by Judy Handley | Dec 5, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 339: Dining-In Group at the Cottage
Date: Monday, December 5, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy: High 47, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was my turn to host our dining-in group dinner. It stretches the ability of the cottage to accommodate eight adults for dinner and also make room for a Christmas tree, but I think it went quite well.
Peter and Karen brought the appetizer which was showy and delicious salmon potato bites. Karen stacked the salmon on a slice of roasted red potato, put Crème Fraîche on top of the salmon, then bright red caviar topped with green fresh dill and a final little dollop of wasabi. It was definitely as good as it looked.
My food contribution was lasagna. Bruce and Jane contributed a tasty, as well as a beautiful spinach salad which was topped with crumbled goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, and candied pecans,
Terry and Olivia brought Italian garlic bread,
and Midge provided the dessert, pecan pie with whipped cream.
As always, good company and good food.
The drama today happened early. One of the Goldstone’s cats, Mel, went missing. No one had seen him since just before dinner last night and searching all of the normal places turned up nothing. It was not a happy morning. After school, Heather and Sam came over to borrow Shadow. They though he might be able to help find Mel. He tried, but it was simply another check in the basement that discovered him. We are all greatly relieved that he was found.
by Judy Handley | Dec 4, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 338: Falmouth Holiday Parade
Date: Sunday, December 4, 2022
Weather: Sunny: High 46, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
The weather today was the total opposite of yesterday. It was crisp and clear, a beautiful day for the annual holiday parade. Heather and Sam left early this morning for a day of soccer, but Jed, Jonah, and Ollie stayed home to be in the parade. Jed led his Scouts down Main Street as Ollie carried the Falmouth flag for Troop 41.
Jonah marched with the Lawrence band, playing his trombone.
And I watched proudly from the ‘sidelines’. As always, I enjoyed the Clydesdales, the Newcomers float, and a glimpse of Santa at the end of the parade.
I drove Jed and Ollie home, but Jonah walked from the middle school. Jed thought he was going to be driving Jonah to a 4:30 soccer game north in Marlboro, but Jonah decided to skip it. I think the spirit of the holiday season has arrived and soccer season is now officially over . . . except for watching the World Cup games.
Tomorrow, I host my dining-in group. I have already baked my main dish contribution, lasagna. So, my day will be spent getting the cottage ready . . . mostly decorating the tree. I will also spend time giving Christmas gifts a thought. I talked with Jed’s mom, Marti, this afternoon, about what the Goldpebbles might want for Christmas. It is definitely time to make those Christmas wish lists.
by Judy Handley | Dec 3, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 337: Jingle Jog
Date: Saturday, December 3, 2022
Weather: Unseasonably Warm, Windy, Dreary, with Pouring Rain PM: High 59, Low 33 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the annual (except during Covid) Falmouth Jingle Jog. This is a 5K run (3.1 miles) through town to welcome the holiday season. Jed, Jonah, and Sam were all off Cape this afternoon as both Sam and Jonah are participating in a weekend soccer tournament. Heather and Ollie were slated to participate in the Jingle Jog run, but when I went to pick them up, it had started raining and Ollie was hesitant.
It was a dreary day here on the Cape, but unseasonably warm. Still, running in the rain didn’t particularly sound like fun. Finally, both Ollie and Heather decided to go for it, so I drove them downtown to the Falmouth Green where the run was to begin.
As I waited outside for them to go in and get their race shirts and bib numbers, the rain came down even harder.
But the enthusiasm of the runners was high and at exactly 3:30 pm, off they went. Most of the runners in the Jingle Jog were adults or older teens, but Ollie wanted to run with Heather rather than run in the earlier Ghelf run for younger kids.
He and Heather did great, keeping a steady pace throughout, and made it back in great spirits.
Hot chocolate and even Santa Claus was waiting to greet them at the end of the race.
But the texts from Sam and Jed, who was with Jonah, told a different story. Their games were in central Massachusetts and they reported being wet and very cold. That’s the great thing about the Cape at this time of year. Being surrounded by water, we are often much warmer than inland at this time of year. Not usually as warm as today, but it made the wet run tolerable.
Heather is off with Sam early tomorrow for another day of soccer games while Jed stays here with Jonah and Ollie. They are all in the Christmas parade tomorrow that begins at noon. Jed and Jonah might take off right after the parade so Jonah can play in his 4:30 pm game in Marlborough. I think (and hope) that is the last soccer game of the season. It is time to move on to thoughts of winter sports.
And added note about last night’s Earthshot Prize ceremony. When I arrived at Heather’s this afternoon, there was a big bag in the front hallway that said ‘Runway Rentals’. I asked Heather if she rented a dress to wear to the Earthshot affair last night, and indeed, she did.
She said the whole affair was very exciting.
An edited version of the evening event will be aired on PBS mid-month.
by Judy Handley | Dec 2, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 336: Spotlight on Boston
Date: Friday, December 2, 2022
Weather: Gorgeous, Sunny Day: High 47, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
It was a gorgeous day here on the Cape. I started the day with a walk with Shadow and friend Olga Mitchell. The prednisone I am taking for my back has temporarily erased the pain in my right knee and made it possible for me to walk long and fast. Today I took full advantage of that. After the walk, I came home and worked on the garden clean up I have been trying to get to all week. This time outside gave me the opportunity to turn on the self-cleaning of the oven. That took about four hours, but I was outside with Shadow all that time and didn’t have to smell the noxious fumes of degrading Teflon. Then this evening I drove Jonah to Futsal– indoor soccer played in a smaller space with a smaller number of team members with a heavier ball. Fully enjoyed by Jonah.
But the spotlight today was on Boston. President Biden was in Boston today. The Royals were in Boston today. David Beckham was in Boston today. And my daughter was in Boston today. The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived in Boston earlier in the week to be present for tonight’s second annual Earthshot Prize presentation, Prince William’s brainchild. As it became evident that the world is facing an urgent challenge to protect the environment, The Royal Foundation and Prince William came up with The Earthshot Prize, the most prestigious global environmental prize in history—five prizes of a million pounds each for the most innovative in each of five categories. Why Boston for the ceremony? In 2021, the first year of the prizes, the ceremony was held in London. But since the name, Earthshot, came from JFK’s moonshot in the 1960’s, this second year was held in the birthplace of President Kennedy. Heather was in attendance as Woodwell was one of the Boston Host Committee organizations. I can’t wait to hear her recap. I don’t think that will include the glamorous entrance of the Royal couple as they entered on the green, not red carpet. I was impressed that people were asked not to buy new clothes for the event. Princess Kate wore a rented green gown and Prince William wore a jacket he has worn to many other Royal events. Great idea! But I am more interested in learning about the winners of the prizes and hopefully Heather can tell me about that.
by Judy Handley | Dec 1, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 335: Let the Holiday Season Begin
Date: Thursday, December 1, 2022
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Windy, Cool: High 46, Low 30 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today was the first day of December, so in my book, the holiday season has officially begun. Since I have my dining in group here for dinner on Monday, I decided to get my tree a week earlier than usual.
If I am going to entertain in December, I want it to look like Christmas. The tree is in the living room and has the lights on and is wrapped with the white lace that has decorated my holiday tree for at least 30 years, maybe more.
I will invite the Goldstones over for dinner, maybe on Sunday, and let the boys help me put the ornaments on the tree. I also delivered Jed’s birthday present a week early as it is a Wine Advent-ture, a different bottle of wine (not full size) from around the world for each day leading up to Christmas Day. Thus the need to give the present a week early.
I spent much of the day doing various indoor house projects, but once again, I did not get to my outside projects. Maybe tomorrow? I did get sucked down the genealogy rabbit hole for a bit this morning. I got a notice from Ancestry with information on Mark’s dad’s side of the family. Previously, I had almost nothing other than the names of Mark’s grandfather and grandmother. Today’s information was enlightening. As always, I need to spend more time following the various leads, but I now have more information than Mark ever had. Thank you, Ancestry.
by Judy Handley | Nov 30, 2022 | 2022 Life Logs |
2022 Life Logs, Day 334: Catching Up with Life, Public Policy Group Meeting
Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Weather: Overcast, Rain Late; High 57, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I got nothing done today that I intended to do, but I did do some things that really had to be done. The most important thing is that I booked my flight and rental car for my upcoming trip to North Carolina to visit with my sister and I delivered some things to Heather that I had bought for the Goldpebbles’ Advent Calendar. That does begin tomorrow morning on the first day of December. Then I prepared for my Public Policy Group meeting this afternoon. We had a guest speaker, Bill Hough, owner of the Falmouth Enterprise, a family-owned local newspaper. Until September, he was the editor, but he has retired and passed that job on to his son. It was a great conversation about the importance of local news.
I had hoped to get some outside yard work done today while it was warm, but that didn’t happen. I will either do that tomorrow when it will be cool and windy, or put it off until another day.
Peter and Karen brought the appetizer which was showy and delicious salmon potato bites. Karen stacked the salmon on a slice of roasted red potato, put Crème Fraîche on top of the salmon, then bright red caviar topped with green fresh dill and a final little dollop of wasabi. It was definitely as good as it looked.
My food contribution was lasagna. Bruce and Jane contributed a tasty, as well as a beautiful spinach salad which was topped with crumbled goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, and candied pecans,
Terry and Olivia brought Italian garlic bread,
and Midge provided the dessert, pecan pie with whipped cream.
As always, good company and good food.
