by Judy Handley | May 13, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 133—Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 13, 2018
Weather: Overcast and Cool; High 54, Low 47 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a Happy Mother’s Day here and I hope that all of my favorite mothers out there had a great day. For me, it is a great Mother’s Day when I get to spend time with my children. That’s a little hard for me since Justin lives in Puerto Rico. But Justin called this morning and then took Jo, Ziggy, and Coco to his office late this afternoon so they could make a Skype video call. They had to go to the office because the internet signal there is strong enough for video. It was wonderful to see them, and on this end, I had Heather and gang here. So, I was surrounded by my children, despite the distance. For Mother’s Day, Justin and kids gave Jo tickets for a summer trip to England, stopping here for a week-long visit on the way home. That will be in July and I can’t wait to have them visit!
Heather, Jed, and boys returned from their two-night camping trip late morning. They were planning to come over to help me put the raised garden beds together, so I invited them to come a little early and have lunch, as well as dinner, here. We had a nice lunch and then launched into our projects. Heather and Jed helped me decide where to place the raised-beds and then the boys helped with the assembly.
You can assemble the cedar raised-beds in different ways and we considered all sorts of configurations. But in the end, we decided on a simple design.
I ended up with two 4 x 8 foot beds and one 4 x 4. It will cost a small fortune to fill them with organic garden soil, but I am determined to use only organic. I am very happy with the look of our design and am anxious to fill them with soil and plant the seeds and seedlings. The boys also assembled a tiny greenhouse I bought at Job Lot and I hope to take the plants that we started inside out to the greenhouse to harden them off before planting in the gardens (Heather’s and mine) over Memorial Day weekend.
It is such a nice feeling to be gardening again. That wasn’t possible on while living on Windbird except for pots of basil and it wasn’t possible at The Studio. But now that I am in a home with a yard, I can go for it. The soil here is sand, thus the need for raised-beds. I’m not sure how successful my gardening attempts will be this year, but I will have fun trying. Thanks to Heather, Jed, and boys for pitching in and helping me today.
We had artichokes and baby back ribs for dinner, ending a wonderful day. I had hoped for some sunshine, but the only sunshine came from watching my family in action. I’ll take it.
by Judy Handley | May 12, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 132—Shopping, Cooking Day
Date: Saturday, May 12, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Afternoon Drizzly Rain; High 54, Low 48 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
So the Goldstones took off late yesterday for a two-night Cub Scout camping trip despite the forecast for cool, rainy weather today and tonight. The rain held off until the afternoon, so hopefully they got to go biking as planned. But in their absence, my first job of the day was to go to Heather’s to feed the guinea pigs, Max, Mort, and Zuzu and to stop at the Post Office to pick up some Amazon packages. My next stop was the lumber yard to figure out what to buy to bolster the shelf strength in the IKEA wardrobe I am converting into a kitchen pantry. I installed the shelves I bought at IKEA last week, but I have been worried that the little pins that hold up the shelves are just not strong enough. And indeed, I was right to worry. During the night I was awakened by a loud bang. I immediately checked the IKEA shelves and one had fallen. I was not surprised, but this moved that project to the top of the list. I decided on installing brackets, bought the supplies, and traveled on. I had to go downtown to a couple of shops, made a stop at the grocery store, and made another stop at the hardware store to buy some organic garden soil and potting soil for tomorrow’s project. When I finally got home, it was time for lunch. I made chicken salad with the chicken I roasted last night, baked beets, and got the chicken mineral broth burbling. I also assembled a little two drawer kitchen organizer that arrived from Amazon. By the time I got all of this done, it was 3:30 and I wanted to go to Waquoit Feed and Seed to check on the price of organic garden soil there and then I went to Williams Sonoma in Mashpee to set something I needed from there. So goes a day. Tomorrow the focus is on gardening and I am looking forward to that.
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 131—What a Beautiful Corner of the World
Date: Friday, May 11, 2018
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 73, Low 45 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I spent time yesterday taking photos for a book about Woods Hole for a great niece’s first grade son and I spent much of today publishing it as a CVS photo book. By doing this, I was able to order the completed book and have it printed at a CVS in West Virginia where it can be picked up after 10 am in the morning. Good thing since it is due at school on Monday. But the point I want to make is that in doing this, I was once again reminded of the beauty of this corner of the world. As I was taking photos in Woods Hole yesterday, I was constantly distracted by the distinctive call of nesting osprey.
They were everywhere. And where there are osprey nests, there were egrets, red-winged blackbirds, and swans. All so beautiful. In the book, I toured Woods Hole and then followed the Falmouth Road Race course back to Falmouth. Some of the views from that course are just breath taking.
I took time out this afternoon to walk next door and visit with Doris and Shirley. They returned from their stay in Scituate on earlier this week and I haven’t had a moment to properly say hello. Shirley and I had a nice conversation and I look forward to spending more time visiting. Heather and gang took off late this afternoon for two nights of cub scout camping and biking, but it is possible they will return late tomorrow if the rain that is forecast becomes a reality. I have a lot of small jobs and errands to run tomorrow and plan to start setting up the raised beds in my front yard on Sunday. Sounds like a low-key weekend, but we’ll see if that really happens.
by Judy Handley | May 10, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 130—Another Busy One
Date: Thursday, May 10, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 68, Low 51 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
If yesterday was busy, today was even busier. I attended the Newcomers Installation of New Officers Breakfast Meeting this morning. It was at the Flying Bridge on Falmouth Harbor and it was a lovely event. I only took one photo and that was of the carved fruit decorations, but every detail was perfect. A great big pat on the back to Jane Woodin, co-chair of the Program Committee, who arranged this affair. It was delightful.
I left the Flying Bridge and went on a three-hour explore of the Woods Hole area with Flat Stanley. Since moving, I get my mail at a PO Box and because I have been so busy, I have only checked the box twice. I get most notices electronically, so there is rarely an important piece of mail. But this Tuesday when I got the mail, there was a very important request. It was from Kit, the son of my sister’s granddaughter. Kit is in second grade and his class is doing the Fla Stanley Project. This is an educational project started in 1995 in Canada. It features a paper cut-out of a character from the 1964 children’s book called Flat Stanley. “The project was designed to facilitate the improvement of the reading and writing skills of elementary school students, while also promoting an interest in learning about different people and places.” So today I took Flat Stanley on a tour of Woods Hole and all of my favorite stops from Woods Hole back to Falmouth. We had a great time. Then I drove north to Mashpee to meet my neighbor from The Studio to pick up a kayak that she was selling. By the time I dropped the kayak off at home, it was time to go to the Goldstones to stay with Jonah and Ollie while Heather took Sam to an after-school appointment.
But this was not the end to my day. I then met Jane Woodin at the West Falmouth Library for a talk by author Jacquelyn Mitchard. It was interesting talk by an author I am unfamiliar with, but I bought a book to get acquainted. Then I went home with Jane and we put together a combined dinner. I brought lettuce and some of Heather’s quinoa salad left over from yesterday’s teacher luncheon. Jane added sautéed chicken, mushrooms, and asparagus. Dinner was delicious and it gave us a chance to catch up on recent happenings.
by Judy Handley | May 9, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 129—Busy Day
Date: Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 66, Low 47 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What a busy day! Started my day by stopping by Heather’s to change laundry from washer to dryer and put in another load as part of my role as laundry lady for her this week. I then went to the gym for my 9:15 am hour-long class. Then it was to the grocery store to pick up a couple of things I forgot yesterday and to Walmart to pick up a couple of things. Then it was back to Heather’s to do another laundry switch and fold the clothes that were dry. When I arrived, Heather was standing outside the front door looking rather lost. She was due at the elementary school in ten minutes to set up for the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. She had made a huge pot of quinoa salad and then discovered it was too heavy for her to carry. So she had come out to see if there were any neighbors that could help her. I think she was looking lost because she is just not used to having to depend on others for help in carrying things. So my timing was perfect. I took her to the school and carried the pot inside to a cart. Then I went back to her house to continue the laundry thing. It was after 12 noon when I got home. I had only enough time to shower and fix lunch before I returned to the school to help with clean-up after the luncheon. I came home to do a few things mid-afternoon, but then I returned to pick the boys up after school and stayed at Heather’s until time for Jonah’s 6 pm 3rd grade chorus concert.
There was singing, xylophone playing,
and recorder playing. All 3rd graders get the experience of learning all those skills.
Their teacher, Mr. Charles, is a young, dedicated educator that is very enthusiastic about making sure that all children to learn the basics of rhythm. It is heart-warming to watch him with these kids.
Tomorrow is going to be another day. I have a Newcomers breakfast/meeting in the morning, some things to do in Woods Hole after that, and after that I am then meeting my former neighbor from The Studio at her storage unit to buy a kayak from her. Then I’m supposed to go to the gym for a 5 pm class if I still have any energy left! We have had a few days of beautiful spring weather, but the upcoming weekend does not look good. Rain all day Saturday with a 10 degree drop in the temperature and then a cloudy Sunday. I was hoping to get the raised bed kits I bought at Home Depot assembled on Saturday, but it looks like I need to do that on Friday. If I get that done, maybe I’ll just sit inside and read a good book all day on Saturday. I doubt that happens, but I do feel the need a day of do-nothing day.
by Judy Handley | May 8, 2018 | 2018 Life Logs |
2018 Life Logs, Day 128—Visit to an Orthopedic Surgeon
Date: Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 65, Low 45 degrees
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I have put off today’s visit to an orthopedic surgeon to assess the state of my left knee for almost 10 years. So, needless to say, it was long overdue. The doctor confirmed what I already knew. There is absolutely no cartilage remaining in my left knee, so it is ‘bone on bone’. When the doctor walked in the room to meet me for the first time, he immediately said he had bad news. He had the results of the x-rays that had been taken when I first arrived for today’s appointment and after the niceties of meeting and greeting, he went into detail with the bad news. He first said that on the arthritis scale of 1 to 10, my knee is at an 11. He explained that I am obviously ‘an adaptor’ and must have a very high pain threshold. After asking many questions about my normal activities, he then outlined my two options. Both include a knee replacement, but that can happen sooner or later with no further damage to my knee. The ‘when’ of the surgery all depends on what I can tolerate in terms of pain and still keep up an active life. When my level of activity is further affected, then it is time for the surgery. The doctor spent a great deal of time with me, answered all my questions, and thoroughly outlined my two options. When I made it clear that I am just not ready for the surgery right now, he agreed and suggested cortisone shots every 3 months to control inflammation in the knee, a brace that I should wear when walking and standing for periods of time, and a few physical therapy sessions to teach me what I should and should not be doing on that knee. I agreed to all three. I reluctantly got the cortisone shot in the knee today, will receive the brace in about two weeks, and will start the PT next Wednesday. As doctors go, I really liked this one. I truly appreciated his thoroughness and the amount of time he took with me. I feel like I now have someone I can trust to keep watch over my knee situation and help me make the decision when it becomes apparent that I really need to have the surgery. When I eventually got home at the end of the day, I was greeted by Shirley Wiedemann, the 92 year-old woman who owns the home I am renting. She and her sister returned from their other home today and will spend the next month or so here. Shirley is mentally sharp as a tack and doesn’t look like she is 92, but her left knee is a major problem for her. She has to use a walker to get around and when we talked about what I had been doing this afternoon, her wise recommendation was that I should not wait too long to get the surgery done or I could end up like her. I will remember that advice.
Heather continues to recover quickly from her hernia surgery. I stopped in twice today to check on her and to do laundry. She can negotiate steps, but there is no need for her to be going down to the basement to do laundry for another few days. So, as I drove into town to go to the grocery store, I stopped to see Heather and put a laundry load in. This also gave us a chance to walk down to the garden to assess progress. Everything we have planted is coming up and is looking good at this point. Now it is time to plant a few more weather hearty seeds. We picked out the seed packets to be planted next and I will do that sometime this week. Then, at the end of the day when I returned from Hyannis, I stopped in again, put the clothes from the washer into the dryer, and started a new load. I’ll continue this little laundry dance over the next few days. Tomorrow Heather has to set-up and clean-up after a Teacher Appreciation Luncheon and then starting at 3 pm, she has to be at the school to distribute packets to parents who bought things during a recent fundraiser. Then at 6 pm, she has to be at the school for Jonah’s 3rd grade chorus concert. Heather swears she feels up to doing all this, but I did get her to relent to let me come help with luncheon clean-up. Hopefully that will speed things up enough that she will have time for a short nap. Then on Thursday, she is back to work full-time. And she is still planning to continue with plans to attend a two-night camping outing with Jonah’s Scout troop this weekend. This includes a day of biking on Saturday. Sure hope this all works out for her as this was her request for Mother’s Day.
My day tomorrow includes going to a class at the gym at 9:15 am, doing Teacher Appreciation Luncheon clean-up at 1 pm, and going to Jonah’s concert at 6 pm. In between all of that, I hope to start assembling the garden raised beds I bought today while in Hyannis. I had a house warming Home Depot gift certificate from Tom and Detta Porat and this morning I got an early Mother’s Day Home Depot gift certificate from Heather, Jed, and boys. So I bought out all of the 8-foot raised beds available at the Hyannis Home Depot. The area in front of the house where I plan to locate these raised beds is covered with a mixture of grass and moss with a sand base. I will remove the grass and moss, put in the raised beds, fill them with organic garden soil, and hope something will grow.
The activity level in my life just seems to keep on going. I desperately need to take a day off focus on paperwork. I have to contact all of my accounts to make an official address change and I’m sure that is going to cause all sorts of stress. Because of that, I have been putting off the contacts, but the time has come. So hopefully on Thursday or Friday, I will stop all projects and do that necessary ‘paperwork’. In between all of these jobs, I will make sure to enjoy the lovely spring weather that has finally arrived.
