by Judy Handley | May 15, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 135: House Hunting
Date: Monday, May 15, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Some Sprinkles and Lots of Wind
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
After going to the gym this morning, I had appointment to see two homes. One was on the same street where Heather and Jed live and one was in a neighborhood across the highway from Heather and Jed’s, but not even a mile away. The house on their street was very tiny, needs some work, but has a very inviting price tag. The home a little further away was immaculate, has great landscaping, is reasonably priced, but backs onto the fire department. I’m sure that could be quite noisy at times, but it has great potential. The realtor assures me this place will sell quickly, so if I want it, I need to move fast. But at this point, I’m just not sure what I will do.
When I talked to Justin yesterday, he told me I would be getting my Mother’s Day present today, and indeed I did. Justin has set up a Pressword account for me online to make book writing easier. What a wonderful gift! I have a lot to learn about using it, but I really appreciate that I now have a ‘helper’ for book writer. But before I get to writing, I have a few other projects that need to be tackled. I started this afternoon by continuing to edit and name photos and by working on the details for the Martin family gathering in June. I made great progress on both, but have much more to do. Bu then, that’s why there is a tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | May 14, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 134: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 14, 2017
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 52 degrees F, Low 46
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Happy Mother’s Day to all of my favorite mothers, especially to Heather and Jo, the mothers of my precious grandchildren. This Mother’s Day was lovely inside, but outside it could only be characterized as foul. It was overcast and rainy all day, and even though the high temperature was 52 degrees F, it felt much colder. It was the kind of day that gives foul weather gear its name. We can only hope that the forecast for warmer weather as the week progresses proves to be true. I’m definitely looking forward to that. But enough negativity about the weather and on to the brighter parts of the day. I was invited to Heather and Jed’s for breakfast. When I arrived Jed was putting the new kitchen stove to test. He was baking homemade English muffins on the griddle in the middle of the stove, steaming asparagus straight from the garden on one burner, boiling water for poaching eggs on another, and Sam was warming the “holiday” sauce he had made earlier on yet another burner. Actually, it was Hollandaise sauce, but Ollie is convinced that it is “holiday” sauce and we like that name much better! Jonah was washing fresh organic strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, and Ollie was cutting off the strawberry leaves. All three boys and Heather had made a huge Happy Mother’s Day card for me which served as a runner down the length of the dining table. Before I got a photo of it, Sam took it off the table and rolled it up for me, because he didn’t want it to get breakfast food on it. But when I got home, I rolled it out and pinned it to the wall so I could enjoy it for a few more days . . . and I got a photo of it. Breakfast was as delicious as it looked, so thank you Goldstones for a beautiful start to the day.
After breakfast, Heather launched into a ‘clean up the playroom’ frenzy, so I helped with that while Jed reorganized under-the-sink areas in the kitchen and bathroom. Around lunchtime, Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco called from sunny Puerto Rico to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day and we got on Skype video so I could see Ziggy and Coco riding their bikes in the bright sunshine. It was so hot there that they had closed the house up and turned on air conditioning. So not fair! We need some of that heat up this way. But it was great talking to them even if I was just a tad jealous of their weather. Heather had plans for planting deck hummingbird flower gardens, but the weather here was just not conducive. We’ll have to wait until some of the that heat from Puerto Rico filters up this way to do that job. I came home mid-afternoon and had a quiet evening alone. I spent a couple of hours editing and naming photos from the Bahamas. I was working backwards and only made it to the Abacos, so hopefully I can finish that job tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | May 13, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 133: Spring Cleaning with the Grandkids
Date: Saturday, May 13, 2017
Weather: Overcast; High 57 degrees F, Low 46
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
This morning we got an early start around here. Sam gets up around 6 am and plays quietly until Jonah and Ollie get up around 7 am. By that time, we were all up and the boys played with Legos while I got breakfast ready. Then Jonah had to leave to go to a soccer game. Ollie has been leaving his little John Deere tractor here, and I went out with him while he rode it around the boatyard next door.
Sam continued to play with Legos. But when we got home, Ollie decided he wanted to give his tractor a scrub down. Sam decided to join in and somehow that led to me taking things out on the deck that needed to be cleaned. The next thing I knew they were washing down the sliding glass doors. Those glass sliders really needed to cleaned, so I let them wash them down with soapy water and then I took them buckets of rinse water with a little white vinegar in them and let them throw the buckets of water on the sliders.
They loved that. Then I gave them the squeegees to wipe down the glass sliders. By the end of the morning, I had clean windows, a clean deck, and a number of items scrubbed down. Fantastic! By this time I had heard from Heather that she was already exhausted trying to remove layers of plywood sub-flooring in the their upstairs bathroom. We headed there and helped with that demolition project. So we got lots of good work done today before the Goldstones headed out to an afternoon party. I came home and watched all six episodes of a PBS mini-series called Wolf Hall. This is about the reign of Henry the VIII. And since I am reading a historical novel about the same time period, I really enjoyed watching it. But because of that, it is later than it should be and I need to close down for the night.
by Judy Handley | May 12, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 132: Goldpebble Overnight
Date: Friday, May 12, 2017
Weather: More Sun, More Clouds; High 51 degrees F, Low 42
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It was a bit of a disjointed day, but a good one. I started the day by meeting the realtor at a house that looked interesting when I was searching online. The address was Journey’s End Road, and indeed, it is on a dirt road that matches the street name. I loved the almost one acre fenced lot and instantly dreamed up all sorts of ways to use the land, and the house was nice, bigger than I need and in need of some minor renovations, but the kitchen was the deal breaker. It was just too tiny. I don’t think I’d ever be happy with a kitchen that small and I could see no way to expand it. The property still intrigues me, but this is probably not “the right one” for me. When I got home, it was time for a scheduled call with Creekside Resort in southern West Virginia where we are having the Martin family gathering in June. I worked through more of the details with the young woman there ! promised her a final count on the number of people and our food plan sometime next week. After the call, it was time for lunch and then out to do some food shopping. Yesterday I invited the Goldpebbles over for dinner and an overnight. I hadn’t heard whether or not they were coming, but I figured it was best to be prepared. Time flies, so by the time I got back from the store, it was time to go pick up Ollie at school and then to Heather and Jed’s to pick up Sam and Jonah. Actually, Jonah didn’t decide to come until the very last minute, and I was so glad he made that decision. He has to leave at 8:30 in the morning for a soccer game that is about an hour from here and had thought he would just prefer to stay at home. But he came and we all had a relaxed, fun time. And I’m really hoping Heather and Jed had a relaxed, fun evening. The boys are in bed now and I’m headed that way very soon.
Once every few days, I check on various friends and family on Facebook to see what’s happening in their lives. Tonight, I went to my daughter-in-law Jo’s page and what I read made my day. Jo wrote: “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I’m imagining I am the only person in my circle who came home from the beach today to find her horse in the living room eating her beloved house plants!!!” Too funny. Jo is the mother of those two beautiful grandchildren of mine, but also to a host of other mammals—dogs, cats, rabbits, and a horse, of course. Happy Mother’s Day, Jo!
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 131: Out of Focus
Date: Thursday, May 11, 2017
Weather: More Sun, More Clouds; High 55 degrees F, Low 44
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today I felt just a little out of focus . . . many things to do but no way to know what to tackle first. So I punted. Instead of doing anything, I spent most of my day driving north off the Cape returning things I had bought before leaving for the Bahamas that either didn’t fit or were just the wrong thing. I had this whirlwind shopping trip before leaving and even though most things were just perfect, but there were a few things that needed to be returned. So now that is done. And I got back to Falmouth just in time to go pick up Ollie for our second day of after-school adventures. I thought we were headed back to the bike path, but we ended up going to my place where Ollie wanted to play on the dock, ride his little John Deere tractor on the desk, and ride his bike through the boatyard next door. We also dug out the kinetic sand that has been in hiding all winter and played with that. Tomorrow morning I meet with a realtor to look at a couple of houses and then come home to work on final plans for the June gathering of my family. The Goldpebbles might be coming to dinner and to spend the night, so I will need to gear up for that. And then it is the weekend.
by Judy Handley | May 10, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Days 130: Out and About
Date: Wednesday, May 10, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 57 degrees F, Low 43
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today I was out and about. I left home at 8 am so I could get to Hyannis. I had a 9 am appointment at Hyannis Honda to get a new passenger seat air bag replaced as per a recall. While I was waiting for the work to be done, a young woman came out to the waiting area to tell me that May is the month for my state car inspection and asking if I would like to have that done. Sure. And thankfully there were no problems. By 10:30 am I was headed back to Falmouth and on the way, I did a drive by of a few homes that are for sale that looked of interest in my online search yesterday. By 12:30 pm, I was at the Congregational Church in downtown Falmouth for a presentation on life in India by my good friend Olivia White. Olivia invited Jane Woodin and I to attend this presentation being made to a woman’s group from the church. One of things they had expressed interest in was the saris that Olivia wears. So, the presentation began with a demonstration on how to properly wrap a sari. Olivia shared that saris are 6 yards long and 45 inches wide and then she had a woman from the audience come up so she could show how to turn this long length of material into a beautiful dress.
She pointed out that she still has saris from when she was a teenager. No matter what your size, you can always wrap the sari to fit. You can gain weight and lose weight and still wear the same sari. I had the privilege of being called up to be wrapped in Olivia’s mother’s sari.
In addition to the fantastic sari demonstration, Olivia shared how she came to this country in 1962, went to seminary school in Texas, and then continued on to get her PhD in science. She taught genetics for 20 years at the University of North Texas (at least I think I have the school right) while continuing to serve the church. And after she retired from teaching, she spent full time serving the church for a few years in voluntary positions before moving to Cape Cod in 2011. Her PowerPoint presentation included photos of Christian churches, Hindu temples, and Muslim mosques in India. I could have listened for the entire afternoon, but there was a time limit on the presentation, and we had to move on. Thankfully, Olivia is my good friend and I can hear more from her at a later time. But her presentation today was wonderful and I am so glad I was invited to attend. And it was great to see Olivia and Jane for the first time in weeks.
At 4 pm I picked Ollie up from preschool, not because I needed to, but because he asked his mom if I would pick him up and take him biking. I was more than happy to do this and we had such a wonderful time. The partly cloudy day became very sunny for the hour or so we were out biking and that made it all the more enjoyable. When I picked Ollie up in Woods Hole, he had Woofster Jr with him. This is a stuffed puppy whose daddy, Woofster Sr, was at home. Ollie explained that Woofster Jr wanted to go biking with him, so off we went.
Woofster Jr was a very lucky puppy this afternoon. He got to see osprey, swans with their goslings, flying ducks, Canadian geese, and red-winged blackbirds.
Plus, he even got to ride on the bike with Ollie, stuffed into his overalls.
We went to the Shining Sea Bike Path where I walked while Ollie rode. He wanted to ride to the bridge across Trunk River. By mistake, I called it the Turkey River and that got a huge chuckle out of Ollie. He just said, “Oma, you are so funny.” Not really. I just forgot the name of the little river leading out into the Vineyard Sound.
On the way home, we stopped by my place to drop off the rocks that had been collected on the bike ride. When I delivered Ollie home, I got the bike out of the back of my car, but Ollie said to put it back in because he wants to ride again tomorrow after school. That’s fine by me, so we have another biking date tomorrow at 4 pm.
Windbird Alert. At 9:34 pm I got a Spotify report from Windbird indicating that she was at the inlet at Little River, South Carolina. Sam and Dawn left Fort Pierce on Monday morning, and since tonight is the full moon, I thought maybe they decided they would have enough light to enter the inlet and make it to the marina. But I just got a text saying they are at anchor inside the inlet. They made 411 nautical miles in 60 hours for an average of 6.9 knots average. They said they had an incredible ride in the Gulf Stream with a high speed of 11.3 knots over ground with the chute up. Way to go, Sam and Dawn!
