2017 Life Logs, Day 301: Clams and Soccer
Date: Saturday, October 28, 2017
Weather: Cooler, but Sunny; High 59, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Clams and soccer don’t necessarily go together, but I spent my day engaged with both. This morning, Peter Baranowski, whom I call the Clam King, took me and Margaret Souza for an introductory clamming lesson. This was an unofficial Newcomers outing. I stopped at Heather and Jed’s to pick up the clam rake and bucket and Jonah and Sam looked at me like I was crazy. “You’re going clamming . . . now?” They associate clamming with summer, not with late October. It was cool and a bit windy, but the sun dominated, and the water really wasn’t all that cool. I had on my dive skin, and I was perfectly warm the whole time. Margaret had been clamming once before, but I had never been, so we really were both novices. Not a problem for Peter. He took us to his favorite spot and we waded out into the water to the top of my thighs (Peter’s knees). He taught us how to use the rake, and instantly we started raking in the quahogs. Peter filled his bucket, but then he is about 6 feet 7 inches tall and handles the rake like it is a toothpick. Margaret and I are both in the 5-foot range and handling the long-handled rake is a bit more difficult for us. But I was delighted to fill my bucket to the half-way mark! But even more than that, I just truly enjoyed being out in the water and learning a new skill. I have been intimidated by the idea of clamming. But no more. Thank you, Peter!
We were clamming about two miles from Heather and Jed’s, so I stopped by their house on my way home to return to the rake and bucket and show off the clams. Before leaving, I planted a few garlic cloves in the garden and then I headed home to get dry clothes on and head back out to Jonah’s final soccer game of the fall season. Ollie had a birthday party to attend, so Heather went with him. But Jed and Sam were at Jonah’s game. Jonah’s team ended the season with 5 wins, no losses, and 2 tied games. Jonah didn’t score today, but he played like a champ. His good friend Luke made the only point of the game and Jonah was so happy for him.
He would have loved to score as well, but it was great to see his joy for Luke.
Tomorrow is Sam’s final game, and hopefully the heavy wind and rain we are expecting will hold off until after the game. At this point, it looks like the winds will build during the afternoon and then we will get slammed tomorrow evening into Monday.
I did not hear from Justin today, but I must report something I forgot to mention in last night’s log. Some of you have inquired about Ziggy, and Justin did tell me last night that Ziggy is recovering just fine from his fall. Evidently Jo has a photo of his swollen lips right after the fall that will get posted on Facebook at some point. Hopefully today’s no news, is good news.
