by Judy Handley | May 7, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 127: Soccer Sunday
Date: Sunday, May 7, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 69, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was soccer Sunday. I got up and got the cottage ready for another Sunday Open House. I had hoped to work on the boat for a couple of hours before leaving for Whitensville, MA for Sam’s soccer game, but that was an optimistic hope. Whitensville is an hour and a half north of here, so it was an all-afternoon affair. I left home at 10:45 am and returned after 5 pm. It was a long afternoon, but the weather was beautiful. It was a good soccer game as the teams were well-matched. The game ended in a 0-0 tie. Sam plays defense and he played a really good game.
I left Shadow at the Goldstones this afternoon since there was an Open House here. When I dropped Sam off, I picked him up and headed home. I was outside playing with Shadow when I got a text from Heather inviting me to come back for dinner. Since I had no idea what I was going to eat, it was a most welcome invitation.
Heather did get boat work done this afternoon. Jed couldn’t help since he had to take Jonah to his soccer game mid-afternoon, but Heather made more progress on preparing the bottom of the boat to be painted. Unfortunately, there is more sanding and stripping to be done. Hopefully that will be completed next Saturday.
by Judy Handley | May 6, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 126: Boat, Soccer, and a Coronation
Date: Saturday, May 6, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 69, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today I went from boat work to a soccer game to watching the coronation of a King. Quite an interesting array of activities. My boat work today was mostly assisting. I reviewed with Ollie how to use the electric sander to sand the inside and top of the toe rail and then set him loose to do that. I forgot to tell him to make sure there was masking tape applied to the deck next to the toe rail to protect the fiberglass deck from any sanding mishaps. But he remembered and applied the tape on his own. Ollie is only eleven, but he is every bit as good and reliable as many adults. About the time I finished giving Ollie directions, Heather asked me come down from the boat and consult with her and with Jed about how to proceed with the stripping of old bottom paint near the waterline that was not removed by the soda blasting process. We came up with a plan that required Jed to go home to get some things we needed. While he was gone, Heather and Sam applied masking tape just above the waterline to protect the fiberglass hull once Jed returned and started sanding.
We abandoned the idea of using stripper. It take too long and the sanding worked just fine. As in all jobs, the prep often takes longer than the actual work. Taping is tedious and required moving two ladders, one for the taper (Heather) and one for the person holding the tape (Sam). I was the overseer to make sure it was done right.
We were still finishing up the taping job when Jed returned. And it was time for me to take Ollie home to get dressed for an afternoon soccer game and to get him some lunch. Jonah was expected home soon as he had been in an off-Cape soccer game all morning. Friends delivered him home and then he went with Ollie and I to Ollie’s soccer game.
We returned home after the soccer game, and I got my clothes out of the dryer. Somehow I was able to get a laundry done in between trips to and fro. Since there was an Open House at the cottage today, I had Shadow with me. He went to the boat with me, but I left him in the upstairs ‘red’ room during Ollie’s soccer game. Unfortunately, when he was a puppy, the boys and I taught him to run after soccer balls. Now, every time he sees a soccer ball, he goes after it. That makes taking him to a soccer game an impossibility. I planned to return to the boat, but it was almost 5 pm and Heather, Jed, and Sam were headed home.
Tomorrow morning, Shadow and I will return to the boat for a couple of hours. Then I take off with Sam and his friend Sebi to a soccer game north of Providence, RI. It is an hour and a half drive, so we have to leave by 11:30 and won’t get back until almost 5 pm. We’ll stop by the boat on the way home to check progress.
Now for the coronation of a King. My daughter-in-law Jo is from England and I saw her Facebook post where she was very vividly explaining why she would not be watching the coronation of King Charles. I fully understand her feelings, but I am just too much of history buff to totally ignore this historic event that took place this morning between 5 and 10 am EST. I taped the event and started watching it tonight. Using fast forward, I watched the first three hours in two hours, and I ended up agreeing with Jo. My main take away is that the British monarchy has way too many jewels, and they need to separate church from state. Watching the very religious ceremony made me even more appreciative of our forefathers in this country who made it clear that church and state should be separated. In the United States, we are currently going through a challenging period where there is a loud contingency pushing to get religion back into the mix, but we must stand firm.
by Judy Handley | May 6, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 125: A Day Full of Laughter
Date: Friday, May 5, 2023
Weather: Cloudy AM, Partly Sunny PM, Still Cool; High 55, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
If laughter is good for the soul, my soul should be good tonight. The day started off as just a normal day, but the laughter came later. At 8 am I left home to drove north across the bridge. I was headed to West Wareham to pick up the generator I took in almost a month ago to have the carburetor cleaned or replaced. It sat from 2016 until this last winter without anyone trying to start it, so they did have to replace the carburetor. I thought we were going to need it as an auxiliary power for plugging in our power tools for working on the boat as the electricity source wasn’t reliable. But somehow that remedied itself and the generator wasn’t needed. Good thing because it took much longer to get it back than promised. So that is now running again in case we need it for anything.
I barely got home for the next activity. At 10 am, Claudia Needham came over to meet about the Public Policy group we co-chair. We met for two and half hours and came up with some really good ideas for the group. I had planned to clean house this afternoon as there is an open house on both days of this weekend. But just before Claudia left, another friend called to remind me that we were going to local theater production together tonight. She also mentioned that she was going to the public library at 3:30 pm to see “80 for Brady.” This is the movie starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sallie Fields, and Rita Moreno with appearances by Tom Brady and the Gronk. Claudia and I had both wanted to see this but not gotten a chance. So, we decided to go to that. She went home for lunch and then I picked her up and we went together. The movie was hilarious from beginning to end with a few touching parts that almost brought tears. I laughed ‘til I cried and cried ‘til I laughed. So much fun.
I barely had time to get home, fix dinner, and take Shadow for a walk before returning to town to go to see “Something Rotten!” at Highfield Theater. It was a Falmouth Theatre Guild production. I have never been to one of their productions and I was presently surprised. This play was first produced on Broadway in 2015. It takes place during the Renaissance in 1595. It is a musical comedy, and funny it is. The acting, singing, and music were all top-notch. And it kept the audience laughing for almost three hours as ”two brothers set out to write the world’s first musical in this hilarious mash-up of sixteenth-century Shakespeare and twenty-first-century Broadway.”
I drove home by the light of the beautiful full moon set in a sky mottled with white clouds—very dramatic ending to a great day.
by Judy Handley | May 4, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 124: Gardening on a Cold Day
Date: Thursday, May 4, 2023
Weather: Cloudy, N Wind, Cold; High 49, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The winter coat had to come back out of the closet today. It was cloudy, the wind was from the north, and it was cold. Despite the yucky weather, I drove over to the house on Lakeview, the one I will be moving to the first of July. I went to help set up the garden that Lynda, the owner, and I will be sharing. She is moving to a condo in Falmouth Port where she cannot have a garden, so sharing a garden is a win-win for both of us. This is a new garden site where pine trees have just been removed, but the ivy and lily of valley remained. Lynda had removed the ivy over the weekend and today we removed the lily of the valley, raked and leveled the area, and put down a black fabric weed barrier. This took about two and half hours. We were cold and hungry and decided to call it a day. I went home to have lunch and rest before driving Sam to rowing. When I got home I had a text from Heather saying that rowing practice had been cancelled due to the weather, so I took advantage of the extra time to take a much needed nap. Felt so good when I got up.
by Judy Handley | May 3, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 123: Field Trip to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Date: Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 56, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In 1903 in the Fenway area of Boston, Isabella Stewart Gardner had constructed and opened her own museum that she called Fenway Court. It is a four-story building, unremarkable on the outside, but quite impressive on the inside. In the center of the building is a sky-lit courtyard with a glass roof that is always in bloom.
After New York born Isabella Stewart Gardner lost her husband, she threw her life into the construction of this museum to house the art and books that she and her husband had acquired, and that she continued to amass.
Venice was the source of many of the pieces and red is the color that dominates.
Today I visited the museum with the Newcomers Field Trip group. We arrived and had lunch in the New Wing of the building and then had a two-hour guided tour. The courtyard was by far my favorite part of the museum, but I certainly enjoyed learning about this most interesting woman.
I returned from Boston in time to take Ollie to his Wednesday saxophone lesson. Instead of waiting for him, I drove home to take Shadow for a quick walk before returning to take Ollie home. I spent my evening catching up on Ted Lasso episodes. Another day in the life.
