by Judy Handley | Jan 25, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 25: One of Those Days
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 45, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, NH
This was one of those days that I should have skipped. One thing after another went pear-shaped (my favorite British term for things going awry or horribly wrong). And ‘pear-shaped’ definitely defined my day. It really started late last night. I got an email from Justin telling me he has an umbilical hernia and will have surgery in the next week or two. He should be fine, but I am just so sorry that he has to go through this right now when they haven’t even finished their move into their new home. And, of course, a mother worries. Evidently lifting a 10-gallon aquarium full of water and fish was the culprit. Hopefully he won’t try that again.
This morning actually started off great. I went to Heather and Jed’s early to watch the removal of three pine trees in the front yard.
Before the job was completed, I left to take Ollie to school and Heather headed to Boston after delivering Sam and Jonah at school. Jed stayed at home to oversee the tree removal. So far, so good. Then I stopped at the bank to deposit a check made out to ‘The Estate of Mark Handley’. That’s when things started going downhill. I won’t bore you with the details of why my bank send a $1500 check to Phoenix Life Insurance Company by mistake. But they did and Phoenix sent a check back to me, but made out to Mark’s estate which doesn’t exist. If it had been made out just in Mark’s name, there would have been no problem. But the bank refused to deposit it without a letter from Probate Court. I called my lawyer and he explained that the requested letter would cost a few hundred dollars and 6 weeks to process. He gave me the wording to use to get Phoenix Life to reissue the check in my name. I made the call and was told that was not possible. I used “the right words” and was put on hold for a very long time. Finally, I was told they would reissue. But that all took more than hour of my day that I would have preferred to spend some other way. I made granola in the afternoon and that went along okay, but then the evening did not. I picked Ollie up from school and delivered him home. I then went home to eat a quick dinner and headed back out to attend a Falmouth Democratic Town Committee meeting. My friend Olivia White invited me to come to check out the group. I turned the volume down on my phone when I entered the building and it wasn’t until I got home that I saw I had received three text messages. The first one was from Jed and said, “On way to ER. Please call.” That was sent at 7:15 pm and it was 8:35 pm when I read the message after the meeting. I felt terrible that I hadn’t responded. Heather is in Boston tonight, so Jed was all on his own with the three boys. Thankfully he followed up with another email explaining that Jonah had a 1 cm split in this head from hitting a corner in the kitchen and that it was superglued shut and all was okay. I’m assuming Jed had to drag all three boys to the Emergency Room and I feel terrible that I didn’t get the ‘help’ message. But all is well. That’s the important thing.
Now add to all of this our current political situation. The Executive Orders signed yesterday and today have sent me over the edge. I started my teaching career as a high school American History teacher. If I were in that position today, I truly don’t know what I would be able to say to my students. I feel like this President lives in some sort of alternative universe and it is not a universe I want to live in. So I’m going to go to bed and hope that tomorrow is a better day.
by Judy Handley | Jan 24, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 24: Love Affair with the Dining Room Table
Date: Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 46, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, NH
It appears I am having a love affair with my dining room table as we were inseparable today. It was overcast and rainy and I had no reason to venture out, so I sat at the table on my computer and phone all day and evening. But I was productive and I could use another couple of days like this. I talked with my nieces, Lynn and Candi, in Boston. Candi lost her mother-in-law late last week and it was good to hear from her and know that she and Char are doing fine. I communicated with Mark’s sisters and brother and solidified our plans for the entire Handley clan to convene in in Florida for Thanksgiving. I searched for the best flights for my trip to Puerto Rico in February. And I talked with Jed’s mother, Marti, and encouraged her to come up for a visit while I am out of town in February and early March and stay in this empty apartment. I know the Goldpebbles would love to have her come visit. She could visit with them and then come home to this little haven to catch her breath in between activities. If Marti comes while I am gone, it will keep me from feeling so guilty about leaving Heather and Jed with no support. It takes a village.
Heather heads to Boston tomorrow morning and doesn’t return until Thursday. I will start my day by taking Ollie to school at Woods Hole while Jed works at home to be there when the tree removal crew comes. They have been waiting for months to get a couple of trees removed so they can put up a storage shed and tomorrow is the day. Yeah!
by Judy Handley | Jan 23, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 23: Focus on Travel
Date: Monday, January 23, 2017
Weather: Overcast, Windy Evening with Rain; High 41, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, NH
I started my day at the gym and ended it by playing Monday night games with Ollie while his brothers were at Scout meetings. Otherwise, today’s focus was on travel. Heather, Justin, and their families, plus myself, made a decision to travel to Fort Myers Beach for next Thanksgiving to reconnect with Mark’s family. We had been planning to go during the April school vacation, but there were conflicts. By waiting until November, we are hoping we can get close to a 100% of the Handley clan cousins together for a Thanksgiving celebration. I also focused on my travel to Puerto Rico to visit with Justin and family. After consulting with Justin and Jo, I have decided to fly down around the 7th of February and spend two weeks with them. When I return, I will drive to Nashville to visit with my sister and brother-in-law and will probably spend my 70th birthday with them before returning home. And driving to Nashville will include visits with good friends and family along the way, so I now need to make arrangements for those visits. February is definitely going to be a month of travel for me and today was a full day of checking flights and accommodations for these various trips.
I also spent a lot of last night and today catching up on the travel of friends.
• Sam and Dawn, Windbird’s new owners, made their way down the ICW in Florida during the past couple of stormy days. They made it to Vero Beach where they will stay for a couple of days before continuing. http://wotwater.blogspot.com/
• Ed and Lynne Kirwin, my very dear friends from Nyack, New York, also fought the nasty weather of the past couple of days as they drove from New York to Georgia for a visit to their sailboat Constance (currently on land).
• Over the weekend, Lee and Lynda Kaufman of Sea Turtle, friends from Myrtle Beach, made the sail from Ft, Lauderdale to the Keys to visit with friends.
• Mike and Linda Stuart, my ‘round the world biking friends, finally got to post some of their logs from their boat cruise through the Galapagos islands. It was so exciting to read their logs and see their photos. I felt like I was right there with them. https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=tS&page_id=493128&v=1w
• And Bruce and Jane Woodin are leaving early Wednesday morning to drive to Florida where they will get on a cruise ship to tour the Caribbean. Then they will return to Florida to visit with family and friends. Last night while watching the football game, we talked about things Mark and I had seen in some of the places they will visit–Bonaire, Curacao, St. Lucia, and Sint Maarten. Just talking about it made me want to go along with them. Maybe I’ll change my mind about going on a cruise. Their agenda certainly sounds good to me.
With friends like these, it is a full-time job to keep up with their travels!
by Judy Handley | Jan 22, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 22: Separation of Sport and State
Date: Sunday, January 22, 2017
Weather: Overcast, Drizzle in Late Evening; High 52, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, NH
Bruce and Jane Woodin invited me over for dinner and to watch the Patriots versus Pittsburgh Steelers football game tonight. Soon after I arrived I got a couple of text messages. Knowing my political stand against Donald Trump, my daughter Heather sent me a link to a Newsweek article pointing out that some Patriot loyalists are feeling very uncomfortable with the friendship between Patriot owner Robert Kraft and Trump and coach Bill Belichick’s and quarterback Tom Brady’s apparent support of Trump. I’m not much of a sports fan, but I have been loyal to the Patriots. Never thought I’d ever have to question that allegiance because of politics! But then there are a lot of things that are happening right now that I never expected to question. But back to the text messages. Just before Heather’s text, my niece in Nashville, Janet, sent a message to see if I was watching the game. I responded that I was, but then told her about Heather’s text which was making me question my allegiance to the Patriots. She sent back a great response saying that I could give up my allegiance or we can all just say, “There is a separation between sport and state.” I’ll stick with that until after the SuperBowl!
I spent my day with Heather, Jed, and boys. I got a kick out of Heather’s early morning Facebook post saying, “There are six boys that have spent the past two hours engaged in a running Nerf gun battle in my yard. One of them is 45 years old.” #nevergrowup When I arrived the battle was still raging. Sam’s greatest hope for his birthday was to have a full-blown Nerf gun battle, something that Heather and Jed have really tried to circumvent in the past. But they gave in and Sam was having the time of his life. He also really enjoyed having his friends for the sleep-over. So Sam had a fantastic birthday and everyone else survived. We’ll call that a success.
While the big boys were outside battling it out with the Nerf guns, Ollie and I stayed inside and built with Legos. Then after lunch, Heather, Jed, and I had time to do a little organizing. Jed put new basement shelving together and I helped to start filling those shelves. Heather reorganized things on the shelves in the dining room and I assisted her with that task. And then there was the never-ending laundry task that I kept going throughout the day. None of us accomplished anything earth shattering, but it felt really good to have a relaxed day helping out. We also took time to discuss travel plans. There has not been a gathering of the entire Handley clan for years, so after Mark’s death, his sister Mary Ellen proposed that we try to do that sometime this year. We had thought that might happen in April, but after today’s discussion, we are going to suggest having Thanksgiving together in Florida. The time the Goldstone kids have off school in April is around Easter and the cost of travel and accommodations in Florida at that time just proved to be too much for us. I have been waiting for this decision to be made before making reservations for a trip to Puerto Rico and a return trip to Nashville. I can do that now, so that will be tomorrow’s task.
by Judy Handley | Jan 21, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 21: Sam’s Tenth Birthday and Solidarity Rally
Date: Saturday, January 21, 2017
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with Periods of Sunshine; High 47, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, NH
What a day! I started by going to the gym to Zumba class, but I wasn’t a very enthusiastic participant as my left knee is causing me a lot of pain. But I went and participated as best I could. Then I came home and got ready to attend Falmouth’s ‘Together, In Solidarity’ gathering on the Village Green. This gathering, as so many around the country and the world, was planned to support today’s Women’s March on Washington. The Green was packed with men, women, and children of all ages, more older than younger, but all in attendance to show support to empower grassroots change.
Dr. Phil Duffy, President and Executive Director of the Woods Hole Research Center, was the main speaker. The Woods Hole Research Center’s website tauts this organization as the number one climate change think tank in the world. Duffy pointed out the President Obama’s senior advisor on science and technology, John Holdren, was also in attendance today. Before going to Washington, Holdren was a Woods Hole scientist, and after his position ended in the Obama administration yesterday, he headed home to Falmouth. Other speakers spoke to support human rights in other areas and I was proud that I could be there to add to the body count of the hundreds of thousands of Americans and people around the world who gathered today to speak with one voice.
I had arranged to meet my friend Olivia White on the Green. When I asked her how I would find her, she simply said, “You won’t be able to miss me.” When I arrived, I found she was correct. Olivia was wearing her colorful ‘pace’ (peace) flag and I spotted her immediately.
Then it was on to Heather and Jed’s for Sam’s birthday dinner. Sam made the decision to not have a party this year. Instead, he invited two friends to come for dinner and for a sleep-over.
Two more friends will join them in the morning to play together Ollie and Jonah were supposed to come home with me to spend the night, but that plan was abandoned as they so desperately wanted to be part of their big brother’s celebration. Sam requested steak tips and fries for dinner and angel food cake
and chocolate fondue for dessert. He opened presents between dinner and dessert
and was quite pleased with all his gifts. His big gift was his new bedroom set.
But he loved the Nerf gun gifts from friends and additions to his railroad set-up from me and Heather and Jed.
I still cannot believe my first grandchild is ten years old. Happy Birthday, Sam!
by Judy Handley | Jan 20, 2017 | 2017 Life Logs |
2017 Life Logs, Day 20: Life Moves On
Date: Friday, January 20, 2017
Weather: Overcast; High 41, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, NH
Political animal that I am, I simply couldn’t watch the inauguration today. To this point, Donald Trump has done nothing to gain my support. I simply find him to be rude and crude and not someone that I would want my grandchildren to emulate. And, therefore, not someone that I can be proud to call my President. So, instead I went food shopping for Heather and delivered things to her house. I returned home to have lunch and then actually drove back to Heather’s and played with Ollie while Heather and Jed put together Sam’s birthday present—a new bed with under-the-bed storage drawers and a bedside table. I had hoped to be able to help out with other jobs, but much too quickly it was time for me to leave to make it to my 5pm Friday afternoon 20-20-20 class at the gym. I talked to my sister tonight and had a long conversation with my nephew Tommy. He had just talked to our 101 year-old Aunt Ethel and had gotten her take on the Trump inauguration. This woman is a die-hard Democrat, so you just imagine what she had to say. Well, maybe you can’t imagine what a 101 year-old person might say, so just imagine that she is much younger.
Tomorrow I’ll be back in the gym for Zumba class in the morning and then I’ll attend one of the hundreds of sister rallies happening around the country in support of the Women’s March in Washington. Then it will be time to head to Heather and Jed’s for Sam’s tenth birthday party.
