by Judy Handley | Dec 8, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 342: Happy 50th Birthday to Jed
Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High Temp 40, Low Temp 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy 50th Birthday to my son-in-law, Jed.
This evening we had a family birthday dinner and celebration. The boys each gave Jed a gnome because Jed loves gnomes. 
He even got a plastic gnome that had 50 rocks inside and labeled, “50 Rocks.” And Ollie game him a glass container with 50 handmade clay marbles in beautiful colors. Ollie explained these were marbles Jed could use when he starts losing his marbles! The first package he opened from his mother was a photo of him as a toddler and the actual sweater he was wearing in the photo. One of the gnomes got the honor of wearing the birthday sweater. Marti’s other package was an apron that says, “Vintage 1971 with Original Parts” with a mad money check in the pocket.
Heather game him a set of outside summer wine glasses with New Hampshire granite cubes and a granite base that you put in the freezer. You then put the cold granite cube in the glass of wine to keep it cool and place it in the cold granite base when it is warm outside. And Marti and I went in together to give Heather and Jed a winter weekend in the resort of their choice.
After dinner we headed to the basement for one last present. Heather and the boys got Jed a keyboard with a full 88 keys.
The boys have been wanting someone to play the keyboard for their basement band, and that will now be Jed. Of course, the boys will enjoy the keyboard as well, but Jed did take piano lessons when he was a youngster and can hopefully revive some of that knowledge. 
Tonight, they began working on playing a Christmas Canon together. Jonah then announced it was time for a crazy Christmas dance party with disco lights.
The incentive for that was a note in their Advent calendar for today. 
And finally, we came back up upstairs to enjoy a ‘make your own cannoli’ dessert. Happy Birthday, Jed!
FIFTY
(wait, how old?) noun
1. Only ten years old in Celsius
2. Half a century young
3. Prehistoric, but not extinct
4. Eighteen, with thirty-two years of experience
5. When your back starts going out more than you do
6. An excellent age for a bottle of wine
7. Only eight and a half years old in cat years (so pretend
you’re a cat)
8. Five perfect tens
See also: JARED GOLDSTONE, over-the-hill, nifty-fifty
by Judy Handley | Dec 7, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 341: Afternoon with the Goldpebbles
Date: Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 49, Low Temp 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Ollie was feeling much better today, but Heather and Jed decided to keep him at home one more day. Because it was a school early release day and Heather and Jed had work commitments all afternoon, I went over just after noon prepared to stay there for the afternoon and do projects with the boys. But Ollie felt good enough to come to my house, so we packed up some art and craft supplies and headed out. Our first stop was The Christmas Tree Shoppe to buy a couple of huge Christmas ornaments. We are all working on turning an evergreen just outside the Goldstone front door into a gnome, and our gnome needs a big nose and something that looks like a huge pompom for the top of his hat. The boys made their choices and on we went. Our next couple of stops are top secret. Tomorrow is Jed’s 50th birthday and we needed a few things for that celebration. Giving away the destinations would give away what we were seeking. That is a surprise for tomorrow. When we finally got to the cottage, Sam went to work in Shirley’s yard continuing the fall clean up project. I worked with Jonah and Ollie helping them get started on a Christmas craft project and a project for Jed’s birthday. When we were all done, I went down to the dock to play ball with Shadow while the boys had a hot chocolate treat. It was nearing sundown and it was another beautiful pink and red sunset that reflected those colors in the water.
I feel so lucky to live where I can enjoy these late fall colorful sunsets just a few steps from home.
by Judy Handley | Dec 6, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 340: Shop ‘til You Drop . . . Online
Date: Monday, December 6, 2021
Weather: Overcast Turning Sunny, Very Windy; High Temp 59, Low Temp 35 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It’s still blowing outside, more now than earlier today. But hopefully it will pipe down a bit by morning. At least we got sunshine today, not the rain that was predicted. But enjoying the afternoon sunshine was not in my plan for today. My plan was to lock down Christmas gifts for Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. While they were here, we did not find time to talk about Christmas. We spent every second together just enjoying the moment, and the discussions about Christmas didn’t start until this weekend via text and WhatsApp. Jo is in Puerto Rico with Ziggy and Coco and Justin is in Virginia meeting with folks he works for at The Monroe Institute. He flew home to PR on Tuesday and flew back to Virginia on Friday. I knew I couldn’t wait until he gets home. Past experience told me that if I didn’t order things by today, there would be almost no chance that they would arrive in Puerto Rico for Christmas. So, we brainstormed online, and Jo came up with perfect gifts for Ziggy and Coco. The gift for Ziggy was available on Amazon, but couldn’t be sent to PR. So, I searched for another source. That was Walmart, but the item is out of stock in every Walmart in Puerto Rico. I checked Charlottesville, Virginia, thinking Justin might be able to pick it up and take it home with him. But it would not be available in the store in Charlottesville until Friday, and Justin flies home very early on Friday morning. Ugh. I started searching for the same item in another brand. You get the idea. Then I had to go through the same process for Coco. Finally, mid-afternoon, I got everything ordered and will now hope things get there on time. Coco’s is going to be tight. I will have faith.
I spent some time outside playing with Shadow and then headed into town to do some shopping for a few items needed for Christmas art projects to do with the Goldpebbles tomorrow. It is an school early release day and we hope to use the afternoon working on the projects. There is one little hitch, but we shall see how things are in the morning. Ollie is now sick with what Jonah had over the weekend that he probably got from Heather who had it last week. Justin either came down with allergies or a cold shortly after arriving, but Heather’s symptoms were more like the flu. Jonah’s symptoms only lasted for 24 hours. Hopefully that will be the case with Ollie and we can have some holiday fun tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Dec 5, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 339: Falmouth Christmas Parade, Last Night of Hanukkah
Date: Sunday, December 5, 2021
Weather: Beautiful Day; High Temp 47, Low Temp 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The Falmouth Christmas Parade this afternoon was the final event in the Holidays-by-the-Sea weekend. And what a beautiful day for a parade. The sun was shining, there was very little wind, so it felt warmer than the 47 degrees F showing on the thermometer. A friend, Christina Brodie, contacted me this morning to see if I would like to go to the parade with her. After being so lonesome at the lighting of the Green last night, going with a friend today was great. The only disappointment for me was that there was only one lone bag pipe player in this parade.
There are usually two pipe bands that march and play. I missed that. 
But there were the Clydesdales, Jed and his Cub Scouts including Ollie, Sam with the Boy Scouts, Jonah playing his trombone in the Lawrence marching band band (the only one wearing a blue and gray toboggan instead of a red Santa hat), and Heather as a marching band ‘chaperone’.
And I can’t leave out the Newcomers float.
The parade was shorter than usual, but there were loads of spectators lining Main Street from the beginning of the parade route to the end. The amount of community cheer was overwhelming.
This evening, we switched gears to light the last candles of Hanukkah
that burned brightly as we had artichokes for dinner and the Goldpebbles opened their last night of Hanukkah gifts—another pair of their favorite Hannah Anderson holiday pajamas. Just as they finished opening their pajamas, the last candle light went out.
Perfect timing and perfect ending for a perfect day.
by Judy Handley | Dec 4, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 338: The Lighting of the Falmouth Green
Date: Saturday, December 4, 2021
Weather: Overcast; High Temp 41, Low Temp 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today didn’t go quite as planned. Heather, Jed, Jonah, and Ollie were supposed to run the in the Jingle Jog this afternoon, but Jonah had a fever and that meant the Jingle Jog went by the wayside while Heather and Jed figured out their situation. The good news was that Jonah’s Covid test was negative. The bad news was that he was sick, so everyone decided to chuck the plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening and just stay home with Jonah and decorate their Christmas tree. But I decided to go ahead and go to the lighting of the Falmouth Green by myself.
The lighting of the Green is an annual event, except for last year due to Covid. The lighting of the Green happened, but you could only see it on Falmouth Community Television. When I arrived downtown this evening, cars were literally parked on every space available in town. It is always hard to find a parking spot, but it seemed especially so this evening. Then when I arrived at the Green, I was overwhelmed by the number of people. Again, maybe because I haven’t been in a large group of people since before Covid I am just imagining that it was more people than usual. Or maybe more people just decided to come out. I watched as the lights came on and the band started playing Christmas carols.
It was an emotional moment for me. I felt so alone. I have never been to the lighting without Sam, Jonah, and Ollie and I really missed them. Then memories of this event in 2015 started filling my head. That year, Heather was in Paris for the Climate Conference and Jed flew out that afternoon for a work meeting in London. Mark and I had the boys, and in my memories, I could see Mark carrying Ollie on his shoulders all around the Green so that Ollie could see all the lights. He was such a little guy in 2015, only three years old. Then I saw the boys running down the Green to pose for a photo in front of Santa and his reindeer.
00 Ollie, Jonah, and Sam Waving Hello to Mommy and Daddy
by Judy Handley | Dec 3, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 337: Falmouth’s Holidays-by-the-Sea Weekend
Date: Friday, December 3, 2021
Weather: Sunny, Windy; High Temp 47, Low Temp 28 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Let the holiday season begin! Falmouth’s Holidays-by-the-Sea began at sundown tonight with the singing of carols at Nobska Lighthouse. I had been outside working all after. It was sunny, a little windy, but not terribly cold. So, when I came in and got dressed for going the Nobska, I did wear a heavy sweater, but I skipped wearing a winter hat and only wore a pair of stretchy gloves. Mistake. 
As I walked up the hill to the lighthouse, the wind was wicked. But the sight of the all the people gathered around the lighthouse and the silhouettes in the renovated keeper’s dwelling were heart-warming.
Still, I was surprised by the cold. It had been nothing like this when I was working outside at my house just 45 minutes earlier. Within a few minutes my gloved hands were stinging with the cold, and I was very grateful that my coat has a hood. 
I met Heather, Jed, and the boys there and I think we were all very thankful that the woman leading the singing shortened some of the carols to just a verse or two and even skipped a few songs. Everyone was freezing!
I’ll make sure I am properly dressed for the rest of the weekend activities. Hopefully the wind will pipe down by tomorrow.
Tonight I talked with Kevin and Claire. They arrived in Mexico in early November to begin work on their new-to-them sailboat, White Raven. She is on the hard and will stay there until the work is done.
I am so excited for them and am already looking forward to sailing with them in a year or so. They are anxious to have guests, but they need time to get to know their new boat first.
This evening we had a family birthday dinner and celebration. The boys each gave Jed a gnome because Jed loves gnomes. 
He even got a plastic gnome that had 50 rocks inside and labeled, “50 Rocks.” And Ollie game him a glass container with 50 handmade clay marbles in beautiful colors. Ollie explained these were marbles Jed could use when he starts losing his marbles! The first package he opened from his mother was a photo of him as a toddler and the actual sweater he was wearing in the photo. One of the gnomes got the honor of wearing the birthday sweater. Marti’s other package was an apron that says, “Vintage 1971 with Original Parts” with a mad money check in the pocket.
Heather game him a set of outside summer wine glasses with New Hampshire granite cubes and a granite base that you put in the freezer. You then put the cold granite cube in the glass of wine to keep it cool and place it in the cold granite base when it is warm outside. And Marti and I went in together to give Heather and Jed a winter weekend in the resort of their choice.
The boys have been wanting someone to play the keyboard for their basement band, and that will now be Jed. Of course, the boys will enjoy the keyboard as well, but Jed did take piano lessons when he was a youngster and can hopefully revive some of that knowledge. 
Tonight, they began working on playing a Christmas Canon together. Jonah then announced it was time for a crazy Christmas dance party with disco lights.
The incentive for that was a note in their Advent calendar for today. 
And finally, we came back up upstairs to enjoy a ‘make your own cannoli’ dessert. Happy Birthday, Jed!
