by Judy Handley | Dec 27, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 361: From Maine to New Hampshire to Home on Cape Cod
Date: Friday, December 27, 2024
Weather: Sunny; Temp 30, Low 33 degrees F in Falmouth
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today I drove from Boothbay, Maine, to Exeter, New Hampshire, to visit with Peppe Christianson. Peppe, who lives on an island near Seattle, Washington, is visiting with her sister who is undergoing cancer treatment. Peppe just lost her husband Bob in November, so I really wanted to visit with her to give her hug, even though we knew the visit would be too short. We met for lunch and then I traveled on. I got home at 4:30 pm, just in time to play outside with Shadow in the light of the setting sun. As always, it feels great to be home, but I did have a wonderful holiday in Maine. I have spent my evening writing a Facebook post covering Thanksgiving to Christmas. I’m copying that here as my holiday summary.
Happy Holidays to all! My holiday began at Thanksgiving, so this is going to be a long post. I flew to Puerto Rico to spend Thanksgiving with my son Justin and his family and after Thanksgiving, we went to get a Christmas tree and decorate it so I could be a part of their Christmas festivities. When I returned from Puerto Rico, I decorated my tree and watched as Heather and family decorated theirs. Then there was the Falmouth Christmas Parade.
Fast forward to today. I just returned from a Christmas and Chanukah holiday that began last Sunday in Cambridge. Along with my daughter Heather, her family, and members of Jed’s family, we celebrated Solstice and welcomed the Yule at the Midwinter Revels at Harvard’s historic Sanders Theatre. After the matinee performance, we did last minute Christmas shopping in Harvard Square and had a wonderful Indian dinner at The Maharaja. On Monday, it was off to Boothbay, Maine, for Christmas at the Goldstone/Welch family farm. The next day, Christmas Eve, we awoke to a world of white with snow still coming down as we listened to A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service from King’s College in Cambridge, England, a long-time family tradition. There was a late afternoon walk down to the water which was just spectacular and then the traditional Goldstone oyster stew for dinner. On Christmas morning, it was fitting that the youngest member of the family, Ollie, was the first upstairs on Christmas morning. And as we checked out our stockings, we listened to John Stegeman’s reading of The Night Before Christmas on WCAI in Woods Hole. John was Heather’s advisor when she first came to Woods Hole in the late 1990’s as part of the Woods Hole/MIT Joint Program and now Jed works in John’s lab at WHOI. Over the many years, John has become a close family friend and on children’s stories on the radio. What a special Christmas morning treat.
We opened presents for hours, enjoyed Heather’s traditional monkey bread, went caroling down at the farmhouse, and ended our Christmas Day with the lighting of the first menorah candle of Chanukah before dinner. Four of five times in the last century, Christmas Day and the first night of Chanukah have happened on the same day.
On Boxing Day evening, Heather, Toby’s (Jed’s brother) significant other, Stephanie, and I went to see the light display at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. There was an “enchanting” forest with bigger than life wooden trolls that live there year-round. And for the holiday display, there were mushrooms, wild animals, and shooting stars, fields of flowers, marine and freshwater animals, birds, and more … all made of thousands of Christmas lights. And now I am back at home in Falmouth. What a wonderful month-long holiday I have enjoyed. However you celebrate, I hope your holiday was as wonderful as mine.
by Judy Handley | Dec 26, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 360: Quiet Boxing Day and an Evening of Gardens Aglow
Date: Thursday, December 26, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny; Temp 31, Low 13 degrees F
Location: At Home at Marti Goldstone’s, Dover Road, Boothbay, ME
Things were quiet today. We got a demonstration of the Xbox steering wheel and Heather gave it a go. Not easy. We walked down to the farmhouse to visit John and Becky, Jed’s aunt and uncle. Ollie also got to sled down to the farmhouse and then Jed went sledding with him.
Tonight, Heather, Stephanie, and I went to see the Gardens Aglow at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.
Two of their popular trolls were lit up, Lilja and Roskva, and there was an “enchanting” forest with mushrooms, wild animals, and stars; and there were fields of flowers, marine and freshwater animals, birds, and more.
I heard Jed’s Uncle Johnnie say this afternoon that he has heard that there are seven miles of strings of lights, and I believe that. It was really quite spectacular. I have been to Gardens Aglow at Heritage Gardens in Sandwich and to Nights of a Thousand Candles at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. Heritage is lovely but doesn’t even compete. Brookgreen is a sculpture garden featuring American artists and their holiday lights, all white, are also truly spectacular. But this one rivels it. They are “same, same, but different” and both equally beautiful. Tonight’s Gardens Aglow included lights of every color. I loved going with Stephanie and Heather because they both enjoyed it with abandon, swinging in swings, walking rope ladders, and playing instruments in the forest. It is definitely good for the soul to stay young at heart and we did just that tonight.
by Judy Handley | Dec 25, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 359: Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah
Date: Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny; Temp 26, Low 15 degrees F
Location: At Home at Marti Goldstone’s, Dover Road, Boothbay, ME
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah! It is a rare occurrence for the first night of Chanukah and Christmas Day to fall on the same day, but it does happen often enough that the event has been given the name Christmukkah. When I looked it up online, I found the last time was in 2005 and before that in 1959, 1921, and 1910. Here in Maine, we had a full day of Christmas celebration and then lit the first candle of Chanukah at dinner.
The nine of us spent almost five hours opening Christmas presents today.
It is a Goldstone tradition for one person to open a gift and share before going on to the next, so it is a long process. We got a bit of a late start as we waited for Toby and Stephanie to come over from their house before delving into the stockings. We also took a break to listen to John Stegeman read The Night Before Christmas on the radio.
Heather did her PhD work in John’s lab at WHOI and Jed now works in that same lab. They have both known John since the late 1990’s. John is a lifelong scientist but has always wanted to read children’s stories on the radio. He got his wish this Christmas and we all agreed that he has just the right voice for it. Congratulations to John.
After we finished emptying the stockings, we stopped for a breakfast break of bacon and Heather’s traditional monkey bread and then went right back to present opening.
There was such an array of presents from soccer gear, to scarves and earrings, to beautiful pottery pieces. I got a lovely set of nesting pottery bowls, multiple sets of earrings, new comfy house slippers, an infinity scarf, a book, a set of pottery tapas plates made by Ollie’s Ninja group at the middle school, and much more.
The boys gave Heather and Jed a new vacuum and they got everything from a set of luggage for Sam, all sorts of soccer merch for Jonah, and Legos and a Dremel for Ollie. I got bathrobes for Sam and Ollie that they put on right away and wore all day.
From Santa, the Goldpebbles got a steering wheel, pedals, and mounting table for their Xbox and as soon as the last present was opened, they headed over to Toby’s house to try it. The living space here is small so Toby and Stephanie graciously said they could play next door. Besides, Toby wanted to play with them! Then there was another late afternoon walk that I skipped so I could talk with Kevin and Claire. Just as people were heading out the door, Kevin and Claire sent a text asking if I could talk. They were with Kevin’s mother in Los Angeles and will fly to Toronto next week to celebrate the 85th birthday of Claire’s mother before heading back to the boat in Mexico. It was great talking to them. While there was a quiet house, I talked with Justin, Jo, Coco, and Ziggy via Skype, Heather had also opted out of the walk to take a nap, but she was up by the time I was talking to the Puerto Rico gang and Jed was back from the walk, so they both joined in on that call.
Unfortunately, Coco had a fever and was not able to fully enjoy Christmas, but everyone else was in the Christmas spirit and enjoying all of their gifts. Then just before dinner, I also talked to my sister in North Carolina to wish her a Merry Christmas.
I will spend tomorrow here and go to see the Gardens Aglow at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens here in Boothbay tomorrow night before heading home on Friday. I think my car will be just as laden with gifts on the return as when I came.
by Judy Handley | Dec 24, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 358: Waking to a Snow Filled World on Christmas Eve
Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2024
Weather: Sunny, Blue Sky Day; Temp 32, Low 16 degrees F
Location: At Home at Marti Goldstone’s, Dover Road, Boothbay, ME
What more can you ask for than waking to a snow-filled world on Christmas Eve? The child still in me says there is nothing more exciting than a white Christmas. It was a beautiful day that included playing in the snow while cleaning off the cars,
a drive into downtown Boothbay for last minute Christmas shopping, a snowy walk through the property to the Cross River,
then the traditional oyster stew for dinner, followed by an evening of family fun. Jed brought out the Victrola hand crank record player and we listened to some very old versions of traditional Christmas songs.
Then Jonah got on Spotify on his phone and we listened to A Philly Special Christmas, an album by the Philadelphia Phillys composed of three Philadelphia Eagles offensive linemen. Quite an interesting clash of cultures! But I love their rendition of White Christmas.
Another Christmas Eve comes to its close. The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. And now it is time for all to go to bed so Santa can work his magic. And now it is time for all to go to bed so Santa can work his magic.
by Judy Handley | Dec 23, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 357: From Boston to Boothbay, Maine
Date: Monday, December 23, 2024
Weather: Sunny AM in Boston, Overcast in Maine; Boston AM Temp 16, Boothbay Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home at Marti Goldstone’s, Dover Road, Boothbay, ME
I, in my car, and Heather and family in their car, shopped our way from Boston to Boothbay to spend Christmas with Jed’s family. We were in different places along the way, but we both enjoyed a dramatic salmon-colored cloudy sky at sunset. We then arrived in Boothbay about an hour apart. I arrived first and Marti and I unpacked most things from my car which was loaded with Christmas presents. After Heather and gang arrived, we had a great lasagna dinner thanks to Stephanie and settled in to watch the 1954 movie, “White Christmas”, starring Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, and Vera Ellen. There was just no time for Heather and family to watch it the weekend before Christmas as usual. But it was perfect for tonight as we are expecting to wake up to a blanket of snow here in Boothbay. They did not get the snow we got in Falmouth on Friday night, so it is not white here yet. Heather and I love this movie, and no matter how many times we watch it, we cry at the end when all of us watching are singing White Christmas along with Bing Crosby as the much anticipated snow begins to fall. The boys have seen it every Christmas of their lives and they still love seeing it every year. This was the first time Marti has ever seen it, and she enjoyed it as well.
Now we are all waiting for, “Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow” so we can enjoy a white Christmas.
