by Judy Handley | Mar 19, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 78: Ollie’s Ninja Warrior Birthday Party
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2022
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 55, Low 45 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Monday is Ollie’s official birthday, but today was his birthday party with friends. Actually, it was Ollie and Simon’s ‘Ninja Warrior Birthday Party’. The two boys were born on the same day just eight hours apart in adjacent hospital rooms at the Falmouth Hospital. They both attended the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative for preschool and always celebrated their birthdays together there. Then they went to different elementary schools and only saw each other at soccer games until Heather and Jed moved into the same neighborhood where Simon lives. Now the two boys go to the same elementary school, have the same set of friends, and celebrated their 10th birthdays together today.
The venue for the party was the Forte Fitness Center in Hyannis. The center has a Ninja warrior set up and the ten boys had a real Ninja workout trying to run up the warped wall,
swinging from one apparatus to another, scaling a climbing wall, and attempting to walk on a large cable drum as it rolled forward.
When it was time for pizza and birthday cupcakes, there were 10 boys with very red faces.
Simon and Ollie had great fun recreating a photo from their 5th birthday celebration at preschool, stuffing themselves with pizza, and blowing out their birthday candles.
The birthday fun continues tomorrow as it is Marti, Jed’s mother’s birthday. Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone but she is not going to be 10! And since Ollie has music lessons and Scouts on his real birthday on Monday, we will celebrate the two birthdays together tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Mar 18, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 77: Skylark in Concert
Date: Friday, March 18, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 57, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Tonight, I was invited to attend a Skylark concert as the guest of a friend whose husband could not attend. What a wonderful gift that was for me. Skylark is a professional vocal ensemble who performs in Falmouth two or three times a year. Tonight’s program was named Emerald Isles, a program of Irish and Irish-inspired music. Some of the performers are from families long connected to the folk music of the Celtic nations and added their instrumental expertise to their incredible vocal talents. It was fabulous.
Great day for being outdoors. I did a little winter clean-up of branches and a lot of looking and planning for gardening. Jed’s mother is visiting at Heather and Jed’s this weekend, so I stopped by on my way to the concert to say hello. Tomorrow is Ollie’s Ninja warrior birthday party in Hyannis and Sunday is Marti’s birthday. So it will be a celebratory weekend.
by Judy Handley | Mar 17, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 76: Happy Irish Day
Date: Thursday, March 17, 2022
Weather: Overcast with Some Rain; High 53, Low 43 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I thought a lot about gardening today, so that was my contribution to green for St. Patrick’s Day. I went outside in the afternoon to do some garden clean-up, but just as I went out it started sprinkling and then raining harder. I persisted until my coat was soaked and then went inside and planted a flat of seeds to start.
I spent most of my day dealing with trip details—field trip to Boston on Tuesday of next week, trip to Charlotte, North Carolina on Thursday of next week, and trip to Puerto Rico in April. I am leading a field trip to the State House and the Museum of African American History on Tuesday, but I had not been able to register our group. I made a few last minute phone calls and sent emails, and finally got the Museum to update their website to let us register. I also have had cancellations and had to update the State House tour and lunch reservations to reflect the correct number of participants. Then I got an email from Taino Divers in Puerto Rico letting me know that the date of our chartered trip to Desecheo Island either has to be changed or cancelled, and the change will mean no one can dive, only snorkel. Bummer. I wasn’t feeling so lucky on this St. Patrick’s Day until I got a call from my niece in Charlotte letting me know she has room for me to stay at her home during my visit next week as her husband is going to be out of town. I can now cancel hotel reservations and save a lot of money. That was a turn of good Irish luck.
by Judy Handley | Mar 16, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 75: Tribute to Falmouth
Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 52, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
My day, from beginning to end, was spent having a love affair with the town of Falmouth. I’ll start in reverse order. Tonight, I went to All Bands Night with Heather and family, the first one since March of 2019 due to Covid. Sam was a drummer in the 6th grade jazz band the last time we went. Now he is in high school. It was wonderful to be with people celebrating young musicians once again. All Bands night is when all of the public school bands come together in the high school auditorium to perform—the 5th grade band, the 6th grade band, the middle school band, the high school band, the middle school jazz band, and the high school jazz band. Sam chose soccer over band this year (you can only participate in one or the other), and Ollie is too young to participate, so this was Jonah’s night to, shine and he did it with style.
He plays the trombone in the middle school band and plays bass in the middle school jazz band. So proud of him! Falmouth is a beautiful small town and seeing the entire floor of the high school gymnasium filled with young musicians makes your heart sing. The high school band played a medley of songs from West Side Story which was so good and ended with ‘Somewhere’. “There’s a place for us. A time and place for us. Hold my hand and we’re halfway there. Hold my hand and I’ll take you there. Someday, somehow, somewhere.” When you open my high school annual, the words to that song fill the entire first page. It was our class song in 1965. This definitely brought a tear to my eye. The the evening ended with all of the bands together playing ‘America the Beautiful’ written by Falmouth’s own Katherine Lee Bates. Another tearjerker, plus an amazing feat getting all of the those band students playing that together after only an hour of practice just prior to the presentation.
I started my day by attending a Newcomers/Encore general meeting focusing on the ‘green’ beauty of Falmouth—the green open spaces preserved in our town, a bit of Irish music from the Land of Green, and a presentation by a local artist who uses the preserved green spaces in our town as the settings for her paintings. I was fascinated with the Irish harp music and the history of the harp interspersed with the music. The paintings were all of places in town I know well and enjoy every summer with the Goldpebbles or on walks with Shadow. And the success of The 300 Committee Land Trust, “a non-profit organization of people dedicated to preserving and protecting natural places in Falmouth for all of us, now and forever” is impressive. As a result of their work, more than 2,400 acres of land in Falmouth is now permanently protected. It made me feel immensely proud to sit and listen to that presentation. The organization has worked hard to protect the many places in Falmouth that I just take for granted. I now have a much greater appreciation. And while I am feeling so proud of things, I must share a post I read on Justin’s Facebook page tonight. There was a photo of Coco “ruling the ball” on the soccer field. 
Go, Coco.
Last night I wrote about wrestling with making reservations for my trip to visit my sister and wrestling with my computer. Then just before I went to bed, I won one round with my computer. I finally figured out why I wasn’t receiving my emails. One step at a time, I’ll get these issues worked out.
by Judy Handley | Mar 15, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 74: Wrestling
Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 53, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I promised myself to take the day off today, but I still had to wrestle with reservation issues for my trip next week to see my sister and with my computer issues. I made progress on the trip reservations, but not with my computer. The highlight of my day was a hike with friend Olga and Shadow.
We did the 2.8 mile Breivogel Ponds to Shallow Ponds Woodlands trail. Tomorrow I will continue my wrestling and hope to win a couple of matches!
by Judy Handley | Mar 14, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 73: The Wonders of Having Adult Children
Date: Monday, March 14, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny, Still Windy, Warmer; High 53, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I am constantly amazed and in a state of ‘wonderment’ as I watch my adult children parenting while contributing to this world we all live in. Each makes different contributions, but one is just as amazing to me as the other. Monday evenings are a busy, busy for the Goldstones. Jonah and Ollie have music lessons at 5:10 pm, 20 minutes from home. Then Ollie is driven home quickly so he can go to Cub Scouts where Jed is the Cub Master. Then Sam has music lessons at 5:40 pm, again 20 minutes from home, and then has to be driven another 20 minutes to soccer practice. Once a month, and it was tonight, Heather has a 7 pm PTO middle school PTO meeting where she plays an active role. And Heather and Jed, along with my help on Monday nights, do all of this after demanding days at work. Tonight, I was on ‘Sam duty’ while Heather took Justin and Ollie to music lessons. When we all got back to Heather and Jed’s at 8 pm, Heather spent an hour helping me work on a computer issue I have been struggling with for over a week while also making a chocolate pudding pie to celebrate Pi Day.
Then when I got home, I saw on Facebook that Silvermouse, Justin and Jo’s electronic music ‘group’ (it is just the two of them), was featured on Ditto’s Hot List on Spotify.
I don’t know if that is a big or little deal, but I know how happy it makes Justin to be able to continue his love of music with Jo, in addition to his new fulltime position with the Monroe Institute while keeping his own business alive; and how happy it makes Jo to be Justin’s Silvermouse partner, in addition to her part-time teaching duties, and while pursuing the development of her part-time business of making natural beauty products.
I know my life must have been a little like this when Heather and Justin were the ages of my grandchildren, but I find all of this head-spinning. Watching Heather, Jed, Justin, and Jo being full-time parents, while building careers, and being so involved in other activities at the same time constantly amazes me. I am so proud of them.
Much of my day was spent continuing to plan and make reservations for my trip to North Carolina next week and finalizing plans for a Newcomers field trip to Boston that I am leading next Tuesday. My last Beta reader picked up her copy of The Voyage of Windbird today, so now I just have to wait for feedback on book one while I begin writing book two. But tomorrow . . . I am going to do nothing. I am exhausted from just writing about how busy my kids are. I am going to rest for them tomorrow!
Monday is Ollie’s official birthday, but today was his birthday party with friends. Actually, it was Ollie and Simon’s ‘Ninja Warrior Birthday Party’. The two boys were born on the same day just eight hours apart in adjacent hospital rooms at the Falmouth Hospital. They both attended the Woods Hole Daycare Cooperative for preschool and always celebrated their birthdays together there. Then they went to different elementary schools and only saw each other at soccer games until Heather and Jed moved into the same neighborhood where Simon lives. Now the two boys go to the same elementary school, have the same set of friends, and celebrated their 10th birthdays together today.
swinging from one apparatus to another, scaling a climbing wall, and attempting to walk on a large cable drum as it rolled forward.
When it was time for pizza and birthday cupcakes, there were 10 boys with very red faces.
Simon and Ollie had great fun recreating a photo from their 5th birthday celebration at preschool, stuffing themselves with pizza, and blowing out their birthday candles.
