by Judy Handley | Aug 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 224: A Day in the Life
Date: Monday, August 12, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 86, Low 72 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was just a day in the life . . . lazy morning with the Goldpebbles, a short trip to the beach, lunch, Ollie’s violin lesson. I really enjoyed having a bit of time to reconnect with Sam after his week away at Scout camp. He has been working to earn the money to buy a Google phone and today was his first day to use it. He was one happy kid—growing up way too fast. When Heather got home, I visited with Karen Baranowski on my way home. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy day, so we will see what we can come up with to bring in a little sunshine.
by Judy Handley | Aug 11, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 223: Shopping and Cooking
Date: Sunday, August 11, 2019
Weather: Sunny; High 82, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a marathon shopping and cooking day. I love my dark chocolate, but to get the organic 88% dark chocolate bars I like, I either have to drive to Whole Foods in Hyannis or order them from Amazon. There was a sale at Whole Foods in Hyannis that made each bar $1.50 less than ordering them online, so it was well worth the drive. I also picked-up an order for Sam at Old Navy and spent time at Home Depot checking out washers and dryers. I have lived without a washer or dryer for over a year, but I think it is time to buy. Once I returned home, I spent the rest of the day cooking. I made clam chowder to take next door to Shirley and Doris and I just finished a batch of ratatouille that I will can to save the taste of summer for a mid-winter day. The week coming up is the last full week of Camp Oma as the Goldstones head to Maine for ten days next Saturday. When they come home, they will be here for two days and then head to the Outer Cape for a long weekend of camping. Then it’s back to school.
by Judy Handley | Aug 10, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 222: Woods Hole Stroll and Legoland in England
Date: Saturday, August 10, 2019
Weather: Another Perfect Summer Day; High 83, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather has been spectacular recently, but it looks like we are in for cooler temperatures during the coming week. Tonight I had dinner at Heather and Jed’s and as the sun went down and the temperature dipped a bit, Heather said it felt like fall. Oh, no. Not so soon! None of us are ready to hear that just yet.
Today was the Woods Hole Stroll and I hopped on the trolley to go down and take a look around. On this day once a year, the science institutions in Woods Hole open up to the public. You can walk out onto the Woods Hole dock where there are displays showing off all of the different kinds of submersibles and other cutting edge technology. The Marine Biological Lab highlights some of the live animals of the sea, while down the street at NOAA they bring in ‘not-live’ specimens of all sorts of fish for public examination. And waterfront Marina Park is filled with display tents, one of them being a WCAI tent featuring the one, the only, Heather Goldstone of Living Lab fame. Heather’s on-air popularity makes her a bit of local super star of the Woods Hole science world. So proud of her.
Going backwards, my day started with a series of text messages with photos from Justin. He, along with Jo, Ziggy, and Coco, were in Windsor, England, at Legoland. There were in a part of Legoland that I think is called Miniland, a showcase of recreations of world landmarks. Absolutely amazing.
by Judy Handley | Aug 9, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 221: Falmouth Swim Meet
Date: Friday, August 9, 2019
Weather: Another Perfect Summer Day; High 89, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
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This afternoon, children who took swim lessons at one of Falmouth’s beaches this summer met at Massachusetts Maritime Academy for a swim meet. The students from each of the beaches competed in the Olympic-sized pool and Ollie was one of the students. Jonah and Sam could not attend due to their involvement in Scout and soccer camp this week, but Ollie proudly carried the Goldstone torch. And I was so very proud of him. When he first learned about the meet during swim lessons a couple of weeks ago, he was adamant that he would not compete. He has only been in a swimming pool a very few times in his life as we have no public pools here on the Cape and has never been in an Olympic-sized pool. But his swim instructor, Jacqueline, kept encouraging him and promised that she would be right there with him, so he finally decided this was something he really wanted to do. When we arrived and he saw the pool and all of the kids, I think he was terrified. There were no other kids from Menauhant in his age group, so he had to go it alone which made me as anxious as Ollie. But his older Menauhant friends cheered him on and when he completed his three competitions, he announced that this was one of the greatest things he has ever done. “It was awesome.” He is a tough little guy and declared after the meet that he will definitely compete next year. I give a lot of the credit to his instructor, Jacqueline. She obviously loves children and knew just the right way to encourage each of them. Thank you, Jacqueline!
by Judy Handley | Aug 8, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 220: More Fun at Menauhant Beach and Bourne’s Pond
Date: Thursday, August 8, 2019
Weather: Windy Beach Day; High 85, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Menauhant Beach is on the Vineyard Sound. It is on one side of the road. A narrow channel connects the beach side of Menauhant to Bourne’s Pond on the other side of the road. While Ollie was having his last swim lesson of summer 2019 at the beach, good friend Peter Baranowski was heading across Bourne’s Pond with Bruce and Jane Woodin and their twin grandchildren, Aurora and Jasper, on a clamming expedition. Ollie and I were invited to join, but since it was the last swim lesson, we decided to decline the offer. Ollie was really torn as he LOVES clams and would love to learn about clamming from Peter, known affectionately as Poseidon to my grandchildren. Maybe another time. After the swim lesson, we did walk across the road to greet the expedition on its return. Bruce and the twins led the way with Jane and Peter behind. Peter was transporting a full basket of clams that was graciously shared with us. And I documented the occasion by getting a photo of the ‘clammers’ that Bruce labeled as American Gothic . . . Cape Cod style.
I headed home with the clams while Joey and Molly’s grandmother watched Ollie. When I returned, the wind had ramped up even more than earlier and the kids decided to ride the waves on body boards. The boards are light weight and kept flying into the air, but the sister of Jacqueline, the swim teacher, became a hero by staying with Ollie, Joey, and Molly and keeping those boards in control. The waves were as rowdy as the kids, so I stayed at the ready to go out quickly if needed. Thankfully no help was needed. I just got to sit back and watch joyous kids enjoying summer fun.
by Judy Handley | Aug 7, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 219: Day Filled with Fun
Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Weather: Perfect Summer Day; High 87, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a perfect summer day in every way. The weather was beautiful—sunny and hot with just enough wind to keep you cool—and it was filled with fun activities. Ollie and I started our day at Menauhant with swim lessons. After lessons, Ollie played and enjoyed the surf with Jude, grandson of my next door neighbors, and Joey who lives next door to the Goldstones. Ollie is 7, Joey is 9, and Jude is 10. But the difference in age makes no difference at the beach. Kids manage to have a great time despite age differences. We only stayed until noon today as Ollie and I were headed to Woods Hole for the afternoon. We were meeting Jed and Jonah at the WHOI tennis courts at 3:30 pm, but in the hours in between, Ollie and I had lunch at Marina Park on the Woods Hole waterfront and then we visited the WHOI Exhibit Center where we bought a book about “flying deep” in Alvin. Ollie played in the full-sized model of the inner sphere, living out the adventures outlined in the book. Alvin is a 3-person research submarine that takes scientists deep into the ocean on explorations that was first launched in 1964. As we left the center, Ollie spotted a strange looking insect and persisted until he got a great photo. Then we headed to the tennis courts to meet Jed and Jonah. Ollie had requested a tennis date and I left with the three of them playing their first match.
This perfect summer day is in such complete contrast to what is happening in our country this week. As I watched coverage tonight of our President’s trip to Dayton and El Paso today, my heart ached for the people of those two communities. I am totally with the people of Dayton who started the ‘Do Something’ chant earlier in the week. I don’t know about you, but I certainly do not believe that assault weapons belong in the hands of anyone other than the military. Gun violence in this country is simply out of control and we do need to do something, anything as a starting point, to remedy this situation. If nothing happens before Congress reconvenes in September, I think we should all go to Washington to demand that our legislators DO SOMETHING NOW.
