2018 Life Logs, Day 189—Just a Day in the Life
Date: Sunday, July 8, 2018
Weather: Sunny, Warm Day, Cool Night; High 77, Low 56 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today was just a day with no drama, no excitement, just a day. And I enjoyed it thoroughly . . . and slowly. At 8 am, I met with a contractor who has done work for Shirley, the owner of the cottage. For insurance purposes, the back door steps need a handrail and I want a door installed between the bulkhead and the basement. There is a door frame, but no door, so Nilson, the contractor is going to take care of that. He also suggested that I might want him to clean out the gutters and I totally agreed. I have finally convinced myself that I don’t need to be climbing ladders and cleaning out gutters. After Nilson left, I stayed in the basement and swept and organized things a bit. That took most of the morning, and then I put on long pants and a long-sleeved shirt and went out to pull up some of the poison ivy that has returned since the goats cleared much of the property. I watched Meghan do this and used her technique. Hopefully I don’t react to poison ivy. If I don’t get it after today’s venture, then I will continue to pull those feisty roots when I see the leaves emerge. I focused on the garden this afternoon and finished my day with a food shopping trip. It seems like forever since I spent an entire day just working around the house and it felt really good.

Camp Oma will be missing one Goldpebble this week. Jonah is going to a sports camp from 9 to 3 each day, so it will just be Sam, Ollie, and myself. Swim lessons begin tomorrow for Ollie, so we’ll be at the beach in the mornings, home for lunch, and then have lazy afternoons. No big plans for the week at this point, but I have a feeling the World Cup soccer semi-final games on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons are probably on the list of things to do! There is also the annual Arts and Crafts Street Fair in downtown Falmouth on Wednesday, so we might work that in between beach and World Cup match between Croatia and England. We’ll also spend some time planning what we want to do while Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco are with us next week. They arrive on Monday evening for a week. Can’t wait to have the ‘Fabulous 5’ all together again!

2018 Life Logs, Day 188—In Memory of Mark
Date: Saturday, July 7, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low 55 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Today would have been Mark’s 76th birthday, so the day was spent with family in his memory. When Heather and Jed set this weekend as a biking and camping weekend on the Outer Cape, they invited me to join them for a day of biking together. We biked about 7.5 miles from the Wellfleet Audubon Campground to an ice cream stand in Orleans where we all enjoyed an ice cream treat. Next door there was a public area with a huge outdoor chess set, a bike rack in the shape of a fish, a copper umbrella fountain sculpture, and tiny little cabins with arts and crafts for sale. Heather wondered over to check out the arts and crafts and came back all excited. She met a woman who takes men’s ties and turns them into quilts and quilted pillows. I’ve not been able to get rid of Mark’s collection of ties that were given to him by Heather and Justin over the years . . . a tie collection featuring all manner of wild animals. She felt like it was fate to find this woman today who can take Mark’s ties and turn them into special gifts for the grandkids. We then biked the 7.5 miles back to the campground. This is the longest bike trip Ollie has attempted and he did great. When we got back, we had lunch, and then I took Jonah to a Ninja Warrior birthday party that was at a gym on my way home. I dropped him there and then headed on home as Heather and Jed were going to come pick him up. After a full day of biking, I hope Jonah was able to muster the energy to enjoy the Ninja Warrior Challenge.

When I got home, I grabbed a beer and headed down to the dock to sit in the evening sun at the edge of water . . . so serene. The bird life in the marsh was very active this evening. From a distance, I watched the osprey, the egrets, the red-winged blackbirds, and the gulls performing aerial acrobatics. It was a lovely ending to a lovely day. Thanks to all of you who sent messages remembering Mark’s birthday.

2018 Life Logs, Day 187—Falmouth Museums on the Green
Date: Friday, July 6, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Then Rain; High 77, Low 60 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

After doing our morning chores, we ended this second week of Camp Oma on a patriotic note with a trip downtown to the Falmouth Museums on the Green. The Bubble Guy was there spreading joy with his huge bubbles. There were colonial games for the children to try like hoop trundling (rolling) and the cup and ball toss. There was red, white, and blue ice cream for everyone. There were lots of friends and all of this was free. Nice! Bruce and Jane Wooden were there with their daughter Kate and her three children. Midge Frieswyk was there with her granddaughter. And all of Ollie’s good friends from his days at the Woods Hole Daycare Coop were there. Jonah and Ollie ended up in the stocks which prompted lots of photo posing. And Jonah and Sam took Ollie and I on a tour of the 1790 Dr. Francis Thomas Wicks home where there were docents in period dress giving us the history of the house. The scrimshaw demonstration was delayed and we decided not to stay, but all of us are interested in seeing this at some point. We stopped at the playground before leaving town where we met up with more of Ollie’s and Jonah’s friends. So, it was a fun Friday morning.

Friday afternoon didn’t quite go our way. We went home to watch the World Cup quarterfinal game between Brazil and Belgium. We are all big Brazil fans, but today Belgium won the day with an unbelievably strong defense that was effective in stopping Brazil. Belgium deserved to win that game, but that doesn’t make you feel any better when your team loses. It will be interesting to see if the boys lose interest in watching the rest of the World Cup or whether they adopt a new favorite team.

2018 Life Logs, Day 186—Lazy River
Date: Thursday, July 5, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 73 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Lovely weather continued today, so we headed back to Wood Neck in the afternoon to enjoy rides down Lazy River as the tide was rushing out to sea. The Goldpebbles did this yesterday with mom and dad and wanted a repeat performance. We split our time between the marsh and the beach and all three boys really enjoyed riding waves in from outside the sandbar where Lazy River meets the sea. The morning wasn’t quite as exciting as we did some chores around the house and then went to Walmart and Olympia Sports to make some purchases. We are working out the ‘kinks’ of decision making with three boys who always want to do different things, but the summer is young and I’m hoping we can become more cooperative as the summer progresses. Tomorrow, after doing morning chores, all three boys have agreed to head downtown to the Falmouth Museums on the Green. They are a Free Friday Museum tomorrow and there are some special activities . . . The Bubble Guy at 10 am and demonstrations of the art of scrimshaw using traditional tools and techniques starting at 11 am. Then we head home for lunch and the 2 pm World Cup match between Belgium and Brazil. Ethan, a friend of Sam’s will join us and we are hoping that Luke, Jonah’s friend can also come. Brazil is our team of choice, so you know who we will be cheering for tomorrow. Good friends Sebastian and Fofie flew home with their grandparents today and will be watching the game from their grandparents’ home in Belgium. We’ll be thinking of them while watching the game.

2018 Life Logs, Day 185—Fourth of July in Falmouth
Date: Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 86, Low 69 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Happy Fourth of July! Falmouth loves parades and has one for almost all major holidays. And certainly the Fourth of July is no exception. There is always a 10 am bicycle parade for young children on Main Street and that is followed by noon time parade in Woods Hole that highlights the science community. And then the day is ended with a spectacular fireworks display over the Vineyard Sound. Today, I engaged in all three. Heather, Ollie, and I did the bicycle parade with Ollie riding and Heather and I walking along. Thanks to Olivia White for catching a photo of Ollie and me. Then it was off to Woods Hole for the parade there. The employees of WCAI, the public radio station where Heather works in Woods Hole, marched in the parade, so Heather,Jed, and all three boys participated while I walked alongside taking photos. And finally, we ended our day on the beach with friends watching the spectacular fireworks. Fun day!

2018 Life Logs, Day 184—More World Cup Soccer, More Kayaking
Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 83, Low 69 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

On this eve of the 4th of July, Camp Oma today was all about watching more World Cup soccer and doing more kayaking. Today we invited friends, the Hennins, over to kayak with us. Jeanne, the mother, arrived with her two sons, Leo and Cole, as well as their small inflatable kayak. Ollie and Sam went out in separate kayaks while we were waiting for the Hennins to arrive and explored some new territory. Then when the Hennins did arrive, Ollie and I watched from the dock as Jeanne, Sam, and Leo went out in single-man kayaks and Jonah and Cole went in the two-man. When they returned, it looked like the armada was descending upon us. And then the boys engaged in a water battle on land. It was an afternoon of sun and fun and even though I didn’t kayak, I’m exhausted. Heather ran a 4.5 mile course from her house to here via the beach. It was her first long run since the hernia surgery and she admitted that it was harder than she expected. Once she entered the neighborhood, I drove to pick her up. Then she left in my car with Sam to take him to Woods Hole for drum lessons. A little later, Jed picked up Ollie, Jonah, and myself. He took Ollie and I to their house and traveled on with Jonah for a 6 pm annual physical. It was another long day, but Heather invited me to stay for Tuesday Tacos and I accepted. We are still working on plans for the 4th, but we know that the plans for the day will include participating in a Woods Hole mid-day parade and going to the beach to watch fireworks tomorrow night.

2018 Life Logs, Day 183—Free and Easy Day
Date: Monday, July 2, 2018
Weather: A Little Cooler; High 79, Low 68 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Camp Oma started the week with a free and easy day and by the end of the day, the Goldpebbles and myself were all a little more relaxed than we were at the start. There was a bit of bickering in the morning, but that went away as the day progressed. When I arrived this morning, Jonah and Ollie were still in bed . . . tired boys, but Sam had been up for two hours. Evidently his internal clock just does not allow him to sleep in no matter how tired he might be. We watched the Brazil vs Mexico World Cup soccer game from 10 to noon and it was a good one. We are Brazil fans because the boys love Neymar, their star player. But Jonah also likes a young player on Team Mexico as well as their goalie who did a great job today. The World Cup Quarter Finals start on Friday, so we still have a lot of soccer games to watch! Afterwards the boys played with Legos for a bit and then we were off to my house for lunch and to scout out the perfect place to build a tree house. When Justin asked me what I wanted for Mother’s Day I told him I wanted help with projects, specifically building a tree house for the boys. So that is what we will do when the Handley-Hunts arrive in two weeks. Because of the mid-week 4th of July holiday, Jonah then had back-to-back afternoon commitments. His Monday 4:30 guitar lesson was changed to 3:30 and then he had lacrosse practice from 5 to 7 pm. Sam stayed at home while Ollie went with me to Jonah’s lesson. The guitar teacher also happens to be the father of twins that are good friends of Ollie’s. So Ollie played with Roland and Meadow while Jonah had his lesson. Then it was home to get ready to go to lacrosse. Heather was home by this time, so she took Jonah while I stayed with Ollie and Sam. It was a long day for me as I hung around to go pick up Jonah at 7 pm. One of Jed’s roommates from his years as a graduate student at MIT is here on the Cape visiting from Colorado and was coming to dinner tonight. So, I offered to go get Jonah so they could visit. It takes a village.

2018 Life Logs, Day 182—Hot July 1
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Hotter Than Yesterday; High 90, Low 64 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

July decided to enter making a statement. The temperature reached 90 degrees today, so it was a hot July 1. I love hot, so it wasn’t a problem for me, but I did have to venture into the basement to find fans. I never really needed a lot of fans when I lived on the harbor as it was always windy, but I do have one. And there were two floor fans here when I moved in. Unfortunately, when I brought them upstairs, only one is working, so if this is going to be a hot summer, I’ll need to invest in a couple of window fans. For now, however, things are fine and that is because the nighttime temperatures are staying in the 60’s. That cools things down and makes for nice sleeping without a fan.

When I got up this morning and raised the shade in the bedroom, I was greeted with a lovely sight. There were at least three, maybe four, Northern Flickers hanging out around one of my raised garden beds. They were pecking at the ground and appeared to be eating insects. Whatever they were doing, I love having them on the property. I have only seen one at a time prior to this morning and always on a dead tree in the side yard. They were being bold this morning. I had to take photos through the screen as I was sure they would fly away if I tried to raise it. So the photos are not great. They are beautiful birds and I hope they continue to hang out here.

Heather and gang went to a pool party this afternoon and I invited them over for dinner afterwards. So, I spent a bit of my afternoon preparing for that. I didn’t get the last of the plants I bought last week planted, but I’ll get that done in the evenings this week. The Goldstones arrived early and Jed brought their hammock and cleared an area in the side yard between two trees that is perfect for a hammock. I think I have a hammock that I bought in Indonesia, so I am going to have to find that and buy what is needed to hang it between those two trees. I’m not a hammock person, but the kids will enjoy it. While everyone was relaxing, Sam and I took the van and drove to Peter and Karen Baranowski’s to borrow one of their kayaks. Sam and Jonah have neighborhood friends who would like to come kayak with them, so we needed at least one more kayak. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, arrive in two weeks, and it will be nice to have the extra kayak then as well. Thanks for the loan, Peter and Karen! While we were there, Peter showed us the two-pound quahog clam he found today. It was huge and Sam was quite impressed. When we go home, Sam took it out for a trial run and I think Jonah and Ollie went out as well. Jed was on kid duty on the dock while I was getting dinner ready, so I didn’t really see who did what, but I do know all three boys were complaining about wet pants, so I think they all went out. We had a nice dinner together and then Heather and Jed took three tired little boys home. They didn’t get home until almost midnight from the Revolutions soccer game last night and none of the boys slept on the way home. They definitely needed to get to bed on time tonight.

Camp Oma will continue this week, but with only one grandmother as Marti returned to Maine today. It was so much fun to have both grandmothers for a week. Jed reported that Marti made the drive home just fine and she got quite a surprise when she got there. Jed’s brother Toby, who lives in Portland, Oregon, flew in unannounced for the week and was there when Marti arrived. Marti’s brother, who lives next door, is having a big 4th of July party and Marti was a bit concerned about getting all the tables set up. So I know she will really appreciate having Toby’s help, as well as just enjoy visiting with him.

2018 Life Logs, Day 181—Jonah’s Birthday Party with Friends
Date: Saturday, June 30, 2018
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 85, Low 67 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

Summer has arrived as evidenced by the 85 degree high temperature today. It was a perfect day for Jonah’s birthday party with friends. He invited three friends to join him to attend a New England Revolutions soccer game tonight followed by an overnight. The friends arrived mid-afternoon to play and have ice cream birthday cake. Dessert first! Then they left to travel to the Gillette Stadium in Wrentham. Ollie really didn’t want to go to the game which is just as well as it was going to be a late night affair. So, Marti, Jed’s mother, and I took Ollie and friend Raylan downtown to go bowling at the Ryan Family Bowling and Arcade Center. This is candlepin bowling with small lightweight balls and it is much easier and enjoyable for young kids and grandmothers. Neither Marti nor I are bowlers, but we managed to have a great time. After bowling, the boys went into the arcade and they would have stayed there all evening if allowed. But we had a dinner reservation at the nearby Simply Divine pizza restaurant. We chose to sit at an outside table. The boys entertained themselves with the games on the placement and just talking, talking, talking. This gave Marti and I a chance to talk as well. It was a fun evening.

In last night’s log, I said that I had no photos of our lovely dinner on Midge and Bill Frieswyk’s back deck. But today, Olivia White sent photos, so I’m including a couple here. I also got photos of Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco in England from Jo’s father . . . Jo’s summer solstice birthday cake made by Justin, Jo with Coco and Ziggy visiting Stonehenge, and a photo of Ziggy and Coco with their cousins Rufus and Kitty.

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2018 Life Logs, Day 180—Day at the Beach, Evening with Friends
Date: Friday, June 29, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 64 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA

It was a beautiful day . . . great beach weather. But I had made no plans for the beach this week as the boys expresses a desire to just do nothing. But the next door neighbors were headed for the beach and that changed everything. All of a sudden, all Goldpebbles wanted to go to the beach. So, we came up with an agreement where Sam would stay at home while I took Ollie and Jonah to the library book sale. And when we returned, we would all go to the beach. So off we went. We are still working out the ‘kinks’ of summer decision making with three boys with different interests. Not easy, but I have hope. An additional kink in the system was that today Sam had a 2:30 pm doctor appointment to check out a bump on the back of his head. He wanted to go to the beach side of Wood Neck, so we did that first since he was going to have to leave. And before we knew it, it was time for him to leave. Just having one boy leave was a logistical challenge. We all had to go to the parking lot to wait for Jed to come to get him. Then Jonah, Ollie, and I headed back to the marsh side of Wood Neck. Jonah and Ollie had a great time, both of them really enjoying snorkeling in the shallow water. Ollie announced that he can now swim. In fact, he let it be known that he is a fish and he did keep up with the older boys. And Jonah, the one who has taken a very long time to get up the nerve to put his head underwater, was truly diving under like a fish. Hurray! They were having so much fun that my next logistical challenge was getting the boys home in time for me to get ready for a 5:30 pm Newcomers Dining-In evening at Midge and Bill Friezwyk’s. This is the group of friends that gets together once a month or so, and we had a fabulous evening together. The evening was warm and we ate outside. The food was spectacular, and company was even better. I didn’t have my camera with me and my phone ran out of battery power on the way there, so sadly I have no photos of the event. But I have wonderful memories from an evening with friends.