by Judy Handley | Apr 24, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 115: Harry Potter Times Three
Date: Friday, April 24, 2020
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 47 degrees, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
As forecast, it was indeed a rainy day which made for a great movie binge day with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. We were up early, had breakfast, and then watched Harry Potter 1. We took a break after the first movie to try and watch a science webinar about the current herring run. We connected my computer to the television and we could watch it just fine. But none of us could get the sound going. After twenty minutes of trying, we realized that my computer was on mute. Duh! Sam was shocked that none of us had thought to check that, but we hadn’t. Since we can watch that program later, we abandoned watching it and started watching Harry Potter 2. We paused for lunch, finished watching the second HP, and ended the afternoon with Harry Potter 3. At the end of the afternoon, the boys couldn’t believe they were still in their PJ’s and had not been outside all day. I had taken Shadow for a couple of walks, but it was miserable out. It was a great day to spend inside.
by Judy Handley | Apr 23, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 114: Boundless Energy
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2020
Weather: Sun Early, Then Mostly Cloudy and Windy; High 47 degrees, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
No, I don’t have boundless energy. But the Goldpebbles do and tonight I am worn out from just watching them put that energy into another spring vacation work and play day.
I had a follow-up chiropractor visit this morning at 10 am and there was definite improvement after my visit yesterday. So, I will return a couple of times next week and probably the week after that. I am just thankful that my chiropractor is nearby and is doing everything possible to make visits to his office as safe as possible. I was in and out fairly quickly and was at the Goldstones by 10:30. I was met by a bag of groceries sitting by the door for me and three boys ready to spend the rest of the day, tonight, and tomorrow at my house. Heather made a trip to the grocery store for both of us this morning. Thank you, Heather. Unfortunately, many things on our lists were not in stock. I had hoped to get grassfed ground beef so I could have hamburgers for dinner for the boys tonight, but that was a no go at Stop and Shop. Later in the day, however, I ordered from the tiny organic market in Mashpee Commons and within an hour, the bag with the grassfed ground beef and other goodies was on my doorstep. They didn’t have buns of any sort, so I made hamburger buns. They were not only a great hit, they were extremely fast and easy to make.
Even though the boys were packed and mostly ready to go. We made a stop at 60 Vidal to dig up a few raspberry plants that we want to move to my yard. We only dug up a few to use as guinea pigs to see if our plan was going to work. By the time we got to my house, it was time to fix lunch. While Ollie and Sam dug the trench for transplanting raspberries, Jonah and I made flakey biscuits to go with a mac and cheese lunch. Not sure what happened, but the biscuits were definitely not flakey. I’ve made those biscuits for years, but maybe using almond milk instead of regular milk doesn’t work with this recipe. The boys ate them anyway and then we returned to the raspberry project. We planted the ones we had brought with us and determined that our plan was going to work. But before going back to get more plants, it was time for the next item on our agenda which was kayaking. 
Once again, Shadow and I sat by the dock in what felt like freezing wind and watched the Goldpebbles enjoying another kayak explore. Then we went back to 60 Vidal for more raspberries. 
I’ll not go into detail on what is like trying to oversee three fully energized boys doing this project. I’ll just say they work like bulls in a China shop. But bottom line. They got the job done! There are still more raspberries at 60 Vidal, but if we are going to transplant those, that project will have to wait until the weekend.
When we got back in the house after transplanting the raspberries, it was time for quiet indoor play while I got dinner together. I made those 40-minute hamburger buns, but then realized that I had no ketchup. The Goldpebbles consider ketchup to be its own food group and believe you can’t have a meal without it, especially not a hamburger. So as soon as the buns came out of the oven, we drove to 43 Grasmere to borrow some ketchup. When we got back home, Sam grilled the burgers and everyone agreed that the burgers were perfectly grilled and that the buns were perfect. Success.
The boys are fast asleep now and I am tired. But I am not nearly as tired as the parents in this country and around the world trying to work full-time while basically homeschooling their children. It is hard enough to home school kids, but to do it while you are working full-time from home is almost impossible. Then there are the parents who are still out there going to work everyday with kids at home with no one to be with them. It’s not like summer when you can send them to camp and enroll them in other activities. There are no camps and no other activities. And then there are the parents who have lost their jobs and are at home and have the time to educate their kids, but are so stressed out about how they are going to pay the next rent check or feed their family with no money coming in that they can’t think straight. We, all of us, have a lot of figuring out to do right now. As I am sure you know, it is totally overwhelming. We’ll get there, but this is tough stuff.
The Goldpebbles and I are going to totally ignore the world’s problems tomorrow. It is supposed to rain all day and we have planned a movie binge day to celebrate the last day of spring school vacation. We are going to start by watching Harry Potter 1 and 2 for the second or third time, maybe watch Harry Potter 3, and in between we might fit in a few science videos. Stay tuned on how that goes.
by Judy Handley | Apr 22, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 113: Remembering Rachel Carson on Earth Day 50
Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Very Windy and Cold; High 46 degrees, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Rachel Carson has always been one of my heroes. She was a writer, a marine biologist, and a conservationist. Anyone who loves the world’s oceans has probably read her book, THE SEA AROUND US. But it was her book published in 1962 that had such an impact on those fighting to keep our environment healthy. SILENT SPRING sounded the environmental alarm about the use of pesticides. She died of cancer only two years after the publication of that book, but her words of wisdom have stayed with us. During her college years, she took a summer course at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole. She is honored there in Marina Park with a bronze sculpture depicting her in deep concentration as she looks out over the water. I told the Goldpebbles yesterday that I was going to take them to Woods Hole today to see Rachel. We planned to take face masks in case there were other people in the park. And we all agreed to stay in the car until there were no other people near the Rachel Carson sculpture before getting out of the car. The boys have grown up with Woods Hole as their ‘backyard’, but we all felt that today’s experience was so very different. There were absolutely no other people on the street, no other cars, and no one in the park. Definitely a first and it felt very strange. It felt like a ghost town. 
But we enjoyed having Rachel all to ourselves and I took photos of the boys with her with and without their masks on. Sam remarked that the photo with the masks will always remind us of celebrating Earth Day in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. It was also Sam that kept seeing things in Woods Hole that he had never noticed before. Like he said, “For the last month we have only been out of one house to drive to the other house.” The Cottage to Vidal Avenue to Grasmere Drive and back to Vidal. I promised him that things haven’t really changed during that time. It is just that our isolation has opened our eyes to a new way of looking at the same old things. But, like him, I kept seeing things I have never noticed before as well.
On our way to Woods Hole, we also visited some of our favorite places in Falmouth. We stopped by Falmouth Heights Beach, drove along Surf Drive to check out the various osprey nests, drove past Nobska Lighthouse and saw that it is being renovated, drove by Stony Beach in Woods Hole and were saddened to see all of the police tape keeping people from entering the parking area, and on the way home we stopped to see the baby lambs at Peterson Farm. There were other stops we wanted to make, but we ran out of time as we wanted to get back to my house by noon to watch the Woods Hole Research Center webinar hosted by Heather. I connected my computer to the television so they could see Heather on the bigger screen. It was interesting to see their eyes open wide when Heather started the webinar on the big screen. Jonah was quite impressed that one of the people Heather was interviewing was a young man named Jonah from the National Children’s Campaign. Sam was convinced that he would learn nothing new, but he was surprised to learn that he did not know about a website that Jonah (not our Jonah) mentioned as a resource for students in schools wanting to organize around environmental issues. Sam and a friend started an environmental club at their school this year and will now be able to use this resource going forward. https://schoolsforclimateaction.weebly.com/
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After watching the webinar, the boys were out the door and down on the dock launching all three kayaks. Exploring by kayak was their chosen activity to end our celebration of Earth Day 50. I sat down by the dock with Shadow and watched as they paddled and explored. The wind made it a chilly experience, but it gives me great joy to watch them explore. We had to end our day together early as I had a 3 pm appointment with my chiropractor. When I woke up this morning and my back problem was no better, I called and made the appointment. The office is scheduling appointments so that only one person is in at a time and they are taking every precaution to make it safe. Unfortunately, my chiropractor agrees with me. Whatever I did this time, is not going to be an easy fix. I’ll see him again tomorrow morning and then a couple of times next week. Then we’ll see how I’m doing. I can still function, but there are times when there is excruciating pain. If a just keep moving, which is not always easy, it goes away. So hopefully continued, careful movement interspersed with visits to Dr. Mike will get my back in working order soon.
by Judy Handley | Apr 21, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 112: MA Students Will Not Go Back to School
Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Weather: Overcast, Windy, Rain Late; High 53 degrees, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Massachusetts Republican Governor Charlie Baker announced today that schools in this state will not reopen this spring. The decision puts a huge burden on parents, but it is the right decision. In school districts where teachers are actually teaching online it is less of a burden, but in school districts like ours where teachers are sending assignments but not teaching the subject matter, it is quite a stressful situation even in the homes where both parents are working from home. For those parents who will be returning to work, I have no idea what they do with their children.
I spent another spring vacation day with the Goldpebbles. While I walked Shadow and then fixed breakfast, I let the boys have some screen time on Granddad’s tablet. They also did some chores for me. Sam drilled a larger hole in the bat house they gave me for Mother’s Day last year and finally got it hung on the front of the house. All three boys then worked to replace the free play time in their new backyard. At first it was sunny, making the windy day tolerable. But when the sun went away, the boys gravitated inside to read until lunch time. 
Then it was back to my house to play with Shadow, do more reading, go kayaking, and attempt a ‘deforestation’ project. I put deforestation in quotes. We are not chopping trees down, but Sam and Jonah are practicing their Scout skills with an ax to remove some saplings from the tree line in the side yard of The Cottage. Tomorrow, on Earth Day, we hope to transplant some raspberries from 60 Vidal along that tree line.
I continue to struggle with back pain. I have tried all of my tricks and they work, for a very short time, and then the pain is back. Obviously I have a disc sitting on a nerve that sends shooting pains into my hips and on down both legs. Walking gives me the greatest relief, but I really do need to see my chiropractor. I talked to Heather about it, explaining that I don’t want to chance bringing the virus into our family unit, but she agreed that I should make an appointment. I think she is going to have to make another grocery store run in the next week and Jed is desperate to go to hardware store. Of course, we will all be as careful as possible, but after no exposure for a few weeks now, going out seems a bit scary.
by Judy Handley | Apr 20, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 111: Wetlands Walk and Kayaking
Date: Monday, April 20, 2020
Weather: Overcast; High 51 degrees, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I did, in fact, kidnap the Goldpebbles today. We had a fun day and now they are fast asleep here in The Cottage. Heather and Jed joined us for dinner, but the boys really wanted to stay the night. Heather and Jed were very appreciative of the extra time they could put into their work without the interruptions of three boys and I really enjoyed exploring with Pebbles today. 
We started with a walk through the 30-acre wetland that begins in their backyard. I didn’t have my camera with me, but I did have my phone and I found myself talking photos of everything to document the area in early spring. It will look so different in another month. I insisted that the boys wear mud mucking boots, but it is I who should have had on the boots. I slid on a mud bank and landed sitting on a pokey root with one foot in the water. I’ll wear my Bogs on the next walk! I have a big bruise on my bum where I landed on that root, but otherwise, I was fine. And I probably enjoyed the exploration more than the boys. New plants to identify, ducks, turtles, and egg masses in the water to keep an eye on . . . these are a few of my favorite things. After the walk we headed to my house for lunch and to brainstorm ideas for activities this week. Basically, all three boys want more time to explore the conservation area in their back yard and they want to do a little marsh mucking here at The Cottage. They want to kayak, and on a rainy day, they want to do a binge movie day. I have seen Harry Potter 1, 2, and 3 with them, but now that I am reading the books, I want to see them again. And so do they. Friday looks like our rainy day with Harry Potter. The weather this week looks miserable, but we’ll do our best to enjoy our outdoor explorations as we can. Jonah and Ollie are also interested in learning more about Mah Jong. I tried to convince them that it is just too complicated, but I lost that argument. We set up the card table and dove right in. It is great for me as it has been more than a month since I last played. This gives me an opportunity to see what I remember. We will also spend time transplanting raspberries from Vidal to here and hacking out more paths in the woods surrounding The Cottage for Shadow and I to enjoy.
The 50th anniversary of Earth Day is on Wednesday, so we need to find a way to make that a special day for all of us. Heather will be moderating a conversation on Zoom at 12 noon about how climate scientists and climate activists can work together and learn from one another. That will definitely be on our ‘watch’ list for Wednesday. If you would like to join us, go to this address to register: https://whrc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z4TtWLzTSkaio3KqmoYekA. If clicking on that link doesn’t work for you, just Google whrc.org/spring-series/ and you will get to the registration page. Not a part of Wednesday’s program is a selfie video Heather did today at Marina Park in Woods Hole. There is a bronze statue of Rachel Carson there, so Heather drove down to Woods Hole to sit beside Rachel and do a little Earth Day video. I can remember when Heather was a little younger than Sam and read her first Rachel Carson book. A beautiful memory.
Back to today. I wasn’t the only casualty of marsh mucking. Sam, Ollie, and I launched two of the kayaks for the first time this year and the two of them went out for the first exploration. They returned with treasures–plastic trash for disposal and half of a big egg that a baby swan has recently hatched out of. Then Sam went out with Jonah and they attempted to combine kayaking with marsh mucking by pulling their kayaks through a narrow and shallow path in the marsh. Both ended up with muddy foot and a very wet boot each. But there were no complaints and we didn’t lose any boots to the mucky marsh. So we announce that the kayaking season has officially begun.
by Judy Handley | Apr 19, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 110: Keep on Movin’
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy; High 50 degrees, Low 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
We’re still at it. Jed and I moved some of the last things from Vidal to Grasmere today. Unfortunately, we are still not finished. Heather stayed home and started putting things away, but as anyone who has every moved knows, that is a very sl-o-o-o-o-w process. I spent some of my time transplanting things from one place to another. I dug up and transplanted the last of the rhubarb plants and Heather’s favorite hyacinths. The boys also want to transplant a few tulips, so we will do that tomorrow. We have no idea how the hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips they will react to being transplanted during their spring cycle. I guess we’ll find out next spring.
That was about it for today. Tomorrow morning I pick up the Goldpebbles at 10 am for our first day of spring vacation activities. I have asked them to give me a tour of the wetlands area behind their new house and then we will head to the old house to dig up raspberries and attempt to transplant them here at The Cottage. We’ll spend some time brainstorming ideas for the rest of the week. We’ll all have dinner here tomorrow evening and formalize a ‘spring vacation from virtual school’ plan.
