2019 Life Logs, Day 135: From TN to NY to MA
Date: Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 58, Low 47 degrees F
Location: Back Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

In total, it took almost twelve hours, but I am back home tonight. It is actually only a three-and-a-half-hour flight direct, but I used American Airline Advantage miles to book and it didn’t allow for direct flights. So, I had a stopover in Washington, DC, on my way to Tennessee last week and a stop at LaGuardia in New York on my way home today. At least all flights were on time today and things went smoothly. It just made for a very long day. I landed in Boston at 3:20, caught the 3:35 bus to the Cape Cod Park and Ride, and arrived there just after 6 pm. I decided to stop at a favorite Cambodian restaurant that was on the way home for dinner and by the time I was home and unpacked it was 8 pm. Everything here looks almost like I left it. The fish aquarium water cleared a bit while I was gone, which is a good thing, but my tomato plant leaves have continued to yellow. Not sure if it is too much or too little water, but hopefully I can nurse them back to green. It always feels good to get home, but I’m so glad I went to spend some time with my sister.

2019 Life Logs, Day 134: Spring Cleaning
Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2019
Weather: Mixed Clouds AM, Beautiful Afternoon; High 68, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister Patsy Kerwood, Mt. Juliet, TN

It’s late, I’m tired, and I have to get up early to catch a 10 am flight home. So this will be short. I started my day by choosing some photos to be enlarged for my brother-in-law’s Celebration of Life with the neighbors on Saturday. The photos were on my computer, so I sent them to Walgreen’s and picked them up this evening. My niece Janet and I spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon using a power washer to clean the back covered patio and windows. There was lots of stubborn green mod and mildew, so the job took longer than we anticipated. Not a fun job, but we had a beautiful, sunny afternoon for being outside. So no complaints. I had no old work clothes with them, so I ended up wearing a pair of Joe’s Cleveland Browns pajama bottoms and an old shirt Janet brought for me to wear.

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2019 Life Logs, Day 133: Catching Up
Date: Monday, May 13, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 70, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister Patsy Kerwood, Mt. Juliet, TN

When I was here in late December, early January, I helped my sister begin putting away Christmas decorations. She has boxes and boxes and boxes of decorations that she puts out each year, and I thought we got most of it put away. But when I arrived this time, the den was still full of boxes that needed to be put on shelves in the garage. So today was the day of catching up–getting those boxes stored away and doing some other organizing and cleaning. When my niece Janet arrived in the early afternoon, she helped-out with the shuffling of boxes and then we took a load of cardboard to the recycling center and made a stop at Lowe’s for cleaning supplies for tomorrow’s jobs. At the end of the day of catching up, my sister and I had a nice dinner and then we watched two episodes of Downton Abbey. We watched episode one of season one last night, and I could see that my sister is hooked. I’ve put all six seasons on her Amazon Prime watchlist, so she’ll have something to keep her entertained for the next few weeks. Weather here is finally sunny, but the temperature has dropped from the 80’s to the 70’s and it feels chilly. But I got a text from Heather this evening saying there was show in western Massachusetts and rain with temps in the 40’s at home. She suggested I change my flight and stay a few more days. It will be back in the 80’s here by the weekend, so staying is certainly tempting!

2019 Life Logs, Day 132: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 12, 2019
Weather: Overcast; High 76, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister Patsy Kerwood, Mt. Juliet, TN

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you wonderful mothers out there. . . especially to the mothers of my grandchildren, my daughter Heather and my daughter-in-law Jo. Being a good mother is the most important job on earth. And as all mothers know, it can also be the hardest. There are times of joy and times of sorrow, times of success and times of failure, times of elation and times of deflation. But all of the time, there is love. I heard from Heather and from Justin today and Patsy heard from Jennifer and her daughter Janet took us out to dinner. So we were happy mothers. Patsy and I spent our afternoon on a Costco buying spree and returned home just in time to go out to dinner. “Belly up to the bar” is not an expression I would associate with my sister, but Janet took us to Burger Republic for dinner and there was a wait. So, we bellied up to the bar and waited there for a table. And I actually had the best burger I have ever had there. It was a Black and Bleu Salad—a burger atop a fantastic and huge salad sprinkled generously with bleu cheese. They have an ahi tuna burger salad that looks equally as good. We might have to go back tomorrow night to try that. Tomorrow we might get a tad of sunshine—something I haven’t seen since I arrived. Looking forward to that.

2019 Life Logs, Day 131: Another Low-key Day
Date: Saturday, May 11, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Light Rain; High 80, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister Patsy Kerwood, Mt. Juliet, TN

It was another low-key day here. Patsy and I both have the bad habit of going to bed too late and sleeping in until 8:00 or 8:30 in the morning. I was actually up first this morning and quietly came into the living room and worked on the jigsaw puzzle I was hoping to interest Patsy in working. But I think she prefers her crossword puzzles that she does every morning. We managed to talk away the morning, mostly searching the web for what foods are best to eat if you want to gain weight. Patsy has the opposite problem of most of the rest of us, needed to gain, not lose weight. In the afternoon, I had her take me to the Club House to sign me in as a guest in the guest in the Fitness Room so I could ride the stationary bike. She left me to do that and then I walked home in the mist. It is a seven-tenths of a mile, gently uphill walk, and it felt great to get the exercise in. We continued working on our puzzles and then it was time to go to a neighbor’s home for dinner. Her neighborhood has been so generous, providing her food for the past two weeks. The neighbors also invited Janet and Monica. This evening I have been going through photos of my brother-in that are on my computer and tomorrow will put together a portfolio of photos for a display at the first of three Celebration of Life memorials that will be held in his honor. The first one is next Saturday here in Dell-Web. I’ll be home by then, but I’m so glad that I can help prepare for the celebration. I did a Shutterfly book for Joe’s 80th birthday and therefore have the photos sent to me by friends and family members. Therefore, I have all the photos on my computer making it is easy to choose the ones to print. The weather has been consistently overcast, rainy, and hot since I have been here and tomorrow is forecast to be the same. On Monday and Tuesday we should see some sunshine here, but the high temp is going to go down into the 60’s. I wonder what the weather is like on Cape Cod?

2019 Life Logs, Day 130: Doing the ‘Necessaries’
Date: Friday, May 10, 2019
Weather: Mostly Overcast; High 82, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Sister Patsy Kerwood, Mt. Juliet, TN

This day was spent doing the ‘necessaries’. My niece Janet asked me to send out an invitation to neighbors for a Celebration of Life event for Joe next weekend. While doing that, I experienced some difficulties using Joe’s computer, so time was spent trying to fix those issues. And I also started a couple of cooking projects. These things took all morning and then it was time for me to go to get a massage, compliments of Janet as an early Mother’s Day present. She does this every time I come visit, and this was the best massage to date. Thank you, Janet! Just after I got home from the massage and some grocery shopping, Janet arrived and we had a late lunch, worked on more computer issues, and I worked on more cooking projects. Actually I did some prep for Patsy so she could make her delicious spaghetti sauce. This was my request and it was delicious. I snuck in a walk around the neighborhood before dinner and Patsy and I started working on a 1,500-piece jigsaw puzzle. We discussed all sorts of things we might do tomorrow, but finally decided to just stay home and spend healing time together. We’ve been invited to a neighbor’s home for dinner tomorrow night, so at least no more cooking tomorrow.

2019 Life Logs, Day 129: In Tennessee
Date: Thursday, May 9, 2019
Weather: Early Sun in MA, Overcast in TN; TN High 78, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home with my Sister Patsy Kerwood, Mt. Juliet, TN

I am here at home with my sister in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. She is doing amazingly well for just having lost Joe less than two weeks ago. I think this visit will be a laid back one where we just spend healing time together.

2019 Life Logs, Day 128: Three Sunny Days in a Row
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 64, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Three sunny days in a row. I think that is a first for this spring. We had lots of sunshine during the winter, but this spring, particularly April, has been cool, overcast, and rainy. So, the sunny days this week have been a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, when I look at the forecast in Nashville, it looks like thunderstorms for the next four days, then a little sunshine by the first of the week. But it will be considerably warmer, so that is a positive. I leave early in the morning to spend a few days with my sister in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. This is a growing community about 25 minutes from downtown Nashville. It will be two weeks on Saturday since my brother-in-law died and my sister seems to be holding up quite well. Needless to say, I am anxious to get there to spend time with her.

I drove to Hyannis this morning for an annual eye exam. Healthy eyes, no change since last year, so no need for new glasses. All good news. When I go to Hyannis, I always make a stop at Home Depot, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s, and today was no exception. After shopping, I came home and finished the canning of the last few jars of chicken mineral broth, did a little gardening, and then got ready to leave early tomorrow. I watered the plants, cleaned the aquarium, packed up food that won’t last to take to Heather’s, and packed my bag. Then I met the Goldstones at Smitty’s, their neighborhood ice cream shop. We all should have been at Ollie’s first grade music concert, but we got word this morning that it was cancelled as the music teacher couldn’t be there due to a personal issue. Ollie was really looking forward to his first school concert and ice cream at Smitty’s afterwards, thus the reason for a trip to Smitty’s. Some of his first grade friends, who were equally disappointed by the concert cancellation, were also at Smitty’s. After ice cream, I said my farewells and headed home. Tomorrow is an early one, so it is off to bed with me now.

2019 Life Logs, Day 127: Never a Lack of Things to Do
Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 57, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Second sunny day in a row and second super busy day in a row. A trip to the chiropractor and a long walk with friend Jane Woodin took the entire morning. In fact, after running a few errands in town and a stop by Heather and Jed’s to put a laundry in, it was almost 1:30 pm by the time I got home. Then I was back at Heather and Jed’s by 3:30 to spend the afternoon and evening with the boys. And I managed to get my laundry done as well. Heather arrived with Sam, who had drum lessons after school, just before 5 pm and then headed right back out the door to go to a PTO meeting to give an update on the courtyard project. From there she was going to a school volunteer’s dinner. Sam helped me fix dinner. He loves the new grill and he grilled the burgers. Jonah, the one who eats no meat but has actually decided he likes hamburgers, complimented Sam telling him he thought the ones he fixed tonight were the best he has ever had. Sam really is becoming quite a little chef with a whole repertoire of things he can fix on his own. Jed got home from Boston just in time for dinner, so after dinner I headed home. I am spending my evening canning the chicken mineral broth I made yesterday. Never a lack of things to do.

2019 Life Logs, Day 126: Busy Monday
Date: Monday, May 6, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 57, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

From a laid back, rainy Sunday to a busy, sunny Monday . . . making a huge batch of my magic chicken mineral broth, going to the gym to ride the stationary bike, walking the mile-long loop in my neighborhood, and working on organizing my photos. That job should have been done this winter, but somehow I made very little progress. I was super charged today and made an amazing amount of progress. Two more days like today, and I’ll be able to mark that job off my To Do list. Hurray! I begin tomorrow with a trip to the chiropractor for a back tune-up—nothing wrong, just routine. Then I head to West Falmouth to walk with friend Jane Wooden. I pick Jonah and Ollie up from school tomorrow and then have all three boys until bedtime. So I won’t have time to continue my photo project. Any time I do have will be spent packing for my trip to Tennessee to visit with my sister. I head to the bus station early Thursday morning for the trip to Boston and then fly out of Logan at 10 am. The weather there looks significantly warmer than here, but the forecast for my first few days there are for rain. I guess you just can’t escape the rain this spring.