by Judy Handley | Jul 7, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 188: Eight Years Ago Today
Date: Wednesday, July 7, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 84, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Mark Daniel Handley was born on July 7, 1942. I met Mark in his 31st year on this earth, and within hours of meeting, we both knew we had met our true soulmate for life. And what a wonderful life we had together.
01 Captain Graybeard Sails to Treasure Island
02 Three Little Pirates Playing the Role to the Hilt
05 Justin and Coco
13 Justin Gets into the Act
20 Digging for Treasure
Since losing Mark to cancer in 2016, I spend every July 7th reflecting on my life with him. The one memory that always stands out as the greatest was his birthday celebration in 2013. It was the only birthday he spent with all five of his grandchildren. Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco were visiting from Puerto Rico and the adult ‘children’ planned a pirate birthday for Captain Graybeard. We decorated Windbird in pirate flags and left Woods Hole for Tarpaulin Cove in the Elizabeth Islands. Jo planned a pirate treasure hunt on Naushon Island with official looking pirate maps. Ollie and Coco were only a year old, but the three oldest grandchildren really got into their pirate roles.
38 Captain Graybeard with His Best Crew Members–Jonah, Ziggy, and Sam
They even made a pirate map birthday cake. After Mark’s death, all of us returned his ashes to the waters of Tarpaulin Cove. All of us will be forever linked to that physical location and all of us will forever be Captain Graybeard’s pirates on July 7th. Happy Birthday, Mark!
by Judy Handley | Jul 6, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 187: Trampoline Fun
Date: Tuesday, July 6, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Windy; High 77, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was supposed to be a beach day with the Goldpebbles, but they decided they wanted to spend the afternoon on the trampoline trying out the new trampoline sprinkler that arrived late yesterday. All three boys seem to be really enjoying the trampoline and on warm days adding the water sprinkler makes it even more fun. Tomorrow, after Ollie’s pottery class, we will head to the beach for a picnic lunch. It was in the 70’s today and should have felt warm, but the wind was blowing hard enough that when the sun went behind the clouds, I certainly didn’t feel warm!
by Judy Handley | Jul 5, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 186: Free and Easy Monday
Date: Monday, July 5, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Snippets of Sunshine; High 72, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It warmed up just a bit today and is supposed to be 80 degrees F tomorrow. Heather likened our recent weather to whiplash–hot one day, cold the next, then back to hot. But if the forecast is correct for the next seven days the high will be between 75 and 82 with nighttime temps in the mid-60’s. Now that sounds more like summer to me.
The clouds were still with us for most of today and the Goldpebbles were just not interested in heading to the beach, so I spent a quiet Monday. I did a little weeding and transplanting in the gardens, but that was my only burst of energy. Ollie is in a pottery-making camp in the mornings this week, but Camp Oma will kick into gear in the afternoons. If the current weather forecast holds, we’ll probably go to the beach tomorrow and Wednesday, play mini-golf and ride the water bumper cars on Thursday (a favorite Goldpebble summer activity), and settle into rainy day activities on Friday. And everyone is super excited that Grammy Goldstone will be coming to visit for the weekend!
by Judy Handley | Jul 4, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 185: July 4th
Date: Sunday, July 4, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Light Rain, Cool; High 65, Low 55 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Here on Cape Cod we celebrated the 4th of July with a 4th overcast day with periods of light rain. The sun actually tried to peak through a couple of times today, but it was not successful. This weather has managed to get me into a blah mood where I really just don’t want to do anything. So, Shadow and I spent the day alone doing nothing until about 4 pm. I finally decided to take Shadow for his morning mile walk and by the time we got back home, I was feeling much more energetic. 
I had planned to use the strawberries and blueberries left over from making fruit salad for Friday’s luncheon to make two red, white, and blue fruit flans as 4th of July gifts—one for Heather and family and one for Shirley and Doris next door. So, with my renewed energy after the walk, I did get them made but it was too late to deliver them. They will now get a July 5th patriotic food gift.
There were no 4th fireworks in Falmouth again this year, so I searched on the television for some sort of 4th of July celebration. I saw that there was a program called A Capitol Fourth on public television. So, after watching a recorded Meet the Press, I tuned into the public television program. It was a music concert of different artists around the country interspersed with lots of video of a very red, white, and blue enthusiastic audience on the mall in Washington, DC. They looked so happy and so normal and that set off emotions in me that I didn’t know were there. Just seeing normal, happy people in our nation’s capital brought back all the dark memories of January 6th and that made me both sad and angry. I have always loved Washington, DC–the mall, the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House. And not until tonight did I realize just how horrific January 6 really was and how it has affected me. I am not ready to ‘kiss and make up’ and act like nothing happened. Sacred grounds were denigrated and because the leadership of the Republican Party has not willingly wanted to cooperate in getting to the bottom of what really happened, I no longer feel like I live “in the land of the free and the home of the brave.” I feel more like I live in a land with a whole lot of cowards who put political gain ahead of democracy. Because of this, this 4th of July was tough for me. I did enjoy the fireworks during the last half hour of the PBS program. And just as the program ended, I saw the sky light up out of my living room window. I opened the door so I could the fireworks lighting up the Eel River. They, too, were beautiful and lifted me out of my dark mood. Happy 4th of July.
by Judy Handley | Jul 3, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 184: Mini Golf Brightens a Rainy Day
Date: Saturday, July 3, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Rain Off and On All Day; High 63, Low 56 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What do you do on the third straight rainy day of a holiday weekend? One option is to ignore the rain and play mini golf. Heather and family have been camping in the rain since Thursday and they refused to let it dampen their spirits. On their way home today, Heather sent a text saying they were going to the Sandwich Mini Golf Course and then to Sweet Caroline’s for ice cream. Would I like to come? YES!!! The Sandwich course has 36-holes and we played the whole thing with very little rain. The boys like this course because a stream runs through it which gives them the opportunity to retrieve the balls that inevitably go astray and land in the water. Also, the Cape Cod Dinner Train that runs between Hyannis and Bourne goes right by course and it is always fun to listen to the train whistle and watch it pass by. We had only misty rain once in a while. Lucky for us, the pouring rain came down once we were had our ice cream and were on our way home. A good time was had by all and the Goldstones are one mini golf course and one Cape Cod ice cream shop closer to their goal of visiting all of them this summer.
by Judy Handley | Jul 2, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 183: Lunch Celebration
Date: Friday, July 2, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Light Rain All Day; High 71, Low 61 degrees
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather, Jed, and boys seem to be surviving camping in the rain. Heather sent a photo of Jonah and Ollie fishing late in the day but she didn’t say if they caught dinner. I started my day by going to feed Mel and Leo, the Goldstone kittens, and Zuzu the guinea pig. Heather and Jed have an entry way and then a glass door that enters the rest of the house. The door is always kept closed these days to make sure the kittens don’t get out. This morning they were both sitting patiently waiting just inside the door for me to feed them. It was so cute, but I didn’t think fast enough to get my phone out to take a photo. Tomorrow morning I’ll be ready.
At noon, Karen and Peter Baranowski and Midge Frieswyk joined me at Shirley’s home across the driveway for a lunch celebration. Since I missed Shirley’s 96th birthday luncheon on Monday, this was my make-up birthday lunch plus we celebrated the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend. I made it easy on myself by buying lobster rolls and potato salad from Jack in the Beanstalk, a little locally owned market. I added a fruit salad for dessert and we all enjoyed. I can only hope if I live to be 96, or a 102 like Doris, that I am as mentally alert and sharp-witted as those two women.
