by Judy Handley | May 24, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 144: Organic Puppy Food
Date: Friday, May 24, 2019
Weather: Sunny Early, Then Cloudy and Windy; High 69, Low 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
No, I don’t have a puppy yet. But I am getting closer, so today I sat at the computer researching training methods and different types of puppy food. While doing this, I got a call from Jonah asking if he and his had could stop by in about five minutes to pick-up his marsh mucking boots to take with him to Maine for the weekend. So, I got up from the computer to get the boots and some snacks ready for Jonah. When they stopped by, Jonah must have walked by the computer because as he left he said, “I see you are looking at organic puppy food. Oma, are you getting a puppy? And are you really going to feed the puppy organic food?” I explained that I am getting closer to making a decision on a puppy, and that yes, if and when I get one, I will feed it organic puppy food. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and then he and Jed were off for Boothbay. They will spend the long weekend opening Jed’s mother’s Maine home for the summer and doing some outdoor projects for her. After they drove off, I kept thinking about Jonah’s question about feeding a puppy organic food. Then I left to go to the gym to ride the stationary bike. While riding, I started a new book, Michele Obama’s BECOMING. In the Preface she writes, “There’s a lot I still don’t know about America, about life, about what the future might bring. But I do know myself. My father, Fraser, taught me to work hard, laugh often, and keep my word. My mother, Marian, showed me how to think for myself and to use my voice. Together, in our cramped apartment on the South Side of Chicago, they helped me see the value in our story, in my story, in the larger story of our country. Even when it’s not pretty or perfect. Even when it is more real than you want it to be. Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.” What a profound statement. I think many people don’t realize they have their own story. But I know I do and this afternoon between Jonah’s comment about organic puppy food and Michelle’s comment that everyone has a story, I realized that a great deal of my story deals with food. I had never thought of ‘my story’ in that way before. When I think of my story, I think about growing up poor in West Virginia. I think about going to and graduating from college with no monetary help from my parents. I think about my adventures with Mark—building a cabin in the mountains of Idaho, building a home and farm in Minnesota, building a bigger home and a bigger farm in southern West Virginia. I think about sailing around the world. And I think about our children and how all of our life decisions were made based on what we thought best for them. What I hadn’t thought of before this afternoon was that those beginning adventures with Mark were driven by an intense desire to live self-sufficiently, growing our own organic food. Even the first adventure, building the cabin in Idaho before we had children, revolved around food. I insisted that before we build the cabin that we clear enough ground for a garden and get that fenced and planted before cutting the first tree for the cabin. That took us six weeks, but we did it! So, Jonah’s comment about feeding a puppy organic puppy food sure brought forth a lot of my story that I hadn’t thought of before. My search for finding a way to eat healthy food started in 1974 and is continuing today. I believe that the most important decision we make three times a day, every day, is what we decide to eat in order to fuel our bodies. I believe, based on lots of evidence, that eating genetically modified foods and foods grown with chemical fertilizers and sprayed with poisons, is certainly not a healthy choice. So whenever possible, I eat only organic and verified non-GMO (genetically modified) food. And I certainly wouldn’t even feed a dog anything different. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.
by Judy Handley | May 23, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 143: Quiet, Cool Day
Date: Thursday, May 23, 2019
Weather: Overcast; High 63, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I’m sitting here in a lightweight sweater plus a sweater vest and I still feel chilly. The high temperature was 63 degrees today, certainly not considered ‘cool’– but with no sun, it sure felt cool to me. I looked up the temperature scale for spring and basically temps in the 50’s are considered cool and temps from 59 to 75 degree F are considered warm. Since it was 63 degrees F today, I just need to get a grip!
It was also a quiet day. I went to the gym for my first class since my knee surgery, and that went well. I stopped by Heather’s to do a little gardening and then I headed home for a day of quiet. I did some gardening and drew out a plan for installing a drip irrigation system. Then I spent all afternoon researching drip irrigation systems. I’m learning about all the components needed and found that one brand of tubing looks the same another brand, but their characteristics in terms of flexibility and durability are very different. The research into the right drip irrigation system took a lot of time and I am still not sure what to buy. I’ll continue that search tomorrow. When I needed a break from irrigation, I got back to my online search for a puppy. I have one possibility and will follow up on that tomorrow as well. I finished my day by cooking a chicken and bok choy stir fry dinner and then catching up on what’s happening in Washington and around the world. Not a lot of happy news there.
by Judy Handley | May 22, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 142: ‘Secret Ingredients’ and EFES Art Show
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 68, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Laura Winslow who became a health coach after successfully battling breast cancer. While dealing with her health issues, Laura came to the conclusion that she needed to make radical changes in her life. She started eating organic, non-GMO certified food and changed her cleaning products and personal care products to be as natural as possible. Due to my knee surgery, I missed Laura’s talk on GMO’s. But while Justin was here right after my surgery, I mentioned I was missing that meeting and that led to us watching ‘Secret Ingredients’ together. I was unaware that, Jeffrey Smith, a non-GMO acitivist for the past 21 years and executive producer of the film, is one of Justin’s clients. I told Justin about my health group, and he contacted Laura to see if she would like to show the film to the group.
The ‘Secret Ingredients’ in our food are the chemicals applied to our food as it is grown and the chemicals that are embedded in some of the genetically modified seeds. A person in the film hit the nail on the head when he asked why it is that a chemical company is in charge of our food production. Good question. For years Monsanto has declared that their most popular herbicide, Roundup, does not affect human health. Well, guess what. It does. And research that has been hidden and/or misrepresented for years shows that. Over the past couple of years, I have made the change to buying only organic whenever possible. If food is labeled as USDA organic, then it is non-GMO. Even better than organic is organic AND non-GMO certified. This film is just the most recent of Jeffry Smith attempts to bring forth this important information. I applaud him and his dedication to this issue.
After the morning at the library, I went to the gym to do my 30 minutes on the stationary bike and headed home for a late lunch. I then did prep for dinner for the Goldpebbles. Heather was in Boston today and Jed is still down south. Sam had jazz band after school, but thankfully another parent brought him home. Cassidy, the high school student from across the street picked Ollie up from school, and once I had dinner pre-cooked, I picked Jonah up from an after-school program. We all sat down to eat at 5 pm as Sam had soccer practice at 5:30 and Jonah and Ollie had their annual art show at the elementary school. Unfortunately for Sam, the parent that was picking him up for soccer arrived very early, just as we sat down to eat, so I sent him with an energy bar and promised dinner after soccer practice. I then took Jonah and Ollie to the elementary school where they enjoyed the ice cream social and shopped at the Book Fair. Heather arrived just in time for the art tour and I took off to pick up Sam. I took him home to eat and then returned to the elementary school to get my tour of the art work. Heather posted a Facebook thank you tonight to myself and the other parents who helped out saying that it takes a village. I am so glad that I am part of that village!
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 141: Amazing Women Sailing ATW Solo Nonstop . . . Again
Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Still Windy; High 72, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Larry Beavers was the engineer for New Hampshire Public Radio during Mark’s years there as General Manager. He and his wife Angela had a daughter the same age as Heather, so we knew them well. I haven’t seen them for a few years, but today I got a message from Larry alerting me to a website he thought I might be interested in. There is a woman named Jeanne Socrates once again attempting to sail around the world nonstop and unassisted. The amazing thing is that she is 76 years old! In the late 1990’s, she and her husband began their sailing adventures. Unfortunately, her husband discovered he had cancer. He sailed for another year or two, but then the cancer won out. But Jeanne continued on all by her herself. Their boat was named Nereida, and even after losing the boat off the coast of Mexico, Jeanne continued in a new boat with the same name. That was in the early 2000’s. Right not she is off the coast of New Zealand. If you would like to learn more about the Jeanne Socrates adventure, you can go to her website at https://svnereida.com/articles-interviews. From there, you can get to her blogs and to her history. She is already the oldest women to sail around the world solo nonstop unassisted. She is now striving to be the oldest person, man or woman, to sail around the world alone unassisted. What a woman!
After reading about Jeanne, my day seemed very mundane. Exercise at home, a trip to the gym, home for lunch, off to the Goldstones to be at home when Jonah and Ollie got home from school. They are now leaving the school as walkers on Tuesdays. They are accompanied by a school volunteer to get across the main highway and then they walk home on their own. It is not far, but it gives them a sense of independence. In between all of this, I did a little gardening. It is still too cool to do much, but I am working on hardening off the seedlings started inside. This next weekend is Memorial Day weekend, the traditional planting time here on the Cape. But the weather has been so cool that we might need to wait another week or so.
by Judy Handley | May 20, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 140: Sam’s 6th Grade Band Concert
Date: Monday, May 20, 2019
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds, Windy; High 68, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I can’t believe my first-born grandchild is in sixth grade and will be in middle school next fall. But attending his 6th grade band concert tonight gave evidence that this is true.
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Sam plays percussion and was on cymbals for the first song and then on tone block and drums for the other songs. He is also a drummer for the jazz band that played next and he was the drummer for the first song, My Girl. I heard this song at the district-wide concert a couple of months ago, but hearing Sam drum for one of favorite songs ever is very special. One of Sam’s very best friends, Robert, is the other jazz band drummer, and he drummed for the second song. Then both of them sat back and air-drummed for the last song which was an improvisation for horns. A high school senior led the improv and then the students went with it. They were amazing. Sam’s good friend Sebastian is truly a gifted saxophone player. Wonderful to see such talent. Afterwards we went to Smitty’s to celebrate with Robert and his parents and brother. As we enter the last month of school, I think there is concert every week going forward. Jonah has a band concert next week, Ollie the next week, and then there is Jonah’s 4th grade graduation with 4th grade chorus concert. So you’ll be reading about more concerts as we move toward the end of the school year.
by Judy Handley | May 19, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 139: Soccer Sunday Morning
Date: Sunday, May 19, 2019
Weather: Sun Early, then Clouds and a Little Rain; High 64, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Jonah had an 11 am soccer game today, but he had to be at the field an hour early for practice and a team photo. Sam spent the night with his friend Sebastian last night and Ollie and Jonah stayed up much later than usual as they, along with their babysitter, were invited next door to the Keefe’s for a sit around the ‘camp’ fire last night. They slept in and then Heather had to take off with Jonah to get him to the field while I went over to help Ollie get going. Ollie and I went to pick up Sam and made it to Jonah’s game just as it was starting. Jonah played a good game.
His team lost today, but Jonah made the only goal of the game for his team, so he was at least happy about that. After the game, I took the boys home and fixed lunch for them while Heather went food shopping for the week. When she got home, I stayed on for part of the afternoon helping out with chores around the house. Mid-afternoon, I took off to go home for a late lunch and to make a trip to water plants for friends who are out of town. I wanted to get back to Heather’s to finish up some jobs there I had started, so I skipped going to the gym to ride the stationary bike. I had dinner at Heather’s and when I left tonight, most of the chores that needed to be done before the start of the week were completed. I really don’t know how single mothers survive, but as Heather pointed out, they simply would not be able to allow their kids to do all the things the Goldpebbles do. Some weeks it takes all three of us, Heather, Jed, and me, to cart kids from place to place. This week we are down to two of us, so I will be continuing to help out a bit each day . . . something I love doing.
