by Judy Handley | Mar 6, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 65: Hot Rocks Massage
Date: Monday, March 6, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 70, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN
Thanks to Patsy, Joe, and Janet, I was treated to a hot rocks massage today. I had no idea what that was going to entail, and was therefore just a tad leery. But it was fantastic . . . and that comes from a person who has previously not been a big fan of massages. This type of massage requires a specially trained therapist and the young man that did my massage was very good at what he does. Thanks again JJ&P for such a special treat. It was a perfect 70th birthday present.
by Judy Handley | Mar 5, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 64: The BIG 7-0
Date: Sunday, March 5, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 70, Low 52 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN
Today was the BIG 7-0 birthday for me. It was a quiet one since we did the celebrations yesterday, but that left lots of time for the wonderful phone calls and Facebook messages I received. I’ve never posted anything on my Facebook page until tonight, but evidently, I have lots of friends! I got calls from friends Geoff and Chris aboard Shambala who are in Panama awaiting passage through the Canal before heading home to Australia, Alan and Helaine in New Hampshire, and Ed and Lynne in New York, as well as niece Lynn and nephews Rex, Tommy, and Todd (last night). And near the end of today, I had a Skype call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco where they sang Happy Birthday to me, and that was followed by a call from Heather, Jed, and boys. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. Your happy messages made my day.
I spent the early morning talking with Jennifer until she and Bill left for home at 10:30 am. Then around noon I ventured out to go visit Janet and Monica. Not that I don’t love visiting with them, but I really went to see their dogs, Jancy and Avery. I had met Janet’s Jancy before, but I had never met Monica’s Avery. So today I was properly introduced. In the afternoon and early evening, Patsy and I spent some time working on family photos and genealogy, and then this evening, Patsy and Joe took me out to dinner at an Asian restaurant. It was a good day.
by Judy Handley | Mar 4, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 63: Happy Birthday to Joe
Date: Saturday, March 4, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 68, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN
Today we celebrated Joe’s 83rd birthday. I got a kick out of the fact that Joe wore his Converse tennis shoes out to dinner tonight.
It was a good day from start to finish and I know Joe loved having his family with him today.
When he was opening presents he commented that he thought this was his biggest birthday ever. I know that had to make Jennifer and Janet feel really good. His grandchildren weren’t here, but he did talk to them on the phone.
Happy birthday, Joe!
This morning at 9 am, Janet, Monica, Jennifer, Bill, and I headed into Nashville. Janet and Nashville’s honky-tonk strip on Broadway. Live music blares from the various bars starting at 10 am, but it was only 9:30 when arrived so we walked down to the river. There was almost no one on the street when we walked down to the river,
but on the way back up the street, the crowds started gathering. When out-of-town friends come to visit Monica and Janet, they always want to go visit the strip, so Monica now has a great deal of Saturday morning honky-tonk experience. We visited the Tequila Cowboy first,
because one of her favorite musicians plays there every Saturday morning. We sat down at the bar and Monica ordered a beer. As far as I can remember, I have never had a beer in the morning, but Bill and I followed suit. I’m sure Monica doesn’t drink beer in the morning except when visiting the bars on the strip. But when in Nashville, do as the locals do. We drank our beers, enjoyed the music, and then walked across the street to another bar. The musician Monica wanted to hear was not there, so we walked up the street to one of the most famous bars on the strip, Tootsie’s. It has three floors, so walked to the top to see the view from the roof-top outside venue. It was way too crowded to find seating, so we walked back down to the second floor and spent the rest of the morning there.
There are different musicians playing on every floor of every bar. Lots of fun.
We all returned from Nashville, had a little down time, and then got back together for a little birthday celebration. We took lots of family photos,
opened gifts,
and then headed back to Nashville for a fantastic dinner at the Rodizio Brazilian Steakhouse.
This was a birthday treat for Joe and for me. Thanks so much to Jennifer and Bill and Janet and Monica. Dinner was spectacular.
by Judy Handley | Mar 3, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 62: Family Dinner
Date: Friday, March 3, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Cool; High 49, Low 27 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN
Earlier in the day, Patsy, Joe, and I drove to south Nashville to go see another movie. We went to this particular theater as it has 27 theater venues and is now showing almost all recent movies. Since Moonlight won the Best Picture award this year, we decided to go see it. None of us really knew what it was about and this was a lesson in not doing your homework. This film is heavy-duty and not easy to watch. If we had known, we would have gone to see something a little more light-hearted. Maybe another afternoon.
Tomorrow is a Nashville day. Janet drives to downtown Nashville every Saturday morning to do her weekly volunteer work with the homeless. Jennifer will go with her while Monika takes Bill and me down to Broadway to do some live-music bar-hopping. We’ll come home for lunch and then in the late afternoon all of us will return to Nashville to go to a Brazilian steakhouse for dinner. Sounds like fun.
The weather here today was still on the cool side and tonight the temp will dip below freezing. But it warms up a bit tomorrow and stays that way until I return home next Saturday. I checked the temp back home and it is cold there, but it will also warm up a few degrees next week. I got a couple of photos from Heather tonight. Thanks, Heather. I love getting photos of the grandkids when I am far away. The district-wide science fair is tomorrow and both Jonah and Sam have been working on their projects this week. Jonah tested whether borax crystals grow better at room temperature or fridge temp. Evidently the results surprised everyone.
Jed helped Sam test his crazy, complicated idea to test the efficiency of various boat hull designs. It was a bit complicated for a ten year-old, but this was an idea he really wanted to test in a flume he and Jed built in the garage.
Sounds like it has been a busy week at the Goldstone’s. I’ll look forward to seeing the full reports when I get home.
by Judy Handley | Mar 2, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 61: Hidden Figures
Date: Thursday, March 2, 2017
Weather: Sunny and Cooler; High 55, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN
I did it again. I had another ‘do almost nothing’ day and enjoyed it tremendously. Joe and I went to the gym, Patsy and I went grocery shopping, and I treated myself to a late afternoon movie, Hidden Figures. Patsy and Joe had already seen the movie, so they didn’t go with me. Today’s 4:50 pm showing was the last of this run, so I decided to go. And am I ever glad that I did. If you haven’t seen it, it is based on the true story of three black women who worked for NASA’s predecessor starting in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. All three were brilliant and worked at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory near Hampton, Virginia. Katherine Johnson was known as ‘the computer’ before the time of computers and movie is centered around her. At age 98, she is still living and was recently wheeled onto the stage at the Oscar’s. Katherine’s story, as well as Dorothy Vaughan’s and Mary Jackson’s, is absolutely amazing.
by Judy Handley | Mar 1, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 60: Welcome March
Date: Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Weather: Rain with Thunder AM, Sunshine PM; High 70, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home with Patsy and Joe in Mt. Juliet, TN
I can hardly believe it is already March. Spring is on the way but somehow, I don’t feel like we have had winter. Of course, a New England spring can go on until the end of June, but at least we are probably past the really severe winter weather. March came in like a lion here with lots of thunder and rain from pre-dawn until almost noon. Then the lion was taken over by the lamb. Clouds cleared away and the sun shone brightly in a deep blue sky during the afternoon. It was warmish today but tomorrow will be much cooler. So we are having very typical spring weather.
For those of you say I never relax, I promise you I am taking it easy this week. Joe and I went to the gym this morning, but the pool was closed due to the thunder and we returned home. Joe had a mid-day doctor appointment. Patsy went with him, but I stayed home, sent some emails, and called friends Ed and Lynne to check in with them. When they returned, Patsy and I did some more online shopping and ordered new placemats for the dining table and new blankets for the twin beds in the guest bedroom. Before we knew it, it was time to go out to dinner. On Wednesday night, you get a free piece of pie for dessert at O’Charley’s, so we had dinner there and brought home our pieces of pie.
Tomorrow might be yet another lazy day. I promise to enjoy it.
