by Judy Handley | Aug 8, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 220: New Balance
Date: Saturday, August 8, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Hot, with a Wonderful Breeze; High Temp 83, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I do wear New Balance sneakers, but my ‘new balance’ is trying to mesh my life with my sister’s life in memory care. How much time should I spend there? Every day? Once or twice a week? And how do I balance this with my already too busy life? These are questions that are going to take me a very long time to come to grips with. But right now, I just need to keep dealing with dealing with all of my sister’s different health issues while still trying to live my life. Not easy.
Today I divided the day into thirds. I spent my morning visiting my sister and then driving to Centerville to the Masonic Lodge there that has free medical equipment. I had emailed them to see if they have what is called a high-low hospital bed with a scoop mattress. At least that is what I am told to look for. Since I did not hear back from them in the 24-hour period promised, I drove there this morning and met the gentleman in charge. I found out that the beds are kept in Mashpee and that you can’t really see them. You just tell them what you need and they deliver it with a minimum donation of $100 expected. Once I figure out how to get Patsy’s present bed disassembled and out of her room, I will call and the Masonic Lodge will deliver.
By the time I got back to Falmouth, it was almost 12:30 pm, so I went directly to the Green to check in with Jim Newman on things we need to do this coming week. I then went home to spend 30 minutes with Shadow before heading out to do door knocking for local candidates. I have volunteered to do this for about 6 hours each week and today was my first 2-hour shift. A lot of people are not home on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, but you leave literature and do catch a few people.
So , my morning was dedicated to my sister, my afternoon was dedicated to civic responsibilities, and tonight was dedicated to me. I watched three episodes of Grantchester on public television. I am feeling incredibly guilty for spending almost 3 hours watching television, but it was what I needed to do. And I am considering doing a similar thing tomorrow morning by going to the local theater to see The Odyssey at 10 am. Then I will head to Bridges to visit with my sister in the afternoon and spend tomorrow night preparing for Tuesday night’s Board of Library Trustees meeting. As treasurer, I have to generate the annual report to the town and present the proposed budget for 2026-2027 for Tuesday night’s meeting. And in between, I will spend as much time with Shadow as I can. He seems to be doing fine, but he has been left alone a lot in the past two weeks.
by Judy Handley | Aug 7, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 219: Hot Drive Home from Boothbay to Cape Cod
Date: Friday, August 7, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Hot and Humid; High Temp 86, Low 71 degrees F (Falmouth)
Location: Back Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The power was still off when I went to bed last night, but it was back on this morning. Heather, Jed, and boys got home from the gathering at The Rock at 11:30ish last night, and Heather said the power came on around midnight. I tucked in just after they arrived and I must have been in deep sleep by midnight as I had no idea it was back on until this morning. I left the farm around 10:30, stopped in the first town on the way home, Wiscasset, to fil up the gas tank and get an iced tea, and I was on my way. There was a fair bit of traffic, not really too bad, and with only one other drive-thru stop for another iced tea, I come over the bridge just a little over 5 hours later just in time to pick Shadow up from his grooming appointment at Pampered Paws, just on the Cape side of the bridge. They texted he was ready while I was waiting in the traffic to cross the bridge, so the timing was perfect.
But after hours in my very hot car (the temperature in Boston was 92 while I was driving through), and without stopping to get out to walk around, it has taken me all evening to feel somewhat normal. I do not have air conditioning in my car, and even with the window wide open, it was really hot today. I felt ‘baked’ when I got home. I even worried I had some sort of heat exhaustion. But I am fine now. It was hotter in Boothbay yesterday and today than it was here, and this morning there was absolutely no breeze there. I didn’t feel a difference in the temperature until I was about 5 miles from the bridge. It was still hot, but there was a marked difference in how it felt.
I think Shadow and I will sleep on the couch in the living room tonight, closer to the window air conditioner. The coolness does not reach my bedroom on the other end of the house, and after being so hot today, I do not want to spend the night in a hot bedroom.
by Judy Handley | Aug 6, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 218: Celebration of Life for Sue Welsh Reed
Date: Thursday, August 6, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High Temp 90, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home with the Goldstones in Boothbay, ME
After a lovely breakfast with my friends Detta and Tom Porat on their back deck overlooking Great Bay in New Hampshire, I headed to Boothbay in Maine. I arrived at Marti’s ( Jed’s mother) summer home where all the Goldstones were staying at about 10:15 am. At 11 am, we all drove to the southern tip of Southport Island to the Newagon Seaside Inn for Sue Welsh Reed’s Celebration of Life.
Sue was Jed’s aunt, Marti’s sister. Mark and I knew Sue and her husband, John Reed, and spent many nights in their home in Cambridge when Mark was undergoing chemotherapy at Mass General in Boston. I knew some of her life history, but I learned so much more today. Sue was born in 1936, attended Smith College and then went on to get a graduate degree in Fine Arts at Harvard. She worked at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, becoming the Curator of Prints and Drawings. When she retired in 2005, she was named Curator Ermita of Prints and Drawings and was most proud was the award of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, awarded by the French Ministry of Culture in 2006. As part of her work, she traveled to France and Italy and was a treasured mentor to others in the world of prints and drawings. Today, many of those people were there to celebrate her life. Some spoke, but others just quietly shared their wonderful memories of Sue. After the formal tribute to her life, we had a lovely buffet lunch and many of us spent some time walking the outside paths at the lovely seaside resort.
Then this evening, family members gathered at The Rock on Southport. I have heard about The Rock for years but had never been there. I knew it was a summer cottage where Sue and John spent their summers. John’s family was from Southport. ‘Auntie’ owned the cottage known as The Rock because it literally sits on a huge rock overlooking the water.
‘Auntie’ was an artist known for her hand drawn maps of the area. What I didn’t know until tonight is that the cottage is filled with family history with written descriptions on all of the wooden trim pieces around the windows and doors in the cottage. I loved it when tonight someone pointed out the written description of the main events from the day of Heather and Jed’s wedding in Boothbay, September 6, 2003.
I left the younger crowd at The Rock and returned to Marti’s just as the last light of the day was fading. But when I drove up the driveway to Marti’s, there was no light anywhere. It was pitch black. Sue’s best friend from childhood, who remained close with Sue for her entire life, is staying at Marti’s and the two of them did not go to The Rock tonight. I just couldn’t figure out why they would be sitting in a dark house. It was too early for them to be in bed. I had to use my phone flashlight to find my way up the stairs to the front door and when I entered, I found them upstairs scrambling to find flashlights and a lantern as there was no electricity. Marti got a notice that 4,000 customers were without power and about that time I heard from Heather that there was also no electricity at The Rock. The group there didn’t care as they were outside sitting around a fire. But the three of us talked for bit and then decided to turn in.
by Judy Handley | Aug 5, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 217: From Cape Cod to Greenland, NH
Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High Temp 82 Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home with Friends, Tom and Detta Porat, Greenland, NH
After a busy morning, I left Falmouth headed for Greenland, New Hampshire. This is near Portsmouth and it is where my good friends, Tom and Detta Porat, live. Their beautiful home sits right on the edge of Great Bay and it is always a delight to visit with them and enjoy their beautiful surroundings together. Tonight, we had dinner on the back deck and watched a gorgeous sunset.
Unfortunately, I have to move on tomorrow morning, and they are headed to Connecticut. But I was very excited to hear that they might be coming to Cape Cod in their small trawler on a weekend trip That will give us another chance to visit!
by Judy Handley | Aug 4, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 216: A Full Day
Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 80, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Shadow and I were up early to take our walk before I left to take neighbor Andy to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for a scheduled heart ablation. We left at 7:45 am, and when we got to Route 24, Andy wanted to stop at the service area to get one last ‘liquid fill-up’ before the surgery. I waited in the car and immediately I saw a message from Bridges pop up on my phone. It just said to call the nurse on duty as soon as possible. Patsy was found on the floor beside her bed again this morning for the third time in seven weeks. That got my heart pounding. When I called, I found out that Patsy was fine, but it is time to investigate renting a hospital bed with a special scoop mattress that is supposed to keep people from falling out. A job for next week.
Andy returned to the car, Patsy was fine, so on we went. The trip took two hours door to door, but that is about par for the course at rush hour. On my way home, I drove a little out of the way to stop at the Wrentham Outlets. I really needed a pair of shoes other than sneakers. One pair was $80, but if you bought a second pair, it was half price. So now I have new summer casual shoes. The ones I have are about 8 years old, so it was time.
I stopped at Bridges on my way home, but Patsy was getting her hair done and I couldn’t visit with her. I wanted to check out the ulcers on her feet that were reported to me last night, but I traveled on home as I had to be back there at 4 pm for a support group meeting. I could check out the ulcers then. Shadow and I had some nice playtime outside in the sunshine and then it was time to go back. But just before I left, I saw another message pop up on my phone. This time it was a Bridges Facebook post featuring the artwork of my sister Patsy from the morning. Someone was working with her one-on-one and she painted a fruit tree in bloom on a green hillside. I was amazed. Her hair looked awful, but I was impressed with the artwork.
I am so pleased to see that they have her doing things like this. But the hair … this week her hair set lasted 6 days instead of the 4 days the week prior. That was an improvement and maybe I am just going to have to get used to a couple of bad hair days for her each week. The only alternative would be for me to transport her out to hairdresser every Friday as the Bridges hairdresser only comes on Tuesdays. In the scheme of things, this is not the priority right now. But Patsy has always been meticulous about her appearance, so I want to help her continue that tradition.
After the support group at Bridges, I visited with Patsy and took off her compression stockings to take photos of the two ulcers to send to my friend Jane Woodin, a retired visiting nurse. Patsy’s primary care is coming to check on these sores tomorrow and an order has been initiated to get a visiting nurse to visit to do wound care. Neither spot is terrible, the one on her left heel better than the one on the right. But when you have diabetes, ulcers like this can easily get out of control. I am so thankful that the CNA’s at Bridges noticed these places and reported them right away. But Jane wanted me to document what they look like now and so she could give me advice on what needs to happen. Thank you, Jane, for your sage advice.
Tomorrow morning after an Indivisible Steering Committee meeting and an oil change, I drive to New Hampshire to have dinner with Detta and Tom Porat, and maybe their son Matthew. I was Matthew’s first grade teacher and it would be wonderful to catch on his adult life. Then on Thursday morning, I drive on to Boothbay for the Celebration of Life of Jed’s Aunt Sue. And then I will head home on Friday.
