2019 Life Logs, Day 264: Soccer Day x Three
Date: Saturday, September 21, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 80, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Tomorrow is the last full day of Summer 2019 and I am hoping to go to the beach to celebrate. It is not supposed to be as warm as today, but if it is sunny and in the 70’s, I’ll be happy. I spent today on various soccer fields and the glorious weather was enjoyed by all. Jonah’s home game was at 11:45, Ollie’s game was at 1:30 on the field in Falmouth Heights, and Sam’s game was away at 3:00. Thankfully it was not far away, so I was able to attend all three. At the end of the day, Jed and Jonah headed to the Outer Cape to hear a concert by the Yale Whiffenpoofs, “the world’s oldest and most renowned collegiate a cappella group.” Sam and Ollie weren’t interested in going, so Heather, Sam and friend Sebastian, Ollie, and I headed to the BBC (British Beer Company) for dinner. Heather eats very little meat, but she was anxious to try The Impossible Burger that is now on the BBC menu. It looks, tastes, and smells like ground beef, but is made entirely of plants. I ordered one as well, and it did indeed taste like a burger!

2019 Life Logs, Day 263: Wine Explorers at the Cottage
Date: Friday, September 20, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Tonight I hosted my Newcomers Wine Explorers group here at the cottage. Thankfully it is only ten people and tonight there were just nine of us. That works in the cottage’s small space. As host of the evening, I set the type of wine we would explore, and tonight it was wine from Chile. Each couple brings a hearty appetizer to go with the wine they bring. As one person said tonight, this is more a cultural group then a wine group as we share the details of the wine we bring and bring food appropriate to the country and the type of wine. For instance, tonight I brought a wine from the Curicó valley in central Chile. But other wines were from other locations. So, we start to learn a little about the geography as well as the food choices. I made empanadas, a meat filled pastry, and Chilean corn humitas which is corn pudding wrapped in corn husks. I also provided dessert which was Chilean fruit tart with a quinoa crust. I always thought quinoa came from a South American grass, but actually it is a relative to spinach and amaranth. It originated in the northwestern Andean region of South America. I was a little apprehensive about serving this as I was afraid no one would kike the quinoa crust, but actually it went over quite well. Great evening with a whole new set of friends.

2019 Life Logs, Day 262: Back to Beautiful Weather
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 71, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was sunny and warmer today, but the nighttime temp will be in the upper 40’s again tonight. Then we’ll be back to 70’s during the day and 60’s or upper 50’s at night. Much better. I did a lot of experimental cooking today, visited with Karen Baranowski, got my hair trimmed (2 inches off twice a year keeps my hair in control), went to the gym and did 30 minutes on a bike, went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned, and visited with Jane and Bruce Woodin. I’ll be spending tomorrow getting ready to host my Newcomers Wine Explorers group and then enjoying the evening with them. Busy, busy.

2019 Life Logs, Day 261: Chilly
Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Weather: Overcast; High 61, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The heat came on during the night just to keep the inside temperature at 66 degrees. The outside temperature was in the upper 40’s. Just a rude reminder that the fall equinox is coming soon—Monday early, early morning. I’ll still hope for an Indian Summer in October, but we shall see. I spent my day doing a little research on wines from Chile and food pairings for those wines as I am hosting my Wine Explorers group here at the cottage on Friday evening. We focus on wines from a different region at each gathering and the host gets to name the region. Off the cuff, I said we would focus on Chilean wines having no idea that it is almost impossible to find good wines from Chile around here. I went to Hyannis today to search, but I didn’t find what I was looking for. While there, I went to Whole Foods to get ingredients for the appetizer that I will fix to go with my wine, and spent some time this evening in food prep. But as I have for the past three nights, I spent the last two hours watching another installment of Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary. Loving the stories being told in the series.

2019 Life Logs, Day 260: New Look in the Cottage
Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 69, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The Having of Wonderful Ideas is a book by Eleanor Duckworth, but I often change that to say, ‘The Having of Wonderful Family and Friends.’ As I mentioned in yesterday’s log, my friends Peter and Karen Baranowski are getting new living room furniture and they offered me their Norwegian-built leather sofa and loveseat. Heather and Jed spent time after work today getting those pieces moved from Karen and Peter’s here to the cottage. The new look is great. So, thank you to wonderful friends and family.

I spent time this morning meeting with two women from the Bourne Newcomers and Neighbors Club to plan a possible Voyage of Windbird presentation for them for February. And then I met here at home with friend Olivia White who is having a knee replacement next week. When Olivia does something, she does it right. So she is meeting with everyone she knows that has had a knee replacement to get any and all advice. Her surgery is next Wednesday and I wish her the best of luck. She has been exercising and has a great positive attitude. So she is definitely ready. Go, Olivia!

I just learned that Cokie Roberts died. Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg, and Cokie Roberts were known as the ‘troika’ of public radio in its formative years. Along with Linda Wertheimer, National Public Radio has often called them the “Founding Mothers of NPR.” Their voices and their wonderful reporting throughout the years have made them all feel like good friends to me. All were pioneers for women in journalism and Cokie will be missed.

2019 Life Logs, Day 259: Free and Easy Day
Date: Monday, September 16, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 78, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This was a free and easy day for me. I went to the gym this morning for a pilates class for the first time in months. And I could certainly feel that I am out of shape. But I made it through it and then stopped by the Baranowski’s on the way home to measure some furniture that I am going to be the lucky recipient of tomorrow. Karen and Peter are getting new living room furniture that is being delivered on Thursday and they offered their beautiful leather sofa and loveseat to me. I had hoped to move my sofa into the smallest bedroom that Ollie claims as his, but it just won’t fit. And it is too big to put in the basement, so I need to quickly find a new home for it. But I decided to worry about that tomorrow. When I got home, I decided to head down to the dock to enjoy the intermittent sunshine and ended up falling asleep for a little nap as it is so peaceful by the water. I then had lunch and managed to putter away the rest of the day. It was delightful. Hopefully I’ll be more productive tomorrow, but I figure everyone deserves a day off once in a while and today was mine.

2019 Life Logs, Day 258: Computer Blues and Country Music
Date: Sunday, September 15, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

A great part of my day, and of Heather’s day, was spent dealing with the fact that I haven’t been able to send or receive emails on my computer since Friday. The computer blues, once again. I could send and receive emails on my phone, but not through Outlook on my computer since Friday. With persistence, Heather figured out the problem, so thank you, thank you, Heather. But computer issues are so frustrating and time consuming. If I were a talented writer, I’m sure I could write a song expressing the feelings you have when technology just isn’t doing what you want and need it to do. But song lyrics are just not my strength. I must say, however, that watching the first two hours of Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary tonight encouraged my creative side. In this first installment of the series, the history of country music up to 1933 was covered. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. I heard songs tonight that I grew up listening to, whether I wanted to listen to them or not. And whether I wanted them to become a part of my very inner soul or not, they are there. Learning the history of how this music evolved is fascinating and I love the way the story is being told in this series. But the one unexpected thing that I heard tonight was the link between church music in this country and the church music of the South Pacific today. One of the joys of sailing across the Pacific was going to churches on Sundays and listening to the fascinating harmonizing of the church congregations. Everyone in the church would start singing and then people would just start singing different parts resulting in fabulous sounds. In the documentary tonight I heard that exact same kind of singing in the churches and tabernacles in this country in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. I had never made that connection. There is so much that connects all of us on this earth and it is a beautiful thing.

2019 Life Logs, Day 257: Happy Birthday to Justin
Date: Saturday, September 14, 2019
Weather: Sunny, Rain Late; High 75, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I mentioned Justin’s birthday in last night’s log, but since today is his birthday, I want to once again say, “Happy Birthday, Justin.” It is also his Uncle Steve’s birthday, Mark’s brother, so happy birthday to Steve. And Mark’s sister Jeanie has a birthday tomorrow. It is Handley birthday time. Justin and Jo are playing in a music festival in Dixon, New Mexico tonight. There is nothing he would rather be doing than playing music, so I know Justin is enjoying his birthday.

I woke up to the happy sounds of little boys (actually not so little any more). We had breakfast and then Heather came for Sam at 8:45 as he had a Scout commitment. I took Ollie and Jonah home in time for them to get to their respective soccer games. I went to Ollie’s game as it was in town, but Jed had to take Jonah to an away game about an hour or so from here. When they returned Jonah was beaming as he scored a ‘hat trick’ which is three consecutive goals. But back to the afternoon, all I can say is that it was a big crazy. Jonah and Jed didn’t get back home until 3:30. Heather had a party to attend with folks from her work, Ollie had a birthday party to attend, and Sam had to go to an Eagle Scout Court of Honor and then to his soccer game. I helped out by shuttling Sam around, but I didn’t get to go to his soccer game as I was going to ‘dinner and a movie’ in Woods Hole. And that was fantastic.

The Woods Hole Film Festival showcases independent films during a dedicated week in the summer and then monthly showings throughout the year. Tonight, the featured film was Maiden, the story of British sailor Tracy Edwards who skippered an all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race in 1989. It was a first for the Whitbread to have women in the race and the documentary uses video taken during the race by one of the crew members. Much of the sailing in this race is done in the southern ocean which is unbelievably challenging and the video really shows what they had to endure. These women did the unthinkable, even in 1989. The Guardian and other British news outlets didn’t believe women could do this. They thought they would be out in the first leg. But those young women prevailed. What a great story.

2019 Life Logs, Day 256: Goldpebble Overnight
Date: Friday, September 13, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 72, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Beautiful day, especially considering it was Friday the 13th. The moon will be full just after midnight EDT, but two hours earlier Mountain Daylight Time where Justin is in New Mexico. But we’ll still say he got a full harvest moon for his 42nd birthday tomorrow. I talked to Justin briefly tonight and wished him a happy birthday a few hours early and we talked about how special it is to have a full moon as a birthday present.

The Goldpebbles are sleeping over tonight. Heather and Jed went out to a show written by Sam’s drum teacher and two other people. It is called Black Inscription and the reviews tell me it is a music concert that mixes arts and science. Using music, sound, and imagery, it takes the audience into the oceans. One review said, “Part documentary and part rock opera . . . The music is evocative and as undulating as the water self: its effect is hypnotic . . . mesmerizing . . .” I’ll be really anxious to hear Heather and Jed’s review. Sounds fascinating. Tonight the boys and I watched a movie called Oddball, a true story of how a dog saved a small colony of fairy penguins in southern Australia (called little blues in New Zealand). We all really enjoyed it because there was a lot of comedy even though the story line was serious. Tomorrow is a soccer day for all three boys. I’m afraid I got them to bed a little later than normal, but I’m hoping that they might sleep in tomorrow morning. I know that is asking for a small miracle, but the first couple of weeks of school have been exhausting for them and a little extra sleep would be a good thing.

2019 Life Logs, Day 255: Wonderful Dinner Honoring Granddad
Date: Thursday, September 12, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Rain in the AM; High 73, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I attended the first Newcomers meeting of the year this morning and signed up for way too many activities—a walking group, a hiking group, a biking group, a health-issues group, a tech-issues group, a gardening group, a book club, a wine explorers group, a women’s dining group, a singles group, and I think a few more. So, I should have no problem keeping busy this year! But the highlight of my day with dinner with Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. The first year after Mark’s death, in September of 2017, we had dinner at the Flying Bridge on Falmouth Harbor in honor of Granddad. Last year I was traveling and had dinner in Philadelphia with Kevin and Claire and Claire’s parents who were visiting from Canada. And this year I invited the Goldstones to have dinner at the Chart Room at Kingman Marina. It is a little north of here, but still on the Cape. Back in the 1990’s we kept our then sailboat, Skybreaker, at Kingman even though we lived in New Hampshire. And during graduate school, Heather lived aboard Skybreaker there for a year. The boys had never been there, so it seemed like a good choice for dinner.

Heather was in Boston today, so she was going to meet us there. I went a little early to pick up Jed and the boys, played basketball with Jonah, and then waited for the boys to get dressed. Jed just asked them to wear a collared shirt, but they all looked really spiffy. I was honored to take such handsome young men to dinner. We all had wonderful meals and the boys enjoyed sitting at the piano bar and listening to the music. And I think the piano player enjoyed their attention. We had a fantastic waitress who asked each of the boys where they go to school. When Jonah said that he goes to Morse Pond, she asked him if he knew a particular teacher. Just so happens the teacher she asked about is his homeroom teacher and he is also the weekend bartender at the Chart Room. And his children work there as well. I think Jonah began to feel like a part of the Chart Room family. Sam was delighted that he could make requests at the piano bar and Ollie looked absolutely love struck watching the piano player. Jonah pointed out that we had to have dessert in Granddad’s honor as that was his favorite part of any meal, and Jonah’s as well. So we did. After dessert, the boys went out to take photos of the boats on the dock and in the anchorage. The moon was beautiful, just a little shy of full. It was chilly tonight, but otherwise, I don’t think it could have been a more perfect evening . . . certainly an evening Mark would have enjoyed.