by Judy Handley | Oct 2, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 275: Soccer, Fall Plant Bonanza, Women’s Rally, Tea with a Friend
Date: Saturday, October 2, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warmer; High Temp 70, Low Temp 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Ollie’s soccer game started at 9 am, so I was up and out the door walking Shadow early on this Saturday. Then it was on to Ollie’s game. 
Each week Ollie’s team really improves. Like everything else in our world, soccer practice and games have not been the same during Covid. Heather noted at Ollie’s first game that the skill level on all of the fourth grade teams this year seemed far behind fourth grade teams in the past. By fourth grade, both Sam and Jonah had added travel team experiences to their Falmouth recreational soccer. There has been no opportunity like that for kids Ollie’s age. I think today was game number three for Ollie’s team this fall, and already they look like a completely different team. At this level, the coach rotates the kids from offense to defense during each game but only the kids that volunteer have to be goalie. 
Ollie keeps volunteering to be goalie, but he seems to enjoy playing all positions.
As I drove home from Ollie’s game, I decided to go out of my way to make a stop at Soares which is a small garden center. I thought maybe they would have a few fall veggie seedlings. I was looking for kale, broccoli, or Brussels sprouts. And boy, did I ever walk into a fall plant bonanza. They had all three on sale for just a $1 for four plants. I texted Heather to see if she wanted any for her deck planters and the answer was a resounding YES. She had tried unsuccessfully to start seedlings and I simply never got that far. I had just thought about it. Soares did the work for us and I bought more than half of what they had left. Tomorrow will be planting day.
In the afternoon I headed downtown to be a part of the Falmouth rally supporting today’s much larger Women’s March in Washington, DC. 
The purpose of the march was to demand continued access to abortion. The Falmouth rally was well organized and well attended by an enthusiastic group of women and a few men. 
My friend Olivia White wore the collar she crocheted in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and held a sign that said, “Do It For Ruth.”
After the rally, I met up with friend Midge Frieswyk. We went to the French bakery to get tea and a “goodie” that we enjoyed at a picnic table on the library lawn. I think we talked for almost two hours. I got so into our visit that I totally forgot that I had planned to attend Jonah’s 4 pm soccer game. I got there when the game was almost over, but it was still a great ending to a fun afternoon. Then it was home for a walk with Shadow. The weather was beautiful today and I did get a few plants in the ground, but not many. Hopefully I will spend tomorrow in the gardens.
by Judy Handley | Oct 1, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 274: October 1st
Date: Friday, October 1, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Still Cool, but Warming; High Temp 66, Low Temp 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What does October 1st mean to you? For me, it means that I have acknowledge that fall is really here. I include all of September as a summer month, but come October, it finally dawns on me that summer is over. I must let go until the next year . . . something that is always very hard for me. But the signs are here. Maybe it is the pumpkins and chrysanthemums that are everywhere; maybe it is the cooler nights; maybe it is the fact that tonight was the high school homecoming game and dance at Falmouth High School; maybe it is that I got the annual fall flu shot today. Whatever, I finally realize that it is fall. But only acorns are falling here on the Cape. Most of the tree leaves are hanging on tight. And the tree leaves are not turning colors. This year they appear to be holding on to summer, just like me. I like that.
It has been a while since I made a big batch of my Chicken Magic Mineral Broth and I am running low. So, today I put on a big pot of water, chicken bones, and veggies to burble first thing in the morning. As it burbled away, I spent time on my computer updating the monthly Bill Pay amounts that are sent out from my bank. It was just one of those taking care of business days punctuated by beautiful walks with Shadow. Welcome Autumn! I think I said that on the first day of fall, but this time I mean it.
by Judy Handley | Sep 30, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 273: Happy Birthday, Heather
Date: Thursday, September 30, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Cool; High Temp 62, Low Temp 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy B-day to my Busy, Beautiful, Brilliant first Born! At the end of a very busy day for all of us, I went over to Heather and Jed’s for a birthday dinner and celebration for Heather. It was almost 7:30 pm when I got there and only Sam was at home. Jed arrived shortly with Jonah, coming from Jonah’s soccer practice at Cape Cod Academy which is about 45 minutes away. Then Heather arrived with Ollie. They had been to a violin lesson after school, then went directly to soccer practice, and from there to a 6:30 to 7:30 pm first elementary school band ‘practice’ where Ollie had his first lesson on his saxophone.
And I had been on a Newcomers field trip to the Cape Cod Museum of Art today. Whew! It really was a busy day for all. So, instead of a fancy dinner, the boys decided that the perfect birthday dinner was take-out from Moto pizza which included fancy donuts from a new place in Mashpee Commons instead of a cake.
It was a fun alternative to the usual fancy birthday dinners we have. After dinner Heather opened her presents. 
She loved the blown glass conch shell the boys picked out for her at the Sandwich Glass Factory this summer. There were many other gifts to open and then Sam challenged his mom to computer karaoke contest. Heather definitely got the highest score. Happy Birthday, Heather,
The Cape Cod Museum of Art is in Dennis here on the Cape. I had never been there, so I was excited to join the Newcomers field trip on this excursion. T
he trip was planned by friend Jane Woodin and it was a wonderful day. The museum is small but the sculpture garden surrounding the building and the exhibits inside were so engaging. We started by watching a film about the history of the museum which was fascinating. We then had a guided tour of the exhibits. If you live on Cape Cod and have not been there for the “cARTography” exhibition, I recommend you put it on your weekend schedule. It ends on this Sunday, October 3, and I am so glad I got to see it. It is a mix of historic maps of Cape Cod dating back as far as the 1600’s. These maps portray the traditional viewpoints represented by European mapping. The accompanying exhibits, however, add the perspectives of history that have been left out of traditional education. Artist and National Seashore cartographer Mark Adams depicts the landscape the native people of this area encountered through “Geologic, Native, and Historical Time.” 
A map on the gallery floor shows the landform and sea levels of about 11,000 years ago. This is paired with a display called “Our Story: 400 Years of Wampanoag History.”
The Wampanoag have lived in southeastern Massachusetts for more than 12,000 years. They are the tribe that first encountered by the Pilgrims who sailed here on the Mayflower. The Wampanoag side of the story is told in this exhibit through short video clips that you can watch at your own pace. The entire display is captivating and very moving. If you haven’t seen it, make time in the next three days to get there. It is well worth it.
by Judy Handley | Sep 29, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 272: Walking, Walking
Date: Wednesday, September 29, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Cooler with N Winds; High Temp 64, Low Temp 49 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day for walking, and I certainly took advantage of that. This morning I walked with a woman that I met back in 2017 when I first started going to classes at the Anytime Fitness gym. I continued to see her in classes for the next year and a half. Then the classes ended, Covid arrived, and I haven’t seen her since . . . until a couple of weeks ago at the Farmer’s Market. I saw Kate there and we agreed to get together to become better acquainted. Our first foray was today. We walked in the cranberry bogs for an hour and a half. We have a lot in common and enjoy each other’s company, so we are planning to walk again next week. I didn’t take Shadow with me today, but I will next week. He has had a bit of an upset tummy for the past two days, so I chose to leave him at home.
By the time I got home, had lunch, and then took Shadow for his walk, it was almost time to go pick up Ollie after school. It was a day when Heather and Jed both had commitments, so I volunteered to pick him up. We stayed an extra hour so he could play with friends on the playground. By the time I got him home, it was time to go pick up Sam from soccer practice. Jed left to pick him up but then called to say the traffic was crazy and he was not going to get back in time to go with Heather to a ‘Meet the Teacher’ appointment at Ollie’s school. I was backing out of the driveway to head home when he called and volunteered to go get Sam. Since all three boys are in new schools this year, Heather and Jed both want to go to the introductory meetings with teachers. Two working parents with three active kids need all the help they can get. Heather and Jed are both active in community activities as well as having full-time jobs and all three boys have school, soccer, music lessons, and Scouts. It is a lot and since I certainly have more free time than they do, I love helping out when I can.
BTW, when I took Shadow for his walk it was evident that he was much better, so we had a nice long walk. I cannot pinpoint what happened to cause his tummy upset, but thankfully he is better now.
by Judy Handley | Sep 28, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 271: Back to The Voyage of Windbird
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2021
Weather: Cloudy with PM Thunderstorms; High Temp 73, Low Temp 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In June, as summer activities kicked into gear, I put away my book writing project. The Voyage of Windbird book project spent the summer in a bag. This morning, I unzipped the bag and extracted the unedited ‘almost’ completed first sixteen chapters. It took all morning to get back into the project, but at least I assessed what had been done and formulated a plan. My first task is to go back and edit what I have already written. A friend has read and made editing suggestions on paper. I will start by reviewing those suggested changes and making them official on the electronic copy of each chapter. Then I need to complete chapter 16 and write chapters 17 and 18. That will complete year one of the voyage, Volume 1. I am hoping to get that done before Christmas. I can then start the new year by writing about the middle years of the voyage, Volume 11. The last year of the Voyage of Windbird and beyond and will become Volume III. That takes me into 2023. I think this project is going to take as many years to complete as it did to actually circumnavigate the globe. I’ll just keep chipping away.
This was an early release day for all grades in the Falmouth School District. I picked up Jonah and Ollie and headed home to check in with Sam. The weather and homework interfered with our plans, but I did get to take Jonah and Ollie to the Morse Pond soccer field to practice goal shots. Jonah has just been designated the person on his Steel United team to kick penalty goals, so he wanted to practice before going to official whole team practice later in the afternoon. Then the weather interfered. Sam’s high school soccer game and Jonah’s official soccer practice were both cancelled due to thunderstorms that brought torrents of rain. By the time I got home, the rain had subsided enough for me to take Shadow on a walk and then come inside and catch up on emails that needed to be written.
Tomorrow is supposed to be rain-free. I hope to go for a long walk on the bogs with a friend in the morning and spend the afternoon catching up on some household chores. Thursday I go on a Newcomers field trip to the Cape Cod Museum of Art. Time flies when you’re having fun.
Each week Ollie’s team really improves. Like everything else in our world, soccer practice and games have not been the same during Covid. Heather noted at Ollie’s first game that the skill level on all of the fourth grade teams this year seemed far behind fourth grade teams in the past. By fourth grade, both Sam and Jonah had added travel team experiences to their Falmouth recreational soccer. There has been no opportunity like that for kids Ollie’s age. I think today was game number three for Ollie’s team this fall, and already they look like a completely different team. At this level, the coach rotates the kids from offense to defense during each game but only the kids that volunteer have to be goalie. 
Ollie keeps volunteering to be goalie, but he seems to enjoy playing all positions.
The purpose of the march was to demand continued access to abortion. The Falmouth rally was well organized and well attended by an enthusiastic group of women and a few men. 
My friend Olivia White wore the collar she crocheted in honor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and held a sign that said, “Do It For Ruth.”
