by Judy Handley | Aug 13, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 225: The Lion King versus Plastic Straws
Date: Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 80, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I had a personal battle over what to name tonight’s log. Should I focus on the positive and name it ‘The Lion King’? The reason for this is that I spent this rainy afternoon in the Falmouth Cinema Pub with the Goldpebbles and friends watching the new rendition of the original animated film that came out in 1994. Or should I focus on the negative and rant about the almost half a million dollars some Americans have spent buying Trump plastic straws? I decided to include both, but I’ll start with the positive. The new Lion King gets mixed reviews, but I was anxious to see what the realistic animation looked like and how it changed the film’s effectiveness. I was fascinated by the realistic animation, but I will have to go back and watch the original to make a fair comparison. But, no matter, it was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Nothing earth shattering, just enjoyment. Learning about the Trump plastic straws, however, almost sent me over the edge. Trying to get people to buy into the idea of getting rid of single-use plastic anything is not going to turn around climate change, but it is something that we need to do for our health and for the good of the environment. And it is something that even the youngest Americans can understand. The movement to get rid of plastic straws, a totally unnecessary item in the first place, has been gaining momentum. My grandchildren know to ask waitresses to not bring them plastic straws and this is helping them understand why single use plastic items are harmful to the environment. But our President has decided to take issue with this and Trump 2020 has just made almost half a million dollars through the sale of plastic straws. They claim ‘liberal’ paper straws don’t work. What does this say about our country? There are so many things being done by this administration that have much more serious consequences than using plastic straws. I can name at least five things that he did just today that have negative world-wide consequences. But to intentionally try to undermine the tiny little anti-plastic straw movement that has come to be an important thing young children can do to improve the environment just set me off. The man obviously knows his base and is obviously a great marketer. Just think of the progress that he could be making if he were working for the good of all people, for the good of a healthier environment.
I want to end by wishing my friend Alan Kanegsberg good luck. He is having a knee replacement tomorrow and I will be thinking of him. And I want to wish a happy birthday to my world traveling friend, Linda Stuart. Linda and I worked together in the Concord School District in New Hampshire. She and her husband Mike are now traveling around the world on their bicycles. They are currently biking north from Singapore through Malaysia. Sure hope Linda had a great day.
by Judy Handley | Aug 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 224: A Day in the Life
Date: Monday, August 12, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 86, Low 72 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was just a day in the life . . . lazy morning with the Goldpebbles, a short trip to the beach, lunch, Ollie’s violin lesson. I really enjoyed having a bit of time to reconnect with Sam after his week away at Scout camp. He has been working to earn the money to buy a Google phone and today was his first day to use it. He was one happy kid—growing up way too fast. When Heather got home, I visited with Karen Baranowski on my way home. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy day, so we will see what we can come up with to bring in a little sunshine.
by Judy Handley | Aug 11, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 223: Shopping and Cooking
Date: Sunday, August 11, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a marathon shopping and cooking day. I love my dark chocolate, but to get the organic 88% dark chocolate bars I like, I either have to drive to Whole Foods in Hyannis or order them from Amazon. There was a sale at Whole Foods in Hyannis that made each bar $1.50 less than ordering them online, so it was well worth the drive. I also picked-up an order for Sam at Old Navy and spent time at Home Depot checking out washers and dryers. I have lived without a washer or dryer for over a year, but I think it is time to buy. Once I returned home, I spent the rest of the day cooking. I made clam chowder to take next door to Shirley and Doris and I just finished a batch of ratatouille that I will can to save the taste of summer for a mid-winter day. The week coming up is the last full week of Camp Oma as the Goldstones head to Maine for ten days next Saturday. When they come home, they will be here for two days and then head to the Outer Cape for a long weekend of camping. Then it’s back to school.
by Judy Handley | Aug 10, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 222: Woods Hole Stroll and Legoland in England
Date: Saturday, August 10, 2019
Weather: Another Perfect Summer Day; High 83, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather has been spectacular recently, but it looks like we are in for cooler temperatures during the coming week. Tonight I had dinner at Heather and Jed’s and as the sun went down and the temperature dipped a bit, Heather said it felt like fall. Oh, no. Not so soon! None of us are ready to hear that just yet.
Today was the Woods Hole Stroll and I hopped on the trolley to go down and take a look around. On this day once a year, the science institutions in Woods Hole open up to the public. You can walk out onto the Woods Hole dock where there are displays showing off all of the different kinds of submersibles and other cutting edge technology. The Marine Biological Lab highlights some of the live animals of the sea, while down the street at NOAA they bring in ‘not-live’ specimens of all sorts of fish for public examination. And waterfront Marina Park is filled with display tents, one of them being a WCAI tent featuring the one, the only, Heather Goldstone of Living Lab fame. Heather’s on-air popularity makes her a bit of local super star of the Woods Hole science world. So proud of her.
Going backwards, my day started with a series of text messages with photos from Justin. He, along with Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, were in Windsor, England, at Legoland. There were in a part of Legoland that I think is called Miniland, a showcase of recreations of world landmarks. Absolutely amazing.
by Judy Handley | Aug 9, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 221: Falmouth Swim Meet
Date: Friday, August 9, 2019
Weather: Another Perfect Summer Day; High 89, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
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This afternoon, children who took swim lessons at one of Falmouth’s beaches this summer met at Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a swim meet. The students from each of the beaches competed in the Olympic-sized pool and Ollie was one of the students. Jonah and Sam could not attend due to their involvement in Scout and soccer camp this week, but Ollie proudly carried the Goldstone torch. And I was so very proud of him. When he first learned about the meet during swim lessons a couple of weeks ago, he was adamant that he would not compete. He has only been in a swimming pool a very few times in his life as we have no public pools here on the Cape and has never been in an Olympic-sized pool. But his swim instructor, Jacqueline, kept encouraging him and promised that she would be right there with him, so he finally decided this was something he really wanted to do. When we arrived and he saw the pool and all of the kids, I think he was terrified. There were no other kids from Menauhant in his age group, so he had to go it alone which made me as anxious as Ollie. But his older Menauhant friends cheered him on and when he completed his three competitions, he announced that this was one of the greatest things he has ever done. “It was awesome.” He is a tough little guy and declared after the meet that he will definitely compete next year. I give a lot of the credit to his instructor, Jacqueline. She obviously loves children and knew just the right way to encourage each of them. Thank you, Jacqueline!
