by Judy Handley | Sep 1, 2025 | Cape Cod, USA |
2025 Life Logs, Day 244: My Favorite Month
Date: Monday, September 1, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 72, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I know it makes no sense that my favorite season of the year is summer. I love warm, sunny days of summer. But my favorite month of the year is September. As a child, I loved the beginning of school on the day after Labor Day … but don’t tell my grandchildren that. That love of the first day of school followed me into adulthood when I became a teacher and found the first day of school each year to be the beginning of a wonderful adventure with a new group of students. When I was in junior high school, I loved the fall nighttime football games with just a bit of chill in the air. And I loved, and still love, the beauty of the changing colors of fall leaves. “The falling leaves drift by the window. The autumn leaves of red and gold.” As a child, I would find pieces of colorful material and wave them in the air as I danced to that song first made popular in 1945 before I was born. As I grew into an adult, I celebrated September by having both of my children in that month. It was always a happy month for me. Then in 2016, Mark died on September 11. That could have taken away my love for September, but I did not let that happen. Every September 11, I celebrate his life and the wonderful life we had together, making September a time of remembering, a time of contemplation on what comes next in my life. Welcome September!
This afternoon we had a Workers Over Billionaires Labor Day rally on the Green. It was well attended, and the speakers were good. I was so happy, but surprised, to see Heather there. The weather was overcast, and they decided not to go sailing but to just hang out on the boat. That allowed her the time to come in to check out the rally on the Green. I drove to the Green with friends Jane Woodin and Joanie Thompson. I caught of photo fo Jane holding my favorite sign–Democracy Requires Our Participation. Join Us.
Then tonight I fixed dinner and delivered it to the Goldstone’s. It was our annual dinner on the night before the first day of school. But school started today for Sam in Groningen. I sent him a text this morning wishing him a good first day of classes. He texted back that his first class was in 45 minutes. I hope he had a good day, but I found out from Heather tonight that he has come down with a fever and sore throat like so many of the other students in his housing unit. Hopefully it is not Covid, but just a common cold.
by Judy Handley | Aug 31, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 243: Misadventure at the Great Harbor Landing
Date: Sunday, August 31, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 71, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
On this last day of August, I had a little ‘misadventure’ at the Great Harbor Landing in Woods Hole late this afternoon. Heather and Jed’s sailboat, Ardenna, is moored in Great Harbor in Woods Hole. She and Jed went to the boat earlier today, and I took Jonah and Ollie to join them just after 5 pm this afternoon. They are all spending the night on the boat in the anchorage and going out tomorrow. So, now back to the landing. The Great Habor Landing is a boat ramp and alongside is a long public dock where big trucks come in to pick up the catch of local commercial fishermen. The landing is beside the aquarium parking lot, and I have driven in there many times when Mark and I lived aboard in Woods Hole and when dropping the boys at the aquarium. So, it is familiar territory, but is often busy with boats going in and out of the water and trucks driving onto the dock. It was especially busy this afternoon on this Labor Day Weekend.
So, very carefully, I drove up to the beginning of the public dock and parked a little off to the side to let Jonah and Ollie out to meet Jed who was coming in by dinghy to pick them up. When we saw Jed, we walked out on the dock as there was no room for him to come to the lower landing dock. The boys climbed down and got in the dinghy and off they went. Mission accomplished. Or so I thought.
I went back to the car and started backing out of the parking area. There was a truck pulling in, so I decided to turn sharply to the right toward the boat ramp, trying to do a U turn so I could drive out rather than backing. I thought I had made the U turn just fine, when all of sudden, I am over the raised curb. I had badly misjudged and, THUNK, my driver’s side front wheel went over the curb and the car stopped dead as the body of the car was sitting on top of the curb and the front wheel hanging in mid-air because of the drop off down to the ramp. Thankfully, Falmouth Harbor Master Chuck Martinson was sitting in his vehicle making sure there were no idiot drivers like me causing a traffic hazard on the landing. As I got out of the car to check my situation, he walked over to help. He tried to make me feel better by saying I am certainly not the first person to misjudge and go over the edge between the parking lot and the landing. Still, I felt pretty stupid.
I was getting ready to call Triple AAA when he said that since this was a traffic hazard, he would call the tow truck. He said Triple AAA could take multiple hours to come on a holiday weekend. So, in less than an hour, the tow truck came. The tow truck driver was great and after a few tries, he found a safe way to lift the front of the car up just enough that he could get in my car and back it away from the edge. He drove the car around the parking area and said he thought it was fine, but a second harbor patrolman asked me to drive down the street and make a right and left turn to make sure the car was reacting normally. I did and it seemed fine, so I was free to go. I had let Heather know what had happened in case I couldn’t drive my car. I was going to borrow their van. She was on the boat by herself as Jed had taken the boys out for a ride in the dinghy. Just as I started to drive off, I got a text message saying Jed had returned and she and Ollie were on the dock, coming to make sure things were alright. I told them the tow truck driver and the patrolman both thought the car was safe to drive, but Heather was a bit hesitant. But I promised to drive safely and left. Actually, I was also a bit nervous that something could go wrong, so I think I held my breath all the way home. I surely didn’t want to break down on the Woods Hole Road, blocking the already heavy traffic getting off the ferry and heading into Falmouth. It is a narrow two-lane road with no way to pull off. I made it home just fine, took a deep breath, and promised myself that I will take the car in to have it checkout out on Tuesday, or at least before I drive it to Boston on Friday to pick up Justin from the airport. Whew! Things could have been a lot worse. As the saying goes, all is well that ends well, but I could have done without this drama today!
by Judy Handley | Aug 30, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 242: Summer Day with a Fall Chill in the Air
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Cooler; High Temp 70, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
School starts on Tuesday, which is a definite sign that fall is coming. But we still have 22 days of summer left until the fall equinox on September 22. So, it is time to savor every day of warmth and sunshine.
I spent my early morning washing the cover for a chair in Ollie’s new bedroom. I tried using upholstery cleaner, but that didn’t work. So I removed the foam and put it in the washing machine. I then put it on the back deck to dry in the sun while I went to the Green for the Saturday Standout for Democracy. On the way, I picked up a friend who lives in the neighborhood. Joanie Thompson had foot surgery two weeks ago. Walking long distances are still not easy for her, so I offered to drive her and drop her off at the entrance. I then went to the nearby municipal parking lot and walked to the Green. We have now formed a Falmouth chapter of Indivisible and today we were passing out a flyer announcing that.
After taking Joanie home, I went home to walk with Shadow and eat lunch. Then I was off to the laundromat to wash Sam’s comforter. It had been sitting in a laundry basket in my dining room since he left, so I decided it was time to get it washed and stored away. I had to take it to the laundromat because of its size. They have bigger machines than the ones we have at home. While it was washing, I ran errands. And while it was drying, I drove down to the beach to sit and enjoy the late afternoon sunshine.
On my way home, I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to deliver the comforter and Ollie’s chair cover and to catch up with Heather after her trip to the Netherlands. She showed me photos she had taken and helped me better understand the lay of the land. I think most of us think about dikes when we talk about the Netherlands. Almost 60 percent of the country is at or below sea level, so there is water everywhere. The 26% of the land below sea level was reclaimed from the sea and lakes through drainage and dike construction. The Dutch are definitely the world’s go-to water management experts as the rely on an extensive system of dunes, dikes, dams, and pumping stations to keep the water out. I really want to learn more about this very interesting country while my grandson is living there.
by Judy Handley | Aug 30, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 241: All Over the Place
Date: Friday, August 29, 2025
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds, Evening Rain; High Temp 75, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
This was one of those days when the “make plans, then life happens” rule was in effect. I would go to do something, then suddenly plans were changed, and I was off in another direction. I was all over the place, but it was a good day.
The best news of the day is that Heather made it home, but much later than planned. Jed and Ollie were going to pick her up at Logan and they were going out to dinner. Jonah couldn’t go as he had soccer practice, so he and I were going to do something for dinner together. But Heather only made it from Amsterdam to Montreal, and then thunderstorms in Boston delayed the flight once, then once again. So, the dinner plans were nixed and Jed went to pick her up later in the evening. The last I heard, they were getting home around 11 pm.
I worked with Ollie today to get his clothes moved into his new room and organized on the closet shelves, and to move his ‘nest’ from the futon bed in his current room to the bed in what was Sam’s room. That required a trip to the store to buy a new mattress cover and doing a bit of laundry. Jed worked all during the week to make wall repairs and repaint and to move Ollie’s desk and other things in. So, with Jed, Ollie, and I all working on it bit by bit during the week, by day’s end today, Ollie was fully moved in. The goal was to have it done before Heather got home and we made it.
Ollie decided to go on a mid-day fishing expedition with his friend Seton, so I took a lunch break and went to visit a friend who had foot surgery two weeks ago. I had offered to walk her dog for her, but she never got in touch. When I went over today, I walked Archie to my house and then walked Shadow and Archie back to the friend’s house. I had not planned to stay and talk, but we ended up talking for more than hour.
Not much more to report other than the fact that we actually got a bit of rain tonight, along with some thunder and lightning. It rained hard for about 4-5 minutes and then settled into a gentle rain. Much needed, but certainly not enough to get us out of the drought we are in.
by Judy Handley | Aug 28, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 240: Water Wizz with Ollie and Friends
Date: Thursday, August 28, 2025
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 72, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today was the end of summer celebration with Ollie and his friends Seton and Simon. I drove them to Water Wizz Waterpark across the bridge in Wareham. We arrived at 11 am and left just before the place closed at 6 pm. Three 13-year-olds can, indeed, spend seven hours in the water and still not want to go home.
They went down the huge slides, played in the lazy river, and frolicked in the wave pool, over and over and over, and only stopped twice to eat lunch and later ice cream.
I rode the lazy river a couple of times, but otherwise I spent the day reading and relaxing. It was a much needed break in what has been a very busy schedule recently. Ollie and these two friends are a delightful trio and are totally self-sufficient. My only job was to remind them to put on sunscreen, which they resist doing and only do a halfway job when they do it. But I tried.
When Heather left Groningen today to head to Amsterdam, Sam was getting ready to go to welcome events for new students. I know how hard it must have been for her to leave him, but she feels good about all they got accomplished in the past week and proud of Sam in his new role as college student. And Sam seems very happy in this new environment. So, maybe leaving was not as hard as she anticipated. We’ll find out when she gets home tomorrow night.
