by Judy Handley | Nov 11, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 315: The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month at 11 O’clock
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 57, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth MA
On the eleventh day of the eleventh month at exactly 11 o’clock, every single year, Falmouth has a wonderful celebration honoring all veterans. There is a parade from the Green to the library lawn, led by the Falmouth Police, Firemen, and Scouts color guard, followed by a Scottish pipe band, then the town officials, and finally all of the Scouts in Falmouth. As Chair of the Select Board, Heather was in the parade, and Jed marched with the Scouts.
This is the first year in many that none of my grandsons were in the parade. Ollie would have been with the Scouts, but he is still recovering from the flu. When the parade reaches the library lawn, they are greeted by an American flag flying high above atop the highest ladder from one of our town fire trucks, a large gathering of people, and today by the high school acapella choir. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony. And I was especially pleased that on my way out of my driveway, I stopped to ask my neighbor Andy, who is a veteran, if he was going to the ceremony. He said, “What ceremony?” He has lived in Falmouth for many years, but he had no idea that there was a Veteran’s Day celebration. He came and marched with the other veterans down Memorial Lane to be honored. He was very grateful that I told him about it.
Once home, I dove into the job that had to be done today. It was a task that my sister’s Power of Attorney has asked for and that I have put off for over three months. I was asked to come up with a detailed monthly spending budget for my sister. There are many reasons it has taken so long to get his done, but the wonderful thing is that I did get it done today. I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.
by Judy Handley | Nov 10, 2026 | Cape Cod, USA |
2026 Life Logs, Day 314: Book Club and Library Board of Trustees Meeting
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy; High Temp 55, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth MA
Try as I May, I cannot seem to get back to that ‘to do’ list. It has grown over the past few weeks and some of the items I need to get to for my sister are time sensitive. I keep saying that maybe I’ll get to it tomorrow, so I’ll say it once more. Maybe tomorrow.
This morning I had a book club meeting. When I got home, it was time for lunch and then I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for tonight’s Library Board of Trustees meeting. We were interviewing another candidate for the position of Library Director. We did that last month but the candidate did not take the position. Tonight we were successful. We had an internal candidate that will move from Acting Assistant Director to Director. I was not happy with the process, but I do believe we have good person for the job.
I am still struggling with my sister’s medical insurance. I switched from Medicare advance in North Carolina to Medicare with a Blue Cross Blue Shield supplement here in Massachusetts. Everyone was notified in July numerous times. But still some things here are being sent to North Carolina and they are processing the claims. But I am in the fourth month of paying for her supplemental insurance here. I think they are also still deducting form her Social Security for the North Carolina insurance. What a mess, especially since I am not her Power of Attorney. No one can talk to me about her finances, but her POA wants me to deal with all of this. Ugh..
On a more update note, there was a great photo from last night’s game of Jonah in an online Lowell news edition, but I can’t get it to insert here. I’ll try again tomorrow night.
by Judy Handley | Nov 9, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 313: Birthday Celebration and Jonah’s Soccer Game
Date: Monday, November 9, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 57, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth MA
Sandy Faiman-Silva founded the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition when Trump was re-elected, but she works for social justice issues with many different organizations. One woman who has been working with her for the past year and half found out that yesterday was her 80th birthday, so she planned a low-key surprise birthday celebration at Coffee O under the guise of a meeting. It was great for all of us to meet and not have to do work. We just got to enjoy each other’s company and which Sandy a happy birthday.
Ollie was home sick today. We knew yesterday that might be the case, and I had said clearly that I would stay with him and not go to Jonah’s game. But he really didn’t want to keep me from going and I finally agreed. I really wanted to see Jonah play what might be his last high school soccer game, but I really didn’t want to leave Ollie alone for so many hours. But he finally talked me into it, so as a surprise, I went to Walmart and bought a Lego set for him to work on in the hours we would all be done. Heather was in Vermont and was to meet Jed and I at the game. And friends had room in their van for 2 more people, so Jed and I piled into the van belonging to Johan’s good friend Jean Luc’s parents. Traffic wasn’t as bad as we anticipated around rush hour, but it still took about 3 hours to get to the field at Lowell Technical School in Tyngsborough, MA, almost on the New Hampshire border. Lowell is #10 in the state and Falmouth is #23. But we won, 2-1! Because it was an away game, Falmouth was wearing white tonight, not the usual crimson. Winning tonight means Falmouth advances to the next game in the state tournament–time, place and opposing team to be announced.
by Judy Handley | Nov 8, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 312: Paperwork and Dinner with a Friend
Date: Sunday, November 8, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 57, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth MA
For weeks and weeks, I have put off fulfilling a request of Patsy’s Power of Attorney. He wants me to come up with a monthly budget that includes all of her expenses. Honestly, I am just now getting a handle on what all of the costs are. But try as I may, I did not get it done. I did get the spreadsheets done for expenditures in the past couple of months, so hopefully in the next day or so, I will get this job that has been hanging over my head DONE.
I went over to check in with the Goldstones in the early afternoon. Sam was working on getting Otis (his car) put back together and Heather was getting ready to drive him back to Vermont. I think Otis actually got driven out of the garage before they left. It still needs to have a cracked windshield replaced and needs to be checked out by a reliable mechanic to make sure it is safe to drive and ready for inspection. Hopefully by next weekend, it will be ready for prime time. In the meantime, Sam will continue to drive the family’s second car, but not until it gets to a garage tomorrow to see what is wrong with it.
I was invited to have dinner with a friend from by Book Club, Dena. She and her husband live in Cambridge part of the time and here part of the time. She was here tonight and we had a nice evening together talking about everything.
Jed, Ollie, and I plan to drive to Lowell tomorrow after school to go to Jonah’s soccer game. Heather will drive down from Stowe and meet us there. Hopefully, she will have the car situation sorted out by then. But that is a story to be continued.
by Judy Handley | Nov 7, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 311: BELIEVE
Date: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Weather: Misty Day; High Temp 62, Low 46 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth MA
This is the fourth day after the midterm elections, and my head is still spinning. I worked so hard to win, hoping against hope that we would win everywhere, all at once. Deep down in my heart, however, I had serious doubts. Thankfully, the American people did it. But Ted Lasso would not be happy with me, so I am going to make a BELIEVE sign and put it above my desk.
People coming to our weekly rally for democracy on the Falmouth Green today were asked to bring cleaning tools like feather dusters, vacuums, and broom, along with ‘Clean Up Corruption in Washington’ signs. I arrived with my feather duster and sign in hand and saw that others had done the same. We were having a little fun with this today, but as we all know, corruption is a very serious matter that has to be dealt with. We don’t need retribution, but democracy demands accountability. What a huge job the new Congress has facing it. So, make your BELIEVE sign and join in doing what you can to support.
As I wrote last night, we have plenty of rain yesterday, but during the night, not so much. But still we had almost 6 inches. The weather report indicated that the rain was going to stop around 10 am, and it did. But then the mist began. And that was not predicted. It stayed misty, off and on, into the evening. The regular soccer season has ended, but now Falmouth is one of the 32 teams statewide that are in the playoffs. The first ‘play in’ game for the Falmouth High School boys’ soccer team was at home beginning at 3 pm today. There are 32 teams in the state finals. The teams are paired and if you lose the game, you are out. Falmouth played Burncoat High School from Worcester, MA. The girls’ soccer team played first and won in the second overtime, 1-0. The mist was heavy during parts of the afternoon, but the boys’ team ignored it and played an aggressive game, winning 2-0. We learned at the end of the game that Falmouth will play their next game on Monday night in Lowell which is up near the New Hampshire border. It will be a trek, but the faithfuls will be there. Of course, #14 is my favorite player. Jonah proudly wears that number and did a great job in today’s game. Sam is home from Vermont for the weekend, and he joined us for the second half. It was great to see Sam and Jonah together after the game. Looking forward to Monday, I will get that BELIEVE sign on the wall in the morning. Go, Clippers!
I also was in contact with Ziggy in Puerto Rico today. He took the SAT this morning in a town north of Rincon and then drove south Mayaguez this afternoon to display a class project. As I understand it, he had to choose a town in Puerto Rico and make a life size project promoting that town. His town was Yauko which is in southwestern Puerto Rico. It is the islands premier coffee capital and is a center of public art. Ziggy sent me a photo of the town and of one part of his project. I believe when you entered his colorful storefront, there was a coffee display. I will talk to him tomorrow to learn more.
