by Judy Handley | Jun 27, 2025 | Sailing Logs Year 1 |
2025 Life Logs, Day 177: Beach Afternoon
Date: Friday, June 27, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 68, Low 61 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The high temp for today was 68 degrees F. I had to do a fair bit of convincing to get Ollie to go to the beach, but once he knew friends were going, it became easier. Still, he was sure it was too cold to get into the water. Once we got to the beach, he was certain he wouldn’t go in. But good old peer pressure did the trick. I ended up being the who didn’t go in, but I had a great afternoon reading. But even though I barely moved all day, am totally exhausted tonight. I am calling it a night and headed for bed before I fall asleep siting here at my computer. More tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jun 26, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 176: Happy 16th Birthday to Jonah
Date: Thursday, June 26, 2025
Weather: Overcast with Sprinkles All Day Long; High Temp 73, Low 60 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I have been so incredibly busy that I have not posted a log for the past four days. I will be posting those logs in the next couple of days, but here is a quick summary. Sunday was Jonah’s birthday party with friends at R1, an entertainment center in Rhode Island. Monday was a beach day with Ollie and his friend Seton and my nephew Rex and his wife Diana from West Virgina arrived for a four-day visit. Tuesday, Rex, Diana, and I took off for a day trip to Provincetown. It was the hottest day of the year to date, but that didn’t deter our exploration of the town and the Cape Cod National Seashore. On Wednesday, I had an Encore Board meeting in the morning, but I made it to Heather and Jed’s in time to give Sam a farewell hug before he took off on a European adventure with friends. Then Rex, Diana, and I were off to Stony Beach for a relaxing afternoon. This morning, I woke up asking, “Where in the world is Sam?” Before I went to bed last night, Heather let me know that Sam, Robert, and Ethan had arrived in Amsterdam and were waiting for their flight to Prague. Early this morning we heard from Robert that they had arrived in Prague and were on the bus to explore the downtown area. They will be in Prague until Monday when they travel on to Freiburg, Germany.
That brings me to today. Rex and Diana left around 10 am travelling to Niagara Falls before returning home to West Virginia on Saturday. After they left, I spent the rest of my morning on my computer doing Library Trustee work and general catching up. I checked in with Ollie, but he really didn’t want to do anything today. Heather was working from home, so I left him there, checked in at the library to see if there were additional checks to write, attended the weekly Indivisible meeting at 3 pm, and before I knew it, it was time to go to Heather and Jed’s to celebrate Jonah’s birthday.
Sixteen years ago today, Mark and I took Sam to the Falmouth Hospital to meet his little brother. We spent that summer here before returning to Windbird in Australia and then didn’t see Jonah again until we finally sailed Windbird into Woods Hole just in time for his second birthday. We had left a baby and returned to a chubby cheeked, curly blonde-haired happy toddler.
Tonight, during dinner, we all shared some of our favorite memories of Jonah’s early years. My favorite story was about walking up and down the street with Jonah after a rain. He would put on his little astronaut suit and boots and pretend we were walking on the moon. He would announce when there was hot lava and we would have to tip toe at a run to get to safety.
Heather and Jed recalled his first birthday that was centered around tubs of colorful balls. He had loved playing with balls from the time he could hold one in his little hands. That hasn’t changed. Soccer is the love of his life.
Jonah loves soccer, but he also loves birthday cake. For tonight, he dreamed up a recipe and Heather executed the directions. It was a very moist, triple chocolate cake baked in two round pans. The rounds were sliced in half across the middle and warmed raspberry jam was spread on the layers. Each round was then reassembled with a layer of chocolate ganache between the two rounds. Then it was covered with chocolate buttercream icing. Decadent and delicious. Happy 16th birthday to Jonah!
by Judy Handley | Jun 21, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 171: Happy Birthday to Jo on the First Full Day of Summer
Date: Saturday, June 21, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 75, Low 65 degrees
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Summer solstice happened last night around 10:30 pm ET. In Falmouth, we consider the last day of school the beginning of summer, but officially today was that first full day of summer 2025. And it was my daughter-in-law Jo’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Jo! Along with Ziggy and Coco, Jo will soon be heading to England to visit family for two weeks. I am sure she will have birthday celebrations there, but I hope she had a special day today. I don’t know if it was related to Jo’s birthday, but yesterday Ziggy cut his hair. I honestly don’t know when the last time was that he had his hair cut, but it has been very many years, if ever. A new look, for sure!
I did not go to the weekly rally on the Green today. It is so important that we keep attending these rallies, but I had to take a pass today. I had a load of things that I really needed to do to get ready for my nephew Rex and his wife Diana to visit beginning on Monday with no other time to do it. I’ll be back at it next Saturday.
Tomorrow Jonah is having his 16th birthday party with a few friends at R1 Indoor Karting Entertainment Center in Lincoln, RI. I had originally planned to go to New Hampshire tomorrow to see my niece Candi and her family. Rex and Diana will be arriving there tomorrow around noon and we were going to have mini-family reunion. But in the end, the number of hours that I would be driving just made no sense to be there for just two hours. I will visit later this summer when I can spend the night. So now, I can go to Jonah’s karting party. I will watch, not ride in the go-karts!
by Judy Handley | Jun 20, 2025 | 2025 Sailing Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 170: First Day of Camp Oma 2025, Dinner at the Dearman’s
Date: Friday, June 20, 2025
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 79, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Camp Oma this summer is just Oma and Ollie. Jonah might join us once in a while, but he has summer soccer and is working at Corner Cycle. His summer is packed. Ollie also has 12 days in July when he will be at Mass Maritime attending ASLP ( Advanced Studies + Leadership Program). But we have two weeks prior to that and two weeks after before the Goldstones head to Maine in August. Sam has definitely graduated from Camp Oma. He is headed to Europe on Wednesday for an 18-day self-guided tour of chosen spots in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Netherlands, France, and Italy. He begins the trip with two of his best friends, Robert and Ethan, and then they will pick up Sebastian in the Netherlands when he finishes school the first of July. When Sam returns, he will work at Corner Cycle until he leaves for Groningen University in the Netherlands around the 20th of August. That leaves just Ollie and me. The very first day of Camp Oma was on June 25, 2012, thirteen years ago. That first year it was just Sam and Jonah. Ollie started joining us the next year. My how those Goldpebbles have grown!
For the first day of Camp Oma 2025, Ollie and I picked up Ollie’s friend Paul and headed to Falmouth Heights Beach where the two boys brought lunch from the beach food truck. Ollie swears it is the best food option for lunch in Falmouth. And maybe that is true for 13-year-olds. Loaded fries topped with cheese and chicken bites and bacon bits. Then we headed to Stony Beach in Woods Hole, where we met up with three other friends. Simon, Seton, and Jack. The five boys frolicked in the water for two hours non-stop, riding the waves on boogie boards. Ollie was easy to spot in his bright yellow swim trunks and lime green boogie board. Even though it has not been that hot, the water was delightfully ‘warm enough’. I won’t say it was warm, but after the first shock of chill, it was great. Summer has arrived.
Tonight, the Goldstones and I went to Andrew and Lara Dearman’s for dinner. The Dearman’s are the couple from New York who bought the house next two doors down from the cottage where I lived prior to moving here. It is a vacation home for them. Because their three children are the same ages as Heather and Jed’s three, and since they arrived during the Covid years when we spent many Camp Oma days kayaking and playing in the water of the Eel River, the six kids always had great fun together. They are now a great deal taller than they were in the summer of 2021 when they met, but last night that didn’t stop them from acting just like they did four years ago. A very rambunctious six-some.
by Judy Handley | Jun 19, 2025 | 2025 Life Logs |
2025 Life Logs, Day 169: Juneteenth
Date: Thursday, June 19, 2025
Weather: Mostly Sunny AM, Beautiful Afternoon; High Temp 72, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Juneteenth was observed in Falmouth this afternoon …
… with proclamations, drumming, speeches, storytelling, traditional food, and music. The Chair and Vice-chair of the Falmouth Select Board, along with the Town Manager, represented Falmouth’s town government, with Heather reading the town’s proclamation.
There were short, but very informative speeches, giving us the historic background of Juneteenth, a pamphlet full of background information, and student-made posters on the lawn that reminded us of our responsibility to uphold freedom for all. There were probably about 200 people who attended for various lengths of time during the 3-hour ceremony, but I hope that next year there will be even more. I think when people hear how impressive this year’s ceremony was, everyone will want to come. Congratulations to the Juneteenth Committee, led by Henry St. Julien, and Paul Glass. I hope I have that right. Paul Glass welcomed us and gave the event explanation. The emcee was Dr. Seyana Mawusi and Henry St. Julien gave the closing remarks.
I started my day at Soares Flower Garden Nursery on a hunt for native plants. I found plants, but I also had an over-the-top cicada experience. When I drove into the parking lot of Soares, the sound of the cicadas was almost deafening, much louder than I have heard in other areas. Cicadas were flying everywhere, landing on the plants and on my head and arms. I drove from there up Rt. 150 to Mashpee and the sound followed me all the way. Plus, I felt like I was being dive-bombed by cicadas. I was so glad I had made the trip. Otherwise, I would have missed this experience. If I am still here in 17 years, I don’t think I’ll be driving down the highway with the cicadas! I also visited the seasonal nursery in Waquoit and hit their 50 percent off everything sale. So, I came home with more plants.
Tonight, I joined Heather, Jed, and Ollie for dinner at Liam’s while the Falmouth High School jazz band was playing as a warm up for the jazz band that plays there every Thursday night. The high school jazz band warmed up for an hour and then played for a full hour. They had people clapping and dancing in the aisles. So, proud that Jonah is part of this.
Tomorrow is my first Camp Oma day of the summer. Ollie and a friend want me to take them to the beach, and I can’t wait.
