by Judy Handley | Feb 19, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 50: Getting Ready for Spring
Date: Saturday, February 19, 2022
Weather: Party Sunny, Windy, Snow Mid-Afternoon; High 40, Low 16 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In yesterday’s log I wrote “Weather: Wind Storm Early.” Afterwards I thought maybe I had exaggerated using the term ‘storm’, but it sure felt like a storm to me. Today when the early morning wind piped down a bit, Shadow and I walked down to the dock. I saw that the tarp that covers my kayaks, the one that stayed put even through the raging blizzard of three weeks ago, had blown helter skelter in yesterday’s wind, as well as the winter cover for my double inflatable kayak. Seeing this, I don’t think I exaggerated those winds.
All of this wind has made me think that maybe the March winds have come early. That makes me think that maybe spring will come early. So, I decided today was the day to bring the shelving I use for seed starting up from the basement. I bought this particular IKEA shelving because it screws together so that the two 2’ wide by 6’ foot high shelving units can be collapsed. That way I can easily transport the units from the living room to the basement and vice versa. But when I took the shelving to the basement last fall, I decided that there was no need to bring it back upstairs since I use grow lights. The seedlings don’t need sunlight as well. I assembled it and found a permanent home for it in the basement. I thought. What I didn’t think of was temperature. The basement never gets warmer than 56 degrees F except during the hottest spells in summer. Seeds need warmth to sprout and grow. When I realized my mistake, I knew I would have to take the unit apart and bring it back upstairs to start seeds this spring. Today was the day and I got the job done.
I am watching the last of the Olympics tonight. I have enjoyed watching, but two weeks is enough. I also got in a bit of editing today and finished editing Chapter 5. This got me to Panama, so tomorrow I’ll get to go through the Panama Canal.
by Judy Handley | Feb 18, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 49: Cold Returns
Date: Friday, February 18, 2022
Weather: Wind Storm Early, Mostly Sunny PM; High 56, Low 20 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
As the wind clocked from the SW to W this morning, we had what I would call a wind storm with some rain. I waited until 8 am to go out the first time with Shadow and it was still so windy that I wouldn’t walk into the woods with him for fear of falling branches. But by noon, the wind had calmed down to 20 mph from the 35 mph we had at 8 am. And as the wind shifted to the W, the temperature started falling from the 50’s to the 40’s to the 30’s. We are back to winter for a few days, but thankfully not the brutal cold we experienced earlier.
Heather and family left for Bethel, Maine, this afternoon. It is the beginning of winter school vacation here and they will spend the week snowboarding and skiing on Mt. Abram and just a little further north at Sunday River. I sure hope they have good weather so they can enjoy each and every day.
I continued editing today. I have changed my chapter numbering system by making what I originally called my Introduction to a Preface and the original Chapter 1 is now the Prologue. I eliminated Chapter 2, so now the old Chapter 3 is Chapter 1. Confusing? Yes. But once I get through all original 19 chapters, I will have a book with 17 chapters. Unless, of course, I make more changes. I am now working on the new Chapter 5 which takes us from Union Island in the Windwards to Bonaire, Curacao, and on to Panama. When I finish this first run-through, I start again and have to cut about half of what I have written if I have any chance of getting it published. Quite a process, but I am still enjoying it.
by Judy Handley | Feb 17, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 48: The Personal Librarian
Date: Thursday, February 17, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Winds SW 32, Even Warmer; High Temp 54, Low Temp 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night I finished reading my March book club book, The Personal Librarian written by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. It is a fabulous piece of historical fiction telling the story of the life of Belle da Costa Greene. In 1905, soon after she graduated from Princeton University, J. P. Morgan hired her as his personal librarian. The interesting thing is that Belle was a black woman who chose to pass as white. In case you might want to read the book, I won’t divulge when the truth was revealed. And ‘chose’ is not really the right word. She had no choice if she wanted to fulfil her life’s dream. “A colored girl named Belle Marion Greener would never have been considered for a job with Mr. J. P. Morgan. Only a white girl called Belle Da Costa Greene would have that opportunity.” Both Belle and Mr. Morgan had a deep passion for ancient manuscripts. Together (his money and her expertise) they built one of the world’s most envied collections of rare books and manuscripts and Belle became one of the most prominent librarians in American history. Belle continued on in her position after Mr. Morgan’s death, and she and his son honored the wishes of J. P Morgan by opening the institution to the public in 1924. Belle was named director at that time and was in that position until she retired in 1948. I just wish she had done all she did without having to pass as white.
It was impossible to read the book without making comparisons to today. “That Belle denied her true identity in order to protect herself and her family from racial persecution speaks not only to her time but also to ours . . . This is a compelling and important story.” These words by a bestselling NYT author are printed on the cover of the book. The book was published in 2021, but while the two authors were working on the manuscript race issues exploded in this country. Some things are certainly better today than they were in the early 1900’s, but sadly as I read I realized how much many things are really still the same.
In 2024, to celebrate the one hundred years of its life as a public institution, the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City will open a Belle da Costa Greene exhibition. In 1949, a year after she retired and the year before she died, the library staged an exhibition in her honor. It featured over 250 of the most prized items that Belle had acquired. She attended in a wheelchair. This amazing woman dedicated her entire adult life to the Morgan Library, and I would love to visit the exhibit in 2024 when it opens. The authors of The Personal Librarian were able to bring Belle’s interest in ancient books alive. They write with a such colorful detail that I honestly felt like I was there holding one of the first books ever printed. Now I want to go see those books.
by Judy Handley | Feb 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 47: More of the Same
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Warmer, and Windy; High Temp 43, Low Temp 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It’s the same old story here—editing, puzzling, editing, walking, editing, playing outside with Shadow, editing, watching the Olympics. I do take time to cook a little, clean a little, but for now, life is mostly spent editing the chapters of The Voyage of Windbird. Today I was back at the beginning of the book working on Chapter One: Getting Ready. It begins, “People often ask how long it takes to get ready to sail around the world. That’s a tricky question. It took four years after buying the ‘just right’ sailboat to do the final preparation. It took all of the thirty-two years that Mark and I were together prior to sailing out of Boston Harbor to get to the place where we were financially and mentally prepared to live the sailing dream.” I have often talked about the fact that Mark I both retired on Friday, October 14, 2005, and sailed out of the Boston Harbor only four days later. When I say that, people ask if it really only took four days to get ready. I chuckle. We had spent a lifetime in preparation, and the last four years really focusing on the task. I’m not sure what we did those last four days, but they were inconsequential.
February’s full moon, aptly called the Snow Moon, rose at 4:56 pm this afternoon. At 5:15 pm Shadow and I went out to play fetch with a tennis ball. We wandered down to the dock to see the bright spot of red, orange, and pink in the sky accompanying the sunset.
That was definitely the brightest spot in the overcast sky today. But the real shocker was the low tide. There was literally no water under the dock.
I know the lowest tides do occur during first quarter and last quarter moons, but this one was the lowest I have ever seen here.
It is time to turn my attention to the Olympics for the evening. Last night I stayed up way too late watching the women’s figure skating short program. So far tonight I have been watching the men’s aerials in free skiing. As I watch these Winter Olympics, I keep asking myself how in the world people can do such things. I am in awe. Today I was rewriting the Preface of my book and noted my opening quote by Henry David Thoreau. It certainly applies to Olympians. “What people say you cannot do, you try and find you can.”
by Judy Handley | Feb 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 46: Editing, Editing
Date: Tuesday, February 15, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 26, Low Temp 18 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The winds come back from the south tomorrow bringing slightly warmer weather. This old body looks forward to that. Seems like the really cold weather makes my bones creak!
My part-time neighbor, Andrew, drove down from Larchmont, New York yesterday to trailer his boat back home with him. He and his family will not be coming to spend the summer here this year, so he wanted to get his boat back in the Long Island Sound. He rented a truck, but it didn’t come with a ball for the hitch. He was out before 7 am this morning to find 2 ½ inch ball. I got up early with Shadow and stayed up so I could see Andrew before he left for Larchmont.
I got a text later in the day telling me the trailer had a flat tire about 40 minutes out. Luckily he and the boat were fine, but it took him much long to get home than he had expected. After Andrew left, I drove to Mashpee for my every two-month check in with my chiropractor. Then it was home to edit, puzzle, walk, edit some more, puzzle some more, and then just edit, edit, edit. I think that will be the story of my life for the next few weeks.
