by Judy Handley | Apr 14, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 104: A Taste of Summer
Date: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
Weather: Sunny and Summer Warm; High Temp 75, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
The record high in Falmouth for this day is 81 degrees F. Today was only 75 but it felt really great—more like summer than spring. I got up this morning knowing it was going to be warmer today, but I still put on a lightweight thermal knit shirt. I headed out for my morning walk with Shadow and by the time I got home, I was literally sweating. Off came the thermal knit and on with a tank top and a long-sleeved blouse. That was much better! Unfortunately, I had to spend most of the rest of the day inside, but every time I went out with Shadow, it was sheer delight. Plus I opened up the house and let the fresh air sweep through. It was wonderful.
Being hot this morning was not my only early problem. I woke up feeling just awful. I have developed a serious cough, but no other symptoms other than sinus drainage.. No temperature. Negative Covid test. No runny nose. I took the first Ibuprofen I have taken since just before my back surgery in January of 2024. I had so many things to do today and needed a little help. The Ibuprofen did help and on I went.
My first stop was my book club. The book this month was Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray. The book is just average historical fiction literature, but its greatness comes from getting you acquainted with one of the most accomplished women in US history. She was the very first woman ever appointed to serve in a US President’s cabinet, making her the first Secretary of Labor. FDR saw her brilliance and persuaded her to abandon her devotion to working for Al Smith to join him when he was first elected President in 1932. She stayed on with him through his four unprecedented terms as President until his death in 1945. At an early age, she recognized that fighting poverty improved the country for everyone and she devoted her entire life to this. Social Security was her idea and only through her steadfast determination did it ever get through Congress. She established unemployment compensation, banned child labor, initiated a minimum wage, enshrined the 40-hour work week. And she did all of this while staying devoted to a brilliant husband who was bi-polar and had to be institutionalized in New York City while she lived in Washington. She visited him on weekends and single-handedly raised their daughter who ended up to have the same mental issues as her father. I could go on all night about the accomplishments of Frances Perkins, but instead, I suggest you read the book. The other striking thing about the book are the comparisons made between what was happening the United States in the 1930’s and today. And when I compare Frances Perkins to our current Secretary of Labor it literally makes me sick at my stomach. How could we have stooped so low?
The rest of the day was focused on doing my taxes, writing the Encore May and June program promos for the newsletter with the deadline being tomorrow, taking Ollie to his saxophone lesson and then on to soccer. After that I had to get myself to a Board of Library Trustees meeting where I had to present the quarterly financial report. And then I had a very long late evening conversation with the doctor in charge of my sister’s wellbeing this week. She has made an amazing turn around and he was trying to convince me that she is ready to be released from the hospital. I think not yet. We shall see what tomorrow brings. Whew! It was quite a day. Thank goodness for Ibuprofen.
by Judy Handley | Apr 13, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 103: Indivisible Falmouth Monthly Meeting
Date: Monday, April 13, 2026
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Windy: High Temp 54, Low 49 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
No meeting today until this evening’s monthly Indivisible Falmouth meeting. I had a fairly relaxed day, spent time rushing to finish reading the book for tomorrow’s book club meeting, spent time on the phone with people at the hospital where my sister is in North Carolina, and preparing for tonight’s Indivisible meeting. After the No Kings 3 protest, the next big push for Indivisible groups all around the country is to find ways to get more people involved and to start doing the serious work that needs to be done to get out the vote for the upcoming mid-term elections and to prepare to defend free and fair elections from sabotage. I led an activity at tonight’s meeting to get people into the ‘just do it’ mode. We can no longer sit around and think about what needs to be done. We need to start doing—each and every one of us can do something. The race to the mid-term elections is on.
by Judy Handley | Apr 12, 2026 | 2026 Life Logs |
2026 Life Logs, Day 102: Dining-in Group Evening
Date: Sunday, April 12, 2026
Weather: Cooler: High Temp 52, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home with My Shadow, Falmouth, MA
Today was a workday, but before I could do any work, I had to have Heather and Jed figure out why my computer was not responding to anything. It kept saying it was full. Well, in fact, it was full. I was completely out of memory, so could save nothing and could not access things like my photos. I thought I had been hacked because I couldn’t believe I was really out of space. I’ve only had this computer for two years, but I evidently save way too much ‘stuff’. They helped be get rid of enough ‘stuff’ to continue to work for now, but I need to spend time down sizing. I then spent the afternoon working on a quarterly treasurer’s report for the Library Board of Trustees and doing preparation for tomorrow night’s Indivisible Falmouth Meeting. Then tonight I went to Bruce and Jane Woodin’s for our monthly dining-in group. Food and company were both great.
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.
