by Judy Handley | Jul 24, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 206: Lynne Arrived
Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Cooler; High Temp 69, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was another cloudy day with a little mist this morning. And it was cooler by just a few degrees but enough that it felt a little chilly at the beach. I had an morning meeting, picked Ollie and friend Teddy up from soccer, and then it was on to swim lessons. Teddy came home with us and I hung out with the kids until about 3:00 so that I would be home when Lynne arrived. Yesterday she drove from Michigan to Nyack, NY, and then on to Cape Cod today. I only get to see her once a year when she is home from New Zealand visiting with family for the summer. So, it is always wonderful to see her. We went for a long walk with Shadow, had leftovers from last night’s dinner, and watch a movie called, “Eating for Tomorrow.” A number of people recommended it, but I think Lynne and I were not as impressed as others. I think that is because we already know and believe what was being presented. We need to move to a plant-based diet to preserve our health and the earth.
by Judy Handley | Jul 23, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 205: Swim Lessons, Afternoon with Ollie, Dining-in Group
Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Weather: Rain Overnight, Misty Rain AM, Clearing Late PM; High Temp 74, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Early this morning, I headed to Mashpee to buy salmon for tonight’s Dining-in Group dinner at my house tonight. I rushed back, put the salmon in the fridge, and was off to my final PT appointment. I have been seeing a young man named Matt DeBona at the Falmouth Hospital Rehabilitation Cetner since March, first for my back and then for my knee. He was recommended to me by my friends Christina and Warren Brodie, and he was everything they promised and more. I left our last session with a long list of exercises that I need to do routinely. Now, it is up to me to make sure I get this done.
I rushed home to make the marinade for the salmon kebabs I was having for dinner and then took Ollie to his swim lesson. His friends Seton and Teddy were already there.
Soon they were off with their instructor, Molly. She is great with them and in only a few lessons, Ollie’s stamina for swimming long distances has really improved. He said today that swim lessons are so much fun that he hopes to do them again next year. This is from the same child that refused to sign up for swim lessons at the very beginning of the summer.
After lessons, I dropped Ollie at home and went to my house to get the salmon cut into cubes and in the marinade and to make sure I had everything else ready for tonight. I grabbed lunch for me and Ollie and headed to the Goldstones. We had lunch and then did some household chores that took the better part of the afternoon. Jonah had walked downtown to get a haircut, so he had Steve’s Pizza for lunch. Jed was going to pick up Jonah to take him to a soccer game, and I really needed to get to my house to assemble the kebabs and do all the other last minute prep for dinner. That left Ollie alone for a while, but just before the arrival of my friends at 5:30, I took Shadow over to be with Ollie as he had agreed to dog sit for me tonight. I assumed that Heather would be home from work soon, but when I went to pick Shadow up tonight, I learned that Heather had a work function and still wasn’t home. She had come home for about an hour before going back to work, so Ollie wasn’t alone all evening until Jed and Jonah returned from soccer. Next time, I’ll check ahead.
The sun came out just about the time the dinner group arrived, so we had a lovely time outside visiting before coming inside for dinner. The Brodie’s brought the appetizer, the Baranowski’s a yummy napa cabbage warm salad,
the Woodin’s brought corn on the cob that was the best I’ve had this summer, and the grilled salmon kebabs and California Roll rice dish I made last night both turned out great. Then to top it off, Midge Frieswyk made an absolutely delicious cake from a recipe by Ottolenghi.
Now on to tomorrow. I have an early morning meeting, then take Ollie, Seton, and Teddy to swim lessons, and later tomorrow afternoon my friend Lynne arrives. So I had better get some rest!
by Judy Handley | Jul 22, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 204: Last Night’s Full Moon
Date: Monday, July 22, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High Temp 79, Low 69 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Last night after I sent my log, Shadow and I went outside for his bedtime bathroom break. I had no idea it was a full moon night, but there was that beautiful full moon lighting up the nighttime world. If I didn’t have Shadow, I would never be going outside for a walk at 11 pm and I would miss seeing the beauty of the night. Thank you, Shadow.
This was my activity list for today:
• Go to post surgeries appointment with my primary care doctor.
• Go to the beach to pick Ollie up after swim class.
• Get lunch for Ollie and me.
• Check the to do list for Jonah and Ollie for today.
• Be on ‘watch’ while Ollie mowed the neighbor’s yard with his lawn tractor and his back yard with the push mower.
• Go over the list of things to bring to Scout camp with Ollie and make a list of things we need to buy..
• Drive to Mashpee to buy salmon for tomorrow night’s Dining-in group gathering at my house. (Unfortunately, I have to return tomorrow morning as they did not have enough of the salmon I wanted.)
• Come home and play outside with Shadow and do a little more yard work.
• Get the outside furniture set for tomorrow night’s dinner.
• Make the rice dish that does with the salmon kebabs for tomorrow evening.
• Catch up on the news of the day.
• Write this log.
• Collapse
106 Days . . . Go, Kamala!
by Judy Handley | Jul 21, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 203: Joe Biden Passes the Torch
Date: Sunday, July 21, 2024
Weather: Early AM Rain, Then Sunshine; High Temp 78, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It has been almost a month since the disastrous (on both side) Presidential debate on June 27. In the meantime, we have had a building coalition of Democrats who have been very vocal in their thinking that Biden should exit the race. We have had an attempted assassination on the life of former President Trump. And we survived the Republication National Convention. And this afternoon, President Biden made the announcement that he is ending his bid for another term in office and passing the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. The only reaction I have heard from Biden’s opponent was a statement that Joe Biden is the worst president in US history. I just want to say that the records show that Joe Biden’s three and a half years as President have been very successful, maybe the most successful Presidency since FDR. History will be the final judge of that. But I just want to say that I love Joe Biden for the more than 50 years of his life that he devoted this county. And for the fact that after that many years living as a politician that he is still a man of principles. For the past few weeks, I have sounded like a broken record. I was convinced that Biden was our only chance at beating Trump, not a man of principles. After Trump beat Hillary, I have doubted that this country is ready to elect a woman as President. But Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as Vice President because he felt she was ready to step into the Presidency if something happened to him. He has now endorsed her. And I am with her all the way. I never doubted her. I only doubted the readiness of this country to accept her. I surely hope my doubts are unfounded because the stakes have never been higher. And so far, from the way people have responded to Biden’s endorsement of Harris today, it looks like a lot of people are very excited about Harris for President. Go, Kamala! And thank you, Joe Biden, for always putting your country first.
by Judy Handley | Jul 20, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 202: A Little Cleaning, A Little Organizing, A Little Gardening
Date: Saturday, July 20, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy; High Temp 77, Low 71 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Slow, slow, slow. Everything I try to do these days takes me so long. My body just doesn’t move as fast as I think it should, so I keep thinking something is really wrong with me. So tonight I Googled, “How long should it take to feel absolutely normal after a total knee replacement?” The answer I got is that it takes “3 months to return to most activities and likely 6 months to one year to fully recover to maximal strength and endurance.” Then I Googled the same question for a laminectomy and the answer to that question was between two and six months. Well, it has been exactly six months since the back surgery, but then when you read on it says, “However, you may find the area that was operated on will never be as flexible as it once was.” So, okay. I am just 2 months and 2 weeks out from the knee surgery and 6 months out from the back surgery, so I probably should not be surprised that my energy level is zapped so quickly requiring frequent rest periods while I work. I just have to plan for things to take twice as long as expected.
That said, I did get a little cleaning done today (very little), a little organizing which required putting accumulated things back where they belong. I had to make a number of trips to the basement to put things away and what seemed like a million trips from one end of the house to the other getting things back where they belong. Late in the day, I went out to plant a few things that were still in the containers I bought them in. And I continued my daily pulling of unwanted vines that seem to be encroaching suddenly in all parts of the yard. And the big accomplishment of the day was getting the twin inflatable mattress deflated and put away and the sheets and blankets washed and stored. Then I got out the full-sized inflatable mattress and got it ready for my friend Lynne who arrives on Wednesday. That was the one thing I had to do today, so at least that is done. Otherwise, I only got half of what I wanted done, so that work will continue tomorrow.
The other thing I had to do today got done as well. Justin and family will be flying home to Puerto Rico later this week and I had a whole pile of things they had to leave here because of space constraints. I went to the Post Office to get a couple of flat rate Priority boxes and came home and got them packed and ready to send on Monday morning. Mission accomplished.
by Judy Handley | Jul 19, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 201: Beach and a Movie
Date: Friday, July 19, 2024
Weather: Sunny and 70’s; High Temp 76, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Today was a perfect beach day that I didn’t know I was going to get to enjoy. I had PT this morning (only one more session to go) and then went to pick Ollie up from soccer camp. The beach swim classes are only 4 days a week with Friday’s off, so I thought we were coming home. But we had a crossed communications and Seton’s grandparents were there for pick up as well and said that they were told to take Seton and Ollie to the beach even though there were no lessons. So, I decided to go as well, and I sure am glad that I did. It was a beautiful Cape Cod beach day. Plus, I got to know Seton’s grandparents, Betsy and Peter. The just moved to Falmouth from Martha’s Vineyard and we had a good time getting to know one another. When they left, Ollie was still in the water, not wanting to go home yet. So, we stayed for another hour just lazing on the beach.
We went home to check in with everyone. Ollie had been out in the sun for about 5 hours at this point and needed an inside reprieve. He has wanted watch the movie, Cars 3, but the older brothers are not interested, so we went to my house to watch. The movie has quite a timely theme—inability to see that it is time to retire and pass the baton to the younger generation. As I watched, I kept seeing parallels to our current political situation. “Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast cars, the legendary (race car driver) Lighting McQueen finds himself pushed out of the sport that he loves. Hoping to get back in the game, he turns to Cruz Ramirez, an eager young technician who has HER own plans for winning.” In the end, Lightening bows out and puts the young female technician in the limelight. Hmmmm.
I have big plans for this weekend. I host my Dining-in group on Tuesday and then on Wednesday my friend Lynne Kirwin arrives. So, I plan to get the house ready for company and do some gardening and weeding around the yard. And on Friday, I fly to North Carolina to visit with my sister for a few days. So, I need to get packed for that trip as well.
