by Judy Handley | Apr 27, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 117: Walking (and riding) the Freedom Trail
Date: Monday, April 27, 2026
Weather: Gorgeous, Sunny Day; High Temp 58, Low 41 degrees F (Boston)
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
What a gorgeous spring day. I spent my day in Boston where the temperature neared 60 degrees F, but back home here in Falmouth it was 62 degrees. Tomorrow looks like more of the same, so enjoy the warmth and sunshine while you can.
I went with the Newcomers and Encore field trip group to Boston today to walk the downtown portion of the Freedom Trail. We had a terrific guide posing as the Irish wife of Richard Copley, Mary Singleton, whom Richard Copley brought to this country in the 1730’s. He died in 1738, and Mary remarried a Boston artist named Henry Pelham who was a Boston painter, engraver, civil engineer, and cartographer. Her son from the first marriage to Richard Copley, John Singleton Copley, became an artist like his step-father. But John Singleton Copley became a renowned American portrait painter. Copley Square in Boston is named for him.
So, we had a gorgeous, warm day and a fantastic guide. All of us were very familiar with the places we visited along the Freedom Trail, but our guide brought history to life for us. When we got to the Old City Hall behind King’s Church, our guide positioned herself beside a bronze statue of an adorable donkey. She didn’t talk about the donkey, but I became fascinated with the statue and looked up its history. The donkey was bought in Florence. Italy, in the 1990’s by a man from Boston named Roger Webb. He saw it when browsing in a Florence art store filled with statues for anyone hoping to take a piece of Italy home with them. He thought the donkey was so cute and lovable that it belonged somewhere special in Boston. He thought of the Freedom Trail because he thought it would be a fun distraction for children accompanying their parents on the walking tour. He wanted it placed in front of the Old City Hall using the excuse that the donkey represented the Democratic Party—the party of affiliation of many Boston mayors. At first this was rejected, but he finally got his way. Children do love it, and today I decided I loved it enough that I climbed up on its back just as many children do. That was definitely the highlight of the tour for me, bearing out the fact that I am still just a kid at heart.
by Judy Handley | Apr 26, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 116: ‘Tying Off the Ends’ Kind of Day
Date: Sunday, April 26, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Very Little Rain; High Temp 53, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Some days I end up “chasing my tail” but today I caught my tail and “tied off the ends” of a few things–an upcoming field trip I am leading, a couple of Indivisible projects, a long-overdue issue of where I will be purchasing Nexcare and Heartguard for Shadow now that I have switched vets, and things related to my sister’s care. The latter took the most time. I needed to order some new pants and new blouses for her, and it was not an easy task. She had gained weight, no longer 77 pounds wearing an extra small petite, but still petite. I ended up ordering 3 different sizes of everything and will just return what doesn’t fit. I have also decided to try and get her released from the rehab and back to her home at Terra Bella sooner rather than later. That will entail a lot of phone calls to follow up on emails I wrote today. It was certainly not an exciting day, but I did get a few things done.
Tomorrow I am off to Boston on a field trip. It is a guided walking tour of the downtown historic sights. I have ‘led’ this tour for friends and family, but I have never really been on an ‘official’ tour. So, it should be fun. And now I am going to go in and turn on the television, like I did last night, and see what crazy things might have happened in this country of chaos today.
by Judy Handley | Apr 25, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 115: Protests and Films That Matter
Date: Saturday, April 25, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny, Not Warm; High Temp 53, Low 339 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today was the ‘Communities Not Cages’ National Day of Action to stop Ice Warehouse Detention. I am sure you are aware that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are trying to expand their existing detention network beyond jails, prisons, and military bases by buying up large warehouse and industrial spaces for mass detention. Current reporting shows that they are actively scouting, purchasing, and planning to convert approximately 23 warehouses across the nation to detain between 1,500 and 10,000 in EACH warehouse. Warehouses are for goods, not people, and citizens are pushing back on this. Some sales have been stopped, and if that hasn’t worked, renovations have been stopped or slowed way down by protesting townspeople. There is no current threat yet here on the Cape, but we protest to increase awareness and in solidarity with others on the frontline of this battle around the country..
Later in the afternoon I headed to the Waquoit Congregational Church to see two Oscar-nominated short documentaries on immigration and hate, A-Lein and Stranger at the Gate. Both are worth the watch. You can watch A-Lein for free on Vimeo and Stranger at the Gate on YouTube.
Then this evening, I had an Indian dinner with the Goldstones. Ollie got home from his spring break in Florida just in time for dinner. He reported that he had a great time and shared photos he took. One of the highlights, and there were many, was getting to watch the night sky light up like sunrise their first night there. At 3 am, they watched a launch at Cape Canaveral from their AirBnB just a few miles away. That is a memory that won’t be forgotten. And Jonah shared thoughts about the colleges he visited in New Hampshire and Rhode Island this week while we watched the first half of the Inter Miamai versus New England Revolutions soccer game.
I left at half-time, but when I got home, I turned on the television to watch the second half of the soccer game. But I never got to the soccer game. When I turned on the television, I found myself watching people hiding under their tables at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Naturally, that caught my attention. I spent the rest of the evening following that story as it developed. When I first started watching, all anyone could report is that the dinner had just begun when security came rushing into the dinner to whisk away the President and First Lady and the Vice President. Then Cabinet members were escorted out and then it was announced that the loud noise heard by some was gunshot and the perpetrator had been caught. Thankfully, no one attending the dinner was hurt and only one agent was shot at, but his vest protected him. It was not clear who fired the shot. There was not a lot of detail tonight, but we will hear plenty more about this tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Apr 24, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 114: Taking Care of Business
Date: Friday, April 24, 2026
Weather: Partly Sunny, Not Warm; High Temp 54, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
I only had two ‘work’ related jobs I needed to do today, so I thought it was going to be an easy day. But, not so. I only got one of the two jobs done because I spent most of the morning and early afternoon dealing with issues related to the care (or lack of care) of my sister who is in a rehab facility. Communication with the nursing staff there has been almost non-existent despite the many voice mail messages I have left. I have spoken with the head of PT, and the social case worker (who deals with making sure they are paid) has called me three times. But not one call to the nursing staff or the nursing supervisor has been returned. But since Patsy seemed to be doing fine, I finally just stopped calling. Until today when the paid companion let me know that Patsy’s blood sugar numbers have been steadily climbing and today were well on their way to 400. I started making calls and three hours and many calls later, I was able to get someone to do something about this. Okay, enough ranting about this. It is just so frustrating.
By the time I could go outside and play with Shadow, it was windier, and thus felt colder, than it did early this morning. I wore a lightweight jacket for this morning’s walk, but this afternoon, I needed my winter coat and hat back on. The weather for the foreseeable future looks the same, so the winter coat will stay readily available on the coat rack for now.
The happy news for the day is that Jonah has had a busy spring break doing college tours. Jed took him and his friend Kaiden to tour the campus of the University of New Hampshire on Wednesday and yesterday Heather took them both to tour the University of Rhode Island. Then today Heather took Jonah and fellow soccer players to a tournament in Weymouth (near Boston). Ollie returns home from his Scouting trip to Florida tomorrow. And I got a class picture from Justin today of Coco and her fellow eighth graders. They are graduating from middle school and moving on to high school next year. Coco is easy to find in the photo. She is only one of two blondes.
by Judy Handley | Apr 23, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 113: A Little Sunshine and Warmth
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2026
Weather: Overcast and Chilly; High Temp 66, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
A little sunshine and warmth goes a long way. The respiratory issue I have been having continues, but the sunshine and warmth sure improved by mental state. In my yard, it is the height of the ‘yellow season’ when the daffodils and forsythia are in their glory. The sunshine today lit up the forsythia making it glow.
I don’t have azaleas or tulip or cherry trees in my yard, but when I walked down the side street today, I saw that the “pink season” is here as well. It was warmer today than forecast, so it was an unexpected pleasure.
I worked on a Library Trustee project on my computer all day, but around 4 pm, I finally went outside to enjoy the sunshine with Shadow and plant some pansies in the planter by the front door. That will make things look brighter even on cloudy days. I also took time to get on Facebook to see all of the photos that have been posted from Ollie’s Boy Scout Troop 42 showing their adventures in Florida. On Monday they hung out at home and frolicked in the pool, sat in ithe hot tub, and did a lot of eating.
On Tuesday, the visited NASA and it looks like they took the full tour. In the photos, Ollie definitely looks like he has the “right stuff.”
And then yesterday, they visited the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Fun, fun.
by Judy Handley | Apr 22, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 112: Happy Earth Day 2026
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Weather: Overcast and Chilly; High Temp 47, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
On Wednesday, April 22, 56 years ago today, the very first Earth Day was spawned by a national “teach-in” that brought out 20 million Americans. That was in 1970 and 10% of the population at the time participated. A U.S. senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, was the mastermind behind Earth Day, along with an activist name Denis Hayes and Rep. Pete McCloskey from San Mateo in California. The 20 million people on that day protested against industrial pollution, oil spills, and ecological destruction.
Fast forward four years to April 22, 1974. On that day, Mark and I signed the contract to buy 10 acres of forest land in northern Idaho to begin our Back-to-the-Land experiment. We cut down cedar trees to build a log cabin, put the ridge pole in place on August 8th of that year, the day Richard Nixon resigned.
But by Earth Day 1975 we had abandoned our first attempt. Forest land is not ideal for growing food! We went on to buy 10 acres in northern Minnesota and built another home. And then on to southern West Virginia where we bought 40 acres and built a walkout basement with the two-story log home atop.
A decade after signing the contract for the land in Idaho, by Earth Day of 1984, we abandoned the idea of self-sufficient living on a small farm. But never once have I ever regretted that decade of living on the land and giving our children those years living so close to Mother Earth.
I’ll never forget the first winter we lived in West Virgina and had two baby lambs living in our bedroom because they had pneumonia. Heather and Justin thought it was the coolest thing ever! Or the spring in Minnesota when Heather went out into the sled dog lot and crawled into the doghouse where our Siberian Husky named Natashia had newborn puppies. Or letting a three-year-old Justin forage for berries for breakfast, once running back to the house with the report that a copperhead was wrapped around the raspberry bush. Was I a negligent mother because I let my children have these freedoms? I don’t think so, even though it is chilling for me to think about what could have happened. I’ll have to ask them what they think.
Well, on this Earth Day, a full 52 years after signing the contract for those 10 acres in northern Idaho, that daughter of mine launched a new podcast for Woodwell Climate called “Not a Climate Scientist.” In these podcasts, she is giving voice to common people who are acutely aware that climate change is a real thing. They are collecting data, just not scientifically ‘approved’ empirical data. They are reporting what they are experiencing. I am brand new as podcast subscriber, but I just Googled ‘YouTube Not a Climate Scientist’ and her first three podcasts came up—a conversation with a rancher, a fire chief, and a climate therapist. Check it out.
So back to Earth Day 2026 … I attended a climate strike on Main Street. It was organized by a young woman named Madison and Indivisible Falmouth put our support behind her. It was disappointing how few people were there, but I was so happy that my friends Karen and Peter Baranowski braved the truly chilly weather to join us. I hope Madison will not be deterred by the low turnout. She is doing good work and we will just have to persist. Then tonight I attended a film screening of Leslie Jonas’ new film, Climate Voices. Heather was one of the voices in the film and I watched with pride. Both of my children have a deep connection to the land, both in different ways, but both dedicated to doing what they can to improve our time on this precious planet Earth. That makes me a very happy mama on Earth Day 2026.
