2024 Life Logs, Day 169: A Getting Ready Day
Date: Monday, June 17, 2024
Weather: Sunny; Temp 72, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

Today was a getting ready day. I had PT this morning and spent the rest of the day getting getting things together for my Vegan Lunch Bunch and Dining-In groups tomorrow and the Encore general meeting on Wednesday. It is a busy week, but hopefully now I am ready!

2024 Life Logs, Day 168: Happy Father’s Day
Date: Sunday, June 16, 2024
Weather: Sunny; Temp 70, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

A Happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers out there, especially to my two favorite fathers—my son Justin and my son-in-law Jed. Justin and family are in England and were on a train from Frome to Haslemere today.

Jo’s parents live in Haslemere and they were headed there to spend a few days before their next Silvermouse Concert. I think playing all the shows in England this summer is Justin’s Father’s Day gift. Playing music is his happy place and doing a show in London last Thursday evening must have been super exciting.

Jed, Heather, and the boys went to the American Heritage Museum focused on military history, in Stow, MA, as Jed’s gift.

Jed and the boys had a great time. As proof, Heather sent a photo of all three boys totally asleep on the way home. They completely wore themselves out having fun! When they arrived back on the Cape, they headed here for a Father’s Day dinner.

2024 Life Logs, Day 167: A Day for Ollie and Ardenna
Date: Saturday, June 15, 2024
Weather: Rain Overnight, Partly Sunny Day; Temp 75, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

This is Falmouth Arts Alive weekend and it began this morning at 10 am with an early Juneteenth celebration. Ollie Goldstone’s artwork was front and center. As a 5th grader at Morse Pond School, Ollie’s class read Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” at Falmouth’s Martin Luther King Breakfast. That experience was very meaningful for Ollie, so when Morse Pond students were asked to do a Juneteenth art poster this year, he took that task very seriously. There were posters from a few other students on display today, but Ollie was called up first and his poster was right in the middle. He chose a Coretta Scott King quote for his poster, “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won. You can earn it and win it in every generation.” Very timely for our political landscape in 2024. Congratulations to my very thoughtful, youngest grandson

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The day ended with the arrival of Ardenna in Quissett Harbor. After the Juneteenth celebration, Heather, Jed, Ollie, and I headed to Fairhaven for Ollie’s soccer team’s championship game.

They lost the game 0-2, their first loss of the season, but it was a good game and the boys seemed to take the loss in stride. We left the game with one of Ollie’s friends, Seton, and headed to Mattapoisett where Ardenna was waiting on a mooring to be motored across Buzzards Bay.

I dropped them all off, watched Ollie drive the dinghy away from the dock and out to the mooring, and then I headed home. I stopped to see how Sam and Jonah were doing. They were happily watching the Le Mans 24-hour car race while eating a late lunch of left over pizza. Yes, they are teenagers! I told Sam that Heather expected Ardenna to arrive in Quissett Harbor around 5:30 pm and he said he would drive out to pick them up. Actually, when he arrived, they were just coming to the dock to fill the water tanks and Sam was there just in time to catch their lines. What timing. But they were not ready to come home as they still had to get the boat out to the mooring. So, Sam came home to continue watching the race and I drove to Quissett at 6:30 pm to pick them up. I love Quissett Harbor and relish any opportunity to go there and sit on the dock for a few minutes and recall some of the wonderful memories of living aboard there for the two summers before Mark died. In my opinion, it is one of the most beautiful of New England’s harbors.

Just before writing this log, I checked my email for the first time today. There was a message from good friend Patsy Decker. She and her husband Eric are spending the night at the Centennial Hotel in Concord, NH, and are headed to Boothbay for a family gathering starting tomorrow. She had read my log from last night and saw that Jed’s mother, Marti, was also headed to Boothbay today. Over the years, our lives have crossed paths so many times in so many ways. Patsy, if you are reading this, I will write back to you tomorrow. Enjoy your time in Boothbay!

I also heard from another good friend tonight, Lynne Kirwin. Lynne arrived from New Zealand about two weeks ago and is visiting with friends and family on the West Coast. She was waiting in an airport for a flight from California to Portland, Oregon to visit with friends in the Pacific Northwest. We had one of our very long catch-up conversations. I will look forward to seeing her later this summer. But in the meantime, Lynne …. Keep enjoying your West Coast visiting.

2024 Life Logs, Day 166: Ardenna Successfully Launched
Date: Friday, June 14, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny, Very Windy, Rain Late Evening; Temp 73, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

My day started with a physical therapy session. My knee is making great progress. I have already reached the end goal for knee flexion, but there are still lots of things to work on. I was zapped at the end of the session, but I had to come home and deal with some Encore business in between attempts at doing some gardening. Heather and Jed spent their day getting Ardenna ready to launch. Brownell was late picking up the boat, so she didn’t get into the water until late afternoon. Heather reported that it was not an easy launch with 20+ knot winds sideways, but she successfully got it out to a mooring. You always worry that after a long winter’s ‘nap’ that there could be engine problems, but thankfully both the boat engine and the dinghy motors started right up. Tomorrow, they will sail her across Buzzards Bay from Mattapoisett to Quissett Harbor. The mooring in Woods Hole is not ready quite yet, so that move will happen in a week or so.

Early afternoon I went over to Heather and Jed’s to see if my wire cutters were there. Sam and Jonah had their last finals today and Jonah was at the beach celebrating with some friends. Sam had taken them and come home and crashed. Finals week did him in! I offered to take him and Ollie to Smitty’s once Ollie got home from school, but Sam really just wanted to do nothing. By the time Ollie got home, Jonah was home with four of his friends, so Ollie and I went to Smitty’s and brought quarts of ice cream home for them. School does not officially end until Tuesday, but for the high school kids with no finals on Monday or Tuesday, today was the day for celebration.

2024 Life Logs, Day 165: Walk at Quashnet, Dinner with Marti at the Goldstones
Date: Thursday, June 13, 2024
Weather: Yet Another Sunny Day; Temp 72, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

It was a day out and about. I walked with my friend Olga in the Quashnet River Reserve this morning, stopped to visit Karen Baranowski on my way home, and then stopped by Heather and Jed’s to see Marti, Jed’s mother, who is visiting. Marti was out with Sam, so I didn’t see her then. But Heather was working from home, and I checked in with her about how the boat work was going. Ardenna’s launch is tomorrow afternoon and there is still work to be done, so I offered to go to the hardware store for Heather to pick up some supplies she needed this evening. I went home to have lunch and to elevate my leg for a bit, went to the hardware store, delivered the supplies to Heather and visited with Marti for a bit, came home to play outside with Shadow, and then went back to pick up Ollie to take him to soccer practice. I dropped him off, took Heather to the boat and got to take a peak at Ardenna (She is looking good!), ran some late day errands, went back to pick up Ollie, and then went back to the Goldstones for dinner. Jed, Sam, and Jonah had a sports meeting at the high school, so Marti fixed dinner. Thank you, Marti. While the chicken was still on the grill, Marti and I did have time sit down and have a nice catch-up visit.

2024 Life Logs, Day 164: Busy Morning, Lazy Afternoon
Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Weather: Another Sunny Day; Temp 69, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

The once-a-month Encore board meeting was today, and it took the entire morning. But it was a good meeting with the current board plus the new board members who will be installed next week. When I got home, I had lunch and then made the decision that I was not going to spend another beautiful afternoon inside cleaning house. That is going to have to wait until a rainy day. Shadow and I went for a short walk and then we sat in the sun for a bit. It felt so good! I came back inside to do my exercises and ice and elevate my leg. I no longer have to wear the compression stockings (Hallelujah!), plus I can now stop taking an aspirin twice a day as a blood thinner and Tylenol three times a day. I can always add that back if needed, but so far things are going really well. At the board meeting this morning, another member who had a knee replacement last year that didn’t go well, shared with me that after a year of pain and swelling, finally the doctor did some tests and has determined that she has an infection in the knee. When she told me what that means, I just wanted to cry for her. She has to have one operation to remove the replacement and put in a spacer, and then take intravenous antibiotics every day for 6 weeks. When the incision is healed and the infection is gone, it is time for a second surgery to do the knee replacement for the second time. Recovery from knee surgery is hard, hard work if you do it right and just thinking about having to go through it a second and then third time on the same knee literally made me nauseous. I can only hope that I never have to go through this and will do everything possible to support my friend.

Later in the afternoon, I took Ollie to his last saxophone lesson for this school year. While he was in the lesson, Shadow and I drove to nearby Menauhant Beach for another short walk in the sunshine by the ocean. It was a wonderfully lazy afternoon.

I haven’t heard from Justin since the initial messages to let me know they arrived safely in England. But I did hear from my friend Lynne Kirwin who arrived in California from New Zealand at the same time that Justin and family arrived here in Falmouth. Lynne is traveling the West Coast to visit with friends and family before she flies to Michigan to spend the summer. At some point, she will drive here to visit, and I look forward to that. Jed was also on the move yesterday and today. He flew to Washington, DC, so he could drive his mother from her home in DC to here. They arrived tonight and Marti will then continue to Boothbay tomorrow where she spends her summers. Jonah and Sam have finals this week and Heather was going to try to get a coat of bottom paint on Ardenna tonight as Friday is launch day. Busy, busy people

2024 Life Logs, Day 163: Moving Toward Normal
Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Weather: Sunny Day; Temp 68, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

After a January back surgery, a bout with Covid, and a May knee replacement, today I felt like I am finally moving back toward ‘normal’. I had PT this morning, went to a book club meeting, did some grocery shopping, went to take Ollie to soccer practice, and I was driving!!! I actually didn’t have to take Ollie to soccer as he really needed to go to Scouts tonight to sign up for summer camp, so I came home and got prepared for an Encore board meeting tomorrow morning. Heather was going to take the boys to Scouts and then go to the boat to do a little work before sundown. The boat launch is on Friday and there is much left to do. Jed flew to DC today to drive his mother up here tomorrow. She will then drive on to Maine on Thursday. Now if I could just find the energy to do a little gardening, I’d totally feel like things are back to normal.

2024 Life Logs, Day 162: Moving Back Home
Date: Monday, June 10, 2024
Weather: Sunny Day; Temp 68, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

On the last day of May, I moved myself next door to the studio apartment as Justin and family were arriving that night and were still Covid positive. Sam and Jonah came over that day and helped move the bigger things like my exercise bike. Today, I moved it all back and spent the entire day doing laundry loads of sheets and towels, plus the covers I took next door to protect Lynda’s white sofa and chairs from Shadow. Justin and Ziggy carried the exercise bike back for me last night, but I had to make many trips to get everything back here today. Needless to say, I am exhausted, so I am making this log short.

Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco left at 3:45 am this morning and were all checked in at Logan Airport by 5:30 am. I got a text from Justin at 1:46 pm our time saying they had arrived safely in England and a little later he sent a photo of them on the train headed to Jo’s Aunt Susie’s home in a town near London. I am so glad that their travels went smoothly. It feels mighty lonely here without them, but I have wonderful memories of our days together.

2024 Life Logs, Day 160: Ollie’s Soccer Game, Trip to Boston, Dinner with Family
Date: Saturday, June 8, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny; Temp 69, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA

I was up early this morning to go to Ollie’s 9 am soccer game. His team won 2-1 which means they advance to the final playoff game next Saturday. On Thursday, Jonah’s team lost their bid for the playoffs, but Jonah scored the only two goals made my Falmouth. And tonight, Sam’s ACI team lost. Unfortunately, Sam was not able to go to the game due to the cut on his heel that he got last night at the beach. So, after Ollie’s game next Saturday, there will be no more soccer until practice starts up in August.

After I got home from the game, it was almost time for Justin to head to Boston to pick up Jo and Coco. Ziggy didn’t want to go with him, so I decided to go with him. It gave me a nice chance to just talk with Justin on the way up and a chance to hear all about the Melanie Martinez concert last night from Coco on the way home. The trip took longer than expected, however. When we go to the Quincy Adams station in Braintree, Jo and Coco were not there. Justin called Jo and found that they were waiting at the Broadway station in Dorchester for a bus. The T was not running from there to Quincy Adams due to planned maintenance that we did not know about. So, we drove on into Boston to pick them up. There was traffic, as always, but we finally made it home after 3 pm. We took time to drive by Heather and Jed’s sailboat, Ardenna, to take a peak but we missed Heather and Jed. They had been there cleaning but had to make a run to West Marine. At least Justin, Jo, and Coco got to take a peek at Ardenna. When we got home, we all had a late lunch, and then Justin headed to the T-Mobile store with Ziggy and Coco. Jo took a nap, and after I rested while elevating and icing my knee. I then fixed dinner to take to Heather’s. We bought pulled pork at Wicked & Wood on the way home from Boston, so I just had to make the buns, a red cabbage Cole slaw, and chocolate pudding pie. It was after 7 pm when I finally finished everything, and then Jo and I packed things up and headed to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. Justin was in the T-Mobile store for over two hours switching his account from Sprint to T-Mobile. Sprint was bought out by T-Mobile, but he had not been able to transfer the account to T-Mobile in Puerto Rico. It did take a bit, but he finally got everything set up as it should be. He had sent Ziggy and Coco on to walk to Heather and Jed’s instead of making them wait for the transfer process to be completed. Coco came out of the deal with a new pink i-phone and she was quite happy about that.

We had another nice dinner together as a family once we all got to Heather and Jed’s. It dawned on me today that tomorrow is our last day together and we have not gotten a family photo with all of us in it. We decided to try for a late day photo tomorrow either on the beach in Quissett Harbor or at the Knob. Fifteen years ago, we had a professional photographer take photos of us on Quissett Beach, but there was no Coco and no Ollie in 2009. It might rain tomorrow, but hopefully the sun will come out late day just in time for our photo shoot.