by Judy Handley | Oct 17, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 290: Trip to the Cape Cod Museum of History
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 66, Low Temp 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The trip to the Cape Cod Museum of History this morning felt more like a trip through history, specifically the history of the Goldpebbles. Ollie was the only Goldpebble with us today as Sam and Jonah were walking the three miles out of Sandy Neck where they camped this weekend. Time marches on, but as Heather, Jed, Ollie, and I walked the museum trail out to the beach, a flood of memories went through my head. I first took Sam and Jonah to the Museum of History in the summer of 2013. Sam was six and Jonah was four. Ollie was only one and didn’t come with us that summer. But Heather and Jed took the boys that fall and Heather took a photo of Ollie sitting in the dune grass. 
She could not resist taking the same picture today. She posted those photos on Facebook and simply said, “Time flies.” It was the summer of 2014 when Mark and I started taking all three boys and I spent part of this evening looking through photos of our trips to the museum over the years. 
I loved the one of the three boys crossing the marsh in 2014. They were such tiny little explorers.
We usually plan trips to walk the trail out to the beach from the museum at low tide. That wasn’t possible today and it was high tide. We expected it to look different, but we were a little surprised when we got the marsh, and the walkway was underwater. 
Heather, Jed, and Ollie all had on long pants, but they rolled them up. Thankfully, I wore my trusty Columbia capris that can easily be pushed up. With pants rolled or pushed up, we took our shoes off and headed across. Ollie got a piggyback ride part of the way and from his higher perch, he spotted two beautiful Great Blue Herons. The marsh looked very much like fall with yellowing marsh grass and pickleweed that has turned red. We took a new-to-us trail that follows Paine’s Creek and when we emerged from the Upland Forest there was a staircase leading down to the dunes and beach. 
Once on the beach, I was amazed at how different it looks at high tide. No mud flats were to be seen. There was just a narrow beach backed by dunes and lots of seagulls that Ollie delighted in chasing.
I did not take Shadow with me today. A Concord Yacht Club friend whose brother lives in the area sent me an email letting me know that the museum does not allow dogs on the trail. She pointed out that there is a trail from a nearby park that connects to the museum trail. I could have taken Shadow and done that trail. Thanks, Gretchen. I will definitely try that next time. But since Ollie and I decided to stay and tour the museum, I was glad I didn’t have the dog with me today. Heather and Jed had to go pick up Jonah and Sam while Ollie and I enjoyed our favorite things in the museum. Ollie loves getting in the shark cage and looking wide eyed. 
We watched the honeybees in their glass case hive and then we went downstairs to the aquarium. 
We have always loved the Clearnose Skate that seems to be watching us. And today a pufferfish took an interest in us as well. Neither of us remembered seeing the humpback whale skull. Impressive. And it always fun to check out the moon jelly tank and the huge lobsters. 
We ended our adventure in the gift shop and then stopped to have clam chowder on the way home. Perfect day.
by Judy Handley | Oct 16, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 289: Ollie’s Soccer Game; Planning Afternoon
Date: Saturday, October 16, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 73, Low Temp 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Life moves so fast that there are times when you need to take a day to step back, look ahead, and do a little planning. So, after Ollie’s soccer game this morning, I spent the rest of the day thinking and planning. Justin called last night, and we talked for a long time about their upcoming visit here for Thanksgiving and our planned visit to Puerto Rico during school vacation week next April. Since both visits involve me, Justin and family, and Heather and family, planning for food, lodging, and activities can get a little complicated. What are we going to eat? Where are we going to stay? What are we going to do? I figure if I start coming up with ideas now and share them, that will give everyone else a chance to give feedback so I can tweek the plans. But in order to come up with plans, I first have to ‘survey’ everyone and get some idea of their expectations. I worked mostly on food today. Jo and Ziggy both avoid gluten and dairy, but there are a few exceptions made on special occasions. Jo sent me guidelines for that today. Jed has certain food allergies, Heather is trying to eat a mostly vegetarian diet, and Sam really only eats meat. I avoid gluten and dairy in general, but I don’t have the severe reactions that Jo and Ziggy have. You get the picture. Planning three meals a day for six days that meet everyone’s needs is a little tricky. Since it has been over two years since we have seen each other, we certainly don’t want to spend our time together wrangling over what we are going to eat! That needs to be done ahead of time. Heather has been working on this as well and she and Jed have ordered the turkey for Thanksgiving. Everyone will eat turkey, some more than others, but at one decision has been made. We will have turkey for Thanksgiving. I got a good start on planning today and will continue in the coming weeks. We have time, but somehow, I feel like Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. And ready or not, I can’t wait! Two years (because of Covid) is too long.
Soccer at Ollie’s age level is so much fun to watch because the kids are having so much fun. The kids are rotated around constantly so they are playing different positions, so there are no superstars in any one position. 
But Ollie is enjoying being goalie so much that his coach let him be in that position for most of the game today. He was obviously very proud of that fact because at the end of the game he came over to me to ask if I noticed that he got to play goalie for most of the game. I assured him that I noticed, and he grinned from ear to ear. I am going to be out of town next Friday and Saturday and will miss his game, but soccer continues on into November so there will be more games to enjoy before the season ends.
by Judy Handley | Oct 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 288: Long Walk, Then Running Errands in Town
Date: Friday, October 15, 2021
Weather: Cloudy and Cooler; High Temp 65, Low Temp 61 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning I went for a long walk with friend Kate Eldred. We walked from the Shining Sea Bike Path parking lot on Old Dock Road in West Falmouth to Chapaquoit Beach. That was the first mile. 
Then we walked the paths through the marsh, which is also a bird sanctuary, crossed the road to Chapaquoit Beach, walked up and down the beach, and then walked the mile back to our cars. The sun broke through near the end of our walk and we had to shed our jackets. It was a great walk that Shadow thoroughly enjoyed Kate and I talked and talked. It was almost 1 pm when I got home, and I spent the next hour and a half recovering while having lunch. Unfortunately, that burst of sunshine was short-lived and it was a cloudy afternoon. But since I was running errands in town, I guess it didn’t matter that there was no sunshine.
I stopped by Heather and Jed’s while running errands. They were getting ready to take Jonah and Sam to Sandy Neck on the north shore of the Cape for a weekend of Scout camping and then have dinner at Fisherman’s View on the canal. I will go to Ollie’s soccer game at 9 am tomorrow morning and then on Sunday morning, Heather, Ollie, and I (and maybe Jed if he can change his plans) will go for a morning walk up on the north shore at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster before picking up Sam and Jonah at Sandy Neck around noon. The walk through the marsh and wooded areas between the museum and the beach is delightful. I’m looking forward to that. Unfortunately, I don’t think dogs are allowed so Shadow will have to stay at home.
by Judy Handley | Oct 14, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 287: Taking Care of Business
Date: Thursday, October 14, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm, Again; High Temp 73, Low Temp 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
All spring I was furiously writing away every day. Then summer hit and I was busy with the Goldpebbles. There was a break in August, but I spent that visiting with friends. When the Goldpebbles returned to school, I thought things would slow down. They didn’t. Finally, this week, I have had a couple of really quiet days. I spent today taking care of business matters that I should have attended to months or weeks ago. The weather was so beautiful that I even enjoyed the better part of my afternoon on the phone with Comcast. I sat patiently thinking happy thoughts while the agent on the other end spent eons of time reviewing my comcast billing record. Normally, I would have been aggravated, but I just didn’t let that happen.
What I did accomplish today was to spend a couple of hours continuing to catch up on email communication and going through a pile of things that needed to be filed away. Then, after months of not getting a $700 refund from Mass Saves from the purchase of a new on-demand hot water tank, I called and found out that the check was sent to my PO box in June. Did I throw it away or just not receive it? I don’t know, but they will send another. Next there were two hours being on hold and then wrangling with Comcast trying to figure out why my bill has increased by $70 in one year. One deal ended and the price went up. I got another deal and that deal ended and the price went up. There are no deals currently available. So, I either pay the almost $200 a month for basic cable TV and internet, or I don’t have television or internet. I’ll pay. I did a very little bit of gardening, went to the hardware store, and enjoyed time with Shadow. It was another glorious day even if it was spent just taking care of business.
Tonight, I went to a Falmouth Newcomers General Meeting. The speaker was Dr. Wayne Walker, the Carbon Program Director for Woodwell Climate Research Center. He gave us a great overview of the relationship of global forests, the importance of the carbon they store, the loss of carbon through deforestation and forest degradation, the efforts being made to collect data on this, and then the translation of the data into climate solutions. That is a lot to cover in less than hour, but he did a masterful job of making the science understandable by using real life examples that we could relate to. He came to Woodwell to do his post-doc and never left. He has spent much of the last twelve years gathering data on the trees of the Amazon basin and the role the indigenous peoples there have in holding the line on deforestation on the lands where they live. His passion for his work was contagious. He left me wanting to learn more about what is happening in the Amazon and wondering what I can do as an individual to support the important work to reverse deforestation. He made it quite clear that we need those trees!
by Judy Handley | Oct 13, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 286: A Quiet Day at Home
Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm, Again; High Temp 71, Low Temp 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Glorious, glorious October weather. I was out early for an 8 am annual dermatology check-up and then returned to spend a quiet day at home. Shadow and I walked, played ball, and gardened. Well, Shadow doesn’t really help me garden. He just watches while basking in the sunshine. I spread some organic fertilizer around the veggie seedlings I planted over the weekend. But before I could do that, I had to remove the blanket of acorns. It is full time job these days to keep the acorns out of the raised beds. I have never seen as many acorns as we have this year.
I spent some time reading to prepare for my Public Policy group Zoom meeting and I did some research on Alzheimer’s for my niece that has a very rare kind of Alzheimer’s called Post Cortical Atrophy. Only 4 percent of the people with Alzheimer’s have this type. But it is also possible that this is not Alzheimer’s at all. The onset is much younger, beginning at age 50, and affects a different part of the brain. Medical researchers are still trying to figure this out.
The topic for my Public Policy group was coastal resiliency–how it is being impacted by climate change and what can be done about it. Our presenter was the Natural Resources Manager at the Cape Cod Commission. We continue to meet via Zoom, and this was a great first meeting.
Tomorrow should be another quiet day at home, and I look forward to it.
She could not resist taking the same picture today. She posted those photos on Facebook and simply said, “Time flies.” It was the summer of 2014 when Mark and I started taking all three boys and I spent part of this evening looking through photos of our trips to the museum over the years. 
I loved the one of the three boys crossing the marsh in 2014. They were such tiny little explorers.
Heather, Jed, and Ollie all had on long pants, but they rolled them up. Thankfully, I wore my trusty Columbia capris that can easily be pushed up. With pants rolled or pushed up, we took our shoes off and headed across. Ollie got a piggyback ride part of the way and from his higher perch, he spotted two beautiful Great Blue Herons. The marsh looked very much like fall with yellowing marsh grass and pickleweed that has turned red. We took a new-to-us trail that follows Paine’s Creek and when we emerged from the Upland Forest there was a staircase leading down to the dunes and beach. 
Once on the beach, I was amazed at how different it looks at high tide. No mud flats were to be seen. There was just a narrow beach backed by dunes and lots of seagulls that Ollie delighted in chasing.
We watched the honeybees in their glass case hive and then we went downstairs to the aquarium. 
We have always loved the Clearnose Skate that seems to be watching us. And today a pufferfish took an interest in us as well. Neither of us remembered seeing the humpback whale skull. Impressive. And it always fun to check out the moon jelly tank and the huge lobsters. 
We ended our adventure in the gift shop and then stopped to have clam chowder on the way home. Perfect day.
