by Judy Handley | Aug 29, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 241: Canvassing, Memorial for a Friend, Grandkids
Date: Saturday, August 29, 2026
Weather: Another Beautiful Summer Day; High Temp 77, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I divided my day between canvassing for Ed Markey and attending the memorial service for Art Gilbert. I met Art and his wife Susan through Newcomers. Art was our tech guru and continued in that role up to the end. He was a beloved member of the Newcomers/Encore community. After the memorial service, Christina Brodie and I came back to my house to change clothes, eat some late lunch, and head out to do the canvassing. Then this evening, I got to do what I love most in life … be with my grandkids. Heather and Jed headed to Martha’s Vineyard to se the Indigo Girls in concert and I fixed dinner for the Goldpebbles plus three of Jonah’s friends. Then Ollie came over to spend the night with me. I am in grandmother heaven.
by Judy Handley | Aug 28, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 240: Canvassing ‘til You Drop
Date: Friday, August 28, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Day, Humidity Returns; High Temp 82, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
One of my canvassing friends and I knocked on 70 doors today and tomorrow I will another 70 or so, by myself in the morning and with another friend in the afternoon. Jed took Ollie to play golf today and at the end of the day Ollie was proud to report that he made the high school team. Congratulations, Ollie!
I went to the farewell party for the library director mid-afternoon and this evening I did a massive food shopping trip. My refrigerator was basically empty, but now I have food. That was it for me today, and now I am off to bed to refresh and get ready for more door knocking. This is a last, big push before the primary election on Tuesday. Then the canvassing will continue but not be so intense. It will continue, however, until the general election in November.
by Judy Handley | Aug 27, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 238: A Surprise Dinner Treat
Date: Thursday, August 27, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 82, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Ten years ago today, I was at the Congregational Church celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of friends Terry and Olivia White. Olivia was wearing the sari she wore on her wedding day as their daughter Sheri presented Olivia and Terry with their 50th anniversary cake. They looked like newly weds.
This evening, I walked into Kohinoor Indian Restaurant in Mashpee and Terry and Olivia were there enjoying a 60th anniversary dinner. I didn’t realize it was their anniversary when they invited me to join them at their table, but what a special invitation that was. We had a wonderful dinner together, sharing all sorts of memories, and then they headed back to Falmouth to go to the last Town Band Concert of the summer and I headed back to Bridges. Happy 60th Anniversary, Terry and Olivia! And thank you for sharing your very special evening with me.
At our birthday luncheon in Olivia’s honor earlier this week, everyone was talking about the new Indian restaurant in Mashpee. So, at 5 pm today, just after I had applied my sister’s new 15-day glucose monitoring patch, I decided to go have dinner while I waited for it to ‘warm up’. I was not going to go home until I was sure it was working and that takes an hour. Why not try to the restaurant? It was a great choice. Good food and wonderful company. The rest of my day was not quite so glorious. I spent much of the morning working on Patsy paperwork, took my car in to get a new battery, and then spent a couple of hours on Board of Library Trustee business. Yesterday I had hopes of salvaging my lost summer, but that idea did not advance today. One step forward, one step back. But slowly, I will get there.
by Judy Handley | Aug 26, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 238: Salvaging My Lost Summer
Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 81, Low 70 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I literally cannot believe school starts on Monday marking the official end of summer. At least that is how I have always thought of it. I spent all of June, all of July, and most of August laser focused on my sister’s needs. But it is time for me to take back some of my life. Today I tried to do that all in one day. I spent the entire morning door knocking for Senator Markey. The primary is on Tuesday and he has competition. So, I am devoting three hours to his campaign tomorrow, Saturday, and Monday. Sunday I am going to a Falmouth Immigration Rights Coalition Community Watch training and then taking part of the day for me. I spent my afternoon getting to know a woman I have admired from a distance. She has written a book about what it means to be a caretaker, and she had reached out to see if she could be helpful to me in dealing with my sister. She certainly was helpful and we plan to check in again in a couple of weeks to see how I am doing. After political canvassing and before my meeting with a new friend, I delivered Ollie and friend Simon to the Falmouth Country Club for another afternoon of ‘try outs’ for the high school golf team. Dropped them off, visited for a couple of hours with my new friend, drove to Mashpee to check in on Patsy, picked Ollie up on my way home and dropped him at the high school for freshman orientation night, came home and played with Shadow, attended part two of an election protection zoom offered by Indivisible, and am now going to go watch an episode of Ted Lasso. It sounds to me like my life is getting back to pre-Patsy normal craziness. This is my attempt to salvage by lost summer. Yippee!
by Judy Handley | Aug 25, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 237: A Special Wine Group Gathering
Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 78, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
After spending most of my day working on issues for my sister, even when I swore I was not going to do this, I broke away to take Ollie to the golf course, took my car in to see about getting a new battery, got the new wheelchair that I ordered for Patsy to UPS to be returned to Amazon because it is too small, and then spent the evening with my wine group. We had a special gathering tonight with a representative from Acquiesce Wines to lead us through a wine tasting with food pairings. But the best part of the evening was being with my wine group buddies. We have been together for seven years now and it is always a delight to be together. And another delight was driving home by the light of an almost full moon. it was beautiful.
