by Judy Handley | Mar 14, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 74: Coonemessett Greenway Heritage Trail
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 48, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Falmouth has some wonderful walking trails. Today, my friend Olga Mitchell and I decided to walk the almost 1-mile loop of the Coonemessett Greenway Heritage Trail. It is a 3-mile trail but has several shorter loops. That part of the trail is easy walking as it is actually wheel-chair accessible. It is flat and wide with no obstacles. We had planned to walk further, but since both of us have not been walking much recently, we just enjoyed the shorter loop today with plans to walk further next week. It was a gorgeous day and warm enough that just a light jacket was needed. Shadow really enjoyed the walk and wearing the brace on my right knee allowed me to walk without pain. It was great.
by Judy Handley | Mar 13, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 73: Falmouth Public Schools All Bands Night
Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 47, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
The mission statement of the Falmouth Public Schools Music Department is, “The core subject of music is for every child and every child can be successful.” Once a year on All Bands Night, you get to see that mission statement come to life.
Students can start playing an instrument in elementary school. By the time they get to fifth and sixth grade at Morse Pond School, all students have the opportunity to join band and/or jazz band. That continues when they go to middle school at Lawrence. Then when they reach high school, there are many options—marching band, concert band, jazz band, chamber strings, concert choir, plus a whole host of other music classes. Once a year on All Bands night, the band from Morse Pond, the concert band from Lawrence Middle School, the concert band and strings from Falmouth High School, plus the jazz bands from each, fill the floor of the high school gymnasium and show off their skills.
The high school band begins the evening playing the Star Spangled Banner. Then the fifth grade band plays a song, next the sixth grade band, followed by the middle school band, and finally the high school band. Then it starts over, and each group plays a second song. Just watching the progression of skills is fascinating. They are all good. There is a short break while the band students who also play in jazz band move to the front and get settled. Starting with the fifth and sixth grade jazz band, each plays two songs. Ollie plays alto saxophone in the sixth grade band and jazz band
and Jonah is in the high school jazz band splitting his time between trombone and bass guitar.
The grand finale is all of the bands playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture together with the only joint practice being just before the evening begins. And to top it off, the arrangement of that piece is by Mr. Borning, the fifth and sixth grade band teacher.
This night brings out more than the praises of a very proud grandmother.
The band directors are nothing less than amazing. I don’t know how many band members were on that gym floor tonight, but I would estimate at least 200. And they sounded great playing individually, and even more impressive when all were playing together. Hats off to the Falmouth Public Schools Music Department.
The rest of my day was filled with a morning Encore board meeting followed by a Shamrock Luncheon with live Irish music at Liam McGuire’s sponsored by Newcomers. It was a full day and tonight my back is telling me it needs a rest. I arrived early for the board meeting this morning and set up the tables and chairs before the others arrived. Probably not a great idea. I am going on a walk with Shadow and friend Olga Mitchell tomorrow morning, but I promised my back I will take it easy tomorrow afternoon.
by Judy Handley | Mar 12, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 72: Beautiful Day
Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 55, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Finally … we are getting a break from winter’s last big fling. Today was sunny, not a cloud in the Cape Cod blue sky. It was still a little windy earlier in the day, but it calmed a bit as the day progressed. I picked Ollie up to take him to his saxophone lesson after school and he was so excited that it finally warm. At least, warm to him. I’m not ready to give up my winter coat, but daytime temps in the 50’s are certainly an improvement.
I had my monthly book club this morning. We read the first book in the Louise Penny series about Inspector Gamache. I am a Louise Penny fan and have read all of the 18 books in that series, but I really enjoyed going back and reading the first book again. The book club member hosting today is also a Louise Penny fan. She even had licorice pipes for us. Don’t know what a licorice pipe is? I certainly didn’t until I met Inspector Gamache. The books in this series mostly take place in the small idyllic village of Three Pines in the countryside not too far from Montreal. There is a bistro in that town run by Olivier and Gabri where members of the community come together to eat and talk. In the middle of the day, Inspector Gamache loves nothing more than going to the bistro to sit in front of the open fire to have a café au lait with a licorice pipe or two. Maybe it is Quebecois thing, but as you read, it seems to be a most civilized way to spend your time while trying to puzzle through who might have murdered a beloved villager. In one review I read, the author captured this by writing, “It’s rather quirky, and unexpected, that the Head of Homicide in the Sûreté du Quebec, is partial to such a treat. Aren’t fictional detectives usually predisposed to greasy fast food, an alcoholic beverage or other drug of choice?” But Armand Gamache is refined, intelligent, thoughtful, intuitive, and highly observant. He needs those licorice pipes to help him solve the mysteries.
by Judy Handley | Mar 11, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 71: Doctors, Doctors
Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Gale Warning; High Temp 45, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Early this morning, I headed to Patriot Place in Foxborough for my first doctor appointment. Patriot Place is the home of Gillette Stadium, but there is a shopping area and Mass General/Brigham and Women’s, plus Dana Farber, have satellite medical centers there. My appointment was with Dr. Jennifer Kurz who is a physiatrist. I had never heard that term until I was referred to her by friends. This type of doctor treats patients with the same types of issues as a physical therapist. But unlike a physical therapist, a physiatrist has completed medical school plus four years of residency. They specialize in non-surgical care for nerve, muscle, and bone disorders, dealing with the pain caused by these conditions, and they are dedicated to treating the whole person. Since I no longer have severe pain, I could have canceled this appointment that I made prior to my back surgery. But I am glad I kept it. She was able to give me some concrete ideas on what I should be doing to prevent future pain caused by the stenosis in my spine. And if I do have severe pain again, I can get an appointment much sooner because I am now a patient of hers.
When I left home this morning, I thought I was going to stop at Costco on the way home. But just as I parking my car at Patriot Place, I got a call from my knee surgeon’s office, letting me know the new light weight brace for my right knee had arrived. They wanted to know if I would be coming in today to pick it up. On the spur of the moment, I said I would be there at 1 pm. After the doctor appointment, I had to drive around the other side of Gillette Stadium to pick up Sam’s wallet that fell out of his pocket at the last Rev’s game. Luckily some honest person turned it in. By the time I picked that up, it was time to high tail it to Hyannis. I’ll have to make a special trip to Costo at another time.
I did go to Heather and Jed’s after I got home and picked up some of my equipment for starting seeds indoors. I got things ready, but I need to go back and get more seed trays. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I’ll get some seeds started.
by Judy Handley | Mar 10, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 70: Spring Forward
Date: Sunday, March 10, 2024
Weather: Rain Overnight, Partly Sunny Day; High Temp 50, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
So, we moved our clocks forward an hour to enter the world of Daylight Savings Time … daylight coming later in the mornings and lasting later in the afternoons into the evenings. Heather and Jed came over late in the afternoon to assemble the raised planter they gave me for my birthday.
They thought putting this together would be the easiest thing they had to do today, but it didn’t work out that way. There were no directions and even after Heather found directions on a website, it took much longer than expected, and they still need to put on the finishing touches.
They left around 6 pm and before I knew it, it was time to watch The Oscars. The program started an hour earlier tonight and it was still light outside. That seemed weird. But I have to say that Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue was fabulous. I’m still waiting for the big awards, but I have found the whole evening really entertaining. Or maybe it was a just a great year for the movies. I’ve not always watched The Oscars, but I am glad I decided to watch this one. Other than watching the Oscars and watching Heather and Jed work to assemble the planter, the only other thing I accomplished was putting together a concise portfolio of my medical history to take with me an appointment with a physiatrist, which is a pain management specialist, from Brigham and Women’s-Mass General tomorrow morning. Thankfully, thankfully, I don’t have the severe back pain anymore, but I want to be prepared if it ever happens again. Dr. Kurz uses a combination of approaches that I would like to learn more about. I will meet with her at her Patriot Place office in Foxborough, so that will be my day tomorrow.
