2017 Life Logs, Day 364—Downtown Nashville
Date: Saturday, December 30, 2017
Weather: Overcast and Chilly; High 37, Low 13 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

Oh, my. It is cold. Not as old here as further north and east, but still cold. I got a great photo from Grandma Marti (Jed’s mother) today showing the Goldstones all wrapped up for an outdoor walk in the Maine deep freeze. Brrrr.
My morning and early afternoon was spent in downtown Nashville. Monica and I went with Janet to her Saturday morning volunteer job with the homeless. This takes place at the First Presbyterian Church which was started in 1849 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The chapel was done in the Egyptian Revival architectural form and is one of the largest and best preserved examples in the United States.

The volunteer work for the homeless happens in a small room with outside access where folks come to buy copies of The Contributor newspaper that they can resell at a good profit. It was quite an interesting group of people who came in to buy the papers today . . . ,many colorful stories. And after that stint, Janet, Monica, Logan, another volunteer, and I headed down to Broadway to go to one of the bars on Honky Tonk Strip with live music. We went from that bar to the FGL (Florida-Georgia Line) where Monica’s very favorite musician was playing. Great afternoon in Nashville.

2017 Life Logs, Day 363—Granola, Football, and SOLAR in Puerto Rico
Date: Friday, December 29, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Chilly; High 36, Low 14 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

I got a text at 7:30 am with a photo of a Maximo Solar van parked beside Justin and Jo’s home. The solar had arrived!!! I wanted to shout from the rooftops. But I restrained myself, waiting to hear that the system had been installed and was working. Later in the day, Justin sent photos of the system installed and the lights on in their house. I was elated. I am so happy that they will enter 2018 with electricity. Their electricity from the grid was restored the first of December, but that didn’t last long. It was intermittent and then it was gone. But now the lights are on as long as the sun shines. Happy, happy for Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. But so sad for so many Puerto Ricans who still have no electricity. I sure wish I could wave a magic wand to restore power to all of Puerto Rico.

It seems to be chilly everywhere, so we joined the crowd by having another chilly day here. But at here the least the sun was shining and I know Tennessee is not nearly as cold as back home. So, all is well. Janet came over late-morning so that I could help her make her first ever batch of granola. It is truly interesting how my granola recipe has evolved over the years. Somewhere I have the original recipe that I got from a woodworker in Minnesota in the 1970’s. I’ll have to find it to compare to today’s version. I used the same recipe for 40 years, but in the past couple of years, the recipe has gone from mostly oats with some nuts and seeds to a half and half mixture. I used to use olive oil; now I use coconut oil. I used to use honey; now I use maple syrup. I used to eat granola almost every morning; now I have it for breakfast no more than twice a week. Just interesting how things change over time.

Tonight Patsy, Joe, and I are at Janet and Monica’s watching the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State is playing USC. Janet and Monica are both Ohio State graduates and enthusiastic football fans. So, tonight we are all enjoying the fact that Ohio State has been ahead for the whole game. It will soon be over and Patsy, Joe, and I will head home. Tomorrow morning, I go into downtown Nashville with Janet to help her with her Saturday morning volunteer work with the homeless. After that, we will meet Monica and some friends who are visiting in Nashville on the famous Honky Tonk Strip. Sounds like fun.

Life Logs, Day 362—The Darkest Hour
Date: Thursday, December 28, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Chilly; High 36, Low 19 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

I somehow managed to cook my morning and my evening away, but in the middle, we went to see the film about Churchill–The Darkest Hour. We all agreed that it is a powerful film telling the story of Churchill leading up to World War II. The role of Churchill was performed most convincingly. You felt like you were really watching Winston Churchill, not an actor. So, thumbs up to The Darkest Hour.

I received a message from Justin this afternoon that sounded encouraging for the installation of the solar system tomorrow. Justin got a call today from Maximo Solar giving him the name of a technician for an 8:00 am contact. Fingers crossed!

2017 Life Logs, Day 361: More Food Shopping and Cooking + A Personal Treat
Date: Wednesday, December 27, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny and Chilly; High 30’s, Low 20’s F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

The here is chilly, but when I look at the forecast for Falmouth tomorrow, I see we are going to be twice as warm here with a high of 36 degrees F. And when I looked at the high in Boothbay, Maine, for tomorrow where Heather and family are for the week, I had to look twice to make sure I was seeing straight. They are going to have a high of 5 degrees F. That’s not chilly. That’s truly cold. And while we are all in the deep freeze, Justin and family in Puerto Rico will have temps in the 80’s. So to help us forget about the weather, Patsy, Joe, and I are going to the movies tomorrow. Joe wants to see the Churchill movie, The Darkest Hour, so we will do that in the afternoon.

This morning I did more food shopping and I started a batch of chicken mineral broth. Then I went to get a massage. My niece Janet gave this to me as a Christmas gift and it was fabulous. Patsy went with me, but while I was having the massage, she went clothes shopping. When we got home, I spent time doing a variety of jobs. The biggest one is finding a way to get my brother-in-law to buy into some major life style changes. He is having various health issues, but is not taking steps to address any of them. My job while I am here is to try and get him to buy into the idea of taking control of his situation and making the necessary changes. Today’s goal was to get him to drink a healthy amount of water. That effort failed. But we’ll try again tomorrow.

2017 Life Logs, Day 359: Christmas Day, Blizzard to Sunshine to Tennessee
Date: Monday, December 25, 2017
Weather: Blizzard to Sunshine
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN

Christmas Day ranged from blizzard to sunshine on Cape Cod. We were up and opening presents by 7:15 am, although I was awakened by a herd of reindeer upstairs at 5:59 am. Actually, that was just an over anxious Sam who was told he had to wait for brothers to wake up! Santa made three little boys in the Goldstone household very happy this year and I heard from Justin and Jo in Puerto Rico that Santa also put smiles on Ziggy and Coco’s faces. Sam got the sled he wanted, Jonah got Legos which were high on his list, and Ollie got a hanging tent for the backyard called a Hugglepod. Ziggy got electronics sets and Coco got the American Girl Welly Wisher Doll she was sure she couldn’t live without. It was love at first sight this morning. Justin said Ziggy really enjoyed inventing different gizmos and gadgets with the LittleBits set I sent him. And Justin and Jo sent me a family photo from today that I had requested. Since there was not a strong enough signal for a video call, the photo was perfect. And at the Goldstones, the boys dug into their stockings stuffed with goodies from Santa before opening Santa’s gifts. They love their stockings! After opening Santa’s gifts, we stopped to eat a bite, and then launched into the many presents. I got Sam a draftsman’s table top board with all the things that go with it to encourage his recent interest in architectural and engineering design. I tried something new with Jonah and Ollie by giving them a shared gift. They both had asked for adventure gear for the backyard. Ollie really wanted a zip line, but I ended up getting a Slackers NinjaLine and Cargo Climbing Net. This line and net are strung between trees with equipment for turning little boys into monkeys. Heather read one of the books Ollie got aloud and it made us all teary eyed. The book was Malala’s Magic Pen telling the story of a little girl in Pakistan who thought she could change the world if she had a magic pen. It is a true story and, indeed, she is changing the world through writing with her ‘magic pen’ and has even won a Nobel Peace Prize. There were many special moments,

and special ornaments and cards made at school by Ollie and Jonah which were so precious. And Sam had gifts for everyone that he bought with his own money at school craft fair which was so very thoughtful. So we had a lovely morning and then all of a sudden the world darkened a bit and we looked outside to see icy rain pouring down and trees blowing sideways. For a few minutes it was a proper blizzard. But it stopped, or slowed down considerably, as fast as it came. By the time I left in the early afternoon, the sun was shining. But the blizzard was enough to shut down the airport in Boston for a couple of hours and to cause Heather and Jed to cancel their travel plans to Maine for today. By late morning when Jed talked to his mother, they had gotten 5 inches of fresh snow on top of the snow they got earlier in the week, and it was still coming down. So the Goldstones will drive to Maine tomorrow morning and I took the bus to the airport which was open again before noon. My 6 pm flight to Nashville went out about 25 minutes delayed, but I was at my sister’s house by 9:30 pm. We stayed up late talking, but it was the perfect end of a perfect Christmas Day.

2017 Life Logs, Day 358: Christmas Eve
Date: Sunday, December 24, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High Temp 45, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

It is twelve minutes until midnight, so well past time to go to bed so Santa can arrive. It was a good day. I did some last-minute shopping and then went to Heather and Jed’s to see if I could be of help in getting ready for Christmas Eve festivities. And I delivered the first car load of presents. Jed had to go shopping and Heather wanted to go for a run, so I stayed with the boys. Actually, Ollie went for a short run with Heather before she took off on her longer run. He called it the Christmas Eve Jingle Jog. The weather was mild enough today that the boys spent the entire afternoon outside playing in the dirt! When Heather got back, I went home to get the last of the presents and to get my bags for heading to Nashville tomorrow. I had planned to have dinner with Heather and family and then go home for the night. But the boys asked me to stay with them so they wouldn’t have to wait for my arrival in the morning before coming downstairs to see what Santa delivers this year. While I was home, I had a much too short conversation with Lynne Kirwin and then a great Skype video call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. They have been without electricity again for days, but with a charged phone and a bit of maneuvering around their property, Justin found a place with enough cell signal for us to have a successful call. We are hoping to have a repeat tomorrow morning so I can see what Santa brought to Ziggy and Coco.

A new post-doc in Jed’s lab from Switzerland, Nadia, came to our Feast of the Seven Fishes tonight and stayed until just now helping with the last-minute wrapping of presents. We had a wonderful dinner beginning with clams, oysters, and gravlax, and continuing with calamari, lemon sole, honey-mustard encrusted salmon, and scallops. With the anchovy salad dressing, we actually had a Feast of Eight Fishes. The boys served the chocolate decadence we made a few evenings ago for dessert. They cut Christmas shapes out of the decadence with Christmas cookie cutters and decorated the pieces like cookies. Dinner and dessert were both fantastic and fun was had by all. After dinner we did the traditional giving of ornaments. This year I gave each of the boys a Christmas spider made in Woods Hole and which come with a great story about how every Christmas tree needs a spider. Heather and Jed gave each of the boys a wooden ornament from Sweden to commemorate their first international family vacation. And Nadia was given a beautiful fish-shaped bowl. Now it is time to turn-in so Santa can do his magic. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

2017 Life Logs, Day 357: Revels!
Date: Saturday, December 23, 2017
Weather: Icy Rain on the Cape, Really Icy Rain in Cambridge
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Often when I tell people I am going to Revels with the Goldstones, they look puzzled and ask me, “What is Revels?” I think Mark and I first attended with Heather and Jed, Justin, and Jed’s brother Ben, in 2004 before Mark and I left on our little jaunt around the world. But I’m not sure about that. When I have time, I’ll have to do a little research on that one. But I do know that since we returned in 2011, we have been every year when we were in New England. One of those years was so icy we had to cancel out at the last minute, but today we forged ahead with a bit of icy rain on the Cape and more the closer we got to Boston. Ollie and Jonah slept part of the way and I got a great photo of sleeping Ollie Angel. We attend Revels at Harvard’s Sanders Theater in Cambridge. It is a beautiful building with a cathedral-like feeling. It is the perfect place for shouting out, “Welcome, Yule!” Now back to, “What is Revels?” . . . In 1957, the first Christmas Revels was performed in New York City. It got positive press, but it didn’t really catch on until it was revived in 1971 in Cambridge. Revels is a performance of solstice traditions portrayed through music, dance, and story telling of solstice traditions from around the world. By 1975, it had caught on and now there are Revels performances all around the country. This year’s focus was Venice during the Renaissance where the people were preparing for The Feast of Seven Fishes. The music, especially the singing, was outstanding this year. The Goldstones will continue the revelry tomorrow with a Christmas Eve Feast . . . of the Seven Fishes.

After the performance, we exited the theater into a magical land of white. It was not snow, but icy white pellets covering the ground and the trees. However, the temperature was rising, not falling, so we decided to stay in Cambridge to have dinner. We walked to Harvard Square to have dinner at the Grafton Street Pub and Grill. I had George’s Bank Scallops, which were delicious, and I was treated to all of this by Heather and Jed. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon and evening!

It rained all the way home, but indeed the temperature had risen so there was no ice. That was good. We got back to Heather and Jed’s, where sleeping boys were carried upstairs to bed, and I traveled on home. Or at least I tried to. When I turned onto Falmouth Heights Road I saw a a sea of flashing lights. Literally, I have never seen so many flashing police lights. As I drove on down the road, it became apparent that the road was blocked at least a quarter of a mile from my drive-way. So I turned around and went around the block and tried to come in from the other end. No luck there either. There were three big fire trucks and numerous other fire and police vehicles blocking the way. I finally found a police woman to ask what was going on and she explained that a condominium in the Boat Yard, next to The Studio, had a chimney fire and roof caught on fire. I was greatly relieved to find out that it wasn’t The Studio where I live! She explained that the fire was under control but that I could not get to my drive way. She recommended that I park in what she called a summer place lot, and walk home. So that’s what I did. Never any lack of drama around here.

2017 Life Logs, Day 356: Carrying on the Solstice Tradition
Date: Friday, December 22, 2017
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Spitting Snow and Rain Late Day; High 41, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

The quote of the day goes to Ollie. After school we were cutting out Christmas shapes in the chocolate decadence we made yesterday. We were going through all the cookie cutters and I was saying that we wanted to pick out only Christmas shapes. Ollie really wanted to choose a heart and I explained that might be more appropriate for Valentine’s Day. He just looked at me and said, “Oma, Christmas is all about the love in a family.” Now what could I say to that? I now see that hearts and Christmas go together perfectly. Thank you, Ollie, for your very wise outlook on our world.

My morning was all about running errands. But there was one very poignant moment when I thought I was going to die, literally. I was in a traffic circle when I saw out of the corner of my eye a car speeding towards my driver’s side door from an inside lane. I had no time to process this. I just braked as fast as I could, and thankfully the other driver did the same. We sat inches apart with his car headed directly at my driver’s side door. I was shaking like a leaf. I don’t remember having a close call like this ever and I hope I never have another one. My next stop was East Falmouth Elementary School to see the third grade Rube Goldberg designs in action. Jonah’s team designed a Matchbox car run where the car hits a golf ball, which hits another golf ball, which then heads down a run to ding a bell. After watching many of the inventions in action, I headed out to get my car washed. I then went back to pick Jonah and Ollie up from school and we came home to get ready for the Solstice Fire. There was a lot of hurry scurry to get ready, but once people started arriving, we had a great evening. Some stayed inside; others sat out by the fire, and would then come in to get food or drink. The children ran through the yard in the darkness like wild things, but no one got hurt and all seemed to be having a great time. We didn’t have a traditional yule log going into the fire pit, but Heather made a yummy yule log that we could eat. The burning of the Yule Log precedes medieval times and was originally a Nordic tradition. The Yule Log was an entire tree that was dragged into the home, with the largest end placed into the fire place. When we first moved to Minnesota in the mid-1970’s, I’ll never forget Mark coming home from his construction job one day with a story about going to a home where an old man had an entire tree coming in through his front door with the butt end burning in the fireplace and the tree top still outside. At the time, we just thought the old man was lazy and didn’t want to cut the wood. Now I know he was just following the Yule Log tradition.

As we make our way through the holiday traditions and write those holiday messages to friends and family, it becomes a time of reflection for me. This has led me to ask, “Where in the world are some of my best friends?”

Where in the world are Mike and Linda Stuart? Mike and Linda are my very good friends who are biking around the world. They have spent the past few months biking through Central and South America. They are headed to the ‘end of the earth’ at Tierra del Fuego and are now within 500 miles of reaching that destination. They are in Patagonia right now and the photos from their blog posts are breath taking.

Where is Windbird? She is in a secure anchorage near Georgetown in the Bahamas. They just completed a passage with Sam’s brothers who flew down from Minnesota. It sounds like they had a fabulous time. As I write, Sam and Dawn are headed to Minnesota to have Christmas with family. They will return to Windbird in the New Year and head down what is called the prickly path to the Dominican Republic and on to Puerto Rico. I am hoping to somehow get to the DR at just the right time to do the crossing to Puerto Rico with them in early March.

Where in the world are Ed and Lynne Kirwin? Normally they are in Nyack, New York, but Ed has gotten a reprieve from his chemo treatment and they have spent the past few weeks on their beloved sailboat Constance. It seems just like yesterday that we left Thailand and sailed to southern India together.

04 Constance Just South of Sri Lanka at Sunset

Where in the world are Heather and Jon Turgeon? Heather and Jon are friends we first met when we all lived aboard our boats in Shipyard Quarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have spent the past few years sailing around the world and have just left Cape Verde to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean. The first day of their trip was a little bumpy, so I am hoping the wind and seas settle down so they will have a wonderful crossing.

Where are Kevin and Claire? Kevin and Claire also lived aboard at Shipyard Quarters in Cambridge, but have lived on land for the past ten years while still sailing Merganser in the Chesapeake during the summers. Google reminded me this morning that eight years ago today, Kevin and Claire were sailing with Mark and I aboard Windbird in Thailand.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Wow! Friends all over the place. I have also received e-cards from sailing friends in England, the Netherlands, and Canada. I need to work harder in 2018 to re-establish contact with many other world-wide sailing friends. But for now, I am going to focus on enjoying the holidays with family. Tomorrow I go to Cambridge to the Revels celebration on the Harvard campus. On Sunday, I will spend the afternoon and evening with the Goldstones enjoying Christmas Eve, and then on Monday morning we will celebrate the arrival of Santa Claus. By noon on Monday, we all hope to be ready to head out for our next adventures—the Goldstones to Maine and me to Nashville to spend time with my sister and brother-in-law.

2017 Life Logs, Day 355: It’s Winter
Date: Thursday, December 21, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 37, Low 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Welcome, Yule! Winter is officially here as today was winter solstice. I had dinner with the Goldstones tonight and Ollie and Jonah reminded us that yesterday was not winter, even though it felt like it., but that as of today it is official. I don’t really love winter, but I love this day as the hours of daylight start to increase. Tomorrow night the Goldstones are having a Solstice Fire in the backyard (if it doesn’t get rained out). Neighbors all bring food and come together for the winter celebration. I picked Jonah and Ollie up from school today and, along with Sam, we made chocolate decadence for tomorrow night. We baked it in a large sheet pan and will cut out holiday designs tomorrow after school and decorate the little cakes as a festive dessert. Little by little, we are getting ready for this upcoming holiday weekend.