2017 Life Logs, Day 194: Swim Lessons and Back to Wood Neck . . . Again
Date: Thursday, July 13, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny AM, Overcast PM with Rain; High 81, 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

The tide has been perfect this week for afternoon trips down Lazy River at Wood Neck. So today, at the request of all three Goldpebbles, we had a repeat of yesterday performance. In fact, we have spent three days this week going to swim lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach in the morning and then going to Wood Neck Beach and adjacent marsh in the afternoon. The Goldpebbles have decided that the perfect time to ride the outgoing current down Lazy River is mid-way between high and low tide. The outgoing water is running at just the right speed to give this flow of water its name, Lazy River. You can ride on a boogie board, do a deadman’s float, or just swim your way from the marsh down Lazy River to the outlet into Buzzards Bay. Today, all three boys were able to do this without any assistance from me. I just stood on the beach and watched. And that is a huge step from last summer and even earlier this week. So, the repeat performances were perfect for building the skills to do this. I loved watching the boys do this, especially Sam’s deadman’s float, Jonah’s gained confidence in the water, and Ollie’s enthusiasm to ride Lazy River over and over without adult help. The weather this afternoon wasn’t great, and it finally got just too cold and windy to continue. At that point, we headed back to the marsh, but even then, the overcast sky and chilly wind shortened our stay. When the rain started, we finally left, but we were so glad we braved the weather to have this wonderful experience.

But now let me back up to the morning. We went to swim lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach. Sam continues to build his skills, Jonah is working very hard to conquer his fears of the water, and Ollie practiced his kicking skills for almost an hour today using a swim board. For 30 minutes of that time, Jonah and I were playing a beach football passing game. I lost both games, but we had a great time. And then after their lessons, Sam and Jonah took the ball and organized a group of kids to play beach football. While they did that Ollie used his green towel to fly around the beach. He looked like a Luna moth as he spread his ‘wings’ to fly. I didn’t have my camera with me this morning, but I used my phone to get a couple of photos of the flight of the Luna moth. I promised earlier in the week to start using my GoPro with an underwater housing to capture our beach experiences. But after making that promise, I realized I didn’t have an underwater housing. I borrowed Jed’s for my trip to the Bahamas, but I have now ordered my own and will hope to have better waterside photos next week.

Our plan is to change gears tomorrow and do something other than go to the beach. There are no Friday swim lessons, and weather permitting, we are hoping for a bike path bike ride.

2017 Life Logs, Day 193: Swim Lessons and Back to Wood Neck
Date: Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny with Threats of Rain; High 84, 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

On Monday, we went to Wood Neck beach and marsh in the afternoon and yesterday Jonah made a request that we return there today. Sam and Ollie agreed, so after swim lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach we came to my place for lunch and then headed on to Wood Neck. On Monday we arrived an hour before low tide which made negotiating Lazy River a little difficult. So today all three boys agreed that they wanted to get there today closer to high tide so they would have more time to ride in Lazy River. Lazy River is the outlet from the marsh side of Wood Neck to the Buzzards Bay side. It is about 30 wide for a bit and then widens out as it gets closer to Buzzards Bay. Today we arrived three and a half hours before low tide and the ride in Lazy River when we first arrived was just perfect. In past years, it has taken two people to let the boys ride the river. Mark would always stay on the marsh side and get them started and I would be on the Buzzards Bay side to catch them if the ride got too rowdy for them. But now, with the aid of boogie boards and arm floaties, even Ollie can negotiate Lazy River all by himself. That allows me to position myself near the outlet into Buzzards Bay where the flow gets really rowdy. I am amazed at the level of their independence from last year to now. The boys had a great time floating down the ‘river’ on boogie boards and then floating down with just snorkel masks on to watch the bottom for crabs as they floated. We played in the surf off the beach on the Buzzards Bay side and then ended our day in the marsh. I mentioned that it was Jonah who requested this trip. He got new snorkel gear for this birthday and he wanted to try it out. This is the same Jonah who is afraid to put his head in the water, but he made great strides this afternoon. He only intentionally bobbed under one time, but he did swim along with his face in the water with the snorkel gear on. He is definitely making progress.

Jed has to make a work trip to Sweden in August and on Monday night, he and Heather made plane reservations for their whole family to go with him. They will be in Sweden for two weeks in August and Camp Oma will be on hold for those two weeks. The Goldstones are all very excited about this trip. They are flying into Norway and taking a train from Bergen on the west coast of Norway to Oslo. From there it is short distance to where Jed will be teaching for a week in Sweden. Heather has all sorts of activities planned for herself and the boys during Jed’s work week and then they will spend a week together as a family exploring. What a wonderful opportunity for all of them! They leave on August 12, only one month from now. The summer is going so quickly.

2017 Life Logs, Day 192: Rainy Day
Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Weather: Overcast with Rain until Mid-Afternoon; High 80, 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

In our weekly planning meeting yesterday, the Goldpebbles unanimously wanted a day at home today. We didn’t know at the time that it was going to be a rainy day, but that worked out great. Due to the rain, we didn’t even go to swim lessons this morning, so it was really a complete day at home. I told the boys we would stay at home as long as there was no fighting or fussing. In the event that conflict should arrive, my punishment was taking them to the beach. Usually the beach is a reward, but around here you can use it as a punishment! But I didn’t need to threaten punishment. The boys got along great and had a wonderful time building with Legos. We made a list of chores that needed to be done around the house and interspersed work and play. For instance, the guinea pig cage needed to be cleaned. The boys dove in and decided to also give the guinea pigs a bath. This turned the cage cleaning into a fun adventure. We had such a good time that I’m looking forward to more days just hanging out at home.

2017 Life Logs, Day 191: Happy Birthday to My Sister Patsy
Date: Monday, July 10, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 80, 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Happy Birthday to my sister Patsy! She is in those “eighty something” years and going strong. While we were in West Virginia recently, we did a memorial service for Mark and a family member snapped this photo of Patsy and me. We were both a bit sad, but it is so wonderful so know that your sister has your back . . . always. I love this photo because it shows our bond. Happy Birthday, Sis!

Today was a wonderful summer day here with beautiful Cape Cod weather. I started the day with Bruce Woodin finishing the varnishing project on Pooh. We are now ready for launch as soon as we have enough people to help out at high tide. It looks like it might be Saturday before we can accomplish that, but we’ll see. I left the Woodin’s and headed to Falmouth Heights Beach. Heather had taken the boys to swim lessons and when I arrived, she handed them over to me so she could head to work. We stayed at the beach for a bit and then headed to my place for lunch and for our weekly planning meeting. The boys seem to be enjoying making decisions about what they will be doing during the week and the overwhelming vote for tomorrow was to head home after swim lessons and just play. Fair enough. But they also made the decision to go to Wood Neck beach and marsh this afternoon to meet up with Leo and his mother Jean who live in the neighborhood. The tide was going out and we rode Lazy River and played in the marsh. Joey from next door and his grandmother were also at Wood Neck, so the five boys had what Ollie called a “boy party”. Jean and I walked with them all the way back into the marsh where we found young horseshoe crabs smaller than the palm of my hand and beautiful egrets flying about. And along the way, the boys found green crabs. Wood Neck is beautiful marsh but since I was walking in the water, I didn’t bring my camera with me to capture the beauty. But trust me, at near low tide, the beauty of Wood Neck is hard to beat. And just watching the five little boys romp through the marsh with abandon was also a beautiful sight. Next time I’ll take the Go-Pro in its underwater housing and try to capture the beauty.

2017 Life Logs, Day 190: Like a Cat Chasing Its Tail
Date: Sunday, July 09, 2017
Weather: Clear Day with a Bit of Wind; High 78, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Sometimes I feel like a cat chasing its tail. I’m on the move all the time but I can’t seem to find the time to do half the things I want to do. But one thing is for sure, I do keep busy! This morning I headed to the Woodin’s to sand and put the first coat of Epifanes Clear Varnish on the Pooh’s teak. Bruce has been putting on coats of Epifanes Rapid Clear which doesn’t require sanding between coats, but for the final coats you want something a little more durable. The Clear Varnish makes a great finished product, but it does require sanding between coats and you can only do a coat every 24-hours. Heather came this morning to help and the three of us got coat number one on. Tomorrow morning Heather will take the boys to the beach for swim lessons while I work with Bruce to get coat number two on. And that might have to be our last coat until fall because Bruce and Jane have out of town company arriving at noon tomorrow. But two coats will hold it until the sailing season is over. We will launch on Friday or Saturday and hopefully start enjoying sails out of the West Falmouth Harbor. We are all looking forward to that.

I brought home a big wooden oar that Bruce keeps in the boat ‘just in case’ there is no wind and the motor fails. He hasn’t used it for years, but it was looking a little beat up. So I attacked it with the heat gun to remove any varnish still on it and have started putting on coats of Rapid Clear. When I finished that, I hopped in the shower, had lunch, and then headed to Heather’s to transplant some kale and marigolds I have been growing in pots on the deck. I invited Ollie to help deliver the plants to garden in his little John Deere tractor and he proudly did so. Heather was adding supers to her two bee hives today and the bees were very busy in the lavender in the bee garden. I can’t wait to taste that lavender honey. I did my transplanting in the garden and then Heather and gang were headed to a friend’s house for a birthday dinner for one of Sam’s friends. I stuck around and worked on folding laundry while I was waiting for the sprinkler to do its job in the garden. On the way home, I did my grocery shopping for the week, and by the time I got home it was almost 7 pm. Tonight, I fixed dinner and made chili that I hope Ollie and Sam will eat for lunch a couple of days this week. Jonah won’t touch it, so I’ll have to figure out something else for him. Fixing healthy food that kids will eat is not an easy task. But I keep trying.

I’ll hopefully get to the beach by 10:30 in the morning so Heather can head on to work. The boys and I will stay at the beach until we get hungry for lunch and then head here to eat and do our planning for the rest of the week. All of the museums on the Free Fun Friday list for this week are in the Boston area and I don’t think we want to brave the traffic. So we will focus on visiting different beaches in the afternoons this week, maybe do a little biking, and plan a rainy day activity for Friday in case the forecast is correct. Somehow by chasing my tail, we do move forward.

Here’s a photo of the beautiful blue hydrangeas here at The Studio. They were just too beautiful to ignore with the evening sun shining on them when I got home this evening.

2017 Life Logs, Day 189: Mega Birthday for Jonah
Date: Saturday, July 08, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Beautiful; High 82, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Jonah had a wonderful birthday in West Virginia with family, but naturally he wanted to also celebrate with his friends. So today we headed to the Adventure Park at Heritage with five of Jonah’s closest friends, his brother Sam, Heather and Jed, and two other parents. This made for a mega birthday for Jonah. Ollie and I went along as the official photographers and everyone had a fabulous time. You have to be seven years-old to do any of the courses, even with a parent, so Ollie has a couple of years to go. I had planned to take him to play in Hidden Hollow in the adjacent Heritage Gardens, but once he heard there was a path we could walk through the Adventure Park, he decided we would stay and watch the action. The seven kids and four adults above us, climbed and zipped through the tree tops as we photographed their actions. All of us were exhausted at the end of the three hours, but all were beaming with the accomplishments. Lillie and Molly were the two girls, and Luke, Nick, Mason, and Sam were the four boys. Lillie, Molly, and Nick are classmates at East Falmouth Elementary, Mason is a friend from soccer, and Luke has been Jonah’s best friend since pre-school. It was a great mix of kids and the staff at the Adventure Park were super helpful. Every child had a positive experience, some of it challenging, but all successful. Afterwards there was pizza and ice cream cake. What a fantastic day.

When we got home, it was time for more adventure on the water slide Grammy Marti got Jonah for his birthday. I stayed for a bit, but checked out early to come home and relax. In the morning, I head back to Bruce and Jane Woodin’s to sand and do more varnish work on Pooh. Bruce got two coats of varnish on today and we’ll get the first of the final coats on tomorrow morning. Another coat on Monday and maybe another on Tuesday, and then we are ready to launch. I’m looking forward to a sail on Pooh. Life is good.

2017 Life Logs, Day 188: Thinking of Mark
Date: Friday, July 07, 2017
Weather: Overcast with Torrential Rain in Afternoon; High 73, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Today would have been Mark’s 75th birthday, so naturally I missed him more than ever. But it really helps to have wonderful friends and family who took the time to send happy thoughts my way today. Thank you. Heather and boys really wanted to get either the dinghy or the kayak in the water today in Mark’s honor, but the early afternoon torrential rain continued as a drizzly rain into the evening. Lots of water, but not good weather for being out on the water. Hopefully on Sunday we’ll be able to do our water tribute to Granddad. We were going to help Bruce and Jane Woodin launch their little sailboat on Sunday, but the weather has delayed that launch as well. More time is needed to varnish, so the launch will happen either mid-week or next weekend.

My day was filled with a Free Fun Friday museum tour with the Goldpebbles. We chose to visit The Hall at Patriot Place, a museum showcasing the New England Patriots. There were lots of interactive learning experiences and all three boys really enjoyed it. They loved the larger than life videos playing from place to place and they really got into various math challenges. It was a great choice for a rainy Friday. By the time we got back to Falmouth around 2:00 pm, we were greeted with a lake of water on Route 28. We had to detour to get to my place as there was a ‘lake’ was on Route 28 right at Falmouth Heights Road. Two cars were in water so deep that it came half way up their doors. The cars had been abandoned and I’m assuming the people inside the cars had to crawl out of the windows.

Heather, Jed, and boys had dinner at my place this evening and after they left, I opened a package I received today. It was a camera from my nephew Barry. He heard me say at the family gathering in West Virginia that my beloved Canon PowerShot was ‘shot’. The problem is the zoom lens and I know from a prior problem like this that when the lens starts misbehaving, it is not worth it try and get it repaired. So receiving Barry’s old Canon PowerShot was very much appreciated. I can’t wait to try it out at Jonah’s birthday party tomorrow. Thank you, Barry!

2017 Life Logs, Day 187: From Boat Work to Bumper Boats
Date: Thursday, July 06, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 73, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Today included everything from boat work to bumper boats. I started my day by driving to Bruce and Jane Woodins to tape and varnish the bright work on Pooh, their 17’ sailboat. In exchange for my work, Heather and Jed and myself plus kids will have boat privileges this summer. Bruce worked with me which allowed me to get to the beach to meet the kids by 10:20. Heather and Jed were both there and swim lessons were in full swing. When I arrived, Heather and Jed headed to work and after lessons and time to play on the beach, the boys and I headed to my place for showers and lunch. Then we were off to play mini-golf and ride in the bumper boats just north of here in Cataumet. All three boys really enjoyed the boats. On the way home, we stopped at Bruce and Jane’s to check on the varnishing process. Bruce was applying coat number two and the teak is looking good. Rain is forecast for tomorrow, but we are hopeful that the weather will clear so we can get another coat on late tomorrow afternoon. If that works, we will apply the final coat on Saturday and launch the boat on Sunday. But there are lots of activities between now and then, foremost being Jonah’s birthday party on Saturday late morning and early afternoon. And before that the Goldpebbles and myself are headed to The Hall at Patriot Place, a New England Patriots museum, tomorrow morning. Never a dull moment around here. But there was a very nice sunset tonight over the band shell across the Harbor and the Falmouth Band was playing. I got to enjoy the music of the evening right from my own living room.

2017 Life Logs, Day 186: First Day of Swim Lessons
Date: Wednesday, July 05, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 78, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Today was the first day of swim lessons for Sam and Jonah. Since the boys spent the night with me, we had breakfast on the deck before heading to swim lessons. These lessons are provided at a very low cost by the town of Falmouth at various town beaches. After a lot of discussion, Sam and Jonah both voted for lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach which is just a half mile walk from here. Ollie is still too young to participate, but we go to the beach and play while the ‘big’ boys have their lessons. Sam’s group meets at 10 am and Jonah’s at 10:30. Neither boy is full vested in this experience, but I am hoping to keep them involved so they will become better swimmers by summer’s end. Sam can swim but needs to work on style. Jonah has always been reluctant to jump in the water as he says it hurts his ears, so we have this obstacle to mount. He has had ear tubes implanted twice due to ear infections starting when he was just a baby. And this is the reason for his reluctance. I was so excited today when I met his instructor for this summer, Michael. He is a high school or college student who is obviously fun-loving and very caring. He encouraged Jonah, but didn’t push. His assistant is Lauren, and she, too, spent time teaching Jonah skills. Lessons for us will end on July 20 as Sam and Jonah are signed up for a fort-building camp at Falmouth Academy the last week of July, followed by a week of soccer camp the first of August. So we have to give our best effort to swimming in the next two weeks. I was extremely proud of both Sam and Jonah today because they gave their all even though they were initially reluctant to participate.

I purchased white boards to use for Camp Oma planning and the boys and I had our first official ‘meeting’ this morning. At these meetings, we will jointly make decisions on what activities we will participate in each week. I also gave them their summer journals this afternoon and they jumped right into recording their fireworks experience from last night. They had already decided to use one of the two planning white boards to draw about their experiences, so transferring to the journals was an easy process. So—enthusiastically making group decisions, swimming, writing, and drawing–I’ll call today a success.

Early tomorrow morning I head back to Bruce and Jane Woodin’s to try and get the first coat of varnish on Pooh’s teak before 10 am swim lessons. I’ll try to get the second coat at the end of the day tomorrow, but Friday looks like a no-go for varnishing. At this point, rain is forecast during the day. But better rain on Friday than on Saturday. Saturday morning is Jonah’s birthday party with friends. Jonah wanted to do climbing and zip lining at the Adventure Park at Heritage Gardens. Sam and four other friends will join him. Unfortunately, Ollie is also too young for this activity, so Ollie and I will visit Heritage Gardens while the others CLIMB and ZIP!

2017 Life Logs, Day 185: Happy 4th of July
Date: Tuesday, July 04, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 83, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Happy 4th of July! Falmouth, Massachusetts, takes great pride in its holiday celebrations and the 4th of July is no exception. Although the Goldpebbles didn’t participate this morning, the day began with a parade of children on red, white, and blue decorated bikes on Main Street. Heather and boys spent the morning at home and then they came here in the afternoon and we walked to beach. The beach looked like a Florida beach at spring-break. I have never seen so many people on one beach before, but there was still plenty of room for us. We then came home for our lobster fest. Heather brought lobsters and clams and I added corn-on-the-cob and salad. Yummy! Then it was back to the beach with our little red beach wagon filled with blankets and beach chairs to watch the fireworks display. The barge where the fireworks are deployed sits just off Falmouth Heights Beach and we had front row seats just a few feet from the water’s edge. We could hear the music as the speakers were not far away and each one of us really enjoyed the show of ‘lights’. None of us had ever seen the fireworks from this close, and everyone agreed that we should do it again next year. It is very convenient to do this while I am living on the harbor. That way we can walk and avoid the terrible traffic jam that follows if you have to drive home. The fireworks were spectacular and I think the Goldpebbles really enjoyed the evening. Heather and boys are spending the night as Heather has to be at work at 8 am and Sam and Jonah have their first swim lessons of the summer beginning at 10 am back on Falmouth Heights Beach. Camp Oma is in full swing.