by Judy Handley | Jan 31, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 31: Rally on the Green and Dining-In Group
Date: Saturday, January 31, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 21, Low 16 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
WE had a great turnout for the weekly rally on the Green today. Lots of people despite the snow, lots of enthusiasm despite the despair.
I visited with Heather and Ollie after the rally. Jed and Jonah headed to Maine to ski/snowboard this weekend and Heather and Ollie are spending lots of time with friends. Then tonight I spent time with friends in my monthly dining-in group. In between activities, the only thing I got done was sifting through previously unread emails.
It looks like we are not going to the snow forecast for overnight tonight, just a bit of wind. If that forecast holds, at least I won’t be shoveling snow all day tomorrow!
by Judy Handley | Jan 30, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 30: Same, Same–Just Another Busy, Cold Winter Day
Date: Friday, January 30, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 17, Low 6 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today was more of the same–sunny and very cold weather with lots of tasks to keep me busy from morning to night. The day started with an Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee Zoom meeting. Our next monthly meeting is on Monday, February 9, and it was pointed out that we filled our current meeting location to the max last month and that we should search for a larger room. With all that has happened in Minnesota since our last meeting, we might expect even more people at the February meeting. So I spent much of the remainder of the day checking with the schools in town to see if we can use one of their rooms. And I also spent time figuring out how to adapt the activity I had planned for the February meeting so it will work with a larger group of people.
The search for a larger room was not as easy. I learned a lot and found there are multiple steps to getting approval to use a room in one of the public schools. I will continue that process on Monday. I also had to spend an hour at Sullivan Tire. One of the four new tires they put on my car two weeks ago has a slow leak and today they checked it out. They found the new valve was leaking but not because the valve was faulty. They think they might have solved the problem for now, but in 4-5 days the low tire pressure light comes on again, I will need to buy a new tire rim as that is the root of the problem. Then there was grocery shopping and making dessert for my dining-in group for tomorrow evening. The theme is Italian and I decided I would make tiramisu. That was also not as easy as I anticipated. I had purchased all the ingredients, but when I got home and read the recipe carefully, I realized it contains raw egg yolks. I really didn’t like that idea even though you can cook the egg yolks carefully in a double boiler to a certain temperature to make them safe. I found an alternate recipe for chocolate tiramisu that called for no eggs and decided to go with that. But it required more heavy whipping cream than I had bought, so that meant another trip to the store. It was 9 pm when I finally sat down to eat dinner and watch one more Indivisible Zoom I missed yesterday. All in a day in the life.
by Judy Handley | Jan 29, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 29: Car Repairs, Meetings, Uva, and a Grand Surprise
Date: Thursday, January 29, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 26, Low 7 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My Honda Fit got new front brakes, a new catalytic converter and associated pipes, and front headlight ‘regeneration’ today. While that was being done, I had a meeting at my house about future workshops/trainings that the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition and Indivisible Falmouth will have, and then tonight attended a two hour Zoom training on Noncooperation 101 with the Freedom Fighters. In between, I drove to Mashpee to a Newcomers/Encore event at Uva, a new age wine bar. It is self-serve. You get a bracelet to wear with a card that you tap on a selection plate and then put your wine glass under the wine spigot of the wine of choice, press a button to indicate the amount, and instantly, your glass is filled. Some members of my wine group were there, and we sat together for a bit to visit. It was all great fun.
It was when I got home from the wine bar that I got the greatest surprise of the day. While I was out drinking wine, my new neighbor, Billy, had shoveled two additional parking spaces in the driveway and had shoveled the path I had told him I was going to shovel all around the yard so Shadow and I can walk the loop instead of walking in the road. Oh, the wonderful energy of youth. Thank you, Billy!!!
The weather report is simply cold with snow on the way Saturday night into Sunday. It is truly winter in New England. And I can’t end this log without wishing a happy birthday to my sister Margie who would have turned 98 today if she were still living. She would have celebrated in a piano bar where she would have been tap dancing on the table tops. She was the ultimate party girl. Do you think they have piano bars in heaven?
by Judy Handley | Jan 28, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 28: Workday, Evening Vigil
Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Cold; High Temp 24, Low 10 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
So proud to be a member of this community and of Indivisible Falmouth and the Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition. Tonight’s vigil in front of Town Hall honored the courage of the people of Minnesota and acknowledged the grief we share for the lives lost on the ‘Streets of Minneapolis’. Afterwards, a statement was read before the Select Board thanking the town of Falmouth for their strong support and urging its continuance. It was just the right place to be tonight to give one that wonderful, warm feeling of community despite the frigid weather and the horrible happenings in Minnesota and around the country.
My day was spent in a Nominating Committee meeting for Encore and doing some planning work on my computer for Indivisible Falmouth. Shadow and I also spent some time outside starting to clear a walking path through the yard. When he runs on top of the snow, he continually falls through. And even though the town has done its best to keep the sidewalks plowed, there are places where I just have to walk in the street. A walking path in the yard sounds a lot safer for now!
by Judy Handley | Jan 27, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 27: Living in Winter Wonderland
Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2026
Weather: Sunny, Then Cloudy Late Day; High Temp 24, Low 12 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The snow we have is definitely going to be with us for the foreseeable future, and now there is the forecast of another snowstorm on Saturday night going into Sunday. Not as much snow as winter storm Fern brought our way, but it will certainly add to our winter wonderland. A little work, a little play, that was today. But the big news was that the driveway finally got plowed!
