by Judy Handley | Apr 12, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 102: A Day with Ollie
Date: Friday, April 12, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 51, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
A cold that has been coming on got Ollie down this morning and he just wasn’t up to going to school. Heather called to see if I could spend the day with my favorite seven year-old little boy and I was happy to do it. Ollie was a little sad that he was going to miss special play opportunities at school on this last day before spring vacation, so we came up with a list of play activities that we could do together at home. I took advantage of being there by bringing my laundry to do, but other than doing that, I spent the entire day playing with Ollie. Tomorrow should be a soccer day with two games, but due to the forecast of morning rain, those games could be cancelled. If so, I’m hoping to turn my attention to spring cleaning projects. Fun, fun.
by Judy Handley | Apr 11, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 101: PT, Tech Tips, and Farm to Table
Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 49, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Busy day. I headed to PT by 8:20 am and didn’t get home until 10:30. I have only three more sessions and then I am on my own. According the physical therapist, I am doing great, and I have to agree. There are still a few weeks of healing to go, but I am super pleased with the progress to date. Mid-afternoon I headed to the public library for a Technology Tips class on using OneNote or EverNote on my computer and phone. These are just apps that allow you to take quick notes on one device that are automatically synced to the other device. Great way to keep track of things. I came home to have dinner and then headed back out for the monthly Newcomers Meeting. The April meeting is always in the evening and this one was especially interesting to me. It was entitled ‘Farm to Table’ and many of the local farmers were there as well as groups focused on gardening or growing plants for gardeners. If it would just warm up, I would love to start thinking seriously about gardening.
by Judy Handley | Apr 10, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 100: What’s Up Below
Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 48, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I’ve been watching a docu-series online called Broken Brain 2 hosted by Dr. Mark Hyman. He is my go-to health guru, so a couple of years ago when he hosted Broken Brain (the first) I watched intently. The current series is an update on the new information we have learned in the interim. I don’t have a broken brain, at least not yet, but with a family history of Alzheimer’s, I watch to learn. What I learned from this recent series reinforces what I have learned in the past. We used to think that genetics ruled. But now we know that genetics plays a part in everyone’s health, but it is the way we live that determines 90 per cent of our health status. We have to eat well, keep moving, get a good night’s sleep, have positive social connections, have strong relationships with friends, pay attention to our spiritual selves, and have stable emotional health. In tonight’s program, the last of the series, it was this last piece that grabbed my attention because one of the things the experts say is best for maintaining stable emotional health is journaling. If you stretch the definition of journaling to include my nightly logs, I should have very stable emotional health! I just counted it up and I have written 5,920 nightly logs since October 18, 2005. True journaling would include more introspection than I include in my logs. They are more a history of each day. But as one expert in tonight’s program pointed out, when humans started writing, it was the beginning of our history, and my logs are my history since 2005. I titled tonight’s log, “What’s Up Below”, as that is what Mark Hyman said comes out in good journaling—those feelings that are beneath our actions. As he said, emotions of all kinds come into our lives each day and writing those out at night can help keep you grounded. Then the program went on to talk about how important it is to practice gratitude. And that made me think about those of you who still read my nightly ramblings. I feel so connected to you. You are a huge part of my life and I am so grateful you are there. My life is not nearly as exciting to read about these days as it was when Mark and I were traveling the world, but I can’t stop writing each night and I am so grateful you are there. Some of you I have never met, but I feel a deep connection. Thank you for being my friends and for making me a healthier being.
I usually try to keep politics out of my logs, but I got a message on Facebook today from a friend of Mark’s. It was from a website called “Americans Against the Republican Party”. To my friend Rich in Cincinnati, please don’t take this personally. I’m just writing ‘what’s up below’. The message from the friend was a photo of Donald Trump and next to him was this list:
No Books,
No Friends,
No Music,
No Curiosity,
No Patience,
No Integrity,
No Compassion,
No Empathy,
No Loyalty,
No Conscience,
No Courage,
No Respect,
No Character,
No Morality,
No Honor,
Not Even a Dog.
Whatever you think of Donald Trump or the Republican Party, having the things on this list would be a good thing. I have been ‘thinking’ about getting a dog. This closed the deal. I am ‘getting’ a dog!
by Judy Handley | Apr 9, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 99: VOW Presentation and Goldpebble Pick-up
Date: Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Late; High 48, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning I drove to the Lower Cape to give my Voyage of Windbird presentation to the Harwich-Chatham Newcomers Club. The labeling of geographic regions on the Cape can be very confusing, but if you think of the Cape as someone’s arm being flexed to show off their bicep, the place I visited today would be near the elbow. The presentation began at 9:30 am and ran for an hour, but then with questions, it was almost 11:30 when I headed home. I think everyone enjoyed the presentation and I always enjoy reliving those wonderful years sailing around the world. The drive from Harwich to home is about 45 minutes, so once I got home, I had lunch, did a few chores, and then it was time to go pick up Ollie. He had a 3 pm dentist appointment in Woods Hole, so I delivered him to Heather. At 4:30 I went to pick up Jonah from his afternoon Gym Games activity and stayed with him until Heather and Jed got home. Then I headed home with my pressure canner and jars that I keep in H & J’s basement and canned chicken mineral broth. Tomorrow there is nothing on my calendar. I have plenty to do, but it is nice to not HAVE to do anything.
by Judy Handley | Apr 8, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 98: Here and There
Date: Monday, April 8, 2019
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 51, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My day started with a physical therapy session and a trip to the grocery store so I would have something to eat for lunch. Then I spent a couple of hours getting ready for a Voyage of Windbird presentation I make tomorrow at the Harwich Chatham Newcomers meeting here on the Cape. I roasted a chicken and started a batch chicken mineral broth. Friend, Karen Baranowski, stopped by just to catch up. And then I headed to Heather and Jed’s to take Sam to a Boy Scout commitment. I was supposed to take him to soccer practice, but the rain cancelled that and put the Scout event back on the schedule. I did some more food shopping while Sam was doing his duty and then I picked him up and took him home so he could have dinner and a little relax time before bedtime as he has his state testing for the next two days and needs to be well rested. Heather was off-Cape this evening with a work commitment and Jed was at Cub Scouts with Jonah and Ollie. I stayed with Sam until Jed got home and then came home and called it a day. I got photos from Jo when I got home of Ziggy blowing out the candles on his birthday cake today,
so evidently his birthday celebration continued for a second day. Lucky ten year-old and yummy looking cake.
The chicken mineral broth is still burbling, but I’ll get it in the refrigerator before I head to bed. I really was all over the place today . . . here and there. And tomorrow looks to be more of the same, but Wednesday looks like a day of rest. Yay!
by Judy Handley | Apr 7, 2019 | 2019 Life Logs |
2019 Life Logs, Day 97: Happy Birthday to Ziggy
Date: Sunday, April 7, 2019
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 50, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The second born of my grandchildren, Ziggy Milo, celebrated his first decade of life today. He had a technology-filled 10th birthday and spent his morning building the kits he received. I talked to him via Skype video this afternoon
and he showed me the robot he had built and the computer he had put together from the Raspberry Pi kit I sent him. I also sent him an electronics kit and he had wired up a meter to track the amount of power being used by the computer. Go, Ziggy. And happy, happy birthday.
Heather, Jed, Ollie, and Jonah headed off-Cape early this morning to go to Jonah’s first soccer game of the season. I volunteered to stay home so I could pick Sam up at 11:30 when he got back from his Scout camp-out weekend. When I picked him up, I assumed he would want to go home, but he wanted to go to my house to launch the new kayak I bought a couple of weeks ago.
He ended up launching three kayaks, tied them together, and pulled them behind him—just because he could.
?
He was having such a good time that I didn’t get him home until 4 pm. I dropped him off, came home to do a little organization for a sailing presentation I am giving on Tuesday, and then went back to Heather and Jed’s for dinner. Their invitation saved me as I have almost no food in my refrigerator. Tomorrow I definitely have to get to the grocery store!
