2018 Life Logs, Day 9—Beautiful Day, Frozen Harbor
Date: Tuesday, January 9, 2018
Weather: High 42, Low 20 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

It was a beautiful, sunny day and the high temp was 42. All good. But when I look out at the harbor, all I see is ice. The harbor is frozen over, not frozen enough to walk on, but frozen. When I left here on Christmas Day, there were still boats in the slips in front of my apartment, but now there are no boats in sight. I guess they made a run for it when the deep freeze came. The view of ice does not make me feel warm, but I think I had better just get used to it. Tomorrow will be colder than today and then we are supposed to have three days with a high temp around 50 degrees F with rain overnight into Saturday. That will probably melt some of the ice, but then the temp dips down to the freezing point again. So goes a winter in New England.

This afternoon I went to a Newcomers Singles Group get-together at the home of one of the members. This group is newly formed and this evening we discussed how we want the group to proceed. It is an interesting mix of women and I look forward to future activities.

2018 Life Logs, Day 8—Very Special Christmas Surprise
Date: Monday, January 8, 2018
Weather: High 42, Low 31 degrees F
Location: Back Home at The Studio, Falmouth, MA

The trip home from Tennessee was thankfully uneventful. My niece Janet picked me up at 7 am this morning and I got home at 5 pm. The flight took only two and a half hours, but the bus and car trip home takes longer than the flight. I was very happy that after sitting in the cold for two weeks, the car started right up. I stopped by the Goldstones to say hello, went to the grocery store, and by the time I got home it was 5 pm. Thankfully everything here was fine. My grill on the deck had ‘danced’ 30 feet across the deck and was headed for the gate. I guess it was trying to make a get away! The wind here must have been hurricane force to move that grill. But everything else was fine. So that is good.

While I was gone, I had the post office hold my mail and deliver it today. A neighbor picked it up for me, and when I got it this evening, there was a very special Christmas surprise. Justin told me they were sending a package that I wouldn’t get until after Christmas, so I am assuming it is from them. It is the photo of Mark that we chose for his obituary that has been digitized and copied onto wooden panels. It is about 16 x 16 and looks like a painting. I hadn’t planned to turn on the Christmas lights, but when I saw the picture, I turned on the Christmas tree lights and put the picture under the tree. It is really beautiful and Mark and I spent a lovely evening together.

I had a great phone conversation with Heather tonight, catching up on all the happenings here. And then I talked to Ed and Lynne Kirwin. They are staying in Florida until the first of February and are really enjoying the warmer weather there. They sent a sunset photo from Chagos this afternoon and I want to share that here. It is spectacular.

2018 Life Logs, Day 7—A ‘Hunt and Kill’ Kind of Day
Date: Sunday, January 7, 2018
Weather: Overcast and Warmer; High 41, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

Mark always used to laugh about my shopping habits. He called it the ‘hunt and kill’ approach versus those who graze. Window shopping has never been my thing. Over the two weeks here, Patsy has mentioned a few things that would make some of her projects easier—better lighting in the den and more shelving for photo albums and boxes were at the top of her list. I measured and researched online and found nothing locally that would fill the size requirements for the photo album storage. So this morning I suggested we go shopping and she jumped at the chance. Furniture stores are closed here on Sunday, but the Goodwill Store in a neighboring community was open. We started there and hit pay dirt. I had already been to the Goodwill store in Mt. Juliet, to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Office Depot, and a couple of furniture warehouses and found nothing. The little furniture area at the Goodwill had only 5 items, but two of them were small book cases that were exactly the right size. One was $10 and the other was $15 and they were in excellent shape—right size, right color of wood, right price. So we bought both and Patsy was elated. We shopped at the Big Lots store next to Goodwill and found some other treasures, and then went to Home Depot and found the just right lamp for the den. Patsy now has her corner of the den (computer room) well lit with her photo album projects neatly stored on and inside the book cabinet we bought. While in Home Depot she spotted some 55-gallon plastic storage containers that were the perfect size for her Christmas tree. We could only fit one in the car, but I went back this evening and bought another. Now she can get rid of all the cardboard boxes in the garage. That made her doubly happy. And making her happy made me happy. So this was a win-win day. We celebrated by going out to Asian Fusion for dinner. Janet picks me up at 7 am to head to the airport. If all goes well I will be in Boston by 12:30 and home on the Cape by the time the Goldpebbles get out of school. I will stop by to say Happy New Year in person and then head home. Of course, if my car is frozen in place, the timing might be delayed, but one way or another I will be home by tomorrow evening.

2018 Life Logs, Day 6—A Visit to the Parthenon
Date: Saturday, January 6, 2018
Weather: No Change—Sunny and Cold; High 29, Low 13 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

Hard to believe I have only one more day here before I fly back to the frozen north country. But it has also been ‘freezy’ here as I was reminded this morning when I drove out and noticed the frozen flows of ice where there was flowing water when I got here. Tomorrow the Mt. Juliet high will be in the 40’s for the first time since I arrived. That will seem warm, but I am reminded that it is not when I see news reports of iguanas falling out of the trees in Florida because they are literally ‘frozen’ when the temp reached 45 degrees. The iguanas are probably not dead and will come back to life when the temp warms up a bit, but that has to be one scary sight to witness.

Monica came over this morning to install a back-of-cupboard door spice race I ordered on Amazon for Patsy and Joe, I went shopping for some needed items from Lowe’s, and then I went to pick up Janet and Monica to take them to downtown Nashville for a University of Tennessee Titan’s football party. The Titans were not playing her today, but they would enjoy a pregame party with free drinks and food and then watch the game in a sports bar atmosphere at the George Jones Bar. Joe watched that game from the comfort of the livingroom and Patsy and I joined him for the past few minutes. Tennessee was behind by 21 points and then somehow pulled this one out, winning 22 to 21. After dropping off Janet and Monica, I went to visit Nashville’s Parthenon. This is the only full-sized replica of the Greek Parthenon in the entire world. I had seen it before, but had never toured the museum inside. I got to see the larger than life Athena, the largest bronze doors in the world, and finally, I learned why there is such a structure in Nashville! It was built in the late 1800’s as part of the Centennial Expo celebrating the 100th birthday of Tennessee. It was a huge affair covering all of what is now known as Centennial Park across from the Vanderbilt University campus. Many temporary buildings modeled after famous places around the world were built for this expo and the Parthenon was such a hit that it was reconstructed of lasting materials to remain as the heart of today’s Centennial Park. I then ‘shopped’ my way home as Janet and Monica were going to hitch a ride with Uber after the game.

My day started with a text from Jane Woodin. She and Bruce were in the Sagamore Park and Ride where I left my car. They sent a photo of the conditions there to let me know that they think I should have no problem getting my car out on my return on Monday. From the looks of the photo, I think they are right, but we shall see.

2018 Life Logs, Day 5—Special Treats
Date: Friday, January 5, 2018
Weather: Sunny, Still Cold; High 29, Low 11 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

My niece Janet made sure I had special treats on this twelfth day of Christmas. Whether or not today was really the twelfth day of Christmas differs. Some count Christmas Day as the first day. Others say the day after Christmas is the first day. Either way, January 6 is usually observed as Epiphany, so I’m going with today, January 5, as the twelfth day. In any case, Janet made sure I had a special day. She insisted that I go have another massage and tonight she took me and Monica out to dinner. Patsy and Joe were going to go out with us, but Joe woke up this morning with a very upset stomach and going out to dinner was the last thing he wanted to do. Both the massage and the dinner were great. Thank you, Janet!

I am here for two more days. On Monday morning I fly home to Cape Cod and I’m really hoping the current forecast holds. If it does, when I fly out of here at 9 am, the temperature will be 38 degrees and by the time I land in Boston and take the bus to the Cape, the temp there will also be 38 degrees. The thing that is special about that is that 38 degrees F will be the highest temperature at home since I left there on Christmas Day. And I like above freezing weather!

2018 Life Logs, Day 4—Goodbye Christmas
Date: Thursday, January 4, 2018
Weather: Sunny, Back to Cold; High 26, Low 11 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

Today was spent putting Christmas decorations away. And that is no easy task here. My sister loves her Christmas decorations, so they are everywhere—Christmas towels, Christmas coasters, Christmas decorations in the bathrooms, Christmas decorations on every surface and in every cabinet with a glass front, and a Christmas tree with a life’s worth of special ornaments. But somehow she got it all packed up and stored away today. I helped by bringing boxes in from the garage for her to pack, but I dared not pack anything as she has a special way of packing each item. Tomorrow I’ll have to figure out how to help her pack up the Christmas tree and then we’ll be done with that job.

We kept getting news reports here about how terrible the weather was today in Massachusetts, but reports from Cape Cod told me they got wind and rain, but no snow. But snow or no snow, the next two days at home look fiercely cold. Thankfully, it still looks like things warm up a bit on Monday for my return. I’m definitely hoping for that. Otherwise, my little Honda Fit that has been sitting in the Park ‘n Ride lot for two weeks might be frozen in place.

In addition to helping with the putting away of Christmas today, I also did a lot of online research into dietary recommendations for a person with advancing chronic kidney disease. My brother-in-law Joe has this condition, but somehow none of were aware of this until I stumbled upon some reports from his doctor. He has many other health issues, but this addition threw us all for a loop. Changing your diet to try and prevent dialysis is very important, so I am trying to help my sister figure this out. It is not easy as many things that you would normally eat to be healthy are restricted when your kidneys are not working properly. Many of the foods I have been encouraging him to eat are now on the ‘no-no’ list. So I am researching and learning this as fast as I can. I’m hoping to leave my sister with a food game plan for Joe.

2018 Life Logs, Day 3—Star Wars Continued
Date: Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Weather: Sunny and a Tad Warmer; High 33, Low 11 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

On December 29, 2015, Mark and I were here in Tennessee with Patsy and Joe. It was considerably warmer on that day and we went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Today Patsy and I went to see the new Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, to continue the tradition. At one tense moment in the movie, the film just stopped and the lights in the theater came on. At first we thought this was part of the movie. But it soon became evident that it was a fire alarm and we walked out into the hall. Thankfully it was a false alarm and the movie continued, but it was an interesting addition to the total experience. Other activities for today were centered around helping Patsy sort through and organize boxes of photos and memorabilia. Seems like that is a never-ending process. I talked briefly with Jed and boys tonight. Heather was not home, but the boys were busily preparing for a snow day tomorrow. It was still cold here today, but a bluebird couple were busy preparing a nest in the backyard birdhouse. I guess the early birds get the birdhouse even if the worms are still in hiding.

2018 Life Logs, Day 2—The Ninth Day of Christmas
Date: Tuesday, January 2, 2018
Weather: Still Sunny, Still Cold; High 26, Low 9 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

“On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me . . . nine ladies dancing.” The ninth day of Christmas also honors St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen from the 4th century. I’m afraid I’ve never heard of them before, so today I just celebrated those ladies dancing. I managed to spend another day in the kitchen experimenting with healthier food choices for Patsy and Joe. I enjoyed, and I hope they did, my lunch time muffins in a mug. These are gluten-free muffins made in a large coffee mug and baked in the microwave for one minute. They were fun to make.

My sister and I stayed up late last night watching an old favorite movie, Dirty Dancing. The late-to-bed night gave me a slow-to-start morning which developed into an unfocused day. I am hoping to regain focus tomorrow and help Patsy start to put away the Christmas decorations. We are treating ourselves to a mid-day movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. So to bed now to get ready for a new day—the tenth day of Christmas.

2018 Life Logs, Day 1—Day One of a New Year
Date: Monday, January 1, 2018
Weather: Still Sunny, Still Cold; High 22, Low 4 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

My father always said that they way you spend New Year’s Day is the way you will spend your next year. So, I guess I am going to spend 2018 in the kitchen. Somehow Patsy and I managed to spend our entire day cooking. I made gluten-free waffles for breakfast, helped Patsy learn how to make a flourless chocolate decadence cake, and then fixed dinner for us and for Janet and Monica. When they arrived, they immediately herded us all outside to see the Supermoon. It must be a good omen to start a new year with a full moon. Tonight’s full moon is called the Wolf Moon and on the last day of the month we will have another full moon. It will be called a Blue Moon as it is the second full moon in one month. But it will most likely look red, not blue, in some areas, as it will be a total lunar eclipse, known as a Blood Moon.

I received an email from the owner of The Studio apartments this morning asking if he could turn up the thermostat in my apartment. I left it at 54 degrees, but he fears that might not be enough to keep things from freezing. So I willingly gave him permission to turn up the heat. It must be really chilly back home. And speaking of ‘chilly’—I checked the blog of my good friends Mike and Linda Stuart tonight. They are currently biking through Patagonia to the tip of South America and crossed from Argentina to Chile on the 30th, just in time for the new year. Linda, being the math teacher that she is, posted a great New Year’s greeting. I hope she won’t mind that I have ‘borrowed’ her greeting to post here. And wherever you are, stay warm.

2017 Life Logs, Day 365—Happy New Year!
Date: Sunday, December 31, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High 22, Low 7 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

Happy New Year! We are having a quiet New Year’s Eve here at Patsy and Joe’s. It is just too cold to go to any outside activities, so other than a trip to the grocery store, we all stayed inside for the day. It was sunny but the high temp for the day was 22 degrees F. Not as cold as it could be, but cold enough. I talked to Justin this morning and the temp in Rincon was in the 80’s. That certainly sounds delicious! Thankfully the solar power is still chugging along giving them no problems for now. They have been collecting piles of wood to burn and were hoping for a big bonfire for New Year’s Eve. Justin said that from a small 50 by 50-foot area, they collected enough wood for two huge bonfires. Maria took down so many trees. But thankfully, in their climate, new trees are emerging to take the place of the fallen. Justin is texting as I write letting me know they had a great New Year’s Eve with friends, watching fireworks from their rooftop.

I had a great conversation with friends Ed and Lynne tonight. It is just so fantastic that they were able to sail Constance from the Florida-Georgia line to Fort Lauderdale and now have her tied to the dock at Ed’s son’s home on the New River. Ed’s son and family are away for the holidays, so Ed and Lynne have had the house all to themselves. They have spent the past week getting everything off Constance and they are so thankful to be able to do in the warmth of Florida sunshine. Ed is feeling and looking great.

My last phone call of the evening was from Heather, Jed, and the Pebbles. They have returned home from Maine and despite the severe cold, they had a wonderful time. And they had a great visit in New Hampshire today, on the way home from Maine, with friends of Heather’s from her high school days at St. Paul’s School. They all gathered in Nashua, New Hampshire, where their children enjoyed sledding together.

2017 has been quite a year for me. I spent time visiting with my sister in Nashville, time with Justin and family in Puerto Rico, time sailing on Windbird in the Bahamas with Sam and Dawn, and time with the Goldpebbles. We had magical reunions with all of my family in West Virginia in June and with all of Mark’s family in Florida in November. All of those were wonderful times, but then we had the hurricane season. Irma hit Florida and Puerto Rico, and then Maria hit Puerto Rico with a vengeance. The past 100+ days have been a roller coaster ride for the people of Puerto Rico and for those of us so connected to them. The ride is not over, but the thankfulness to all of the wonderful friends and family who have supported the rise of the new Puerto Rico is deep. The generosity and kindness of so many people will never be forgotten. In 2017, you turned what could have been a time of despair into a time of hope. Happy, happy 2018!