by Judy Handley | Mar 25, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 84: Editing and Preparing
Date: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Weather: Misty Morning, Sunny Afternoon; High 63, Low, 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My days are fairly predictable these days. I get up at 6:30ish to take Shadow outside for a pee break. I then go back to bed for an hour or two, get up, do stretching exercises to keep my back happy, get dressed, take Shadow for our daily mile walk, come home. I then sit down at my computer with my smoothie in hand, read the NYT Daily online, work the mini-crossword, and then either write or edit for a couple of hours. I stop at some point to eat lunch and continue writing or editing. Things change at 3 pm each day when I head out to pick Ollie up after school and then take Jonah to the skatepark for an hour or so. When I come home, I take Shadow for another walk or play ball with him. I come inside and continue writing or editing for a couple of hours, eat a late dinner, and then get on my exercise bike and pedal away while I catch up on the news of the day, write my log, go to bed and read for an hour, then collapse. In between all of this, I read and return emails, work on my current jigsaw puzzle, Today was an editing day and an I had the added task of preparing for a Zoom presentation on The Voyage of Windbird for tomorrow. The problem with this schedule is that there is no time for preparing meals, cleaning house, or gardening. Tomorrow will be different in that I will be making a presentation from 10:30 am to 12 noon. I think I will then have lunch and do outside activities from 1:00 until 3:00 pm and only allow myself to write from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. I’ll let you know how the new schedule goes.
Ollie had an appointment with the orthopedist this morning before school to check on his swollen knee caused by Lyme disease. They had to remove more fluid from his knee and they are going to extend the time he is on Doxycycline. If the Doxycycline is doing its job, the fluid gathering on his knee due to inflammation should go away. It pains me to watch him going through this, but he is a trooper. He hates it when they remove the fluid because he says it hurts so much it makes him cry. But otherwise, I don’t hear him complain. Lyme disease affects everyone so differently and is so hard to conquer. He has another appointment next Thursday and I just hope there is some improvement.
by Judy Handley | Mar 24, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 83: First Crocus in Bloom
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Weather: Sunny Early, Then Overcast; High 54, Low, 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Saturday was the first day of spring, but at that point I had seen no spring flowers in bloom. Today was an early release day for Ollie and when I drove him home and parked the car in the driveway, I spied a little dot of the color purple in the landscaped area by the driveway. I told Ollie to go investigate and we both delighted to see the first flowers of spring in bloom. The tiny purple crocuses with their bright yellow centers were such a delight to see. He went in to get Heather and bring her out. There were squeals of joy. Spring has officially arrived.
It was also a day of joy for Massachusetts. Boston Mayor Marti Walsh is headed to Washington to serve as President Biden’s Secretary of Labor. And after 200 years of being a city with a white man as the chief executive, Boston’s acting Mayor is now a black woman, Kim Janey. A new era is ushered in . . . finally.
I achieved my goal today of finishing up Chapter 12 of my proposed book and I started writing Chapter 13. I did a quick reread of Chapter 12 which is about the time Windbird spent in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. I will begin tomorrow by reading it again and making a few more edits. Then I will continue on with the new chapter about our time in Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, and Bora Bora. When Mark and I left the Marquesas, we were headed for the Tuamotus. We never got there. So, I started the chapter today writing about how plans change. I started the new chapter by writing, “Of all the people we met while sailing around the world, it was a couple we met on Langkawi Island in Malaysia, and with whom we buddy sailed across the Indian Ocean, that we remained closest to once we returned home. Ed and Lynne on Constance were in the sixteenth year of their circumnavigation when we met. They had been ‘out there’ long enough to know what they were doing. They soon learned that Mark and I lived by an adapted version of a Ben Franklin quote. ‘If you don’t have a plan, you are planning to fail.’ When I would say this to Lynne, she would always smile and say, ‘You can make all the plans you want, but then life happens.’ Our planning, and then our rapid change of plans during our last days in the Marquesas and on our passage to the Tuamotus was a perfect example of Lynne’s ‘then life happens’.” So true.
by Judy Handley | Mar 23, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 82: Beautiful Weather
Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 60, Low, 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Finally. We are having a stretch of beautiful weather. Little wind, warm temperatures, sunshine. Delightful. I love it. Normally I would be outside getting the gardens ready, but I find I cannot pry myself away from my computer. I desperately wanted to complete another book chapter today. I did not make my goal, but almost. I will finish it tomorrow and head on to the Society Islands in French Polynesia—Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora. This will be chapter 13 and it was in Moorea that I broke my leg. Fitting chapter number for that little catastrophe. BTY–I am so superstitious that I thought about not having a chapter 13!
Last night I wrote a bit about our hike to a waterfall on the island of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas. I mentioned that I was not sure I was going to finish that hike without being injured due to the rough terrain. This morning I got an email from my friend Lynne Kirwin who is currently living in New Zealand. The first time she walked to that waterfall she broke a bone in her foot. Testament to the fact that it really was a treacherous walk.
I recently finished reading a book that I highly recommend. Heather gave me the book for my birthday because she had really enjoyed reading it. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd is a novel, totally fiction, but the author meticulously researched the history of the time period. That research was reflected in the book. It is the story of a young woman named Ana who marries Jesus. She is from a privileged family and is quite the liberated young woman for those times. There is no historical proof that Jesus ever married, but Sue Monk Kidd helps you imagine what it could have been like if he had. It was a book I had a hard time putting down.
by Judy Handley | Mar 22, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 81: Writing, Writing
Date: Monday, March 22, 2021
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High 56, Low, 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was another beautiful day in the neighborhood that I spent inside writing. I can’t help myself. I have this aching desire to just keep writing. Of course, I did walk my daily mile with Shadow plus I played ball with him in the afternoon and took another shorter walk. I also picked Ollie up from school and took him home. Otherwise, I either worked on a presentation that I make on Friday for the Snow Library in Orleans on the Outer Cape via Zoom, of course, or I was sitting at my dining table ‘office’ writing.
As I wrote this afternoon, I was wondering if the person I was writing about could really be me.
When Windbird sailed into Taioa Bay, also known as Daniel’s Bay, on the island of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, we could see a waterfall falling from the top of a high peak. We knew it dropped 350 meters or 1,148 feet and we wanted to walk inland to the base of the falls. The next day we set out to do just that. Guides books were vague but said it should be about a three-hour walk round trip. Well, it was a five-hour trip over rough terrain. We got lost and crossed the same rushing stream multiple times. “There were few times that day when I seriously was not sure I was going to survive the walk to the waterfall without serious injury.” But Mark and I made it and it was spectacular. Maybe crazy, but spectacular none the less. And we understood why Survivor had done their fourth season in that valley. I have never watched a Survivor episode, but someday I should take a look at the Marquesas season. So, the sailing adventure of Windbird continues. I am truly hopeful that I will get out of the Marquesas Islands tomorrow and on to Chapter 13 about our time in the Society Islands. Tahiti, Moorea, and Bora Bora are all in the Societies, so I have a lot to write about. BTW–Both the Marquesas and the Society Islands are in French Polynesia. By the end of the week my hope is that we will be sailing out of French Polynesia and headed for Rarotonga in the Cooks Islands.
by Judy Handley | Mar 21, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 80: Happy Birthday to Ollie
Date: Sunday, March 21, 2021
Weather: Beautiful Day; High 56, Low, 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was Ollie’s 9th birthday and what a beautiful day for an outside birthday party. Last year for his birthday, we all went for a walk in a nearby conservation area. It was the first time I had seen Heather and family for over a week as we were all in lockdown due to the pandemic. But he had a great Zoom call with friends on his way home, driving by the homes of each of his friends so they could give him a birthday wave.
This year was a little better as he had four friends over, all masked, and playing yard games. They played Kubb, which is a Swedish game, and then croquet. They had cupcakes on the deck and played giant Jenga and giant dominoes. Then it was hide ‘n seek, a walk around the boardwalk nature trail in the neighborhood, and finally bocce ball. During the afternoon outside with the boys, Heather and Jed were able to get a little yard work done and I made a quick trip home to get a couple of bean towers so that Heather could plant snap peas in their front yard garden. All of the landscaping on their property is ornamental plants, not vegetables. But little by little I think Heather will find a way to change that.
After Ollie’s friends left, he opened presents from me and from Jed. He had opened presents from Grammy Goldstone and his big present from Heather and Jed in the morning. The big present was a huge, long bean bag seat. It is very versatile. You can lay it out flat and use it like a lounge chair or double it up into a seat with a back. And it is soooo comfortable. I melted right into. Then the problem was getting out of it!
I made another quick trip home to take Shadow for a walk and then went back for dinner. Ollie ‘ordered’ Korean ribs. Jed had never fixed them before, but he gave it a try and they were delicious. Heather stir-fried veggies and made rice to go with the ribs. All yummy. And then we had Boston Creme Cake. It was Heather’s first attempt at making this. She thought she had used too much vanilla and cooked the cake part too long. I disagreed.
I thought it was just perfect and so did Ollie. Before we ate dinner, we went around the table to share one story about Ollie. Heather shared the story of when Granddad and I brought Sam and Jonah to the hospital to first meet Ollie when he was only an hour old. What a beautiful memory that was. We were all totally fascinated by that little creature and still are. Happy Birthday, Ollie!
by Judy Handley | Mar 20, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 79: Welcome Spring
Date: Saturday, March 20, 2021
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High 45, Low, 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Welcome, spring. But where are you? It is still too cold for me to feel like wanting to go out and do any outside work. I am sincerely hoping that since March came in like a lion that sometime soon it is going to be warm and sunny so I can say it went out like a lamb. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny with the high temp in the low 50’s. That just might qualify as warm enough.
Since tomorrow is Ollie’s 9th birthday, I am hoping that the weather forecast is correct. He is having a few friends over to play outside, so I am hoping for the sunshine for him. Tonight, the busy Goldstones stopped by for a late pre-birthday artichoke dinner. Jonah had an evening soccer game in Cohasset which is most of the way to Boston. Sam had a scouting day at Camp Greenough in Yarmouth Port which is a 45-minute drive. So, Heather took Jonah to his game and Jed to pick up Sam. Jed dropped Ollie off with me and we watched some episodes of Wild Kratts while waiting for everyone else to arrive for dinner. It was well after 8 pm when everyone arrived for the artichoke dinner. And it was well past bedtime when they left, but we had a nice evening together talking about soccer, scouts, and the upcoming birthday party. Ollie is having a few friends over tomorrow afternoon to play lawn games. When the friends leave, we will have the actual birthday dinner. And today was Grammy Goldstone’s birthday. Happy birthday, Marti.
Today was spent editing instead of writing. Since my ‘first reader’ is ready for more chapters, I wanted to make sure they were ready for her. I wrote them, but then did not even go back and proofread. Sure enough, there were loads of things that needed tidied up. I only got through two chapters, but I sent those along. Monday I will proof one more chapter and complete writing another. The writing project is going along nicely.
