2026 Life Logs, Day 246: A Little Work, A Little Play

by Judy Handley | Sep 3, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs | 0 comments

2026 Life Logs, Day 246: A Little Work, A Little Play
Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026
Weather: Rain Early, Turning Partly Sunny; High Temp 70 Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

I spent the rainy morning dealing with various issues and then went to visit my sister Patsy in the early afternoon. When I went to see her yesterday, she was very confused, could not follow any directions, couldn’t figure out how to hold her toothbrush or a bottle of water, and I am not even sure she knew who I was. I panicked at first but decided to visit again today to see if she was still this way before calling the doctor. All I could figure was that she might have had a stroke. But today, she was back to her cheery self. That was a relief.

Then after a trip home to have some lunch and play with Shadow, I was off to another of Jonah’s pre-season soccer games. They won on Monday and they won again today. He has a tournament in Nauset on Saturday, but then the first actual game of the season is next Wednesday. The team is playing great and they have a lot of talented players. I am hoping it will be a good season for Falmouth High School.

I heard from Jo this morning that Ziggy was having 4 wisdom teeth pulled today. Ouch x 4! Here’s wishing him a smooth recovery.

2026 Life Logs, Day 245: Now the Real Work Begins

by Judy Handley | Sep 2, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs | 0 comments

2026 Life Logs, Day 245: Now the Real Work Begins
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cooler; High Temp 70 Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The final results are in and the Massachusetts primary is over. Now the real work of electing people in November that will fight to take back our democracy begins. I spend a great deal of my time working on this through Indivisible Falmouth and we are happy that all but one of our endorsed candidates won their primary race. And I so happy to finally be able to say that Dan Gessen did win. Falmouth is his hometown and when our votes finally got submitted, that put him in the lead.

I had an early morning Indivisible Steering Committee Zoom meeting, went to visit my sister Patsy, got home to find the plumber working on my slow draining bathroom sink. He found a slight blockage somewhere way down the line. It was easy to clear and now the sink is draining just fine. I grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to do my first volunteer stint at the downtown Falmouth Democratic Campaign Headquarters. I have volunteered to do the Wednesday afternoon shift and to substitute when I can when others cannot come in. Olivia White, who does the Wednesday morning shift, was still there when I arrived. She cannot come in two Wednesday mornings this month, so I told her I would substitute for her if I can’t find other volunteers. It takes a village! Right now, there is not a lot to do while there, so I can bring my computer and work while I am there. Today, however, there was a No Kings Mobilization Lab Zoom at 3 pm that I wanted to watch, so I was able to do that there. It was a conversation about the next NO KINGS Day which will be in October. But it is not going to be massive protests all around the country. They are asking people to plan activities that day in every community in the country to promote early voting for the November 3 general election. If you have some creative activities, please send them my way. Organizing a protest seems easy next to this task. How do we involve the whole of Falmouth in activities promoting early voting? This is going to be a challenge.

I headed home to have a little play time with Shadow as he has been left alone way too much lately. Then it was time to head to the golf course to pick up Ollie. This gives me an excuse to go sit and read while I wait for him. I am so behind on things that I need to read, so I really enjoy waiting for him. Golf is not like soccer. You know how long a soccer game is going to be, but a golf game ending time can vary wildly. If today is an example, I will get in lots of reading this fall!

I spent my evening on Indivisible work. I tuned into Indivisible’s General Election Kickoff Call from 8-9 pm and then tried a practice run of setting up the sound equipment for our Saturday rally on the Green. Jim Newman usually does this set up, but he is going away for a week, so he dropped the equipment here. I did the set up once before, but it took a bit of trial and error and a phone call with Jim to get it right. This time I will take photos of the set-up and do written instructions so others can do this as well.

2026 Life Logs, Day 244: Jam-packed First Day of September

by Judy Handley | Sep 1, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs | 0 comments

2026 Life Logs, Day 244: Jam-packed First Day of September
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Weather: Rainy Day; High Temp 70 Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

September has always been my favorite month of the year, so I always welcome this first day. When I was a kid, I loved school and always looked forward to the opening of the school year in September. I also loved the slightly cooler weather and later in the month, the changing colors of the leaves. This first day of September was a somber one, however. Early this morning I traveled with my friends Warren and Christina Brodie to Quincy (near Boston) for the graveside memorial for Christina Natale. Christina was the daughter of friends Jane and Bruce Woodin. Other than my daughter and son-in-law, I have known Bruce and Jane longer than anyone else in Falmouth and cherish their friendship. The memorial was a beautiful tribute to Christina who died way too young. Bruce played the guitar to back his grandson Jasper who sang Halleluiah and at the end of the memorial, Bruce and Jane’s other daughter, Kate, along with Kate’s three children, Jasper, Aurora, and Piper sang The Irish Blessing. There was much more, but those two musical additions, sung with such tenderness and love, highlighted the ceremony for me. My heart aches for Bruce and Jane as no parent ever wants to live to see the death of a child. But surrounded by family and a few friends, hopefully today gave them some closure. They hosted a lovely lunch at the Common Market Restaurant before we headed back to Cape Cod. I hope it was comforting for Bruce and Jane to be surrounded by so many family members and friends who will always be there for them.

The rain held off during the morning memorial, but as we approached the Cape, the rain began again. After weeks of saying to others that they should vote early, the first thing I had to do when I got back to Falmouth was to go cast my ballot in the primary election, on election day, not early. All I can say is people should do what I say, not what I do! Then after going home to have a playtime outside with Shadow, I headed to the golf course to pick up a very soggy Ollie. He was not sure they would practice today in the rain, but they did and he enjoyed it.

I then headed home to have dinner before going to the after-election watch party hosted by candidate Dan Gessen at Bad Martha’s in East Falmouth. The party started at 8 pm after the polls closed and Christina and Warren Brodie joined me there. Dan and his brother arrived a few minutes after 8 pm as they were still knocking on doors right up until the end. I had met Dan a few times during the campaign, but tonight I got to see him in action. He is a prime example of the intelligent, vibrant, caring young people who are deciding to dedicate their lives to public service. Dan is running for County Commissioner against the incumbent who has held the office for some time and who people feel has done a good job. So that makes it a touch choice. I left at 10:30 and the results from Falmouth were still not in. Now that I am home, I keep checking, but Falmouth results are still not in so there is still no final result for this race. I am not sure why Falmouth is so slow in reporting tonight, but for whatever reason, I will have to wait until morning to find out as the race is very close. But the other primary candidate, the one I have been canvassing for, won his race. Ed Markey will be the Democratic candidate running to keep his US Senate seat in November. So, I did get to celebrate that.

2026 Life Logs, Day 243: First Day of School

by Judy Handley | Aug 31, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs | 0 comments

2026 Life Logs, Day 243: First Day of School
Date: Monday, August 31, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 76 Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA

The Falmouth Public Schools rarely start the school year before Labor Day, but this year is one of those rare occasions. My research shows the last time was in 2009. But whatever the reason, today was the first day of school here. Heather posted on her Facebook page, “And they’re off! First day of freshman and senior years, with golf practice and a soccer game after school. Saxophone and trombone already loaded into the car. Jonah started high school as the little brother and finishes it as the big bro – pretty special. (Sam’s first day is next week, so he’ll get his photo then.)”

I attended Jonah’s soccer game, but I had to leave with 10 minutes to go to pick up Ollie from after-school golf practice. Jed had Board of Health this evening and Heather had Select Board, so I was in charge of getting boys home and figuring out dinner. We made it easy and ordered out from Le Bon Jour and I picked up 3 pints of chocolate ice cream at Smitty’s. It was celebration of the first day of school and Jonah’s first goal of the 2026 fall season (score 2-1, a win for Falmouth). Welcome, first day of school 2026.

I spent my morning knocking on doors for Senator Markey’s re-election campaign. And I saw on Facebook that Heather, on behalf of the town, spoke at a commemoration to honor those lost to addiction. Today was National Overdose Awareness Day.