2017 Life Logs, Day 81: Visit to the Doctor
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Weather: Party Sunny and Very Windy; High 45, Low 15 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

This incessant wind is getting to me. Walking from this apartment to the car feels like a hazardous activity. Actually, just opening my front door feels hazardous because the wind catches the door and pulls it hard away from me. I know March can be a windy month, but I am more than ready for the cold and wind to subside. But that is not in the forecast for the next week. So I guess I just hunker down and wait.

In mid-August last year, Mark and I had annual physicals with a new physician. He is a young man and when he met with Mark, he immediately came into the room where I was and stated that he was ordering a weekly visit from a home health care nurse among other interventions. I was taken back a bit, but less than a month later when Mark died, I understood what Dr. Munir had seen that none of the rest of us had noticed. He explained to me at the time that oncologists notoriously never deal with end of life issues. And he was right about that. I got to thank him today for his interventions and then we addressed the reason for my visit today. For over thirty years, since the first time I started getting annual check-ups and blood tests, I have always had a high bad cholesterol count, but an even better high good cholesterol count. But in August, Dr. Munir did not have access to my previous records, so he insisted that I return in six months for a follow-up appointment. That should have happened in February, but I was in Nashville. So the follow-up happened today, and just as I had reported to him, the bad cholesterol count stayed high, but the good cholesterol number countered it. But the really good news is that the ratio between the two was cut in half between August and now. Good news which might be due to my new low-carb diet or increased exercise, or both. But whatever, it is working. When I mentioned the sinus issues I have had off and on since December and my current cold/flu symptoms, he started into an education campaign to convince me that too many times antibiotics are prescribed when not needed and that in many cases using age-old herbal remedies actually work just as well. He was building his case when he looked in my ears. Then he changed his tune. He said that I have infections in both ears and that I would definitely need an antibiotic, plus ear drops, plus an anti-cough capsule. So I went from herbal treatments to antibiotics in the span of a few seconds. I totally agree with Dr. Muniz that antibiotics are prescribed too loosely, and I am not totally convinced that I need to take the anti-cough capsules, but I did start the antibiotic and ear drops this afternoon. Within five hours, either the medications or just the natural progression of whatever I have, caused me to become a drippy mess. I had been very clear with the doctor that I wasn’t sure what I have is a cold because I have not had a runny nose. Well, now I do, but not bad enough to make me want to take something to dry things up. I’ll wait until morning to see how things are then. Let’s hope a good night’s rest and the new meds kick during the night and that in my morning I awake feeling much better.

2017 Life Logs, Day 80: Happy Birthday to Ollie
Date: Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 53, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Happy Birthday to a very special little guy in my life. Ollie turned five today and all of a sudden he looks so grown up. Heather posted the following tribute to Ollie on her Facebook page. It captures the “essence of Ollie” perfectly.

Oliver is
Always aware of the love and beauty around the him;
Petrified of ‘being seen;’
Happy to share his birthday with a friend;
A master with Legos and puzzles;
Wise beyond his years;
FIVE.
Happy birthday to my Ollie Lama!

I woke up this morning feeling worse than yesterday. Heather was not able to go to work today, but Jonah felt good enough to return to school. Then at noon, Heather got a call from the school nurse to come pick up Sam. So whatever this cold/flu yuckiness is, it is spreading through the family. Thankfully, Ollie has been spared to date, so he felt fine on this birthday. And that was a great gift. But speaking of gifts, I got a text message from Amazon this morning telling me that one of Ollie’s gifts from me was not going to arrive today. A new bow arrived yesterday, but the chin rest for his violin was not going to arrive. So I immediately started searching online and found a place to buy one here on the Cape. Unfortunately, the place was an hour’s drive from here, but I decided to go for it. I got the chin rest, hurried home to gather up gifts and food, and went to pick Jonah up from school at 3:30. Once Ollie got home from school, the birthday party began. He opened his gift from Sam and Jonah which was a new soccer ball and all three boys opened a present from me which was a new Adidas soccer outfit for each. They immediately put on their soccer shirts and wanted to put on the shorts, but I reminded them that it is still too cold outside for shorts and they went along with that without too much of a fuss. When they came back inside from the soccer game, Ollie opened more presents, played his violin, built a Lego piece and then we had dinner. After dinner, he opened even more presents. I think he was a very happy five year-old on his birthday.

2017 Life Logs, Day 79: Welcome Spring
Date: Monday, March 20, 2017
Weather: Sunny; High 37, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Spring made her entrance today, but as Ollie points out, tomorrow (his birthday) will be the first full day of spring. He is very possessive of that fact. Yet, we did officially welcome spring today and the weather cooperated. Well, the high temp was still in the 30’s, but with no wind and full sunshine, it felt much warmer . . . almost like spring. And on this special day, I want to say happy birthday to the other Goldpebble grandmother, Grammy Marti. Sure hope you had a wonderful day.

I spent the morning with Jonah who had to stay home from school due to a fever and a cough. Mid-way through the morning, we decided to watch a video. I wanted to see Moana, but Jonah wanted to see one of his favorites, Hook, starring Robin Williams and Julia Roberts. He had seen it before, but I hadn’t. And I loved it. After the movie, we continued to spend a quiet morning, then in the early afternoon Heather and Ollie came home. Heather has the same thing as Jonah and was feeling just awful, but Ollie was feeling fine. He just wanted to come home to get ready to celebrate his birthday tomorrow. Can’t believe he is going to be five years old

2017 Life Logs, Day 78: Five Years Ago Today
Date: Sunday, March 19, 2017
Weather: Overcast, Cold, and Very Windy; High 39, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Google Photos did it again today. When I got up and checked my phone, there was a beautiful display of photos from this day five years ago. My log for that day was named, “Looks Like, Feels Like, Must Be . . . Spring.” That certainly wasn’t the case today. The temp never got out of the 30’s and we had no sun and even a few snow flurries in the afternoon. But as Google reminded me, five years ago on this day, it was 60 degrees and after Mark’s third ever chemo treatment, Heather, Sam, and Jonah joined us for a walk on the beach. Well, the adults walked but Sam and Jonah dug and played and danced in the sand.

07 Near the Water’s Edge

02 Too Cute

05 Jonah Sliding in the Sand

04 Jonah and Sam Doing the Sand Dance

I was up bright and early this morning as an electrician was arriving from Boston at 8 am to work on the electrical panel in my bedroom closet. The panel in that closet has nothing to do with my apartment. The breakers in that panel are for electricity on the docks and for the smaller apartments in this complex that have electric heat. Ed the maintenance guy here and the electrician who drove down from Boston were in and out of the apartment for an hour or two and I used that as an excuse to sit in the living room and finish the book I have been reading. It is a beautifully written book, but the last couple of chapters made me so sad that I could hardly read for the tears. I was glad Ed and the electrician were gone by the time I got to those chapters! The book is called “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah. It takes place in France during World War II and it will certainly keep your attention. Thanks to my friend Leslie for loaning me the book. A great read.

Tomorrow will be another early day. Jonah came home from Wellfleet with a bad cough and will not be going to school tomorrow, barring a miracle. So I will head over to spend the day with Jonah.

2017 Life Logs, Day 77: Lucky Oma
Date: Saturday, March 18, 2017
Weather: Chunny (chilly + sunny); High 41, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

I am the grandmother of the Fabulous Five which makes me a very lucky Oma. And what happened this week is one example of that. Yesterday, on St. Patrick’s Day, I got a belated birthday gift from Ziggy and Coco. It was a beautiful pair of green sea glass earrings. Today I had a Skype video call with them and found out that Ziggy and Coco pooled their savings and went off on their own at the Rincon market and bought these earrings for me for my birthday. Justin and Jo didn’t know they were doing it. And Ziggy used his bargaining skills to get a good deal. I watched him do this while I was there visiting. He went off with $8 he had earned and returned with a $40 hat. So hopefully he got an equally good deal on the earrings. And earlier in the week, I was given another belated birthday present of a pair of wooden gear earrings that the Goldpebbles found at the local children’s bookstore. And the gears actually work! My grandchildren obviously know what I love. Indeed, I am a very lucky Oma.

Today I went to the gym for a Zumba class to help get myself back in the groove. I’ve been away for so long that I am having trouble settling into any kind of routine, but I think going to the gym will help. After the gym, I headed to Heather’s and took Sam to his 12:30 pm soccer practice while Heather got things ready for their family overnight at the Audubon in Wellfleet. Then I had a quiet Saturday evening at home alone.

The weather today was a repeat of the past few days—a little on the chilly side but very sunny. I’ve started calling it ‘chuuny’ weather (combination of chilly and sunny)—not quite spring, but not full blown winter. Of course, tomorrow is forecast to bring us more wintry weather with some snow, but at this point it looks like we won’t get much. Monday brings the first day of spring, but the forecast for here is just more of the same ‘not quite spring’ weather.

2017 Life Logs, Day 75: Lunch with Friends
Date: Thursday, March 16, 2017
Weather: Continued Cold; High 36, Low 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

The cold continues, but at least the sun shines. Early this morning, I drove to Heather’s to take Sam to his pre-school activity and then returned to Heather’s to drive Ollie to Woods Hole. I then returned home and hung out until 1:15 when I headed downtown to have lunch with friends Olivia and Jane. We met at Liam Maguire’s Irish Pub on Main Street and hoped to have a good Irish stew on this day before St. Patrick’s Day. But unfortunately, Irish stew is only available on St. Patrick’s Day. Regardless, we enjoyed lunch and the change of being together to catch up on what has been happening in our lives for the past few weeks when all of us were traveling. After our late lunch, I traveled back to Woods Hole to pick up Ollie to take him home.

Tomorrow I meet with a realtor to tour a few homes with in-law apartments. Neither Heather and Jed, nor myself, are ready to buy such a property, but I am just scouting out what is available. I’ll end that activity in the early afternoon to pick Ollie up early from preschool. He wants to spend the afternoon playing at “Oma’s house’, so we will do that. When I return him home in the late afternoon, he will be going with Heather, Sam, and Jonah to a dance at the elementary school. Always something happening in the Goldstone world.

2017 Life Logs, Day 74: Recovering from the ‘Storm’
Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Weather: Sunny, Windy, Continued Cold; High 32, Low 21 degrees F
Location: Back Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

It was still very windy and chilly today, but the sunshine helped us to recover from yesterday’s winter storm. Heather had to head to work early and I did my best to get the three boys ready for school on time. It was Ollie that caused a little problem with that. Heather tried to wake him to say goodbye before she left, but he was sound asleep and didn’t respond. Later I sent Sam up to try and wake him, and he was unsuccessful as well. When I went upstairs, he was awake but was sad because mommy wasn’t home and was not going to get out of bed. I let Sam work with him and finally Sam’s trail of chocolate Teddy Grahams got him up. And about that time Heather called to talk to him and that made him very happy. All of this took time, however, and I barely got Sam and Jonah delivered to school on time. But all is well that ends well, and three happy boys were delivered to school this morning. Whew!

I returned to pick Sam up from school and Heather picked up Ollie and then Jonah who had an after-school activity. Heather invited me to stay for dinner, enticing me with fresh lemon sole and Brussels sprouts, so how could I refuse? I stayed for dinner and storytime and then headed home as I need to return early in the morning to take Sam to school for an early morning activity. Heather heads to Boston tomorrow morning, so after I deliver Sam, I will then take Jonah to school at the normal time and drive Ollie to Woods Hole. I am going to have a late lunch with friends Jane and Olivia at a local Irish pub to have a pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration and will then head back to Woods Hole to pick up Ollie. Heather has arranged for after school play dates for Sam and Jonah. She will pick them up on her way home from Boston and we’ll all gather by dinner time. Busy schedule.

2017 Life Logs, Day 74: Recovering from the ‘Storm’
Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Weather: Sunny, Windy, Continued Cold; High 32, Low 21 degrees F
Location: Back Home in the The Studio, Falmouth, MA

It was still very windy and chilly today, but the sunshine helped us to recover from yesterday’s winter storm. Heather had to head to work early and I did my best to get the three boys ready for school on time. It was Ollie that caused a little problem with that. Heather tried to wake him to say goodbye before she left, but he was sound asleep and didn’t respond. Later I sent Sam up to try and wake him, and he was unsuccessful as well. When I went upstairs, he was awake but was sad because mommy wasn’t home and was not going to get out of bed. I let Sam work with him and finally Sam’s trail of chocolate Teddy Grahams got him up. And about that time Heather called to talk to him and that made him very happy. All of this took time, however, and I barely got Sam and Jonah delivered to school on time. But all is well that ends well, and three happy boys were delivered to school this morning. Whew!

I returned to pick Sam up from school and Heather picked up Ollie and then Jonah who had an after-school activity. Heather invited me to stay for dinner, enticing me with fresh lemon sole and Brussels sprouts, so how could I refuse? I stayed for dinner and storytime and then headed home as I need to return early in the morning to take Sam to school for an early morning activity. Heather heads to Boston tomorrow morning, so after I deliver Sam, I will then take Jonah to school at the normal time and drive Ollie to Woods Hole. I am going to have a late lunch with friends Jane and Olivia at a local Irish pub to have a pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration and will then head back to Woods Hole to pick up Ollie. Heather has arranged for after school play dates for Sam and Jonah. She will pick them up on her way home from Boston and we’ll all gather by dinner time. Busy schedule.

2017 Life Logs, Day 73: More Rain Than Snow
Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Weather: Snow, Pouring Rain, Heavy Winds; High 46, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home with Heather and Boys, East Falmouth, MA

Today’s big storm took an interesting twist here on the Cape. We got snow early but it was a wet snow. Then the temperature started rising and we got pouring rain, and I do mean pouring, for three to four hours. As the rain increased, so did the wind. At one point we had 50 to 60 mile per hour winds that have resulted in power outages in many areas. I am spending the night with Heather and boys because Heather has to head to work very early and I will deliver the kids to school. I could have driven over in the morning, but earlier today we didn’t know what the roads might be like in the morning and it seemed safer to just stay here. And lucky for us, we have not had a power outage. I got a text message on my phone from the electric company telling me the power is out at my apartment. Glad I’m here and not there.

There was no school here today and around noon I got a call from Heather inviting me to join her and the boys for lunch at the British Beer Company not far from my apartment. Heather and next door neighbor Melissa decided they needed to get the kids out of the house and with the pouring rain, a restaurant sounded like a good idea. So we all braved the rain and wind to meet for lunch. The BBC is across the street from the beach and the wind was blowing so hard from the water that I was almost knocked down when I got out of the car. By the time I got home, I had to put my jacket and pants in the dryer as they were soaked. But later in the afternoon when I headed to Heather’s to spend the night, the rain was down to a drizzle. Tonight I still hear the wind roaring outside from time to time, but nothing like earlier today. I was hoping this storm would be the last of the winter, but the forecast says we are going to get snow again on Saturday and Sunday. And the first day of spring on Monday will have a high temp in the 30’s. Doesn’t sound like spring to me!

2017 Life Logs, Day 72: Bracing for the Storm
Date: Monday, March 13, 2017
Weather: Still Sunny, Warming Slightly; High 32, Low 23 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA

Maybe I’m hiding my head in the sand, but somehow, I can’t accept idea that we are going to have a major snow storm tomorrow. I keep looking at Weather Underground which leads me to believe we won’t get more than 2-3 inches of snow. That doesn’t seem so bad to me, but we shall see about that tomorrow morning. But even if we do get the snow, the temperature is supposed to rise to 40 degrees. I guess it is the wind that comes with a Nor’easter that causes problems with power outages. So I’m bracing for the storm, but not convinced it will be all that bad. I am planning to go out at 8 am for a scheduled blood test as part of a routine physical. Then maybe I’ll return home and get those emails written that I had planned to do today.

Magically, when I checked my bank online account this morning, it was working again. So I didn’t have to spend time at the bank. Instead I spent time scouting out the possibility of finding a new place to live—not because I don’t love it here, but because I feel like I am throwing money away by renting. Heather, Jed, and I have talked about combining finances to purchase a home with an in-law apartment where we would all live together. The other option is that I find a small home for just myself. I don’t know if either option will materialize, but I’m willing to spend time searching out possibilities. I contacted a realtor and will start looking tomorrow if weather permits, or on Wednesday if that Nor’easter makes travel a problem tomorrow.

I picked Jonah up from school at 3:30. Heather arrived home with Ollie and Sam at 4:30 and we finished dinner by 5:30 so Heather and Sam could head out to Woods Hole ASAP for a Scout tour of WCAI, the public radio station where Heather works. Jonah, Ollie, and I watched a YouTube video on making fast flying paper airplanes to prepare for Jonah’s Scout meeting at 6:30. The meeting was being held in the elementary school gym so that boys could make various types of paper airplanes and have plenty of room to test which ones fly further. The design we practiced before the Scout meeting on the YouTube video ended up to be a real winner.

I’ll end on what I consider a very sad note. When I got home from the Scout meeting, I turned on the TV to watch a health care town hall meeting with Senator Bernie Sanders in McDowell County, West Virginia. Bernie is such an honorable man and it made me so very sad to compare his leadership to that being provided by the present administration. But what really made me sad was the fact that the people attending the town hall meeting had voted for Donald Trump. They took Trump at his word during the campaign that he was going to make like better for them, but they are not seeing at this point that he is going to follow through on that promise. They seemed to feel abandoned, especially by the current push to replace Obamacare. Bernie really connects with people and watching the program tonight just made me wonder where we would be today if he had been elected President. I can’t help but believe that we would be moving forward in the right direction. And I certainly don’t feel that way under our current leadership.