by Judy Handley | Jan 1, 2017 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 141: New Year’s Eve in New Hampshire
Date: Saturday, December 31, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny
Location: At Home in Greenland, NH with Detta and Tom
It is very late, or more accurately, it is very early on New Year’s Day. Detta and I stayed up after everyone else had either gone home or gone to bed, trying to solve the world’s problems. Then when I turned my computer on to write this log, I got an email and attached photo from Heather, Jed, and boys that answered our question.
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
I’ll certainly keep this in mind as I begin 2017.
I had a fantastic day beginning with my arrival here in Greenland, New Hampshire. I was transported into instant winter. There is enough snow on the ground to at least make it look like winter and the snow doggie snowman in the Porat’s front yard was such a cheery greeting.
Tom and Detta are the supreme host and hostess, and I was showered with Christmas presents and wonderful food.
Dinner was fabulous starring pork roast and asparagus and butternut squash medallions topped with an incredible Moroccan sauce. So, so good.
Sue and David Wolowitz came by later in the evening for a chocolate fondue dessert. We had fun visiting and playing a crazy word game.
I talked to friends and family wishing all a Happy New Year and had a special Skype video call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco and then later with Heather and family. Happy New Year to all and to all a good night.
by Judy Handley | Dec 30, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 140: Dinner with the Woodins
Date: Friday, December 30, 2016
Weather: Clear, Turning Partly Cloudy; High 43, Low 27 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I ended my day by having dinner with Bruce and Jane Woodin at their house. Jane always goes all out with decorating for Christmas and this year was no exception. As Bruce said tonight, she takes Martha Stewart’s suggestions very seriously, and, as a result, everything was just beautiful. She made sure the candles were lit outside the front door to welcome me, and inside the lighting of the mantle garland, wreaths on the doors, and the centerpiece, the Christmas tree, were just right.
They have had two of their three grandchildren with them all week, so this was our first chance to get together. Thanks to Bruce and Jane for a lovely evening.
About an hour before I was to head out to Bruce and Jane’s, I got a phone call from Linda and Mike Stuart. These are my friends who are biking around the world. I didn’t hear from them at Christmas, so I was so hoping I would get a call around the New Year. I was elated to get the call. They are biking through the Andes Mountains in Ecuador right now, and I know from reading their daily logs that the lack of air in the high altitudes and the steep gradients have been most challenging. But they assured me that they are doing fine. It was just so good to hear Linda’s voice and to hear that all is okay. They will be in the mountains for two more days and will then head to the coast to the city of Guayaquil. They will be there for a few days and are then flying to the Galapagos where they will meet up with their son Garrett and his girlfriend for a cruise through the islands. When they return, they will be biking on to Peru and even more challenging mountains. Linda, I love you. And you, too, Mike. I send you all the strength that I have to give!
Back up a couple of hours, I got a call from Detta Porat. Detta and Tom are my good friends that live in Portsmouth, NH. They spent the Christmas vacation with Detta’s sister at her vacation home in St. Croix. I knew they were returning yesterday, but I didn’t know what time. I didn’t dare call Detta this morning for fear of waking her up after a late arrival. As it turns out, they arrived in Boston at 3 o’clock this morning. That’s either very late or very early, depending on how you look at it. We had tentative plans that I would drive up for New Year’s Eve and the phone call today confirmed that. So I will be heading to New Hampshire and plan to arrive in Portsmouth around 3 in the afternoon. I have some Home Depot and Costco shopping to do on the way, but I might try to work in a Zumba class in the morning before I leave. We’ll see just how energetic I feel in the am.
I frittered the rest of my day away working on photo issues on the website. Because Google is no longer supporting Picasa, all of the links to photos in my logs over the years were broken. I still have the photos, but no one can view them online. Justin has been working on getting them “reconnected” and he needed me to check out which photos are now ‘back’ and which ones are not. It took most of the day to just thoroughly check out Year 2, but at least I did get the 283 logs from that year checked out. Now I just need to do the other ten years!
by Judy Handley | Dec 29, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 139: WINDY
Date: Thursday, December 29, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain Late, Then WIND; High 40’s, Low 30’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I lived on a sailboat for 13 years, but never did I experience the windy weather we have been getting here on the Cape in the past two years. Maybe I am just particularly aware after the microburst hit Windbird in Quissett Harbor in June of 2015, but for whatever reason, tonight I am finding the wind right down scary. WeatherUnderground tells me we are having winds from the southwest 20 to 30 with gusts up to 60 miles per hour. When we were in a marina near Cape Town, South Africa, we often had 55 knot winds, which is about 63 miles per hour, for hours on end, but somehow that steady wind wasn’t as frightening as these 30 mph winds that gust every five minutes to 60. The whole front wall of this apartment, which is mostly glass, quivers with every gust. Weather, weather!
I went to the gym this morning to participate in a class that proved just how out of shape I am. Or maybe it just proved how old I am. In two months, I’ll be 70. So maybe I shouldn’t go to a class called, “Butts and Guts.” The other class members are probably in their late 30’s or early 40’s, and maybe one woman is in her early 50’s, but all are much younger than myself. So I won’t let myself get too depressed. At least I survived the class. I was going to go to a yoga class tonight, but the wind kept me home. Tomorrow’s 20/20/20 class is a little more ‘user’ friendly, so hopefully I’ll feel better about myself after that. I did more writing today, canned bone broth, made soup, and went to Heather’s to take in the trash can and put out the compost buckets for Friday pick-up. Tomorrow I will talk to Detta and Tom Porat in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to figure out if I am going to drive up there for New Year’s Eve. Today they should have returned from a St. Croix Christmas vacation, so I’ll wait until tomorrow afternoon to call them and decide about the weekend. In the meantime, I’ll work on surviving the gusts of wind.
by Judy Handley | Dec 28, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 138: Project Day
Date: Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Weather: Sunny Early, Turning Mostly Cloudy; High 43, Low 26 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today was dedicated to working on a presentation that I will make on January 12th about the Voyage of Windbird. Working on that project was a good springboard for starting that long-time desire to write about Windbird’s voyage around the world. I’ll continue with both tomorrow. I also had a nice phone conversation with Lynne Kirwin. When I said I was a little chilly just sitting still and writing I heard Ed say in the background, “Then bake something or make some bone broth.” I took him up on his suggestion to make chicken mineral bone broth with the carcasses from two of the six Cornish hens we had on Christmas Day. Heather had already made broth with the other four. Simmering the broth did heat things up just a bit. Tomorrow I’ll can the broth, make a soup with the leftover chicken, and keep writing.
by Judy Handley | Dec 27, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 137: Running Errands
Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Weather: WINDY Morning, Mostly Cloudy Afternoon—High in the 50’s F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
The Goldstones left for Maine this morning and I got up and got ready to go out to run errands. It was really windy, but the wind was coming from the southwest and it brought warmer temps our way. I waited until the worst of the wind died down and left to run those ‘few errands’ that somehow that took the entire day. After a morning and full afternoon of running errands, at 3:30 pm I was in the Falmouth Town Hall Assessor’s Office trying to find out why I owe $258 dollars in back taxes on Windbird. While in the midst of that discussion, I got a call back from Jane Woodin. I had sent a text earlier to find out if she and Bruce were at home so I could deliver a cranberry Christmas bread. It turns out that I did owe the town the taxes and that Jane was headed to the near-by Falmouth Public Library. So I paid the tac and told Jane I would meet her at the library to give her the bread. But when I got to the library, I saw Bruce Woodin with his twin grandkids. I stopped right in the middle of the street, got out, and delivered the bread to Bruce. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Jane. I then delivered a Christmas bread to Terry and Olivia. I really intended on just dropping off the bread, but Terry answered the door and invited me to come in for a few minutes, so I did. I stayed longer than intended but in doing so, I learned some about Olivia’s Christmas food traditions growing up in India and Terry’s German traditions from his family who settled in the Evansville, Indiana area. It was a short, but very enjoyable visit. And the summary of my day is that I successfully managed to leave home before lunch and return just in time for dinner and get none of the projects done that have been on my to-do list. All of those projects are computer based, so Tomorrow I am going to chain myself to the dining room table to work on my computer for the entire day.
by Judy Handley | Dec 26, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 136: The Second Day of Christmas
Date: Monday, December 26, 2016
Weather: Bright and Sunny; High Temp 45, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
I had an active second day of Christmas. I didn’t get two turtle doves, but I did go to the gym, finally got my inflatable kayak rolled up and stored with Jed’s help, went to Heather’s and was on neighborhood bicycle duty with Jonah and Ollie,
had lunch, and then took Ollie to the bike path down by the beach and walked and walked while he rode and rode. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child so happy to get a bicycle and he just doesn’t want to stop riding. I chose a section of the bike path that was long and straight so that I could see him in the distance as there was no way for me to keep up with him on foot.
When I did catch up with him, he had made it to Trunk River and he had me take a picture of him on his bike in front of the sign so he can show his friends at school that he rode his new bike that far all by himself.
He also had me take a picture with the water in the background.
This stretch of bike path runs right along the beach and is absolutely beautiful. Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah met us on the bike path and Ollie was so excited to ride with them for a bit.
When we returned home, it was time for the Goldstones to get ready to go to Maine tomorrow morning. I helped with laundry, baked the last of the Christmas cookies for the kids to take to Maine, and then I headed home for the evening. It sure is going to be quiet around here for a few days without the Goldpebbles, but I have plenty of projects to keep me busy.
