by Judy Handley | Jun 21, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 170: USA Soccer Wins Again; Lynne Arrives; My Sister
Date: Friday, June 19, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy; High Temp 77, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow and Friend Lynne, Falmouth, MA
I think we have settled on the final plan for moving my sister here. An RV has been rented, but unfortunately it cannot be one way. So, Patsy’s son-in-law and my nephew will have to drive it back to Charlotte. I am working on this end to get all arrangements made for her arrival. I just hope this plan works.
This afternoon was the USA played the Australian soccer game in the World Cup. The USA won their second game in the World Cup series, so we shall see how they fare in the next one. Go, USA! Before Heather left, I told her I thought we all needed a USA jersey with its red and white stripes and a dash of blue. She ordered them, and we wore them today as we watched the game from the Goldstone’s living room. We looked like walking US flags. These will be great for the 250th celebration on July 4.
After the game, my friend Lynne Kirwin arrived for a few days.. The drive took longer than expected due to traffic, but the important thing is that he is here now and settled in for a few days. So good to see her!
by Judy Handley | Jun 20, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 171: Rally on the Green with Lynne, Shopping for My Sister
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 80, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow and Friend Lynne, Falmouth, MA
The most exciting thing for me today was that I had the time to make my green breakfast smoothie for the first time in months. After we had our smoothies, Lynne and I went to the rally on the Green where she got the chance to meet some of my friends. It was a beautiful day, so it was enjoyable to stand up for democracy while socializing at the same time.
Afterwards, we went to the thrift shop to see if they had sheets for a full-sized bed and to look for other small items for my sister’s new apartment. They did not have sheets, but they had a couple of other things she will need. We stopped at Home Goods to look for a zippered, waterproof mattress cover to no avail, but we did find one set of sheets. We will continue this search tomorrow.
If things go as planned, she will leave North Carolina on Tuesday morning in a 24’ RV and arrive here at her new home at Bridges on Wednesday afternoon. There are tons of things to be done there to get her things packed up and tons of things to do here to get her little apartment ready, but we are on it. Her son-in-law and paid companion are doing the packing up and I am making all of the arrangements here. We thought her arrival was going to be on the 29th and that I was flying down there to pack things and fly back with her. When the doctor said no to that on Thursday, it got us scrambling to make this new plan. Lynne went with me to Bridges this afternoon to see the apartment and we will continue purchasing things tomorrow.
Tonight, Jed took Jonah and his friends Kaiden and Jack to Boston to a Jack Johnson concert. Sam was out with friends, so Lynne and I picked up Ollie and brought him here for dinner. We were having slices of chicken breast and Ollie made a great honey, garlic, red chili pepper, and tamari sauce marinade which was delicious.
by Judy Handley | Jun 18, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 169: Quicksand
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2026
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Very Windy; High Temp 74, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Working on the details of the possible RV road trip to get my sister here safely … leading an Exploring Public Policy meeting where Farming Falmouth made a presentation and invited local elected to attend … more working on the details to figure out if this road trip is going to work out for my sister … Indivisible Falmouth meeting. This is all just too much. I feel like I am being sucked down in quicksand. But, I have to keep going so I don’t get totally sucked under.
The woman who works with my sister is willing to do the trip, but she has no Real ID and I will have to help her get special TSA permission to fly with her regular driver’s license. My sister’s doctor in North Carolina will not give permission for her medication subscriptions to be transferred to a pharmacy here. The agency my sister’s companion works for cannot let her go with Patsy without paying her for 48 straight hours of work which means paying overtime. And will my sister’s Power of Attorney who controls the purse strings pay for this. The alternative is that I have to fly down and do the trip with her which means telling a friend from Oregon who is coming to visit that I will not be here. The list goes on, but you get the idea. Every hour of every day brings a new problem to be solved. And at the same time, I have to keep living my already crazy busy life. Whew!
My house looks like a cyclone hit, the garden is a mess, Shadow has gotten no attention for days, but I don’t have any meeting on my calendar in the next two weeks. That doesn’t mean it won’t be busy with getting my sister here and settled, but at least I can now focus on that. Tomorrow by very good friend Lynne Kirwin, who lives in New Zealand, but visits home in the summer, arrives. Maybe she can help me put this mess of a house back together!
by Judy Handley | Jun 17, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 168: Garden Party at the Museums on the Green
Date: Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Weather: Gorgeous Day; High Temp 75, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The part of my life that is dealing with moving my sister here from North Carolina is just mess right now, but regardless, today was a gorgeous day for the end-of-the year Encore reception at the Museums on the Green. As VP of Programs, it was my idea. And it was lovely. But if my grandson Sam had not come to my rescue, I don’t know what I would have done. Yesterday as I was going through all of the last-minute things I had to do for set up, I realized I was in trouble. I asked Sam if he would help me, and he immediately responded that he would be glad to help. Thank you, Sam.
I had already asked my friend Karen Baranowski to be in charge of picking up the 250th birthday cake for our ‘red,white&blue’ reception and dealing with cutting and serving. Thank you, Karen.
Christina Brodie, who was Co-President of Encore with me for two years, and Past Co-President with me this year, got her TIPS certification so she could be the bartender. Plus, she offered to go buy the wine and other drinks and deliver them. Thank you, Christina.
This year’s President, Jeanne Fortier, is also TIPS certified to serve liquor in Massachusetts, so she took on the job of greeting everyone and handing them a glass of prosecco for our toast to our incoming and outgoing Board members. Thank you, Jeanne.
The food was being catered, so that left me with nothing to do. Wrong. I had made the mistake of planning to do the set up by myself. That meant getting 70 chairs out of two storage areas in two different buildings and setting them up in the Cultural Center. And getting all of the tables needed for food and sign-in and for serving the prosecco and for the bar out of storage and set up and moved to the various locations (not all close together). And I had to buy the ice at the last minute and put up the tent for the bar to be outside and I had to meet with the caterer. With Sam and I working as fast as we could, it took a full hour and half to do all of this. And when Sam finished all of that, he helped unpack the champagne flutes which were plastic and had a base that had to be attached. He was so good at all of this that I think he should get a summer job working for a catering service. Thank you, Sam. You saved my day.
Despite all the preparation, we had a lovely garden party. The weather was gorgeous and things went off without a hitch. Well, maybe I didn’t order quite enough food, but no one complained. The Executive Director of the Museums on the Green was so gracious to let us have our celebration of Falmouth history and the birthday of our country on their beautiful grounds. So, one last thank you to Rachel Lovett.
I have been on the Encore Board for three years and it has been a great experience. But it has taken a good chunk of my life. I will still be an active Encore member and lead various groups, but I won’t have the time-consuming duties of a Board member. Christina and I came into Encore together to serve as Co-Presidents together and we are going off the Board together. And someone snapped a photo of us looking way too jubilant this afternoon!
In between all of this, I spent much of day still trying to figure out transportation here for my sister. My nephew’s wife cannot come along to take care of Patsy, so I have asked the woman who has worked as her private care companion for three years if she will do it. I could do it, but I would have to quickly cancel the visit of a good friend who has traveled here from Oregon who is coming on Monday. I will find out tomorrow what the private care companion thinks about accompanying Patsy on the two-day trip. Over her three years of being with Patsy every afternoon, she has gotten to know Patsy’s son-in-law and my nephew from West Virginia who will be the drivers. Fingers crossed that his idea will work.
by Judy Handley | Jun 16, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 167: Strike That, Reserve It
Date: Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Weather: High Temp 73, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today is just a blur in mind because so many things were on, then off again, concerning by sister’s move here to Bridges. At day’s end, after multiple phone calls and emails, she is not flying here with Flying Angels. Strike that, reverse it. Her doctor will not sign the release form for air travel until Thursday of next week, and that is just too close to the flying date to make arrangements. Thankfully, I had not yet signed the contract with Flying Angels and paid the $10,000. Learning that the doctor wouldn’t sign sent me into a scramble of trying to figure out another way of getting her here. This evening, Patsy’s son-in-law came up with a maybe workable alternative. He could rent an RV, get our nephew and his wife from West Virginia to drive with him, and bring her that way. It would be a hard, two-day road trip for her, but at least she would have a private bathroom, lessening the number of stops that would have to made otherwise. There are still many details to work out, but it is a possibility.
Other than dealing with the travel arrangements, I had a dental cleaning and went to Bridges for the furniture delivery for sister’s apartment. It has been a mentally draining and frustrating day and tomorrow I am host the Encore reception at the Museums on the Green. That will take most of tomorrow between set up, reception, and clean up.
