2024 Life Logs, Day 190: Fun on Ardenna with J and O
Date: Monday, July 8, 2024
Weather: Sunny: High Temp 81, Low 74 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Jonah and Ollie decided that they wanted to return to Ardenna today to use the boat as a dive platform for jumping in the water. It was a perfect day to spend the hot and sunny afternoon in the water. They used the boom to swing out over the water to jump off, and sometimes they just jumped off the side of the boat.

We took the dinghy out to the small island called Devil’s Foot where Ollie and I went on a little explore while Jonah found a flat rock for a mid-day lie-down. It was a perfect summer afternoon.

This morning, I went to Curtis Automotive and made arrangements for them to take a look at my car and give me their opinion on whether or not I should spend the money to fix the ignition cylinder and the window that won’t roll up. I made an appointment for Wednesday morning to have them take a look. If they think the car will last another two or three years, then I am going to spend the money to fix the problems and give up on the car search for now. I realize that is just postponing the inevitable, but it will give me time to really search and decide what I would really like. Searching for a new car during the busy summer is just too stressful.

2024 Life Logs, Day 189: In Honor of Mark
Date: Sunday, July 7, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Humid: High Temp 81, Low 70 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Mark would have celebrated his 82nd birthday today if he were still with us. Justin called from England today to let me know he was thinking of his dad. And Heather decided to do a little celebrating in his honor. Heather, Jed, Ollie, and I went to Quissett to do a little “messing about” on Ardenna and then motor her from Quissett to Great Harbor in Woods Hole. This will be her home for this season, but the mooring ball wasn’t ready until Friday. So, making the move today was the perfect thing to do to honor Mark. And if you have to mess about in a boat, it might as well be in beautiful Quissett Harbor with the Knob as a backdrop.

The first part of “messing about” was sending Ollie up the mast to put a line through a block in the mast. He wanted to do this, but when he got up there, he was afraid to let loose to the do the job. They lowered him, but then he decided he was no longer afraid of heights, so back up he went to get that job completed. He is now an experienced mast monkey and if his granddad were here, he would be super proud of him. Next the jib went on, then the headsail. But we dropped the mooring and raised the headsail as we were motoring toward the Woods Hole cut. They got the headsail raised, but the line to roll it up seized up in the drum and the sail had to be lowered once, then twice. While Heather, Jed, and Ollie were busy with this, I was on watch to make sure the auto pilot kept us moving into the wind. When it was apparent to all that we had to abandon the idea of getting headsail on today, we headed for the “hole”. The current was with us as we started in, and Heather handed the wheel over to me while she helped Jed get the headsail bagged and put away. I haven’t been at the wheel of sail boat since March of 2016. At first, I was unsure that I could do it, but once I got going, I felt right at home. I was at the helm of Bruce and Jane Woodin’s sailboat about four years ago, but not for long. I am fine on a sailboat with a wheel, but not one with a tiller.

I got us into the mooring field in Great Harbor, but when it became apparent that we were going to have to weave through the whole field to find mooring ball #31, Heather took the helm. It took a while to find it, but we were finally successful. Sam and Jonah came down to Woods Hole to join us. Ollie drove the dinghy in to pick them up. They were on the boat only a short time before we got the notice that our table was ready at The Landfall. We had dinner with a toast to Granddad and then home for cheesecake (Mark’s favorite) and a happy birthday song. Mark, we all miss you so much and carry your memory with us every day.

Another day, another disaster. That’s my mantra these days. Today the disaster was Sam’s hand. Last night his fist hit the back of a padded office-type computer chair. By this morning the pain and swelling made it pretty evident that he had broken something. Heather took him to the ER today and sure enough, he has what is called a boxer’s fracture in his right hand. He has a temporary cast on until tomorrow when he can see an orthopedic surgeon who will put on a permanent cast of some sort. Sam is hoping it will be waterproof so he can still be in the water this summer. I don’t know if there is such a thing, but that would be nice.

2024 Life Logs, Day 187: Pity Party and Birthday Party
Date: Friday, July 5, 2024
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Rain: High Temp 76, Low 72 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I am having a Friday night pity party because I have had quite the day. I seem to be on a roll these days of having one problem after another. The day got off to a great start with a walk with Shadow. It had been raining, but it looked like it had stopped, so Shadow and I headed out. We made it back home just in time for me to go to PT, but when I stepped out the door, it was pouring rain. I grabbed my raincoat, but I still got soaking wet getting to the car. By the time I got to PT, however, the rain had stopped. I went in and got started as usual. It has been a week and half since I have seen Matt, my physical therapist, as I had a substitute last Thursday and a cancelled appointment on Monday of this week. He asked how things were going and I told him about a pain I have been having in my right thigh for about six or seven days now. It feels like a muscle cramp and I have just assumed that is what it is. But Matt wanted to investigate further. I had me get off the machine and on to one of the examination tables so he could take a closer look. My leg more swollen than it has been for weeks and after checking a few other things, he said it could possibly be a blood clot. I didn’t even think of that possibility since it has been over seven weeks since the surgery, but Matt said the possibility had to be eliminated. So, I spent the next two and half hours in the ER to have an ultra-sound done. It is not a blood clot and the doctor who examined me feels sure it is just a muscle issue. Matt will see me on Monday, and the meantime, I am to use heat on the back of my calf four times a day and massage it. Just when things were going so well.

Then on my way home from Heather’s this afternoon, I tried to roll down my car window and it made this horrible, grinding noise, went down about five inches, and stopped dead. I can’t get my car key back in the ignition if I forget and take it out, the air conditioning in the car doesn’t work, and now I have a permanently open driver’s side window. I was so upset about the window that I forgot and took the key out when I got home and I could not get it to go back in. I do believe the time has come to look for another used car that I don’t have the money to pay for. Pity, pity. But I’ll start looking for a used car tomorrow. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so I taped the open space with strips of heavy-duty duct tape. Ollie said it looks like my car has an eyebrow on one side. He thinks I should tape the passenger side to match!

Enough pity. The other party today was Jonah’s birthday party. He had a family birthday party on June 26th, the day he turned 15, but postponed the party with friends because Jed was Italy. That party was supposed to a climbing and ziplining expedition at the Adventure Park at Heritage Museums & Gardens today. But that had to be cancelled when we thought Jonah had broken his toe. So, he had three friends, Kaiden, Tristin, and Joey, come over to play outdoor games at home. They played spike ball in the back yard, corn hole in the front yard, watched the Germany vs Spain and France vs Portugal Euro soccer games, ate home made pizza, and made a late evening expedition to Megansett Beach to jump off the dock at high tide, on to Chapaquoit to jump off the bridge, and home for ice cream cake from Smitty’s. Molly, his ‘adopted’ sister, came over after her workday at Smitty’s and went to the beach with the boys. Sam and Ollie also went.

I didn’t go on the beach expedition, but Sam and Ollie stopped by to pick me up and take me home with them afterwards for birthday cake. Even though it was a rainy, overcast day, Jonah really had a great time with his friends. All of the kids seemed to have fabulous time and Jed even invented a new (new to him) homemade pizza.. When he asked the boys what toppings they wanted on the pizzas, Joey said Chicken Bacon Ranch. They had bacon in the fridge, chicken nuggets in the freezer, and Heather made ranch dressing. It was also fabulous.

When Heather brought me home, she asked if I would like her to try and start the car. Of course, I wanted her to and she was successful right off the bat. Now I can start my car search tomorrow. Hurray! And I also talked to my good friend Lynne Kirwin. We are hoping it is going to work out for her to come visit sometime in the first two weeks of August.

2024 Life Logs, Day 186: The Fourth of July
Date: Thursday, July 4, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny: High Temp 75, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

The morning began with the annual 4th of July parade in Heather and Jed’s neighborhood. This year was special because it was the last parade for Sam Patterson. He and his wife Hilda have lived in Grasmere for more than 30 years, but they are moving to Connecticut to be closer to their grandchildren. Sam has always led the parade in his jeep with the neighborhood children on bicycles and other children and adults walking behind. After the parade there is a barbeque and pool party. Heather took an angel food cake decorated in red, white, and blue

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Later in the afternoon, I took Jonah and his friend Tristin to the beach to skim board. It seems to me that Jonah’s little toe was not broken, just badly bruised because it is no long swollen and purple and he is able to skim board already. Hopefully this means he can also play soccer. Then tonight, we all went to hear the town band play a 4th of July concert at the band shell on the harbor and then on to the beach to watch the fireworks. Jonah and Tristin got back on their skim boards while waiting for the fireworks and Sam and his friend Robert also got in the water to swim. It is too early in the summer for the water to be so warm, but it is warm and many of the young people tonight jumped in for a swim with the fireworks as their backdrop.

Happy 4th!

2024 Life Logs, Day 185: A Summer Day in the Life of a 12-Year-Old
Date: Wednesday, July 3, 2024
Weather: Another Beautiful Day: High Temp 77, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Ollie had a friend over this morning, so we were up and out of my house early. He and his friend, Reese, played Mine Craft on the X-box, rode bicycles around the neighborhood, came back and watched Star Wars episodes, went back outside again and biked over to Morse Pond School, ate lunch, and finally decided to do a longer bike ride. Reese had a 2:30 class at the Children’s School of Science in Woods Hole, so they decided to bike there. Once they arrived, I went to pick up Ollie as he thought he would be too tired to ride back home. But when I got there, he decided to ride part way home. I said I would meet him at the Trunk River parking area beside the Shining Sea Bikeway. But again, when I got there, he decided to ride all the way to my house. Finally, we was worn out and we just chilled and watched more of The Clone Wars episodes. Now he has me addicted to them. Our day together was over at 5:30 pm because I had to take him home so he could go with the whole family to a Boston Revs soccer game at Gillette Stadium. The Revs won and the game ended with a fireworks display. So goes a summer day in the life of a lucky 12-year-old boy on Cape Cod.

PS: When I met Ollie at Trunk River, I took a photo of him by his bike with the ocean in the background. How lucky we are to live where there is such a beautiful bike path.

2024 Life Logs, Day 184: Ollie Overnight
Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Weather: Gorgeous Day: High Temp 80, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

It was a gorgeous day with a clear, Cape Cod blue sky, wind, but not too much, and the temp reached 80, but it didn’t feel terribly hot. I thought it was a perfect beach day, but we had some complications. Yesterday Jonah stubbed his little toe and by last night it was sore and purple. Heather too him to Urgent Care today and the diagnosis was that it is probably broken, but it is not worth the risk of radiation to do an x-ray. If it is broken, it will probably take 3-4 weeks to heal. If it is not broken, the swelling will go down more quickly and feel better in 2 weeks. But for now, Jonah needs to limit his activities to things that don’t hurt. That means no soccer and no skim boarding at the beach. So Jonah really didn’t want to go to the beach today. And Ollie didn’t want to go without Jonah or a friend. Ollie decided to ride his bike to Woods Hole again today and have lunch with his dad. I suggested that I come pick him up and give Stoney Beach in Woods Hole a try without Jonah. After he had lunch with his dad, I met him at Stoney, but to no avail. He decided to ride his bike home and go to the beach later in the afternoon when his mom or dad could come. I still can’t go in the water because the incision from my knee replacement is still not completely healed. Some of the internal stitches are still working their way to the surface and make a tiny hole when they emerge. I am going to call the surgeon tomorrow to see if those tiny little pin prick openings are a problem because I’d love to get in the water.

Ollie was totally worn out after his ride back to my house from Woods Hole, so he crashed in the living room and read for a couple of hours. Then we finally w to the beach to meet up with Heather and Jed after work. And Jonah came and stood in the water playing catch with a tennis ball. While we were at the beach, Ollie asked his mom and dad if he could spent the night at my house. It’s been a while since I have had an Ollie overnight, so I was excited to have him ask. I always love having him.

2024 Life Logs, Day 183: July Started with a Bang
Date: Monday, July 1, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy: High Temp 74, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

July has started with a bang, and not in a fun and good way. The decision by the Supreme Court today to basically give any US President totally immunity was just shocking. The idea that there is no one above the law just got shot out the window. Bang. And for a second day in the last four days, I am just speechless.

I had an Encore meeting all morning, checked in with Ollie and Jonah, and then accepted an invite from Jane and Bruce to come to the Senior Center to have today’s lunch special, a lobster roll. It was great to catch up with Bruce and Jane and the lobster roll was really good and affordable. As I was getting ready to leave, Olga walked up to the table where I was sitting. I have only seen her once since my knee surgery, so it was a special bonus to see her today. While I had lunch, Jed and Ollie biked to Woods Hole and Jonah watched a soccer game. When lunch was over, Jed and Ollie were still in Woods Hole, so I had time to go home and play with Shadow. Then Jonah called and needed a ride to East Falmouth to a friend’s house in East Falmouth where they would do some trail bike riding. I had Jed and Jonah put my bike rack on the back of my car earlier in the morning, and I was glad I did.

While I was in East Falmouth, I stopped at Mahoney’s and bought a few more veggie plants. Then I stopped at Curtis Automotive to see if they might be able to help me with my car ignition issue. Peter Baranowski told me he thought they might be able to help, and they were. At first, the person I talked to thought Hyannis Honda was trying to rip me off with their $1600 estimate for the repair. But when he searched online, he found that he could not get the ignition cylinder for less than $800. Honda’s price was $1,000, so not far off. The guy was absolutely shocked that such a small piece was so expensive for a Honda. He said usually that piece can be found for under $200. Just not for a Honda. He then started searching for a used part with no luck, but he found a complete wheel column for less than $500 and decided that might be the quickest and cheapest fix. Just replace the entire thing. He is going to keep checking to see if he can find one even cheaper and will give me a call. His estimate for the fix with a used wheel column is less than half of what Hyannis Honda was going to charge to replace the ignition cylinder. If he can find the part, I think I’ll go with it. Peter, thanks for the referral!

I then headed home and did a little gardening before Jonah texted needing a ride home. When I got home from picking him up, I ended the day by getting my garden irrigation system up and running. Other than the Supreme Court decision, it was a good and productive first day of July.

2024 Life Logs, Day 182: Reflections on the Month of June
Date: Sunday, June 30, 2024
Weather: Rain Early, Cloudy, Heavy Rain Late Day, Misty Evening: High Temp 72, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

The month of June began with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco here visiting for ten days as I was recovering from my knee surgery in mid-May. I have been thinking of them all day as I think this was the last day of the Glastonbury Music Festival they have been enjoying for the past four days. I saw a great photo of Justin and Coco on Jo’s Facebook page.

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Evidently Coco has really been enjoying the festival. I am very anxious to hear from Justin or Jo as to how their performances went, but from what I can discern from their social media posts, I think it has been wonderful.

June brought warmer weather, finally, which I have enjoyed immensely. This past week, the last week of June, was the first week of Camp Oma which means total focus on summer fun. And now it is almost July. I am still working on recovery from the knee surgery, Camp Oma will continue, gardening will continue, and I hope to enjoy every day of summer … my favorite time of year.

2024 Life Logs, Day 181: Gardening
Date: Saturday, June 29, 2024
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High Temp 71, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

June has come and is almost gone, and this morning the reality set in that I still hadn’t planted my garden. It is probably too late, but today I gave it my best try anyway. I just can’t handle not having a garden! I am in the process of replanting my elevated raised garden as the arugula and lettuce I planted earlier in the spring have gone to seed. Planting in that garden is easy. But it is the raised gardens on the ground that are a challenge for me. Gardening rightly has the reputation of being back breaking work, and I sure don’t want to do anything to ‘upset’ my back. Having back surgery in mid-January and a knee replacement in mid-May have taken a toll on my old body. I can bend now, but only if I squat down and then bend. Well, squatting and my knee is still a little problematic. Thus, the reason I have procrastinated. I made progress today. I ripped out the old kale and Swiss chard from last year as it had also gone to seed and cleared the leaves out of the raised beds. I got a few seeds planted and all of the plants I have bought in the past couple of weeks are now in the ground. I have more I want to do, but at least I got a good start.

I also spent my rest periods today admiring the June flowers in the yard. The hydrangea that last year had only one or two flower clusters late in August due to the late  freeze has made a comeback this year.

And the perennial garden I planted last year by the back deck is doing great. The feverfew and lemon balm that I have been encouraging are also flourishing. These are both plants that just came up naturally in parts of the yard last year. I transplanted some of the fever few to various areas and now its beautiful little daisy-like flowers are everywhere. And because the lemon balm now gets more light due to the two trees that were cut down last fall, instead of four or five plants, there is a huge patch that gives off that wonderful lemony aroma. All with no work on my part. They are just Mother Nature’s gift.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so I probably won’t get much gardening done, but I am happy with today’s progress and will finish planting over the next few days.

2024 Life Logs, Day 180: Fun with Ollie and Friends
Date: Friday, June 28, 2024
Weather: Sunny, Sunny, Cool North Wind; High Temp 70, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I tried hard to not to think about politics today because I had a severe political hangover from last night’s debate. But the Supreme Court decision today overturning Chevron made ignoring politics impossible. This decision announced today is going to haunt us for years to come. But I set that aside and spent my afternoon with Ollie and his friends Simon and Seton which brightened my day. Simon is Ollie’s friend that shares his birthday. They were born in the same hospital on the same day just a few hours apart. And now they live in the same neighborhood. The other friend, Seton, is Ollie’s look-alike friend. When you see them at a distance on the soccer field, you can easily confuse the two. While Sam went boating and fishing with his friend Ethan and Jonah spent the afternoon at Old Silver Beach with his friend Joey, Ollie, Simon, Seton, and I headed to Cataumet to play mini golf, ride the bumper boats, play in the arcade, and have an ice cream treat.

On our way home, I suggested we stop at Megansett Beach to play late day beach soccer. The boys started out playing soccer, but quickly took over the lifeguard stand as the lifeguard had gone home for the day. They made up a game where one would stand up on the lifeguard stand and throw the ball to the other two who would battle for the ball. I think they had more fun doing this than all the other things combined. And I found such joy in just watching them having such a good time.

Heather had a work commitment tonight, so I offered to get sushi for us for dinner and I hung out with the boys while she went to Woods Hole. All three boys had spent their morning shopping for fishing gear to upgrade their current stock. And after dinner tonight, they continued going through their tackle box and organizing. It was a nice summer day from start to finish … almost. When I got in my car to head home, the car key would not turn. I have been battling this car key issue for a month now and I am going to have to bite the bullet and explore buying a used car. I could not get the key to work, so Heather took me home. But shortly, Sam came knocking on my door beaming from ear to ear. He had Googled the problem and was successful in giggling the key just right to get it to turn. So, I have the car, but I really do have to start the car search.

Every day I read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American. What she wrote after the debate last night helped me make some sense of what I had witnessed. If you have never heard of Gish gallop, read the following from Richardson’s post:

Trump also directly accused Biden of his own failings and claimed Biden’s own strengths, saying, for example, that Biden, who has enacted the most sweeping legislation of any president since at least Lyndon Johnson, couldn’t get anything done while he, who accomplished only tax cuts, was more effective. He responded to the calling out of his own criminal convictions by saying that Biden “could be a convicted felon,” and falsely stating: “This man is a criminal.” And, repeatedly, Trump called America a “failing nation” and described it as a hellscape.

It went on and on, and that was the point. This was not a debate. It was Trump using a technique that actually has a formal name, the Gish gallop, although I suspect he comes by it naturally. It’s a rhetorical technique in which someone throws out a fast string of lies, non-sequiturs, and specious arguments, so many that it is impossible to fact-check or rebut them in the amount of time it took to say them. Trying to figure out how to respond makes the opponent look confused, because they don’t know where to start grappling with the flood that has just hit them.