2020 Life Logs, Day 178: More Birthday Fun
Date: Saturday, June 27, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Then Rain; High 80, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Just after noon, I headed downtown to pick up cupcakes from Cupcake Charlie’s for Jonah’s birthday party with his friends. Then I headed to Heather and Jed’s for the party. Jonah was allowed to invite three good friends—Luke, Kaiden, and Noah–whose parents were onboard for a coronavirus-age birthday party—bring your own water bottle, wear a mask, keep proper physical distancing, and cupcakes served by a server with mask and gloves. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to assure that this is all real. It is like living in a science fiction movie, but despite the restrictions, the Goldstones pulled off a safe and fun birthday party. The boys played lawn games—kubb (a Swedish lawn game where you knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden batons), corn hole, bocce ball, and supervised soccer on the field at the nearby school. Jonah has had one play date with Luke, but otherwise the boys had not seen each other since mid-March. So, it was a very special time. And Jonah’s special times continued after all of us went home. Jonah was taken to the Crooked Coast shop where his new bass guitar was signed by members of the local band. The whole family loves Crooked Coast and Jonah must have been over the moon with the signing.

It started sprinkling near the end of the party and by the time I got home, it was raining. The rain has finally stopped, but we had more than six hours of pretty steady rain which was much needed. But because of the rain, I didn’t feel motivated to go on a long walk with Shadow once I got home. Instead, I did a little cooking and Shadow and I watched a couple of episodes of Our Planet. This is a series that the Goldstones have been watching and the boys really wanted me to watch as well. I had to sign up for a free month of Netflix to do this, so I need to make sure I do all the Netflix watching I want in the next couple of weeks before my free month runs out.

2020 Life Logs, Day 178: More Birthday Fun
Date: Saturday, June 27, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Then Rain; High 80, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Just after noon, I headed downtown to pick up cupcakes from Cupcake Charlie’s for Jonah’s birthday party with his friends. Then I headed to Heather and Jed’s for the party. Jonah was allowed to invite three good friends—Luke, Kaiden, and Noah–whose parents were onboard for a coronavirus-age birthday party—bring your own water bottle, wear a mask, keep proper physical distancing, and cupcakes served by a server with mask and gloves. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to assure that this is all real. It is like living in a science fiction movie, but despite the restrictions, the Goldstones pulled off a safe and fun birthday party. The boys played lawn games—kubb (a Swedish lawn game where you knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden batons), corn hole, bocce ball, and supervised soccer on the field at the nearby school. Jonah has had one play date with Luke, but otherwise the boys had not seen each other since mid-March. So, it was a very special time. And Jonah’s special times continued after all of us went home. Jonah was taken to the Crooked Coast shop where his new bass guitar was signed by members of the local band. The whole family loves Crooked Coast and Jonah must have been over the moon with the signing.

It started sprinkling near the end of the party and by the time I got home, it was raining. The rain has finally stopped, but we had more than six hours of pretty steady rain which was much needed. But because of the rain, I didn’t feel motivated to go on a long walk with Shadow once I got home. Instead, I did a little cooking and Shadow and I watched a couple of episodes of Our Planet. This is a series that the Goldstones have been watching and the boys really wanted me to watch as well. I had to sign up for a free month of Netflix to do this, so I need to make sure I do all the Netflix watching I want in the next couple of weeks before my free month runs out.

2020 Life Logs, Day 177: Happy Birthday, Jonah & Last Day of School
Date: Friday, June 26, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 81, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was a day of celebration. It was the last day of “school” as we have come to know it during Covid-19 and it was Jonah’s 11th birthday. Jonah is one of those rays of sunshine in the world. I think of him as a sprite spreading joy in the world. Plus, he’s a great athlete and musician with an impish smile and incredible head of hair. Happy Birthday, Jonah!

East Falmouth School had a drive-through parade to end Ollie’s second grade year and when the Goldstones returned home from that event, I joined them at their house for the opening of presents from grandmothers. I got Jonah a baseball trainer which is a pole on a very substantial portable stand with a baseball on a swing trainer. You swing the baseball so it winds around the pole and then hit the ball sending it spinning in the opposite direction so you can hit it again. Since Jonah was a toddler, he has been obsessed with playing games with balls of all kinds, but especially soccer balls, basketballs, and baseballs. I don’t know how long it will last, but today the baseball trainer kept Jonah’s attention. He is constantly wanting someone to pitch to him and now he has a full-time pitcher on duty at all times. Jed’s mom, Marti, got him a frisbee golf practice basket. Frisbee or disc golf is a game in which players throw a disc at a target basket. In a large park, there can be 9 to 18 of these baskets and the game is played using rules similar to golf. Jonah’s practice basket came with 5 colored discs or frisbees that you try to throw and get into the basket. I didn’t get to try it today, but it looks like a lot of fun. And the scooters I ordered from Amazon also arrived today, not part of the birthday celebration, but we had to go to the Skate Park to give the new scooters a try. Then we ended the day with a family dinner.
Jonah made sure he brought his friends to dinner with him—polar bear, hippo, and his very favorite lamby. For Jonah, no birthday is complete without his little stuffed lamb that shares his birthday. Then there was the opening of Jonah’s present from mommy and daddy. His gift from them last year was a bass guitar and in the last twelve months, he has become quite an accomplished bass player. But the bass guitar that gave him last year was an adult size and quite challenging for him to handle. So this year, they got him a smaller bass that should make playing a little easier. All the Goldpebbles headed to the basement to play a bit of music with Jonah—Sam on drums, Ollie on electric violin, and Jonah on electric bass. Then it was time for the angel food birthday cake. Tomorrow afternoon we will celebrate again with three of Jonah’s friends.

2020 Life Logs, Day 176: Afternoon at Wood Neck
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 81, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a beautiful day. I spent the morning running errands and spending time with Shadow. Then at 1 pm I headed to the Goldstones to pick up Sam, Jonah, and Ollie and head to the beach.

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We went to Wood Neck, my favorite beach as it has both waves on the shore of Buzzards Bay and the beautiful Little Sippewissett Marsh where you can spend hours exploring. We usually set up our things on the marsh side and that is what we did today. Soon after we arrived, a family that was using our favorite spot left and we moved to what the boys call The Living Room. The view from there is of the entire marsh. Jonah, Ollie, and I walked through the water and back into the marsh and eventually Sam joined us. Jonah brought the Moray boogie board that was Justin’s when he was a teenager. Everyone had a great time running and jumping onto the board and surfing across the water. That boogie board is over 25 years-old and is still going strong. Near the end of the afternoon, we returned to The Living Room home base, where I sat with the sun at my back watching the boys build a sand fortress on a little islet.

Tomorrow is finally the last day of school for the boys and it is Jonah’s birthday. If the weather cooperates, we’ll spend the afternoon at the beach again and then have a family birthday dinner. Jonah is excited about that, but he is really excited that he will get to see three of his friends at a party on Saturday that Heather has planned to be Covid-friendly.

2020 Life Logs, Day 175: Skate Park and Water Work & Play
Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 79, Low 66 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a cloudy day with some patches of sunshine, but because of the weather, the Goldpebbles weren’t interested in going to the beach. But they did want to return to the Skate Park. Heather was hosting a webinar from home this afternoon, so we decided that we would leave her in peace for the whole afternoon. The plan was to go to the Skate Park and then head to my house where Ollie would have his 3:45 pm violin lesson on Skype. We went to the Skate Park, but by 2:45 pm everyone was ready to leave. We then headed to my house.
Sam was interested in making some money by cleaning out the roof gutter on the front side of the cottage, so we launched into that project. The hose attachment that the Baranowski’s loaned me for gutter cleaning looks like a very long, extendable cane. You put the curved part in the gutter and turn on the water full blast. Sam was super excited about having a water battle using the attachment after we finished our job. It wasn’t much of a battle as a regular hose with a spray attachment was absolutely no challenge. But all three boys enjoyed seeing just how far they could shoot a stream of water with the attachment. Best water gun ever.

2020 Life Logs, Day 174: Free and Easy Day
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 80, Low 67 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a free and easy day. The Goldpebbles were busy with various activities this afternoon, so I stayed home and just watched the day roll by. I did wash and wax my car and I vacuumed out the inside. Peter and Karen Baranowski came by to drop off groceries for the aunties and Karen invited me to come to her house around 4 pm to check out all of their new landscaping. I love one of their new trees called a Harry Lauder Red Walking Stick. It has fabulous dark red leaves and a trunk and branches that twist and turn like a corkscrew. It is interesting in the summer with the leaves on, but I can’t wait to see it in the winter with no leaves.
The new landscaping all looks great, but the highlight of the visit was sitting with Karen on the their porch and watching the amazing array of bird life at the feeders—woodpeckers, downy and red-headed; finches—yellow and purple, red-winged blackbirds, chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves, juncos, a Baltimore oriole I missed, but Karen saw, and the most beautiful little hummingbirds. With rabbits hopping along under the trees surrounding one of the feeders, it looked like a scene from a Beatrix Potter book. My only regret was that I didn’t have my camera with me. I took a few photos with my phone, but it is not great at distances. With or without photos, it was a delightful time.

2020 Life Logs, Day 173: Gardening and Skate Park
Date: Monday, June 22, 2020
Weather: Foggy Morning, Partly Cloudy Afternoon; High 74, Low 63 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was another foggy morning, but the fog didn’t clear by noon as it has on most days recently. The overcast skies persisted into the afternoon.
Eventually we got a little sunshine, but it just didn’t feel like a beach day. So, after lunch, I persuaded the Goldpebbles to go to the Skate Park for an hour or so. We made a stop at the downtown skateboard shop on the way and I bought a trick skateboard to add to our repertoire of skate park equipment. Sam has a long skateboard, but that is not what is needed at the Skate Park. The new board ended up to be a great addition to the two scooters that we have. Both scooters are old and need to be replaced, but for today, at least, each of the boys had something to ride on. We basically had the whole park to ourselves and we all enjoyed our little outing. Sam used the new skateboard most of the time while Ollie and Jonah used the scooters. Fun time.

I came home to do a little cooking and finish a gardening project I began this morning. I restrung the bean tower that will serve as a trellis for the vining luffa sponge plants, put it in an area I cleared in Shirley’s landscaped area next door, and planted the seedlings I started inside in early May. Hopefully the plants will like the sunny spot and I will get lots of luffa sponges in the fall. These can be used as you would use any sponge. So, if I get a good crop it will be fun to experiment with different ways of using them.

2020 Life Logs, Day 172: Happy Father’s Day and Happy Birthday to Jo
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2020
Weather: Overcast Early, Then Sunny; High 80, Low 63 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Here’s hoping all of you fathers out there had a wonderful Father’s Day. And a very special Happy Father’s Day to the fathers of my grandchildren, Justin and Jed. I know Justin spent his day at the beach where Jo tried out her new paddleboard birthday gift from Justin. And I know Jed spent his afternoon at the beach because I was with him. We had a great time and I’m hoping that Justin, Jo, and kids also had a great day. Happy Birthday, Jo.

This morning I delivered the strawberry-rhubarb pie that I made for Jed for Father’s Day. Jed is still recovering from the biking accident he had recently, so he was the only Goldstone that did not participate in the 5k run for the Falmouth Education Association this morning. This fundraiser is usually a run on the waterfront and through the adjoining neighborhoods in Falmouth Heights. But because of the coronavirus, the run was done informally in various neighborhoods and parts of town. Heather and boys ran and biked in their neighborhood. I arrived shortly after the end of the race and was convinced by Sam that I needed to join in for a family afternoon at the beach. They had decided to go to Quissett so I could bring Shadow, so I headed back home to get things ready for the afternoon.

It was a beautiful and very warm afternoon with lots of people on the beaches. Unfortunately, when the Goldstones arrived at Quissett there was no place to park. They called me and told me to stay put. They were going to check out Menauhant and let me know if we could meet there. But that was also a no go because there was no place to park. The backup to the backup was my suggestion to try Callie’s Beach off a dirt road in Mashpee. This beach is on Waquoit Bay. I was introduced to it by Karen and Peter Baranowski and on weekdays there are usually very few people there. It was a little crowded on one end of the beach today, but on far end, there were only a couple of other families. I was able to take Shadow with me to this beach and we had a lovely afternoon. It is very shallow, so the boys could walk and snorkel far out into the bay. The boys were able to get Shadow to come out into the water a little ways with them, but he always headed back to shore to bury himself in the sand. I’m beginning to think he didn’t get the water gene. The boys and Jed and also launched into building sandcastles all along the water’s edge.

Before I left for the afternoon at the beach, I delivered a strawberry-rhubarb pie to the aunties next door and I got Shirley’s permission to plant my luffa sponge plants in her landscaped garden which gets full sun all day. I have no place in my yard that gets full sun, so I am very excited about getting Shirley’s permission to plant on her side of the driveway. I’m hoping to get that planting job done tomorrow. This evening when I got home from the beach, I gave Shadow a much needed bath to get rid of all that sand and then I headed down to the dock with him so he could dry off in the sunshine.
It was after 6 pm and at that time of day, the only sunny spot is down by the water. I love sitting on the dock in the sun, so we enjoyed almost an hour of drying time. Then it was back to The Cottage so I could bake a strawberry-rhubarb pie for myself. I watched a Masterpiece Theatre double-header and just had my first piece of that pie. It did not disappoint. But what was disappointing was that I had to spend part of the evening trying to deal with a computer issue. Something is blocking my email from coming into my Outlook account. I can get email on my phone but can’t get into it on the computer. Unfortunately, I will have to continue with that issue tomorrow.

2020 Life Logs, Day 171: First Day of Summer Strawberries
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 79, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

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My first official day of summer celebration was to go pick-your-own strawberries. Sam, Ollie, and Jonah went with me and we picked eight quarts. I thought it was fairly easy picking, but after about six quarts, they were tired. They found it hard to believe that some people have to do this all day, every day as a job. Sam doesn’t eat strawberries and won’t even touch them, so I sent him through the rows to scout out the best places to pick. But halfway through our picking time, he tried touching a strawberry and found it wasn’t as repulsive as he thought. So even he pitched in and helped pick. I sent them home with six of the quart baskets and I kept two and turned them into strawberry rhubarb pies—one for Jed for Father’s Day and one for me. If the Goldstones haven’t eaten all of the other six baskets by tomorrow morning, I think I’ll go get another one and make a pie for the aunties next door. In my opinion, strawberry rhubarb pie is simply one of the tastiest foods in the whole world.

Summer solstice came a day earlier than usual since 2020 is a leap year. Usually summer solstice falls on Jo’s birthday which is tomorrow. And tomorrow is also Father’s Day. So this is a bit of a festive weekend.

2020 Life Logs, Day 170:  Drip Irrigation System; Afternoon at Menauhant Beach
Date:  Friday, June 19, 2020
Weather:  Foggy AM, Sunny PM; High 78, Low 62 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

During a foggy early morning, I continued the work of expanding the drip irrigation system that I have set up in my three raised beds to a fourth bed and beyond.  Days ago, Jed and Jonah helped me clear a wooded area.  I have now planted tomatoes and squash there and this morning I extended the drip irrigation system to cover this area.  I didn’t quite finish the job but will continue tomorrow.  And I don’t have all the bits and pieces that I need to do the job as I would like, so I have ordered the parts and will add those later.  The good thing is that I can use the drip irrigation as is until I get the additional parts.  I love having the watering system on a timer and not having to worry about getting the hose out everyday to water.  It saves time and saves water.  Definitely a win, win situation.

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Later in the afternoon, I went to Heather and Jed’s to do a laundry and then take the Goldpebbles to Menauhant Beach for a couple of hours.  The boys seemed to really enjoy the afternoon.  They skipped rocks on the water and then treaded water.  Jonah treaded water for 15 minutes and then Sam had to do the same.  At one point, Jonah sat down and scooted his way down to the water.  It looked like track a sea turtle would make coming ashore to lay eggs.  But to Jonah it looked like a water slide and he and Ollie worked all afternoon to try and find ways to get water to slide down rather than just sink in the sand.  They added rocks.  When that didn’t work, they embedded a boogie board in the track and that did shed water.  Sam didn’t join in with the water slide project.  Instead, he spent a lot of time reading on the beach.  Jonah’s comment was, “That’s what teenagers do.”

I took the boys home and had dinner with them.  They wanted me to stay and watch an episode of Our Planet with them, but I really needed to get home to spend some time with Shadow.  But when I got home, I signed up for a free month of Netflix and watched the same episode of Our Planet that the Goldstones were watching.  It was about endangered forest wildlife.  

04 Dare, Dare, Double Dare–Take My Photo