by Judy Handley | Aug 28, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 240: Thank You to the Weather Gods
Date: Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Weather: Cloudy Morning, Rainy Afternoon; High 80, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I have a very personal thank you tonight to the ‘weather gods’ for sparing Puerto Rico from the Hurricane Dorian. Last night the reports were fairly certain that Dorian was going to remain a tropical storm that would hit southeast Puerto Rico this afternoon. This afternoon, however, things had changed. The tropical storm became a Category 1 hurricane and its path moved north and east of Puerto Rico. Thank you, thank you. I texted back and forth with Jo tonight and she confirmed that all is well at Finca Maravilla. They hadn’t even had any rain, but that could still come. And thank you to those of you who sent emails of concern.
I spent most of my day just hanging out at the Goldstones. I ran errands in town early and then stopped by Heather and Jed’s on my way home. They wanted a piece of furniture from my basement for the bathroom they are remodeling and I needed Sam’s help loading it in my car. He came with me and we successfully got the antique chest of drawers in my car and made the delivery. I then stayed to be on ‘duty’ while Heather took Sam to his new school for a tour and Jed went to work for a few hours. Ollie and Jonah were at home, but honestly I barely saw them all afternoon as they were playing next door with Joey. I busied myself with making zucchini bread and fried green tomatoes for Heather. I love that the recipe she uses for zucchini bread is the one I got from a neighbor in Minnesota when Heather was just one year-old. I used to take her on walks and we met this woman that we called the Goat Lady because her backyard was filled with goats. I had more zucchini than I knew what to do with that summer, and she shared her zucchini bread recipe with me. And Heather had a few green tomatoes that begged to be picked and turned into Fried Green Tomatoes, so I did that as well. They leave tomorrow morning for a four-day camping trip on the Outer Cape in North Truro which is almost to Provincetown. We actually got rain this afternoon, not just sprinkles. The rain should end tomorrow morning and it looks like they will have wonderful weather for their camping trip. I have no plans for the weekend other than continuing my cleanout of the basement at the Goldstones. This afternoon I found two huge plastic bins of Christmas lights that they inherited when Mark and I cleaned out our storage unit. I brought those home to go through to determine what still works and what doesn’t, and I’ll return to clear out some sailing paraphernalia. I will continue my quest to get my drip irrigation system up and running. And I plan to do a lot of reading which is a Labor Day tradition of mine. When the kids were little and I was teaching full-time, I didn’t have much time to read. So, I declared Labor Day Weekend my reading weekend and Mark would take care of the kids and make sure we all had something to eat. I wish I had kept track of which book I read each year, but I didn’t. I do remember that the first year I did this, my choice was a massive historical fiction novel (over 1300 pages) about the life of Sacajawea, a Shoshone Indian travel guide for Lewis and Clark. I think it was September of 1980 when I read that entire book in one weekend. Hmmm. What book should I tackle this weekend?
by Judy Handley | Aug 27, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 239: Focus on Family
Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 77, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather and family returned home from their vacation in Maine today and a tropical storm is headed for Puerto Rico, so the focus of my day was on family. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco returned to Puerto Rico at the end of last week after more than a month’s absence. They were here for a week in July and then flew to England to be with Jo’s family for a month. Now, only a few days after their return to home, they are getting ready for the first named tropical storm to hit Puerto Rico this year. Two years ago they withstood two September hurricanes. As we all know, Hurricane Maria devastated the entire island. They are still recovering from that and thankfully last year there were no major storms. So, this is the first big threat since Maria. When I talked to Justin today, he said many people there are very worried, but he is hopeful that there will be minimal damage. NOAA announced tonight that Puerto Rico is under a Hurricane Watch, but hopefully Tropical Storm Dorian will not be a hurricane when it hits southeast Puerto Rico tomorrow morning. By Thursday morning it should be moving on to the Dominican Republic and the model I am watching shows that the area on the west coast where Justin and family live should be spared the worst winds. Justin promised to contact me as soon as he can after the storm to let me know how things are there and I’ll certainly pass that information along. Naturally I am worried, but I agree with Justin that if the storm continues as predicted, the damages should be nothing like the devastation of two years ago. The difference between 50 mile an hour winds and 150 to 200 mile an hour winds is HUGE. What we don’t know is just how fragile the Puerto Rican infrastructure is at this point. Let us all hope for the best.
Heather called when they returned this afternoon and invited me over for a Taco Tuesday dinner. There were lots of thank you for the basement organizational work I did while they were gone. There’s way more to do, but I did get a start. It was great to see Heather, Jed, and boys. I miss them so much when they are away. They had a great time in Maine despite their colds, but all are on the mend. Their grand finale yesterday was quite dramatic. They went to the Monkey C Monkey Do zip line and ropes course in Wiscasset which is near Boothbay. All had a great time, but Ollie amazed them.
As Jonah explained it to me, the course is in four levels, the height being that of a five-story building. He and Sam made it to level three and said that was good enough. They came back down to level two to do the zip line from there. Ollie continued on up to the top level with Jed following along behind him. Jed said the amazing thing was Ollie’s frank discussion about the fear of going on, but not wanting to go back. He said he knew he would be sorrow if he didn’t complete the course, so he figured he just had to fight the fear and go on. Sometimes that little one amazes us all with his mature thinking and his language. With Jed and one of the ropes course coaches there to support him, Ollie was successful in completing the top level of the course. For a couple of years now he has watched his big brothers negotiating adventure courses, so on his first try, he persisted until he was successful. All were cheering him on and very proud of his accomplishment. There were other wonderful stories from their time in Maine and we also spent time talking about home renovations that they are planning. The boys are getting older and bigger, but the size of the house stays the same. Figuring out how to change things to accommodate a growing family is challenging, but lots of wonderful ideas were discussed tonight. The Goldstones have tomorrow at home and then they head to the Outer Cape for a four-day camping trip. Heather, Jed, and Sam all have commitments at various times tomorrow, so I volunteered to come over to be at home for Ollie and Jonah for part of the afternoon as the others scurry about. So that will be my tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Aug 26, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 238: Barnstable Harbor Ecotour
Date: Monday, August 26, 2019
Weather: Sunny with Puffy White Clouds; High 77, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day to be out on the water . . . a little windy but we were somewhat protected in the harbor. We couldn’t go out into the Cape Cod Bay, but the harbor is huge and there was plenty to explore. There were fourteen Newcomers Teacher Group members and we boarded The Horseshoe Crab, a pontoon boat, just before 11 am. The boat was reserved for us, but we had a grandmother and her grandson from Baltimore join us. He was probably five years old and a delightful addition to our exploration. When we exited the marina and entered the harbor, Sandy Neck was across the water from us. To the west was the 3,500 acre great marsh and to the east at the end of The Neck was the outlet to the sea. In front of us was the seven-mile length of The Neck with a colony of summer cottages and the iconic light house near the end of the spit of land. If I understood correctly, there is no electricity or running water in the colony, but there is a fresh-water plume that runs the length of The Neck that can be accessed by summer residents. Access to the colony is by boat or by 4-wheel drive through the Sandy Neck Park. There are dramatic sand dunes, lots of birds and other wildlife, and marsh grass in every color of green imaginable. The naturalist aboard the boat obviously loves her job and presented information to us with an enthusiasm that expressed her love and respect for this very special environment. When we neared one little cottage that sits all alone in the dunes, she distributed a copy of the book entitled The Little House at Sandy Neck by Edward Otis Handy Jr. He is the owner of that little cottage and the book describes life on The Neck. Delightful day!
by Judy Handley | Aug 25, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 237: Success
Date: Sunday, August 25, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 76, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It took twice as long as I anticipated, but I did get the basic drip irrigation system up and running at Heather’s today. I need Jed’s help to permanently install the automatic timer for the system, but after a trial run, I know it works. I was nervous about turning it on, and on the first try, nothing happened. Then I realized I hadn’t attached the ½ inch tubing that is the artery for the system to the timer. Duh! Once I did that, it ran just fine. I set it for two hours and then left. I went back two hours later and it had shut off. Success. There is one little section that has to be replaced as I somehow punctured the main line in a place that is hard to plug. I tried, but it only half-way worked, so I will replace that tomorrow or Tuesday. I am going on a Barnstable Harbor Tour tomorrow with the Newcomers Teacher Group and that will take most of the day. But I think I can finish installing the system at my house tomorrow when I return from the harbor tour. It is definitely late in the gardening season, but the drip irrigation systems at Heather’s and here will be ready for next spring. I’ve never attempted anything like this before, but those YouTube how-to videos have been very helpful. I’m excited about the harbor tour tomorrow. The harbor is on the north side of the Cape on the Cape Cod Bay. A naturalist will be aboard the boat and we will learn about how Cape Cod was formed, some history of Native American life and colonial life in the area, and an overview of the Great Marsh and Sandy Neck area. I am looking forward to the time out on the water.
by Judy Handley | Aug 24, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 236: Getting Stuff Done . . . Slowly
Date: Saturday, August 24, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 80, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather today was a repeat of yesterday with a cool morning turning into a delightful afternoon. I will say that either I am a wuss, or the mornings and evenings the past couple of days have been truly chilly. And for me that means wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Maybe it is the cooler weather that has put me into turtle mode. Or maybe I just enjoy working slowly. So not a ton is getting done, but slowly I am chipping away at that To Do list while enjoying my days. I spent my morning cooking and turning the tomatoes I processed yesterday into marinara sauce. Then I took the sauce to Heather’s to burble and pressure can. I keep my canner in her basement and the jars are also there, so it is easier to just go there. While the sauce burbled for a couple of hours, I launched into some organizational projects in the basement. And knowing I would be there for the afternoon, I took my fall and winter jackets with me to launder. I used Heather and Jed’s laundry facilities and paid them back by doing a little basement organization. Seems like a win-win situation. I still haven’t finished my drip irrigation installation, so that is on the top of the list for tomorrow. No excuses. It will be done!
