2026 Life Logs, Day 138: Field Trip to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Date: Monday, May 18, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 72, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Today I led a field trip to the Massachusetts maritime Academy, and it couldn’t have gone more smoothly. There were 28 of us and we had a great time.

The weather was gorgeous and the cadets who led us on a tour of the Patriot State, a 525-foot-long training ship that arrived there in October of 2024, were very impressive. As was the ship.

After the ship tour, we had lovely lunch in the student cafeteria, toured the engineering building, and ended our day in the simulator where anyone who wanted got a chance to be at the wheel taking us through the Cape Cod Canal. It was great fun!

When I got home, I switched gears to fix dinner for the Goldpebbles while Heather and Jed attended other events. I love my evenings with the Goldpebbles.

2026 Life Logs, Day 137: Lovely Free and Easy Sunday
Date: Sunday, May 17, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 72, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

A little gardening, which included getting the drip irrigation system going for the season, a little tree trimming, a little reading for my Friday class, a little research for a Thursday presentation on door-to-door canvassing (which I have never done before in my life), last minute adjustments to the planning for a field trip I am leading tomorrow, and a quick visit to check in on the Goldstones to see what they have been up to this weekend. That was the total of my day. It was a lot to cram into one day, but since there was nothing pressing other than the field trip prep, I worked at a slow pace. It was one of those days that I call ‘free and easy.’ And the weather was spectacular!

2026 Life Logs, Day 136: From Community Watch Training to Dining-In with Friends
Date: Saturday, May 16, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Windy; High Temp 65, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

If it is Saturday, then I am on the Green at 12 noon for Indivisible Falmouth’s weekly standout. We are there, rain, shine, or snow, and I invariably meet some new to me, very interesting person. Today it was a woman from Newtonville up near Boston who was here for the weekend and decided to join us.

After the standout, I headed home to make applesauce for tonight gathering of my Dining-In group. And then I headed to a Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition Community Watch workshop. The purpose of these workshops is to train the average citizen how to be on the alert for ICE and what to do about it. It was a good workshop with great attendance. But I had to leave about 20 minutes early to get to the Dining-In gathering at Karen and Peter Baranowski’s. The food tonight was outstanding. Karen made Polish stuffed cabbage rolls called Golumpki. The rest of us added a Ukrainian borscht that was delicious, homemade applesauce, and a strawberry cake that was beautiful and delicious. We have been meeting regularly since 2017 and the camaraderie and the food just gets better with time.

2026 Life Logs, Day 135: Nothing of Consequence
Date: Friday, May 15, 2026
Weather: Cloudy; High Temp 60, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Nothing of consequence happened today—just meetings, class, and shopping prep work for upcoming events. So, I am giving myself permission to take the night off. I’ll be back tomorrow.

2026 Life Logs, Day 134: Sam is Home 🙂 🙂 🙂
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2026
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High Temp 57, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I was up at 4:15 am this morning and on the road before 5 am, but still Sam’s flight landed 10-15 minutes before I got to the airport. He was waiting for me in the pick up area when I got there and we were back home by 8:30 am. It was a good trip. And all the way home I got hear about his two weeks out west road tripping with his friend Ethan and Ethan’s 5-month-old Australian Sheperd, Cosmo. Unfortunately, Sam had stomach flu with a fever this past weekend and into this week which slowed them down a bit, but Sam still had a positive experience. I think he was more excited about seeing the Pacific Ocean for the first time than any other one thing. Other highlights were parts of the Olympic Peninsula reminded him of Maine, the beauty of northern Idaho, and Montana’s big, beautiful, blue sky. On the scary side, they had a bear come close to their campsite one night, but they got in the car and the bear crashed into the woods taking a couple of small trees with him. I think maybe the bear was more afraid of them than they were of him. Sam is now looking forward to sleeping in a bed once again (versus on the ground camping) and resting up a bit before going to work for the summer. He is missing the new friends he made while in the Netherlands, but they do keep in close contact via text. He is not completely sure what his plans are beyond the summer, but for now we’ll just enjoy having him back on home territory for a while.

I spent some time reading for tomorrow’s class today, attending an Indivisible Zoom meeting, and tonight I went to another Meet Your Local Candidates night, this one sponsored by the Falmouth Dems. These were all candidates running in the town election and none of these positions are party-affiliated. I saw them all answer questions at the League of Women Voters candidates’ night but hearing them a second time was very helpful. The current long-time Town Clerk, who is retiring, opened the evening with a rousing call to action. He said that living in these times, no one can let themselves sit at home and not become involved. He challenged us to reach out to every person of voting age in Falmouth, convincing them of the importance of casting their votes. And then making sure they get to the polls.

2026 Life Logs, Day 133: Encore All Morning, Swing Left Afternoon
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 62, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

Tomorrow morning at 4:30 am, I get up and off to Boston Logan to pick up my grandson Sam who is returning from a trip out west to do a road trip from Seattle to Bozeman, Montana. We only got to see him briefly two weeks ago when he returned from the Netherlands, but now I think he will be home for the summer. I think he will probably sleep all the way home from the airport, so conversations might have to wait. I am just so excited to have him home for a bit and to catch up on his experiences of the past year.

But tonight, I had better get myself to bed. And because of that, this will be another very short log. I spent the entire morning in an Encore Board meeting. Only one more of those in June. In the afternoon I attended a webinar to learn about Ground Truth. It is a form of door-to-door canvassing based on deeply listening to voters to develop trust and the hope in the long-term is to find a way to repair the Democratic brand. I am not so much interested in that as I am in their infrastructure for listening. I didn’t learn as much as I had hoped on the webinar, so I will have to do a bit of research. For now, however, I am signing off and going to bed. More tomorrow.

2026 Life Logs, Day 132: One Thing I Am Really Good at Doing
Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 59, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

We are all really good at something, but unfortunately, for me, the thing I am really good at is biting off more than I can chew. Right now I am doing the final planning for a field trip of 30 Newcomers/Encore members to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy on Monday. Then on Wednesday, I am ‘hosting’ an Encore monthly meeting shining a spotlight on our Cape Verdean neighbors. Southeastern Massachusetts has the highest concentration of Cape Verdean Americans in the U.S., and a fair number of those live in and around Falmouth. As Programs VP for Encore this year, I really wanted to have a program focused on this culture. And, of course, I promised we would serve authentic Cape Verdean food. I am learning about malasada and gufong and other Cape Verdean specialties and before the meeting next Wednesday, I will have to learn to cook those things. On Thursday afternoon of next week, I am supposed to have a program for my public policy group. That is a work in progress. And on Thursday night of next week, I need to know all about door-door-canvassing for an Indivisible monthly meeting presentation how to get out the vote. There’s more, but you get the idea. I am very bad at saying no and very good at over committing. But I am passionate about all of these things, so I’ll get the job done somehow.

Today was a book club day, then off to take Ollie to saxophone lesson and to soccer practice, then on to a Falmouth Library Board of Trustee meeting. All I can say is that I hope keeping this busy and learning this many new things is good for my brain! I would end there, but there is one more episode from today that I just have to share with you.

On my way to my morning book club, I got a call from my sister’s physical therapist who visits her in her apartment twice a week. She sent me photos of 4 wine bottles, half empty corked bottles sitting on my almost 93-year-old sister’s kitchen countertop. What? The PT wanted to know if someone in my family threw a party for Patsy in the past couple of days because she was there on Sunday morning and there were no wine bottles. Well, no one threw a party for Patsy. And Patsy couldn’t open a wine bottle if she wanted to. I have no idea where those wine bottles came from and no at the facility where she lives has any idea. The caretaker that is with her 6 hours every day says they weren’t any wine bottles on the counter when she left at 6:00 pm last evening. This is truly one situation I did not anticipate having to deal with today or any day. Life just gets more interesting minute by minute.

2026 Life Logs, Day 131: A Little Windbird History
Date: Monday, May 11, 2026
Weather: Overcast, Some Precipitation; High Temp 62, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I heard today from a ‘friend’ I have never met in person, only through comments on my blog and email exchanges. When we first ‘met’, his children were small and mine were both married. I learned that his wife was a pharmacist and he and Mark often wrote back and forth. By the time we returned from our voyage, Rich had bought a sailboat and had kids in college. He emailed today to comment on my Mother’s Day blog. If my history is correct, the first blog he responded to was 19 years ago on May1st of 2007. Windbird was preparing to depart New Zealand for Fiji. This was his comment.

5/1/2007 Day 7, Year 2: Still On Track for Thursday Departure (from New Zealand to Fiji)
“Just wanted to reply and let you know that I enjoy reading about the simple daily chores as much as the nautical component. It is help for those of us contemplating the future what living the ‘real’ cruising life is all about. Thanks … and know that your posts are being read.” from RichC

After that, we corresponded regularly. Rich was often a wonderful source of information that Mark and I needed and, in return, our blog posts were giving him a vision of the real cruising life.

Fast forward a few years …
Belated post announcing my friends the Handley’s U.S. return
Posted By RichC on My Desultory Blog, June 16, 2011

“Many who know me are well aware that I enjoy following sailors who set out on voyages across the oceans of our world. One couple, Mark and Judy Handley, have been exceptional at posting daily updates and making their travels both easy and interesting to follow. I’ve corresponded with them over the years and have enjoyed many an informative email exchange with Mark and Judy regarding things that they have learned thoughout the years (I shared some of our exchange during my son’s spring break aboard Encore this past spring).

The two experienced bluewater voyagers recently returned to the United States in their 6th year of sailing around the world aboard their 42-foot Tayana sailboat called Windbird – see HandleySail.com. If you are tight on time, don’t try to read their ‘logs’ until you have rested eyes and at least a week … and perhaps another few days for their photos. Judy is currently working on sorting out the very best photos in order to create a presentation … one I hope to see someday. If you only do one thing, take a minute and watch their accelerated plots on the Shiptrak Log entries map.
Currently the Handleys are enjoying a relaxing family and friends homecoming at their intended U.S. landfall of South Carolina … where Mark is also being treated for a “hopefully” minor medical issue. Get well soon Mark … I still need a more advice.”

Rich still writes daily, as do I. He began his blog on September 1, 2005 (I believe), and I began mine on October 18 of the same year. His blog is called My Desultory Blog, Desultory thoughts on a variety of subjects. When I checked WordPress today, it said that I have posted 7,076 blogs over the years. That is every day for more than 20 years except for the time we spent back home during our sail around the world. I only posted logs periodically during those three visits. I think Rich has posted daily since September 1 of 2005. Between the two of us, we have probably posted more ~15,000 times. The interesting thing to me is that I learned in the past ten years that we are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, yet we have so much in common. Stick with me Rich. One of these days we are going to meet in person so that we can have a face-to-face discussion about democratic socialism versus capitalism. Smiley face. Smiley face. And I’ll show you one of the many Voyage of Windbird presentations I have given over the years. .

2026 Life Logs, Day 130: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 10, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warmer; High Temp 65, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I consider parenting the hardest but most rewarding job on earth. But for women who are mothers and also work out of the home at a paid job, the task is doubled. When I married in 1974, Mark and I wrote our own marriage vows stating that our life together would always be a 50/50 proposition. And we always worked toward that. We knew we were both always going to have full-time careers, and we knew that meant the chores at home had to be 50/50. Things went along smoothly until we had children. Then I remember the ‘discussions’ about what 50/50 really means. Mark was an over the top, wonderful husband and father. He was loving and caring, could design and sew a Halloween costume in an hour., or design and build a home in a matter of months He could do the job of a plumber, or transform into an electrician. And I was always there beside him helping in any way I could. But to him, ‘helping’ meant I needed to know what to do. He always said to me, “Judy, if I have to tell you what to do next to help me, then you are not doing your job. You have to anticipate what is needed and do it without being told.” Okay. I watched and learned and did my best to support whatever he was doing. Then we had children and the discussions about what 50/50 meant changed. Mark would do anything I asked. As he would say to me, “All you have to do is ask.” That was great, but in my mind, I was always asking why he wasn’t anticipating what needed to be done before I asked. Why did I have to tell him to change a diaper, when I was expected to pick up just the right board and bring it to him without being asked when we were building something. Over the years, I just gave up and made lists and told him what to do. And in my observation that happens with many couples. Sometimes the roles are reversed, but in too many cases, it is the mother who not only has to hold a full time job, anticipate everything her husband needs, chart out the family’s schedule for the week, take on the responsibility of making the to do lists and the shopping lists, and then do 50 percent of things listed. Or if you are a single mother, you have to do it all alone. In either case, the mother becomes the manager and the worker at the same time. The responsibilities are huge.

Now, if you are a father who works full time and does most of the manual labor around the house like lawn mowing, car repairs, or fixing a clogged toilet, you might think that, of course, you have the harder job. But those things are just tasks, and I’ll bet you usually have the help of your partner in doing them. It is not the work to be done that is the problem, it is the management piece, in my observation, that keeps you awake at night and is often taken on by mothers. That management piece is what makes the job doubly difficult.

I’ll stop there because, right now, I am asking myself, why in the world I am writing this? My answer is that I think the mothers of the world deserve great reverence for the work they do every day and my rambling here is just my way of trying to find out why I feel that way. But for whatever reason, if you are a mother, my heart is with you on this Mother’s Day.

And if you are the mother of my grandchildren, my daughter Heather and my daughter-in-law Jo, or if you are the mother of children under 18, or if you have ever had children, I hope you know how important the job of ‘mother’ is in shaping the lives of our children who are the future of the world. Happy Mother’s Day!

BTW I talked with Justin and family in Puerto Rico today via Zoom, and I had a delightful dinner down by the beach with Heather and family. That’s what I meant to write about, but somehow I got off track.

2026 Life Logs, Day 129: Prom Night for Jonah
Date: Saturday, May 9, 2026
Weather: Cloudy, Sprinkles, Then Rain This Evening; High Temp 62, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The Falmouth High School Junior-Senior Prom was tonight. Jonah and his good friend Kaiden decided to go together. I think they are still afraid of girls! So Kaiden’s mom brought Kaiden to Heather and Jed’s so we could get photos.

Then we all went to Falmouth Harbor for more photos. It looked like all of the kids and parents, and grandparents showed up at the harbor. It was quite a group. It was super windy, but at least the rain held off. Group pictures were taken with soccer team friends, jazz band friends, and playmates from childhood. When Heather and Jed lived in East Falmouth, they lived next door to the Keefe’s who had two children, Molly and Joey. Molly is in Jonah’s class and she and Kaiden both sail in the summers at Waquoit Yacht Club. Lilly, who always took summer swim lessons at Menauhant Beach with Jonah and Molly was there as well. Taking photos of that foursome was a bit emotional for me. As I was framing the photo, memories of all the years of fun with them flew through my mind. But in the frame of a phot, I could see plainly that those frolicking, crazy little kids are all grown up. And it happened in what seemed like just a blink of an eye.