by Judy Handley | May 18, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 138: Gardening, Writing, Playing
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 72, Low, 56 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
‘Have Children in Your Life’ is #9 on Dr. Roger Landry’s top ten list of things that are necessary to ‘Live Long, Die Short’. That is his way of naming the things that are necessary to age with grace and health. I am so blessed to have my Falmouth grandchildren in my life every day in one way or another, so I can check off #9. I spend time with the grandkids in many way, but this spring on Tuesdays and most Thursdays I spend a large chunk of my day with Sam. I leave home at 3 pm to pick up Ollie and take him home. On the way home, he talks about the things that are important in the life of a nine-year-old. Then I head to Falmouth Conservatory to pick Sam up after his drum lesson. We come back to home just long enough for him to change clothes and we head to Hyannis for his 5 pm rowing practice on Wequaquet Lake. I love having the time in the car with Sam. He helps me keep up to date on what is happening in the lives of teenagers and tries to help educate me in the world of technology. It is so special to have this little window of time with a fourteen-year-old. While he is rowing for an hour and a half, I read, go into Hyannis to shop, and pick up dinner for Sam. He eats on the way home and then I drop him off for his weekly Scout meeting. I get home around 7:30 pm and head out for a short walk with Shadow and then I play ball with him until almost 8 pm. Then I come inside and ‘think’ about dinner. It is almost 9 pm by the time I eat and then get on my exercise bike. Whew! All of this makes for a busy afternoon and evening, but I would not trade it for anything in the world.
I did a little gardening today and started writing the next chapter in my book. I am hoping to somehow finish writing about year one of the voyage of Windbird before the middle of June. Speaking of Windbird, Sam and Dawn said farewell to Windbird at Lightkeeper’s Marina in North Myrtle Beach today. They packed all of their belongings in a cargo trailer that they are pulling along with them as they head westward. They will visit with family and friends along the way. I wish them the best. Westward Ho!
by Judy Handley | May 17, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 137: Walk, Talk, Watch
Date: Monday, May 17, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 72, Low, 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
What a day. I was all over the place, both physically and mentally. I started the day with a walk with friend Olga Mitchell. Olga is in her mid-80’s and recently lost her husband. She is also a woman her spent her life working for the Bell Lab as a physicist and loves nothing more than doing loops and spins in her Decathlon aerobatic plane that she keeps in her garage. She lives in the Falmouth Airpark and can drive her plane from her garage onto a fairway that leads out to the main airstrip. And she walks like she flies. We walked at least two to three miles in in an hour and half on the paths through the woods near her home. And when we got back, I was astounded by the shitake mushroom ‘forest’ she has growing on oak logs outside her garage and a worm farm with more garden worms than I have ever seen. I wish I had half of her energy. She is an amazing woman.
I got home just in time to take Shadow for his morning mile, had lunch, and headed into town to talk with Jerry Lanson. Jerry is a Professor Emeritus at Emerson College, and a former newspaper editor, reporter, columnist. I signed up for his Newcomers Memoir Writing Class last year and he encouraged me to start writing in earnest about the Voyage of Windbird. I haven’t talked to him since I did start writing in earnest in January of this year, so today’s conversation was about how things are going. We met at Coffee Obsession, outside in the beautiful weather, amongst others outside and unmasked. It seemed so normal! He asked one question that I did not answer out loud as I answered in my head. He asked who I perceive to be the target audience of my book. In my head I thought, “People who believe in fairy tales.” Out loud I answered, “People who enjoy adventure and travel.”
But then tonight I got a text from Sam and Dawn on Windbird. They wanted me to know that they had finished getting Windbird ready to be put on the market. She is in North Myrtle Beach, where we left her in the February of 2016 and where they first saw her and purchased her. The same agent and friend that sold her to them for Mark and I is the same agent and friend who will attempt sell her this time. They sent photos and she looks great. And they wanted me know that I will always be their “sailing fairy godmother.” Maybe the book I am writing really is a fairy tale! It is certainly the story of a woman who was incredibly reluctant to sail around the world and transformed into a woman who thought sailing around the world was the most wonderful way to see the world and get to know her people.
I picked Ollie up after school and he came home with me to cut the grass in Shirley’s side yard before I took him home. While he was cutting the grass, I played ball with Shadow. Then when I took him home, I got to see the kittens, Mel and Leo, at play. They are doing great and are so much fun to watch. And then I came home to quickly get dinner for Shadow and for myself and tune into a Zoom presentation presented by the Harwich Conservation Trust. It was advertised as a presentation to help you learn how native plantings can create a more inviting and healthier yard for birds, beneficial insects, and other wildlife. The talk was by Doug Tallamy who has written bestsellers on enhancing your eco-friendly yard. His books include Nature’s Best Hope and Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens. I was definitely convinced that turning your yard into a native plant haven is well worth the effort—less grass and more native plants.
by Judy Handley | May 16, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 136: Deck Party to Deck Dinner
Date: Sunday, May 16, 2021.
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 74, Low, 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Shadow and I had a quiet Sunday morning walking through the neighborhood and doing a little gardening. Then this afternoon I went to Bill and Midge Frieswyk’s for a Sunday afternoon deck party. Midge even had her bubble machine going to add to the festive mood. This was an unofficial gathering of our Dining-in Group just celebrating the warm weather. Karen and Peter Baranowski brought a surprise strawberry rhubarb pie that we all enjoyed. Bruce and Jane Wooden and Olivia and Terry White were also there. Bill starts a new round of chemo this week so we hope he will be up for our regular gathering next Sunday. But if not, at least we had a fun time this afternoon.
I then drove home to make my 40-minute buns for a pulled pork dinner at the Goldstones. Heather took Jonah had an afternoon soccer game near Hyannis, so I offered to get pulled pork, coleslaw, and mac ‘n cheese at Wicked ‘N Wood, a take-out barbecue place near me. Heather picked up a spicy lettuce mix and feta cheese to add to beets that I brought to make salads for us. We ate dinner on their deck and celebrated the end of an incredibly busy week and the beginning of another.
The kittens, Mel and Leo, are still living in Heather and Jed’s master bedroom and bathroom. They are so tiny that they are afraid to give them full reign of the whole house for fear of losing them. They will probably spend a few more days in their present space and then maybe get access to the whole downstairs area. They are getting less and less afraid of new people and are loving their new climbing tower. They are certainly a very cute duo.
by Judy Handley | May 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 135: Another Soccer Saturday Plus Pinewood Derby
Date: Saturday, May 15, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low, 52 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the same temperature as yesterday with the same sunshine, but there was almost no wind and today felt hot. I wore long pants and a long sleeve cotton shirt to Jonah’s 10:30 am soccer game and I was roasting by the end of the game. I headed home to get some lunch, take Shadow for a walk, and change into shorts and a short-sleeved shirt for Sam’s afternoon game. Much better.
Jed and Ollie headed out at the same time that I picked up Jonah to take him to his game. Jed and Ollie were going to the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. The actual races didn’t begin until 1 pm, but Jed needed to go early for set-up and Ollie wanted to go with him. Thankfully neither Heather nor Jed had an adverse reaction to their second Moderna vaccines. Heather had a headache and Jed was lethargic, but they were able to function. Jonah and I played with Mel and Leo before leaving for his soccer game. Leo is acclimating more quickly than Mel, but both kitties are doing great. Jonah and I headed to the soccer game and Heather followed along shortly leaving Sam in charge of the kittens.
I love watching Jonah and Sam play soccer. Jonah plays offense and Sam plays defense. And I must say that the eighth to tenth graders play hard ball. The sixth and seventh graders play hard, but the next step up is huge. I picked Sam up at the church where the Pinewood Derby was happening and took him to his game while Jonah, Jed, and Heather stayed at the church to watch the Pinewood Derby races. Ollie came in third in his troop and he was very happy about that. Heather left for a bit to see the very end of Sam’s game and then returned. I took Sam home and left him playing with the kittens. Then I returned home to walk and play ball with Shadow, and then collapse. But the day was not over for Heather and Jed. One of them, and I’m not sure which, took Jonah to his late afternoon game across the bridge toward Boston. I think they have nothing on their calendar for tomorrow morning, so I hope they all get to enjoy a lazy Sunday morning.
Tonight, I watched the first episode in Amazon Prime’s new television series, The Underground Railroad based on the book by Colson Whitehead. So hard to watch. I read Colson Whitehead’s book. It was hard to read, but not nearly so hard as it is to watch the treatment of black slaves in the South on the screen. Whitehead’s ingenious vision of the Underground Railroad is a secret network of tracks and tunnels that carried slaves to freedom. Actually, it was just a series of brave people, black and white, who ran safe houses and provided aid for the runaway slaves as they headed north. But Whitehead’s version makes for great television. At the same time, I am reading by book club pick of the month, American Dirt. In the first chapter of that book that I read last night, an upper-middle class Mexican woman watches the murder of her husband, mother, and entire family by a drug cartel. She escapes with her nine year-old son. That’s as far as I got last night, but I know that she and her son make it to the US to live as undocumented immigrants. Another hard, but essential read.
by Judy Handley | May 14, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 134: Welcome Leonardo and Melbourne
Date: Friday, May 14, 2021
Weather: Gloriously Sunny and Warm; High 73, Low, 50 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was gloriously sunny and warm. We broke out of the 60’s, reaching a high of 73 degrees F. It felt like summer and made me so lazy that I really did not do much of anything except enjoy the day. Despite that, it was a VERY special day.
#1: Following Sam’s first vaccine yesterday, Heather and Jed got their second Covid vaccine today.
#2: Welcome Leonardo and Melbourne. The Goldstones are the new parents of two adorable kittens, Leo(nardo) and Mel(bourne). As Heather wrote on Facebook, she is now outnumbered 7-1: Sam. Jonah, Ollie, Jed, Zuzu the guinea pig, and now Leo and Mel. Heather and Jed have resisted getting pets other than the guinea pigs. But when Max and Mortimer, the oldest of the three guinea pigs, died of old age this winter, they decided to try a pair of kittens. Leo and Mel are so adorable. It will take a couple of days for them to get acclimated, but soon I have a feeling those two little kittens will be ruling the roost in that household.
We looked a bit like a parade as I followed Heather and gang in their van to the home where we met the new kittens. They were waiting for us outside in a tall plastic clothes hamper, tall so they wouldn’t escape. The owner transferred them to Shadow’s puppy car carrier that he has long outgrown, and we then paraded back to 43 Grasmere. I made a little detour to mail something at the post office and by the time I arrived the kitties were well hidden. Heather’s plan is to keep them in their master bedroom and bathroom for the weekend before giving them full run of the house. They are so tiny and the house is so big. They spent their first hour hiding, but eventually, with lots of creative coaxing, Heather and Sam were able to catch and hold one. Hopefully before the end of the evening, everyone got a chance to hold a kitten.
Here’s hoping Heather and Jed have few side effects from their second Moderna vaccine as tomorrow is a busy one. Jed and Ollie were spending time tonight getting ready for tomorrow’s Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Sam and Jonah have soccer games and I think Ollie’s violin group is playing together for the first time since 2019 due to coronavirus.
#3: Tonight I exceeded 710 miles on the exercise bike that Heather, Jed, Justin, and Jo got me for Christmas. I didn’t start riding faithfully until mid-January and I try to ride 6 miles every evening. We are 124 days into 2021. If you divide 710 by 6 you get 118. So, I think I have been faithful to my goal. You can’t adjust to the total miles, so I can’t cheat!
by Judy Handley | May 13, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 133: Live Long, Die Short
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2021
Weather: Sunny; High 66, Low, 48 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Hurray! Hurray! Sam, my 14 year-old grandson, got his first Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine today. It was just approved for kids in the 12-15 year-old group this week and it is already in arms. Fantastic.
Jed took Sam to rowing today as the vaccine appointment was just prior to practice. That gave me extra time to enjoy this beautiful spring day with lots of sunshine and a little less wind. As I was playing ball with Shadow in Shirley’s side and front yard, I took time to smell the roses. Well, not roses, but all of the beautiful blossoms in that yard that Shadow and I play in every afternoon. I have a table and two chairs down by the dock, but this afternoon I didn’t sit down. I just walked the perimeter of the yard taking photos of the blossoms. My very favorite today was the apple blossoms on a very old apple tree. Just beautiful. And I took the time to give thanks for living in such a beautiful setting.
After playing ball, I launched into putting together a garden bench that I bought earlier in the afternoon. I saw online that Job Lot had a teak 4-foot long garden bench with a back and I took off immediately to buy one. I love it, but what a pain to assemble. I need to tighten the bolts tomorrow morning and then it will be ready to sit on and admire my raised garden beds as they grow.
Just as I started on assembling the bench, Justin called. He was on his way to Home Depot to buy items to get Finca Maravilla ready for storm season. Already? That is two and half months away, but since they will be heading to England the middle of June and not returning until the middle of July, they need to get ready now. It was great to talk with him, but he asked me a question that haunts me. Why do we live in a country where truth is no longer revered. My father taught me that the worst thing in the world a person can do, other than kill another person, is to lie. I am sure I tried to teach my children the same thing. So now my adult ‘child’ wants to know why we would rely on Facebook, or any company, to control a politician’s lies. Should not that be done by the government? Should there not be a law that protects our democracy by saying that any politician that is found to lie repeatedly is removed from office? Food for thought.
My morning was spent attending the last meeting of the year for Falmouth Newcomers. Attending in this case meant tuning into a Zoom presentation. The title of presentation was Authentic Health and Successful Aging and the description sounded interesting. “Dr. Roger Landry is a preventive medicine physician, author of award-winning Live Long, Die Short: A Guide to Authentic Health and Successful Aging, contributing author to ‘80 Things to Do When You Turn 80’, and President of Masterpiece Living, a group of multi-discipline specialists in the field of aging who partner with organizations to assist them in becoming destinations for continued growth and Centers for Successful Aging.” Dr. Landry was in Colorado today, but he and his wife life in East Falmouth. In today’s presentation, he focused on 10 things that will extend your life and keep you healthy as you age. His top 10 items were:
1. Use It or Lose It
2. Keep Moving
3. Challenge Your Brain
4. Stay Connected
5. Lower Your Risk (which includes your diet)
6. Never Act Your Age
7. Wherever You Are, Be There
8. Find Your Purpose
9. Have Kids in Your Life
10. Laugh
Dr. Landry’s information meshes with that of my health gurus, but it is always great to have what you know validated . . . and to be reminded. I was so glad that I tuned in as I had just decided to skip a couple of upcoming Newcomers’ socials. When Dr. Landry talked about staying connected, I went back to the Newcomers website and signed up. It is time to come out of my Covid bubble.
Okay. I just felt a strange ‘something’ at the base of my hairline on the back of my neck. I instinctively ‘attacked’ and came out with a tick and part of my scalp. Yikes! Ticks are around all year long, but last spring I had a few sightings, and that has evidently begun again. I hate ticks!
