by Judy Handley | Feb 26, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 57: End of Winter Vacation
Date: Sunday, February 26, 2023
Weather: Sunny to Overcast to Partly Sunny; High 38, Low 27 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:22 am – 5:30 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco are on their way home to Puerto Rico. Heather, Jed, Sam, Jonah, and Oliver drove home today from West Dover in Vermont. And Shadow and I had another recovery day here at the cottage. Yesterday’s fluffy snow has all melted. Winter vacation is over and today sunset was at 5:30 pm. Woohoo! I will stop tracking sunrise and sunset as 5:30 sunset was my goal. I love the days from the end of February to the summer solstice as each day gets just a little longer. It is too early to think ‘spring’ as we seem to have never-ending winter-spring until almost July, but I think I will get the shelves out of the basement this week to start planting a few seeds anyway.
by Judy Handley | Feb 25, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 56: Total Crash
Date: Saturday, February 25, 2023
Weather: Fluffy Snow; High 22, Low 17 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:23 am – 5:29 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last Saturday I left home with a cold that was getting better. I spent a week not feeling great, but I was able to do everything I wanted. The cold did not get worse, but it certainly didn’t go away. I had a great night’s sleep in my own bed, but I woke up this morning feeling just awful. I took Shadow out and when he came in, he went right back to bed. So, I did the same. It was after noon when I got up the second time, still feeling awful. It was if I had a total crash after a great week. However, as the afternoon proceeded, I started feeling just a tad more like a human. I took Shadow for a walk, played fetch in the new fallen fluffy snow, and when I came inside after that, I did feel better.
Hopefully this upward trend continues.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening catching up on getting my logs from the past week posted with photos attached. I did not have internet connection on my computer while in Vermont which made downloading photos difficult. I had to turn on a hotspot to do it and everything took longer than it should have. I did that for a few days but then decided to just put my energy into having a great time with my family and post logs and photos when I got home. Now, that is done.
Heather sent a photo of Jed with his new skis.
He had been renting different pairs each day this past week to try them out and finally decided on a pair. Jo sent a message saying they were freezing in New York City. They head home to Puerto Rico tomorrow.
by Judy Handley | Feb 24, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 55: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
Date: Friday, February 24, 2023
Weather: Icy Mist Overnight, Sunny, Cold, Windy; High 34, Low 7 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:23 am – 5:27 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: Back Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Heather and family are staying in Vermont until Sunday, but today Justin and family left for Brooklyn, New York, and I drove home to Falmouth. Justin and Jo didn’t get home from Plainfield until 2:00 in the morning. The roads were icy as we got an icy mist overnight, so they had a treacherous, slow ride home. But they made it safely. But all of us had a bit of a late night, so we all slept in. Coco and Jo got in some last minute sledding and Ziggy and Jonah went out to build a snowman. It was windy and cold and they didn’t last long. Then the packing to leave began. While we packed, Heather went out to clear off the van and my car. They were once again encased in ice. Evidently, the icy mist stopped by he time Justin and Jo got home, because their car had not a trace of ice.
The driveway was a bit icy, but Jed bought enough sand yesterday to spread at the top of the uphill driveway.
The kids were all up the driveway, so Heather got photos of them for me while Justin and I drove our cars up the hill. We both made it with no problem, and we were on our way.
But parting is such sweet sorrow. We had a wonderful week together and will all look forward to our next gathering. I had not looked at Google Maps ahead of time, so when I got to the end of our little road, it told me to take a right. I thought I was to take a left, so I did that. But as a drove on, Maps told me to take a different left to Brattleboro. I thought maybe this was because of road conditions, so I made that left. About five miles down the road, it got really icy and the pavement ended. I turned around, went back to the main road, and headed home the way I had planned. It was a bit of a rocky start, but I eventually got to Brattleboro via Wilmington. The drive between Wilmington and Brattleboro was absolutely breath taking. The trees were covered in ice and were glistening in the sunshine. Then the deciduous trees gave way to evergreens and picturesque farms. At one overlook, the view of the valley below was spectacular.
It felt good to be home, but I already miss being with my whole family . . . the sorrow of leaving family is mixed with the sweet memories of our week together. It took Justin and family six hours to get to Brooklyn due to the weather. Justin and Jo had a performance at 8 pm, so they barely had time to get take-out delivered and equipment set up before the show. But they did it.
by Judy Handley | Feb 23, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 54: More Snow Fun
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2023
Weather: Snow; High 30, Low 19 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:26 am – 5:25 pm (+2 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
Jed took off early with Sam, Jonah, and Ollie to head to Mt. Snow to snowboard on the new fallen snow. We didn’t get as much as predicted, but we did have about 6-8 inches of new snow this morning. We were still getting snow flurries during the morning and Ziggy and Coco were out sledding while Heather and Justin were clearing the snow from the cars.
Jed returned mid-day with the Goldpebbles as all of the Mt. Snow lifts had been closed due to icy conditions. Up on the mountain they were getting an icy mist that covered everything. There was more playing in the snow and late afternoon and a lot of driveway shoveling. The snow plow did not come as promised and Justin and Jo had to leave to drive an hour or so south to Plainfield to do a Silvermouse performance. Silvermouse is the the name of Justin and Jo’s electronic music duo. It is a long, long driveway, but Heather persisted and got the whole driveway cleared as best she could while Jed went to get more sand. They parked the van at the top of the driveway so at least one car could get in and out. The shoveling and sanding was good enough for Justin and Jo to get out. While they were gone, Heather started a new puzzle and the kids played pool and darts and continued their Marvel movie watching. At the end of the evening, we all watched an old James Bond movie together. Cinnamon Sticks, the house we are renting, has the perfect layout for two families and an Oma. There is a living room upstairs as well as three bedrooms. That living room is the moving watching room. Downstairs there is the pool table and dart room, a living and dining room and a kitchen. So, visiting and game playing is done on the first floor and moving watching is done upstairs. It makes for a perfect combination.
by Judy Handley | Feb 22, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 53: Snowboarding and Skiing at Okemo
Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Weather: Sunny Turning Cloudy, Waiting for More Snow; High 34, Low 22 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:27 am – 5:24 pm (+4 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
Shadow and I enjoyed a lovely day at home just reading, puzzling, walking, and making one trip out to the grocery store.
Late in the afternoon, I started prepping dinner for the gang that would be arriving home from a full day of snowboarding and skiing at Okemo which is a little more than an hour north of here.
They had a great day as well. Jo has become a snowboard convert and LOVES it.
Ziggy and Coco have also decided they like snowboarding.
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They forced themselves to do one last run and it was the best one yet. But in the end, they were all exhausted. Jed got a great photo of all of them collapsed on the snow at the end of the day.
We spent the evening finishing the puzzle we had been working on all week.
A successful day all around.
by Judy Handley | Feb 21, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 52: Snow Fun
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Weather: Overcast, Snow Early Evening; High 31, Low 22 degrees F
Sunrise and Sunset in East Falmouth: 6:29 am – 5:24 pm (+3 minutes)
Location: At Home at Cinnamon Sticks, West Dover, VT
Today ended up being a ‘recovery’ day—no snowboarding—but our day did end with some snow fun. Mid-afternoon we took a break from just enjoying the day . . . reading, puzzling, playing games, just lounging. We drove a little south to the town of Wilmington to do the river walk. It is a just a half mile loop through town, across the river, and back to where we started. We stopped in a little shop with all things Vermont, a great little book store, and the grocery store to resupply. It started snowing on our way home and continued snowing throughout the evening. Not a heavy snow, but a few inches that made for a great nighttime snowball fight. There were lots of sneak attacks. Anyone under 75 got bombarded when coming out of the house, but the age limit spared me! Of course, this meant that all of the nice, dry snow gear ready for tomorrow’s trip to Okemo had to dried . . . again. But what fun! The other hilarious event of the evening was playing a memory game called Find My Behind. We had to match an animal’s head to its tail. It started quietly, but when the first person made a match, we were all yelling at the top of our lungs to cheer the person on. Thankfully there are no houses near us, so we could be as loud as we wanted and evidently we wanted to be really loud. By the end of the game, which Heather won, we were all hoarse and almost in tears with laughter. I guess it doesn’t take much to entertain the Handley-Hunt-Goldstone family
