2025 Life Logs, Day 255: Eye-Opening Experience
Date: Friday, September 12, 2025
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High Temp 70, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This morning, Christina Brodie and I canvassed local businesses offering folders from the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition filled with helpful information for immigrant families and businesses where they might work or frequent. One of the things in the packet is a small sign businesses can put in their window. It simply says, “We stand with immigrant families.” Anticipating that some businesses might say that the sign would offend people who are not sympathetic to immigrants, the direction sheet for people canvassing even has talking points that can be used to counter that thinking. But the eye-opening thing I experienced were the places we visited where managers seemed to indicate immigrants should be taken by ICE and deported. When we would point out that the people taken are often not illegal immigrants, the response is that they do not want to get into a discussion about this. One guy simply told us, “You’re talking to the wrong person. I believe in getting rid of ‘em.” We have a lot of work to do!

This evening, I attended a mis and mingle affair with Newcomers and Encore Board members. This gave us a chance to meet the people from the other club that hold the same position. It was a lovely backyard garden party, and it was great to have the opportunity to share information with our counterparts..

Tomorrow morning at 5:10 am, I am being picked up to carpool to the Massachusetts State Democratic Convention. It is in Springfield which is a good two and half plus hours from here in the western end of the state. I’ll have to get up at 4:30 am to get ready and walk Shadow. So, it is time for me to head to bed.

2025 Life Logs, Day 254: Day of Contemplation
Date: Thursday, September 11, 2025
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 75, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This is a day of contemplation for many who lost loved ones on September 11. That and the fact that Mark died on September 11, 2016, always makes this a double day of contemplation for me. I had a Newcomers/Encore Activity Fair this morning, but in the late afternoon, I left the work behind and went out on Ardenna with Heather, Jed, and Ollie. It was an absolutely beautiful evening as we watched the sun set on our motor sail from Woods Hole to Quissett Harbor. I always feel like I am at home when I am in Quissett Harbor as Mark and I spent our last two summers living on Windbird. Thank you, Heather and Jed, for getting me out on the water tonight. It was the perfect place for me to be.

2025 Life Logs, Day 253: A Meeting, Lunch with Friends, Falmouth and MA Dems
Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still on the Cool Side; High Temp 67, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

In between a day of mixed activities, I got to see Ollie and take him to his Scout troop meeting tonight. Seeing my grandkids is always the highlight of any of my days. Heather and Jed were at a Falmouth High School soccer away game to see Jonah play. Falmouth won 5-2, so I am sure Jonah was happy that both Heather and Jed could go to the game. I ‘filled in’ with Ollie. Now that he is an official teenager, I don’t need to stay with him. I just show up to check on things and provide transport. But even that gives me great joy.

This morning, after walking Archie and Shadow, who look like salt and pepper.

I spent the remainder of the morning in an Encore Board meeting. Then I went to lunch with friends, Christina and Karen. It has been ages since we have had time to be together, so it was great to spend a little time together catching up on life. Then this evening, after checking on Ollie, I went to the Falmouth Dems summer social. I stayed for about an hour, left to take Ollie to his Scout meeting, and then headed home to get on a Zoom orientation meeting for this Saturday’s Massachusetts Democratic Convention. I am going as an Alternate Delegate. I have never done anything like this, so lots to learn. Busy day, but all good.

2025 Life Logs, Day 252: Justin Flew Home Today
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Weather: Sunny, Still on the Cool Side; High Temp 69, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

After a delightful three days with Justin here visiting, we drove to the bus terminal at 5:30 am so he could catch the 5:45 am to Boston Logan. His flight was at 10 am, and after a stop at JFK, he landed in San Juan at 4:30 pm. Then it was another 2-to-3-hour drive at that time of day to get home. So, he spent two days of his life traveling to and from just to make my wish come true. Seeing Willie in concert and swimming with whale sharks were the only things on my bucket list, and now I just have to swim with those big, beautiful whale sharks. Thank you, Justin. You are a wonderful son, so kind and thoughtful. I am proud to be your mother. Love you.

After Justin left, I spent some time catching up on email correspondence, took Shadow and Archie for their daily walk, and then headed to my book Club meeting. On my way home, I made an impromptu stop at Karen and Peter Baranowski’s to visit. I have barely seen Karen this summer and we had a great visit. Karen had plans to meet with Christina for lunch tomorrow and she invited me as well. So, I am looking forward to that. After catching up with Karen, it was home to prepare for my Library Trustees meeting which was this evening at 6:30 pm. It was a busy, but good day.

I have not posted logs for the past two days, but those will be coming soon.

2025 Life Logs, Day 250: Willie
Date: Sunday, September 7, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High Temp 72, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with Shadow and Justin

Dreams do come true. Justin flew up from Puerto Rico this weekend to take me to a Willie Nelson concert. Thank you, thank you, Justin.

I have never been to a concert, and if I ever wanted to go to one, it was to see Willie Nelson. And tonight, we went to the Xfinity Center near Boston to see the Outlaw show with Sheryl Crow, Bob Dylan, and Willie. I have always loved his voice, always telling a story with the words often slightly ahead or behind the beat. Willie, diagnosed with emphysema in 2019, is now 92 years old. His voice is definitely showing its age, but he performs with a special kind of magic.

This Outlaw show began with the playing of the video for his 1986 song “Living in the Promiseland”. As the video progressed, a huge American flag was unfurled in the background.

The showing of that video seemed to me to be sending a message to all of us of what this country once was, and what we must work to make it once again.

Here are lyrics to Willie’s Promiseland:

Give us your tired and weak
And we will make them strong
Bring us your foreign songs
And we will sing along
Leave us your broken dreams
We’ll give them time to mend
There’s still a lot of love
Living in the promiseland

Living in the promiseland
Our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man
Is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road
‘Cross the shifting sands
And room for everyone
Living in the promiseland

So they came from a distant isle
Aimless woman, faithless child
Like a bad dream
Until there was no room at all
No place to run and no place to fall

Give us your daily bread
We have no shoes to wear
No place to call our own
Only this cross to bear
We are the multitudes
Lend us a helping hand
Is there no love anymore?
Living in the promiseland

Living in the promiseland
Our dreams are made of steel
The prayer of every man
Is to know how freedom feels
There is a winding road
‘Cross the shifting sands
And room for everyone
Living in the promiseland

And room for everyone
Living in the promiseland

2025 Life Logs, Day 249: Happy 22nd Anniversary to Heather and Jed
Date: Saturday, September 6, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High Temp 77, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with Shadow and Justin, Falmouth, MA

Today was a delightful day spent with Justin and Heather, Jed, Johan, and Ollie. Justin and I started our day by walking Shadow and Archie, the friend’s dog I have been walking this week. Then Justin and I went to the rally on the Green for a bit. Justin got volunteered by me to build a website for our new Indivisible Falmouth chapter, so I wanted him to meet some of the people who will be using it. He also learned of news from Puerto Rico he had not heard. Our War Department is sending fighter jets to Puerto Rico to combat drug cartels in the Caribbean. This is in addition to the troops we have sent there in the past few weeks to train in the mountains in readiness for topical warfare. I knew none of this.

We then changed gears and drove to Woods Hole to spend the remainder of the afternoon visiting with Heather and family aboard Ardenna. There were white caps in Great Harbor, so we did not venture out to sail in the Sound. But Justin, Heather, and Jed enjoyed jumping in the water. It was colder water than Justin is used to, but it was a warm enough day that it felt comfortable after that first plunge.

This evening we had a sushi dinner at Heather and Jed’s. We all enjoyed the homemade sushi and for dessert we had a raspberry flan Justin and I bought at the French bakery for the anniversary celebration. Some of the raspberries were filled with raspberry gelee and they were delicious. And Justin learned to use the Goldpebble’s racing wheel setup to drive racing cars using one of their Xbox games. It was a fun evening together. Happy Anniversary to Heather and Jed.

2025 Life Logs, Day 248: Justin Arrived
Date: Friday, September 5, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 76, Low 77 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This morning I attended an organizational meeting for our new chapter of Indivisible here in Falmouth. I am excited to help build this new chapter and thought we had a very productive first leadership meeting.

When I got back home, I got things ready for Justin’s visit, went to the grocery store to fill my almost empty refrigerator, sent some long overdue emails, and delivered checks to the library before heading to Boston to pick Justin up from Logan Airport. His plane was on time and I was just entering the airport when he called to say he had arrived. It was 5:45 pm, so instead of heading straight home and sitting in rush hour traffic, I took Justin to dinner at The Helmand, an Afghan restaurant in Cambridge. I love that restaurant and haven’t been there for years. We were early for our reservation, but we were seated immediately and had a delightful dinner. We had absolutely no traffic on the way home and then Heather dropped by to visit for a bit. It was wonderful to have the time together with my two children.

2025 Life Logs, Day 247: More Meetings, More Progress
Date: Thursday, September 4, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 71, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today was another full day of meetings. One more meeting in the morning, and then I head to Boston to pick up Justin at the airport. No more meetings until he leaves on Tuesday. Just a weekend of fun.

2025 Life Logs, Day 246: Head Spinning Day
Date: Wednesday, September 3, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 71, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This was a head spinning day. Walked 2 miles with Shadow and Archie, worked on developing material for an Indivisible Falmouth website that Justin is building together for us, met with the Program VP of Newcomers to find new ways to promote each other’s programs, wrote a new one-page promo describing Encore’s programs for this year to hopefully be printed back-to-back with the Newcomers’ program list that will be distributed at next week’s Activity Fair, met with the Library Director about the nonviolent film series I am trying to put together and actually set dates and have the availability information of some of the films on our list, talked with my sister’s Power of Attorney to discuss changing her investment management company, went to get passport photos taken so I can renew my expired passport, all the while preparing for another day of meetings tomorrow. Right now, I have ceased to be able to think straight. So, I am headed to bed!

2025 Life Logs, Day 245: First Day of School 2025
Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 72, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Sam had his first day of university classes yesterday and Jonah and Ollie had their first day of school today. Jonah is a junior at Falmouth High School and Ollie is in 8th grade at Lawrence Middle School. Heather documented the first day with early morning photos.

I did not have an exciting day, but I did get a fair bit of work done. I started my day with a 2 mile walk with Shadow and Archie. Shadow is completely black and Archie is white and half the size of Shadow. They make a striking couple. I had a Library Trustees meeting, took care of some Library Trustee Treasurer tasks, read though materials for the Massachusetts Democratic Convention that is on Saturday the 13th. I am going as an alternate delegate for the first time. I worked on Encore tasks. And then I took a break and went to a movie with a friend to see My Mother’s Wedding. It was not the comedy/drama we expected. Neither of us found it comical. Not a movie I would recommend, but it was a much needed diversion from work.