by Judy Handley | Jun 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 165: Moving a Little Faster
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 76, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Slowly, slowly, I am coming back to a normal pace of life. Today I was moving a little faster than yesterday and I actually got a lot of gardening done. I went to my monthly book club meeting this morning and after listening to one member talk about her garden, I decided to head home and get to work. I spent way too much time trying to fix a leak in my drip irrigation system. The leak was at the faucet end and what I eventually discovered was that a hose washer was missing from one of the main parts. Once I put in a new washer, things were good, but I had spent almost an hour getting to that point and in the process had to go to the hardware store to get a new pipe wrench to tighten things. I know I once had one, but it was nowhere to be found today. I also spent time online looking for a dinghy for Heather and Jed. Tomorrow I will take Heather to Providence so she can catch the train to New York City for a meeting and I will get a chance to talk with her about dinghies.
When I was in Virginia, I got word that my niece Jennifer who lives in the Charlotte area was having emergency brain surgery. Jennifer is one of my sister Patsy’s two children. Patsy and I are the last of our generation. She is almost 89 and is living near Jennifer in an assisted living facility. She moved there from Nashville last June, but she has never really settled in. Jennifer has been with her almost every day to keep her company, and otherwise she really doesn’t go out of her room. But Jennifer has cancer and last week a brain tumor had to suddenly be removed. Jennifer is doing great, but it will be sometime before she will be able to visit with Patsy again. So I have been spending a lot of time on the phone trying to encourage my sister to at least go to the dining room for lunch and dinner. She has been having food delivered to her room, but that means that she does not get out to meet people. Today was a success. She went to lunch and dinner in the dining room. I am so grateful for small victories.
by Judy Handley | Jun 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 164: Slow Re-entry
Date: Monday, June 13, 2022
Weather: Thunderstorms Early, Mostly Sunny Day; High 76, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Slowly, every so slowly, I am getting back into my normal day to day life after my wonderful week in Virginia. Today I finished cleaning the refrigerator, took Shadow to the vet for a shot, watched some of the congressional hearing, planned a Newcomers field trip, went to Sullivan Tire to get help taking my old, rusty bike rack off the back of my car, went to the library to get a new book to read, and took Jonah and Sam to music lessons. I didn’t get any gardening done. Maybe that will happen tomorrow after my book club meeting.
by Judy Handley | Jun 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 163: Lost Day
Date: Sunday, June 12, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Some Rain; High 72, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After returning from my week in Virginia, I was full of energy yesterday. But today I crashed. I felt exhausted and had absolutely no desire to do anything. I pushed myself to do some yard work and plant a few things in the garden, but that was it outside. Inside, I cleaned the bottom half of my refrigerator and hope to complete the job tomorrow. The refrigerator is almost empty, so before filling it up again I decided to start the cleaning process. I also had to deal with a hacked Facebook page. That seems to happen every time I travel. Sure hope I wake up a little more energetic tomorrow!
by Judy Handley | Jun 11, 2022 | Cape Cod, USA |
2022 Life Logs, Day 162: Reunion with My Shadow
Date: Saturday, June 11, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 76, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shadow might possibly be ill-behaved, but I sure was so happy to be reunited with him today. I really missed him, and I think he missed me.
As soon as I arrived to pick him up, after jumping all over me, he got in the back seat of the car and somehow managed to shut the door behind him. It was obvious he was ready to head home.
I picked up Jonah on the way home so he could cut Shirley’s grass, and while he was doing that, I gathered sailing charts for the northeast. Next weekend Heather and Jed go to Maine for the the survey and sea trials for the sailboat they hope to own soon. If all goes well, the following weekend they will return for the closing and begin sail home. That will happen in stages over a couple of weekends. But sometime in July, there should be a new ‘Goldstone’ sailboat on a mooring in Marion.
by Judy Handley | Jun 10, 2022 | Cape Cod, USA |
2022 Life Logs, Day 161: Roberts Mountain to Richmond to Boston
Date: Friday, June 10, 2022
Weather: Another Sunny, Beautiful Day, Cooler; High 74, Low 55 degrees F
Location: Back Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning I drove Jo, Ziggy, and Coco to the airport in Richmond where they got on their Spirit flight to Fort Lauderdale and then on the San Juan. My flight to Boston was supposed to be at 2:30 pm, but there was yet another issue and I ended up on a 7:30 pm flight back to Boston. I dropped Jo, Z, and C off at the airport and drove back to downtown Richmond to check out the city. I drove by the capitol, designed by Thomas Jefferson,
then down to the James River to see a section of the canal system that George Washington had hoped would become a continuous transportation system from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
That never materialized as rail transportation took the lead. I walked along the river and came to the Tredegar Iron Works, the biggest ironworks in the Confederacy during the Civil War and one of the main reasons Richmond became the capitol city.
It is now the Civil War Museum. Then I headed back to the airport to take an afternoon nap in the rental van before returning it and heading home. I knew I would be driving home from Boston late at night and thought a nap was the best way to spend my afternoon.
The flight home was without drama with a fiery red sky as we landed in Boston at 9 pm. Nighttime road construction caused the drive to the Cape to take longer than usual, so I didn’t get home until midnight. But I was bright eyed and busy tailed after that two-hour afternoon nap. After a wonderful week in Virginia, it felt good to be home . . . but lonely. I look forward to picking up my Shadow tomorrow morning.
