by Judy Handley | Oct 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 285: C & C & C
Date: Saturday, October 12, 2019
Weather: Still Overcast and Drizzly; High 61, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage. East Falmouth, MA
C=Computer – C=Carpentry – C=Cooking. That sums up my day. I spent most of the day at my computer finishing the PowerPoint for my presentation on Thursday. It is complete, but I’ll continue to send time making sure I can fit it all in a 45-minute time frame. It is always a challenge to fit almost six years of world travel into a 45-minute presentation, but I hope I’ve done it this time. I didn’t do any carpentry, but Nilson Fialho came today to replace pieces of trim on the cottage that were rotting and he finished that job. Then this evening I spent time doing a little cooking to get ready for tomorrow. My sister-in-law Sue Cook from Florida is in Massachusetts visiting with her two daughters (my nieces Candi and Lynn) and they are all driving down from the Boston area to visit for the day. We will have lunch here at the cottage and do a little touring in the Falmouth and Woods Hole area. Sue was married to my brother who died 55 years ago today. Sue was from the Boston area and moved back to Massachusetts after my brother died, but the family has always stayed in touch over those many years. I’m looking forward to spending tomorrow with Sue, Candi, and Lynn.
by Judy Handley | Oct 11, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 284: Still Raining, Still Sitting at My Computer
Date: Friday, October 11, 2019
Weather: Still Overcast, Rainy, and Windy; High 58, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage. East Falmouth, MA
I did exercise this morning, I did go to the gym to ride the stationary bike this afternoon, and I did manage to can the marinara sauce. But otherwise, the rain continued to come down and I continued to sit at my computer working on the Voyage of Windbird presentation. Late this evening I was just about finished when I lost an hour and half worth of work. Stupid mistake. So, I will continue tomorrow. Hopefully this storm will finally pass sometime tomorrow morning about the same time that I hope to finish the basic work on the presentation. I will continue putting the final touches on it right up until I give it on Thursday, but once the basic PowerPoint is completed, I can get back to life as usual.
by Judy Handley | Oct 10, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 283: James, Lumpy, and Cool Beans
Date: Thursday, October 10, 2019
Weather: Overcast, Rainy, and Windy; High 58, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage. East Falmouth, MA
Do days ever go as planned? I thought I would spend my morning and early afternoon working on my Voyage of Windbird presentation, but I never got there. As my good friend Lynne Kirwin always reminds me, “We make plans, then life happens.” Yes, it does. I ended up spending my time finalizing the plans for a Newcomers Teacher Group field trip to New Bedford and getting that information out to people which took much more time than I anticipated. But I did get that done and am looking forward to the historic tour of “The City That Lit the World” . . . New Bedford, Massachusetts. In the late 1800’s, it was the whaling capitol of the world as well as a center of manufacturing, especially the textile industry. Much has changed since then, but New Bedford is still ranked as America’s #1 commercial fishing port. I look forward to the tour on October 29th.
In the afternoon, I attended a Technology Tips learning session focused on Dropbox, hurried home to have dinner, and then attended the evening Newcomers General Meeting featuring Greg Skomal. Greg has studied Cape Cod sharks for 30 years and after tonight’s presentation I can see why he is sought out as ‘the North Atlantic’s go-to-guy for separating fact from fiction about white sharks.” He shared a visual tonight that showed the movement of three great sharks that spend the tourist season with us here on Cape Cod and it was fascinating to learn that the three sharks have completely different favorite places.
A great white that they have named James hangs out near Chatham, whereas Lumpy prefers Monomoy, and Cool Beans travels the full length of the Outer Cape all the way up to Provincetown and then does down the Cape Cod Bay side of the Outer Cape down to Wellfleet. If you are not from Massachusetts, the names of those places won’t mean anything to you, but the idea is that the research is identifying patterns. The end goal is to try and learn enough about the travel patterns of the great whites to help people learn how to live with these creatures as our neighbors. Not an inviting thought, but Greg makes you want to learn more. Kudos to friend Karen Baranowski who arranged for tonight’s presentation.
As there is no school tomorrow or Monday, Heather and family left this afternoon for a long weekend in Boothbay, Maine with Jed’s mother, Marti. Thankfully for them, the weather in Boothbay looks better than here, so hopefully they will have a wonderful fall weekend. The nor’easter we are experiencing here will stay with us through tomorrow and part of Saturday. So, I do plan to spend both days inside finishing that Voyage of Windbird presentation.
by Judy Handley | Oct 9, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 282: Sitting at My Computer . . . All the Rainy Day
Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 61, Low 53 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage. East Falmouth, MA
It rained all night, so I skipped the hike this morning. Hiking in the rain is not my idea of fun. Instead, my day started with my exercise routine and then a phone call from Justin which is always a delightful way to start the day. All is well in Puerto Rico. Ziggy and Coco are back in school for the first time since Hurricane Maria and they are loving it. They have been home schooled the past two years, which they also loved, but everyone agreed it was time to try formal schooling again. Since the kids are in school, Justin has moved his office back home. Home is a bit chaotic right now as they are having the living room ceiling replaced, but that will be done soon allowing them to all settle in after a summer and fall of travel.
After talking to Justin, I made marinara sauce from the tomatoes from Heather’s garden and also made vegetable soup. I let the marinara sauce burble for most of the afternoon and will get it canned tomorrow or Friday. Finally, I sat down at my computer and I have been here ever since working on the Voyage of Windbird presentation I am giving next week. I love working on the round the world presentation as I get to relive it. It still amazes me that Mark and I really did sail around the world. What a fantastic adventure.
It rained all day and the weather tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same. And I will be doing more of the same by continuing to work on the presentation until 3 pm when I have a Technology Tips class. Tomorrow evening there is a Newcomers Meeting with a special speaker. White sharks will be the topic of that presentation given by Dr. Greg Skomal, marine biologist and shark expert from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. And in between all of this I am trying to arrange for a Newcomers teacher group field trip to historic New Bedford near the end of this month. No lack of things to keep me busy!
by Judy Handley | Oct 8, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 281: Here and There
Date: Tuesday, October 8, 2019
Weather: Overcast; High 71, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage. East Falmouth, MA
Today I was here and there. I started my morning reviewing previous presentations I have made about the Voyage of Windbird around the world. This review is in preparation of three upcoming presentations. One is next week, so I will be spending a good bit of the next few days working on giving the presentation a fresh look. After lunch, I switched gears and went to visit with Olivia and Terry White. Olivia is recovering from a knee replacement and Terry has been a wonderful recovery ‘nurse’. Olivia’s surgery was just two weeks ago today and I was delighted to see that she is rebounding quickly. While there, I learned that their daughter Sheri, senior engineer in Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering at Woods Hole Oceanographic, who is out on a science mission on the Neil Armstrong science vessel, is prematurely headed back to Woods Hole due to a storm headed our way. I knew it was supposed to be rainy for the next three days, but I didn’t know that we are under a storm watch with rains capable of causing flooding and 25 to 30 knot winds with gusts up to 45 knots. So, time to batten down for a couple of days.
From Terry and Olivia’s, I headed to an appointment with Midge Frieswyk at The Cape Club to make arrangements for the Newcomers Holiday Party. Midge is in charge of the affair and she has asked me to assist her. We met with the Director of Food and Beverage, made food decisions for the holiday luncheon, and then I carried on to the next appointment. This was to hang out with Ollie and Jonah after school as Sam, Heather, and Jed would not be home until 5:30ish. We made gingerbread that we cut into pumpkin shapes for an after-school snack and then I made fried green tomatoes as a treat for Heather and Jed. Last week Karen and Peter Baranowski brought me a bounty of green tomatoes from their son’s garden. I put them in the refrigerator which is keeping them green, allowing me to continue to make my favorite summer treat in these early days of autumn.
Tomorrow morning I am supposed to go on a hike with a Newcomers hiking group that I recently joined, but the weather forecast doesn’t look inviting. The rain could start early in the morning, so I might just stay home and work on the Voyage of Windbird presentation.
by Judy Handley | Oct 7, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 280: Laundry Day
Date: Monday, October 7, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Surprisingly Warm; High 80, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage. East Falmouth, MA
Early this morning I was off to the gym in downtown Falmouth for a pilates class. After the class, I headed to Heather and Jed’s to start my first load of laundry. Somehow with my travels last week, I ended up with much more laundry than usual. I got the first load in and then drove to Mashpee for a chiropractor appointment. Once I returned, I spent the better part of the afternoon, doing laundry loads two, three, and four. I combined H & J’s laundry with mine so I had full loads which meant more folding, but now both households have clean clothes, towels, and some bedding on my end. I spent almost an hour between two loads sitting in the sun and reading in Heather and Jed’s front yard. This day was much warmer than forecast and was just too lovely to spend inside all day. Looks like we are going to be having a few rainy days, so I figured I had an obligation to soak up the sunshine when it was available. Someone has to do it!
