by Judy Handley | Jul 25, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 206: Gardening Day, Sort Of
Date: Thursday, July 25, 2019
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day with No Humidity; High 86, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I had reserved this day for gardening, more specifically for installing a drip irrigation system in the raised beds in my front yard. I got that job partially done, but not completely, because I did a few other things. It was a beautiful, sunny day with no humidity—a perfect Cape Cod summer day, but I spent most of my morning driving up and down the highway. I had an 8:15 am chiropractor appointment in Mashpee and did some food shopping there before heading to Falmouth to run a few errands. I then had to turn around and go back to Mashpee once the shops in the outdoor mall were open to exchange something I bought yesterday. By the time all of this was done, it was late morning. I spent the afternoon gardening. The irrigation project went well, but I complicated my afternoon by dropping a gallon of seaweed liquid fertilizer as I was going down the steps to the basement. It hit hard, the lid popped up, and the stinky seaweed fertilizer flew everywhere. What a mess! After that little accident, I took a break and went to the beach for an hour. I got home just in time for a pre-arranged call from friends Kevin and Claire. Kevin was on the boat in Philadelphia and Claire was at work in her lab at Princeton in New Jersey. It was great to catch up with them. Tomorrow morning Jane Woodin is coming over and we are going kayaking. Then I’ll spend my afternoon getting ready for the weekend trip to Charlotte to attend my brother-in-law Joe’s memorial. I also got a text from Justin. They are enjoying their time in England. Next week is Coco’s birthday, so we needed to do some coordination about that. He noted that Puerto Rico’s governor resigned under protest, but noted that his replacement has issues as well. And then there’s Britain’s new Prime Minister. Interesting and disturbing political times all about.
by Judy Handley | Jul 24, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 205: Mueller Testimony and House Cleaning
Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 80, Low 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather has come to its senses. Today was warm but not burning hot and this evening is Cape Cod cool. The nine-day forecast shows more of the same. The extreme heat of last week and the tornado warnings of the past couple of days are gone for now. Whew! I spent my day watching the Mueller testimony before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. And while doing that, I managed to do a thorough house cleaning. I even swept, mopped, and waxed the floors while watching democracy in action. It’s messy and slow, but the hope is that in the end truth will prevail. I was most impressed today with the make-up of the Democratic committees. They look much more like America than their Republican counterparts. The Republican committee members were mostly white men in blue suits with a couple of women mixed in while the Democrats were a mix of Black While, Hispanic, Indian, men and women.
Tomorrow I’ll put politics out of my mind and work on gardening. My hope is to get my drip irrigation system installed and working. We shall see. This evening I decided not to go to the Barnstable County Fair with the Goldstones, but Heather sent photos of the high-flying Goldpebbles and Jonah’s friend Luke. Looked like they were having a great time.
by Judy Handley | Jul 23, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 204: Dining-in with Friends
Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Weather: Tornado Country; High 79, Low 61 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night and again this morning we had tornado warnings, strong winds, and rain, but lucky for those of us here in Falmouth, the tornado touchdown was a little further north on the Cape in Yarmouth. Still, I had to spend more time in the basement this morning until the threat passed. We will still have rain overnight into the early morning, but then things should clear up for a few days. So, hopefully no new tornado warnings for a bit.
The highlight of my day was dinner at Midge and Bill Frieswyk’s with my Newcomers dining-in group—Bruce and Jane Woodin, Terry and Olivia White, Karen and Peter Baranowski, Midge and Bill Frieswyk, and myself. This evening Midge had her Margaritaville drink processor assist her in making pina coladas. This is like a huge food processor just for drinks. I had never seen one of these before, so it was fun to watch the process. When we get together for our dinners, everyone contributes food with the host home providing the entrée. Tonight the entrée was shrimp with artichokes over pasta. Fantastic! And we celebrated Olivia’s 82nd birthday with a delicious chocolate cake provided by Bruce and Jane and all sorts of party favors provided by Midge. Olivia’s birthday is on Friday and we found out tonight that Midge and Bill’s 50th wedding anniversary is also on Friday. What a lot of wonderful celebrating!
by Judy Handley | Jul 22, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 203: The New Megan Rapinoe
Date: Monday, July 22, 2019
Weather: Mix of Rain, Sun, and Clouds; High 94, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
When I went to the post office today, there was an unexpected package with a return address from Jack in China. I thought it might be something Justin and Jo had ordered and had sent here. But when I opened the package, I knew it was for me and I knew who had sent it. It was a Megan Rapinoe Official Away (red) jersey and shorts.
What a hoot! I don’t look like Megan Rapinoe in it . . . far from it . . . but I think the Goldpebbles will get a kick out o f seeing Oma in it. As I suspected, it was from my niece Janet in Nashville. We had texted back and forth during the Women’s World Cup and Janet knew that Rapinoe had become my new sports idol. How much fun to have an official Rapinoe jersey. I need to lose about 40 pounds and shave off 40 years to do justice to the jersey and shorts, but I’ll wear it proudly as is. And I think the Goldpebbles will get a kick out of it. Thank you, Janet!
While writing this, I got a tornado warning for this area telling me to take shelter. So I am now writing in the basement. The rain and wind came around 10 pm and is now settling down, but I’ll give it a few more minutes. Strike that. I’m back upstairs now as the tornado is north of here and moving on at 40 miles an hour. This new normal of extreme weather is challenging. It was 94 degrees F today and the high tomorrow will be only 73 degrees with more rain. I have this week off from Camp Oma duties, so I’ll spend the rainy day tomorrow cleaning house. I spent this afternoon at the laundromat in town doing all the sheets and towels. Not exciting, but it felt good to get it all done. Late this afternoon I got a text from Justin saying they made it just fine to England. Tomorrow evening, my dining-in group meets at Midge and Bill Frieswyk’s. Looking forward to seeing friends.
by Judy Handley | Jul 21, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 202: The Grand Finale – Launching Rockets
Date: Sunday, July 21, 2019
Weather: Still Sunny and Very Hot; High 96, Low 72 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco’s last day here. In the wee hours of the morning, they will head to Boston in their rental van and by 8 am they will be on their way to England to spend the next month with Jo’s family. It has been wonderful to watch my five grandchildren playing together all week. Coco and Ollie are just adorable together. And Ziggy, Jonah, and Sam make quite a team. To me, they really are the Fabulous Five. And although being together just once a year for a few days is not enough, I feel blessed that we have that time together. Today’s finale was launching the rockets that we bought and assembled on Friday. Because of the extreme heat and searing sunshine, Heather and Jed brought along their pop-up tent where we could sit and watch out of the sun. It really made a difference and made us look ‘official’. Jed was the launch pad master so he had to be out in the sun most of the time. But there were no complaints and he did a great job. These little rockets are cheap and it is tricky to get them to work. The launch pad belongs to Sam and he manned the controls. I know each of the kids really appreciated Jed’s attention to detail and insistence on everyone getting a successful launch . . . and they did. We had six successful launches with Ziggy’s rocket winning the height contest. It was a shorter and lighter rocket and went much further than the others. After rocket launching, we came back to my place so the kids could finish up their play in the basement and go for one last kayak ride. Heather and Jed bought a beautiful piece of halibut for grilling for dinner and some very special chocolate for dessert, so we ended out time together with a special dinner in the backyard. Until next year . . .
by Judy Handley | Jul 20, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 201: Great Day at the Cape Cod Inflatable Park
Date: Saturday, July 20, 2019
Weather: Sunny and Very Hot; High 96, Low 73 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was almost too sunny and too hot to enjoy the Cape Cod Inflatable Park today, but despite the temperatures in the 90’s, we had a great day. You would think a hot day would be perfect, but it was so hot when we got there this morning that many of the inflatables were almost too hot to touch. Despite that, the kids picked the ones that were heat tolerable and had a blast. Very quickly, however, we were all so hot that we needed to move on to the water park. We spent the rest of the morning cooling down in Lazy River, enjoying the Ninja challenges, and with the older ones going down the big slides. We stopped early for lunch, which gave us a chance to dry off, and then we went back to the bouncy activities and on the arcade. By then, a few clouds had rolled in which made the rest of the afternoon delightful. Grandkids, parents, and Oma all had a great day. Jed grilled marinated flank steak for dinner at the Goldstones and four of the five grandchildren are camping out in their backyard tonight. Tomorrow is Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco’s last day here. The time has flown by so quickly, but it is time for them to travel on to England to visit with Jo’s family. It is such a special treat for me to have both of my children and all of their children together. I will miss them so much.
