by Judy Handley | Oct 17, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 290: From Dermatologist to Soccer to Full Moon
Date: Thursday, October 17, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cold N Wind; High Temp 56, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
My day went from my annual dermatology visit in the morning to attending another high school soccer game in the late afternoon to observing the biggest full moon of 2024, the October Hunter’s supermoon, tonight. And in between all of that, was the normal day-to-day routine and searching for the cheapest round trip flights to Puerto Rico around Thanksgiving. It used to be that if you flew on the holiday it was cheaper, but that is not true this year. I am not finished with the search, but it looks to me like flying from Providence will be cheaper than flying out of Boston. That is fine with me, but the other thing that I am finding is that traveling the week before Thanksgiving and flying home the day before Thanksgiving is cheapest. I need to talk to Justin and Jo to see what they think about that. The downside of staying for Thanksgiving Day is that the cost of the cheapest flight doubles coming home the next day or Saturday and triples if I stay until Monday or Tuesday. The upside is that the cheapest price is only $200, so doubling that makes the higher price just a little more than $400. But in my budget, every dollar counts. More on this tomorrow night after more research.
by Judy Handley | Oct 16, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 289: Encore Meeting, Then Public Policy Meeting
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cold N Wind; High Temp 56, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
The Encore General Meeting program today was about ticks and tick-borne diseases presented by an entomologist from the Plymouth County Extension office. His name was Blake Dinius and he shared a lot of really helpful information. He says the science supports spraying your outdoor ‘play’ clothing and shoes once a month year-round with permethrin and using Deet or picaridin on your skin. He also gave advice about getting your yard sprayed, or not. For the most part, you are probably just throwing your money away doing this. There was nothing new in the presentation, but the approach to this problem that is never going to go away was refreshing.
I came home, had lunch, read the material for the next meeting, and then was off to my Exploring Public Policy meeting. Jon Kaufman, who is co-leader of the group with me, was presenting today on the state of estuaries and ponds in Falmouth. Jon gave a very informative presentation and we had a good discussion.
Tonight I have done very little. I am exhausted and am going to bed early. Tomorrow is a new day with NO meetings!
by Judy Handley | Oct 15, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 288: Work Day and FHS Soccer
Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Felt Like Fall; High Temp 55, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was a sit at my computer all day kind of day. Not much to report other than I got everything done I needed to do and also dealt with more sister issues. I wasn’t completely finished with the PowerPoint for tomorrow morning’s Encore general meeting, but at 4 pm I headed to the high school for Sam and Jonah’s soccer game. It was sunny, but it felt cooler than the 50 some degrees and truly felt like fall sitting in the bleachers.
Heather met me at the game and at 6 pm she heard from Jed that he and Marti were just entering Maryland just in time for rush hour traffic in DC. But at least they were almost there.
by Judy Handley | Oct 14, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 287: Falmouth’s 1st Indigenous Peoples Day Observance
Date: Monday, October 14, 2024
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High Temp 61, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
After a fabulous few days with Kevin and Claire visiting, they left this morning, and not long after they headed out, I headed downtown with Heather. Each year since 2021, Falmouth’s Select Board has proclaimed the second Monday in October to be Indigenous Peoples Day. Today, however, was the first official program. It was a wonderful reminder that here in Falmouth we live on the sacred homelands of the Wampanoags, the People of the First Light. Today’s program honored the culture and history of the people who lived in the Americas before Christopher Columbus’s arrival. Many Massachusetts cities and towns have changed the name of this holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day, but it is not yet a statewide mandate.
The rest of my day was spent focused on getting ready for Wednesday’s Encore general meeting. Then this evening Heather invited me over for dinner. Jed has been in Maine at his mother’s summer home in Boothbay since Friday and today he and his mother Marti drove here from Boothbay in separate cars. Tomorrow Jed will drive Marti home to Washington, DC, in her car and then fly back home on Thursday. It was great having the time to visit with Marti over dinner tonight.
The house feels so empty tonight as I sit here writing this log. For the past couple of evenings, as I sat here, Kevin and Claire were in the dining room practicing the songs for the upcoming sing along at a friend’s wedding. I should listen to music more often as it truly soothes the soul. I just heard from Claire that they made it safely to their next destination and had a wonderful Ethiopian vegan dinner with their friend in Brooklyn. Their staunch dedication to eating a vegan diet always inspires me when they visit. I don’t intend to become a vegan as I still eat fish. But each year when they visit, I rededicate my efforts at eating a diet that is good for me and good for the planet. They are definitely a good influence!
by Judy Handley | Oct 13, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 286: A Marathon Kind of Day
Date: Sunday October 13, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Late; High Temp 59, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
As I started off on my walk with Shadow this morning, I heard Kevin and Claire from behind me saying good morning. They had been out for their morning run and were almost home when they saw me in the distance. They caught up and decided to walk with me and my Shadow. I was headed to Mullen-Hall School to check out the Cape Cod Marathon finish line. Kevin and Claire had arrived at the starting line earlier and got to hear the brass band send off for the runners. But back to the finish line, as we were watching some of the 5K runners come in, we spotted Sam giving out mylar thermal blankets to runners at the end of the race. And then I took a closer look and saw Jonah and his friend Kaden doing the same. They had volunteered to come help with the set up of the finish line area at 6:30 am and when that was completed, they were asked to stay and hand out the blankets. Claire picked up a few of the discarded blankets to take back to Mexico. She covers their motor home with them to help insulate it from the sun, a great reuse of the blankets.
Speaking of Mexico, the rest of the day was spent participating in another ‘marathon’— getting the camper van packed to head to Mexico. They will leave here tomorrow morning, and after a few more stops, they will head west and south to the border. When they drive away, I am always sad that I won’t see them for another year, but we always make the best of our short time together.
