by Judy Handley | Feb 17, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 48: Christmas in the Caribbean
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Weather: Beautiful Winter Day; High 36, Low 23 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful winter day here today, but ‘winter day’ means it was cold. And just reading about what is happening in Texas is frightening and making me even colder. My sister that lives outside Nashville, Tennessee, has power, but the streets are still snow covered, the temperature is below freezing, and they are expecting 3 more inches of snow tonight. She is feeling very cold even though she has heat. I am so thankful that our weather here is not as severe. Still, it is cold. So, I warmed myself just by writing today. I am currently writing Chapter 6 of The Voyage of Windbird and the title of that chapter is ‘Christmas in the Caribbean’. At this point in our trip around the world, we had been delayed for a month in the Chesapeake Bay area while installing a new engine. Then once we left Norfolk, we had a truly rough passage to Saint Martin in the Caribbean. In this chapter, things are looking up. We are in the Caribbean putting all of the bad experiences of the past two months behind us and enjoying a visit by our children, Heather, Jed, and Justin. This was before Justin met Jo. They flew to Saint Lucia to spend Christmas in the Caribbean with us. We snorkeled, we went diving, we hiked to waterfalls and in the rain forest, we sailed and anchored in spectacularly beautiful places, and it was hot. Most days were in the 80’s and we were all loving it. Once the kids flew home, Mark and I sailed to Bequia in the Grenadines where we spent time researching and planning our trip through the rest of the Caribbean. While in Bequia, I was introduced to Skype by a German cruiser in the internet café, I ran into Martha Stewart in a wine shop, and hiked and explored that island. Then we sailed to the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines and snorkeled ‘til we dropped. All these things kept me warm while writing today. When I give my presentations about sailing around the world, I never really mention the Caribbean. I had forgotten how wonderful it was at the time. I must thank my son Justin for encouraging me to write a daily log as we traveled. Without that daily record, many of the wonderful memories would be lost because there were so many wonderful memories during the six years of sailing . . . too many for one mind to store. So, thank you, Justin, and thank you for giving me the nudge a few weeks ago to start writing again. I am really enjoying it.
I also did all of the normal daily activities. This week that includes going to Heather and Jed’s twice a day to feed the guinea pigs. And today I walked with Shadow, played ball with Shadow, worked on my current jigsaw puzzle (going really slow, but making progress), watched the latest episode in a gardening docu-series, rode my daily 6 miles on my exercise bike, and spent a little time cleaning house. But I must admit that I rush through all of these things to get back to writing.
Something I rediscovered today was a poem sent to us via email the day the kids flew home. It was entitled ‘Twas the Day After Christmas. It was written by our dear friends Detta and Tom Porat and their two children, Matthew and Sarah. It perfectly captured the nine glorious days we had spent together. It warmed my heart. Hope it warms your heart as well.
‘Twas the day after Christmas and all ‘round the yacht
The water was warm and the sun was so hot.
The children lay tanning—Heather, Justin, and Jed
With memories of reef fish aswim in their heads.
A parrot was hung by the GPS with care
In hopes that a mooring in Vieux Fort would be there.
With Pa in his swim trunks and I in bare feet
We’d just settled in for a long windward beat.
When out on the deck, there arose such a clatter
I peaked out of the cockpit to see what was the matter.
Then what to our wondrous eyes did appear
But rainbows in our wake and flying fish oh so near.
As we sailed to the north and splashed through the waves
We remembered rain forests, reefs, and bat caves.
We’ve snorkeled and scuba’d, we’ve hiked and we’ve fished
This Christmas we all got more than we’d wished.
To family and friends we wish could be here
Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!
HO! HO! HO!
by Judy Handley | Feb 16, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 47: Odd Weather Day
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Weather: Warm and Windy; High 53, Low 23 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
With many places in this country so much colder than normal, we had an unusually warm day today. The morning was overcast and very windy at times and warmish. In the middle of the day the sun tried to peek through the clouds, so I chose that time for Shadow and I to walk. And as soon as we got back home, it was overcast again. Even though it was windy, it was nice to have the warm day to melt the icy snowpack off the driveway. It was getting hard to walk on without slipping. So nice that nature took care of that. But the warmth went away as the day ended and overnight it will be freezing again. I continued writing today but spent a lot of time running errands. I’m also into the second day of a gardening docu-series that takes over an hour of each day. The days come and go too fast!
by Judy Handley | Feb 15, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 46: Presidents’ Day 2021
Date: Monday, February 15, 2021
Weather: Miserable, Misty Rain; High 37, Low 36 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Presidents’ Day happens on the third Monday of February these days. And that was today. Originally it was established as a holiday in 1885 in recognition of President George Washington whose birthday was on February 22. Then Abraham Lincoln got wrapped into the mix with a birthday on February 12. Then in 1971 the holiday was shifted to the third Monday by the Unicform Monday Holiday Act meant to give Americans more three-day weekends. But I couldn’t celebrate on this Presidents’ Day. As more Republicans that voted to acquit our 45th President come out to say that Donald Trump was absolutely guilty as charged but that they couldn’t vote to find him guilty on a technicality, I get more depressed. Trying to overthrow our government was not just your everyday impeachment charge and I really wish more Republicans had voted their conscience. But they didn’t, so on we go.
The weather here today was what I term miserable. There was a misty rain all day, more misty later in the afternoon, but Shadow and I did find a mostly dry time to go for our walk. I did more editing and writing and will continue with that tomorrow. I talked to my sister in Tennessee tonight and she says everything there is frozen. But not as frozen as it is in Texas. This polar vortex event is wrecking havoc in places that are just not prepared for this extreme weather. Hopefully there will only be a few more days of this and things will warm up a bit.
by Judy Handley | Feb 14, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 45: Happy Valentine’s Day
Date: Sunday, February 14, 2021
Weather: Overcast and Warmer, but Felt Colder; High 38, Low 32 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Happy Valentine’s Day to all. I spent a quiet, but delightful day doing very little. I answered some emails and sent some overdue emails to others, did a rereading of what I have been writing and made some edits, and talked to family members and good friends. I heard from Heather that they had arrived in Bethel, Maine, and that the kids were really psyched about the house they are renting. They were especially loving the heated garage with ping pong, darts, and a golf simulator. It looks like they are going to have a cold week with a lot of snow tomorrow night and into Tuesday and again on Thursday night. I have no idea how that will impact skiing and snowboarding, but since both require snow, maybe it will be no problem. It looks like we are going to have rain here tomorrow and into Tuesday as well as Thursday into Friday with maybe a little sunshine on Wednesday and over next weekend. It doesn’t look like a great week for outside activities, so maybe I’ll get a lot of writing done. Wherever you are and whatever your weather, I hope you have a good week.
by Judy Handley | Feb 13, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 44: Acquittal and Sushi
Date: Saturday, February 13, 2021
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Still Cold; High 31, Low 28 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
If you are a person who follows politics like I do, you spent much of your day watching this last day of the impeachment trial. And if not, you have probably at least heard that Donald J. Trump was once again acquitted. But it was not because the House Managers did not make a a complete and compelling case. A few Republications did vote against acquittal, but the majority stood by their man. I was not surprised by the acquittal, but I was taken aback by the total damnation of Trump by Senator McConnell only a few minutes after he voted to acquit him. I am not sure where all of this leads us as a nation. I guess it puts us all in the wait and see mode.
Heather and family are leaving for a week of skiing and snowboarding in Maine tomorrow, so Heather invited me over for dinner tonight. I suggested that instead of cooking we have a sushi dinner in celebration of Valentine’s Day. So that is what we did. It was a fun evening and I do hope they have a wonderful winter vacation week.
by Judy Handley | Feb 12, 2021 | 2021 Life Logs |
2021 Life Logs, Day 43: More Impeachment Trial, More Writing
Date: Friday, February 12, 2021
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cold; High 26, Low 19 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today looks like the coldest day in the upcoming ten-day forecast, so that is good. Shadow and I have had a good time walking in the crunchy snow and I love that the Goldpebbles have been enjoying afternoon sledding, but I’m ready for the high temperature for the day to get above freezing.
I spent a great deal of my morning with another Terminix representative who came to do a further investigation in the attic. He didn’t find any carpenter ants, but there is definite evidence that they have been up there at some point. He sprinkled some pellets in the attic that should deal with the ants if they are there and he checked the perimeter of the cottage. He will return in mid-March to check again. And I now believe that the crazy noises I heard coming from the attic on Sunday evening during the Super Bowl were not caused by an animal invader. It seems almost impossible, but I now believe that limbs that overhang the roof were being blown down on the roof by the wind. The wind must have been just right to do that, but once the winds abated the noises went away. And there is a pile of small branches on that area of the roof as proof of the ‘invasion’. Hopefully, that was the problem and all is well now.
I spent the rest of the day watching the impeachment trial and doing some writing and editing. I finally gave up on the writing project as it takes my full attention. I learned I can’t watch television and write at the same time! I was very frustrated with the defense’s case today. I was not impressed with their presentation and I hated the tone, but I am sure that Trump supporters hated the prosecution’s case. So, I tried to just take a deep breath and convince myself that some way, somehow, justice will be done. It will be interesting to see if the vote comes tomorrow or if a decision is made to call witnesses.
