2018 Life Logs, Day 350: More Christmas Shopping and Travel Plans
Date: Sunday, December 16, 2018
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 42, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Those Christmas shopping loose ends that I had hoped to “tie up” a few days ago are still out there dangling around. I did make progress today and that required a trip to Hyannis in the pouring rain. I am really hoping to get the shopping done so I can start working on baking cookies for Heather and Jed’s Solstice party on Friday evening. It rained yesterday and today and is supposed to clear up for the week. But, unfortunately, the rain is forecast to return on Friday. Not sure what that will do to the solstice fire plans. Make the forecast will change. We also are traveling to New Bedford on Wednesday evening to attend a Celtic Sojourn. I went last year and loved it, so I recommended it for the whole family this year. Sure hope they enjoy it as much as I did last year.

Sam returned from his weekend camp-out, a bit wet and sleep deprived, but he had a great time. He worked on his gingerbread house today and Heather sent a picture of the completed gingerbread village. It looks spectacular. Can’t wait to see it in person.

I have finalized my holiday travel plans. On Sunday, Heather and family, as well as myself will drive to Cambridge to attend Revels and afterwards we will continue on to Boothbay, Maine, to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Jed’s mother’s summer home. They will stay, but I will head back to New Hampshire on the 26th to visit with good friends Detta and Tom Porat, and early the next morning, I will drive to Nyack to spend a day or two with Ed and Lynne Kirwin. Then I drive back home to check on things and fly to Nashville to visit with my sister and brother-in-law. It is a bit of a crazy schedule, but I am really looking forward to visiting with friends and family.

2018 Life Logs, Day 349: Santa, Gingerbread House Decorating, Watching White Christmas
Date: Saturday, December 15, 2018
Weather: Cloudy with Rain; High 42, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Did you know that Bing Crosby was an elf? Well, last night while watching Irving Berlin’s White Christmas with Heather and family, my nine year-old grandson Jonah said, “Bing Crosby has really big ears. And he has very blue eyes. I think he‘s an elf.” Needless to say, this comment brought more than a few chuckles. None of us will ever be able to look at Bing Crosby again without seeing the elf!

So I spent my evening at Heather and Jed’s having dinner and watching a movie. Back up from that, and I spent the afternoon there as well helping (mostly watching) as Jonah and Ollie decorated their gingerbread houses. This is an annual affair and this year they wanted to create scenes. The finished houses were set on pieces of cardboard. Then they added sidewalks and snowy drive-ways, complete with trucks and snowplows. These were definitely little boy gingerbread creations. Sam was not home as he is at his first Boy Scout winter camp-out. Thankfully it is not too cold. And I doubt that the drizzling rain will dampen the spirits of boys who love to spend their weekends in the woods just messing about.

Now back up again to this morning. I headed to Woods Hole with Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie. WE went to meet Santa who was arriving on the small research fishing vessel, the Gloria Michelle.Jed misunderstood Heather when she said the name and thought she said the name was The Glory of the Shell. A much better name for a fishing vessel in Woods Hole! Santa arrived and he passed the authenticity test of the boys. They decided this was the REAL Santa, but Ollie was still unwilling to sit on his lap and tell him what he wants for Christmas. He prefers sending a letter to the North Pole. This event was sponsored by the Woods Hole Aquarium, so we went inside and enjoyed the special activities. Watching a young female octopus (estimated to be about 8 months old) play hide and seek in her aquarium. She would hide in a flower pot in the aquarium to give her shelter and then come and out explore for a bit before retiring once again. I’ve never thought of an octopus as ‘adorable’, but this one was fascinating to watch and absolutely adorable.

2018 Life Logs, Day 348: Newcomers Holiday Luncheon
Date: Friday, December 14, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warmer; High 45, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The Newcomers Holiday Luncheon was today. I had volunteered to help with check-in, so I left home before 11 am and didn’t get back home until almost 3 pm. I made a stop at the Post Office on the way home to send a package to Puerto Rico and then headed home to keep working on tying up those Christmas gift “loose ends”. Friends from my Dining-in Group, Karen Baranowski and Midge Frieswyk, organized the luncheon. The setting was lovely and the food was delicious. Good job, ladies. And in addition to the delightful luncheon, the weather today was a treat. It was sunny and warmer than it has been for days. That was rejoiced by all.

2018 Life Logs, Day 347: Taking Care of Loose Ends
Date: Thursday, December 13, 2018
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 36, Low 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

A morning at home taking care of loose ends in terms of Christmas gifts and then an afternoon attending a Newcomers Technology Tips class at the library. The class is really excellent. It is helping me understand just how much I don’t know, but the instructors are good and they are patient. I picked Jed up at the bus station tonight. He had a good trip to England. Tomorrow I send the last Christmas package to Puerto Rico and then attend a Newcomers Holiday Luncheon. Today was good for my knee. I basically sat at my computer for hours and my knee is much better. I guess it likes no movement versus exercise right now. I have put the exercise on the shelf for a few days until I see the orthopedic assistant next Tuesday.

2018 Life Logs, Day 346: RISD Tour and Elementary Chorus Concert
Date: Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Weather: Overnight Dusting of Snow, Then Sunny; High 38, Low 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today’s tour of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum was a lot of fun. I organized this tour for a small group of Newcomers retired teachers. Good teachers are life long learners and and it is always exciting to watch learning in action. The RISD runs the gambit of Modern and Contemporary New Media to Ancient Greek and Roman. They have the largest Buddha in the United states, Buddha Mahavairocana, circa 1150-1200. And another stunning piece of art was a blown glass chandelier by Dale Chihuly. Chihuly got his MFA at RISD in 1968 and returned to teach there. His blown glass designs are considered to be some of the best in the world and this chandelier was a great example of his work. Something new I learned today was CE and BCE. These abbreviations are used in exactly the same way as AD and BC. Because AD and BC have religious connotations, many these days prefer to use the more modern CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era). I was unaware of this change and glad to learn that new bit of info. After our tour, we had lunch at Hemenway’s, a Providence restaurant known for fresh local seafood. It is just down the street from the Museum and the lunch there was superb—classy, yet casual with good food, great service, and a convenient location.

Tonight I went to the Falmouth Elementary Chorus Concert at Falmouth High School. Next door neighbor, Joey, gave Ollie a sports jacket that he had outgrown, and Sam helped Ollie get dressed to the hilt for the concert tonight. What a handsome young man! This concert is a special event where the chorus students from all of the elementary schools come together. They arrive an hour before the concert begins to practice together for the first time. During the concert, they then they sing a couple of songs together. Then each school sings another two songs on their own. Jonah is in the East Falmouth Elementary School chorus. East Falmouth is the smallest elementary school in Falmouth, but they have the best representation of students. Their teacher, Mr. Charles, challenges them with singing songs in two parts and they did a great job tonight. It was fun to see Jonah singing next to neighbor Molly during one song and next to Molly’s brother Joey in the other.

2018 Life Logs, Day 345: Busy, Busy Day
Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 40, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home with Heather, Sam, Jonah, & Ollie, East Falmouth, MA

It has been a busy, busy day starting out by getting the Goldpebbles to school this morning. I spent a couple of hours doing household chores and then I was off to a Newcomers luncheon. I then headed home and immediately got an email that the Christmas present I ordered on Amazon for Ziggy was cancelled. The package was too large and just wouldn’t ship from the second party seller. I called them directly but there was nothing they could do. I then scrambled to find an alternative, but before that job was completed, it was time to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school. Heather was in Boston today. She took the bus at 5:15 am for an early meeting, but this meant she was able to get home by late afternoon. Once Heather was home, I headed to Bruce and Jane Woodin’s where I enjoyed a great dinner, beautiful holiday decorations, and the company of good friends. Once home, I returned to the Ziggy Christmas tree issue and think, hope, that I have it solved. I have also been doing the last minute preparations for tomorrow’s field trip to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Looking forward to that.

2018 Life Logs, Day 344: Overnight at the Goldstones
Date: Monday, December 10, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 38, Low 23 degrees F
Location: At Home with Heather, Sam, Jonah, & Ollie, East Falmouth, MA

A lot of work got done around the cottage today, but not by me. The landscapers that take care of my landlord’s yard came today and did a full fall clean-up of her yard and mine. Heather and Jed had helped me do part of this work a couple of weeks ago, but there were still tons of leaves. So I was delighted with today surprise visit. Now I just have to get two kayaks off the dock and I’ll be ready for wintry weather.

I went to the gym to the Monday pilates class this morning. I have stopped other exercises for now and am no longer riding the stationary bike after last week’s set back. But after today, I’m not sure I can even do pilates. I came home, took a shower, and when putting my clothes on I put all of my weight on the one bad leg, and that did it. Something in the back of my knee snapped and I could hardly walk AGAIN. I think it was putting the weight on that leg, not the pilates that caused the problem, so I think I can keep doing exercises that don’t put weight on that leg. Coincidentally, about that time my knee went out, the orthopedic surgeon’s scheduler called to ask if I was still planning on the February knee replacement. I have been reluctant, but today I gave a resounding YES. I even asked if there was any way to get the surgery done sooner, but the answer was no. After the phone conversation, I started using the heating pad alternately with the ice pack on the back of my knee and that did the trick. I am once again walking, albeit very carefully, and will continue to be careful until I can get this knee replaced.

I spent time working on ordering Christmas presents for Justin and Jo on Amazon and found that to take much longer than expected. Because of some international agreement, things made in certain countries can’t be shipped to Puerto Rico. So I have to go through the ordering process on Amazon in order to find out if what I want can be sent. It is a long, frustrating process when you are ordering a number of small things. That process will continue tomorrow. Not sure where the rest of the day went, but before I knew it, it was time to head to over to Heather’s to go to Sam’s Winter Band Concert. The band director joked last year about this being the world’s shortest concert and he did so again tonight. Can’t believe Sam is in 6th grade and plays the drums in a band! The concert was short and sweet and we were back home in just over an hour. I am spending the night here with Heather and boys as Jed is in England and Heather has to leave at 4:45 am to catch a bus to Boston for an 8 am meeting. I will get the boys off to school in the morning and then resume the Christmas online shopping.

2018 Life Logs, Day 343: Falmouth Christmas Parade
Date: Sunday, December 9, 2018
Weather: Cold and Sunny Day; High 35, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a beautiful day for the Falmouth Christmas Parade, albeit a bit chilly. I delivered the ‘troops’—Sam and Jonah to march with the Falmouth Soccer Team and Heather and Ollie to march with Scout Pack 41—at 11:15 am. I drove on downtown to drop my folding chair and bag of blankets in front of the library and then continued on to find a parking spot. By the time I got back to the library lawn to set up by chair, it was 11:45 am. I then walked across the street to get a hot cup of coffee which took a very long time as everyone else had the same idea. But it wasn’t a problem as the parade that was supposed to begin at noon started out about 20 minutes late today. Not sure why, but I got a text from Heather at 12:20 saying they had just begun to see some movement. I think it was almost 12:40 before those of us on Main Street saw the bell ringer leading the parade. This parade has everything from Chinese dragons to beautiful horses to Scottish pipe bands, plus a variety of floats and bands. Late in the parade, I finally saw the Falmouth Soccer Club heading down the street. Sam was walking with the other players, but Jonah and his good friend Kaiden were behind the others actually playing soccer as they advanced down the street. I few minutes later, the Boy Scouts came into view. Heather and Ollie were marching with Pack 41 and Ollie was one of four or five Scouts pulling a wagon with a snowman on it. Ollie was by far the tiniest Scout pulling that wagon! The parade ended, as always, with Santa. After the parade, we headed to the beach to have a late lunch at the British Beer Company. When we got home, Heather and I decided it was time to decorate the outside of her house with some lights, so we hung some icicle lights from the gutter and decorated the small evergreen close to the house. I then headed home. At about 7 pm, I sat down to have a very tiny dinner as lunch was the main meal today. It was then that I noticed that Heather and boys had left their menorah here after last night’s dinner. I called to see if I should bring it over. Heather and the boys had already scrambled to make a menorah by drilling holes in a cherry board. They lit those eight candles, but Ollie was very sad not having their ‘real’ menorah for the last night of Hanukkah candle lighting. He was very appreciative when I showed up with the ‘real’ menorah and they lit it as well. It was a 16 candle night for the Goldstones!

Tonight I talked with my good friends Ed and Lynne Kirwin in Nyack, New York. Today was their 23rd wedding anniversary and Lynne sent me their wedding photo in a text. It is a beautiful picture of them. Ed and Lynne met in 1993 and soon after meeting decided to sail around the world. They left California in 1994 and ended their first cruising season in New Zealand. Lynne had sailed to New Zealand 20 years prior with her first husband and ended up getting citizenship and living there until she returned home in the 1990’s and met Ed. I had never heard the story of their New Zealand wedding until tonight. What a wonderful 23 years they have had together. Happy Anniversary, Ed and Lynne!

2018 Life Logs, Day 342: All About Christmas Trees
Date: Saturday, December 8, 2018
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day, But Cold; High 30, Low 15 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was all about Christmas trees. I went to get mine this morning and with the help of a new, very stable stand, I was able to get it up all by myself. Last year I struggled and Heather had to help me. But now I know it is really all about the stand. I have the lights and garland on the tree, but still have to put on the ornaments. I got a call from Justin from a beach in Puerto Rico. Justin and family were camping on the beach with friends. He sent me a photo and it looked delightful. So I sent a photo back to him to say hello to the tropical Handley-Hunt family.

I then went to Heather and Jed’s to watch as they decorated their tree. Sam was busy setting up his train under the tree while Heather, Jonah, and Ollie put on the ornaments. Jed was upstairs packing for his trip to England, but when he came downstairs to get something, he and Heather opened their ornament from me. In the late afternoon, Heather and boys took Jed to the bus station and then came to the cottage for an artichoke dinner. After dinner, we headed downtown for the lighting of the Falmouth Green. The ‘tree’ is just lights so it can be very tall and it looms high above the Green. There is always music and carol singing, playing on the train, visiting with Santa and his reindeer, and playing with friends. Tomorrow is the Christmas parade. I think I will be watching alone as Heather will be in the parade with Ollie and his Cub Scout Pack, Sam will be marching with his Scout Pack, and Jonah will be marching with the Falmouth Soccer Club. Let the holidays begin!

2018 Life Logs, Day 341: Happy Birthday to Jed (1 day early)
Date: Friday, December 7, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 40, Low 18 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Jed’s birthday is tomorrow but he leaves mid-afternoon to fly to England for 5 days, so we celebrated this evening. For dinner Heather made a version of classic North African shakshuka (eggs baked in tomato-pepper sauce). Tonight’s version, a New York Times recipe, substituted an onion-garlic-Swiss chard sauté for the tomato mix and then nested eggs in the mixture, steam-poaching them. This was topped with avocado, parsley, and goat cheese and it was very yummy. The boys were going to have none of this, so they had scrambled eggs with the various toppings. After dinner, Jed opened his presents. His first gift was a new folding chair to take to sports events. And while sitting in that, he opened his Yeti pajamas, a mittened-snow scraper which Jonah was very enthusiastic about, new LL Bean slippers, and a New England Revolutions Holiday Package. The Revs area a Boston-based professional soccer team and Jed gets to take 4 people to six different games during the Rev season. The package came with a toboggan and winter scarf, so he was dressed for the season while opening his presents. Happy birthday, Jed!

My day consisted of shopping—Christmas shopping, food shopping, and shopping for a new Christmas tree base. It was sunny today which made 40 degrees feel just a bit warmer, but tonight the thermometer dips to 17 degrees F. Freezing!