by Judy Handley | Mar 16, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 76: Science Fair, Mingle & Mix, Ollie Overnight
Date: Saturday, March 16, 2024
Weather: Mostly to Partly Cloudy; High Temp 52, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
The day began in the Falmouth High School gymnasium where I went to see the STEAM Fair entries. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. When you add the A to make it STEAM, you are adding art ranging from visual arts, language arts and physical arts to music. The annual event where students presented science experiments used to be called science fairs but have now been extended to include more. For instance, this year Sam did not enter a science experiment. Members of his physics class built marble runs and entered those as an active display.
Jonah and Ollie both did science experiments. Ollie’s was titled Food Dye Filtration. His goal was to determine which select mediums did the best job of filtering out Red 40 dye.
The title of Jonah’s experiment was Food Dye Hyperactivity in Zebrafish. He found that food dye does affect the level of activity in Zebrafish, similar to the way it produces hyperactivity in people. He won a second place in the high school division and received a $250 check.
The top first place prize was a $3,000 college scholarship. When Heather and Justin were entering science fairs, there was no monetary prize. I think it is wonderful that today’s students get the incentive that hopefully encourages them to keep entering year after year.
In the early evening, I went to an Encore Mingle & Mix affair. This is a two hour get together in a host home where everyone brings an appetizer or dessert and their drink of choice. It is a great opportunity to make new friends. I left right at 7 pm so I could go pick up Ollie. Heather and Jed were at the Falmouth Education Foundation fund raiser where the high school jazz band provided the music. That meant Jonah was there as well. Sam was at an away soccer game, so Ollie had asked me if he could come over to my house for dinner and an overnight. He loves chili, so I made that ahead of time. I picked him up and we came home to eat and then watch another Star Wars movie. We have watched all of the major ones, so last night we watched Solo. It is about Hans Solo as a young man. I really enjoy learning the background history of the various Star Wars characters. And I love having the special time with one grandchild at a time.
by Judy Handley | Mar 15, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 75: At the Computer All Day
Date: Friday, March 15, 2024
Weather: Mostly Cloudy with a Little Rain; High Temp 54, Low 37 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
I was on my computer all day and on the phone most of the evening. The phone call was with my friend Lynne in New Zealand. It has been a month since we last talked, so we had to catch up on what is happening in our worlds. After the phone call, Lynne sent me a whole list of books that I might want to read. I always love getting Lynne’s reading suggestions. She will be flying home to the US for the summer, landing in California and traveling on the west coast for almost a month to visit with friends. Then she will fly home to Michigan. Hopefully by the time she comes here to visit, I will be finished with my knee replacement physical therapy so we can walk while she is here.
The computer work today was mostly writing the presidents’ letter for the Encore newsletter. That is always due on the 15th of the month, and I usually start early. Unfortunately, I put this one off until the last minute. It required getting information from other people, so there was a lot of emailing back and forth. I interspersed trips to the grocery store and spending time in the kitchen making chili and desserts for a Mingle & Mix I am attending tomorrow night. Then, of course, I spent time outside with Shadow. So not the entire day was spent sitting at the computer.
Since I was on the computer all day, checking email often, I saw aa notice from Instagram that Justin had made a posting. It has been so long since I signed into Instagram that I couldn’t remember my password. So, I checked Facebook and saw that Justin was in Austin, Texas at the South By Southwest Conference.
I knew he was going but forgot that it was this week. SXSW brings speakers together to talk about the convergence of tech, film, music, education, and culture. Yesterday Justin gave a talk about Silvermouse (Justin and Jo’s music brand), the Monroe Institute (Justin’s employer), and the use of brainwave entrainment in live music.
Justin is the musician and Jo is the beatmaker for Silvermouse. I read a posting on Facebook that Jo had written saying, “There isn’t an established genre descriptor for what we do. #Livetronica and #Jamtronica are as close as it gets … Psychoactive Livetronica is what we call our sound.” Justin started playing violin at age 3, went on to the guitar, the mandolin, the ukulele, and even adds flute and recorder. But his first love, the violin, remains favorite. Taking again from Jo’s post, “The rich textures and melodic structures that his live instrumentation brings are magic. The combination of live electronics, live multi instrumentals, and live brainwave entrainment frequencies is a sacred trinity of sorts. We are devotees, at least!” I am just so proud that Justin has pursued his passion for music throughout the years and that now he and Jo can play together.
by Judy Handley | Mar 14, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 74: Coonemessett Greenway Heritage Trail
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 48, Low 41 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Falmouth has some wonderful walking trails. Today, my friend Olga Mitchell and I decided to walk the almost 1-mile loop of the Coonemessett Greenway Heritage Trail. It is a 3-mile trail but has several shorter loops. That part of the trail is easy walking as it is actually wheel-chair accessible. It is flat and wide with no obstacles. We had planned to walk further, but since both of us have not been walking much recently, we just enjoyed the shorter loop today with plans to walk further next week. It was a gorgeous day and warm enough that just a light jacket was needed. Shadow really enjoyed the walk and wearing the brace on my right knee allowed me to walk without pain. It was great.
by Judy Handley | Mar 13, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 73: Falmouth Public Schools All Bands Night
Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 47, Low 38 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
The mission statement of the Falmouth Public Schools Music Department is, “The core subject of music is for every child and every child can be successful.” Once a year on All Bands Night, you get to see that mission statement come to life.
Students can start playing an instrument in elementary school. By the time they get to fifth and sixth grade at Morse Pond School, all students have the opportunity to join band and/or jazz band. That continues when they go to middle school at Lawrence. Then when they reach high school, there are many options—marching band, concert band, jazz band, chamber strings, concert choir, plus a whole host of other music classes. Once a year on All Bands night, the band from Morse Pond, the concert band from Lawrence Middle School, the concert band and strings from Falmouth High School, plus the jazz bands from each, fill the floor of the high school gymnasium and show off their skills.
The high school band begins the evening playing the Star Spangled Banner. Then the fifth grade band plays a song, next the sixth grade band, followed by the middle school band, and finally the high school band. Then it starts over, and each group plays a second song. Just watching the progression of skills is fascinating. They are all good. There is a short break while the band students who also play in jazz band move to the front and get settled. Starting with the fifth and sixth grade jazz band, each plays two songs. Ollie plays alto saxophone in the sixth grade band and jazz band
and Jonah is in the high school jazz band splitting his time between trombone and bass guitar.
The grand finale is all of the bands playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture together with the only joint practice being just before the evening begins. And to top it off, the arrangement of that piece is by Mr. Borning, the fifth and sixth grade band teacher.
This night brings out more than the praises of a very proud grandmother.
The band directors are nothing less than amazing. I don’t know how many band members were on that gym floor tonight, but I would estimate at least 200. And they sounded great playing individually, and even more impressive when all were playing together. Hats off to the Falmouth Public Schools Music Department.
The rest of my day was filled with a morning Encore board meeting followed by a Shamrock Luncheon with live Irish music at Liam McGuire’s sponsored by Newcomers. It was a full day and tonight my back is telling me it needs a rest. I arrived early for the board meeting this morning and set up the tables and chairs before the others arrived. Probably not a great idea. I am going on a walk with Shadow and friend Olga Mitchell tomorrow morning, but I promised my back I will take it easy tomorrow afternoon.
by Judy Handley | Mar 12, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 72: Beautiful Day
Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Weather: Sunny; High Temp 55, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Finally … we are getting a break from winter’s last big fling. Today was sunny, not a cloud in the Cape Cod blue sky. It was still a little windy earlier in the day, but it calmed a bit as the day progressed. I picked Ollie up to take him to his saxophone lesson after school and he was so excited that it finally warm. At least, warm to him. I’m not ready to give up my winter coat, but daytime temps in the 50’s are certainly an improvement.
I had my monthly book club this morning. We read the first book in the Louise Penny series about Inspector Gamache. I am a Louise Penny fan and have read all of the 18 books in that series, but I really enjoyed going back and reading the first book again. The book club member hosting today is also a Louise Penny fan. She even had licorice pipes for us. Don’t know what a licorice pipe is? I certainly didn’t until I met Inspector Gamache. The books in this series mostly take place in the small idyllic village of Three Pines in the countryside not too far from Montreal. There is a bistro in that town run by Olivier and Gabri where members of the community come together to eat and talk. In the middle of the day, Inspector Gamache loves nothing more than going to the bistro to sit in front of the open fire to have a café au lait with a licorice pipe or two. Maybe it is Quebecois thing, but as you read, it seems to be a most civilized way to spend your time while trying to puzzle through who might have murdered a beloved villager. In one review I read, the author captured this by writing, “It’s rather quirky, and unexpected, that the Head of Homicide in the Sûreté du Quebec, is partial to such a treat. Aren’t fictional detectives usually predisposed to greasy fast food, an alcoholic beverage or other drug of choice?” But Armand Gamache is refined, intelligent, thoughtful, intuitive, and highly observant. He needs those licorice pipes to help him solve the mysteries.
by Judy Handley | Mar 11, 2024 | 2024 Life Logs |
2024 Life Logs, Day 71: Doctors, Doctors
Date: Monday, March 11, 2024
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Gale Warning; High Temp 45, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth MA
Early this morning, I headed to Patriot Place in Foxborough for my first doctor appointment. Patriot Place is the home of Gillette Stadium, but there is a shopping area and Mass General/Brigham and Women’s, plus Dana Farber, have satellite medical centers there. My appointment was with Dr. Jennifer Kurz who is a physiatrist. I had never heard that term until I was referred to her by friends. This type of doctor treats patients with the same types of issues as a physical therapist. But unlike a physical therapist, a physiatrist has completed medical school plus four years of residency. They specialize in non-surgical care for nerve, muscle, and bone disorders, dealing with the pain caused by these conditions, and they are dedicated to treating the whole person. Since I no longer have severe pain, I could have canceled this appointment that I made prior to my back surgery. But I am glad I kept it. She was able to give me some concrete ideas on what I should be doing to prevent future pain caused by the stenosis in my spine. And if I do have severe pain again, I can get an appointment much sooner because I am now a patient of hers.
When I left home this morning, I thought I was going to stop at Costco on the way home. But just as I parking my car at Patriot Place, I got a call from my knee surgeon’s office, letting me know the new light weight brace for my right knee had arrived. They wanted to know if I would be coming in today to pick it up. On the spur of the moment, I said I would be there at 1 pm. After the doctor appointment, I had to drive around the other side of Gillette Stadium to pick up Sam’s wallet that fell out of his pocket at the last Rev’s game. Luckily some honest person turned it in. By the time I picked that up, it was time to high tail it to Hyannis. I’ll have to make a special trip to Costo at another time.
I did go to Heather and Jed’s after I got home and picked up some of my equipment for starting seeds indoors. I got things ready, but I need to go back and get more seed trays. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I’ll get some seeds started.
The top first place prize was a $3,000 college scholarship. When Heather and Justin were entering science fairs, there was no monetary prize. I think it is wonderful that today’s students get the incentive that hopefully encourages them to keep entering year after year.
