by Judy Handley | Nov 1, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 305: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Date: Friday, November 1, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy AM; High 72, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Good grief, you can’t have Halloween without watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” So, tonight Heather and Ollie came over for dinner and we watched the movie that we watch every year. Like Linus, I am a believer in the Great Pumpkin and also in Santa Claus, leprechauns on Saint Patrick’s Day, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. And I always enjoy watching Charlie Brown. So it was a good evening. Heather and Ollie are spending the night here while Jed, Sam, and Jonah are away at a Scout camp-out. Jonah and two other Scouts on his soccer team will be picked up from Scout camp by the designated delivery parents who will take them to their 1:30 pm soccer play-off game. If they win, they have the final game at 3 pm.. and then back to the Scout camp-out. Heather will go with Ollie to his 1:30 pm soccer game and I will travel to Yarmouth to watch Jonah’s game. If his team wins, Heather will then come for the final. So, I’m designating tomorrow as crazy soccer day.
by Judy Handley | Oct 31, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 304: Halloween 2019
Date: Thursday, October 31, 2019
Weather: Rain Early, Then Cloudy, Then Windy; High 73, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Halloween 2019 was warm and balmy here on Cape Cod. We expected pouring rain all day and evening, but the rain ended by noon and the southerly winds blew in the warmth. No coats were needed for Trick or Treating tonight. Even with the wind, it felt like a warm summer evening.
When I arrived at the Goldstones, Sam and his friend Ethan were setting up the fog and light machines and getting the skeleton head that emits spooky sounds ready to greet Trick or Treaters. As the sun set, they turned on the candles in the jack-o-lanterns and Heather made up Vampire Ollie’s face.
Sam and Ethan headed out early, followed by Wizard Jed, Baseball Player Joey, Rosie the Riveter Molly, and Vampire Ollie. I dawned my black cat ears and joined Witch Heather in handing out the candy. I thought I was going to be handing out candy with Sam, but since I last talked to him, he decided that he’s not too old to go Trick or Treating after all.
And what a haul of candy the boys returned with. I didn’t talk to Justin and family today, but I did get to see a photo of Ziggy and Coco dressed in their costumes on Facebook. Coco was dressed as a female Robin Hood and Ziggy had on his scientist lab coat and BIG glasses.
by Judy Handley | Oct 30, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 303: Day Down Under
Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Some Drizzle; High 68, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
No. I didn’t travel to Australia today. But I did spend my day Down Under. The morning was spent in my basement doing a little organizing and the afternoon was spent in Heather’s basement doing the same. And the benefit for me was that while working in Heather and Jed’s basement, I did my laundry. So, it was a win for all. On Wednesdays, I pick Ollie up from school and deliver him to his violin lesson where Heather meets us and takes over. But I really enjoy the car ride into town with Ollie. Today he went on a field trip to the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. This is only about 2 miles from here, but I have never explored there. Ollie gave me a very detailed and enthusiastic description. He obviously had a wonderful time and convinced me that I need to go there soon. This morning Jonah headed to the National Seashore with his class for a couple of days, so I didn’t get to see him this afternoon. But I did get to see Sam and we found that we were both dressed in burgundy long sleeve shirts with a dark-blue collared shirt underneath. I learned that Sam is running for Student Council and I love his platform. He wants to get healthier food served in the school cafeteria. Go, Sam!
by Judy Handley | Oct 29, 2019 | Cape Cod, USA |
2019 Life Logs, Day 302: New Bedford Historical Tour
Date: Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Some Drizzle; High 61, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The historical tour of New Bedford, Massachusetts, today was so very interesting. Every summer many tourists who drive from New York, Connecticut, or Rhode Island to Cape Cod, pass by New Bedford on the highway, but most don’t stop. I have driven to New Bedford to take the Goldpebbles to the Whaling Museum a few times and I have gone to Zeiterion Theater, but I have never driven through the historic streets. I had no idea they were there. I knew that New Bedford was the whaling capitol of the world in the mid-1800’s, but I knew little else. So today was a true eye opener for me.
We started our day with an hour and half tour of the historic neighborhoods led by Preservation Society guide, Bruce Barnes.
He was a wealth of information on types of architecture, on the role of the Quakers in establishing the whaling industry while also offering a safe haven for runaway slaves through the Underground Railroad, and the barons of the textile industry. 
We saw the home that is now the New Bedford Historical Society. It is an unremarkable structure with a remarkable history. It was once the home of Nathan and Mary “Polly” Johnson, African-American entrepreneurs, who allowed their home to be used as an important stop on the Underground Railroad. Frederick Douglas and his wife Anna lived in the Johnson home at 21 Seventh Street. Abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, also lived in this house for a period of time.
Stops were made at the Quaker Friends Meeting House, at the home where “the richest woman in the world” lived in the Gilded Age in the late 1800’s. Henrietta Howland Greene was a shrewd businesswoman and also known as the “witch of Wall Street.” 
We saw the home of William Rotch Rodman that was known as the grandest home in New England and visited the the home and gardens of William Rotch, Jr. There were many other stops, but one of our last was at William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage. It is a National Historic Landmark as it was seen as one of the most outstanding examples of American Gothic Revival architecture when it was built. 
The Quaker Rotch family came to New Bedford from Nantucket and were instrumental in establishing the New Bedford whaling industry.
After our walking tour through the historic district, we walked downtown to the National Park Visitor Center. There we watched the film, The City That Lit the World, learning about the whaling industry. “In January of 1841, a young Herman Melville boarded the whaleship Acushnet, and left the port of New Bedford bound for the distant Pacific Ocean. At 21, Melville was beginning a voyage that he would later drawn on for several novels of seafaring life, including the American classic, Moby-Dick.” Melville spent 18 months on the Acushnet, learning to be a whaler. In Moby-Dick, he wrote of his character Ishmael, “ . . . a whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard.” 
After the film, Park Ranger Rufai Shardow, originally from Ghana, gave us a wonderful overview of the role of slavery, the abolitionists and whaling in New Bedford’s history.
We ended our tour by walking across a cobblestone street from the Visitor Center to Freestones City Grill for lunch.Freestones was once one of the 19 banks it took to handle all of the money made in New Bedford from the whaling industry at its peak. Wonderful day. And I will definitely return to New Bedford to learn more.
by Judy Handley | Oct 28, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 301: 64 Days Left in 2019
Date: Monday, October 28, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Some Drizzle; High 61, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Just now when I typed ‘Life Log, Day 301’, I was reminded that we have only 64 days left in 2019. It is definitely time to check on your New Year’s Resolution for this year to see if you have made progress toward your goal. Or if you are like me, you don’t remember what your resolution was, so you can just make up something and call it a win. But back to today, it was overcast like yesterday, just without the rain. I am hoping for a bit of sunshine tomorrow for the Newcomers field trip to New Bedford since we are doing an outside walking tour. I spent a lot of today reading about architecture . . . the architecture of the homes and buildings in New Bedford and the architectural styles in New England over nearly 400 years. I didn’t need to do this to prepare for the field, I just had the time and wanted some background information. When I was in college, I took an architecture class as an art credit, but unfortunately I think I must have slept through that class. I do remember learning about a ‘5-window I’ design, but when I Google that, I come up with nothing. Maybe I made it up. My reading today did remind me of some of the things I learned, and now when I hear Colonial, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, or Victorian, I get a refreshed picture in my mind. Life-long learning and re-learning is a good thing.
