by Judy Handley | Sep 15, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 258: First Goldpebble Overnight of the School Year
Date: Friday, September 15, 2017
Weather: Back to Beautiful; High 80, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today was the end of the first full week of school and the Goldpebbles decided to celebrate with an overnight with Oma. But when I went to pick them up, they were already celebrating by climbing the street sign out front that says, “Caution. Children.” When I saw Jonah,
and then Sam,
at the top of the sign, I thought that I should exercise caution in them bringing them home with me! But I didn’t let a little sign climbing scare me. I brought them here for dinner giving Heather and Jed a rare chance to go out to dinner together. Heather has been so incredibly busy recently, so hopefully she got to relax a bit tonight. Tomorrow morning, the Goldpebbles and I will walk to the near-by soccer field for Ollie’s first soccer practice of the season and Heather will meet us there. Jed has a one-day conference in Gloucester and Heather has an afternoon work engagement, so she will take Jonah to meet with friends that will drive him to his mid-day soccer game that is off-Cape. After Ollie’s morning soccer, Ollie, Sam, and I will head across the street from the soccer field to enjoy a little beach time. And then later in the afternoon, Ollie and I will take Sam to his soccer game. Friends will drop Jonah at Sam’s game and then we’ll all get back together with Heather at some point. This is what soccer grandmoms do!
Today I saw a photo that Jo posted on Facebook of Justin heading out to surf to celebrate his 40th birthday yesterday morning.
So glad he got to do that. And I also saw photos of Ziggy finger knitting bracelets to sell at the Thursday night Art Walk to raise money for the island hurricane relief fund. Jo wrote “Off his own back, own idea, grafting away to get it done before bedtime.” When I talked to Justin and family yesterday afternoon via Skype video, Ziggy showed me the bracelets he had made. I am so very proud of him. What a thoughtful child!
by Judy Handley | Sep 14, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 257: Happy 40th Birthday to Justin
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2017
Weather: Warm but Foggy All Day; High 77, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It was a Wednesday night in 1977 when Justin entered this world in the tiny town of Jenkins, Minnesota. At the time, the total population of Jenkins was somewhere around 220 people and when you drove into Jenkins and saw the welcome sign, you could look just a few hundred feet in front of you on the other side of the road and see the “Thanks for Visiting” Jenkins sign. In between those signs was the town bar, owned and operated by the town officials. If you were an elected member of the town council, you actually had to work in the bar as it was the only source of income for the little town. So that is where Justin was born, in our home, 40 years ago. One of my favorite photos in the entire world, is of Mark, Heather, and Justin out in the cornfield on Justin’s first day in this world with Musu, one of our sled dog pups.
I, of course, was taking the picture. It was a special beginning for a very special little person who is now a very special 40 year-old. Happy Birthday, Justin. I love you so much.
The first general meeting of the Newcomers Club of Falmouth was held this morning. I joined a couple of months ago, but since there are no summer meetings, this was my first. The club is very large, but the beauty of it is that there are many smaller interest groups. I am already a member of the photography group called Shutterbugs, a member of the biking group, and the Dine In group. Today I signed up for the Teacher group plus a couple of others. This could keep a person busy full-time! In fact, I had a great bike ride to Woods Hole late this afternoon with the biking group. Actually, I was the only person who showed up today, so we weren’t much of a group. But the group leader, Linda, and I rode to Woods Hole and stopped at The Landfall waterside restaurant for a drink and $1 appetizers. We sat on the dock at the back of the restaurant and enjoyed our view across the water before heading back home. Great way to end the day.
Today to is also the birthday for two other special men in my life—Mark’s brother Steve and Kevin of Kevin and Claire, young friends we met when we both lived aboard our boats in Boston in 2003. I want to wish them a Happy Birthday and also Mark’s youngest sister, Jeanie. Her birthday is tomorrow, so I’ll get all the birthday wishes out at one time.
by Judy Handley | Sep 13, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 256: Playing the Game of Slow Catch-up
Date: Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Weather: Gorgeous Weather; High 78, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
This gorgeous weather is causing some disruptions in my plan to get back to computer and photo fixes that are the result of a year of neglect. But it was such a beautiful morning that I just had to go for a bike ride. When I got home, I started the game of slow catch-up. Last fall after Mark died, I had a rash of computer issues that caused me to have to abandon my computer and start using his. And in that transfer, there were photo files that never got copied. So today I booted the old computer and started the transfer. But then I got interrupted again as I thought the weather required a walk to the beach. I had a lovely day, didn’t get a lot accomplished, but I did get started. Tomorrow is the first meeting of Newcomers. This is the group where I gave my Voyage of Windbird presentation last January and have now decided to join. I’m not new to Falmouth, but it is the first year that I have lived on land in Falmouth. So that got me the invitation to join. Tomorrow is also my baby boy’s 40th birthday!!! How can this be?
by Judy Handley | Sep 12, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 255: The Devastation Left Behind by Irma
Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 83, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
The gorgeous weather we are experiencing here is wonderful, but somehow it seems unfair that we are enjoying such beautiful weather when so many people are struggling so hard to start the recovery efforts from the devastation left behind by Irma. It is heartbreaking to see what happened in the Caribbean from Barbuda to St. Martin/St. Maarten to the US and British Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic to the Turks and Caicos and Southern Bahamas and on to Cuba. All of that, and then the massive destruction in Florida affecting every part of that state. I know we need to be thankful that the destruction was not as bad as it could have been, but is hard when the fact is that millions of people are still without electricity and water and some are without food. I have now heard from all of Mark’s family in Florida and all are safe and all still have a home. Even Mark’s brother Steve’s boat was safe. But many, especially those in the Caribbean and in the Keys, were not that lucky. It is overwhelming and I think each of needs to think deeply about what we might do to help.
This afternoon I got a call from Linda and Mike Stuart, my crazy, adventurous, bike touring friends. They are in Argentina, gearing up for the 1500-mile trip through Patagonia to the tip of South America. It boggles my mind that they are undertaking this trip. This is one case where I am happy to be an armchair adventurer as it is not something I can even fathom doing myself. But I’ll enjoy following their travels and I wish them nothing but the best. After our conversation, I headed to Heather’s to spend my evening with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. Heather had a work-related social activity and Jed joined her. As always, I enjoyed being with the boys.
by Judy Handley | Sep 11, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 254: A Message from Mark
Date: Monday, September 11, 2017
Weather: Beautiful Sunny Day; High 75, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It was one year ago tonight that we lost Mark, so in his honor I spent my day thinking happy thoughts about the wonderful life we had together. Thanks to all of you who sent supportive messages this morning, especially to my son who sent hugs from Puerto Rico. Bruce and Jane invited me to go out sailing with them on Pooh, but I decided that I needed the time alone. So instead, I walked to the beach and spent the afternoon relaxing on the seawall and then sitting on the bench where Mark last sat with me, my sister, and my brother-in-law last September. When I got home, I got a call from Heather and we hatched the idea of going to dinner at The Flying Bridge, a restaurant here on the harbor where we could eat outside on the deck next to the boat docks.
Ollie showed up for dinner in what he called his magic bow tie. It is white with red lobsters all over it and he told me it is magic because it goes with anything—even his blue plaid shirt!
Jonah, who looks like Mark, wore his Granddad outfit—his white Columbia shirt with the sleeves rolled up and his tan Columbia zip-off pants. This was Granddad’s favorite outfit and Jonah has adopted the style.
Sam had on his dress-shoes of choice—boat shoes, of course. And he is just looking way too grown up.
We had a wonderful dinner and then afterwards we had a walk on the dock. Just outside the restaurant, there are lamp posts, and by the time I got down on the dock, Jonah and Ollie were in a full performance of “Singing in the Rain” changing the word ‘rain’ to ‘sun’. Just like Gene Kelly, they were swinging from the lamp posts and pretending the lights were the sun. Gotta love the ingenuity of kids. They certainly brightened my day.
In the morning, before I headed to the beach, I spent time sorting through some files I had taken out of the closet yesterday. There was an assortment of folders of memorabilia, important papers, and photos, and among the memorabilia, there was a birthday card to me from Mark. I do not normally save cards, but this one must have seemed special to me. And it conveyed a message from Mark to all of us. The picture is a Pacific-centered map of the world and the inscription reads, “It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”
by Judy Handley | Sep 10, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 253: Hurricane Watch . . . Again
Date: Sunday, September 10, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 66, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
First it was Puerto Rico and then today I spent my day watching Hurricane Irma’s march through Florida. Everyone in Mark’s family will be affected by this storm, but at this point, it looks like the worst damage from storm surge has been minimized by hurricane wind velocity and path. I will have to wait until tomorrow to find out if everyone is safe. Things are looking much better than expected, but I’ll just have to wait see. There was no way I could focus on anything other than the hurricane today, but I was able to motivate myself to do some closet clean out and organization. Somehow, I didn’t manage to get rid of anything, but reorganization made room for more things. That was not the goal!
I had hoped to do something with Heather and family tomorrow afternoon to commemorate the one year anniversary of our loss of Mark, but schedules don’t seem to allow that to happen. So not sure what I am going to do.
