Day 246, Year 11: Not Quite as Smart as a TV
Date: Friday, June 24, 2016
Weather: Clear; High Temp 79 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio #8, Falmouth, MA
It was a good day, but tonight we are feeling not quite as smart as a television. I’ll run through the day and then I think you’ll understand why we feel that way.
Heather and Jed dropped the boys off on their way to Woods Hole. A couple of them were a bit on the grumpy side, but we took it slow and easy and finally everyone was in a good mood, sun screen was applied, lunches were packed, and we were ready to walk to the beach. We put all of our ‘stuff’ into the beach wagon and off we went. If we walk the back streets, it is only a half mile to the beach and it took us about 15 minutes. The water felt cold at first, but once we got used to it, it felt delightful. It was a perfect day as the waves were gentle, the sun was shining brightly, and the air temperature was just right. We all got in the water right away. Sam and Jonah were on their boogie boards and played together while I stayed with Ollie. I would walk way out into the water and then follow him back as the waves gently pushed him toward the shore. And once we got there, we’d go back out again. Mark walked down to the beach to join us for a bit, but the sun was so intense that I thought he shouldn’t stay long. He had his little beach umbrella that Heather and gang gave him on Father’s Day, and that does help, but the chemo drugs cause him to be extremely sun sensitive. When Mark left, the boys and I had lunch on the beach, played for another bit before we headed home. We might have stayed longer, but I felt like I needed to put sun screen on them again. And when I tried that with Sam, I turned him gray! The boys had taken turns burying each other in the sand, and even though the sand was brushed off, it left a residue that, when mixed with the sun screen, gave a grayish tint to the skin. No one wanted that, so we just packed up and went home. I don’t think any of us knew just how tired we were until we got in the car to drive them home. We were all exhausted, but it was a good day. And we all love that we can walk to and from the beach.
While we were still at the apartment, Mark had to get behind the TV to connect a stereo speaker and while doing this, he noticed that a television cable was twisted. In trying to get it untwisted, it broke off inside the TV. It was the main cable connection and there was no way to fix it. The TV was an old one that we brought from Lynn’s condo and we knew we were going to have to replace it at some point—just not today. But after we took the boys home, we went to Best Buy in Hyannis to buy a new Samsung Smart TV. Mark had done the research and knew what he wanted. The particular Samsung was on sale, so we bought it. When we got home, we learned that the TV is smarter than us. Mark is usually pretty savvy with hooking up electronics, but this one has him stumped. I’m sure we’ll figure it out at some point, but calls to Samsung and Comcast tonight have not been helpful. We’ll continue tomorrow.
One last thing. We woke up this morning to the news that the people of Great Britain actually voted to leave the EU. Our daughter-in-law Jo is a British citizen, as are Ziggy and Coco. And it just so happens that Justin, Jo, and kids flew to England yesterday to attend the wedding of Jo’s brother. We’ll be anxious to talk to Jo to see what she and her family thinks of this vote. Mark and I have been following this and knew it was going to be a close vote, but we were very surprised at the final outcome. Politics these days on both sides of the pond are most interesting.
