by Judy Handley | Jun 6, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 157: New Boat in the Family
Date: Sunday, June 6, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Hot; High 86, Low 62 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather and Jed bought an Optimist sailing dinghy and this afternoon Heather and Ollie tried it out. An Optimist is often called an ‘opti’. It is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy for children up to the age of 15. But since Ollie has never sailed anything but a kayak with a broomstick and tablecloth sail, Heather got in with him today to give him his first lesson. It was not a smooth maiden voyage, but they did finally sail. The tide was too low and there was not enough water to let the centerboard down. And without it, the boat just slid sideways. Then when they did get going, they hit hidden sandbars and rocks. Lots to learn and figure out, but hopefully Ollie will get the hang of it soon . . . during high tide.
I got a call mid-day from the other Judy Handley that lives in Falmouth during the summers. She returned to her condo today to find that she had received a big box. She opened it and it was a computer. But she didn’t order a computer. Then she looked at the address and found the box was addressed to a PO box in East Falmouth. She put two and two together and gave me a call. Indeed, my sister who is moving had sent her computer to me. It was supposed to be sent to Heather and Jed’s as Fed Ex and UPS do not deliver to PO boxes. And besides, the computer was for Sam, not me. Thankfully, Judy had met last fall and she had my number. How Fed Ex decided to deliver the box to her is a mystery as we live in two different parts of town. All we could figure is that because she conducts all her official business under the name of Judy Handley and I use Judith Handley, a box addressed to Judy went to her.
by Judy Handley | Jun 5, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 156: Saturday Threesome Plus a Little Covid Scare
Date: Saturday, June 5, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 74, Low 64 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Sam got his second Pfizer Covid vaccine late yesterday and during the night he developed a very sore throat, a headache, coughs and sneezes, and the need to use a ton of tissues. Instead of playing Saturday soccer, he spent his day in bed and on the sofa. Heather tried and tried to reach his pediatrician with no luck, so when she took Jonah to the park for his mid-afternoon soccer game, she dropped him off and took Sam to get a rapid Covid test. I went to the game and three-quarters of the way through, I got a text saying, “Yay!!! Negative.” So evidently Sam has a cold that might have been ‘enhanced’ by vaccine side effects. Whatever, he has been hit hard. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him.
My Saturday threesome consisted of gardening, going to Jonah’s soccer game, and working on basement organization. Heather dropped by around noon with the van and we loaded up the things in the basement that came here during their move. I thought this would take a whole day, but it only took half an hour. So, I’ll take that extra day to do more clean-up and organization. I ran errands early this morning and then worked on gardening. By the end of the day, I got tomatoes, peppers, and basil planted. The tomatoes took the most time as I planted ten of the paste tomato plants that I grew from seed in an area that I just cleared. And I planted six regular tomato plants in containers that I had to fill with soil. And in the middle of this, I went to Jonah’s soccer game.
What fun it was to watch the soccer game this afternoon. It was the sixth and seventh grade boys against the sixth and seventh grade girls. Of course, I wanted Jonah’s team to win, but as the game progressed, I found myself cheering on girls at times. The boys dominated the ball for most of the game, but the girls did a fantastic job on defense. They had two good goalies that kept the boys from running away with the game and girls on the field that could definitely hold their own with the boys.
At one point Jonah was headed for what looked like a for sure goal, when out of nowhere came Faye who blocked his shot. Faye has a brother who has always played soccer with Sam. Faye’s block brought memories of she and Jonah playing for fun on the sidelines or in an unused adjacent field while Sam and Gus were playing a game. They were Ollie’s age or younger. The years really do fly by so quickly. But after Faye’s block today, Jonah did make a beautiful goal near the end of the game. He kicked the ball high to avoid the deft hands of the girls’ team goalie, and then the ball just arced right down into the net. That was impressive.
Jed and Ollie spent their day at a Cape and Islands Cub Scout affair called The Chuckwagon Derby. Ollie’s Pack won an award for teamwork and a third-place overall award. Not sure what all of the activities were, but I love the idea of winning the teamwork award.
Late last night I talked to my good friend Lynne Kirwin who is still in New Zealand. She was supposed to come home for the summer and fall of 2020, but due to Covid she could not. She will come back to visit family at some point, but as she pointed out, why would she leave a country where the leadership is competent and is allowed to make decisions to keep everyone safe. And everyone follows along with the decisions for the greater good of all. She said that following what is happening politically in this country is so depressing that she just has no desire to come back here except to visit family. I miss her, but I can’t blame her. Life is good in New Zealand, and I am just so happy for her.
by Judy Handley | Jun 4, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 155: Second Day Down Under
Date: Friday, June 4, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Periods of Mist; High 63, Low 57 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
At the end of my second day down under, the basement is coming along. I need to spend one more day moving some things out of the basement to Heather and Jed’s and another day getting the last bits off the shelf and away from the wall. But I did make a lot of progress today. I am exhausted even though I don’t feel like I did enough to warrant this level of ‘tired’. Just a reminder that I am no longer a spring chicken.
by Judy Handley | Jun 3, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 154: A Day Down Under
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Rainy; High 67, Low 60 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was my plan to write and then plant tomatoes today. Neither of those things happened. I got a call early this morning from Insulate2Save saying they will be coming on June 16 and 17 to insulate the cottage attic, walls, and basement. “And you are aware that you have to clear everything away from the basement shelf and at least three feet from the walls. Right?” Yes, I was aware of that, but I had been told the insulating would be done in the fall. Evidently, the cottage is a priority, for what reason I don’t know, but the state requires that the work be done by June 30. Okay. Time to get to work. When the call was over, I headed to basement, down under, and spent much of my day just standing and staring and becoming even more overwhelmed with how much ‘stuff’ has ended up there in a haphazard way.
The cottage has a full basement with a shelf-wall on all sides. The shelf is about three feet high and three feet deep. When I moved in, I figured that shelf was the perfect place for storing things. When it was totally lined with plastic storage boxes, I then lined the entire perimeter of the basement floor with more storage boxes at the base of the shelf walls. And over the last three years, the whole middle of the basement has filled up as well. I will get everything organized and in the middle of the basement in the next few days, but it will mean making that THE priority. I do have to get the tomatoes planted, but writing is going to be put on hold. I am so close to finishing up year one, but it is just going to have to wait. The down under calls.
by Judy Handley | Jun 2, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 153: Gardening and Dog Training
Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 70, Low 54 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Turning a patch ground covered in briars into a tomato patch is harder than I thought. I spent my morning pulling roots and digging holes for 16 tomato plants. Then it was time to go pick up Sam and his friend Robert who had agreed to do an hour of gardening work for my friend Olga. She has lost her longtime handyman who used to do weeding and raised bed preparation for her, so I offered Sam and Robert who had a half day of school today. Unfortunately, an hour was not nearly enough time. They worked on weeding two flower gardens and made great progress. But there is more to be done. Since I was there with them, I helped Olga prepare three of her raised beds to plant tomatoes. I hope we will have time to return to finish our jobs on another day. Olga is at least ten years older than me, lost her husband of 64 years this winter, and lost her handyman. She is struggling a bit to get going again. I hope our work today helped a little. Sam really enjoyed seeing her airplane that she still flies and does aerobatics. Olga lives in the Falmouth Airpark and the plane is kept in her huge garage along with her Mercedes convertible. When she showed Sam and Robert the Mercedes, that did it. Sam said he hated to tell me, but he wished Olga was his grandmother! I can’t blame him. She is quite a woman. And on top of all that, Olga paid them and gave each of them a Magnum ice cream bar. She is a hard act to follow.
We had to leave Olga’s in time for me to pick Ollie up after school and then go pick Shadow up from day school. His training program has turned my life upside down. I am just hoping that the results will be positive. Right now, I feel like I live in a jail. Shadow is not allowed to be on any furniture, so all bedroom doors have to closed and I have one sofa fenced off and the other one has cardboard boxes stacked on it. If I want to sit on my sofa, I have enter my fenced in living room. But when I do that, Shadow simply jumps over the back of the sofa to join me. Then I have to put him in his crate. So, I find it easier to just sit at my dining room table until bedtime. Shadow has to be in his crate or in structured time (tethered or walking and training with me) 80 percent of the day. Not sure how long I can continue this. If anyone has experience with trying to calm an exceptionally exuberant dog, I’d love to hear from you.
by Judy Handley | Jun 1, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 152: A Break from the Rain
Date: Tuesday, June 1, 2021
Weather: Some Sunshine, Some Clouds, Warmer; High 71, Low 54 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
After three overcast, cool, rainy days, the sunshine was bright this morning. It did get cloudy in the early afternoon, but by late day there was again sunshine mixed with clouds. And it was warm and the sunshine was very much enjoyed. It was a wonderful first day of June.
My day consisted of a six-week check-in with my chiropractor, a nice long walk with Shadow, and some gardening. Then at 3 pm, Shadow and I went to pick Ollie up from school, on to pick Sam up from his drum lesson, and then we took Sam to his rowing practice in Hyannis. But the highlight of my day came early when I got a call from Justin. He got his PCR test results for Covid this morning and they were negative. The rapid test was evidently a false positive and he does not have Covid. Yay!!! He and Jo were off to get their scheduled second Covid vaccine and to get back on track for their trip to England in mid-June. What a roller-coaster they have been on for the past week. But in the end, all is well.
