by Judy Handley | Jan 4, 2021 | 2020 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 4: Christmas, Not Over Yet
Date: Monday, January 4, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, A Little Rain; High 40, Low 33 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Sick of Christmas? Well, it is not quite over for many people. Wednesday, January 6th, is not just the day that President-elect Biden’s election gets the final validation when a joint session of Congress meets to formally count the votes of the Electoral College. This year that process is going to have a bit more drama than usual. That day is also the twelfth day of Christmas, also known as the Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day or All Kings’ Day. Depending on your religion or where you live, the name varies. And many Americans have no idea what the twelfth day of Christmas is other than a song. I was one of those people who didn’t know what it was until 1979 when John Denver and the Muppets made an album called A Christmas Together. Yes, we had a record player and played that album for Heather and Justin. One of the songs on the album was The Twelve Days of Christmas and it became part of our holiday celebrations. Eventually I wondered what the song was really about. In researching that, I learned about Epiphany or the twelfth day of Christmas. The 12 days of Christmas in the Christian religion represent the time between the birth of Jesus and the coming of the three wise men twelve days later. For that reason, some people call that twelfth day Three Kings’ or All Kings’ Day. In Puerto Rico people often give larger presents than they do on Christmas Day. I know Justin and Jo give Ziggy and Coco presents on All Kings’ Day and I’m not sure if that is a custom of Jo’s from England or if it is something they started doing in Puerto Rico. So, on this Wednesday, we’ll have twelve drummers drumming and some people will give gifts. I, on the other hand, will be taking down my Christmas tree. It has become a custom for me to take down all Christmas decorations on the twelfth day. This year I will be removing those Christmas ornaments while watching the circus happening in the Congress. Or maybe I’ll get an early start and take some decorations down tomorrow night while watching the results of the Georgia Senate election roll in. In any case, I’ll be singing.
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
a partridge in a pear tree.
The song then adds a gift for each day, building on the verse before it, until you’re reciting all 12 gifts together:
Day 2: two turtle doves
Day 3: three French hens
Day 4: four calling birds
Day 5: five gold rings
Day 6: six geese a-laying
Day 7: seven swans a-swimming
Day 8: eight maids a-milking
Day 9: nine ladies dancing
Day 10: 10 lords a-leaping
Day 11: 11 pipers piping
Day 12: 12 drummers drumming
by Judy Handley | Dec 31, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 366: New Year’s Eve
Date: Thursday, December 31, 2020
Weather: Rainy Morning, Then Overcast; High 50, Low 29 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
There are probably few people in the world that are not glad to see 2020 come to an end, but I fear that for most of 2021 we all just have to keep on doing what we have been doing to fight Covid. Our world is not going to return to normal until this virus is under control and right now it is rampaging like a house on fire. There is hope . . . a new President once the Republicans stop playing dangerous games with our democracy and the vaccines. But there are tough days ahead. So, I hope that each of us includes patience in our New Year’s resolutions. And if each and every American pledged to wear a mask and observe physical distancing starting tomorrow, we could save many lives. We can hope.
I talked to Heather mid-day and I suggested that we order sushi for dinner. She readily agreed. I asked her to make the order and I would pick it up on my way to their house. We had a nice dinner and I got to hear the boys talk about their great snowboarding trip to Maine. Even though there was only man-made snow and the first day on the slopes was short-lived due to high winds, the Goldpebbles had a great time. Heather and Jed both had tumbles that were a little scary, but both were fine. Heather is questioning whether she really enjoys downhill skiing. She was a cross country skier in high school, but like me, downhill isn’t her favorite thing. But they all felt it was great to get away for just a few days. And they felt totally safe doing it the way they did. Renting a condo on the slopes worked out great. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco called tonight while I was still at the Goldstones, so I got to see them via Skype. I haven’t seen them in person since the summer of 2019. It would be wonderful if things get to a point where we could safely get together in 2021. We’ll just have to wait and see, but that is certainly one of my wishes for this year.
I am now at home with Shadow and we just watched the ball drop. And I have to go get a pumpkin pie out of the oven. Everyone needs to start their new year on a healthy note with pumpkin pie and whipped cream for breakfast. Right? Now it’s time to for all of us to double down and stay safe so we can have a healthy 2021. Happy New Year!
by Judy Handley | Dec 30, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 364: Loving My Christmas Present
Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Windy; High 48, Low 45 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
I am loving the Christmas present from my kids and grandkids. It is a recumbent exercise bike that I have placed in the living room where I can exercise while watching television if I choose. Eventually I will be able to read while riding, but right now I am just getting used to riding again. I am doing 15-minute segments as I haven’t ridden for so very long. My legs are a little sore, but not bad. I did 30 minutes total today, but my goal is to do four 15-minute rides each day. The bike is a Marcy. It is a low-tech bike which keeps the cost down, but it has 8 resistance levels and gives me a constant read-out of my speed, distance, time, calories burned, and overall odometer reading. It is simple, but fantastic. But between morning stretching exercises, my walks with Shadow, bike riding, and playing fetch with Shadow every afternoon, it feels like a lot of my day is dedicated to exercise. As the days lengthen, that feeling will change as there will be more daylight time for outside activities. This week I have been making two trips to Heather and Jed’s each day to feed to guinea pigs and today I did laundry while I was there. Then I went to the grocery store for the last time for a while. I came home with four big bags of groceries. For the month of January, I will order groceries and either pick them up curbside or have them delivered. I am anticipating that Covid cases will rise in January after the holidays. I hope not, but I am going to err on the safe side and do as Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should all do for the next couple of months, “Double-down on all public health measures.” I have also finally started working on the puzzle I got out a few days ago. Trying to work it on the low coffee table was not working as Shadow was eating the pieces, so I cleared off the dining table and using that as my desk and puzzle space for now. If the kids come over for dinner, I’ll have to put the puzzle away (I am working it on a piece of cardboard). It was Heather’s suggestion that I do this and it is much easier as I can see all of the pieces in one space. The problem is that when I am in the kitchen, I keep getting distracted by the puzzle. Not a bad thing, but cooking dinner sure takes longer than it should!
Heather and Jed got home tonight. Jed sent a text yesterday evening saying he and Ollie were the last ones off the slopes and got to watch the sun set and the full moon rise from near the mountain top. Jed said Ollie is “awesomely persistent” . . . as long as he is not hungry. I am anxious to hear from everyone about how their four days at Sugarloaf went. They had planned to head home this morning, but they spent 5 hours on the slopes and then headed home. Thus, the last evening arrival back on the Cape.
by Judy Handley | Dec 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 363: Message from Google
Date: Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny and Cold; High 43, Low 22 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
The full moon is rising in a clear sky and the temperature is 30 degrees F. But Weather Underground says it feels like 19 degrees and it felt colder than it was all day long. So other than my walks with Shadow and our afternoon game of fetch, the rest of my day was spent inside. And it was a good day to stay inside because I needed to deal with a computer issue. I got a message on my phone saying that my Google storage is almost at capacity and if I don’t deal with it, when I run out of space I will no longer receive my email. Yikes! You can either pay for more space or you can get rid of the things taking up space. I have two Gmail email addresses and two Google accounts. On the old account I pay for cloud space, so I don’t want to pay more for the other account. I wish I understood all of this. I really don’t, so I spent today, and will continue tomorrow, trying to find out the best way to deal with this. I love Google Photos and Gmail, so no complaints.
by Judy Handley | Dec 28, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 362: Garden and Yard Work Outside
Date: Monday, December 28, 2020
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 51, Low 31 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Yes. It is December 28 and it was warm enough for me to do garden and yardwork today. I also made trips into town to feed to guinea pigs at the Goldstones and when it got dark outside, I came inside and started working on photo organization. This is an ongoing process. Tomorrow is not going to be as warm, so maybe I’ll spend the day continuing to work on the photos.
One of my Christmas presents to Ziggy was something called a levitation wand. I also gave one to the Goldpebbles. It is a wand that lights up and is attached to your hand with a thin black string. When you spin it around in the dark, it looks like you are magically levitating the wand. I got a video from Justin of Ziggy performing with the wand and I was quite impressed. I can’t share the video here, but I can share a photo that gives you the idea of what I am talking about.
by Judy Handley | Dec 27, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 361: Catching Up
Date: Sunday, December 27, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 39, Low 28 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Today was a day of catching up . . . catching up with friends and catching up on watching things suggested by friends. As I write this, I am watching Handel’s ‘Messiah’ for Our Time. It was performed by Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society. They haven’t missed a performance of Handel’s Messiah since 1854, so they weren’t going to let a pandemic stop them. The musicians and singers were masked, except for the brass section, socially distanced, and there were photographs of Boston during the pandemic interspersed. It was aired a week ago, but I recorded it and just now had the time to watch. Interesting, Shadow sat right up on the sofa and watched quietly. I think he must like classical musical.
I spent a great deal of my morning and early afternoon catching up with friends on the phone. First, I talked with Linda and Mike Stuart in Colorado. I got to hear about their quiet Christmas with just the two of them and I got an update on their month-old grandson, Grant. He was born prematurely, but he is doing fine now. Linda and Mike will not get to meet Grant until Covid is under control, but they are certainly looking forward to that time. Then I talked to Kevin and Claire who are currently living in Long Beach, California, in their motor home. They are both working remotely and moved to California to be close to family. They split their Christmas between being with Kevin’s mother and sister and her family and Claire’s sister and her family who all live in the greater Los Angeles area. The one thing that was most interesting was finding out that both Linda and Mike and Kevin and Claire have all started eating a mostly vegan diet. I have moved away from a vegan diet to a modified Mediterranean diet, but I was most interested in listening to their reasons for doing this. Kevin and Claire and I agreed to share some of our favorite vegan recipes and I am going to invite Mike and Linda to do the same. Focus on diet seems like a great way to start the new year.
I got a call from the Goldstones tonight. Sam called to tell me that they were sitting in a hot tub in the condo they are renting at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. He was joking, but I fell for it which gave all the boys a good laugh. There is no snow other than machine-made, but they are not going to let that stop them from having a good time.
