by Judy Handley | Sep 27, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 270: Visit with the Aunties; Canning Tomatoes Again
Date: Monday, September 27, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 73, Low Temp 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Karen Baranowski and I drove to Scituate this morning to visit with her ‘aunties’ who are my next door neighbors for part of each year. Her Aunt Doris turns 103 next Monday. The aunties are not living next door to me this summer as Doris had a stroke in July and had to be moved back to her home in Scituate. Her sister Shirley, whose home is next door to me and who is my landlord, is staying with Doris. I made applesauce from apples from Shirley’s apple tree and wanted to take that to her. It is an old tree and the apples are not beautiful, but they make great applesauce. I also made broccoli potato soup and chicken salad for lunch. Karen added zucchini bread. Doris could not come downstairs to have lunch with us, but her son and daughter-in-law from Alabama joined us. I enjoyed meeting them and spending time with Shirley.
Once home, I walked and played ball with Shadow and then launched into cooking the last batch of tomato sauce for this summer. It is in the canner jiggling away as I write this. The applesauce was so good that I plan to salvage as many apples as possible tomorrow morning and make another batch of sauce. Then at noon I pick up the boys from school as it is an early release day. Plans are up in the air as the forecast calls for rain. If it is not raining, Sam wants to cut the grass next door at Shirley’s and Jonah wants to practice goal kicks at the school across the road from their neighborhood. It will take a bit of juggling to do both, but we’ll figure it out.
by Judy Handley | Sep 26, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 269: Soccer, Laundry, Cooking
Date: Sunday, September 26, 2021
Weather: Rain and Early AM, Clearing Late AM; High Temp 74, Low Temp 67 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
We had heavy rain overnight, but it was only raining lightly by early morning. The first word was that Jonah’s soccer game was cancelled, but a bit later Heather sent another text saying it was back on but in a different location. 
It was a good game but ended with a dramatic touch. Jonah was racing down the field with the ball far ahead of all the other players when the referee blew the whistle. Jonah’s arms flew out asking why. All he wanted to do was to get that ball in the goal. There might have been a foul, but I think it was just the signal for the end of the game. Disappointing for Jonah, but his team did win.
After attending Jonah’s late morning soccer game, the rest of my day was spent doing laundry and cooking. Not an exciting day, but it was productive. And tonight, I talked to Lynne Kirwin in New Zealand to catch up on what is happening in her life there. It was great to catch up. But now it is late and I am off in the morning to visit with the ‘aunties’ who are currently living in Doris’ home in Scituate. I am going to end here and get to bed.
by Judy Handley | Sep 25, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 268: Soccer, Wampanoag Celebration, Kid Sitting
Date: Saturday, September 25, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Some Rain; High Temp 71, Low Temp 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I need to start with a correction to last night’s log. In the first paragraph I announced that Jonah’s PCR test came back positive and I meant to say negative. He does NOT have Covid.
Ollie played in his first soccer game of the fall season this morning. He missed the first game last Saturday as he was camping with his Scout troop, but he made up for it today by playing a great game.
He switched back and forth between being goalie and center forward and gave his best effort in both positions. His team won and he scored the last goal of the game. He was a happy kiddo.
After the soccer game, we went to Heather and Jed’s to regroup. Heather and Jed were going to meet friends at my house and go kayaking for the afternoon while Sam, Jonah, Ollie, and I were going to Highfield Hall for a Wampanoag Celebration and then come home for an afternoon of play. The threat of rain was constant, but up to this point in the day we had just had a few sprinkles here and there. So, on we went. We grabbed a lunch for Jonah as he was not anxious to try any of the Native American food being served at the celebration, but Sam loved the venison stew served over roasted potatoes and Ollie loved the Quahog chowder. I ate a little of both and found both to be delicious. 
Jonah and Ollie made ring and stick toys that all three boys enjoyed. Then Jonah and Ollie decided they each wanted to make a Quahog shell pendant necklace. Quahog is the Native American name for a hard-shelled clam. The boys had to sand the edges of the shell they chose by wetting it with water and rubbing it on a rock. No sandpaper. 
Then they had to drill a hole in the shell with a stick and string drill. Jonah commented that he was sure glad we have electric drills these days. The process took a while, but both boys were proud of the necklaces.
All too soon it was time to get home as Jonah and Sam both had friends coming over for an afternoon playdate. We left Highfield just in time as it started to rain as we got in the car to leave. It rained off and on for the remainder of the afternoon, but just enough at one time to barely keep things outdoors a bit wet. Heather reported that they didn’t have rain on their kayak adventure or maybe they were having so much fun they didn’t notice. They had a wonderful time and while paddling in a hidden cove, they discovered a Great Blue Heron hide out. There were about a half dozen herons and some of them were roosting in a tree. Not a sight you see just every day.
by Judy Handley | Sep 24, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 267: Good News, Good News, Good News
Date: Friday, September 24, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Some Sun, Some Rain; High Temp 76, Low Temp 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Good news all around. Jonah’s PCR test came back positive, so he does not have Covid. The rapid test was just a false positive. Sam’s blood test results came back showing he does not have Lyme disease. And I heard from Justin this morning and he was so excited that they now have reliable electricity. Yay! Yay! And Yay! Heather invited me over for dinner for an end of a tough week collective exhale. Ahhhhhhhhh. And this is only the second week of school. It is inevitable that there are going to be more Covid exposures, so I guess we just have to get used to yet another new norm.
The news about electricity at Finca Maravilla was another piece of wonderful news. Even before Hurricane Maria in September of 2017, Justin and Jo didn’t have totally reliable electricity. But since Maria, it has been a constant uphill battle. First, they had no electricity at all for months. Then when the electricity was restored to the homes in their area, they still did not have full service. Eventually it was determined that there was a problem between the road and their home. Finally, in the last two weeks, that problem has been found and there is now enough light to read by at night and to run two major appliances at one time. As Justin said, “Welcome back to the ‘first’ world.”
by Judy Handley | Sep 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 266: Covid Frustrations
Date: Thursday, September 23, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 77, Low Temp 70 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I waited all day to hear the results of Sam’s blood test that will determine whether or not he has Lyme disease. But when I got the call from Heather, it was not about Sam’s blood test. It was about the Covid positive result from Jonah’s Covid rapid test. The home rapid test says he has Covid, but that led to a PCR test. We will not know the result of that until tomorrow sometime. In the meantime, we are all waiting and hoping that the rapid test gave a false positive. Heather and Jed are scrambling to figure out how to deal with this. Since Jonah was exposed at school on Monday, Ollie has moved out of their shared bedroom to sleep downstairs. They thought about moving Ollie, who is too young to be vaccinated, outside to sleep in a tent tonight. But after going and back and forth, they are just going to continue their current protocols, masking in the house, eating outside, and distancing as much as possible, until they get the conclusive report tomorrow. They also had to decide whether to send Ollie and Sam to school tomorrow. School policy allows that but neither boy feels right about going to school and possibly infecting more people. All three boys are scared, but especially Jonah. And as Heather said, what parent is not going to hug their crying child who just got a positive Covid test. Oh, the frustrations of this pandemic for parents (and grandparents). Jonah has been vaccinated, so if he does have Covid, we can only hope it will be a mild case and that no one else in the family will get it.
On a happier note, I met Jane Woodin for lunch in the outside courtyard at the Senior Center and then we went to the beach for the afternoon. There was not a lot of sunshine and it was windy, but it was warm and beautiful. Very relaxing. And again, no gardening. Maybe tomorrow.
