by Judy Handley | May 12, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 132: Gardening Day
Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 64, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Gardening today mostly consisted of transplanting San Marzano tomato seedlings from their seedling cells to larger containers. The seed starting system I use is self-watering which is great. But as the seedlings start to mature, I have discovered that the soil is actually too wet. I need to work on the system, but today I decided to take the first flat of 24 seedlings and place each of them in a yogurt container filled with compost. I am hoping the seedlings that were starting to turn yellow will bounce back. It is really too early to plant the tomato seedlings outside, but I planted four outside as an experiment. On Cape Cod, I have gone by the rule that tomatoes and beans should not be planted outside until Memorial Day. But I planted the experimental tomato plants today and will plant bean seeds tomorrow and see what happens.
I had intended to stop working early enough to visit with Karen Baranowski for a bit before picking Ollie up at the end of the school day. But I totally lost track of time and got to Karen’s with just enough time to get a tour of the ornamental plantings she and Peter have been doing for the past couple of days. They have put in some really interesting plants and bushes. I will have to return to get a second tutorial as I can’t remember the names of the most interesting things. But I was most impressed that evidently Lupin is not a plant rabbits like to eat as there was rabbit basking in the sun next to two flowering Lupins. Good to know.
by Judy Handley | May 11, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 131: Book Club Day
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 61, Low, 44 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was Book Club day. We met in person for the first time since last fall when we met outside. It was delightful to see everyone in person. And it was made even more enjoyable by meeting on the back deck of one of the members overlooking her landscaped gardens. All of us were very jealous of the beautiful landscaping. My favorite thing, however, was a planter on the deck with young firecracker plants. Evidently hummingbirds love this. It is not a native plant, so best to keep it in a container. It is also called cupea or ‘honeybells’ and is long blooming, heat loving annual that is fun for hummingbirds. The Latin name is Russelia equisetiformis. I am going to look for this locally for Heather. She keeps hummingbird feeders on the deck, so her hummingbirds should have this plant to ‘play’ in.
We were enjoying being together in person so much that the Book Club went overtime and before I knew it, it was time to pick Ollie up from school and then take Sam to Hyannis for rowing practice. I got home from that around 7:30 pm, took Shadow for a walk, fixed and ate dinner, and am now writing this log. A day in the life.
by Judy Handley | May 10, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 130: A Little Gardening
Date: Monday, May 10, 2021
Weather: Rain Overnight, Mostly Sunny; High 59, Low, 47 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Gardening was on the agenda for today and I got a few things done. But I started the day finishing my monthly Book Club book as we meet tomorrow. I spent the first couple of weeks after the last Book Club meeting continuing to read Obama’s latest book, ‘A Promised Land’. I got so into it that I just couldn’t put it down. But when I got halfway through the last chapter, I realized I had to put it aside and start reading ‘Code Name Hélène’ by Ariel Lawhorn for my next Book Club meeting. I started reading too late and wasn’t going to finish the book by tomorrow without setting aside most of this morning to finish it. So, I did. This is another World War II book, based on the true story of a young woman named Nancy Wake. In real life, she was from New Zealand and moved to France for adventure. She became a journalist and during the war she joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive. She becomes a major force leading the Maquis, the rural guerrilla bands of French Resistance fighters called maquisards, during the Nazi occupation of France. Her story is well worth reading. What a woman!
by Judy Handley | May 9, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 129: Happy Mother’s Day
Date: Sunday, May 9, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny and Windy; High 59, Low, 46 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Mother’s Day! Early in the day I got a Mother’s Day message from Jo and shortly after, Justin called. We did a Skype video call so I could see Ziggy and Coco and then they headed out for beach with their paddleboard. A little later I got some photos and a great video of Justin on the paddleboard with their puppy, Lenny, and the kids in the water. I wrote back to Jo to tell her that the sunshine and sound of the ocean waves in the video was a great gift. It looked so warm and wonderful. I only have to drive two miles to hear the ocean waves, but the warmth is not here yet.
My wish for Mother’s Day was that Heather and gang would come over to help me with some outside work and my wish came true. Jed cleaned the gutters and trimmed some tree branches that were way too close to the house. The boys helped me drive fence stakes in the ground to support raspberry vines, carried heavy bags of compost to designated areas, helped me get summer items out of the basement and into the yard, and a host of other small jobs that needed their help. Heather organized the garden seeds and also helped with getting items out of the basement. It was a very productive work session. Thank you, Goldstones!
by Judy Handley | May 8, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 128: Back and Forth x 5
Date: Saturday, May 8, 2021
Weather: Cloudy, Windy, Felt Cold; High 53, Low, 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today’s temperature was only five degrees cooler than yesterday, but with no sunshine and lots of wind, it felt chilly. It was a Goldpebble soccer day, but Ollie did not play. The thought of what could happen if he were hit by a fast-moving soccer ball on his upper left arm where the PICC line is inserted is just too scary, so Heather and Jed decided against soccer. But we all met up at Jonah’s game. During the first half, Jonah’s team didn’t score, but in the second half, Jonah was on fire and scored five or six goals and assisted in the only other goal. After the game Jed took him back to Scout camp and Ollie decided to go home with me. We barely got home when I got a call from Jed asking if I could go pick Sam up early from Scout camp to take him to his game as he had to go home to get his uniform that he did not take with him to the camp out. Jed thought he had everything with him, but Sam had assumed he would be going home to get dressed. Jed had another meeting, so I went to get Sam, took him home to get dressed for the game, dropped him at the soccer field, and drove home where I had left Ollie. We hadn’t had time to eat lunch, so we did that and went back to town to see part of Sam’s game. Sam plays defense, so he made no goals, but he played a good game.
The back and forth continued. After watching a quarter of Sam’s game, we headed back to my house to do the work we had started earlier. When I took Ollie home in time for his infusion, I returned home and thought I was there for the evening. Then Heather sent a text inviting me to an impromptu lobster linguine dinner. Jed was gone for the evening, taking Jonah most of the way to Boston for his second soccer game of the day. Jed is allergic to lobster, so while he was away, Heather and Ollie decided to splurge. I really didn’t want to drive into town again, but how could I refuse a free lobster dinner? I couldn’t! Thank you, Heather and Ollie.
I’m not sure any of us know what we are doing for Mother’s Day tomorrow, if anything. Jonah and Sam get home around noon from their Scout camp-out. They will be exhausted and will definitely need showers. We will just let the day develop after that. After running up and down the highway yesterday and running in and out of town all day today, sitting still sounds like the perfect Mother’s Day for me.
by Judy Handley | May 7, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 127: A Lot of Running Around
Date: Friday, May 7, 2021
Weather: Sunshine; High 58, Low, 43 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I feel like I have been running in circles all. Actually, it wasn’t in circles, but it was up and down the highway—just a lot of running around. Shadow had his once every six-week appointment with the groomer this morning. The groomer’s location is all the up Route 28 to the Bourne Bridge. When I dropped off Shadow and started to drive home, I stopped. As long as I was that far north, why not do a couple of shopping ‘jobs’ on my to do list? So, I switched direction and headed on across the bridge, did the shopping, and got back home three hours later. Exactly eight minutes after I got home, I got a text saying Shadow was ready for pick-up. It was three hours earlier than usual, so I got back in the car and went to pick him up. That took almost another hour. I came home, had lunch, and then it was time to pick up Ollie. We pick up Dunkin’ Donuts for everyone on Fridays, so we took those to 43 Grasmere, but then Ollie decided he would go back home with me for an hour to earn some money. So, we drove back to my house where he mowed Shirley’s side yard for me. The landscapers should be coming soon, but the grass in the side yard was so high that I wanted it cut. I played ball with Shadow in Shirley’s backyard by the water while Ollie cut the grass in the side yard where we usually play. Ollie is a good little worker and never takes a break until the job is done. But at one point, I threw a tennis ball too far and I needed Ollie to go down on a neighbor’s dock to get it. I could get down on their lower dock, but I was not sure I could get back up! After cutting the grass and putting lawn mower away, we had a little time for him to help me open and distribute a couple of bags of compost in one of my raised beds. I needed to get him home by 5 pm so he could have his daily antibiotic infusion, so we were in the car and back down the road again.
Tomorrow is another ‘Soccer Saturday’. Jonah and Sam are camping with Scouts this weekend at Tony Andrew’s Farm in East Falmouth. So, Soccer Saturday will require Heather and Jed to pick up one boy and then the other for their games at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm. Then Jonah has a second game off-Cape tomorrow night. Tomorrow is going to be Heather and Jed’s turn to do a lot of running around.
