by Judy Handley | Mar 27, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 86: Anticipation
Date: Friday, March 27, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 48, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Tomorrow is NO KINGS 3 and here in Falmouth the temperature is forecast to be much cooler than today with a high of 36 degrees F. There is no way to know how the cold will affect the turn out in Falmouth, but we know that nationwide there are more than 3,000 scheduled protests all around the country and some around the world and millions are expected to participate. The anticipation level is high.
I spent my morning making arrangements for tomorrow and my afternoon hosting a gathering of the safety team for tomorrow. My friend Karen Baranowski solicited three other nurses to join us tomorrow as medical marshals. And Jim Newman solicited two doctors. And we had a one-hour training session in my living this afternoon. The experience of those volunteering is impressive, and I think we are ready to go.
I got myself invited to the Baranowski’s for a lobster roll dinner and time with friends tonight. I haven’t had a lot of friend time recently, so that was great. Now to bed and on to tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Mar 26, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 85: Build Up to the FIFA World Cup Fun
Date: Thursday, March 26, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 52, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today I had my annual Medicare medical exam and the doctor asked me what I do for fun. I told him my fun these days is organizing resistance against the Trump regime. He cocked his head sideways and said, “Really?” And I assured him it was great fun.
When I got home, I got a text from Heather saying that she and Jed and two other families, were piling into cars and heading to a soccer game between Brazil and France at Gillette Stadium. The FIFA World Cup launches in the June and is in the United States this year. That’s great, but the tickets are something like $4,000 a seat. No joke. So, a new US -based international match series has been created to showcase the world’s top national teams pre-World Cup at prices that are more affordable. I think today might have been the first match. Ollie, Jonah, and a bunch of their friends were very excited for today’s game. Plus, they took the afternoon off school. What could be more fun! At least I get to have fun virtually through my grandkids.
by Judy Handley | Mar 25, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 84: Middle Ground and Braver Angels
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 48, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I’m trying to catch up tonight on sending logs from Monday and Tuesday that were started but not finished. This was going to be my number one job today and here it is after 10 pm and I am just getting started. We make plans and then life happens.
This morning, after answering some time sensitive emails, I took care of a couple of personal chores like getting my hair trimmed and going to Staples to get some necessary office supplies. When my hair gets beyond a certain length, it becomes hard to braid. And it has definitely been too long for weeks.
When I got home from running those errands, I had a one hour Zoom call that turned into an afternoon project for a group I am in called Middle Ground. We were talking with a representative from Braver Angels who have trainings to help people develop skills for communicating across differences and finding common ground. The first ground rule is that you are never trying to persuade people to come around to your way of thinking. You are simply trying to grow understanding of the values and concerns of people who differ from you politically. This is going to be easier said than done! Then the rest of the day was spent on getting things done for No Kings on Saturday. Again, this is something easier said than done. But I am fried for tonight and will continue in the morning.
by Judy Handley | Mar 24, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 83: A Dog in a Sinkhole
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 41, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today was a mix of work, doing some cooking and cleaning, and spending time with Olli.. Heather has been in Boston at a work-related retreat since Sunday afternoon and won’t be home until Wednesday evening. Tuesdays are always challenging, even when there are two parents, but with one, it is tricky. I take Ollie to his saxophone lesson after school, and now that it is soccer season again, while he is at his lesson, I go pick up dinner for him to eat on the way soccer practice. This should have been easy, but today it became a bit of problem. Driving the half mile from my house to pick Ollie up, I saw that the police had Jones Road blocked off. There is a little side street that leads to Jones Road, so I took that. I figured there must have been a wreck at the intersection. Then when I picked Ollie up and we continued on down Jones Road, we found it was blocked in that direction as well. There were 3 fire trucks, including the big ladder truck, emergency vehicles, and more police cars. But we saw no evidence of fire or a wreck or anything else. The police let us through, but it was very strange. When I dropped Ollie off for his lesson, I sat in the car for a bit and tried to find out why Jones Road was closed. The only thing I could find was on Facebook and it said a dog had fallen into a 10-foot deep sinkhole. Then I received an email from Ollie’s soccer coach saying their soccer practice which was off Jones Road was being moved to East Falmouth because the soccer practice field had fallen into a sinkhole. That was obviously meant to be a joke, but it confirmed the Facebook message about a sinkhole. On our way home, when we got close to Jones Road there were two police helicopters overhead and the road was totally blocked. We had to the long way home for Ollie to get dressed for soccer practice and then drive all the way back to East Falmouth where we had just been for his saxophone lesson. It made for a crazy afternoon, and yes, a dog did fall into a 10-foot deep sinkhole. But it still seems strange to me that a major road was closed and that every emergency vehicle and police car in town, plus three fire trucks and two helicopters were all in play for one dog, stuck in a deep but narrow sinkhole that was not even in the road. It was in someone’s yard. If I find out there is more to the story, I’ll let you know.
With that drama over, I went home to feed Shadow and gulp down some dinner before heading back over to be with Ollie. A friend was bringing him home from practice and I got to his house just before he arrived. Jed had to take Jonah and two friends to Hyannis to soccer practice tonight, so they were gone when Ollie got home and I stayed for the evening so he would not be home alone. That is more for me than for him. He was in his room most of the evening and I was working on my computer in the dining room, but I felt better being there than leaving the youngest Goldpebble alone.
And while I am on the topic of a Goldpebble, I will answer a question that four different people have written to ask me about this week. Where in the world is Sam Goldstone, the oldest Goldpebble? In late January, at the end of his first semester at Groningen University in the Netherlands, Sam decided that continuing in the International Relations program there was not the right choice for him. So, he withdrew and was planning to come home at the end of February. But then when he found out that he could not get out of his housing contract, he decided to stay another month since he was paying for the housing anyway. And that turned into one more month. He is using this time to figure out what he is going to do next. One option is AmeriCorp, specifically Forest Corp, for the fall, and those applications are due at the end of this week. Whatever he decides, his current plan is to return home in May.
by Judy Handley | Mar 23, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 82: Late Night at the Select Board
Date: Monday, March 23, 2026
Weather: Rainy Day; High Temp 39, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
It was a dreary, rainy, cold day with meetings spread out through the day and into the night. Indivisible Falmouth was appealing to the Select Board tonight asking for permission to have amplified sound at No Kings 3 this Saturday. We were almost the last thing on the agenda, so we were there until after 11 pm. It was worth it because we got the permission, but it was a long day. And even longer for Heather. She drove to Boston late yesterday for a work-related three-day retreat. But at the end of the day, she drove all the way back home, again in the rain, to be at Select Board. She is taking the bus back to Boston very early in the morning. We left the Select Board at 11:15. For Heather’s sake, I sure hope it didn’t go on too much longer.
