by Judy Handley | Oct 13, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 286: A Quiet Day at Home
Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm, Again; High Temp 71, Low Temp 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Glorious, glorious October weather. I was out early for an 8 am annual dermatology check-up and then returned to spend a quiet day at home. Shadow and I walked, played ball, and gardened. Well, Shadow doesn’t really help me garden. He just watches while basking in the sunshine. I spread some organic fertilizer around the veggie seedlings I planted over the weekend. But before I could do that, I had to remove the blanket of acorns. It is full time job these days to keep the acorns out of the raised beds. I have never seen as many acorns as we have this year.
I spent some time reading to prepare for my Public Policy group Zoom meeting and I did some research on Alzheimer’s for my niece that has a very rare kind of Alzheimer’s called Post Cortical Atrophy. Only 4 percent of the people with Alzheimer’s have this type. But it is also possible that this is not Alzheimer’s at all. The onset is much younger, beginning at age 50, and affects a different part of the brain. Medical researchers are still trying to figure this out.
The topic for my Public Policy group was coastal resiliency–how it is being impacted by climate change and what can be done about it. Our presenter was the Natural Resources Manager at the Cape Cod Commission. We continue to meet via Zoom, and this was a great first meeting.
Tomorrow should be another quiet day at home, and I look forward to it.
by Judy Handley | Oct 12, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 285: Book Club, More Cranberry Harvest, Dining-in with Friends
Date: Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High Temp 70, Low Temp 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My book club met this morning. On the way, I drove by the bogs. The workers were finishing up the harvest of the bogs on the north side of the road that they started yesterday and were just getting ready to start harvesting on the south side. After the book club meeting, I drove back by the bogs and stopped to take more photos. A cranberry harvest is just so colorful that is hard to resist taking too many photos.
Shadow and I walked and gardened this afternoon until it was time for me to go meet with my Dining-in Group. This evening we met at the Baranowski’s for a feast. We started with Indian pakora as an appetizer thanks to Terry and Olivia. Peter then served clam chowder that he made from clams he dug over the weekend. The entrée was Polish golumpki or golabki which is meat-stuffed cabbage rolls. Karen also made oven-baked potato latkes that we slathered with sour cream and the homemade applesauce I brought. Midge added homemade bread. Then after dinner, Karen brought out one of her well-loved carrot cakes in honor of Jane’s birthday. The B-day was last Friday, but Jane celebrates for at least a full week and she loves Karen’s carrot cake. Everything was delicious. And needless to say, I feel like a stuffed cabbage roll!
by Judy Handley | Oct 11, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 284: Surprise Cranberry Harvest
Date: Monday, October 11, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Warmer; High Temp 71, Low Temp 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The plan for the day was to have a quiet morning making granola for Heather and then go with the Goldstones to pick cranberries in a dry, wild cranberry bog. After that, we planned to go for a nice long walk. Not all of that happened, but that was the plan. Another plan for today was for Jed to take Andrew and Lily, the Dearman’s fourteen-year-old that wants to become a scientist, to Woods Hole to tour the Smith dock. They knew they could not get aboard the scientific research vessel, the Atlantis, that is currently docked there, but at least they would get to see it up close. That part of the plan happened. While Andrew and Lily were gone, the other two Dearman children, Charlie and Lena, came over to say farewell as they were headed home to Larchmont, New York as soon as Andrew and Lily returned. I was in the basement when Charlie and Lena. When I came up, I invited Charlie and Lena inside and Lena immediately started admiring my sea shells on display in the living room. I asked if she would like to take a quick look at all of the shells I collected while sailing around the world and she very enthusiastically said yes. So, we all went down to the basement. While Lena looked through the bins of shells, Charlie and I played a game of table shuffleboard. I won despite the fact that Charlie is amazingly accurate in knocking off most of my pucks. We were having a great time when we heard Shadow bark and figured someone had come to retrieve them. It was Lily to tell them it was time to get on the road. I have grown very fond of the whole family and I’ll look forward to their next visit.
I got back to making granola and got most of it baked by the time Heather sent a text saying they were headed to the dry bogs to pick cranberries. It was later than planned but that was because Jonah had to go to Urgent Care to have his ear checked this morning. Last night the kids thought it would be great fun to throw apples from Shirley’s apple tree at each other. It was not a good idea as Jonah got a really hard hit right on his ear. He spent the rest of the evening with an ice pack on it and this morning it was painful. The doctor saw no serious damage but said his ear drum was very red indicating an infection. Heather and Jed seem to think the redness is probably inflammation from the hit rather than an infection. But whatever, when he got home from the clinic, he took a nap. They waited until he woke up to go cranberry picking.
I took off with Shadow to meet them at the dry bog. On the way, I drove by the cranberry bogs close to where they used to live. I have been driving by those bogs daily for the last two weeks to try and catch the fall harvest. I did not expect that they would be harvesting on a holiday, but they were, and I just had to stop and watch. I sent a text to Heather explaining that I would be still be coming to pick cranberries, but I would be delayed.
I absolutely love watching the cranberry harvests and today was no exception. I took some photos and realized the harvesting machines were nearing the end of their work, so I decided to go see if Sam, Jonah, and Ollie would like to come watch for a bit. They did want to, so we left Heather and Jed to pick Thanksgiving cranberries. Long story short, we did not go for a long walk. But we enjoyed watching the harvest and then stopping at Tony Andrew’s to buy more little pumpkins.
When we went to get the big pumpkins last weekend, in addition to the large pumpkins, the boys bought one little pumpkin for them and one for me. Then this weekend when Heather brought in the plants from a display ladder on the front porch, she and the boys decided they wanted to keep the ladder on the porch and decorate it with tiny pumpkins. We bought fifteen tiny pumpkins and what I call a ‘Big Ugly’ pumpkin for Heather. It looks like it has peanuts glued to it. Heather had expressed a desire for one when we were there last weekend, but they had none then.
The boys and I agreed that this October has been more fun than any we can remember and we are going to continue to decorate for Halloween and enjoy every minute of it. Heather and Jed’s home has two front entrances and both of those are decorated with pumpkins. Their front yard has a pumpkin display with a bale of straw and colorful mums and the steps up to my front door are decorated with pumpkins.
Hopefully, we are done with pumpkins!
by Judy Handley | Oct 10, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 283: Soccer; Dinner with Neighbors and Goldstones
Date: Sunday, October 10, 2021.
Weather: Cloudy, Windy, Rain in the PM; High Temp 64, Low Temp 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The day began with another soccer game. I ended up driving with Heather and Jonah to Weymouth for the game instead of driving separately. It was a good game despite the fact that Jonah’s team lost. Next weekend, he and Sam will be camping with Scouts, so I won’t get to see him play again until Sunday the 24th in Rhode Island. Then there is more camping the weekend after that and no opportunity to see him play. So I’m glad I went today. It is so fascinating to watch the interaction of the boys as they play. 
This fall Jonah is playing with a number of boys that are new to his team. When I reviewed the photos I took today, a teammate named Tristin was in almost every photo with Jonah as they both play forward positions. I chucked, as Tristin is now the one with long hair in a ponytail and wild-haired Jonah now has short hair. But more importantly, the photos showed that they are developing an on-the-field relationship to try and get that ball in the goal.
On the way home we stopped at a Halloween Spirit store to see if they might happen to have a specific Marvel character costume for Jonah. They didn’t have what he was looking for, but Heather did find a banana costume for Jed. Ollie will be a gorilla and Jed will walk alongside him as his Big Banana. I visited for a few minutes with Marti as she was leaving momentarily. Then it was home to get ready for the late afternoon barbecue at the Dearman’s, my almost next door neighbors. Heather, Jed, and boys were also invited. We divvied up the food and my contribution was salads, appetizers, and trimmings for the burgers. We had hoped the rain would hold off, but it started just before we got back to Heather and Jed’s and it has stayed with us, off and on, since then. Thankfully it was a light rain, and we didn’t let it spoil our outside barbecue. Andrew and Lara’s three children are the same ages as Heather and Jed’s three and they had a great time playing outside until almost 10 pm. They did stop early on to watch a movie and dry off a bit, but then after dinner they were back outside in the dark having a fun time.
Shadow and I have been invited to join Heather and family for a long walk in the woods tomorrow. The other thing on my ‘to do’ list is to make granola. I was not home with Shadow much today, but tomorrow will make up for it as I should be with him all day.
by Judy Handley | Oct 9, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 282: Soccer, Laundry, Reading, Cooking
Date: Saturday, October 9, 2021.
Weather: Cloudy and Windy; High Temp 63, Low Temp 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Not a normal Saturday, but a productive day. Ollie’s soccer game was at 10:30 am. 
Heather and I were there from the start, then near half-time we were joined by Jed, Marti, Jonah, and Sam. Heather left with Jonah and Sam at half-time and headed to Weymouth for Jonah’s afternoon games. Then after the game, everyone but me headed north to the games. Ollie’s team won their game handily. They continue to improve with every game. I decided to stay home today and go to Jonah’s game in Weymouth tomorrow morning. If I had gone today and stayed for both games, I wouldn’t have gotten home until after 7 pm and that was just too long to leave Shadow.
I headed home after Ollie’s game to walk and play with Shadow. My almost next-door-summer neighbors, Lara and Andrew and kids, are here this weekend and I spent some time visiting with them and finalizing plans for a barbeque at their house tomorrow afternoon. They have invited Heather and family as the kids love playing together. Then Shadow and I headed to town to do the grocery shopping for what I agreed to bring to the barbeque. Shadow enjoys the ride and doesn’t seem to mind staying in the car while I shop. I also took my laundry and spent time at Heather’s doing that. I did the grocery shopping while the clothes washed and read the handouts for my Wednesday Public Policy discussion group while the clothes dried. The rest of the evening was spent at home making applesauce for a Dining-in Group dinner on Tuesday and preparing a couple of things for tomorrow. Another day in the life.
by Judy Handley | Oct 8, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 281: Day Off
Date: Friday, October 8, 2021.
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High Temp 70, Low Temp 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I took the day off today and did a little of this and a little of that–certainly nothing earth shattering. I did visit with a member of my book club and her husband to look at their gardens and to see how they built mini-greenhouse covers for their raised beds. I came home and changed out 50 percent of the water in my aquarium for the third time this week to try to get rid of the cloudiness. It is better, but still cloudy. The problem started when I put in a piece of wood that I purchased as safe for aquariums. The directions said to soak it for two or three days to get rid of the tannins. I soaked it for a month, changing the water every day, but the instant I put it the aquarium the water turned yellow and then cloudy. So, when the water change today didn’t work, I drove into town to buy something to aid the clearing. That doesn’t seem to be working either. Frustrating. Later in the afternoon, I went to a Falmouth High School JV soccer game. Sam has not been able to play basically since school started due to an ankle injury. It is better now, so hopefully he will get in some play time in the next few weeks.
This week I finished reading The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Pie Society. What a delightful book. I heard about the book from my summer neighbors from New York who both grew up in England. When I met Lara she mentioned that she is from the island of Guernsey, I had to admit that I really didn’t know where it was. Now I know it is one of the Chanel Islands, closer to France than to England. The novel takes place during World War II when the island was occupied by the Germans and the years immediately following. Lara, Andrew, and kids are here for the long weekend and came over this morning to say hello. I mentioned that I had just finished the book and hoped to get together this weekend to learn more about Guernsey. They suggested I watch the movie, so I did that tonight. Unfortunately, the movie was not filmed on Guernsey, but Lara assured me that it still puts forth an accurate vision of the island. I’m so anxious to learn more.
