by Judy Handley | Dec 14, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 348: Leslie Kole’s 70th Birthday Celebration
Date: Saturday, December 14, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 55, Low 47 degrees
Location: At Home with Tom and Detta Porat, Greenland, NH
Shadow’s first road trip went without a hitch. He is a great little traveler. We left home at 11:15 am and arrived at Tom and Detta Porat’s in Greenland, NH, three hours later. I had planned to make a couple of shopping stops, but Shadow went to sleep as soon as we got on the road and I dared not stop and wake him up. I’ve always believed you shouldn’t wake a sleeping baby, and now I believe you shouldn’t wake a sleeping puppy while traveling. The only issue we had is that I woke up with a terrible cough. I felt fine, but the cough is not pretty. When we arrived at Detta and Tom’s, Tom announced that he also had a cold and really didn’t feel great. But he and Detta introduced their 2-year-old Golden Retriever, Addie, to Shadow. And Tom then said he was going to stay home and babysit the dogs while Detta and I attended our friend Leslie Kole’s 70th birthday celebration. I hated that Tom felt so bad, but the fact that he was going to stay with the dogs gave Detta and I wonderful chance to visit with Leslie with no worries about pups at home alone. The celebration was at Leslie’s daughter’s home. Jess and her husband Tom have two children, 4-year-old Luke and 2-year-old Piper, and both were attending the celebration for Grammie. Detta and I got there a little early to help set up, but Jess and Tom really had everything under control. And their home was decorated beautifully for the holidays and for Leslie’s birthday. Leslie lost her husband Rich in September and is still desperately struggling with that loss, but she seemed to enjoy the small gathering tonight. After the celebration, Detta and I returned home to find Shadow snuggled up to Tom. We then had a little holiday party and exchanged Christmas presents. It was a lovely evening with wonderful friends. And just seeing Leslie smile made the trip worth it.
by Judy Handley | Dec 14, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 347: Headed to NH
Date: Friday, December 13, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Late; High 54, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After attending a late morning tea at Midge Frieswyk’s, I spent the rest of the day getting ready for my trip to New Hampshire tomorrow. The tea was lovely. There were about 15 women attending and Midge’s holiday decorations were beautiful. I especially appreciated her larger than life Nutcracker. I will be back on Sunday and I am taking Shadow with me. This will be his first road trip, so I’m hoping all goes well.
by Judy Handley | Dec 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 346: Newcomers Holiday Luncheon
Date: Thursday, December 12, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High 43, Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The Newcomers Holiday Luncheon was today at The Cape Club in North Falmouth. We had 116 members registered and The Cape Club accommodates a large group easily, The food was great, but as always, it is the company and conversation that makes the event. I sat at a table with my wine group and we added to the merriment by having a Yankee Exchange with a wine theme. Great fun! I rode to the event with Peter and Karen Baranowski. I asked them to pick me up a few minutes early so Peter could try and get a good photo of Shadow and I posing in front of the beautifully snow-laden bushes. It is difficult to get a puppy to pose for a photo, but Peter managed to get Shadow’s attention and got four great photos. I will use the photos in a holiday postcard, so thanks to Peter for doing this for me.
When I got home, two technicians from RISE Engineering arrived to check the flue system for the water heater in the basement, and once again it failed the test. The off-gassing was much less after having the heating and plumbing guy clean out the flue system. But the natural gas company, National Grid, cannot do the insulation work on the cottage as long as there is any off gassing. The technicians today suggested I get a second opinion from another heating and plumbing source before deciding exactly what should be done. But they did assure me that there is really no threat from the amount of off gassing that is currently happening. So if nothing is done there is no physical harm but energy will continue to be wasted and I’ll continue to pay higher bills for natural gas each month. After the technicians left, I spent some time sitting on the sofa with Shadow beside me while I booked a flight to Florida in January to visit with Mike and Linda Stuart, my biking friends, and Mark’s family. I think I have mentioned that Mike and Linda are taking a four- or five-month break from their biking around the world adventure to visit with family here in the US. They flew home from Thailand and I am not sure where they are going next. But in January they will be staying in Linda’s sister’s condo in Bonita Springs and by flying down for the long MLK weekend, I’ll be able to visit with them and with Mark’s family as well. And I have arranged the time gone, so that Heather and family will be with Shadow over the long weekend. So this trip is a win-win. After booking the flight, I took off again . . . this time to do a little Christmas shopping. There were some things I needed from Mashpee Commons and I needed to go to the supermarket. I then returned home to spend the evening with a puppy who had been left alone much too much for one day. I always feel guilty leaving him, but my hope is that absence makes the heart grow fonder. He is doing great and I’ll continue to try and balance my time away from home. This weekend he is going with me for his first road trip as we are going to visit with friends in New Hampshire.
by Judy Handley | Dec 10, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 344: Edible Insects
Date as: Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Weather: Periods of Rain; High 61, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The rain continued today, but it was only spotty and not too much. After yesterday’s buckets of rain, today was a delightful reprieve. And it was also warm. So that helped. But overnight the temp dips below freezing and we might get some early morning snow. I had my monthly Book Club meeting this morning and I spent the afternoon with the Goldpebbles. It was an Early Release Day from school and I had signed the boys up to attend an Edible Insects presentation at the public library.
?
?
?
?
Sam couldn’t go as he was home sick with a cold/flu (not sure which) from school today. So neighbor Joey Keefe went with us to the presentation. Most of the kids attending were middle schooler, the perfect age to add the yuck factor to eating insects. There was a presentation about the growing industry of producing insects to be used as animal feed, making flour from dried crickets, and selling dried insects as snacks.
When it came time to do some taste testing of dried grasshoppers and mealworms, the boys jumped right in. It helped that I had promised to take them to the French bakery afterwards for a treat if they tried the dried insects. But they loved doing it and then making a mad dash for the water fountain in the hall to wash down the crunchy snacks. Even Jonah gave the meal worms a try. I was actually more reluctant than the boys, but Ollie brought me a couple of meal worms and I ate them. Crunchy with a salty taste, but the idea of eating mealworms is instinctively repulsive. The positive side is that evidently insect products, especially flour made from crickets, pack double the protein of steak, chicken, or salmon. The insects are farmed and sustainable. But still the idea of eating crickets or mealworms just is not appealing. But at least we broadened our horizons this afternoon. If Chocolate Chirp Cookies and cricket pasta become mainstream, maybe we will be more willing to give them a try.
by Judy Handley | Dec 10, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 343: The Sky is Falling
Date: Monday, December 9, 2019
Weather: Rainy Day; High 61, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
During the evening a warm wind has been blowing and at times the rain has come down in buckets. Earlier it literally felt like the sky is falling. Shadow has never minded going out in the rain and he loves snow, but tonight I have had to literally carry him outside. I guess blustery weather is not his thing. And neither is it mine. We get more rain tomorrow and then the temperature plummets again and we are supposed to get snow on Wednesday morning.
I started my day at a pilates class at the gym and when I got home, Karen Baranowski texted me from next door to ask if she could come over to get out of the cold. She was there to oversee the installation of new Anderson outside doors, but in doing so, she discovered that the heat was not working. So she had to call the heating and air conditioning people to come take care of that. She came over and we had tea and then I invited her to stay for lunch. In the afternoon, I worked on ordering Christmas for Justin, Jo, and the Goldpebbles. And then it was time to go to Jonah’s band concert. 
Jonah is tiny, but mighty. He is aggressive on the soccer field and in music. He plays the trombone and bass guitar. Both instruments are huge. Tonight he was playing trombone with the 5th grade band and then electric bass guitar with the 5th and 6th grade jazz band. He had to take not only his instruments, but also his amp for tonight’s concert, so Heather pitched in help carry. And he looked so handsome in a white shirt and tie. I had hoped to get good photos of him with his electric bass guitar (which is bright red), but he was sitting behind other students and it just wasn’t possible. But you can always find Jonah by looking for his hair, so I did and I zoomed in and get some photos of his facial expressions as he played. You could hear the bass as the jazz band played and he sounded great. I was able to get some video that I think he will be excited to hear.
Tomorrow is Early Release Day and I am taking the Goldpebbles to an Edible Insects program at the public library. There will be some interested snacks, including sour cream and onion crickets and Mexican spice mealworms. Yuck! I’m with Jonah on this one. No way am I trying these things! But I’ll try to be open minded and give things a fair try. But regardless, it should be fun on a rainy afternoon.
by Judy Handley | Dec 8, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 342: Christmas Parade and Jed’s Birthday
Date: Sunday, December 8, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High 45, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather gods were kind to us today. 
Contrary to the forecast, the high temperature climbed out 30’s, the sun shone brightly all through the parade, and there was very little wind. All of these things made for great weather for the Christmas Parade. After our freezing experience downtown last night for the lighting of the town Christmas tree, the Goldstones and I were delighted with the weather. Karen Baranowski and I went to watch the parade as Peter was riding on the Newcomers float, Heather and Jonah were marching with the Falmouth Soccer Club, Jed and Ollie were marching with the Cub Scouts, and Sam was marching with the Lawrence Middle School Band playing snare drum. I know I’m just a bit biased, but I must say that the middle school band sounded great, especially the drummers! As always, there were Clydesdale horses, old and new fire engines, the Aleppo Shrine clowns, various bands, representatives from many local clubs and activities, some on floats and some just marching in the parade, and of course, Santa Claus. I had thought about taking Shadow with me to the parade, but then I realized that he is just too young and untrained to be in a crowd of people of very loud noises. Good choice because it really was loud, especially the fire engines. I think I would have had a very frightened little puppy. I’ll slowly introduce him to the community sights and sounds and then maybe he can go with me next year.
After the parade, I hurried home to spend time with Shadow before taking him with me to Heather and Jed’s for a pizza party to celebrate Jed’s birthday. When we arrived, the boys really enjoyed playing outside with Shadow and then everyone came in to get showers to get ready for the school week. Heather and Jed were out front decorating with Christmas lights. Heather came in to prepare dinner. And once all the boys were showered. Jed opened his presents and the boys each opened a present for me while the pizzas were baking. They all needed new pajamas, so I got holiday Hannah Anderson pajamas for Ollie and Jonah and a pair of green camping pajamas for Sam. Rather than wait until Christmas to give them to them, I thought they should have them now to enjoy during the holiday season. They all immediately donned their new apparel and let me take photos of them in front of their beautiful Christmas tree. Then we ate pizza and birthday cake. During dinner, Ollie announced that he lost a loose front tooth today during the parade. Just another indication of how fast the Goldpebbles are growing up. It was a nice evening together celebrating Jed’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Jed!
