by Judy Handley | May 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 135: Another Soccer Saturday Plus Pinewood Derby
Date: Saturday, May 15, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low, 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the same temperature as yesterday with the same sunshine, but there was almost no wind and today felt hot. I wore long pants and a long sleeve cotton shirt to Jonah’s 10:30 am soccer game and I was roasting by the end of the game. I headed home to get some lunch, take Shadow for a walk, and change into shorts and a short-sleeved shirt for Sam’s afternoon game. Much better.
Jed and Ollie headed out at the same time that I picked up Jonah to take him to his game. Jed and Ollie were going to the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. The actual races didn’t begin until 1 pm, but Jed needed to go early for set-up and Ollie wanted to go with him. Thankfully neither Heather nor Jed had an adverse reaction to their second Moderna vaccines. Heather had a headache and Jed was lethargic, but they were able to function. Jonah and I played with Mel and Leo before leaving for his soccer game. Leo is acclimating more quickly than Mel, but both kitties are doing great. Jonah and I headed to the soccer game and Heather followed along shortly leaving Sam in charge of the kittens.
I love watching Jonah and Sam play soccer. Jonah plays offense and Sam plays defense. And I must say that the eighth to tenth graders play hard ball. The sixth and seventh graders play hard, but the next step up is huge. I picked Sam up at the church where the Pinewood Derby was happening and took him to his game while Jonah, Jed, and Heather stayed at the church to watch the Pinewood Derby races. Ollie came in third in his troop and he was very happy about that. Heather left for a bit to see the very end of Sam’s game and then returned. I took Sam home and left him playing with the kittens. Then I returned home to walk and play ball with Shadow, and then collapse. But the day was not over for Heather and Jed. One of them, and I’m not sure which, took Jonah to his late afternoon game across the bridge toward Boston. I think they have nothing on their calendar for tomorrow morning, so I hope they all get to enjoy a lazy Sunday morning.
Tonight, I watched the first episode in Amazon Prime’s new television series, The Underground Railroad based on the book by Colson Whitehead. So hard to watch. I read Colson Whitehead’s book. It was hard to read, but not nearly so hard as it is to watch the treatment of black slaves in the South on the screen. Whitehead’s ingenious vision of the Underground Railroad is a secret network of tracks and tunnels that carried slaves to freedom. Actually, it was just a series of brave people, black and white, who ran safe houses and provided aid for the runaway slaves as they headed north. But Whitehead’s version makes for great television. At the same time, I am reading by book club pick of the month, American Dirt. In the first chapter of that book that I read last night, an upper-middle class Mexican woman watches the murder of her husband, mother, and entire family by a drug cartel. She escapes with her nine year-old son. That’s as far as I got last night, but I know that she and her son make it to the US to live as undocumented immigrants. Another hard, but essential read.
by Judy Handley | May 14, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 134: Welcome Leonardo and Melbourne
Date: Friday, May 14, 2021
Weather: Gloriously Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low, 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was gloriously sunny and warm. We broke out of the 60’s, reaching a high of 73 degrees F. It felt like summer and made me so lazy that I really did not do much of anything except enjoy the day. Despite that, it was a VERY special day.
#1: Following Sam’s first vaccine yesterday, Heather and Jed got their second Covid vaccine today.
#2: Welcome Leonardo and Melbourne. The Goldstones are the new parents of two adorable kittens, Leo(nardo) and Mel(bourne). As Heather wrote on Facebook, she is now outnumbered 7-1: Sam. Jonah, Ollie, Jed, Zuzu the guinea pig, and now Leo and Mel. Heather and Jed have resisted getting pets other than the guinea pigs. But when Max and Mortimer, the oldest of the three guinea pigs, died of old age this winter, they decided to try a pair of kittens. Leo and Mel are so adorable. It will take a couple of days for them to get acclimated, but soon I have a feeling those two little kittens will be ruling the roost in that household.
We looked a bit like a parade as I followed Heather and gang in their van to the home where we met the new kittens. They were waiting for us outside in a tall plastic clothes hamper, tall so they wouldn’t escape. The owner transferred them to Shadow’s puppy car carrier that he has long outgrown, and we then paraded back to 43 Grasmere. I made a little detour to mail something at the post office and by the time I arrived the kitties were well hidden. Heather’s plan is to keep them in their master bedroom and bathroom for the weekend before giving them full run of the house. They are so tiny and the house is so big. They spent their first hour hiding, but eventually, with lots of creative coaxing, Heather and Sam were able to catch and hold one. Hopefully before the end of the evening, everyone got a chance to hold a kitten.
Here’s hoping Heather and Jed have few side effects from their second Moderna vaccine as tomorrow is a busy one. Jed and Ollie were spending time tonight getting ready for tomorrow’s Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Sam and Jonah have soccer games and I think Ollie’s violin group is playing together for the first time since 2019 due to coronavirus.
#3: Tonight I exceeded 710 miles on the exercise bike that Heather, Jed, Justin, and Jo got me for Christmas. I didn’t start riding faithfully until mid-January and I try to ride 6 miles every evening. We are 124 days into 2021. If you divide 710 by 6 you get 118. So, I think I have been faithful to my goal. You can’t adjust to the total miles, so I can’t cheat!
by Judy Handley | May 13, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 133: Live Long, Die Short
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 66, Low, 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Hurray! Hurray! Sam, my 14 year-old grandson, got his first Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine today. It was just approved for kids in the 12-15 year-old group this week and it is already in arms. Fantastic.
Jed took Sam to rowing today as the vaccine appointment was just prior to practice. That gave me extra time to enjoy this beautiful spring day with lots of sunshine and a little less wind. As I was playing ball with Shadow in Shirley’s side and front yard, I took time to smell the roses. Well, not roses, but all of the beautiful blossoms in that yard that Shadow and I play in every afternoon. I have a table and two chairs down by the dock, but this afternoon I didn’t sit down. I just walked the perimeter of the yard taking photos of the blossoms. My very favorite today was the apple blossoms on a very old apple tree. Just beautiful. And I took the time to give thanks for living in such a beautiful setting.
After playing ball, I launched into putting together a garden bench that I bought earlier in the afternoon. I saw online that Job Lot had a teak 4-foot long garden bench with a back and I took off immediately to buy one. I love it, but what a pain to assemble. I need to tighten the bolts tomorrow morning and then it will be ready to sit on and admire my raised garden beds as they grow.
Just as I started on assembling the bench, Justin called. He was on his way to Home Depot to buy items to get Finca Maravilla ready for storm season. Already? That is two and half months away, but since they will be heading to England the middle of June and not returning until the middle of July, they need to get ready now. It was great to talk with him, but he asked me a question that haunts me. Why do we live in a country where truth is no longer revered. My father taught me that the worst thing in the world a person can do, other than kill another person, is to lie. I am sure I tried to teach my children the same thing. So now my adult ‘child’ wants to know why we would rely on Facebook, or any company, to control a politician’s lies. Should not that be done by the government? Should there not be a law that protects our democracy by saying that any politician that is found to lie repeatedly is removed from office? Food for thought.
My morning was spent attending the last meeting of the year for Falmouth Newcomers. Attending in this case meant tuning into a Zoom presentation. The title of presentation was Authentic Health and Successful Aging and the description sounded interesting. “Dr. Roger Landry is a preventive medicine physician, author of award-winning Live Long, Die Short: A Guide to Authentic Health and Successful Aging, contributing author to ‘80 Things to Do When You Turn 80’, and President of Masterpiece Living, a group of multi-discipline specialists in the field of aging who partner with organizations to assist them in becoming destinations for continued growth and Centers for Successful Aging.” Dr. Landry was in Colorado today, but he and his wife life in East Falmouth. In today’s presentation, he focused on 10 things that will extend your life and keep you healthy as you age. His top 10 items were:
1. Use It or Lose It
2. Keep Moving
3. Challenge Your Brain
4. Stay Connected
5. Lower Your Risk (which includes your diet)
6. Never Act Your Age
7. Wherever You Are, Be There
8. Find Your Purpose
9. Have Kids in Your Life
10. Laugh
Dr. Landry’s information meshes with that of my health gurus, but it is always great to have what you know validated . . . and to be reminded. I was so glad that I tuned in as I had just decided to skip a couple of upcoming Newcomers’ socials. When Dr. Landry talked about staying connected, I went back to the Newcomers website and signed up. It is time to come out of my Covid bubble.
Okay. I just felt a strange ‘something’ at the base of my hairline on the back of my neck. I instinctively ‘attacked’ and came out with a tick and part of my scalp. Yikes! Ticks are around all year long, but last spring I had a few sightings, and that has evidently begun again. I hate ticks!
by Judy Handley | May 12, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 132: Gardening Day
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 64, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Gardening today mostly consisted of transplanting San Marzano tomato seedlings from their seedling cells to larger containers. The seed starting system I use is self-watering which is great. But as the seedlings start to mature, I have discovered that the soil is actually too wet. I need to work on the system, but today I decided to take the first flat of 24 seedlings and place each of them in a yogurt container filled with compost. I am hoping the seedlings that were starting to turn yellow will bounce back. It is really too early to plant the tomato seedlings outside, but I planted four outside as an experiment. On Cape Cod, I have gone by the rule that tomatoes and beans should not be planted outside until Memorial Day. But I planted the experimental tomato plants today and will plant bean seeds tomorrow and see what happens.
I had intended to stop working early enough to visit with Karen Baranowski for a bit before picking Ollie up at the end of the school day. But I totally lost track of time and got to Karen’s with just enough time to get a tour of the ornamental plantings she and Peter have been doing for the past couple of days. They have put in some really interesting plants and bushes. I will have to return to get a second tutorial as I can’t remember the names of the most interesting things. But I was most impressed that evidently Lupin is not a plant rabbits like to eat as there was rabbit basking in the sun next to two flowering Lupins. Good to know.
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 131: Book Club Day
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 61, Low, 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was Book Club day. We met in person for the first time since last fall when we met outside. It was delightful to see everyone in person. And it was made even more enjoyable by meeting on the back deck of one of the members overlooking her landscaped gardens. All of us were very jealous of the beautiful landscaping. My favorite thing, however, was a planter on the deck with young firecracker plants. Evidently hummingbirds love this. It is not a native plant, so best to keep it in a container. It is also called cupea or ‘honeybells’ and is long blooming, heat loving annual that is fun for hummingbirds. The Latin name is Russelia equisetiformis. I am going to look for this locally for Heather. She keeps hummingbird feeders on the deck, so her hummingbirds should have this plant to ‘play’ in.
We were enjoying being together in person so much that the Book Club went overtime and before I knew it, it was time to pick Ollie up from school and then take Sam to Hyannis for rowing practice. I got home from that around 7:30 pm, took Shadow for a walk, fixed and ate dinner, and am now writing this log. A day in the life.
