by Judy Handley | Jun 8, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 159: A Visit to Quissett Harbor and More
Date: Thursday, June 8, 2017
Weather: Mostly Sunny AM, Partly Cloudy PM, Still Cool
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Despite the continued coolish weather, there was a little sunshine this morning for my visit to Quissett Harbor. This is the harbor where Mark I lived aboard Windbird for three summers. I have only been back there twice since Mark died. That made it one of those happy-sad times. Today’s visit was the longest of my visits as I was attending a two-hour photo shoot with the Falmouth Newcomer’s Shutterfly group. I have now joined the Newcomers Club and the photo shoot was my first official club activity. The leader of the group is a professional photographer and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the art of taking ‘perfect’ photos. Today we focused on the positives of using a tripod and certain lens filters. I refused to use a tripod because I know I’ll never take the time to use one even though I know they can be helpful in stabilizing the camera. I have a UV filter and a polarizing filter, but I stopped using them about a year after I bought them in Singapore. I just found it too much trouble to put them on and take them off depending on the situation, but I will dig them out and try them again. I don’t think I got any award winning photos today, but it was fun to try.
I came home to work on the family history project and eat lunch. I ate lunch, but I ended up watching the Comey hearing and not getting much genealogy work done. Then I headed out to meet Lynda, the friend from the gym who is a member of Newcomers Club and leads a biking group. She was at the photo shoot and invited me to come biking. Since I didn’t go to the gym this morning, I took her up on the offer. There was only one other woman who came today and we rode our bikes on the bike path from downtown Falmouth to Woods Hole. It is a 4-mile trek, so 8 miles round trip. At one point, Lynda checked her speedometer and we were riding between 8 and 10 miles per hour. Since I haven’t ridden a bike for any distance since the 1980’s, I felt good that I made it successfully. Lynda and the other woman rode on when we got back to our starting point, but I decided to call the ride a win and try a longer distance at a slower pace the next time. I feel like I should build up stamina slowly and not push it too hard. 
It was an active day. I came home from the biking and launched back into the family history project. I’m making a little progress each day, but it is slow, slow work. Even so, I love it and will continue tomorrow morning. Unfortunately for Sam and Jonah, tomorrow is supposed to be rainy. They were supposed to have their annual school field day tomorrow. It has been postponed until Friday, June 23, and they won’t get to attend as we will be in West Virginia. I know they are disappointed, especially Sam since this is his last year in that school. Hopefully we’ll have enough fun in West Virginia to make up for missing field day and the last day of school.
All that is on my schedule tomorrow is more family history work and attending Ollie’s preschool graduation tomorrow evening. Can’t believe that little one is going to be in kindergarten next year.
by Judy Handley | Jun 7, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 158: A Little Break in the Weather
Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny, Still Cool
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
There was a little break in the weather today with a hint of sunshine, but it is still cool. I have on a sweat shirt and wool socks and it is only 14 days until the official beginning of summer. Already people are talking about the hope that we will have a long, warm fall to make up for this cool start to the summer. The forecast looks like we might have sunny weather in the low 70’s starting on Saturday. That’s cause for celebration! Let’s just hope that forecast holds.
I started my day at the gym at a Tabata class. This is a high-intensity training style that was developed by a Japanese professor to train Olympic speed skaters. Well, I’m never going to be an Olympic speed skater and I might not survive another Tabata class. Each set of exercises is timed and fast-paced. It goes something like this . . . jumping jacks to fast feet for 3 minutes . . . jump squats 30 times, lateral lunge to knee 30 times each leg, mountain climber to single leg push-up 30 times each sdie, skater to curtsy lunge 30 times each leg . . . you get the idea. I’m absolutely amazed that I can survive this class. Admittedly, I was exhausted when I left the gym, but the energy comes back quickly. But by the time I came home, took a shower and got ready for my day, it was after 11 o’clock. I dove into the genealogy work, entering data into Ancestry.com, but it was just not working. I then noticed a pop-up message saying they were doing maintenance on the website, so I switched gears and wrote emails to the young woman coordinating our family gathering in a couple of weeks and to the caterer. I then had lunch and dove back into the genealogy work. It makes me feel like a monk transcribing books prior to the advent of the printing press. But I got the information I have about my father’s side of the family entered today . . . inch by inch. Tomorrow I have to stop entering information and start writing the story I want to share with the younger members of my family at our gathering. I know those stories have to short to keep their attention and that’s a challenge.
Tomorrow morning I am joining a photography group called Shutterbugs at 8 am. This group is sponsored by the Falmouth Newcombers Club that I am going to join in the fall. So even though I am not a member yet, this class starts tomorrow and I want to be in on it from the beginning. I have taken thousands of photographs, but I have never had any formal training. I’m looking forward to learning from a professional photographer. After the class, I’ll return to the monastery to continue my genealogy work.
by Judy Handley | Jun 6, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 157: Details, Details
Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Weather: Overcast and Cool, Now Raining
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today was spent dealing with details for the upcoming family gathering in southern West Virginia the last weekend of this month. Because we are gathering in a remote location without restaurants and have a busy schedule that precludes cooking for a group of 40, most meals are being catered by a local woman. So my focus today was details, details. I needed to figure out each family group’s costs and send that out to the ones who will pay the bill. I got that job done and then picked Sam and Jonah up after school. Tonight I am getting ready to take part in the first class in an online course called, “Plant-powered and Thriving.” This is offered by the Food Revolution Network and I am interested in what they have to say about a plant-based diet. I seem to be going more and more in that direction and this course will go into some of the most current research into this topic.
The weather today was overcast and very cool, and now it is raining . . . again. It is going to be summer soon and we haven’t had spring yet. I’m very anxiously awaiting warm, sunny days.
by Judy Handley | Jun 5, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 156: Lost in the World of Genealogy
Date: Monday, June 5, 2017
Weather: Overcast and Misty
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today I traveled back in time to the 1300’s to Scotland. My mother’s Grandpa Jim married a woman named Sarah Catherine McGhee. It so happens that her lineage led me to Gregor of the Golden Bridles, first chief of the Clan Gregor and son or brother of Kenneth MacAlpine who was the first King of Scotland. It so happens that Clan Gregor is a Highland Scottish Clan dating back to the early 800’s and they were among the first family to begin playing the bagpipes—but not until the 17th century. A person (me in particular) could get completely lost in the world of genealogy.
The weather today was miserable. It was cool and misty and overcast here on the harbor all day. I went out early for a class at the gym, but basically spent the remainder of my day sitting behind this computer working on the family history project. Rain is forecast for tomorrow, so I’ll probably be right here again all day tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Jun 4, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 155: It’s Raining . . . Again
Date: Sunday, June 4, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny Day, Rain Tonight
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
As I sit here writing this log, I am listening to what sounds like pouring rain outside. This rain just won’t give up. Garden plants love rain, but not this much rain. The bean, cucumber, and tomato plants we bought and planted in Heather’s garden are starting to wither from too much rain, lack of sun, and cool temperatures. So hopefully, we get some warm, sunny days soon. If not, I’m afraid we’ll all wither away!
Over the past week papers and file folders and notebooks dealing with family history took over my dining table and living room. I spent part of my morning making this space look livable again. I’m not sure why as I know tomorrow when I continue the work, it will all come out again. But it felt good to tidy up. Then I went to Heather and Jed’s to see if I could be helpful with the kids today. Jed is working hard on getting that shed built and Heather had a commitment at school starting at 6 am this morning. It was the annual June Jog, a 4 mile/10 k run, that earns a big chunk of money for the elementary school. Heather got home shortly after I arrived and we discussed plans for the afternoon. Sam’s last soccer game of the spring season was this afternoon at 4:30 pm about an hour north of here. The problem with that was that it is now tourist season and getting off the Cape on Sunday afternoon is not easy. So that meant leaving at 2:30 to get there on time. Heather considered going, but she didn’t want to make Jonah and Ollie spent so much time in the car. She was going to stay home, but I could tell she really wanted to go and be supportive of Sam. So, I suggested that Ollie and Jonah stay with me, and I invited Heather, Jed, and Sam to join us for dinner when they got back. The problem with that idea was that Sam would be starved by the time they got back. A decision was made that they would go out to dinner and I would fix dinner for Jonah and Ollie. It all worked out great. Ollie, Jonah, and I rode our bikes on the bike path and came back to my place for a nice dinner. Sam’s team had their best game of the season and Heather was so glad she decided to go. I was sorry to miss the game, but staying home with Jonah and Ollie was by far the best decision for them . . . and we had a great time together. I made Sam pose for a photo in his uniform before he left since I wouldn’t get to take photos at the game.
Jonah spent part of his time at my house this afternoon drawing a picture of one of his favorite soccer players, Neymar da Silva Santos, usually just referred to as Neymar.
Jonah sure loves his sports.
by Judy Handley | Jun 3, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 154: Active Day
Date: Saturday, June 3, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny, Still Cool and Windy with Afternoon Showers
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It was an active day starting with a morning Zumba class, going to pick up my new bike, home for a Skype call with Ziggy and Coco, and then off to Jonah’s last soccer games of the spring season. I saw ‘games’ because there were two back-to-back. One was a make-up game. After Zumba this morning, I went to Heather and Jed’s to borrow their bike rack and Ollie then went with me to pick up my bike. I took him home and then went to my house to have lunch and have a Skype video call with Ziggy and Coco. They were very excited because they were getting ready to go to San Juan for the night. And that usually means staying in a hotel with pool and they love that. Then it was off to the soccer field. Ollie wanted me to bring my new bike to the soccer game so we could ride laps around the track between games, so I had my very first ride on the new bike and did just fine.
I haven’t really ridden a bike much for years, but I’m feeling good about this new bike and the possibilities it offers. And I love that my five-year-old grandson can give me instruction. I was having trouble getting off the bike and he told me stay on the seat and then throw my leg over the back. Oh, yeah. That worked! We got a bit wet with rain showers during the games, but the showers were short-lived. Jonah played two great games
and Ollie met a new friend at the field. Someone had a beautiful dog that was so very gentle. Ollie loved petting her and she loved being petted. So sweet.
