by Judy Handley | Jul 26, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 207—Free and Easy Day
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2018
Weather: Rain Early, Partly Cloud Day; High 79, Low 68 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It rained overnight and was quite dreary this morning, so the Goldpebbles talked me into skipping swim lessons. Of course, as soon as we made the decision, the sun popped out, but it was only temporary. The rest of the day was partly cloudy and we did have one more little stint of rain. The boys basically spent most of the day inside. We had a few chess tournaments, wrote summer book reports, practiced drum, guitar, and violin, and just generally had a low key, free and easy day. It has been at least 25 years since I have played chess, and I was never very good at it, but I surprised myself with how quickly the rules of the game returned. I didn’t win against Sam, but I gave him a run for his money. We have no big plans for tomorrow, so we will just see how the day develops.
by Judy Handley | Jul 25, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 206—Getting Back to ‘Normal’
Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Weather: Partly Cloudy with Strong S Winds; High 82, Low 73 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After a wonderful week with Justin and family, the Goldpebbles and I continued to work toward getting back to normal summer days today. Actually, after we returned from swim lessons, the boys did more work than in a normal today. But they seemed to enjoy it. They finished pulling the grass between the flat stones in the front yard walkway and then they cleaned the guinea pig cage. It was hot and humid and I let them have double popsicle treats as a reward for their work, That gain gained points for me! Tomorrow will probably be more of the same, depending on the weather. There was a threat of thunderstorms this afternoon. That didn’t happen, but the threat will continue into tomorrow. The garden and the grass are begging for rain.
by Judy Handley | Jul 24, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 205—The Wonderful Having of Family and Friends
Date: Tuesday, July 24, 2018
Weather: Sunny, Warm and Humid; High 84, Low 70 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a wonderful week of family fun with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, but at 2 am this morning, they were whisked away to Logan Airport in Boston and on home to Puerto Rico. After being away from home for five weeks, the Handley-Hunts were understandably anxious to get home. They flew out of Logan at 5 am going to Newark, NJ, and then on to San Juan. The flights were all on time and they arrived in San Juan just after noon. Ziggy and Coco were tired babies when they arrived and Justin sent photos of them fast asleep mid-day in the van that would drive them the two-plus hours home to Rincon. Having all five grandchildren together for a full week was just so wonderful and I will cherish the memories until we are all together again. There was a definite feeling of emptiness this morning, but life goes on and I had a lovely, relaxed day with the Goldpebbles. After swim lessons we returned a bike that Ziggy used while he was here to friends Peter and Karen Baranowski. We came away with four-plus dozen clams that Peter dug yesterday, popsicles for the three boys, and a dinner invitation for me tonight. Wonderful friends. Dinner was delightful and it helped bridge the feeling of emptiness here at home. Thank you, Karen and Peter.
If you follow this blog, you know that in almost thirteen years I have hardly missed a day of posting. But I was having so much fun this past week that I missed posting more than one log. We had a change of plans yesterday and did not go to the Cape Cod Inflatable Park. Instead we went to the opening day of the Barnstable County Fair. The kids had an incredibly fun time riding ride after ride after ride. Stay tuned and I’ll fill in the missing logs over the next few days. Now to Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco . . . we all miss you but are so happy to know that you made it home safely.
by Judy Handley | Jul 22, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 203—A Day at Heather and Jed’s
Date: Sunday, July 22, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Threat of Rain All Day; High 78, Low 71 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
We spent the entire day at Heather and Jed’s beginning early this morning. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, Coco, and I went over for breakfast and spent the day there. We inherited a few more kids for the day, Molly and Joey from next door, and Ariel from across the street. So we had eight kids in total. Coco was so excited to have girls to play with after being with the four boys all week. Ariel is a year younger than Coco but they played together so nicely, as if they had been friends for years. Ariel even stayed to have dinner with us and then went home reluctantly. There were lots of hugs and a hope that they will see each other one more time before Coco goes home in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
It was a full-time job today preparing food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Add in time to do the laundry and that is how I spent my day. I picked a batch of basil from my garden this morning and Jed used that to make pesto for dinner. I also picked a batch of arugula to add to our lunch salads. Heather picked kale from her garden and we had that for dinner. This is prime garden time and we are enjoying the fresh greens. The kids watched Peter Rabbit in the morning after breakfast and then spent most of the rest of the day outside. There was a little indoor game playing and lots of biking. We interrupted the playing mid-afternoon for a walk to get ice cream at Smitty’s and everyone certainly enjoyed that. While at Smitty’s I attempted to get a photo of the whole family, a task that is harder than it seems it should be. Somehow little boys just don’t won’t to cooperate. It seems nearly impossible to get the Fab 5 to pose for a picture. But later when back at Heather’s, Justin made another attempt and we did a decent photo of all of us. I have photos of Heather’s family and photos of Justin’s family, but I don’t think I have ever taken a photo of the ten of us together. Now I have one which made me a very happy Oma.
Tomorrow is our last day together as Justin and family fly home to Puerto Rico early on Tuesday morning. They have to be at Logan in Boston for a 5 am flight to Newark and then on from there to Puerto Rico. Tomorrow we plan a family outing in the afternoon to the Cape Cod Inflatable Park to celebrate Coco’s birthday a little early. She will turn six on July 30, but we want to have a little birthday fun tomorrow while she is here with us.
by Judy Handley | Jul 21, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 202—Another Afternoon in Woods Hole
Date: Saturday, July 21, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 63 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning Heather brought Ollie over early so that all of the Fab 5 could play together. Heather and Jed were off to Woods Hole to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the MIT-WHOI Joint Program. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole offer a joint graduate degree program that recognized as one of the most prestigious marine science degrees world-wide. One thousand degrees have been awarded through this program in the past 50 years and Heather and are Jed are two of the recipients. So deserved to be able to do a little celebrating. They went to a luncheon and then they had afternoon tickets to tour the Atlantis, one of WHOI’s research vessels. Because they live here and get to see the research vessels often, they offered the tickets to Justin and family, plus Ollie who has never toured the Atlantis. They thought only five people could be admitted, but no one was counting, so everyone went except for Jed.
Justin suggested I stay home and relax since he thought I would not be able to tour, so I took him up on that offer. I didn’t do any resting, but I was able to clean up from breakfast and lunch and finish writing and posting last night’s log. Then I joined the gang at Heather and Jed’s for dinner. The Goldpebbles all stayed at home tonight, so it is only Justin, Jo, Ziggy, Coco, and myself. But the cousins will all be back together tomorrow morning. Rain is expected tomorrow, so are planning for rainy day activities indoors. Heather and Jed have invited us over for breakfast and a movie to be followed by indoor game playing. At least that is the plan if it really rains. If not, who knows what we might do. Whatever, it will be great just to be together.
by Judy Handley | Jul 20, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 201—Bike Trip to Woods Hole
Date: Friday, July 20, 2018
Weather: Sunny; High 79, Low 59 F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today the Fab 5 agreed to bike to Woods Hole. Ziggy wanted to visit the aquarium, so we biked there on the bike path from Depot Street downtown. This required renting a trailer for Coco to ride in as she can only bike with training wheels and has never gone any distance. There are no bike paths where Justin and family live in Puerto Rico and the roads are narrow and winding which does not lend to learning to bike. So. our ride today was a special treat for Ziggy and Coco. Before we headed to Woods Hole in the afternoon, the grandkids had another morning of playing together. There was more kayaking and playing in the sandbox, but the new thing today was the discovery of the basement as a place to play. They have named themselves the Bacon Bandits and the tribe went underground. They scavenged the basement and came up with a ‘desk’ for each bandit and a desk lamp for each. Very creative. And after their tribal dances and hoops and yells, they actually sat at their desks and read. Interesting tribe!
Heather rode her bike to Woods Hole this morning so she could join us in the afternoon. That left us one bike short, but then it became apparent that someone needed to drive to drive the van loaded with beach gear, so I volunteered for that. I stopped at points along the way to cheer on the riders. 
Everyone seemed to enjoy the bike ride and picnic lunch on the lawn on the hill next to WCAI where Heather works. There is a huge tree there that the kids love to climb in,
so after climbing, we visited the aquarium. The touch tank is always popular as are the sea horses.
But just as much fun is sitting outside and looking at sea life in the water.
After the aquarium, it was on to Stoney Beach.
We ended the day at Heather’s where we grilled the grass-fed sirloin and huge shiitake mushrooms we got at the Farmer’s Market yesterday. Grass-fed beef can be tough, but we marinated this all day and it was delicious. The Boy Scouts built a fire in the fire pit and the final treat of the day was roasted marshmallows.
Each night two of the Goldpebbles have been sleeping over and I pick the other one up in the morning before Heather heads to work. Last night Ollie and Sam spent the night and Coco wanted to sleep in my bed with Ollie and me. It was a bit crowded, but we got lots of snuggle time. Tonight, Sam and Jonah came home with us. Jonah decided to sleep on the floor in the room with Coco and Ziggy and Sam opted for the sofa. So, I am in my bed all alone and had better stop writing and get to bed to enjoy it while it’s all mine.
