by Judy Handley | Jun 14, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 165: Encore Annual Installation & Luncheon
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Weather: Sunny: High 74, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This year’s installation of new Encore officers took place during a luncheon at the Poppy Tent today. The Poppy Tent is a lovely seaside setting.
I arrived for the Board meeting preceding the luncheon and then attended the luncheon as one of those being “installed” as an officer for next year. Christina Brodie and I will be taking the reigns from Ellen Albanese and Gerry Ryan as Co-Presidents.
We presented Ellen and Gerry with gifts from the past presidents before them who could not attend today, repeated the pledge of office with all new Board members, and then enjoyed a delightful lunch with nearly a hundred fellow Encore members.
Lynda Onthank, the friend that I will be renting from when I move, attended the luncheon as a new Encore member. She handed me her phone with photos of the work being done today on my future abode. What a gift! She moved out yesterday, and by noon today, she had been sent photos from the contractor showing all of the old flooring removed in most of the house and the wood floor in the living room already sanded and ready to be finished. I could hardly believe it. Then after the luncheon, I met Lynda at the new house to see the progress firsthand. One last coat of varnish has to applied on the living room floor and the flooring in the bedroom needs to be laid. Then it is done! I have not been able to set a moving date as we had no idea how long the flooring would take. Now we know. The entire job should be done tomorrow and then I can start to slowly move things in. Lynda and I also made some decisions about the drip irrigation system in the vegetable garden. I hope to get that done over the weekend and start moving small things during next week. The big move with furniture will happen the following week and then I will be a resident of 225 Lakeview Avenue.
by Judy Handley | Jun 13, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 164: Book Club and VOW Presentation
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Weather: Partly Sunny: High 72, Low 57 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
This morning I attended a monthly book club meeting and then came home to prepare for a Voyage of Windbird presentation in Chatham at the Atwood Museum. I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again. I love to give the Voyage of Windbird presentation because each time I give it, I get to relive the trip of a life time. The Atwood Museum in Chatham has a summer series called Tuesday Talks. The room holds about 40 people and this evening almost every seat was filled.
The attendees were a great audience and I truly enjoyed sharing my story of sailing around the world with them.
by Judy Handley | Jun 12, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 163: Taking Care of Business Day
Date: Monday, June 12, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm: High 73, Low 59 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Working on the drip irrigation system in the garden at the new house, figuring out what I can buy for my sister to wear to her granddaughter’s wedding, dealing with Xfinity about my upcoming move, talking with my sister’s afternoon helper about a downturn in my sister’s mental condition, taking Sam to rowing practice. It was quite a variety of things, but I think I will sleep better tonight knowing I dealt with these things. I have decided to a custom-sized dress for my sister and am hoping I can get someone to go do the necessary measurements. I should have done this to begin with. I love hindsight. I have been having nightmares about not getting the drip irrigation system installed in the new raised bed gardens at the new house. I met the monster face to face today and got quite a bit done. I spent a great deal of time on the phone trying to make sure I will have wifi and cable here until July 1 and also have it at the new house starting on June 24. I was talking to someone in Japan about this and we had some language issues. But I think we got the job done. It is doubtful that I the new house will be ready for me to move into until July 1, but I want to have things set up in case it is ready sooner. Tomorrow is when Lynda moves everything out of the house and at 9 am on Wednesday morning, the new flooring project begins. I am hoping it will be done quickly so I can start moving things in a little at a time. And at 3 pm, I drove Sam to Harwich for his rowing practice today instead of tomorrow when I usually do the driving. Tomorrow, I give a Voyage of Windbird presentation in Chatham, just next door to Harwich. The timing is such that I could have taken Sam to practice, but I would not have been able to pick Sam up right after his practice. He has a Boy Scout Court of Honor tomorrow evening and decided to switch his rowing practice to today so he will be on time for the Court of Honor.
That was it for today. Tomorrow I will prepare for the presentation, attend my monthly Book Club, and then head to the Outer Cape.
by Judy Handley | Jun 11, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 162: Visit with Orsi Gorgenyi and Her Family
Date: Sunday, June 11, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warm: High 72, Low 58 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Today I drove to Concord, New Hampshire, to meet up with Orsi Görgényi and her family who traveled here from Hungary for Orsi’s 30th high school anniversary.
I have written in other logs that we were Orsi’s home stay family when she was at St. Paul’s School.
I last saw Orsi five years ago. But this is the first time her husband, George, and their twins, Lisa and Peter, have been to this country. The twins are 13 years old and are both tall like their mom and dad. We had a delightful visit and then I headed home and they headed to Acadia in Maine. From there, they will return to Boston and on to New York City before flying home. I find it totally unbelievable that it has been thirty years since Heather and Orsi were in high school together. The years pass so quickly.
by Judy Handley | Jun 10, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 161: Everything and Nothing
Date: Saturday, June 10, 2023
Weather: Partly Cloudy: High 65, Low 54 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Thirty years ago on the first weekend in June, my daughter graduated high school from St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. Orsi Gorgenyi also graduated. Orsi was a student from Hungary and even though she lived at St. Paul’s, we were her home support family—her home away from home. This weekend is Anniversary Weekend at St. Paul’s and Orsi and her husband and two children came for the celebration. Heather couldn’t attend this year as today she attended an all-day training program designed to introduce new and aspiring school committee members. Before Heather got elected to the School Committee, we had hoped to get the two families together. But that just was not meant to be. It has been a busier than usual few weeks around here. So, I am driving alone to Concord early in the morning to have breakfast with Orsi and her family. They were willing to drive here, but in the end, it seemed so much easier for me to do the driving. It will take most of the day, but I am really looking forward to meeting Orsi’s husband and children.
Today was an everything and nothing day for me. I did a little bit of everything but felt like I got nothing done. I did get the cottage ready for a 1 pm realtor’s showing despite all the boxes sitting all about. I headed into town with Shadow to work in the garden at the new house, but it started pouring rain. I went to the laundromat instead and then just gave up and came home to do some organizing in the basement. I guess I really got some things done. It just doesn’t look like it. I’ll start again on Monday morning and hope it is a more productive day.
by Judy Handley | Jun 9, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 160: More Moving Progress
Date: Friday, June 9, 2023
Weather: Partly Cloudy: High 67, Low 51 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
From now until moving day, I hope to make just a little more progress each day. Today was different from yesterday. Yesterday Christina and I got over 40 boxes packed. Today I only got a couple of boxes packed, but Karen Baranowski came over and she helped me get all of the food the food in my pantry into plastic storage boxes that can be packed up quickly. And we started getting the spices out of the drawer in kitchen and into a plastic box. The box was not big enough and that led to a trip to Walmart to get additional plastic storage boxes. She also helped me move things into my dresser that will be in the dining room in the new house as storage for table cloths and placemats. The clothes that were in that dresser went into a bureau in the guest bedroom that will be in my bedroom in the new house. Progress was made.
In the afternoon, I did the needed shopping in town and did a little more work on the drip irrigation in the garden at the new house. I am hoping to focus on that again tomorrow afternoon. I went to pick up Sam for rowing practice but had missed a text from him saying he had decided not to go today. That added a few hours to my afternoon to do even more move-oriented shopping and time to come home and play outside with Shadow. When we came inside, we actually took a little power nap together on the sofa.
While I was in town, I got a call from Justin. I sat in the Walmart parking lot talking to him for quite some time. I had read in the New York Times earlier this week that Puerto Rico is facing record breaking high temperatures. The combination of normally hot and humid summer weather being impacted by climate change is resulting in temperatures that, this week, made it feel like 125 degrees F. Justin verified that the reports are correct. It has been very hot. Work must go on, but Justin and Jo have taken time to get the kids to the water for daily cool downs. Today they went to a local waterfall
and earlier in the week I got photos of them at the beach.
Hopefully the intense heat of this week cools down a bit. It was great to talk to Justin and be brought up to date on their lives these days. They are not going to England this summer but they are going for a little 5-day vacation to Culebra for Jo’s birthday later this month.
I arrived for the Board meeting preceding the luncheon and then attended the luncheon as one of those being “installed” as an officer for next year. Christina Brodie and I will be taking the reigns from Ellen Albanese and Gerry Ryan as Co-Presidents.
We presented Ellen and Gerry with gifts from the past presidents before them who could not attend today, repeated the pledge of office with all new Board members, and then enjoyed a delightful lunch with nearly a hundred fellow Encore members. 
