2018 Life Logs, Day 320: Free Friday
Date: Friday, November 16, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Rain Early; High 40, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Life has been moving pretty fast these days, so I gave myself the treat of a Free Friday. I started the day by getting up early to head to the gym to use the recumbent stationary bike, but first I needed to stop by Heather and Jed’s to drop off the canned goods I bought yesterday for the elementary school food drive. I arrived before 8 am, but both Sam and Jonah were already gone. Sam leaves for school before 8 am every day. Jonah’s school day doesn’t start until 9 am, but he has before school commitments on two days, one for chorus and one for band. And now he is part of a Friday before school activity called Sweatin’ It. So when I arrived, only Ollie was home and he was sitting in the kitchen with Heather. She asked if I had time to stay and listen to Ollie read Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Of course, I did. And what a delightful start to my day. Ollie is such an expressive reader and I loved the way he would stop and explain what was happening in the story for me. So cute. But then it was time for him to get ready to go to school and I headed on to the gym despite the unexpected pouring rain. And when I got there, the only recumbent bike was in use. Bummer. I went to the grocery store to get a few things and then went to Walmart to buy a heating pad and cold pack since I left mine at the Kanegsberg’s last week. When I got back to the gym, the bike was available. After my fall two weeks ago, I am still having to go slow on regular exercise, but biking feels good. I then went home and used the heating pad on my bad knee and it made a huge difference. I don’t know if it was the biking or the application of heat or both, but my knee was better this afternoon. So this will be a daily routine for a bit. I returned to the Goldstones after school to have Sam try on the pants I bought for him yesterday. My shopping spree was a success as he was happy with the choices and all 4 pair of sports pants I bought yesterday fit him. Hurray. I made one misjudgment, however. I didn’t buy pants for Jonah as I assumed he would be able to wear the pants Sam just outgrew. But not yet. They are still too big for Jonah, so we’ll have to do another off-Cape shopping trip to outfit Jonah. After I returned home, I had a wonderful phone conversation with Lynne Kirwin and then settled into a quiet evening. I heard from Justin tonight after his follow-up appointment with the doctor this afternoon. The doctor feels like the wound is healing nicely. It will still take a couple of weeks, but he can now stop taking the antibiotics. Such good news! And another bit of good news . . . my fish aquarium is finally starting to reach the right balance so I can add additional fish. But the two Platys that I have are pretty amazing. One of them has had babies twice since I brought them home about 6 weeks ago. Only one baby survived from the first batch, but tonight I saw 4 new babies. They are so tiny and delicate. Sure hope they survive.

2018 Life Logs, Day 319: First Snow of the Year
Date: Thursday, November 15, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Snow Tonight; High 36, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Yikes! Despite weather predictions that the Cape would be spared its first snowfall of the winter season tonight, we got snow. I was at a Women in Newcomers dinner in restaurant about 8 miles north of here when we looked out the winter and saw big snowflakes falling. When we left the restaurant, the ground and bushes were white with snow. But by the time I got home, there was slush, but no white blanket. I just opened the front door to look outside and a slushy snow is still falling. My car and the deep beds have a layer of slushy snow covering them, but it should be gone by morning. I have been on the Cape most winters since 2011 and I certainly don’t remember snow this early. I did a research and saw that it snowed here at Thanksgiving in 1989, but only once while we lived in New Hampshire was there snow this early in the season. We shall see.

I left home before 10 am this morning to do some Christmas shopping off-Cape and I didn’t get home until 5:05 pm. Justin sent an email this afternoon asking if it would be possible to send cranberries to him in Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving, so on my way home, I stopped at a Whole Foods to buy organic cranberries and made it to the East Falmouth Post Office at 4:50, just 10 minutes before closing. The postal workers are always so helpful, and they helped me figure out the best way to send the cranberries and then packed them for me. I was being picked up at 5:10 pm by Karen Baranowski who had offered to drive the Women in Newcomers dinner. After my stop at the PO, I followed her into my driveway as she was 5 minutes early. I quickly ran into the house and changed clothes before heading to dinner. Even though I was still out of breath from the rush, it was another delightful dinner Newcomers gathering. I am hoping for a quiet day at home tomorrow.

2018 Life Logs, Day 318: From Soccer to Scouts to Right Whales
Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny and COLD; High 42, Low 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

So proud . . . Sunday my oldest grandson’s soccer team won the league championship. Congratulations to Sam and all of his teammates. And tonight, the three G’s—Sam, Jonah, and Ollie—were all in the Scout honor guard opening of the Falmouth Town Meeting. It is amazing to watch these little guys grow.

The big news of my day is the low temp of 22 degrees F forecast for tonight. That’s COLD. So, yes, my dear friend Lynne Kirwin, you were right when you told me to accept that summer is over. I now see that there is no hope for another day in the 70’s until next summer. I must embrace the Cape Cod winter which starts tonight with that low of 22.

I started my day by going to a physical therapy appointment for my knee. It was two weeks ago today that I went to PT and was told I was doing so well that I didn’t need to come back for two weeks. Then that very night, I had my ‘stupid’ fall on the front steps. I am very grateful that my knee bounced back quickly, but according to today’s PT evaluation, it is nowhere near where it was before the fall. And after PT today, it is more painful than it was yesterday. The recommendation is more heat, more biking, and more hoping that it will be better next week. After PT, I did some Thanksgiving dinner food shopping, and I went to Heather and Jed’s to do some laundry. I put a load in and headed to downtown Falmouth to do some more food shopping and to have the fish aquarium water checked. It is finally balancing out and soon we will be able to add more fish. That was happy news. I then returned to H & J’s to put the laundry in the dryer.

Then I was off for an early dinner at Karen and Peter Baranowski’s. They invited me to dinner and to then go to a presentation on right whales. Peter Corkeron was the presenting and he had led the large whale research for the Northeast Fisheries Science Center for NOAA in Woods Hole since 2011. His focus has been the endangered North Atlantic right whales. Basically, the presentation made the case that there are less than 500 of these creatures still alive today and that their demise has been caused by decisions made by humans. It is unclear if this species can be saved, but certainly there are those that continue to work toward that end.

Update on Justin—After a little setback with a stomach virus, Justin continues to battle his way back to health after the surgery to drain the abscess on his right arm. He is certainly feeling better today than yesterday. So let’s all hope that trend continues.

2018 Life Logs, Day 317: Dining-in with the Frieswyk’s
Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Weather: Overcast with Rain and Wind; High 60, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was warm today, but rainy and dreary. I spent my day inside catching up on correspondence and then went to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school. Tuesday is my day each week to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school and spend time with them until Heather and Jed get home with Sam. On Tuesdays, Sam takes the school bus to Woods Hole where either Heather or Jed meets him and takes him to drum lessons. Today was a bit different as all three boys had after-school dental cleaning appointments in Woods Hole. So, I picked up J & O and took them to Woods Hole. I got home with just enough time to heat up the side dish I was taking to my Newcomers Dining-in Group dinner and to head to Midge and Bill Frieswyk’s. This is a group of good friends that I meet with for dinner once a month. The host home provides the main dish and everyone else volunteers to bring either an appetizer, a side dish, a salad, or a dessert. Tonight’s dinner launched us all into holiday mode. Without coordinating, we ended up with a ‘red’ theme. We started with an appetizer that included red raspberries and strawberries and then moved to the main dining room to feast on pork loin topped with a delicious cranberry gravy, cranberry bread, apple and red cabbage (capusti) sprinkled with glistening red pomegranate seeds, and cranberry quinoa stuffed acorn squash. If you added a green dish of brussels sprout or kale salad, you would have a delicious red and green Christmas Day meal. We sat around after dinner and had a thoughtful discussion about the state of politics in our country. The one thing that we could all agree on is that all Americans need to learn to talk to one another about political differences in a civil manner. Civil discourse across party lines is rare these days. I don’t think we can solve our problems one dinner party at a time, but it is a start.

2018 Life Logs, Day 315: Thinking of Spring
Date: Monday, November 12, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 48, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Yes. I am already thinking of spring and it is not even winter yet! This afternoon, I helped Heather plant the 90 tulips bulbs I bought for her earlier in the fall. Today was beautiful and the perfect day to work on those out-of-doors fall projects. Tomorrow will be warm, but rainy, and then tomorrow night the temp dips below freezing. The temperature won’t get out of the thirties until Friday when it rains again. So goes the fall ups and downs of weather. You try to make the best of it when you can.

I started my day with a coffee date downtown with Jane Woodin. She and her husband Bruce have been in Mexico for the past three weeks and just returned yesterday. It was great to see her and hear all about their stay in a time-share on the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico near Cancun. They had a wonderful time and are in a bit of shock with the chilliness they are experiencing here on their return. Welcome home, Bruce and Jane. I ended my day with a little cooking spree. I spent my evening getting food ready for tomorrow evening’s Newcomers Dining-in Group gathering at Midge and Bill Frieswyk’s. While I was finishing up my cooking, I got a text from Heather asking if she could come over and get Sam’s marsh-mucking boots which he keeps here. At bedtime, Sam remembered that he has a field trip tomorrow and that requires boots. It was the first Heather and Jed had heard of this, so she came to get the boots. I offered her a glass of wine and she accepted. We got a rare chance to talk without three little boys vying for our attention. It was so special to have time to talk.

2018 Life Logs, Day 314: Fabulous Four Days
Date: Sunday, November 11, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Cool; High 46, Low 31 degrees F
Location: Back Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Wonderful moments this weekend . . . talking with old friends at the Concord Yacht Club gathering at Alan and Helaine’s home in Bow, NH . . . touring New Hampshire Public Radio’s state of the art facility . . . meeting Leslie and Rich Kole’s two grandchildren, Piper and Luke, and seeing Piper take her first steps . . . meeting Leslie and Rich’s son-in-law who just got elected to the NH House . . . having a fabulous dinner with Leslie and Rich Kole . . . having breakfast with Leslie and Detta, two very special friends . . . visiting the beautiful home of Susie Klein and Jim Hammitt in Wayland, Massachusetts . . . speaking to the Wayland Sailing Association about Windbird . . . having lunch with my two nieces who live in the Boston area, Lynn and Candi. It was a fabulous four days. Now I am back home, and as always, it feels so good to come home, no matter how short or long the trip.

2018 Life Logs, Day 314: Rye, NH to Wayland, MA
Date: Saturday, November 10, 2018
Weather: Rain Early, Then Partly Sunny and Windy; High 46, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home with Susie Klein and Jim Hammitt, Wayland, MA

The day started with breakfast at The Golden Egg with Leslie and other very good friend from our teaching days, Detta Porat. It is always so good to catch up on what is happening in the lives of friends. Detta was then headed to Boston, so Leslie and I went to the Seacoast Arts and Crafts Fair and then for a walk along the water. Rye and Portsmouth are New Hampshire coastal towns with abundant and beautiful beach walks that I always enjoy. Before I knew it, it was time to drive to Wayland which is west of Boston. Although I have known Susie Klein and Jim Hammitt since 2005, I have never been to their home. What a delight! Once I got off the highway, I found I was driving through beautiful, wooded countryside. I passed Walden Pond that Thoreau made famous before I reached Wayland and found Jim and Susie’s neighborhood. It is a mix of old and new. There is a large green area that was once a field training area for the Minute Men in the American Revolution. The entire neighborhood was then a dairy farm until the current neighborhood of tradition and ultramodern homes were built. Jim and Susie’s house is one of the split level, ultramodern homes in a woodland setting. The backyard adjoins conservation land, so even though you are in a neighborhood, you truly feel like you in deep in the woods. We had a little time to visit before we headed into downtown Wayland to the Unitarian Universalist Church where the Wayland Sailing Association meets. The history of this church goes back to 1641, but the current structure wasn’t built until 1814. We had time to socialize and eat a potluck dinner before my presentation. I think the presentation was well received and I enjoyed telling the story of how Windbird has been passed along to the most capable hands of Sam and Dawn Weigel. And that story includes how Sam and Mark became close friends talking on the phone about Windbird and I am included as one of the Friends of Windbird who gets invited to sail aboard her each season. Definitely a happy story. After the presentation, we headed home. Jim lit a fire in the fireplace and we sat in the living room enjoying the fire and the warmness of friendship on a chilly evening.

2018 Life Logs, Day 313: Concord to Rye, New Hampshire
Date: Friday, November 9, 2018
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Tonight; High 41, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home with Leslie and Rich Kole, Rye, NH

What a wonderful day. I started out with breakfast with Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg in Bow, New Hampshire. Then I drove a couple of miles into Concord to New Hampshire Public Radio. When Mark and I moved to New Hampshire for him to take the job of General Manager of the local Concord public radio station, it was just that. When Mark arrived, he started expanding the local station by adding repeater stations throughout the state. The station was moved from a tiny facility to what seemed like a luxurious space and by the time Mark left in 2005, the now statewide network was poised to move into a much larger facility. Mark had visited the new space, but I never had. So today was my day. I had a first class tour of the station and then had lunch with the young woman who had given me the tour, the acting NHPR manager, and a friend of many years, Laura Knoy. Mark recruited Laura to come to New Hampshire from her position in public radio in Washington, DC. Laura is one of three employees from Mark’s era that are still at NHPR and it was wonderful to have time to catch up. The current New Hampshire Public Radio facility is first class. Mark would be so proud.

After lunch, I headed across the state to the New Hampshire coast to Rye to visit with a friend from my teaching days in Concord. Leslie Kole, and her husband Rich, are good friends and I had a lovely late afternoon and evening with them. Leslie and I went to visit with her daughter Jessica, her husband Tom, and their two children, Luke and Piper. I hadn’t seen Jess since her early college days, so it was delightful to see her again and meet her husband Tom, three year-old son Luke, and almost one year-old daughter Piper. The kids are adorable and Piper actually took her first steps tonight. Very exciting! And wo..nderful so see how much Leslie enjoys being a Grammie.

When we returned home, Rich was preparing dinner for us. He was in the process of making homemade pasta. So delicious when combined with steamed clams and a fabulous salad. Tomorrow afternoon I travel to Wayland, Massachusetts where I make a presentation to the Wayland Sailing Association tomorrow evening. The show goes on.

2018 Life Logs, Day 311—State of Union
Date: Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 60, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

The mid-term elections didn’t go completely my way, but I was so excited that so many young people, especially women, were elected to the House of Representatives. And enough of them were Democrats that the party in control will change and there will be a bit of a check on our President. But that is a tall job. I really couldn’t believe Trump chose today to fire the Attorney General and replace him with a “documented” Trumpian. But believe it or not, it did happen. I’m not feeling great about the state of our union and I think I need a break from politics. I see my upcoming trip to New Hampshire as just the thing needed. I will be busy for the next four days visiting with friends and family and I won’t have time to watch the news. I think that is a good thing!

News from Justin in Puerto Rico is that he is still in the hospital. He finally got to see his arm today as the nurse took off the bandages to clean the wound. He found out that the wound was left open so it can heal from the inside out. He has not, however, gotten the results of the biopsy and he can’t be released until those results come in and the doctor can prescribe the right antibiotic. He is so anxious to go home, so I hope it happens tomorrow. We shall see.

I had a 9 am appointment at the Senior Center with a Newcomer member that consults for free with people about computer issues. I had a whole list of questions for him, but we never got to that. I have been having trouble with my email for two weeks, not receiving emails from what I call my ‘old’ account—the one Mark and I used for years. The gentleman I met with, Art, was able to help me solve the problem. Fantastic! I then spent the rest of the day running errands, preparing for my trip, fine tuning my Saturday night presentation and practicing the presentation with the LCD projector. It was almost 7 pm when I turned on the TV and saw snippets of today’s shameful press conference with the President (the President being shameful, not the press) and found out that Jeff Sessions had been fired. I had to chuckle when one person interviewed talked about the election night before last. Of course, it was last night, but there are so many breaking news stories every day that it really messes up one’s perception of time.

So, Concord, New Hampshire tomorrow night, Portsmouth, New Hampshire on Friday night, Wayland, Massachusetts on Saturday night, and back home on Sunday afternoon. Here I go.