by Judy Handley | Jan 25, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 25: Visiting the Kanegsbergs and Costco
Date: Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Weather: Dreary, but Warmer; High Temp 42, Low Temp 18 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Looks like our choice for weather these days either overcast and dreary but a little warmer or sunny and COLD. Today we had the former. Tomorrow and the next day we get the latter. And then on Friday night it is supposed to start snowing and could snow all night and all day Saturday. The current forecast is for 14 inches. It has been a long time since we have had that much snow. Today at the Kanegsberg, they showed me their snow gauge in the side yard. It went up to 24 inches and I made some comment about not needing a snow gauge for that much snow these days. But then they told me they had 10 inches last week. When I looked around, I could see all the piles of snow from the snowplow still in place. As I stated yesterday, it is indeed winter.
Alan and Helaine are doing great and love living in their beautiful cottage at Newbridge on the Charles in Dedham. What Newbridge calls a cottage is not my view of a cottage. Alan and Helaine live in a spacious two bedroom, two bathroom home. The guest bathroom is as big as my dining area. I live in a cottage! They use one of their bedrooms for Alan’s office, and have a full living room, dining room, kitchen, and laundry room, plus a spacious two-car garage. Newbridge is a retirement community with everything from independent living in cottages, villas, and apartments to assisted living and memory care assisted living. The 162-acre campus is beautiful, but the thing I think is so special about living there is the plethora of activities. Alan and Helaine seem to have a full schedule of all sorts of cultural and social activities. I must sound like an ad for Newbridge, but it is just that every time I visit them I am so happy to find them so happy in such a lovely environment. We spent time talking today about grandchildren. Their only grandchild, Torston, graduates from high school this spring Reno, Nevada. Alan and Helaine flew to Renco during the holidays and will return for graduation in June. Hard to believe these grandkids grow up so quickly.
I thought my stop at Costco would be quick as I just needed a few things, but I was in there for an hour. I was so excited to find Dowdle jigsaw puzzle for way less than half of what I have paid for them in the past. I bought one featuring Stockholm and another featuring Prague. Such fun puzzles to work.
Back to writing tomorrow. Sounds like a perfect activity for a cold day.
by Judy Handley | Jan 24, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 24: Definitely Winter
Date: Monday, January 24, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 33, Low Temp 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
When I took Shadow out before going to bed last night, it was snowing ever so lightly. This morning when we went out, the world was white, but just barely. There was just enough snow to mostly cover the ground, but not the road. Still, Shadow was a happy puppy. He loves nothing more than to skim his nose through the snow, eating it as he goes along.
When I checked the weather for the next ten days, it looks like cold temps and some snow on Friday going into Saturday morning. It is definitely winter.
I started a new puzzle today. This one is a scene from Florence, Italy. I made progress on my chapter about Windbird’s time in Tonga, and I took Ollie and Jonah to guitar/bass lessons and then Ollie to Scouts. That was it for my day. Tomorrow I head north to see my friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg and to pick up a few items at Costco. I was going to have lunch with my niece, but her husband had an exposure to someone whose wife just tested positive for Covid, so we called off lunch tomorrow. Hopefully we can get together sometime in the next few weeks.
by Judy Handley | Jan 23, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 23: Dinner with My Dining-in Group
Date: Sunday, January 23, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 34, Low Temp 24 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last week my neighbor Shirley told me that soon the winter robins would come to eat all the berries on her huge holly tree. This morning I looked out the window, and there they were. There were so many flying about, and one flew right into my front window about that time. He made quite a thunk, but flew away as if he was fine, maybe just a little headache. When I took a walk with Shadow, it pained me to watch the robins bathing in the icy mud puddles.
It is just too cold for water play! They still have lots of berries to eat so I think they will be around for a few more days.
Our dining-in group met at the Bruce and Jane Woodins tonight and had a wonderful dinner.
The sun was setting as I drove to the Woodins, and the sky was lit up with pinks and oranges.
It was so beautiful I had to stop at Bourne Farm on the way to take a picture. Karen and Peter arrived after I did, and I got a real kick out of Jane taking Karen’s long-haired beaver coat and wrapping it around herself with quite a flair. Jane was meant for Hollywood.
And as I said, the dinner was delicious. Karen and Peter brought the appetizer, I brought vegetable soup for our first course, Bruce and Jane provided the main course of roast beef and roasted potatoes, and Terry and Olivia brought a really tasty cauliflower casserole.
Yum. And dinner was topped off with brownies and ice cream ala Midge. Because different people are traveling at different times in the next three months, we won’t have another dinner until late April. That seems so far away, but I know it will be here before we know it.
by Judy Handley | Jan 22, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 22: Another Birthday Celebration
Date: Saturday, January 22, 2022
Weather: A Tiny Bit of Snow Flurries; High Temp 29, Low Temp 23 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was my friend Karen Baranowski’s birthday and the female half of our dining-in group took her out to lunch.
This is something we started about five years ago with just three of us who knew each other prior to the formation of the dining-in group and then it just grew. It is a lovely to look forward to a birthday lunch each year with friends and today was no exception. Happy Birthday, Karen.
I continued my writing today and had a chuckle when I went out to lunch and ordered a double cheeseburger as big as the one Mark and I had in Tonga. I had been writing about it just before I left for lunch. Until today, I thought Tonga had the tallest, most impossible to eat burgers in the world. But today at Eli’s Tavern, I had one even bigger. I had checked out the menu online ahead of time and was all set to order a warm kale salad. But they had changed the menu and there was no salad on it that I wanted. In fact, there was really no appetizing veggie alternatives. Everyone else was ordering burgers, so I just went along. Here’s what I wrote in 2006 about cheeseburgers in Tonga: “Here a cheeseburger at the most expensive restaurant costs $15.00 Tongan which is $7.50US. But a cheeseburger here is about 6 inches high with layers of Canadian Bacon, cucumbers, green pepper, and tomato, in addition to the hamburger, and it comes with a huge helping of home fries. Not particular healthy, but lots of food.” The cheeseburger today cost more than twice what the ones in Tonga did in 2006, but it was at least 6 inches high. No Canadian Bacon, but onions, lettuce, and tomato.
I ate the whole thing and have spent the rest of the day absolutely stuffed. Big is not always best!
by Judy Handley | Jan 21, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 21: Happy Birthday to My Grandson Sam
Date: Friday, January 21, 2022
Weather: Light Covering of Snow; High Temp 25, Low Temp 22 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Samuel Ellery Goldstone was the first of my five grandchildren and today he celebrated his 15th birthday. 
Happy birthday to my handsome, intelligent, talented, witty, and loving grandson. He towers over me these days, but still gives hugs. I thought it was interesting that when I started my writing today, I came across the very first time I ‘met’ Sam. Mark and I were preparing to leave Samoa for Tonga on Saturday, September 30, 2006, and we made one last trip into town to check our email and send Heather a happy birthday message at an internet café. While doing so, we received an email from Heather with an attachment. It was an ultrasound image of Sam in utero. I was so excited to ‘meet’ my first grandchild. He looks quite different fifteen years later. Happy birthday, Sam!
When Shadow and I got up this morning, I was surprised to see that the ground was white (just barely) with snow.
At one point a few days ago, the forecast called for three inches of snow today. Then the forecast changed and indicated that any precipitation would be mostly rain. I was delighted to see the snow, as was Shadow. The only thing I did today rather than playing outside in the snow and writing was to finish the 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle Heather gave me for Christmas.
It is a puzzle of about sixty family photos and was so much to work.
Tonight, I went to Heather and Jed’s for Sam’s birthday dinner. We had one of his favorites, meat pie, with potatoes, a salad, and a poppyseed birthday cake.
After dinner, I was given a Monty Python crash course. Heather and Jed have both always loved Monty Python and now the kids do as well. I have a lot to learn. I always thought Monty Python was a person. At least now I know it was the name of the British comedy troupe, not an individual. I’ve never watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so now I must do that.
