2019 Life Logs, Day 115: Not As I Planned
Date: Thursday, April 25, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 58, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today didn’t go as I planned, but it was a good day. I start each day with a few knee exercises. I have to admit that I am not being as aggressive as I was, but my knee seems to be doing fine despite that. I start going back to the gym on May 1st, so hopefully I’ll do better then. After the knee exercises, I checked my email and saw a message from Heather that changed the rest of my plans for the day. Once in a while, she sees a home for sale that has a ‘grandmother apartment’ and has enough bedrooms for all the Goldpebbles. When one of these homes comes along that is affordable, we often take a look. So I did an early morning drive-by and thought the house deserved a look. I emailed Heather and asked if she would like me to contact our realtor and she said yes. I sent an email and got an afternoon appointment to do the preliminary look. I refer to the realtor as ‘ours’ as she is. She sold Heather and Jed their current home and has shown them, and me separately, many homes in the past couple of years. I think about buying the cottage I am currently living in, but because it is in the flood zone, I hesitate because of the cost of flood insurance. So, like Heather, when something promising pops up, I take a look. We will pursue this particular house this weekend and see where it leads.

I did some food shopping on my first trip out this morning, came home and had lunch, did the house tour, and then I headed to the Goldstones. Jed picked Jonah and Ollie up from school and then I took Ollie to his violin lesson. Watching Ollie play the violin makes me feel so proud. I am definitely a doting grandmother, but he is really quite good after only a few lessons. And he is so very serious. Very much like his mother when she was his age. After the lesson, we headed home so Jed could leave for an EPA Superfund meeting across the bridge in New Bedford. I fixed dinner for the boys and stayed until Heather got home from her evening fundraising time on the air. So goes a day in the life.

2019 Life Logs, Day 114: Sunny and Warm
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm; High 70, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

What a lovely day. It was sunny and warm with the high temperature reaching 70. Woohoo! For the most part, our high temps have been in the 40’s, 50’s, and only sometimes in the 60’s, even when places inland have been much warmer. That’s because we are on surrounded by water and that water temperature is chilly. That same water will warm up some by mid-summer, but it is what keeps us from needing air conditioning when those inland are burning hot. But for whatever reason, we had a delightfully warm day today.

I started my day by going to take Jonah and Ollie to school. They were ready to go half an hour early as they wanted to play tennis on the school courts before school started. So off we went. They had fun playing and then were off to school for the day. I drove to the feed and seed store close to here to return a bunch of asparagus roots that Heather could not use. I traded them for seed potatoes and came home to cut those and let them dry for the day before planting tomorrow. I also stopped at a local nursery and picked up a few pansies to plant in planters out by the drive-way. I then continued with my indoor gardening and got things like cucumbers, spaghetti squash, zucchini, pumpkin, and sunflower seeds planted and I finished transplanting the tomato plants from small planters to larger ones. Hopefully the seeds I planted today will germinate quickly and the seedlings will be ready to plant outside by the end of May. I planted arugula, romaine lettuce, and tat soi (an Asian green) seeds outside in the raised beds. This required a quick trip to the hardware store to get some additional organic garden soil. And I went for a nice long walk. It was a delightful day.

2019 Life Logs, Day 113: Indoor Gardening Day
Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Weather: Overcast with a Little Sunshine Late Day; High 54, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

This overcast, cool spring weather just doesn’t motivate me to work on gardening outside. Even if it did, it is too soon to plant much. So, I turned my attention to indoor gardening today. It is time to plant seeds for those things that can planted outside the end of May. I also worked on transplanting peppers and tomatoes seedlings from small pots to larger pots. I have more to do tomorrow, but I got a good start. Then mid-afternoon, I went to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school as I do every Tuesday. Heather was in Boston all afternoon and evening, so Jed had to pick Sam up from his drum lesson in Woods Hole after school before heading home. When they got home, I elicited Sam’s help in getting a new net on one of the soccer goals before I headed home. I fixed a veggie curry and chicken tiki masala for dinner, and just as I was finishing up I got a Skype call from Sam. He has an iPhone but he is not allowed to use it for phone calls. He can make Skype calls. He knows I have Skype on my phone, but Jed doesn’t. So when he realized it was near the end of his Scout meeting and suddenly realized the people he thought were taking him home had left early, he Skyped me immediately to come pick him up or to contact Jed to have him come. It was time for Jonah and Ollie to be going to bed, so I said I would come. Unfortunately, his Scout meetings are in North Falmouth which is almost 15 minutes from here. I got there 5 minutes late, but people were still there, so no problem. Tomorrow I’ll start my day by heading over to Heather and Jed’s to take Ollie and Jonah to school. It is spring fund-raising time for public radio stations, and unfortunately, Heather has the 6 to 9 am shift tomorrow morning and Jed has a 9 am meeting. So, I will gladly go take J & O to school and then come home and continue my indoor gardening. And if the weather forecast is correct, we might get some sunshine and warmth. In that case, I might plant a few things outside as well.

2019 Life Logs, Day 112: It’s Earth Day
Date: Monday, April 22, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 53, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was the 49th anniversary of Earth Day, the first Earth Day being observed on April 22, 1970. This year’s theme is ‘Protect Our Species’. The aim is to draw attention to the rapid extinction of species across the world. This rapid extinction is directly linked to human activity that contributes to climate change and one of those activities is the use of plastics. So I have made a commitment to stop buying single-use plastic, meaning plastic that you use once and throw away or recycle. And on this very day, I already broke my commitment. I was at a movie with friends and was very thirsty. I had forgotten to bring my water bottle, so I bought a bottle of water. Plastic water bottles are one of the worst offenders of single-use plastic. I am very aware of my actions and their impact on the environment, but even I screwed up on this special day. So, I need your help. I ask you to join me in this commitment. No more single-use plastic, especially no plastic water bottles. Buy multiple glass or stainless-steel water bottles and keep one with you all the time. I keep one in my car, but I was not the driver today. So, lesson learned. I need to keep a small stainless-steel water bottle in my purse. Avoiding single-use plastic is not easy, but we can do it if we support each other . . . together!

It was another overcast, rainy day—a great day for going to an afternoon film. The Cape Cinema is about a 45-minute drive, so friends Olivia White, Karen Baranowski, Jane Woodin, and I piled into Karen’s car and she drove us to Dennis in the Mid-Cape area. The Cape Cinema is a delightful venue—was built to look like a church on the outside that has an Art-Deco interior. Films and other performances that won’t draw audiences into regular theaters are hosted at Cape Cinema. Today’s film was Rembrandt, an Exhibition on Screen film. It was like touring two of the foremost art museums in the world with expert guides telling us all about the art and the man behind the art. Great way to learn about art and the artists.

2019 Life Logs, Day 111: ‘Hoppy’ Easter
Date: Sunday, April 21, 2019
Weather: Overcast with a Bit of Sun Late Day; High 61, Low 47 degrees F b
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

For those of you who observe Easter, I hope you had a ‘hoppy’ day with family or friends.

I tend to think of Easter as a time of rebirth and when I went to Heather’s this morning to feed the guinea pigs and finish up some laundry, I was so excited to see that yesterday she had been successful in getting one large raised bed filled with garden soil and had transplanted the asparagus and rhubarb from the backyard garden and planted a whole bed of new asparagus roots. It was bursting with new plant life. And the daffodils and hyacinths in front of the house added to feeling of spring despite the overcast day. Heather and family returned from their overnight trip to the Outer Cape this afternoon and came here for dinner. We started with an Easter Egg hunt followed by a ‘grazing table’ in the living room with fresh, raw sugar pod peas, chilled asparagus, deviled eggs, cucumber sticks, mozzarella cheese balls, and roasted beets. This was my favorite part of the meal. I’m not sure what a traditional Easter dinner is supposed to include, but I served artichokes followed by salad and frenched bone-in pork loin. Artichokes are one of the few vegetables that all the Goldpebbles will eat, so they are a favorite choice for our dinner together. The frenched bone-in pork roast was a new cut of meat for me. It was easy to fix and was so tender, making it a big hit with everyone except Jonah. Basically, the only meat he eats is chicken, so I had breaded chicken tenders for him. But it was so good that I’ll definitely plan to have that again. After dinner, Justin called and we had a whole family Skype video call. Not being able to be together with the whole family on holidays is hard for me, so I am so grateful for Skype video calls. And speaking of being grateful, at dinner tonight I made a comment about something that was said at the Newcomers ‘For Your Health’ group that I attended last week. Sam turned to me and said, “You really belong to a lot of groups.” And that made me smile. Joining the Falmouth Newcomers Club after Mark died was a really positive decision in my life. And two years later, I do belong to a lot of Newcomers sub-groups—my wonderful Dining-in Group, For Your Health, Technology Tips, Women in Newcomers, the Singles Group, the Teachers’ Field Trip Group, the Shellfishers, and Biking. And I’m thinking of joining a walking group. So on this holiday weekend when I am missing family members that live afar, I just want to say how grateful I am to be a part of such a vibrant community of friends made through Newcomers.

2019 Life Logs, Day 110:  Day Trip to Boston Area
Date:  Saturday, April 20, 2019
Weather:  Overcast and Windy, Rain Late Afternoon; High 67, Low 54 degrees F
Location:  At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Before heading north to the Boston area for the afternoon, I went over to Heather and Jed’s to say farewell to Marti.  Heather, Jed, Marti, and the boys headed to Wellfleet on the Outer Cape this afternoon for an overnight at the Wellfleet Audubon Society as Heather hosted the showing of a film there tonight.  They will return tomorrow, but Marti will be taking the bus to Boston so I’m not sure I will see her.  After saying farewell, I drove north to Brockton, south of Boston, to meet my sister-in-law Sue and my niece Lynn for lunch.  My sister-in-law is visiting from Florida to celebrate her birthday, the birthday of her other daughter Candi, and one of Candi’s grandchildren, Hailey.  Hailey is my sister-in-law’s only great grandchild, so coming up for her birthday every year is becoming a tradition.  We met for lunch at 1 pm and visited for almost three hours.  We had a lot to catch-up on!  I then did a shopping stop at Costco and a much longer stop at a Whole Foods located on the way home.  There were hordes of people doing last minute Easter shopping.  When I finally headed home, it started pouring rain which slowed the trip home.  And then I realized that I had forgotten a couple of food items and made one more shopping stop plus a stop at Heather’s to feed the guinea pigs and put in a laundry load for myself.  It was close to 8 pm when I got home.  Tomorrow evening, Heather and gang will come over for Easter dinner.  I had hoped to do some of the prep work tonight, but I was useless.  I have no other plans for tomorrow, so I’ll spend my day finishing up the laundry, relaxing, and cooking—a good way to spend a rainy Easter Sunday.

2019 Life Logs, Day 109: The Lovely Melding of Cultures and Traditions
Date: Friday, April 19, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny AM, Overcast PM, Windy; High 67, Low 58 degrees F b
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was Good Friday, Passover, and the April full moon. How do these things connect? I’m not sure I am clear on all of the connections, but I do know that Jesus celebrated a Passover meal with his followers the day before his crucifixion. Christians observe Good Friday as the day of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and death. Jews observe Passover commemorating the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. These two things are not connected, but the dates of observance are often close together. Easter happens sometime between March 21 and April 25, determined by the full moon. Passover is celebrated on the first Full Moon following the spring equinox. Today is the full moon, so today was Passover and Good Friday and Sunday is Easter. I celebrated the day my pitching in on spring house cleaning at the Goldstone’s, going to be with good friends in my dining-in group pre-dinner, and then heading back to Heather and Jed’s for a Passover Seder. The dining-in group was meeting at Bruce and Jane Woodin’s home. They have a vaulted ceiling open to the second floor and I went upstairs to get a photo of the group below. Jane had the dining table beautifully set in an Easter theme and I got a photo of her displaying Midge’s pecan pie. I so enjoyed getting to see everyone before moving on the Heather and Jed’s for the Seder. When I arrived the boys were playing a game in the living room and Heather and Jed were doing the final preparations for the Seder. But shortly, Heather lit the candles beginning the Seder. This year, all three boys were able to take an active part. Unfortunately, Sam has what seems to be the flu. He spent the entire day in bed, but he was able to come downstairs and participate. Today included activities that were a wonderful melding of cultures and traditions from Easter to Passover. And I got to sent the entire day with good friends and family.

2019 Life Logs, Day 108: The Joy of Dirt
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2019
Weather: Overcast, Misty Turning to Rain in PM; High 60, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

My early morning PT appointment ended up to be not so early. I arrived at 8:30 am as I have for the past few weeks to find out that today’s appointment was at 10:30 am. If I had checked my calendar, I would have known that. But I was on automatic. I spent the time between doing a little garden shopping for Heather. Waquoit Feed and Seed is on my to and from PT, so I picked up a couple of dozen asparagus rootings and checked out another nursery on the way to see if they had strawberry plants. Too early for those, but they will be arriving in the next couple of weeks. After my PT session, I headed to Heather’s and found everyone outside working in the mist. Grammy Marti was fully dressed for the weather and was busy pruning bushes. Jed was pruning the big bushes with the electric trimmer and Heather was assembling the fir st of the raised beds. The boys were raking up the trimmings and Ollie was delivering that to the compost pile using his little tractor and wagon. I pitched in by digging up some irises from one area to another and then removing the sod to form a new herb garden. As I delivered the irises to the new area, Marti took over and replanted them. Heather got the first raised bed assembled and Jed worked with her to bring wheel barrows of dirt from the driveway to dump in the new bed. Jonah and Sam left with a neighbor to go to a special activity and Ollie took advantage of their absence to play in the new dirt Jed had delivered to the boys’ digging area. He dug holes and laid in the dirt, poured dirt over his head . . . the joy of dirt. While he was doing that, Heather put together another raised bed and Jed started filling that with dirt. Nine yards of garden soil had been delivered a few days ago and that huge pile in the driveway was the source of all this joyful dirt. Teamwork was the name of the game today and despite the uncooperative weather, lots of yard work was completed. I escaped during all of this and headed downtown to get a dump permit for Heather and Jed’s van and to do some shopping for the Easter Bunny. I was pleased that I was able to do some digging using my new knee, but I didn’t want to overdo it. So, volunteering for the trip into town was the perfect activity for me. Tomorrow’s plan is to do some basement clean-out and take the unwanted things to the dump—thus the reason for the trip into town to get the permit. When I returned from my downtown trip, it was seriously raining. But Marti was still pruning, Ollie was still rejoicing in the digging area, and Heather and Jed were will working to fill the second raised bed with dirt. They were all soaking wet. I said my farewells and headed north to Mashpee to complete the shopping. Things we need for tomorrow night’s Seder were not available in Falmouth, but I did find them in Mashpee. Due to a Stop n’ Shop strike, we now have only one grocery store in Falmouth and it does not have all the things we need. So food shopping has become quite a time consuming experience. Mashpee has two grocery stores, but one is a Shop ‘n Shop, so the one grocery store in each town is always super crowded . . . especially with the holiday shopping. I got home around 6:30, fixed dinner, and settled in to watch the news of the day while completing my coffee table puzzle. Hurray! No more puzzles until winter approaches.

2019 Life Logs, Day 107: A Day of Sunshine
Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Breezy; High 58, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

I spent my day enjoying the sunshine as it looks like the next four days are going to be mostly cloudy with rain. Yes, April showers bring May flowers, but I struggle with the rainy days. I LOVE sunshine. I spent my morning in attending a Newcomers ‘For Your Health’ presentation. The topic was ‘Detox Your Life’. It was a good presentation, but a little depressing. There are toxins everywhere—in our food, in our cleaning projects, in our personal care products, in our furniture, in our water, and on and on. After the presentation, I felt pretty good as I have already gotten many of these toxins out of my life. But there is more to do. I came home to have lunch, took a nice long walk along the beach, and planted a few things in my raised beds. I also prepared the indoor growing trays for planting more seedlings. I spent way too much of my evening working on the jigsaw puzzle on my coffee table. I am making progress,

but when this puzzle is completed, I am swearing off puzzles until next winter. They are addictive and take way too much of my time in this busy season intended for outdoor activities. When I just wrote ‘coffee table’, I wondered where that term came from. When I Googled it, I found that the first coffee tables, designed as low tables to sit in front of a sofa where beverages can be served, appear to have been made in Britain in the late Victorian era. The idea could have come from the low tables used by the Japanese or in Ottoman Empire. But if the current iteration originated in Britain, why weren’t they called Tea Tables? Mine is used for working puzzles, so I guess it is puzzle table with no beverages allowed! Tomorrow after an early morning physical therapy session, I will be outside, come rain or shine. Hopefully the rain will hold off until late afternoon as there is a full day of gardening and yard work planned at the Goldstones.

2019 Life Logs, Day 106: A Little Easter Fun
Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny, A Little Windy; High 57, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a mostly sunny day, warm enough, but with a breeze that I found a little cool. Heather had to work today, but when I sent a text asking if there was anything I could do to help out with the boys, she texted back that Ollie really wanted to decorate Easter Eggs. Since it was on the cool side, it was a perfect day for me to go the Goldstones and stay inside to organize the Easter egg decoration activities for Sam, Jonah, and Ollie, as well as Molly and Joey from next door. Ollie and Jonah are still young enough to be enthusiastic about decorating eggs. Sam, on the other hand, is old enough to say he didn’t want to, but when the time came, he jumped right in. When I first arrived, Sam and Jed were deep into putting together a beautiful new Weber grill that they bought yesterday. I boiled the eggs while the other kids played inside. Then it was then time for lunch. I fixed lunch for the kids, and after they ate, I covered the table and set up the dye cups and other decorating options. I then went home to eat my lunch and returned mid-afternoon to help with the Egg dying. I also pitched by doing a little laundry and toy clean up. Tomorrow the Goldstones go to Boston to pick up Jed’s mom at the airport and then they will spend the afternoon at the Museum of Science. I am staying home to attend a Newcomers group called For Your Health. This is a group that just started meeting in January. Due to various appointments and my knee surgery, this will be the first meeting for me. I’m looking forward to meeting with a group of people interested in learning more about healthy living habits. The weather is supposed to be beautiful again tomorrow, so maybe after the meeting I’ll get a few things planted in my raised beds. Then on Thursday, rain or shine, Heather and Jed have declared a day of yard work at their house and Grammy Marti and I will both pitch in.