2026 Life Logs, Day 105: Another Day Inside on the Computer
Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Windy, Still Warm; High Temp 70, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today was not as sunny and beautiful as yesterday, but it was definitely a day that beckoned me to be outside in the garden. But no way. I had too many things on that ‘to do’ list that were time sensitive—had to be done today. As I have had to do every day for the past week, I spent a good deal of the day in phone calls about my sister. Today I was working with the Case Manager at the hospital to find a rehab placement for her. And at the same time, I was in communication with the paid companion who is with her a few hours every day. This morning, my sister decided that she is not going to eat and that continued through dinner. So that saga will continue tomorrow.

The wonderful thing about today was that I did not have even one meeting and that allowed me to get things done. But I am still not feeling up to par and that slows things down a bit. When I was a senior in high school, I was diagnosed with pleurisy. Tthe way I felt today caused a flashback to then. This cough feels just like the one I had then. It is so deep that it rattles my whole body. Back then the doctor just gave me an antibiotic and wrapped my mid-section below my rib cage to control the pain when I coughed. Thankfully, this time, I don’t cough often. So, I’ll head to bed, propped up by a mountain of pillows, and hope things are better tomorrow.

I had another flashback in time today. Still thinking about Frances Perkins and what she did to help poor people in this country get through the Great Depression, I flashed back to my parents. They were married 102 years ago today. Married in 1924, lost 2 children by 1928, but then then had 4 babies that survived, one in 1928, then 1931, 1933, and 1935. They had nothing, but somehow my dad always managed to find work. By the time I came along in the late 1940’s, the depression was behind them, but they still worshiped FDR for all the things his administration (really Frances Perkisn) did to bring people out of poverty. Happy anniversary on this April 15th to Ollie and Hayes Martin … wherever you are.

2026 Life Logs, Day 104: A Taste of Summer
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Summer Warm; High Temp 75, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The record high in Falmouth for this day is 81 degrees F. Today was only 75 but it felt really great—more like summer than spring. I got up this morning knowing it was going to be warmer today, but I still put on a lightweight thermal knit shirt. I headed out for my morning walk with Shadow and by the time I got home, I was literally sweating. Off came the thermal knit and on with a tank top and a long-sleeved blouse. That was much better! Unfortunately, I had to spend most of the rest of the day inside, but every time I went out with Shadow, it was sheer delight. Plus I opened up the house and let the fresh air sweep through. It was wonderful.

Being hot this morning was not my only early problem. I woke up feeling just awful. I have developed a serious cough, but no other symptoms other than sinus drainage.. No temperature. Negative Covid test. No runny nose. I took the first Ibuprofen I have taken since just before my back surgery in January of 2024. I had so many things to do today and needed a little help. The Ibuprofen did help and on I went.

My first stop was my book club. The book this month was Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray. The book is just average historical fiction literature, but its greatness comes from getting you acquainted with one of the most accomplished women in US history. She was the very first woman ever appointed to serve in a US President’s cabinet, making her the first Secretary of Labor. FDR saw her brilliance and persuaded her to abandon her devotion to working for Al Smith to join him when he was first elected President in 1932. She stayed on with him through his four unprecedented terms as President until his death in 1945. At an early age, she recognized that fighting poverty improved the country for everyone and she devoted her entire life to this. Social Security was her idea and only through her steadfast determination did it ever get through Congress. She established unemployment compensation, banned child labor, initiated a minimum wage, enshrined the 40-hour work week. And she did all of this while staying devoted to a brilliant husband who was bi-polar and had to be institutionalized in New York City while she lived in Washington. She visited him on weekends and single-handedly raised their daughter who ended up to have the same mental issues as her father. I could go on all night about the accomplishments of Frances Perkins, but instead, I suggest you read the book. The other striking thing about the book are the comparisons made between what was happening the United States in the 1930’s and today. And when I compare Frances Perkins to our current Secretary of Labor it literally makes me sick at my stomach. How could we have stooped so low?

The rest of the day was focused on doing my taxes, writing the Encore May and June program promos for the newsletter with the deadline being tomorrow, taking Ollie to his saxophone lesson and then on to soccer. After that I had to get myself to a Board of Library Trustees meeting where I had to present the quarterly financial report. And then I had a very long late evening conversation with the doctor in charge of my sister’s wellbeing this week. She has made an amazing turn around and he was trying to convince me that she is ready to be released from the hospital. I think not yet. We shall see what tomorrow brings. Whew! It was quite a day. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen.

2026 Life Logs, Day 103: Indivisible Falmouth Monthly Meeting
Date: Monday, April 13, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Windy: High Temp 54, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

No meeting today until this evening’s monthly Indivisible Falmouth meeting. I had a fairly relaxed day, spent time rushing to finish reading the book for tomorrow’s book club meeting, spent time on the phone with people at the hospital where my sister is in North Carolina, and preparing for tonight’s Indivisible meeting. After the No Kings 3 protest, the next big push for Indivisible groups all around the country is to find ways to get more people involved and to start doing the serious work that needs to be done to get out the vote for the upcoming mid-term elections and to prepare to defend free and fair elections from sabotage. I led an activity at tonight’s meeting to get people into the ‘just do it’ mode. We can no longer sit around and think about what needs to be done. We need to start doing—each and every one of us can do something. The race to the mid-term elections is on.

2026 Life Logs, Day 102: Dining-in Group Evening
Date: Sunday, April 12, 2026
Weather: Cooler: High Temp 52, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today was a workday, but before I could do any work, I had to have Heather and Jed figure out why my computer was not responding to anything. It kept saying it was full. Well, in fact, it was full. I was completely out of memory, so could save nothing and could not access things like my photos. I thought I had been hacked because I couldn’t believe I was really out of space. I’ve only had this computer for two years, but I evidently save way too much ‘stuff’. They helped be get rid of enough ‘stuff’ to continue to work for now, but I need to spend time down sizing. I then spent the afternoon working on a quarterly treasurer’s report for the Library Board of Trustees and doing preparation for tomorrow night’s Indivisible Falmouth Meeting. Then tonight I went to Bruce and Jane Woodin’s for our monthly dining-in group. Food and company were both great.

2026 Life Logs, Day 101: Evening of Jazz
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Spring Day: High Temp 62, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Finally, we had a picture perfect and warm spring day! The daffodils and the forsythia are in bloom, so the ‘yellow’ season has officially begun. Glorious day! And tonight, I walked to the Coonemessett Inn for the 21st Annual Evening of Jazz featuring the Falmouth High School Jazz Ensemble plus a professional quartet. This evening is sponsored by the band parents as a fund raiser for the school music program. Jonah plays trombone and Ollie, even though he is still in middle school, plays saxophone, in the high school ensemble. I am biased, but I think it was a fabulous evening. The high school band director, Andrew Helwig, is also a professional musician, and he played saxophone with the professional quartet and was phenomenal. How lucky the students are to have him as their teacher. What a wonderful role model. He treats the students as professional musicians and so they play like a professional jazz ensemble, and you can feel the joy as they play. Great weather, great music, great day.

2026 Life Logs, Day 100: Day 100
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 54, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

As I wrote the heading above, I realized it is day 100 of 2025. As an elementary teacher, I always loved day 100 because every student brought bags of 100 interesting things. After I finish writing this log, I am going to go write 100 words that describe Donald Trump just to amuse myself!

After a morning Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee meeting, I spent the rest of the day working on various projects. The most interesting was going to the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum to catch up with Barbara Burgo, the co-founder and curator, who will be the speaker at the May Encore meeting. I wanted to talk to her about what Cape Verdean food she would serve the morning of program. She had great ideas and loaned me her cookbook. Now I just have to find members who will be willing to prepare and bring the food.

My sister Patsy is holding her own for now. The double infections, especially the infection in her bloodstream is what has us all most worried. So far, the Covid seems to be the least of our worries. While we worry, she spent her day sitting up in a recliner and walking about the room with a physical therapist. She looked ashen on Wednesday, but today, I am told, her color is back and she was all smiles. Day by day.

2026 Life Logs, Day 99: A Difficult Day
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 47, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My day started with a 6:30 am call from the nurse attending my sister in the hospital in North Carolina. She was refusing to drink water and nurse wanted me to talk to her to see if that would make a difference. I did and it did. So I put that issue on hold for a few hours while I was off to the April Newcomers-Encore combined program which I was in charge of. We had a huge crowd, I think the most well attended meeting since Covid. But then what should have been a truly wonderful Encore program this morning ended up being very trying due to technical difficulties. Ugh. I was so excited to finally have a program focused on the Wampanoag culture, but the wonderful program ended up to be a nightmare for me. The presenter, who I know to be top notch, had computer issues that stopped the entire program for at least 15 minutes while we did trouble shooting and then we had trouble with the Bluetooth connection to the church speaker system. It is behind me now, but it was a difficult and disappointing morning.

Then I got home to deal with my sister’s situation. First, I had to talk to a palliative care person from the hospital who was kindly trying to prepare me for the worst-case scenario with my sister. Then I talked to the doctor and got a full briefing. She has not two, but three strikes against her–bilaterial pneumonia, Covid, and now bacteremia or infection in the bloodstream. But somehow, her almost 93-year-old body is holding it together. Early today she was out of bed, sitting up in a chair, and “alert, talking, and laughing a little” according to my nephew who stopped by to visit. She is on multiple medications, but still her heart is strong, and her blood pressure is something we would all aspire to have. But the infection in the bloodstream is very troubling. The doctor explained that we must wait and see, take it hour by hour, day by day. Do I book and flight and go down now? Or do I wait and see how things go and fly down when she is released from the hospital and will need extra support? The doctor’s advice was to wait and see. So for now, that is what I am doing.

2026 Life Logs, Day 98: Long Distance Healthcare Advocate Day
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny, but Cool; High Temp 43, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The update to last night’s log where I described my sister’s current health issue, things have progressed. First, it was pneumonia, then last night Covid was added, and today when the doctor saw her, her oxygen level was too low. I was on phone and text early, went to an Encore Board meeting, and then it was back home to get back on the phone. At 3 pm, the decision was made to have her transported to ER because of the low oxygen level. After a round of tests in the ER, they declared what we already knew. She does have bilateral pneumonia and she does have Covid. She needs hydration and oxygen, and they need to make sure the infection has not gotten into her bloodstream. So, they admitted her. This is going to be a tough battle for her. Thankfully, she has a hired companion who is willing to stay with her overnight in the hospital. For now, I am not going to fly down. But if things take a further turn for the worse, I will. For now, I am on stand-by.

2026 Life Logs, Day 97: Happy Birthday to Ziggy
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Weather: A Little Rain, A Little Sunshine, Some Clouds; High Temp 50, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Happy 17th Birthday to Ziggy Milo Handley, my grandson who lives in Puerto Rico. I have five grandchildren in total, 3 grandsons here in Falmouth, and Ziggy and Coco in Puerto Rico. I talked to Ziggy briefly tonight and he told me stayed home from school today to celebrate and went out to a movie with friends tonight. Then I said to him that 17 sounds terribly old and he agreed! When Justin and family were visiting at the beginning of this year, I sensed from our conversations that Ziggy is thinking a lot about his future. What will he do? Where will he go? I caught him on camera more than once when he appeared to be in deep thought or looking at life through the lens of the new camera he got for Christmas.

I look forward to what the next year brings. Both Ziggy and Jonah will be seniors in high school next year. A year of big decisions. Happy birthday, Ziggy. Here’s to another wonderful year in the life!

I had an all-morning meeting today and then spent a great deal of my afternoon and evening dealing with my sister’s current health issues. I have had a week-long battle trying to get medication delivered to her that was prescribed last Wednesday. Don’t even ask why. But the bottom line is that the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, I think for a bacterial infection in her lungs. This afternoon, that medication still had not arrived. Long, long story. But just after I found out the medication still had not arrived, I got a call that she now has Covid. I have no idea if she had Covid last week and that was causing the coughing and congestion, or if she had pneumonia and now has Covid, or what. But I know her 92-year-old body has been battling hard. I have to wait until morning to talk to her doctor and I might have to go down to Charlotte to be with her. I hate the thought of flying right now, but it is a 14-hour drive and that doesn’t sound like fun either. Onward we go.

2026 Life Logs, Day 96: Quiet Monday
Date: Monday, April 6, 2026
Weather: High Temp 50, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

My only meeting today was a Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition bi-monthly (twice a month0 meeting on Zoom. I spent the rest of the day working on Indivisible and FIRC tasks, but I did it at a relaxed pace rather than the normal breakneck routine. Tonight I am at Heather and Jed’s with Ollie and Jonah. Tonight is Town Meeting, so H & J probably won’t be home until sometime between 11 and midnight. Both boys are in bed now, so I will head home and spend the rest of my evening with Shadow. Oops. Spoke too soon. Jonah just came downstairs for a bedtime snack, but I will be heading home soon.

One last thing. I have been waiting for a month now for the first daffodil to bloom in my yard. On March 8, the green shoots had barely broken through. Fast forward to yesterday. I really thought this one daffodil might bloom, but it did not. Today, it half-heartedly opened just a little, but I will call that the first flower of the ‘yellow’ season. The forsythia will come next. And I’m hoping warmer weather will tag along. Not complaining. Just sayin’.