2025 Life Logs, Day 214: Looking a Lot Like …
Date: Saturday, August 2, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 74, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My Saturdays are all about the same these days. I take Shadow for a long walk, eat breakfast, check my email, and catch up on correspondence. If there is time, I read the NYT The Morning news highlights. Then I reserve the noon to 1:30 pm time slot for the Falmouth Standout Out for Democracy and Justice on the Green. So, that is what I did today. Everyone at the standout was talking about the firing of Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, because she “rigged” the data.” The reality is that all she did was report the facts and Donald Trump didn’t like the facts. That firing is what fascism looks like, and to everyone I talked with today, it feels like this one action was a huge blow to democracy. The statistics from the BLS are used by governments around the world in their economic decision making. If they cannot trust our numbers, it will affect economies around the globe, especially our own. “We the people” have to fight back with everything we have.

I met a woman at the standout today who is a member of the Resister Sisters. This is a small group of local, older women who have decided that they have to do everything they can to resist. I was invited to join them for two different protests they are planning for this next week. I don’t know if that makes me a Resister Sister, but I will certainly be there beside them.
I spent the remainder of the day doing a little house cleaning and some work on my various projects. It was a little warmer today, a perfect summer day.

2025 Life Logs, Day 213: Sam’s Graduation Dinner
Date: Friday, August 1, 2025
Weather: Cloudy, Some Rain, Clearing Late PM; High Temp 69, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

It has been almost 2 months since Sam’s high school graduation, but he wanted his graduation dinner delayed until all three of his very best friends could be there. Sebastian didn’t get home from school in the Netherlands until mid-July and Robert is leaving this week for college in Florida. We knew that way back in June, so tonight was chosen for the dinner. Ethan leaves for college out West the middle of August. And less than a week after that, Sam and Sebastian leaves for college indifferent parts of the Netherlands. Four boys with four different areas of interest headed out into different parts of this world, but tonight with their families, we feasted at the Brazilian Grille in Hyannis. Sam and Sebastian were sitting at the end of the table, side by side, and I kept having flashbacks of a photo from Sam’s first birthday party where Heather was holding Sam and Jed was holding Sebastian. Seventeen years later, it was so special to see them having such a wonderful time as fully grown young men.

Today was so much cooler than it has been, almost too cool for me. Autumn with cooler weather is coming soon enough. I like my summers hot! It was also overcast with a little rain until late afternoon. On Jed’s recommendation, Ollie and I went to a hardware store the two of us didn’t know existed in Falmouth to get a ½ inch drill bit. Drilling into metal is a new skill for Ollie, but his first attempt was perfect. Now we just need to drill three more holes and we can assemble the new towing system.

2025 Life Logs, Day 212: A Trailor Hitch for Ollie’s Sunfish
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 79, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This afternoon, Ollie and I got serious about finding all the parts needed to get Ollie’s Sunfish trailer attached to my car so we can haul it to a boat ramp when he wants to sail. We have worked on this a little here and there since he bought the Sunfish, but we still didn’t have everything we needed. Getting those parts became our focus for the afternoon.

My car has a receiver hitch which is bolted onto the frame of my car and has a square tube opening. We had already bought the ball mount that fits into that square opening on one end and where the hitch ball is attached to the other end. But we didn’t have the right ball, and we needed a new trailer coupler. This is fitted on the extension of the trailer and has a socket that fits over the ball and locks the trailer to the car hitch.

If this all sounds like Greek to you, it did to me as well at the beginning of the afternoon. But as the day progressed, I learned a lot. We headed to Hyannis to buy the necessary parts and returned home with most, but not the parts needed. But when we got home and were working on this in the driveway, Heather and Jed got home from work. Jed was extremely helpful and it looks like we bought all the right parts to make things work. But we need a ½ inch drill bit to drill new holes in the trailer coupler. Tomorrow will begin where we left off this afternoon.

2025 Life Logs, Day 211: Happy 13th Birthday to Coco
Date: Wednesday, July 30, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 86, Low 71 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today was Coco’s 13th birthday. Now all of my grandchildren are officially teenagers. How did that happen? Happy Birthday, Coco! Jo sent a photo of all of her presents wrapped and ready to be opened this morning and then a few photos of her opening the presents. She looked like a happy 13-year-old.

Jonah and Jed went to Fairhaven, off Cape, this afternoon for an appointment for Jonah to get his Learner’s Permit. This was the first appointment available since he turned 16 the end of June. And it was through an AAA office, not the state DMV. Congratulations, Jonah.

And Ollie and I spent four hours at the beach from 3 to 7 pm today. Ollie met up with his friend Seton, and Seton’s friend James. They were in the water for the entire four hours and had a wonderful time at Stoney Beach in Woods Hole. And I enjoyed the entire time reading in between trips into the water to cool down. It was a sunny, hot, glorious afternoon.

2025 Life Logs, Day 210: Highfield, Highfield
Date: Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 81, Low 69 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I spent the late morning and afternoon at the Goldstones but left earlier than usual today to meet Jane Woodin and attend a class together at Highfield Hall about the history of the gardens there. George Chapman is the gardener and led the presentation. I enjoyed learning the history of the gardens, plus I learned the difference between gardens and landscaping. Landscaping is planted and is then just left to grow. Gardens, however, need constant attention, with the planting of annuals. That is my simplified definition, but it reflects the title of the class which was, “Gardening Never Ends.” So true.

Jane and I came back to my house for a quick dinner and chat time. Then after Jane left, I headed to East Falmouth to pick up my friend Olga to take her to the College Light Opera Guild’s production of Orpheus. The college students are very talented, but Orpheus was not my cup of tea. But it was nice to spend the evening with Olga.

2025 Life Logs, Day 209: Oma Watch
Date: Monday, July 28, 2025
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Sunny; High Temp 85, Low 68 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Shadow went in for his pre-op blood work this morning and then I went to Heather and Jed’s to be on Oma ‘watch’. Heather and Jonah left early to go to a college campus near Boston for a day of informal soccer recruitment. A number of Massachusetts colleges and universities had their soccer coaches there to watch the boys play soccer for 4 hours. Jonah loves to play soccer but was a little reluctant to go when Heather first mentioned it to him. But he came feeling good about the day.

Sam and Ollie were home today. Sam cleaned his room today and made some progress on putting his ‘project’ car back together. He bought it thinking he would get the needed work done quickly so he could drive it. But it has been sitting in the garage for two winters now. The goal today was to get the front driver’s side door back on and he did get that done. Progress. I think the plan is for him to get it reassembled before he leaves for college on the 20th of August and pass it on to Jonah. Ollie went biking with his friend Simon this afternoon, and he cut the backyard grass. I folded laundry baskets of clothes. Nothing exciting, but a good day.

2025 Life Logs, Day 208: More Catching Up
Date: Sunday, July 27, 2025
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Threat of Rain; High Temp 73, Low 69 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My dining room table looks like a cyclone hit it. I have my Library Treasurer’s notebook on the table, plus a file folder filled with information that needs to be filed in an Encore Program VP notebook that doesn’t yet exist, my Exploring Public Policy notebook, and my two notebooks filled with Indivisible and Resistance Lab materials. I worked on all of these projects today and am nowhere finished with any of them. I am hosting a One Million Rising (Indivisible sponsored) information meeting next week. Updates are due at the end of this month on any Newcomers or Encore activities, so the Public Policy notebook was on the table. We are switching the day of the week when we meet and that has required a number of back and forth communications. The end of the fiscal year reports are due next week to the Board of Library Trustees Resource Committee for approval. I made progress on these reports today, but I am far from done. And then there is my new position with Encore as the Vice President of Programs. I meet with the Assistant VP next Tuesday so we can divvy up the responsibilities for the year, so I am preparing for that meeting. We can’t divide the duties until we identify what they are. By afternoon’s end, my head was spinning and I needed a break.

Just as I was thinking about closing down for the day and turning my attention to dinner, Heather sent a text saying dinner was going to be late. I texted back saying that I didn’t know I was invited, but I jumped at the invitation. At least I wouldn’t have to think about that. So, thank you, Heather and Jed, for dinner, and for all of the technology help. Heather was able to give me a little tutorial on using Excel and Jed helped me try and figure out why I can hardly hear people when they call on my new phone. All of the volume settings are at max, so that’s not the problem. He found a setting for treble and bass and changed that. It seemed a little better, but I will have to experiment more with that tomorrow. But now, I am going to take my spinning head to bed.

2025 Life Logs, Day 207: Stand Out for Democracy on the Falmouth Green
Date: Saturday, July 26, 2025
Weather: Sunny, Late Afternoon Thunderstorm; High Temp 77, Low 68 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I’ve said it before … if it’s Saturday, it’s time for Stand Out for Democracy on the Falmouth Green. None of my close friends are ‘regulars’ at the Saturday stand out, so I stand alone. There are other loners like me, but most people come with a small group. I meet new people every week and sometimes I get into engaging conversations. If you are reading this and you are from Falmouth, come join us. And if you are not from Falmouth, find a stand out to attend near you.

There are things that have become a part of every Saturday stand out. The group singing patriotic songs. And when they are not singing, the speaker amplifying a playlist of American-themed or just feel good music, everything from Jimmy Hendrick’s “Star Spangled Banner” to John Lennon’s “Imagine.” I loved the sign attached to the speaker today saying, “Radio Free Falmouth—Live from the Village Green, Saturday Noon – 1:30—WOKE—Your Anti-Fascist Groove Machine, Rockin’ Falmouth’s Village Green!—Text Requests.

And today there was a young woman with her baby in a stroller with a sign saying, “Children are starving in Palestine!” The woman said her baby attended her first rally at 11 days old. Someone asked her why she is doing this, and she replied by asking the person why more people aren’t focusing attention on the fact that babies are dying senselessly from starvation while the world stands by quietly watching. Why?
Heather and Jed were on Ardenna today finally getting the boom attached and the sail on. It was too windy to try and roll the sail out this afternoon, but they will return tomorrow to see if the system they have put together is actually going to work. I hope, hope, hope, it works.

2025 Life Logs, Day 206: Catch Up Day
Date: Friday, July 25, 2025
Weather: Sunny, Late Afternoon Thunderstorm; High Temp 77, Low 68 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

It was a much needed ‘catch up’ day. Ollie went to play golf with his friend Seton and his dad and then they went to the beach. So, I started early working on the list of things that needed to be done. First was making the decision to have the surgery done to remove the cyst from above Shadow’s eye. It is very expensive, but I really have no choice but to have it done. I made the appointment to get the pre-op blood work done on Monday and the surgery will be the following Monday. Then I was off to the post office to get Coco’s birthday presents in the mail as early in the day as possible. Hopefully the package will arrive by July 30, the magical day.

The rest of the day was spent alternating between things that had to be done and things I wanted to do. I spent time outside with Shadow playing ball and then Shadow helped me as I took the snippers to some unwanted weeds throughout the yard that had grown to be very tall. We had a late afternoon thunderstorm that was mostly thunder with very little rain. Then I spent almost two hours on the phone with Xfinity. My television reception has gotten worse and worse over the past few months. I have ignored it because I knew it would take a very long time on the phone. But this evening when I turned on the television to watch last night’s Colbert show while eating an early dinner, the pixelization was so bad I could hardly watch. After a long but productive online back and forth with a robot, I was told a live technician would call me shortly. He did, and then the fun started. While talking on the phone with him, I had to move the shelving unit the television sits on out from the wall, unplug this and then that, and then wait for the technician to run tests. And we did this about three times. Finally, he said he would set an appointment for a house call with a live technician. We did that, but then I asked him to tell me what all of the diagnostics he had run told him. He mentioned that the HDMI cable that goes from the cable box to the television might be faulty. So, I told him I have extras and would replace it while he was still on the phone to see if it helped. And it did. I still have some pixelization, but it is much better. It will do until the technician can come next Thursday morning. But between now and then, the technician told me to take notes on when the pixelization is better or worse. Why was it so much worse in the recorded program than when watching live? I guess I’ll have to watch more television this weekend to figure this out!

2025 Life Logs, Day 205: Barnstable County Fair Time
Date: Thursday, July 24, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 76, Low 69 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Last night Ollie and Jed went to the Demolition Derby at the Barnstable County Fair and tonight Ollie is back at the fair with Seton and his family for wristband night. You pay $40 for a wristband and can ride all night.

One of the main reasons I have always done Camp Oma in the summers was so that Sam, Jonah, and Ollie wouldn’t have to go to camps full-time during the summers. I wanted them to have time to just be boys and not be scheduled. Now that they are all teenagers, I see that they value their summer days and certainly don’t want to be scheduled every minute, maybe to a fault. If there are not plans, Ollie would just sit on his bed and pet the kitties all day long. So, I try to encourage a balance. But getting him to plan ahead is not easy. He wants to make plans at the last minute. This morning, I could not get him to decide if he wanted to invite a friend over for the afternoon. He spent his morning installing a new rear differential in his remote-control car while I worked on my computer. And then, finally, when he was eating brunch, since he had opted out of breakfast, he decided to invite Seton over to ride bikes and do some sort of water play. I sent a text to Seton’s dad and luckily, it all worked out. We picked up Seton and his bicycle and the boys biked and then ran a hose down to the trampoline to get the trampoline sprinkler going. They had a ball slipping and sliding and doing flips on a wet trampoline. Then I delivered them back to Seton’s house and they were off to the Barnstable County Fair. All in a summer’s day.