by Judy Handley | Apr 6, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 96: COVID Rears Its Ugly Head
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Rainy, Windy, Cooler; High 46, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This afternoon I got a text from Heather letting me know her flight to Vancouver this Saturday has been rescheduled until Monday. She found out this morning that she was exposed to COVID at work yesterday—an hour-long meeting with someone who woke up feeling sluggish this morning and then tested positive. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Heather will start sleeping in the bonus room above the garage, eat separately, and wear a KN95 mask when with Jed or the kids. Then we just have to cross our fingers and hope she doesn’t get COVID. Heather was to attend the TED Conference in Vancouver all of next week, returning on Friday in time for Passover Seder on Friday evening, and then spending Saturday packing for our Sunday take off for Puerto Rico. We will just have to see how things go and change plans accordingly.
The weather today was just miserable. I do know better than to hope for warm, spring-like weather in April, but I can always hope. It just wasn’t today. It was cold and rainy during the morning, turning windy in the afternoon. I finally caved in and put on a polar fleece under my winter coat, wearing a hat and gloves, to take Shadow for his walk late afternoon. At least it wasn’t raining. And once I was truly dressed for the weather, it didn’t seem so bad.
I started playing Mah Jongg today for the first time since the onset of COVID in March of 2020. I had finished six weeks of lessons and a few weeks of playing before the abrupt stop. And I now remember very little. So, when friend Christina Brodie said she was organizing a new learning group, I joined. Christina was in my initial Mah Jongg class, but unlike me, when COVID happened, she continued to play online. While she was doing that, I started writing my book. So now I have a book and she is a Mah Jongg teacher. She is also the person who has been my “English teacher’ editor and I picked up the edited copies my last four chapters from her today. I went ahead and sent copies to the Beta readers without these last edits. I’ll send out the revised four chapters once I make the changes.
After seven months, my phone call to Comcast yesterday finally got things moving. My cable line is no longer draped across the forest floor but up in the air where it belongs. I have no idea why Comcast did not respond to past calls, but they certainly reacted quickly to yesterday’s request.
by Judy Handley | Apr 5, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 95: Taking Care of Business
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 53, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Filed my taxes, contacted Comcast for the third time about the downed line coming to the cottage from the street, contacted the insurance company about the possibility of converting my term life insurance policy to a permanent policy, made reservations for a snorkeling trip to the bioluminescent bay during our family Puerto Rico vacation week, researched other possible activities for the PR vacation week, and ended my day by taking Jonah to Scouts and having dinner with friends Jane and Bruce Woodin. They just returned from three weeks in Florida, and it was great to see them. I borrowed a couple of their BIG suitcases for me and the Goldstones to use for the PR trip and then headed back to pick up of Jonah and Sam from Scouts and take them home. It was just a taking care of business kind of day!
by Judy Handley | Apr 4, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 94: Happy 15th Anniversary to Justin and Jo
Date: Monday, April 4, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 54, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
On April 1, 2007, Mark and I had just said farewell to our friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg who spent four wonderful weeks with us touring the North and South Islands of New Zealand. They left on March 25. Mark and I had spent the week after their departure reorienting ourselves to living aboard Windbird on a dock in New Zealand. That’s when we got an email from our son Justin telling us he was engaged. We immediately emailed back with congratulations and telling him to let us know when he and Jo planned to be married so we could plan a trip home for the big event. The next email from him arrived only four days later, on April 5, telling us he and Jo were married! We were a bit shocked . . . but oh, so happy for them. At the time, Justin and Jo were living in Venice Beach, a neighborhood in Los Angeles known for its Bohemian spirit. This is what Justin wrote to us in his email: “We went to the top of Eagle Rock (we were at the very peak) and had a beautiful ceremony where we did a Celtic hand fasting (using Freckle’s leash and a piece of lace from the theatre for this) and exchanged vows and rings, and now… I’m Married!” We offered them a trip to meet us in Fiji as a wedding present. I can’t remember why that didn’t happen, but they did join us for three weeks in Indonesia in September and October of 2008. Two of my favorite photos of all times are of Justin and Jo while they were with us–one at the Kura Kura Resort on a tiny little Indonesian island north of Bali
00 Justin and Jo on Pulau Menyawakan Beach at Sunset
48 Special Moment with a Special Orangutan
I spent my day in the Galapagos, trying to rewrite part of the chapter about our wonderful time there. I also did a little more gardening and spent most of my evening helping out with transporting grandkids from one place to another. Tomorrow looks to be more of the same. Life is good.
by Judy Handley | Apr 3, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 93: Solitaire Sunday
Date: Sunday, April 3, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High 49, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
By the time I remembered that I was going to go to Sam’s soccer game this morning, it was too late to get there. Bummer. I didn’t put the game in my calendar, so I didn’t get a reminder this morning. Evidently, I need my phone to ‘ding’ to remind me of appointments. So I then resigned myself to spend the rest of the day at home doing not much of anything. Evidently, I needed a day to myself. I did start rewriting the chapter of my book about the Galapagos and I did get peas planted. I walked with Shadow and talked to friends on the phone. That was it for me today. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive.
by Judy Handley | Apr 2, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 92: Detta’s Visit and Soccer Saturday
Date: Saturday, April 2, 2022
Weather: Sunny and Windy; High 53, Low 36 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Detta’s visit continued this morning and she went with me to Ollie’s first soccer game of the spring season in Sandwich. Jed was the ref for Ollie’s game and Ollie was goalie in the first quarter
and played offense after that. As we watched the game, we kept hearing people cheering Ollie on, once when Ollie was on the sidelines. It was then that we discovered that there was an Ollie on the opposing team, also a blondie, and with the same jersey number as our Ollie, #18. What a coincidence.
After the game, Detta and I went to the Daniel Webster Atrium for a light lunch and then to the Sandwich Glass Museum gift shop where Detta found a beautiful sun catcher to buy. She headed home and I drove back to Falmouth for Jonah’s first soccer game of the spring season. Jonah plays offense and even though his team lost 3 to 2, he played a good game.
It was a pass from him to teammate that accounted for one of the goals.
In the late afternoon, I did a little outdoor gardening and then came inside to continue reading the Jodi Picoult book that has captured my full attention. I hope to finish it tonight so I can back to life as usual tomorrow!
by Judy Handley | Apr 1, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 91: Dinner with Detta
Date: Friday, April 1, 2022
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Sprinkles; High 54, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
No April Fool’s, I had a fantastic first day of April. My very good friend, Detta Porat, drove down from New Hampshire, for a belated birthday 75th birthday celebration in my honor. She arrived mid-afternoon and we spent the next couple of hours catching up. Then we went to Bleu, a restaurant in Mashpee Commons, for dinner. Honestly, it was the best restaurant meal I remember having in years. We both ordered East Coast halibut topped with a lemon, garlic, almond, and parsley gremolata (like a roughly ground pesto), all over a mixture of spring mushrooms, marinated artichokes, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. It was absolutely delicious. And then we shared a key lime cheesecake with blueberry jam for dessert. 
I even got to blow out a belated birthday candle while wearing my Cape Cod bracelet which was my gift from Detta. I gave her one for her birthday last year, so now we have a shared ‘link’.
After dinner we went to Heather and Jed’s to say hello. Detta was amazed at how much the Goldpebbles have grown since she last saw them and was intrigued by their varied interests. She was especially fascinated with their interest in blacksmithing and admired the results of their blacksmithing lesson that was Santa’s gift this year. After dinner and visiting, we came home and Detta and Shadow cuddled up for the rest of the evening.
It was a lovely evening.
