by Judy Handley | Feb 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 60: Leap Day
Date: Saturday, February 29, 2020
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Windy; High 37 degrees, Low 27 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Every four years we get an extra day tacked onto the short 28-day month of February. This is due to a miscalculation in the former Julian calendar first implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Evidently, he miscalculated the length of the solar year by 11 minutes. Leap forward to 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII introduced his version of a calendar. All of Europe was still using the Julian calendar and it took another almost 200 years to get to our current Gregorian calendar. On Wednesday, September 2, 1752, much of the world leaped forward to Thursday, September 14, and henceforth the majority of the countries in the world starting using the new Gregorian calendar as their official civil calendar. But we still have to add an extra day every four years to keep our calendar in tune with the solar year. I hope you enjoyed your extra day in 2020.
This morning I went to the District Science Fair. This year only one of the Goldpebbles had an entry and it was Sam. 
He and his good friend Robert did an experiment to determine the favorite color of fish, specifically zebra fish. They thought that zebrafish would prefer green light over white, yellow, and light. The machine they used couldn’t record yellow light preferences, but from their visual observations, this was definitely the color they went to and were most active in. This is not backed by other research, but over and over they found the same results. Their results lead to further research. As goes scientific research. I was not successful in getting Sam to pose for me in front of their poster, but Robert was busy explaining their project to their science teacher while I was there. From the Science Fair, I took Shadow for a walk on Falmouth Heights Beach and then joined the Goldstones for lunch at the British Beer Company just across the street from the beach. Then the Goldpebbles and I left Heather and Jed at home to paint the play room while we were off to a People Training for Good Dogs class with Shadow. Then home to watch the results of the South Carolina Primary. It was a busy Leap Day.
No word today from the Mount Kilimanjaro climbers. I started reading The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead last night and continued early this morning. It didn’t take long to understand why Oprah’s review said, “Kept me up at night, had my heart in my throat, almost afraid to turn the next page.” Whitehead has a way with words that puts you right in the moment, and the moments in a slave’s life are not comfortable moments. I’ve only just started the book, but if it continues as it has started, I think this should be required reading for all American History students. You can never really walk in the footsteps of others, but Whitehead certainly puts you right in the moment.
by Judy Handley | Feb 27, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 58: A Day That Started with a Bang
Date: Thursday, February 27, 2020
Weather: Overcast, Early AM Rain, and WINDY; High 49 degrees, Low 27 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shadow and I got up at 6 am for a puppy potty break and then came back inside and went back to bed. The next thing I heard was a huge bang at about 8:30. I got up and looked out the window to the front yard and saw nothing and then walked to the back side of the house to look out, but still saw nothing. So, I laid back down even though Shadow was still on full alert. I didn’t go to sleep until after 1 am last night, so going back to sleep for another half an hour sounded like a good idea. As soon as I got settled down, however, there was another bang and then another accompanied by barks from Shadow. Obviously, it was time to get up. I looked out all of the windows, but still saw nothing. Before I hopped into the shower, I heard one more bang, so this time, I opened the front door to look out. Oops! There was the problem. The beautiful Anderson all glass storm door that opens and closes so easily was swinging in the wind and banging back against the front of the house. I’m surprised the glass didn’t break, but the door is not without damage. At first I couldn’t get it to close, but with some coaxing, I was successful. The rod that goes through the closing mechanism at the base of the door is slightly bent causing some friction. I must not have made sure it was fully closed when Shadow and I came back inside at 6 am and the strong wind caught it just right making it fly open. I hate that I didn’t figure this out after the first bang, but hopefully the rod can be straightened and it will open and close smoothly once again.
Today’s wind was blowing in colder weather and made it feel even colder that the thermometer indicated. I had to bundle up for my walks with Shadow and was reminded that I have been spoiled by the warmer than normal winter. It will stay cold until Sunday, but then it warms up again. I like that! I spent most of my time inside today staying warm and writing in preparation for my afternoon Memoir Writing class. Jerry Lanson, an Associate Professor of Journalism at Emerson College and a Falmouth Newcomers member, is offering the class as a Newcomers activity. How lucky we are to have him. He organizes the class in a way that makes sharing our writing a very positive experience. We are an eclectic group with some people who have lots of writing experience to those who are just beginning. Today Jerry asked me to share my experience in writing a blog for the last 14 plus years and I got great feedback from him and from the other members of the group. As I told them, I write every day, but I still don’t think of myself as a writer. I want to become one and possibly write a book about some of my life experiences, but I need some direction. And this class is giving me that. Thanks to Jerry Lanson and every member of that class for their positive feedback and encouragement.
by Judy Handley | Feb 26, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 57: Writing About Writing
Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Weather: Overcast with Drizzle; High 48 degrees, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I have been writing this blog since Tuesday, October 18, 2005. That was more than 14 years ago, some 5,241 days. The actual number of blogs posted is 4,828. The difference in the number of days and number of blogs is the result of sometimes combining the blogs from multiple days into one posting and the fact that when we flew home to visit with family during the six years of our circumnavigation, I did not write blog posts. I wish I had, as the details of those visits are not documented. And try as I can, I just don’t have the same recall of events that I didn’t write about. The reason I was focusing on this today is that tomorrow I have a Memoir Class and have been asked to talk a bit about the challenges and rewards of writing a blog over such a long period of time. The reason for taking this class was to give me the incentive to start writing stories that will eventually be incorporated into a book about sailing around the world. Given that task of answering questions about blog writing helped me focus on just how important that writing process has been in my life. It also pointed out to me that I have neglected updating the homepage of the blog for over three years. I updated the homepage just before Mark died and I have simply been unable to change it since then. But I did it today. I changed the photo from one of Mark and me to just one of me. And I wrote a new narrative explaining how the blog has gone from a travel log to a life log. Making the changes required Justin’s help. As I wrote in the narrative, the posting of my logs into the blog has always seemed like magic to me and Justin has always made that happen. I’m still not sure I fully understand the process. Today he created a video to teach me how to deal with the technical end of the blog and then we had a Skype video call where he could see what was happening on my computer. Thank you, thank you, Justin. I’m hoping that by the time I go to class tomorrow, I will have a chapter for my book on the importance of the blog in my life. Other than this focus on writing, Shadow and I ran a few errands and took a couple of long walks. I visited briefly with Shirley and Doris next door, delivering their mail from the Post Office. I took Ollie to his after-school violin lesson and then went to play Mah Jongg. I am a slow learner, but I truly enjoy my Wednesday nights playing this not-so-easy to learn game with a great group of women.
by Judy Handley | Feb 25, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 56: Time
Date: Tuesday, February 25, 2020
Weather: Rainy and Overcast; High 48 degrees, Low 39 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Just where does the time go? I got up early this morning and I was anxious to get so much accomplished. None of that happened and the day is over. I started by sending emails to some friends and ended up spending a great deal of morning talking on the phone to my friend Linda Stuart. If you read this blog, you might remember that I flew to Florida for a few days in January to visit with Linda and Mike. They have been taking a break from their biking trip around the world, but they head back Europe on Sunday. Instead of flying they are taking a repositioning cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona, Spain. When they fly with their bikes, the bikes have to be broken down and boxed. But on the cruise ship, they can take their bikes aboard, keep them in their room, and when they disembark, they will be ready to ride. They have never done a cruise before, but if this works, they will probably hop on another repositioning cruise in November and return to Florida for the winter months. They are watching the spread of the corona virus carefully and have already changed their route through Italy to avoid regions with current virus cases and will keep watching and adjusting as they travel. Here’s hoping they have a wonderful spring, summer, and fall biking through Europe.
Tonight I watched the Democratic debate. At first I was just totally disgusted with the infighting. I have been an Elizabeth Warren supporter as I certainly love having her as my Senator. But tonight I was torn. Pete Buttegieg was so centered, so unflappable, and so smart. And I thought Tom Steyer made some very important points. Bernie was Bernie, which is reassuring. He never changes his story and I really admire that. I’m just unsure that he can win the race against Trump. But I loved his ending statement quoting Nelson Mandela. I think Bernie said. “Everything is impossible until it happens.” I believe the actual quote from Mandela was, “It always seems impossible until it is done.” Either way, it is great motto and oh so true. Can’t wait to see what the voters decide in South Carolina and then on Super Tuesday.
by Judy Handley | Feb 24, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 55: Free and Easy Day
Date: Monday, February 24, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm; High 52 degrees, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Windbird sailed through Indonesia as part of an organized rally. We did that because the rally organizers arranged all the Customs paperwork which can be very complicated in that country. Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world, consisting of five major islands and 30 smaller island groups. There are actually 17,508 islands in Indonesia and the country is 3,000 miles from east to west and a little more than a 1,000 miles from north to south and each province has different rules for visiting boats. So it is complicated, thus the rally. The rally coordinators were a couple and the woman organized the activities on the various islands. We could choose to participate or not, but sometimes when we did participate, she would come on the radio in the morning and declare particular days as “free and easy.” This meant we had no organized activities and could whatever we wanted. I have adopted that term for days when I basically check out and do nothing of consequence and today was one of those days. Shadow and I slept in, went for a long walk, played ball outside in the sunshine and relative warmth, drove into town to run a couple of errands, and took another walk. During the evening, I did try to salvage my reputation of always being busy by spending some time writing. But I even did that in a “free and easy” way. I hereby declare today as a great day!
by Judy Handley | Feb 23, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 54: Together We Have It All
Date: Sunday, February 23, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Warm; High 49 degrees, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Years ago, one of my nieces gave everyone in the family a pillow that says, “My family puts the FUN in Dysfunctional.” That pretty much sums up my family. The Martins are a fun-loving bunch with its share of issues, but we stick together. Last week while Heather and Jed were working fast and furiously to get the house ready for the painter, they were listening to music when the song ‘Together We Have It All’ popped up. The chorus says, “We may not have it altogether, but together we have it all.” All Heather could think about while listening to the song was my family and how truly those words apply. It does take a village to get the job done. While they were in Maine skiing/snowboarding the inside of the house was painted top to bottom, with the exception of three rooms. Only one of those needs painted, but the downstairs bathroom needs to be totally redone. So early this morning, Heather, Jed, and Sam headed home to put the house back together while Jonah and Ollie stayed with me. I had an afternoon group class with People Training for Good Dogs, but after that was over, I took Shadow home so he could nap and I went back to Heather’s to help. All together, we mostly got today’s jobs done. We packed up more things in the den to go to storage and moved new things in. Heather’s goal is to make the house look bigger by storing away as much as possible. It is looking great and as soon as the den, playroom, and downstairs bathroom are done . . . and the basement and garage . . . the house can go on the market. Heather is in DC for three days this week, so a lot of the work will have to wait until the weekend. But together, we will get it done.
