by Judy Handley | Dec 2, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 336: Christmas Scramble Continues
Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Weather: Dip in the Temperature; High 46, Low 34 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Today was mostly cloudy and the temperature continues to dip. But tomorrow looks like it will be a bit warmer with no rain. Maybe I’ll get outside to do some of that yard work I have been wanting to do. Today, however, the Christmas scramble continued. This necessitated a trip off Cape. Since the reason for the trip is a Christmas secret, I’ll not say what I was doing. But I will say that friend Karen Baranowski and I masked up and drove together. When we returned to Falmouth, we got take-out from Le Bon Jour and ate lunch in the Taj Garage with doors open and the Mr. Heater going. I hope to spend the early hours tomorrow getting a package together to send to Puerto Rico before I head outside to do yardwork. That’s the plan. Stay tuned to find out what really happens.
Ollie’s favorite Christmas joke of the day: Who gives presents to baby sharks? Santa Jaws!
by Judy Handley | Dec 1, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 335: Christmas Scramble
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Weather: High 60, Low 40 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
The weather today went from warm this morning to much cooler this afternoon. But I didn’t spent much time outside today. I was on my computer most of the day ordering Christmas presents for Justin and family in Puerto Rico. I called it a Christmas scramble because what I thought I was getting for Ziggy totally changed over the weekend as well as what I thought I was getting for Justin and Jo. So, I really had to scramble today to get new ideas. I felt like one of Santa’s elves by the time I had to wrap things up and head out to pick Ollie up after school. On our way home, Ollie talked about some things that he is going to put on his Christmas list and when we got home, Jonah shared his Christmas list. So, Puerto Rico is almost done and tomorrow I start working on gifts for the Goldstones.
by Judy Handley | Nov 30, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 334: Almost December
Date: Monday, November 30, 2020
Weather: Overcast to Stormy; High 59, Low 56 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
It’s almost December and time to get serious about the upcoming holidays . . . Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, and then Christmas. I spent today doing some Christmas gift research and will continue that tomorrow. I also finally got the apple pie filling canned that I have wanted to do for days. I was looking forward to seeing the full moon tonight, but it is totally overcast and very stormy outside, so no view of the November full moon.
by Judy Handley | Nov 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 333: A Little Outdoor Time
Date: Sunday, November 29, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 52, Low 44 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
It was another beautiful day, but somehow I managed to not take full advantage. I enjoyed my day, but didn’t get the yard work done that needs to happen before we start getting winter weather And when I look at the weather for the next nine days, I see that rain is forecast for more than half of those days. So, I will have to plan the outdoor work carefully and take full advantage of dry days. I had hoped that the Goldpebbles were coming over this afternoon to do yard work, but that didn’t happen. Heather did come over with another van load of leaves. I am trying to fill in an area between the back yard and the woods and the leaves are doing that job for me. I washed my car, hung out a laundry, and cleaned out the shed where I store my bicycle. I’m a slow starter in the mornings and that is a real detriment right now as it gets dark so early in the afternoon. You have only four hours between noon and sundown. I use my mornings to walk Shadow and today I headed into town before noon to attend a weekly Black Lives Matter vigil. I stopped by Heather and Jed’s to pop a laundry load in, but I knew I would have to bring the wet clothes home and hang them out as Jed has disconnected the dryer to rerun the exhaust hose. They were getting a lot of moisture in the laundry area while drying clothes and when Jed investigated, he found that the exhaust hose to the dryer was not connected and all the lint had built up in the opening and was blocking any exhaust. By the time I picked up my laundry after the Black Lives Matter vigil, got home to hang up the laundry and eat lunch, there were only a couple of hours of daylight left. I did enjoy the time I had outside and have promised myself to be more focused on future sunny, dry days.
I got the most interesting photos from Justin this afternoon. The first one was of what I call a big banana spider, but it is also called a golden-orb weaver because of their beautiful webs. Justin had placed his hand behind the web to show that the spider with outstretched legs was as big as his hand. In the second photo, he had placed Coco at a distance behind the spider and its web that gave the illusion that the spider with outstretched legs was as big as her face. She added an appropriate look of fear to make for a very entertaining photo . . . unless you are an arachnophobe!
by Judy Handley | Nov 29, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 332: Beautiful Day
Date: Saturday, November 28, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 54, Low 37 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day, weather wise, and just in general. Andrew, the young man that bought the house next Shirley, texted that he and his daughter were visiting from New York City just for the morning. He said his 14 year-old daughter Lily that was coming with him would like to meet Shadow. So, I took Shadow down to the dock which is adjacent to Andrew’s back yard. We kept our distance, but still had a nice visit. Then he and Lily were off to explore Falmouth and then back to New York City before dark. I did some outside chores and then Heather texted that they were headed this way to work on the dock. Sometime in September, it developed a serious lean and Jed thought he could put in some cross beams that might help. It took a couple of hours. We couldn’t do everything needed as we didn’t have the enough long bolts. But it definitely looks better. There was a nice sunset as we wound up the work, they set off for Menauhant Beach to try and catch the full sunset. When they left, I came inside and decided to watch a film Heather and family had watched last night and highly recommended, “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet.” All of us have watched David Attenborough’s films through the years, but Heather said this one was truly special. Attenborough recalls his incredibly life of visiting what were still the wild places on earth before wildlife diminished. He shares his realization that at some point he realized that things were going terribly wrong, but he ends by offering a vision for the future. It has been called the most important film of 2020 and I whole heartedly agree. He ends with this statement:
“We’ve come this far because we are the smartest creatures who have ever lived. But to continue we require more than intelligence. We require wisdom.”
Here are some of the statistics he presents to substantiate his story. I copy them here for you to contemplate.
World Population 1937: 2.3 Billion
World Population 1954: 2.7 Billion
World Population 1960: 3.0 Billion
World Population 1978: 4.3 Billion
World Population 1997: 5.9 Billion
World Population 2020: 7.8 Billion
Carbon in Atmosphere 1937: 280 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1954: 310 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1960: 315 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1978: 335 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 1997: 360 parts per million
Carbon in Atmosphere 2020: 415 parts per million
Remaining Wilderness 1937: 66%
Remaining Wilderness 1954: 64%
Remaining Wilderness 1960: 62%
Remaining Wilderness 1978: 55%
Remaining Wilderness 1997: 46%
Remaining Wilderness 2020: 35%
by Judy Handley | Nov 28, 2020 | 2020 Life Logs |
2020 Life Logs, Day 331: Thanksgiving Hangover
Date: Friday, November 27, 2020
Weather: Overcast; High 56, Low 41 Degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Can too much food give you a hangover? I think so. We feasted yesterday and gave thanks for so many things, but today I just couldn’t get going. I sat and thought about the many things that needed to be done, but none of them happened today. It was overcast outside, but warm enough to allow me to do many of the outdoor jobs on my list. They didn’t get done. Maybe tomorrow. I did get some planning for the upcoming holiday season. That includes Hanukkah, Christmas, and the celebration of the winter solstice. Tonight, I am watching the first two episodes of an MSNBC special on Obama. That will make this another late night, but I have to watch to give me the strength to continue believing that this too shall pass. The current attack on democracy, the current attack on people of color, the current attack on civility, the current attack on who we are as good people—these things must stop. Easier said than done. But I will watch tonight to give me the strength to move forward and then set the alarm for tomorrow morning and get up and get to work.
