by Judy Handley | Apr 11, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 101: Evening of Jazz
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Weather: Beautiful Spring Day: High Temp 62, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Finally, we had a picture perfect and warm spring day! The daffodils and the forsythia are in bloom, so the ‘yellow’ season has officially begun. Glorious day! And tonight, I walked to the Coonemessett Inn for the 21st Annual Evening of Jazz featuring the Falmouth High School Jazz Ensemble plus a professional quartet. This evening is sponsored by the band parents as a fund raiser for the school music program. Jonah plays trombone and Ollie, even though he is still in middle school, plays saxophone, in the high school ensemble. I am biased, but I think it was a fabulous evening. The high school band director, Andrew Helwig, is also a professional musician, and he played saxophone with the professional quartet and was phenomenal. How lucky the students are to have him as their teacher. What a wonderful role model. He treats the students as professional musicians and so they play like a professional jazz ensemble, and you can feel the joy as they play. Great weather, great music, great day.
by Judy Handley | Apr 10, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 100: Day 100
Date: Friday, April 10, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 54, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
As I wrote the heading above, I realized it is day 100 of 2025. As an elementary teacher, I always loved day 100 because every student brought bags of 100 interesting things. After I finish writing this log, I am going to go write 100 words that describe Donald Trump just to amuse myself!
After a morning Indivisible Falmouth Steering Committee meeting, I spent the rest of the day working on various projects. The most interesting was going to the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum to catch up with Barbara Burgo, the co-founder and curator, who will be the speaker at the May Encore meeting. I wanted to talk to her about what Cape Verdean food she would serve the morning of program. She had great ideas and loaned me her cookbook. Now I just have to find members who will be willing to prepare and bring the food.
My sister Patsy is holding her own for now. The double infections, especially the infection in her bloodstream is what has us all most worried. So far, the Covid seems to be the least of our worries. While we worry, she spent her day sitting up in a recliner and walking about the room with a physical therapist. She looked ashen on Wednesday, but today, I am told, her color is back and she was all smiles. Day by day.
by Judy Handley | Apr 9, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 99: A Difficult Day
Date: Thursday, April 9, 2026
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 47, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My day started with a 6:30 am call from the nurse attending my sister in the hospital in North Carolina. She was refusing to drink water and nurse wanted me to talk to her to see if that would make a difference. I did and it did. So I put that issue on hold for a few hours while I was off to the April Newcomers-Encore combined program which I was in charge of. We had a huge crowd, I think the most well attended meeting since Covid. But then what should have been a truly wonderful Encore program this morning ended up being very trying due to technical difficulties. Ugh. I was so excited to finally have a program focused on the Wampanoag culture, but the wonderful program ended up to be a nightmare for me. The presenter, who I know to be top notch, had computer issues that stopped the entire program for at least 15 minutes while we did trouble shooting and then we had trouble with the Bluetooth connection to the church speaker system. It is behind me now, but it was a difficult and disappointing morning.
Then I got home to deal with my sister’s situation. First, I had to talk to a palliative care person from the hospital who was kindly trying to prepare me for the worst-case scenario with my sister. Then I talked to the doctor and got a full briefing. She has not two, but three strikes against her–bilaterial pneumonia, Covid, and now bacteremia or infection in the bloodstream. But somehow, her almost 93-year-old body is holding it together. Early today she was out of bed, sitting up in a chair, and “alert, talking, and laughing a little” according to my nephew who stopped by to visit. She is on multiple medications, but still her heart is strong, and her blood pressure is something we would all aspire to have. But the infection in the bloodstream is very troubling. The doctor explained that we must wait and see, take it hour by hour, day by day. Do I book and flight and go down now? Or do I wait and see how things go and fly down when she is released from the hospital and will need extra support? The doctor’s advice was to wait and see. So for now, that is what I am doing.
by Judy Handley | Apr 8, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 98: Long Distance Healthcare Advocate Day
Date: Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Weather: Mostly Sunny, but Cool; High Temp 43, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The update to last night’s log where I described my sister’s current health issue, things have progressed. First, it was pneumonia, then last night Covid was added, and today when the doctor saw her, her oxygen level was too low. I was on phone and text early, went to an Encore Board meeting, and then it was back home to get back on the phone. At 3 pm, the decision was made to have her transported to ER because of the low oxygen level. After a round of tests in the ER, they declared what we already knew. She does have bilateral pneumonia and she does have Covid. She needs hydration and oxygen, and they need to make sure the infection has not gotten into her bloodstream. So, they admitted her. This is going to be a tough battle for her. Thankfully, she has a hired companion who is willing to stay with her overnight in the hospital. For now, I am not going to fly down. But if things take a further turn for the worse, I will. For now, I am on stand-by.
by Judy Handley | Apr 7, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 97: Happy Birthday to Ziggy
Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Weather: A Little Rain, A Little Sunshine, Some Clouds; High Temp 50, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Happy 17th Birthday to Ziggy Milo Handley, my grandson who lives in Puerto Rico. I have five grandchildren in total, 3 grandsons here in Falmouth, and Ziggy and Coco in Puerto Rico. I talked to Ziggy briefly tonight and he told me stayed home from school today to celebrate and went out to a movie with friends tonight. Then I said to him that 17 sounds terribly old and he agreed! When Justin and family were visiting at the beginning of this year, I sensed from our conversations that Ziggy is thinking a lot about his future. What will he do? Where will he go? I caught him on camera more than once when he appeared to be in deep thought or looking at life through the lens of the new camera he got for Christmas.
I look forward to what the next year brings. Both Ziggy and Jonah will be seniors in high school next year. A year of big decisions. Happy birthday, Ziggy. Here’s to another wonderful year in the life!
I had an all-morning meeting today and then spent a great deal of my afternoon and evening dealing with my sister’s current health issues. I have had a week-long battle trying to get medication delivered to her that was prescribed last Wednesday. Don’t even ask why. But the bottom line is that the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, I think for a bacterial infection in her lungs. This afternoon, that medication still had not arrived. Long, long story. But just after I found out the medication still had not arrived, I got a call that she now has Covid. I have no idea if she had Covid last week and that was causing the coughing and congestion, or if she had pneumonia and now has Covid, or what. But I know her 92-year-old body has been battling hard. I have to wait until morning to talk to her doctor and I might have to go down to Charlotte to be with her. I hate the thought of flying right now, but it is a 14-hour drive and that doesn’t sound like fun either. Onward we go.
by Judy Handley | Apr 6, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 96: Quiet Monday
Date: Monday, April 6, 2026
Weather: High Temp 50, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
My only meeting today was a Falmouth Immigrant Rights Coalition bi-monthly (twice a month0 meeting on Zoom. I spent the rest of the day working on Indivisible and FIRC tasks, but I did it at a relaxed pace rather than the normal breakneck routine. Tonight I am at Heather and Jed’s with Ollie and Jonah. Tonight is Town Meeting, so H & J probably won’t be home until sometime between 11 and midnight. Both boys are in bed now, so I will head home and spend the rest of my evening with Shadow. Oops. Spoke too soon. Jonah just came downstairs for a bedtime snack, but I will be heading home soon.
One last thing. I have been waiting for a month now for the first daffodil to bloom in my yard. On March 8, the green shoots had barely broken through. Fast forward to yesterday. I really thought this one daffodil might bloom, but it did not. Today, it half-heartedly opened just a little, but I will call that the first flower of the ‘yellow’ season. The forsythia will come next. And I’m hoping warmer weather will tag along. Not complaining. Just sayin’.
