by Judy Handley | Jun 25, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 176: Visiting with Family
Date: Friday, June 25, 2021
Weather: Cloudy, Then Misty; High 77, Low 64 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Family from Florida, North Carolina, and West Virginia arrived this week to attend tomorrow’s (Saturday) celebration of my niece Lynn’s life. She died way too young last October, and due to Covid the memorial was delayed until now.
One of my grandnieces that lives in Westford in northern Massachusetts invited us all to her home for dinner last night. And she encouraged everyone to bring their bathing suit as she and her husband just had a new inground pool installed. The Goldpebbles and three of their cousins that they had never met before had such a good time in the heated pool that they were in it from the time we arrived until we left six hours later. It was overcast and misty for the first couple of hours, but the kids didn’t mind and there were enough deck umbrellas to the adults dry. The kids only got out of the pool long enough to eat dinner. So, the kids played in pool while the adults kept a watchful eye and talked the evening away. I drove up with Heather and Jed and was so appreciative that I didn’t have to do the driving as we didn’t get back home until almost 1 am. It was a late night, but a wonderful time with family.
by Judy Handley | Jun 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 174: Camp Oma, Day Two
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 71, Low 55 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What we do on any given day of Camp Oma evolves from an agreement between the Goldpebbles, Heather and Jed, and me. As we roll along, we will get better at planning and making decisions ahead of time. But for now, I leave my house a few minutes before noon dressed to go to the beach or not, with a food cooler packed with food to have at the beach or elsewhere, and with a car packed with all the beach gear we might need. I arrive at the Goldstones, pry boys away from whatever they might be doing, and we head out. This being the first day with no school in the morning, the boys lazed in and slept and read until I arrived. They were dressed but there was no agreement of what we would be doing. Sam wanted to go to my place and sail and then go to the beach. Ollie adamantly wanted to go directly to the beach, either Woodneck or Menauhant, and Jonah would have happily stayed home to play on his tablet. But that was not an option. I opted for Sam’s idea of doing both things—sail and go to be beach and eventually all three boys agreed. So, we did.
When we drove into my drive-way we were met by a surprise. Charlie, the 12 year-old son of the new neighbors preparing to move in for the summer, was waiting for us in my drive-way. When I talked to his dad, Andrew, a little later, I found that he and Charlie had arrived from New York City last night and the rest of the family will follow tomorrow. Andrew was in phone business meetings all of today and when Charlie got restless, Andrew suggested he come knock on my door and see if my grandson’s might be visiting. Charlie did that but noticed my car was not there, so he was just sitting and waiting to see if we magically appeared. And we did. Sam and Ollie had met Charlie when he was here a couple of weeks ago, but Jonah had not met him. They immediately hit it off and headed into Shirley’s side yard to play soccer. The Goldstones had opted for ‘make your own pizzas’ for lunch, but they were so busy playing soccer and catching crabs at the dock while Sam launched the sailing dinghy and was out trying to sail with no wind, that I ended up making the individual pizzas and delivering them to the dock. Eating was low on their priority list, but I insisted, and they did eat. Then they decided that we should take Charlie to Menauhant Beach. Andrew agreed that he could go with us, so we were off. We only had an hour and a half at the beach but the four boys really enjoyed the time developing a new in the water soccer game. We had to cut the afternoon short as the Goldpebbles needed to be showered and in Class A Scout uniform dress and on the field by 5:15 pm to open the Boy Scout night of the Falmouth Commodores baseball game. After delivering them home, I came home to walk Shadow and rinse and hang out to dry today’s beach gear. Then I collapsed. I was tired but happy after an afternoon of watching the Goldpebbles and new friend Charlie having so much fun. Summer 2021 is off to a great start!
by Judy Handley | Jun 22, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 173: Last Day of School
Date: Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Weather: Some Sun, Some Clouds, Some Rain; High 79, Low 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the last day of the 2020-2021 school year here in Falmouth and the beginning of the ninth year of Camp Oma. During the first summer of Camp Oma in 2013, it was only Sam and Jonah as Ollie was too young. But every summer since then, Camp Oma has adapted to meet the needs of the Goldpebbles. Once Ollie was four, all three boys could basically do the same things with me, but starting last year, we needed to adapt to accommodate a teenager. This year, like last summer, the boys will be at home in the mornings, and I’ll pick them up at noon and we’ll go from there. It has been fascinating to me to watch our summer activities change depending on the ages of the boys, and last summer how we had to adapt due to Covid. The adventure began today and we’ll see how it goes forward.
I have picked Ollie up at the end of the school day all of this year. Mr. Tom walks the kids from the school across Route 28 to waiting parents and grandparents. Ollie has really enjoyed his time with Mr. Tom and at the end of the today’s mid-day Early Release, they took the time to let me get a photo of them. Then we were on to the beach. Sam went to one beach with his friend Robert while Ollie and I headed to Menauhant Beach. Just as we arrived at the beach, it started sprinkling rain and most people who were there left. But Ollie and didn’t let a few drops of rain stop the fun. He played happily digging in the sand for about an hour before Jonah and Jed arrived. Then Jonah and Ollie frolicked in the water, diving like dolphins, riding the surf on their body boards, and playing beach soccer with Jed. We had some sun, some totally overcast times, and some sprinkles. But mostly we had summer fun.
Since Jed could take the boys home, I headed home to play ball with Shadow before I left him again. Jane and Bruce Woodin had invited me over for dinner before we went to the opening night of the College Light Opera Guild’s first performance of the year. Thanks to another friend, Olga Mitchell, we had free tickets for The Pirates of Penzance. There was a late decision to have live performances this summer. But despite that, there was an almost full house for opening night. This was the third time I have seen this Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera in the last thirty years and it was by far the best I have seen. The cast of college ‘stars’ were so talented and their enthusiasm for performing in front of a live audience was contagious. It was so much fun.
by Judy Handley | Jun 21, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
201 Life Logs, Day 172: Happy Birthday to Jo
Date: Monday, June 21, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Misty; High 76, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was an overcast and sometimes misty first full day of summer here in New England and I heard from my daughter-in-law Jo that it was a freezing and wet day in England. But regardless of the weather, it was Jo’s birthday, and she was enjoying it despite the weather. So, Happy Birthday, Jo!
When I went to pick Ollie up from school this afternoon, I was dressed all in white. Ollie asked me if I was going to a funeral. I replied that actually I was going to a celebration of summer where everyone was requested to wear white, but it was an interesting moment as I realized my nine-year old grandson is much more multi-cultural in his thinking that I am. In other cultures, white is the color of mourning. But I explained to him that I in my experience, black had been the color of mourning. It was an interesting conversation, but then he said that if I was going to the summer celebration, I needed to stop at the car wash on the way to taking him home and have my white car cleaned for the occasion. So. we did. I then took him home and headed to the Cape Cod Winery.
Eileen and Billy Sullivan are members of my Newcomers Wine Group who hosted this evening’s ‘summer, wear white’ event to celebrate the opening of the summer season at the Cape Cod Winery. It was a fabulous gathering and all of us that attended were giving thanks to Eileen and Billy. I sat with other members of my wine group and we caught up with what everyone has been doing since our last gathering in late fall. It was a fun evening and great transition into summer.
by Judy Handley | Jun 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 171: Happy Father’s Day and Happy Summer
Date: Sunday, June 20, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 79, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Father’s Day to all, especially to my two favorite fathers, Justin and Jed. I spent the late afternoon and evening with Jed and talked to Justin, Ziggy, and Coco via Skype. They are all still in quarantine at Jo’s parents’ home in England, but they managed to have a lovely day at home. And happy summer on this longest day of the year. Summer solstice happens officially at 11:32 tonight, making today the official first day of summer 2021. But in my mind, tomorrow will be the first full day of summer since there will only be 28 minutes of it today. I love summer and I love the long hours of sunlight. But I prefer to celebrate the winter solstice as the days start getting longer from that day onward. Starting tomorrow, our days will get just a wee bit shorter each day. I love long days of sunshine.
Heather, Jed, and boys came over late in the afternoon for some fun out on the water. Sam has decided that he loves sailing after only two times out in the sailing dinghy. He is already lobbying for a bigger boat. At some point, Sam joined Ollie and Jonah on the Maui mat while Heather sailed for a bit. It was another afternoon of water fun in the Eel River. Heather and boys allowed Jed to sit on the shore and read as a Father’s Day gift, but he landed in the water by accident as he was helping get all the boats in at the end of the day. I spent most of my time cooking dinner for all and Shadow had a great time running from the dock back to the cottage to check on what I was doing.
by Judy Handley | Jun 19, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 170: Dog Training, Garden, Basement
Date: Saturday, June 19, 2021
Weather: Mix of Sun and Clouds; High 76, Low 63 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The good news is that a good night’s sleep solved the problem of my achy body. I guess climbing and crawling on concrete is harder than I thought. But it is strange. I felt like I worked harder today, but no achy body. Today I was lifting heavy bags of compost in the garden and lifting heavy storage bins in the basement and putting them back up on the shelf. At the end of the day, I have a slightly more well-behaved dog, a mostly planted garden, and a basement that is almost back to normal. Life is good.
