by Judy Handley | Nov 19, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 323: Laid Back Day at Finca Maravilla
Date: Sunday, November 19, 2023
Weather: Overcast and Windy; High 86 Low 80 F; Sunset 4:20 pm (-1 min, Cape Cod)
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco at Finca Maravilla
Yesterday’s nice weather and day of no nerve pain in my hips were gone today, but we still had a relaxing day together here at Finca Maravilla. Honestly, this is the most painful day I have ever experienced with the nerve pain from my herniated disks. I often have issues early in the morning, but today the pain persisted all day. I guess the warm weather was not the solution to my problem. I can only hope that I wake up in the morning and things are back to ‘normal’. The weather is also not cooperating. It was totally overcast all day today and rain is forecast for tomorrow, followed by another day like today on Tuesday. But Wednesday and Thursday look good.
Coco and I experimented with making cinnamon buns today. I’ve never made them before, but we followed the recipe and things turned out great.
Today we made cinnamon buns with wheat flour, and now we want to make grain-free cinnamon buns that Jo can eat. Since I had not made these before, I had no idea you cut each bun out of a roll with dental floss.
Coco was great at doing this.
Ziggy and Justin took the horses up to the road to ride mid-afternoon
while Jo roasted a chicken for dinner. I read away much of the afternoon after helping Coco with the cinnamon buns. After dinner, I asked the kids if they would be interested in watching my Voyage of Windbird presentation, They were, so that is how we spent our evening.
by Judy Handley | Nov 18, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 322: Warm, Wonderful, Windy Puerto Rico
Date: Saturday, November 18, 2023This
Weather: Hot and Windy; High 88, Low 80 F; Sunset 4:21 pm (-1 min, Cape Cod)
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco at Finca Maravilla
Heather sent me a photo of Ollie at the Harvard-Yale football game today and he looked like he was freezing.
She said she hoped I was enjoying the sunshine. And I certainly am.
I got up before anyone else this morning and went outside to read in the sunshine. It was wonderful. When everyone else got up, I watched as Justin and Ziggy fed some of the animals–Hopi, their female pony,
Cacique, their new male horse,
Pog (originally named rabbit) their not so mini pig.
And last night when I arrived, I met Gilbert, Ziggy’s goldfish, in his new tank with black sand on the bottom. Really beautiful.
Next, we went down to the plaza in Rincon and had breakfast and then on to Marina Beach. None of us could believe how big the waves were. It was high tide, and the waves were rushing onto the beach.
In fact, there was no beach, and no one was in the water. It was really windy and rough. Justin wanted to go out to get a mooring ball that had broken loose, but Coco said absolutely not. No one was going in the water today. We then drove to Steps Beach to check out the waves and it was even wilder. The waves were huge and the tops of the waves were being blown off by the wind.
Again, no one was in the water, but other people had come to see the sight. By this time, however, the kids just wanted to go home, but I wanted to go a little further to Domes Beach to see if there were any surfers. We went and there were not.
We were up high at the light house, so looking down on the waves, they didn’t look so bad. But Justin assured me they were.
We drove Jo and the kids home, and then Justin and I went grocery shopping. Not exciting, but necessary. Jo stayed home to clean out the refrigerator to make room for all the food. We are trying to buy what we will need for our Thanksgiving feast, so the refrig is going to be packed for a few days. When we got home, I joined Jo and Coco in the above ground pool. Jo was cleaning out some of the leaves that had fallen today due to the wind. As we were relaxing in the pool, we heard a loud noise and saw a tree falling across the property. Justin checked it out and it was the top of a huge African Tulip tree, not the whole tree. But it sure fell with bang. Since I was here last Thanksgiving, there has been so much growth that Finca Maravilla looks quite different, even more like a tropical paradise. There is so much green that losing the top of an unwanted, invasive tree is no big deal. Just glad it didn’t cause any damage.
I am writing this early as we are going to Cowboys for dinner tonight. We didn’t want to spoil what has felt like a true vacation day with cooking! And I have no idea why, but my back has not been a problem today. Warm weather??? The coquis have started their evening song and, even though it is dark, Justin is outside putting branches through the wood chipper.
Interesting combination of sounds.
by Judy Handley | Nov 17, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 321: Boston to San Juan to Rincon, Puerto Rico
Date: Friday, November 17, 2023
Weather: Hot; High 82 F on arrival in San Juan; Sunset 4:23 pm (-0 min Cape Cod)
Location: At Home with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco at Finca Maravilla
I made it! It is wonderful to be here with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. And as I write this, I am listening to one of my favorite bedtime ‘songs’. The little frogs here are coqui and they make a wonderful sound, repeating their name over and over. Coqui, coqui, coqui (pronounced co-key).
On Wednesday I wrote that I would be ready to leave on Friday morning, one way or the other. And I barely made it. Getting the house ready to leave for house guests and packing yesterday challenged my back issues to the point that I finally had to just go to bed and get up at 6 am to finish up. Shadow knew something was up when we slept in the living room last night instead of in the bedroom. This morning, he didn’t want to get up and he didn’t eat. And I heard from Brian and Nadia that he didn’t touch his dinner. I am sure he will be fine and will eat sometime tomorrow. But I worry.
I left home barely in time to drive to the Sagamore Park and Ride to catch the 8:35 bus to Logan Airport, but I ran into two traffic back ups and didn’t arrive until 8:36. As I turned into the parking lot, the bus was leaving, so I turned around and raced the bus to Plymouth to get on there. I passed the bus and got to the Plymouth Park and Ride with about 2 minutes to spare. Finally, I was on the bus and could relax. I arrived at the airport two hours before my 12:15 pm flight and it was smooth ‘sailing’ from there. The plane loaded a few minutes late, but we took off on time. When the pilot announced that the temperature in San Juan was 88 degrees, I almost stood up and cheered. The fall weather on Cape Cod has been wonderful, but I love hot. And I love visiting with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. So, as I got off the plane, I was happy, happy.
Justin met me at the airport in San Juan. It was so good to see him! We decided to delay leaving San Juan until after rush hour, so we went to Costco to buy a few things and then went to a nearby sushi restaurant to have dinner. When we arrived home at Finca Maravilla it was almost 11 pm, but the coquis welcomed me with their song and Ziggy, Coco, and Jo welcomed me with hugs. We stayed up too late catching up on life, so I don’t think we will have any early risers in the morning. It is so good to be here, worth every minute of the getting ready agony.
by Judy Handley | Nov 16, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 320: Getting Ready to Head to Puerto Rico
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2023
Weather: Still Sunny and Warm; High 60 Low 36 degrees F; Sunset 4:24 pm (-1 min)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Today was a bit of shocker for me. For whatever reason, the pain from my back issues ruled the day. Getting the house ready for Brian and Nadia, plus packing, plus finishing up some Encore business was overwhelming. I started with the Encore business and got that done. Then I moved clothes in my closet to make room for guests to hang things. Just that little bit of work was more than my back could handle, so I had to sit and rest a bit. Then I took the bedspread, the comforter, and sheets off the bed. I managed to get the sheets in the washer, but then had to rest again. The bedspread and comforter are too big to wash at home, so they required a trip to the laundromat. Just carrying that much weight was also hard. And so it went all day and evening. I did a little work, rested, did a little more work, rested again, did some shopping and came home and rested. You get the idea. Everything took twice as long as it would have normally. I can’t wait to get the MRI on December 2nd to see what is causing all this pain. Whatever, it is just no fun. But I persisted and finally got packed when I got home from taking Ollie to tennis lessons. I will do the final house cleaning in the morning as I just can’t do it tonight. Hopefully, I will be out of here by 8 am tomorrow morning and at home at Finca Maravilla to sleep tomorrow night.
by Judy Handley | Nov 15, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 319: Encore General Meeting, Hosting Ollie for the Evening
Date: Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Weather: Sunny and Warmer; High 51 Low 45 degrees F; Sunset 4:23 pm (-1 min)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Busy day and so much more to do tomorrow to be ready to leave early on Friday morning for Puerto Rico. This morning was the November Encore General Meeting that I led, and that took the entire morning. Afterwards, I picked up my ring that I had resized, and ran some errands. By the time I came home to eat lunch and walk and play with Shadow, it was time to go pick up Ollie for the evening. Jed left yesterday for a business trip to London and Heather needed to take Sam and Jonah to soccer practice in Hyannis tonight. They had to leave at 5 pm and didn’t return until almost 9 o’clock. So, Ollie and I had dinner and a movie night and had a great time. But the really good news was that Heather, Sam, and Jonah also had a great evening. Jonah had practice from 5:45 to 7:00, so Heather and Sam found a pizza place close to Barnstable High School that Sam absolutely loved. Then while Sam had practice from 7 to 8:15, Heather took Jonah to Five Guys for dinner and shopping at Trader Joe’s. And they all had fun.
Tomorrow I really do have to spend time getting packed and getting the house ready for house guests. Plus, I still have a few Encore bits of business to attend to. But I will be ready on Friday morning, one way or the other!
by Judy Handley | Nov 14, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 318: Book Club and Getting Ready for an Encore General Meeting
Date: Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Chilly; High 48 Low 34 degrees F; Sunset 4:24 pm (-2 min)
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
This morning was book club morning. We read a book of short stories called “Your Duck is My Duck.” Great title, but none of were enthralled with the book. But we took the opportunity to get a photo with our two new members in front of Lynda Connoly’s fourteen ornamental ducks, one for each grandchild.
Just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
I spent most of the afternoon finishing the PowerPoint for tomorrow morning’s Encore meeting. I also needed to write the agenda. And that required communicating with a lot of people to let them know their role in tomorrow’s meeting. This is all for the business meeting preceding the speaker. It is a short period of time, and I was amazed that it took me so long to get the job done.
After the meeting tomorrow, I will turn my attention to getting ready to go to Puerto Rico. I am on grandkid duty tomorrow evening, but then I have all day Thursday to finish packing and getting the house ready for the house sitters. Hopefully that won’t take me as long as getting ready for a short meeting took!
Today we made cinnamon buns with wheat flour, and now we want to make grain-free cinnamon buns that Jo can eat. Since I had not made these before, I had no idea you cut each bun out of a roll with dental floss.
Coco was great at doing this.
while Jo roasted a chicken for dinner. I read away much of the afternoon after helping Coco with the cinnamon buns. After dinner, I asked the kids if they would be interested in watching my Voyage of Windbird presentation, They were, so that is how we spent our evening.
