year for the Goldstones, so I ran errands, took boys shopping for school supplies, and helped to get dinner ready. While running various errands, I was able to bring Sam here to take Shadow for a mid-day walk, and a little later, Ollie and I had to come here to get some things stored in my basement and Ollie got to play ball with Shadow. So Shadow wasn’t alone all day and we had a good time playing together tonight. Happy Birthday, Shadow. You are a wild man that I can’t seem to tame, but you have added so much to my life. But despite your determination, we’ll keep working on the “taming” project.

I have to leave Shadow again tomorrow as I am traveling to Chelmsford, north of Boston, to see my nieces and my sister-in-law. My niece, Lynn, has cancer and is declining quickly. She is being placed in a Hospice House tomorrow and I am hoping to get to see her before she is moved. My sister-in-law Sue, who now lives in Florida, arrived last week and I am anxious to see her as well. Lynn’s father was my brother Bennie who died during my senior year of high school in West Virginia. After his death, Sue and the three children moved back to Massachusetts. My family kept in touch and stayed close through the years. I was seven when Lynn was born and it is very difficult for me to get my head around the fact that we are going to lose her very soon. She only learned that she had cancer in June, but things have progressed so quickly. Such a sad situation.

Heather and Jed had hoped to get a start on laying the wood flooring in Ollie and Jonah’s bedroom today, but there was more preparation than anticipated. So prep work was done and flooring will start next weekend. But there was plenty to do today get the boys and the house ready for the new school year that starts tomorrow, online only for the first week. We are anticipating that school for the entire year will be mostly at home, mostly online, and that requires making sure everyone has a workspace and all the technical equipment needed. The school system provides a Chrome book for each child, but as I learned today, there are lots of accessories needed to make each workspace comfortable. Comfortable chairs for each desk, the right mouse, the right accessary keyboard . . . Sam suggested we get blue light protective eye glasses for the three of them to protect their eyes from so many hours of staring at a computer screen. They had a great time trying out their new looks with the glasses on. I’ll be very anxious to check in with them at the end of the first school day to see how things go.

2020 Life Logs, Day 262: The Great Escape
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy and Cool; High 59, Low 44 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

My name for this log is “The Great Escape” because this day totally escaped me. Originally, I was going to be heading to Heather and Jed’s early to engage the Goldpebbles in some activity while Heather and Jed laid wood flooring in Jonah and Ollie’s bedroom. But we knew last night that the contractor was not going to be finished until noon today, so that plan was scrapped. With the change in plans, I thought I was just going to clean house and relax down by the water and read. But none of that happened. On any day, by the time I get up, take a shower, walk the dog, and fix breakfast, the morning is half over. But this morning I had a nice phone conversation with my niece Janet in Nashville and then a Skype call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco and it was afternoon by the time I got off the phone. Then I realized I needed to go into town to the grocery store. Plus, I got a text from Heather saying Jonah and Ollie were splatter painting their bedroom walls and I really wanted to go see their work of art. The bedroom walls looked great, but I didn’t stay long. I was on to run my errands. A stop here, a stop there, and it was after 5 pm when I got home. I then talked to my sister in Nashville, fixed dinner, and the day was over.

It was a good day, just not what I expected. And I don’t know what to expect tomorrow. Heather and Jed will be doing the flooring and I will be with the boys. Just like today, it is still going to be windy and very cool, but the boys really want to go to the beach. I might have to wear my winter coat! It is also Shadow’s one-year birthday and the last day before school starts EARLY Monday morning—remote, but still ‘on’ early. In addition to the beach, the boys and I will do something with Shadow to celebrate his birthday and then we will fix dinner for Heather and Jed at their house and try to wind up early so the boys can go to bed on ‘school time’ instead of ‘summer time’. In between all of this, I am still grieving the loss of RBG.

2020 Life Logs, Day 261: Freedom and Opportunity for Everyone
Date: Friday, September 18, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 73, Low 60 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

Earlier this evening I learned of the death of the 87-year-old Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I have always admired her as I felt like she not only stood up for the rights of women, but she truly stood up for the freedom and opportunity for everyone with a ferocity that is almost unparalleled. But it was not until I watched a video about her life last year that I realized just how much of an American icon she had become. In one of his letters from the Birmingham Jail, another American icon, Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Those words have never been more poignant. And I feel that RGB lived everyday of her professional life trying to stamp out that injustice. I love this quote from her. “Women will only have true equality when men share with them the responsibility of bringing up the next generation.” Oh, so true. She had such a clarity of thought about so many aspects of life. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, you are going to be missed by so many. You made sure your life made a positive difference for as many people as possible and history will bear out your greatness.

My favorite story about RBG comes from the time she and her husband were both at Harvard Law School. They were already married and had a three-year old when Marty Ginsburg found out he had testicular cancer. She went to classes and took notes for him, then came home and typed up the notes for him. And she did this while attending her own classes and caring for a toddler. She had to learn to survive without sleep, but she persisted. And she persisted in that same way throughout the rest of her life, fighting for justice for all. And in the end, fighting for her own life. I really wish I could be on the steps of the Supreme Court tonight with those who are gathering spontaneously to celebrate her life. I can’t be there physically, but I am with them in spirit, singing Amazing Grace right along with them.

2020 Life Logs, Day 260: Ping Pong Table Arrival
Date: Thursday, September 17, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 73, Low 60 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

This morning the Goldstones drove to Yarmouth to play mini-golf at what has been the Goldpebbles favorite course in the past. Saturday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, so going to Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf today was the perfect end of summer family activity. Heather and Jed are going to be deeply immersed in house projects this weekend in preparation of the beginning of the school year on Monday. So, they carved out a couple of hours today to have this end-of-summer fun with the Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. And while they were out, they got a text saying the ping pong table had arrived. They were expecting that on Monday, so the boys were very excited to get home and start putting that together. When the Goldstones moved to Grasmere in April, I gave each of the boys a $100 to buy something special for their new home. It has taken a few months for them to make the decision, but the ping pong table for the basement finally won out. Our afternoon was ‘ping pong’ centered. We are expecting rain tonight and into tomorrow, so I have a feeling it will be another inside, ping pong day. I am going to cut this log short as I find myself falling asleep when I try to write. I think I need to get to bed earlier than my usual ‘after midnight’!

2020 Life Logs, Day 259: The Warriors and Wine Group Friends
Date: Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Very Windy; High 70, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA

It was another great day with the Goldpebbles even though our original plan didn’t work out. I went early to pick them up and take them to Chapaquoit Beach. From there we were going to walk along the shore to Black Beach, a private beach that can only be reached by living on Black Beach Road, or by getting there by boat or by walking as the road leading in is private. We knew the high temp today was going to be about 70 degrees F and the sun was shining. But we were not prepared for the strong winds that were blowing when we got to Chappy Beach. Jonah and Ollie had on their dive suits, but even with that protection, the wind put a chill into the air that none of us really wanted to confront. So we changed plans and headed to my house.
The boys launched a kayak and Sam paddled out towing the Rubber Dockie. Jonah and Ollie followed on their boogie boards. They reached the Rubber Dockie, but the wind was blowing so hard that the edges of the mat were being blown up out of the water acting like a sail. They persisted for a bit, but much sooner than usual, they headed back to the dock. We had our picnic lunch down by the dock, with the boys rotating turns at heading to the cottage to take showers. Once everyone had a shower and lunch, we headed on to the next activity which was building body armor out of recycled materials.
Using the insulation that lines my weekly deliveries of organic fruits and veggies from Misfits, along with a lot of duct tape and clear packing tape, all three boys crafted their armor. They ended up having only a few minutes to battle in the backyard, but they enjoyed those few minutes. Sam had a friend arriving at his house at 3:30 pm, so we had to stop the battle and head home. Once I dropped the boys off, I then headed to a monthly meeting of my Newcomers Wine Group.

This month’s Wine Group meeting was at Kim Caverly’s in West Falmouth. We met on her deck, using social distancing. There are four couples plus Kim and I in the group, so ten of us all together. I love getting together with this interesting, eclectic, and fun-loving group of people. This month’s theme was simply to pick a bottle of wine that was in our wine collection to bring as a mystery wine. White wine drinkers brought bottles of red wine and red wine drinkers brought white wines. It was an interesting conglomeration of wines that were enjoyed by all. It was a great evening, giving each of us a time to talk about how we are doing during these Covid times. Kim was a most gracious host and sent each of us home with a wine bottle filled with battery-operated twinkle lights. And she turned us on to individually packaged snacks from Trader Joe’s that are the perfect snack to serve during Covid times. Thank you, Kim.