by Judy Handley | Mar 13, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 72: Taking Care of Business
Date: Sunday, March 13, 2022
Weather: Snow Overnight, Partly Sunny & Windy Today; High 36, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night after sending out my log, I took Shadow outside for his last bathroom break of the day. We walked out the door and were surprised by blowing snow. The wind was blowing from the west and the entire driver’s side of my car was plastered. There wasn’t much on the ground, just a white dusting, but the snowflakes were large and so sparkly. I would never have gotten to enjoy if I didn’t have Shadow. Going out with him at all times of the day and night can sometimes be a burden, but sometimes it is just so beautiful. Last night I felt very lucky to bear that burden.
For the past couple of months, I have been focused on finishing my book, and as a result I have ignored taking care of business. So, today, I started on the ‘must do’ list. First, I ordered some things I will need for gardening. I then took a walk with Shadow and friend Olga. After lunch, I made a call to Priceline. In January of 2020, I made a reservation for a flight to Lexington, Kentucky, to go to a Willie Nelson concert in April. Then Covid happened and the concert and flight were cancelled. I had until March 31, 2022, to rebook (so I thought), and today was the day I chose to do that. I wanted to change the destination to Charlotte, North Carolina, to go visit my sister. When I called, an automated voice told me the wait time was too long and that someone would call me back. About thirty minutes later, I got a call. It took an enormously long time for the young woman to check everything to make sure the flight was still valid, and that the destination could be changed. It was okay and just as she started booking the new flight, the call dropped. Ugh. I had to start all over, wait for a call back, wait for another young woman to check everything, and finally at 4:55 pm she made the new reservation. I was wrong about one thing. I had to make the flight before March 31, not just make the reservation. And it had to be on United Airline which does not have direct flights from Boston to Charlotte. So, I am going to Charlotte via Newark on the 24th of March for five days. I hung up, tired of spending so many hours on one task, but glad that it was done . . . until I got the follow-up email. It had the reservation set for April 24 to April 27, not March 24 to March 29, to Charlotte from Boston but with a return flight from Lexington, Kentucky. Wrong dates, wrong airport. I had to call once again, wait for another call back, and finally I think it is all set. And it only took four hours!!! That was my day.
by Judy Handley | Mar 12, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 71: Switching Gears
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Rainy, Windy; High 50, Low 21 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I have completed writing book one of The Voyage of Windbird, I have completed my most recent jigsaw puzzle, I have read next month’s book club book plus the two books written by my seasonal neighbor from New York. It is a perfect time to switch gears. But just as in a car, you don’t want to change gears when you are going at high speed, so I slowed down a bit today.
Tonight, we spring forward to Daylight Savings Time, so I am taking this as a sign that it is time to put my energy into spring activities. Tonight, I planted a few more seeds. Tomorrow morning, I will get out Johnny’s Seed Catalog and order those seeds and things I will need for spring gardening. The weather is not really cooperating with my plan, but by Monday it looks like things might warm up for a few days. Heather always tries to plant peas on St. Patrick’s Day, and I have decided to do the same. I’ll take advantage of the warmer weather arriving on Monday to get ready for that.
by Judy Handley | Mar 11, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 70: Expensive Proposition
Date: Friday, March 11, 2022
Weather: Sunny; High 48, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Seventeen ago, when I was still working, I took things to Staples to be copied all the time. It cost 5 cents for one black and white copy. When I went to Staples today to get copies of my book printed for Beta readers, each page was going to cost thirty some cents. Printing 654 pages double-sided was going to cost $100 for each ‘book’. An expensive proposition. I bought copy paper and came home to do the copying. There are 654 pages because for ease of editing purposes, I am using a size 14 font, double spacing, and wide margins. When I got home, I played with using a smaller font size and smaller margins, but it did not make enough difference to make the change. With the reduced price of ink cartridges I buy on Amazon, the total price ended up to be one fourth of the Staples price. I was shocked at how much the price of making copies has gone up. But then it has been seventeen years since I last checked the price. I am obviously a few years behind the times.
I have also been behind the times in my logs this week. Yesterday I wrote that it was Wednesday, and Wednesday I wrote that it was Tuesday. Sorry about that. But now I know it is Friday. I am going to take the rest of the evening off and watch the first episode of The Gilded Age. I keep hearing people talk about it, so I want to take a peek to see what I think.
by Judy Handley | Mar 10, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 69: Writing Milestones
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 46, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
In February I finished writing book one of my proposed trilogy of The Voyage of Windbird. That was a huge milestone for me. Then I launched into tackling a rough edit and finished that on Monday of this week. Milestone number two. Next, I started a second edit as I incorporated the separate chapters into one document. I completed that this afternoon. Milestone number three. I am now writing a list of the conventions I used in the book and will send it out to three friends who have volunteered to be Beta readers. It will take them a bit as the first book consists of 17 chapters, a preface, and a prologue—166,605 words in total. Hopefully these readers will be able to help me cut extraneous passages getting the book down to a size people will read. There are many milestones to go as there are two more books to be written. And I have to find a way to get it published. But I am still energized and loving the process, so on goes the writing process.
My book club met via Zoom this morning to discuss The Personal Librarian, a historical fiction book about the life of Belle da Costa Green (Belle Marion Greener). In real life, she was the personal librarian for J. P. Morgan in 1906 and became the director of the library after his death in 1913. I have mentioned this book before when I finished reading it a few weeks ago. Belle was an amazing person. Accomplishing what she did in the first half of the twentieth century is amazing considering she was a woman and a woman of color. She passed as white for her entire life in order to follow her passion for rare books and transcripts. It is a book worth reading.
Weather. Ugh. Today was okay—no snow, no heavy winds, some sunshine, not warm, but not too cold. But it is going to get colder. Saturday, we get rain, and then overnight the temperature drops giving us a cold Sunday. Please. Can that be the end of really cold weather for this winter? I sure hope so.
by Judy Handley | Mar 9, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 68: Endurance and Resolution
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Weather: Overcast with Rain and Snow Mix; High 40, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I have been writing The Voyage of Windbird as individual chapters that would eventually be consolidated into a book. I have, this week, been doing that consolidation. But it is not just a simple cut and paste exercise. I am doing one more quick edit of each chapter before the transfer. In doing that, I have been rereading what I wrote about Captain James Cook. I had always been a huge admirer, so as we traveled the Pacific, I knew we were often following in his wake. He first crossed the Pacific from 1768 to 1771 on the HMS Endeavor as he traveled to Australia and New Zealand. Then he returned in the HMS Resolution when he made his second and third voyages. I wrote about how excited I was when we entered Opunohu Bay in Moorea knowing the HMS Resolution with Captain Cook had been there two hundred twenty-nine years prior.
This afternoon, I finally got around to reading the NYT’s The Morning newsletter and learned that another famous Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, has been found 107 years after it sunk in Antarctic waters only four miles from where it was reported to sink in 1915. Thankfully, Shackleton and his men were ‘resolute’ and had the ‘endurance’ to escape on foot and in small boats.
Then tonight I was on Zoom watching a Woods Hole Oceanographic webinar on Antarctica that I signed up for weeks ago. I learned that there are now two National Geographic sponsored tourist ships, the Resolution and the Endurance. It was a strange day of bits and pieces of history coming together, as well as the coming together of my book.
The weather was the big surprise for me today. Every night when I write this log, I check WeatherUnderground for the high and low temps of the day. While I am at it, I always check out the forecast for the next day. Either I totally misread the forecast last night, or it was totally wrong. I thought it was going to be colder than yesterday, partly sunny and less windy. I was hoping for a lovely afternoon walk without wind. This morning it was overcast, but I kept thinking that would clear in the afternoon. Imagine my surprise when I walked outside with Shadow just after noon and it was snowing!
Just in the last hour, the mix of rain and show has finally stopped. There is just a bare covering of snow on the ground, but it is white. I would like to be done with snow for this winter, but Shadow enjoyed ‘grazing’. He buries his nose in the snow and then just keeps pushing ahead, eating bits of snow as he goes.
He was having fun, but we did not have a lovely afternoon walk.
Mid-afternoon my friend Detta from New Hampshire called. While we were talking, I was looking out the window and saw some really big birds ‘grazing’ in the woods between my side yard and the water.
I squinted and looked more closely and realized the really big birds were Mallard ducks. Ducks in the woods? As I talked, they ‘grazed’ their way up the hill and into my side yard.
That has never happened since I have lived here. Between the geese that have been advancing from the front (also has not happened since I have lived here until now) and the ducks advancing from the side, Shadow and I are becoming overrun with goose and duck poop. Yuck. That is no fun at all. But maybe we can have a lovely afternoon walk tomorrow. It is forecast to be partly sunny, almost not wind, and no precipitation. We shall see what really happens.
by Judy Handley | Mar 8, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 67: Marvel Movie Education
Date: Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Weather: Sunny, Windy; High 51, Low 29 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was a school early release day, so I picked up Ollie and Jonah just after noon and we headed to my house to continue watching a movie we started during the last early release day. The movie was a Marvel movie named “Eternals.” The Eternals are a genetically engineered race who came to Earth and can live forever. In the movie they emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from the ancient Deviants. The Eternals are like a gang trying to do good. Some can manipulate and transform matter through physical contact. One can fly and project cosmic energy beams from his eyes while another can project cosmic energy projectiles from his hands. Then there is Thena, played by Angelina Jolie, who can form any weapon out of cosmic energy and developed a close bond with Gilgamesh over the centuries. Gilgamesh was the strongest and kindest member of the Eternals. As I watched I thought of the Eternals as Ukrainians and the Deviants as Vladimir Putin. I wish the Ukrainians had the powers of the Eternals!
I have a very hard time following these movies, so I have to Google the characters to understand what is happening. And certainly, the Eternals is not a movie I would choose to watch, but I enjoy watching with the boys and ‘expanding my horizons’. We have sometimes watched Marvel Spiderman movies or Star Wars movies that are not part of my Marvel movie education. I enjoy it all.
Otherwise, my day was more of the same—walking with Shadow, working on my current jigsaw puzzle, and working on my book. I will continue those things tomorrow, minus the Marvel movie.
