2024 Life Logs, Day 351: Santa’s Secrets
Date: Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Weather: Cloudy AM, Partly Cloudy PM; High Temp 54, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Today was all about working on some Christmas projects that must be kept as Santa’s secrets. So, I really can’t write about what I did today other than getting the once every 10 years tetanus vaccine this morning and making more Christmas cookie dough in the afternoon. I then picked Ollie up from school and we did a little Christmas project shopping together. Tonight, I finally got the ornaments on my tree.

Tomorrow I have an afternoon meeting and Ollie’s winter concert is tomorrow night. I am hoping to wrap up the last of my Christmas shopping tomorrow morning and then start wrapping the gifts I have bought.

2024 Life Logs, Day 350: Back Home for Some Christmas Cookie Fun
Date: Monday, December 16, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Misty, Much Warmer; High Temp 48, Low 47 degrees F
Location: Back Home at 225 Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Once again, I shopped my way home from New Hampshire. After a fabulous breakfast of an asparagus frittata and fruit salad, I headed home making three stops along the way. I got home in time to pick Ollie up after school and we went directly to his house to start our evening of cookie decorating. When I left yesterday, I dropped off the dough for making Christmas cutout sugar cookies and Ollie and Heather made them yesterday afternoon and evening. So, all we had to do this evening was decorate them and make a batch of Hershey’s Kisses thumb print cookies. We always make Christmas cookies, but for years, I have had to help with the decorating. Now all I have to do is make sure the boys have the supplies they need, and away they go. Even teenagers like to decorate cookies, so Sam and Jonah both wanted to do their part, as well as Ollie.A few dozen of the cookies go to the Jewish Synagogue tomorrow to be included with the meals they put together for needy families. Between Sam, Jonah, and Ollie, I think they ate another dozen, and we will save the rest for the Goldstone’s solstice party on Friday night. Jonah wants to make some chocolate crinkles and Sam requested more sugar cookie dough for more cutouts, more for him to eat than to decorate, but that’s okay too. We don’t have a lot of time this week as Wednesday night is Ollie’s Christmas concert at Lawrence School and Thursday night is Jonah’s concert at Falmouth High School. Then the party is on Friday night. To tomorrow after school, we will make the Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies and maybe more cutouts.

2024 Life Logs, Day 349: A Happy Birthday Gathering in New Hampshire
Date: Sunday, December 15, 2024
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Cold; High Temp 35, Low 15 degrees F
Location: At Home with Tom and Detta Porat in Greenland, NH

I drove to the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area today to attend the 75th birthday party of a very good friend from my teaching days, Leslie Kole. I shopped my way to Greenland, NH, to Detta Porat’s home, dropped my overnight bag, and then Detta and I drove to Rye, NH, to Leslie’s home. When we were teaching together at Beaver Meadow School in Concord, we thought of ourselves as the three amigos. Leslie, Detta, and I have stayed in touch, and in recent years, we have added Cheryl Dolin to our now quartet of amigos. Since the three of them all live closer together, they now have gatherings I can’t attend. And between my two surgeries last year, there was not a lot of opportunity for me to travel. Because of that, it has been a while since I have seen Cheryl and Leslie. So, this was a long overdue gathering with promises to get together more often.

After the party, I went home with Detta to spend the night. Tom got home from a business trip to Tennessee shortly after we got home, but I didn’t get to visit with him. We has one whopper of a cold or the flu, so he headed straight to bed, leaving Detta and I to talk until almost 1 am. But regardless of the late night, I have to get up and get started on the trip home fairly early as I have more Christmas shopping to do on the way home.

2024 Life Logs, Day 348: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Date: Saturday, December 14, 2024
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 33, Low 23 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I got the last of the Christmas things off to Puerto Rico this morning and then Jed and Ollie arrived to put the lights on the fence railing out by the street and on a lamppost close to the house. Jed also put the last of the summer outside lawn furniture in the basement. Heather and Jed are getting ready for their Solstice party on Friday night, so I really appreciated that Jed took the time to come help me as well. Thank you, Jed and Ollie.

I had wrapped the garland on the fence yesterday evening and was so proud that I did it all by myself. That is until Ollie, very politely, pointed out that I had switched the direction of garland wrapping half way through the process. He had to unwrap half of what I had done, but he got the job done with a little help from Jed and they got the lights wrapped around the garland. The fence runs the width of the property out on the street, and it now looks great. Inside and outside, it is now looking a lot like Christmas here at 225 Lakeview.

Ollie stayed for lunch while Jed went home. I then took Ollie home, delivered a poinsettia to my friends Olivia and Terry White, and stopped in at Grumpy’s (a great little dive bar) where there was a local arts and crafts fair. Jed was there as well, and I bought two Christmas gifts. Then I drove to one of my favorite little shops in Woods Hole, Under the Sun, where I bought two more Christmas gifts. One more stop at Windfall Market for Syltbar prosecco ended my shopping spree for today.

I then went home to play outside in the twilight of the beautiful full moon with my Shadow and to eat dinner before heading to an annual Christmas party at the home of a member of my wine group, Kim Caverly. Chrsitina Brodie picked me up and we went together. There were over a hundred people gathered in her small home, but she had the drinks on the back deck and some of us stayed outside rather than fight the crowds indoors. She rented an outdoor heater for the deck, so it was great for the few of us who chose to stay outside,

Tomorrow, I head to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to celebrate the 75th birthday of my friend Leslie Kole. I will spend the night with Detta Porat and catch up on life before returning home on Monday morning. By that time there will only be nine days until Christmas. This Santa’s elf still has a bit of work to do to get ready.

2024 Life Logs, Day 347: Friday the Thirteenth
Date: Friday, December 13, 2024
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 35, Low 24 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I’m superstitious and really don’t like Friday the 13th. It is after midnight now, so I can say I made it through the day with no bad luck. Whew! Glad that is over.

I spent a lot of today getting a couple of packages ready to send to Justin and Jo in Puerto Rico. I also did some shopping to get some of the things that went into those packages. Tomorrow morning I’ll send those packages and then focus on Christmas gifts for Heather and family.

After I picked Ollie up from school, I came home and put the garland around the rail fence along the road. Then had to go shopping again to get an extension cord. I will wind the lights around the rail fence tomorrow, but in getting ready for that I realized I needed another extension cord to reach all the way from the house to the road. The nicest part of my day was spending the time outside, watching the almost full moon come up. It is actually full around 4 am on Sunday, but it was big and beautiful this evening.

2024 Life Logs, Day 346: Christmas Lists and Looking Forward to Solstice
Date: Thursday, December 12, 2024
Weather: Still WINDY but Cooler; High Temp 53, Low 25 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

The high temperature recorded today is misleading. The high was at midnight. By 2 am it was down to 46 degrees F, and by 7 am, it was 39 degrees F. The daytime temperature hovered around 40 degrees, and with the wind, it felt much colder than that. Quite a change from yesterday but certainly more seasonal.

I spent most of my day going over Christmas lists, figuring out what I still need to buy. That doesn’t sound that difficult, but it still took me all morning and into the afternoon. I played outside with Shadow, went to pick Ollie up after school, and then went to a Photography Group meeting about editing. On the way home, I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to do a little Christmas list coordination and to offer to help them in any way that I can to get ready for their Solstice party on Friday night, December 20th. The actual moment winter officially arrives is at 4:19 am on Saturday, the longest night of the year. But despite the darkness, solstice is my favorite day of the year as it is the turning point. Hence forward, the days begin to lengthen.

2024 Life Logs, Day 345: Encore Board Meeting, Dinner and Concert with Friends
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Weather: Warm, Lots of Rain and WIND; High Temp 60, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

With the temperature around 60 degrees F today, it rained all morning, cleared for the first part of a really windy afternoon, and then the rain started again. Tonight, the wind is raging, and the rain is coming down in sheets. We are having a winter storm, but the temp is more like late spring.

After the Encore Board meeting this morning, I came home and took advantage of the period of no rain. I have not put away the summer outdoor furniture, so I started that process. But the wind was blowing so hard that it was literally exhausting just to be outside. I got some things put away but will have to continue on another day. It probably won’t be this warm again, but the wind just made it too hard to finish up today.

Tonight, I went to dinner with friends and then we went to a Skylark Winter’s Night Christmas concert based around the music of Hugo Disler. If you are not familiar with Skylark, they are “a chamber (a cappella) choir comprised of leading American vocal soloists, chamber musicians, and music educators.” Their performances have been described as “gripping” (The Times of London), “exquisite…thrilling “ (Gramophone Magazine), and “awe-inspiring” (Boston Music Intelligencer). “Skylark’s mission is to create and perform programs of stunning vocal beauty.” They certainly did that tonight.

As I sit here writing, the wind is ramping up outside. I just lost electricity for a brief moment. It did come back on, but it feels like a good night to tuck into bed early. So that is just what I am going to do.

2024 Life Logs, Day 344: Book Group, Early Release Afternoon
Date: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Damp, Periods of Misty Precip; High Temp 46, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Shadow and I took our morning walk with misty precipitation falling. By 10:30 am I was out the door and on my way to my monthly book group. We discussed the thoroughly delightful book, “Iona Iverson’s Rules of Commuting.” We also chose books to read and discuss for the next few months. Two books that my friend Lynne Kirwin in New Zealand recommended were chosen. Lynne, I guess you are now an ‘unofficial’ member of our book club! I am listing the books we chose here in case you are interested.

God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Commonwealth, A Novel by Ann Patchett
The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni
The First Ladies by Marie Benedict
The Secret Life of Sunflowers by Marta Molnar
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Don’t Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino

Book club started late and went longer than expected, but it was so good to see everyone and catch up on what is happening in each of our lives in addition to discussing a book we all enjoyed. I stopped by Heather and Jed’s on my way home as it was an Early Release day. I knew Heather and Jed were not working at home today and I just wanted to see if the boys needed anything. Ollie and his friend Simon were outside when I arrived, and Ollie asked if I could stay so he and Simon could play at his house for a while before going to Simon’s house. I always set aside Early Release afternoons just for that reason. The boys can be at home alone, but they cannot have friends over without an adult at home. I had not read any of my emails since Sunday, so I had plenty to do while the boys played. Jonah was at home, but he is old enough to be on his own. So, when Ollie and Simon left, I left to run errands and to go home and play outside with Shadow. Then I returned to take Ollie to his saxophone lesson.

This was a much more relaxed day than yesterday. Tomorrow is another busy one, however. I have a morning Encore Board meeting and I head out to an early dinner before a Skylark concert tomorrow night. I have only one meeting on Thursday, so the remainder of that day will be spent checking the Christmas list to see what else I need to order or buy locally. I guess that makes Friday shopping day.

2024 Life Logs, Day 343: Field Trip to the MFA, Holiday Wine Group Gathering
Date: Monday, December 09, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny turning Cloudy, Then Rain; High Temp 48, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Yesterday was busy, but today was insanely busy. I left home at 7:45 and didn’t get home until almost 10 pm. I made a 10-minute stop at home at 5:30 pm to pick up things I needed to take to my wine group gathering and say hello to Shadow. But otherwise, I was on the move for more than 12 hours. Thanks to the Goldstones for pitching in to give Shadow a couple of outdoor breaks in the afternoon.

The field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston was with the Newcomers/Encore Field Trip group. There were only six of us who signed up to go to the special American painter Georgia O’Keefe and British sculptor Henry Moore exhibit. I invited Lily Dearman, Andrew and Lara’s daughter (summer neighbors from when I lived in the cottage in East Falmouth) to meet me there. She is now a freshman at Tufts and when she and her dad visited in mid-November she jumped at my invitation to go to the exhibit and tour with me. The rest of field trip group just went to the exhibit, ate lunch, and returned. But Lily and I took in the exhibit and then spent three hours doing a walk through of most of the museum. We then had a late lunch before heading home. The special exhibit compared O’Keefe’s iconic paintingsto Moore’s monumental sculptures.

using visual juxtapositions of each to show highlight their focus on natural forms into abstraction.

Both are considered to be among the most distinctive artists of the 20th century. Moore was 12 years younger than O’Keefe, but interestingly, both died in 1986. O’Keefe lived for 99 years and some of the best pieces on display were done in her 80’s.

I got back home just in time to pick up the Panna Cotta with Raspberry Gelee I made as my ‘red and white’ pairing to go with a port wine I was taking to the wine group holiday gathering.I had made individual servings in wine glasses and had to pack them in a box and cover them to keep the rain off during transport. We have the “best wine group ever” and our holiday gathering was wonderful. The theme was red and white, so we were all dressed to match the theme and brought red and white wines with red and white food pairings. So much fun and holiday cheer. Thanks to Billie and Eileen Sullivan for hosting.

2024 Life Logs, Day 342: Falmouth Christmas Parade, Jed’s Birthday and Christmas Tree Decorating Party
Date: Sunday, December 8, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny and Warmer; High Temp 50, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

What a day! I spent the early morning making a dessert to take to my wine group’s holiday gathering tomorrow night and then headed downtown for Falmouth’s annual Christmas Parade. Jed walked with Heather and other town and state leaders and Jonah and Ollie marched and played with their respective school bands. Of course, there was Santa and WHOI even had ‘Dumbo’ the deep sea octopus marching with them.
The parade had more entries this year than last and the weather was perfect. It was sunny and warmer than it has been the last few days which made watching much more enjoyable. I could go on and on about the parade, but it is late and I have a very early morning heading to Boston for the day. So, I’ll get on to the next part of the day.

December 8 is Jed’s birthday, so this evening we had a combined birthday dinner and celebration plus a decorating the Christmas tree party. After the parade, Heather and gang went to buy their Christmas tree and they ended up buying a big one for the living room and a tiny one for the entry hall. Everyone was in a very festive mood, and we had a wonderful dinner and all sorts of fun while decorating the tree.