by Judy Handley | May 24, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 144: One Day, Then Another
Date: Sunday, May 24, 2020
Weather: Partly Sunny Day; High 60, Low 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
One of the casualties of this coronavirus period is time. It is hard to keep track of the days. Weekends don’t mean much these days. One day just leads to another and on and on. Without the usual Memorial Day activities in Falmouth, tomorrow just feels like another day. But hopefully we all take time to honor the men and women who have died while serving their country in our own, individual ways.
Friend Midge Frieswyk made arrangements with me to bring her three grandchildren over this afternoon to go kayaking. So late morning, I went to Heather and Jed’s to see if I could get one of the boys to come over and launch the kayaks and have them ready for Midge’s grandchildren to use. Sam and Jonah were off on a neighborhood biking adventure, but Ollie was available and came home with me. He was putting the last kayak in the water when Midge and grandchildren arrived.
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We used masks and social distancing to keep everyone safe. And when Ollie shoved off the third kayak, he asked if we could launch the two-man inflatable kayak so he could go out and serve as tour guide for Midge’s three grandchildren. That kayak is about ten feet long, heavy, and awkward to maneuver. And it takes a great deal of effort to inflate it. But I didn’t deflate it and put it away last fall. I left it on the concrete pad down near the dock and covered it during the winter.
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Heather and Jed continued working on laying the wood flooring in Sam’s bedroom today, but the strange angle of the entry way into his room from the hallway really slowed them down. Hopefully, they will finish tomorrow and can then start the planning for painting and flooring in Jonah and Ollie’s bedroom. With work and school schedules, Heather thinks it will be at least two weeks before that job is done. It feels like never ending work, but hopefully by the end of June, they can put any further renovations on hold until fall so they can enjoy the summer. In the meantime, I am trying to do what I can to support them.
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by Judy Handley | May 23, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 143: Rainy Day with the Goldpebbles
Date: Saturday, May 23, 2020
Weather: Rainy Day; High 63, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
On this first day of the Memorial Day Weekend, Heather and Jed started laying the new wood flooring in the bedrooms on their second floor. Sam’s bedroom was to be the first one. At the end of the day, it was not done, but great progress was made and it looks great.
I went over mid-morning and kidnapped the Goldpebbles so that Heather and Jed could concentrate on the work that needed to be done. It was pouring rain when I arrived but the boys had come up with a rainy day activity for us. The idea was spawned when Sam mentioned Spohr Gardens to Jonah and Ollie. Ollie had no idea what he was talking about and Jonah had distant memories. So, they decided that we should go there for a walk in the rain. I have been there on multiple occasions with Sam through the years, fewer occasions with Jonah, and only once with Ollie when he was just a wee one. Going there for a walk today sounded like a great idea, so off we went. Charles and Margaret Spohr lived on the six-acre property for 40 years and developed it as a miniature botanical garden interspersed with a collection of old stone mill wheels and anchors, large and small, from ships around the world. The property sits on Oyster Pond and the views from the pond go out to the Nantucket Sound.
It is now maintained by a trust as a Falmouth community resource and we certainly enjoyed our visit this morning. Jonah immediately noticed that the stone mill wheels look like the logo on Taza chocolate bars. Taza is a Boston-based chocolate company that stone grinds their organic chocolate from hand-carved granite millstones. Then Jonah found an anchor from the 1700’s that said HMS Bounty (?). He didn’t know about the HMS Bounty, but Sam filled him in on this bit of history, and he was super excited that this anchor might have been on that ship.
Sam enjoyed leading our tour, Jonah enjoyed making discoveries and posing as a victorious explorer, and Ollie quietly and carefully explored each and every find. We were soaked to the bone by the end of our tour, but it was worth it. All of us had a really fun time.
We arrived at my house, dripping wet. We got out of our wet clothes and hung them in the bathroom with a little heater running to help dry them. And then I gave each boy a blanket to wrap up in. We decided to watch a Harry Potter movie while waiting for the clothes to dry and half-way through the movie, I served a late lunch and then hot chocolate. After the first movie, we decided to do a Harry Potter marathon and watch one more. I didn’t really get to watch all of the second one as I was trying to prep dinner. I had invited Heather and Jed to come here for dinner. But late in the afternoon Heather sent a text asking if Sam would like to come help with the flooring. We quickly changed plans, packed the food in a big box, and headed to 43 Grasmere where I finished cooking while the last of the flooring for today was put down. We had oven roasted Pacific salmon for dinner. I fixed a giant skillet latke for the boys and oven roasted veggies and kale for Heather, Jed, and I. And we topped it off with an out-of-season pumpkin pie that made Ollie a very happy little boy. Pumpkin pie is his favorite. I have no idea what adventures await for tomorrow, but I’ll enjoy whatever.
by Judy Handley | May 22, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 142: Interesting Relationship
Date: Friday, May 22, 2020
Weather: Sunny, Still Breezy; High 63, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I didn’t do much today other than just enjoy a beautiful day. Unfortunately, the lowered activity level resulted in more pain in my hips. Interesting relationship. You would think that the inflammation would like a day off with no activity, but not so. I have been taking notes since meeting with the physical therapist and on the days when I have been the most active, I have had the least pain. I finally got a copy of the x-ray report of my lower spine and it shows moderate degeneration of the posterior of the spine causing the pain in my hips. Whatever I did to aggravate this is just going to take time and proper exercise to heal. But evidently standing in the kitchen and cooking is not the kind of exercise needed. It does better with gardening and pulling kayaks out of the water.
I did spend time today focused on food. My weekly Misfits box of veggies was delivered this morning, so I spent time putting those items away and I made an order for an afternoon delivery from Rory’s Market to fill in the gaps. When it arrived, I spent more time putting things away and then delivering to Heather and Jed a few things that I ordered for them. They were both working, so I tried to slip in, quietly put things away, and slip back out. On the way home, I called the fish market and picked up some Pacific salmon curbside, drove home by the beach road just to check out the activity level and parking situation, and then came home to check on the chicken bone broth that had been burbling all day. I have been craving a piece of pumpkin pie, so I made that, and made creamy broccoli potato soup to use broccoli that needed to be eaten sooner rather then later. In between all of this, Karen and Peter Baranowski stopped by with their son and grandchildren who are visiting them for a couple of days. This is the first time they have been together since the COVID lockdown, so they are super excited to have them for the weekend. Karen wanted the kids to meet Shadow and then they went next door to visit with the aunties by waving to them through the floor to ceiling windows on their deck.
Tomorrow Heather and Jed are laying the wood flooring in Sam’s bedroom and I think the plan is for the boys to come spend the day here with me. There is an 80 per cent chance of rain tomorrow, so we might have to find indoor activities. There are at least three Woods Hole Oceanographic webinars I think the boys would enjoy watching, as well as the PBS series on water–H2O: The Molecule That Made Us. It aired in April, but it is still available to watch. I have watched the first episode three times and could watch it three more times. I had the boys watch a bit of the first episode when they were here yesterday and they were really into it. So, if it is raining, we can watch science programs. And if it is not raining, we have a long list of fun things to do outside.
by Judy Handley | May 21, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Log, Day 141: Electric Violin, More Kayak Krazies, Talking to Friends and Family
Date: Thursday, May 21, 2020
Weather: Sunny, but Cool with the Wind; High 57, Low 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Another great day with beautiful weather. Blue skies and sunshine is always welcome, but right now it is especially cherished. But it was a windy day and felt considerably cooler than yesterday although the thermometer read the same as yesterday. I went to pick up the Goldpebbles mid-afternoon to come over for another Kayak Krazies afternoon. We had fun, but unfortunately, it was just not as perfect as yesterday. That was mostly because of the direction of the wind and chill it left in the air. But the boys still had a good time trying their best to sink those kayaks.
Other parts of my day . . . when I went over to pick up the Goldpebbles this afternoon, Ollie was in the basement with Heather playing his violin. But for the first time, it had an electronic connection and it sounded fantastic. He was so excited to finally be electronic. Then this evening I spent a time talking with friend Lynne Kirwin who has been spending the last few months in New Zealand. She had planned to return to Michigan the first of May, but that didn’t happen, and it is still too early for her to make a return home reservation. Maybe by the end of July, but we will just have to wait and see how things play out. I also spent time talking to my sister Patsy in Nashville. She has not been out since the middle of March and is getting very anxious to go food shopping. She has plenty of food, but she is really missing the shopping aspect.
I did not get to the gardening tasks for today, but those seedlings are still growing in my plant window. Maybe tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | May 20, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 140: Kayak Krazies
Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Weather: Sunny with a Cool Breeze; High 56, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Another gorgeous day, and another day when I didn’t do what was on my agenda. But that’s okay as I enjoyed every minute of this unplanned day. My morning did go according to plan. I got up and took Shadow for a walk and then got ready for my physical therapy session on Zoom. The stretches Joe has me doing are a bit painful, but they seem to be making a positive improvement with my back issue. He upped the level of the back extension stretch I am to do every two hours. He is now calling it a ‘press up’ and it is more like a push up where your legs stay on the floor while you push your head and arched back upwards until your arms are locked straight. Then you exhale while holding the position and repeat nine more times. Like I said, it doesn’t feel great, but when I am done, the heaviness and pain in my lower back and hips is better. I am to continue this until next Monday when we meet again. We both laughed that we realized we will be meeting on Memorial Day. Like Joe said, in these coronavirus days, we really have stopped worrying about what day of the week it is.
Early this morning, I got a text from Heather asking if the boys could come over this afternoon so she could host her Wednesday webinar in peace and quiet. And, of course, I said I would love to have them. They had decided that they wanted to have a Nerf gun battle. I am not a Nerf gun fan, but I said okay as long as they followed the rules. They did and they had a great time. I had them set up a little fenced area for Shadow as I didn’t want him chasing and eating Nerf bullets and I sat with him inside the fenced area and read. When it was time for Ollie to go home for his weekly 4 pm violin lesson on Zoom, Sam and Jonah decided they wanted to stay and go kayaking. Well, they didn’t really want to kayak. They wanted to practice capsizing the kayaks and sinking them while playing in the water.
I’m figuring this activity is fulfilling their physical education requirements for school and teaching them a little physics while having fun. That was fine with me, so they stayed with Shadow while I took Ollie home. When I returned, the ‘Kayak Krazies’ began and they had a blast. It was low tide and they could literally walk in the water, so it seemed safe enough. They stood up in the kayaks and used them like paddle boards. They jumped out and capsized the kayaks and then rode on them and looked like they were riding on a whale’s back. Then they found ways to fill the kayaks with water and get them to sink. Heather brought Ollie back after his violin lesson and he joined in the fun as well. Heather and Jonah headed home around 6 pm to help Jed get dinner ready while Sam and Ollie showered. I didn’t get them home until almost 7 pm, just in time for a late dinner. They are all looking forward to returning tomorrow afternoon. The weather tomorrow and Friday is supposed to be even warmer than today and it will still be low tide in the middle of the afternoon, so it is a perfect time for Kayak Krazies. So much fun.
by Judy Handley | May 19, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 139: Glorious Weather Day
Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Weather: Sunny and Breezy; High 59, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a gloriously beautiful, breezy spring day with blue skies and sunshine. My plan for the day was to do some gardening. I was going to work on getting my drip irrigation system up and running and then plant some seeds. So much for plans. That didn’t happen. But a good thing did happen and it was garden related. Before I went for my morning walk with Shadow, I got a call from Justin bringing me up-to-date on things in Puerto Rico. Where he lives in western Puerto Rico, they seem to be following the same guidelines as we have here in Massachusetts and stay-at-home is still in place. Justin is spending most of his time working on his computer. Jo is spending a lot of time in her garden. Ziggy is playing MineCraft with friends and enjoying being with them each day, even if it is online. Prior to Justin and Jo relaxing rules about online time, Ziggy was getting very lonely and really missing contact with his friends. This MineCraft group has solved his problem. And Coco continues to play dollies with her friends on Zoom. So, the days of living with the threat of the coronavirus are going along there just as they are here. After the call, I did go on my walk with Shadow and then I got a text from Jane Woodin asking if I would like to come dig up some Jerusalem Artichokes to plant here. These plants are perennials and they multiply like mad. You can eat the tubers of these artichokes, but the real reason for having them is that they have the most beautiful yellow flowers in late summer and into the fall. Jane always picks bunches of them and delivers them to friends to brighten their days. And those of us who have been the recipients of these beautiful bouquets have asked if we could dig some up to start on our properties. I tried transplanting the roots of the dried-up plants last fall, but none of those have come up this spring. So, I jumped at the opportunity to go over and get some to transplant. I ended up getting quite a few and it basically took me the rest of the afternoon to get them planted. Bruce also offered some hops vines, so I transplanted those around a tree so the vines could climb and I added a couple of the luffa sponge seedlings I have been growing inside, as they are also climbers. I didn’t harden them off first, so I hope they make it. But if not, I have 18 more seedlings to plant later. I did spend the day gardening . . . just not on the tasks I had planned. Maybe I’ll get back to that plan tomorrow. Thank you, Bruce and Jane for sharing. I sure hope these transplants make it! And after spending the entire afternoon outside in the sun and breezy conditions digging trenches in which to plant the artichokes, I am zapped. Time for bed.
