2025 Life Logs, Day 147: A Little Gardening, First Official Library Board of Trustees Meeting
Date: Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 68, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I finally got outside to do a little gardening today. Hurray! And tonight, I attended my first Library Board of Trustees as an official member. And as I do every Tuesday, I pick Ollie and his saxophone up from school and then take him to his saxophone private lesson. Just a day in the life.

2025 Life Logs, Day 146: Memorial Day, the Falmouth Way
Date: Monday, May 26, 2025
Weather: Beautiful Day, A Few Puffy, White Clouds; High Temp 62, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Copied from my daughter’s Facebook page:
“Couldn’t have asked for a better day for Falmouth’s annual observance of Memorial Day. Judith Handley was sworn in to the Library Board of Trustees,

Jed Goldstone assisted the Scout Honor Guard,

Ollie walked with Scouts BSA Troop 42 – Falmouth, MA,

and I walked with our entire Select Board plus State Representative Thomas Moakley ( David T. Vieira met us at the Library).

Falmouth’s observance is about as apple-pie-American as it gets, especially with the combined schools’ marching band playing America the Beautiful a stone’s throw from the house where Katherine Lee Bates was born. As always, the ceremony was moving and an important reminder — and call to action — that democracy, liberty, and justice cannot be taken for granted and demand courage from each of us.”

On days like today, I feel especially blessed to live in this very special place on Earth.

2025 Life Logs, Day 145: Laughter is Good for the Soul
Date: Sunday, May 25, 2025
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 60, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I’m not sure how I managed to make it through today and not mark one thing off my list of things to do, but that I did. I needed to go grocery shopping this morning and that took more time and money than I planned on. I did get marinade made for tomorrow’s dinner, but that wasn’t even on my list. I eventually made it to the boat, but once I got there, I realized that I couldn’t get into the cabin of the boat to get to the supplies I needed. So, I punted and came home to do gardening. I got some things done, but nothing got planted. At this point, it was time to fix my contribution to dinner at the Goldstones, so I called it a day. It was just one of those days when you scratch your head and ask, “Where did this day go?”

But if fun can make up for what felt like a wasted day, we managed to do that tonight. I went over to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. Sam grilled steak and veggies that Heather had prepared, and I brought mashed potatoes that were requested by Sam and Jonah. Jonah is just beginning to eat soft foods after his surgery. He has basically been on a liquid diet since Wednesday, and he wanted mashed potatoes. I fried bacon and put it in my mini food processor to try and get produce the world’s tiniest bacon bits for him to add to the potatoes. That worked. Then after dinner the boys were debating over playing a game or watching a movie. Sam mentioned going out to buy Trivial Pursuit to play. I mentioned that I have a 1980’s version at my house, so he decided to go get it and we gave it a try. Some of the Sports category questions and the Entertainment questions were dated which started a running commentary from Sam and Jonah. Their comments were hilarious and caused a lot of laughter. In fact, all of us agreed that we had not laughed this hard in a long time. Good for the soul.

2025 Life Logs, Day 144: The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get
Date: Saturday, May 24, 2025
Weather: Partly Sunny, Some Rain in the Afternoon; High Temp 59, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My mother had a little wooden plaque that hung in the kitchen as I grew up that said, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” Back then, I had no idea that the quote came from the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland.’ But it sure captures that feeling you get when you are falling further behind as you try to rush forward. And that is exactly how I feel right now. As my mother would say, “I have too many irons in the fire.” I am exhausted from doing nothing because the ‘to do’ list is just too overwhelming. Maybe tomorrow will be that productive day when I can mark a few things off that list!

2025 Life Logs, Day 143: Too Cold for the End of May
Date: Friday, May 23, 2025
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Windy, and Chilly; High Temp 50, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today when I went to my ‘Beyond the Whitehouse’ class, everyone was wearing a jacket. It was not winter cold but is was chilly this morning. I am definitely ready for warmer weather, but it could be July before I get my wish. And then when I get my wish, it will be too hot and humid. So goes the weather.

After class, I went to a plant sale at the church just up the street from my house. They have a plant sale for two days each spring, but I have never gone there before. They yet their plants from a greenhouse just over the bridge and the vegetable plants were the best looking ones I have seen this spring. Now I just have to find time to plant everything.

I picked Ollie up after school, spent time outside playing with Shadow, and then, just when I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner, I got an invitation from Heather. She was making salmon poke bowls for dinner, and I jumped at the chance to join them. Jonah had major oral surgery on Wednesday and can only eat yogurt and puddings for now. And Sam was out and about. So, it was only Heather, Jed, Ollie, and me for dinner.

2025 Life Logs, Day 142: Thunder and Lightning and Rain–Oh, My.
Date: Thursday, May 22, 2025
Weather: Rain All Day, Evening Thunderstorm; High Temp 50, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

It rained all day and not just a drizzle. We really had rain today. Then this evening we had a monster thunderstorm lasting more than two hours. It was a good day to have an early morning dental cleaning and then spend the rest of the day trying to catch-up on email communications since Monday. I am not quite there, but I made a lot of progress.

2025 Life Logs, Day 141: A Day of Meetings
Date: Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Weather: Cloudy with Chilly NE Wind; High Temp 50, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

This will be short. I left home this morning at 9 am and got home at 8 pm. I was in meetings all day with only very short periods of time where I could come home to let Shadow out, with a slightly longer lunch break. Tomorrow I have only one online meeting at 3 pm, so hopefully I’ll have time to write in a little more detail about life these past few days.

2025 Life Logs, Day 140: A Dear Friend’s Funeral
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Weather: Partly Cloudy Day, Cooler; High Temp 55, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Heather and I drove to Concord, New Hampshire today for the funeral and burial of a dear friend, Alan Kanesgsberg. Alan was many things, but his quest of knowledge as a life long learner was central to his being. One of my favorite photos of him is sitting at his computer, one of the things we had in common.

Alan passed away on Saturday, was buried today, and the days of Shiva will begin tomorrow. Alan and Helaine were Concord Yacht Club friends with whom Mark and I formed a close friendship. Heather and Justin both knew them and today Heather shared a photo with Helaine from her wedding which brought back happy memories. Heather and Jed were married on a point of land in Booth Bay Harbor. The view of the harbor was beautiful. Prior to the wedding, everyone in attendance admired the view. But when Alan arrived, he took out his binoculars to watch an America’s Cup sailing practice in that beautiful harbor. The rest of us were oblivious as we were focused on the wedding. We were admiring the sailboats. Alan was watching the race. Then, just before the ceremony, Heather spotted Alan and ran over to borrow his binoculars to watch. The sight of a beautiful bride holding her flowers in one hand and binoculars in the other made quite a picture.

Alan led a successful and full life as a business entrepreneur, but in ‘retirement’, he became a business consultant and true mentor to many young people starting a business. Two of those successful business entrepreneurs spoke passionately today about what a difference Alan’s mentorship has made in their lives. Alan was a critical thinker and problem solver, no matter what role he was in. Everyone who knew him was always asking for his advice. He was a Rotary member for most of his adult life, missing only one meeting in over 30 years. When Alan and Helaine came to visit Mark and I in New Zealand, Alan insisted on finding a Rotary meeting no matter where we were. We spent six weeks in a rental car together, exploring the North and the South Islands, arranging our itinerary so Alan could get to those meetings. Only Alan would do that while on vacation!

Thankfully, Helaine will be surrounded by friends and family for the next week, so I will wait and visit her one day after everyone has gone home. Alan, we are going to miss you.

2025 Life Logs, Day 140: A Dear Friend’s Funeral
Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Weather: Partly Cloudy Day, Cooler; High Temp 55, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Heather and I drove to Concord, New Hampshire today for the funeral and burial of a dear friend, Alan Kanesgsberg. Alan passed away on Saturday, was buried today, and the days of Shiva will begin tomorrow. Alan and Helaine were Concord Yacht Club friends with whom Mark and I formed a close friendship. Heather and Justin both knew them and today Heather shared a photo with Helaine from her wedding which brought back happy memories. Heather and Jed were married on a point of land in Booth Bay Harbor. The view of the harbor was beautiful. Prior to the wedding, everyone in attendance admired the view. But when Alan arrived, he took out his binoculars to watch an America’s Cup sailing practice in that beautiful harbor. The rest of us were oblivious as we were focused on the wedding. We were admiring the sailboats. Alan was watching the race. Then, just before the ceremony, Heather spotted Alan and ran over to borrow his binoculars to watch. The sight of a beautiful bride holding her flowers in one hand and binoculars in the other made quite a picture.

Alan led and successful and full life as a business entrepreneur, but in ‘retirement’, he became a business consultant and true mentor to many young people starting a business. Two of those successful business entrepreneurs spoke passionately today about what a difference Alan’s mentorship has made in their lives. Alan was a critical thinker and problem solver, no matter what role he was in. Everyone who knew him was always asking for his advice. He was a Rotary member for most of his adult life, missing only one meeting in over 30 years. When Alan and Helaine came to visit Mark and I in New Zealand, Alan insisted on finding a Rotary meeting no matter where we were. We spent six weeks in a rental car together, exploring the North and the South Islands, arranging our itinerary so Alan could get to those meetings. Only Alan would do that while on vacation!

Thankfully, Helaine will be surrounded by friends and family for the next week, so I will wait and visit her one day after everyone has gone home. Alan, we are going to miss you.

2025 Life Logs, Day 137: The Loss of a Dear Friend
Date: Saturday, May 17, 2025
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High Temp 68, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My good friend Alan Kanegsberg passed away today. He was diagnosed with cancer a year ago and recently found that his body was not able to withstand the treatments. I visited with Alan and Helaine on Alan’s birthday on March 6 and had a wonderful visit. Sometime after that visit, he decided to stop the treatments and go on home hospice care. I am going to miss my very dear friend and am sending positive thoughts to Helaine.