by Judy Handley | Oct 26, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 75: Inching Forward
Date: Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny and Definitely Cool; High 50, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
I have spent my entire day sitting at the dining room table working on computer issues.
The computer I am now working on was Mark’s and it has most of the same folders in My Documents as my computer has. But Mark added to some of his folders and I added to some of mine. And each of us added new folders. This required comparing folders and comparing files within those folders and transferring files from one computer to another making sure both mirror each other. I started the same progress with photos, but that job is not completed. In fact, for now, I am taking all photos off my computer and putting them on a hard drive and on Mark’s computer. I printed out 81 pages of my contact files from my computer because they were in my Outlook email. Outlook is going to be deleted and replaced by something else since it is Outlook that is not working properly. By the end of the day tomorrow, I hope to have my computer ready to go back to the shop for a thorough clean-out and rebuild. If I find that is going to cost too much, I’ll attempt to do it myself. And if everything fails, I at least have everything backed up. Unfortunately, I am also having a strange problem with Mark’s computer. When I try to open WeatherUnderground, the computer freezes—every single time. And I have to literally shut down the computer with the on/off button. I will also call Comcast tomorrow and have them come check my router. Since my computer has the same problem here as at Heather’s, I don’t think the problem is the router, but I want to make sure in light of the issue on Mark’s computer with WeatherUnderground. It was not an exciting day, but I am inching forward, even if it is in snail fashion. Forward is better than backward.
by Judy Handley | Oct 25, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 74: Taking Care of Business
Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny, Cool and Windy; High 52, Low 35 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
I keep trying to take care of business, but somehow the ‘business’ keeps increasing. So I keep working harder. I’m sure I am making progress, but it just doesn’t seem that way in the moment. And the computer issues I’m having don’t help. I will spend tomorrow transferring all documents from the computer that cannot receive email to the computer that is working properly. Then I will get the computer shop to totally clean up the older computer, taking off everything, and rebuilding from scratch. I have no idea if that is the right thing to do, but it is all I know to do. If it still doesn’t work properly after that, I will send it to the land of dead computers, along with three other old computers that are still hanging around.
I started my day with a walk with a three mile walk with friend Olivia White. Olivia led the memorial service for Mark when we sent his ashes out to sea, and soon after, she left for Europe for a Viking River Cruise. It is great to have her back and we enjoyed the sunny but cool morning as we walked from her house down to the beach and back.
In the early afternoon, I had an appointment with my newly acquired lawyer to pick-up copies of a new will and all of the other legal documents that go along with a will. I then did some grocery shopping, headed home to do some cooking, and drove to Heather and Jed’s to pick up the non-working computer that I left with them last Saturday. This gave me an opportunity to see the boys briefly and talk with Heather and Jed. I then headed home to fix dinner. I was almost home when I got a call from Ed and Lynne Kirwin. I know you are not supposed to answer a cell phone while driving, but since I was almost in the drive-way, I answered. I had received about three text messages from them in the afternoon that were written in Chinese. They sent those same texts to other people who received them in English. All I can hope is that my phone is not going crazy like my computer. But the news I finally received in English was so fantastic. Ed got the results of his latest CT scan today and his cancer is totally stable—no new growth. I definitely did a happy dance after hearing that news. I am so happy for Ed and Lynne.
by Judy Handley | Oct 24, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 73: Hillary Rally in New Hampshire
Date: Monday, October 24, 2016
Weather: Sunny, Cool, Still Windy; High 50’s, Low 30’s F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today was the day of the New Hampshire Democratic Party rally. And it was a great day—beautiful weather, well organized and exciting political rally, time with Helaine and my niece Lynn.
It would have been nice to be able to sit down, but that is not part of a rally with a couple of thousand people. You stand in line, stand while waiting for the speakers, and stand while they are speaking. Today that was about four hours of standing. But it was worth it. This rally was sponsored by the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Helaine and I drove to the rally in my car instead of driving separately because we knew parking was going to be limited. We were going to meet my niece Lynn in the parking area at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, NH, the site of the rally. Helaine and I were about ten minutes late getting there that I had predicted, but my niece Lynn was stuck in traffic and was also running a few minutes late. Miraculously, she drove in just after us and parked just one car away. Then we spent a lot of time standing in line waiting for the gates to open to the rally site. Originally the rally was to be held inside, but more people responded than expected, so last night an email was sent out explaining the venue would be outside. St. Anselm’s campus is beautiful, so the outside venue was perfect for this beautiful fall day. The temperature was in the 50’s, but with the bright sunshine, a vest and a jacket were just a little too much. But better warm than too cold. After waiting in line for what seemed way too long, the line started moving slowly toward the rally site. We went through airport-type security and finally we were within the fenced area and herded by young volunteers to keep moving. When we were in ‘our space’, we then had to keep standing. It was nearly an hour before things started and then standing for the hour-long rally.
So there was a lot of standing today. But there was music, people watching, and media watching (we were standing just in front of the stand where Andrea Mitchell was reporting for MSNBC).
We listened to speeches from Colin van Osten, the young man running for governor and Maggie Hasson, the current governor who is running for the US Senate against republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte. Then we were treated to a rousing speech by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren that led to the introduction of Hillary Clinton.
Hillary gave an uplifting speech that echoed the campaign slogan of “Stronger Together.”
It was heartening to see the number of young people in attendance today and the number of parents with young children. The whole experience gave me renewed hope in what has been an incredibly negative political season.
After the rally I drove Helaine back to Bow and left there about 4 pm to make the two and half hour drive home. Tomorrow morning, I am up early to walk with friend Olivia White. And after that I might just chill. It was a wonderful weekend, but I need a little down time.
by Judy Handley | Oct 23, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 72: Traveling Day
Date: Sunday, October 23, 2016
Weather: Most Sunny, Cool, and Very Windy; High 50’s, Low 40’s F
Location: At Home with Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg, Bow, NH
Today was a traveling day—from Greenland, New Hampshire, across the border for a little southern Maine tour, back to Greenland, and then on to Bow, New Hampshire. Bow is what I call suburban Concord and Bow is where friends Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg live.
First thing this morning I checked in with both Heather and Justin about progress on my computer. Not much to be said there, but I did have a great Skype video call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco. This was Halloween costume making day at their house–a ladybug costume for Coco and a Minion costume for Ziggy. When calls were done, Detta, Tom, and I started our touring day by heading across the border to Maine to a store I had never heard of—Stonewall Kitchen. This is a high quality kitchen store with every imaginable jam, jelly, and sauce you have ever heard of, and more. It was enjoyable to walk through and seeing all of the different sauces gave me great ideas for some I’d like to make and can. The Halloween decorations outside the building were lots of fun, from bike riding witches to a very fat and happy scare crow . . . and, of course, lots of pumpkins.
Next we went to the little tourist town of Ogunquit to walk the Marginal Way. This is a one mile walk along the edge of the Atlantic with beautiful views of the rocky coast of Maine and ending at an expansive beach with lots of surfers in the water. The high winds today resulted in great surfing waves with the tops of the waves being blown off by the wind.
We had lunch in a very nice restaurant called The Roost and then did a driving tour through Ogunquit with businesses all decked out in Halloween fare. We drove out to a newly renovated hotel called the Cliff House—not a beautiful building on the outside, but a gorgeous interior with an all glass wall on the ocean side affording gorgeous views.
And it is properly named as it is on a cliff that falls right down into the ocean. From the Cliff House, we did a meandering tour back through York and Kittery and then back across the bridge to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
In addition to beaches, scenic rocky coastline, and the Nubble Lighthouse in York, there were still lots of colorful fall trees to add to the beauty. A huge thanks goes out from me to Tom and Detta for treating me like a queen during my time with them. They fed me, showered me with gifts, took me on delightful tours both yesterday and today, and most importantly took time out of their busy lives to spend quality time with me.
By the time we got back to Greenland, it was time for me to leave the coast and start the drive to Bow in the center of New Hampshire. Soon after I arrived Helaine served a delicious dinner of baked flounder and sautéed swiss chard with currants and pine nuts. It was definitely a gourmet dinner topped with gluten-free apple crumble. The only photo I took tonight shows Alan and Helaine both deeply engrossed in the tablet and computer world. I took the photo because they looked like a couple of teenagers hard at work!
Actually, Alan spent the entire evening helping me with various computer issues. The computer I am now using works just fine, but it is set up so differently than the computer I have been using that I needed some friendly guidance. Thank you, Alan and Helaine.
Helaine and I got emails this evening indicating a bit of a change in the Hillary rally we are attending tomorrow. It sounds like there has been a greater response than expected and the event has been moved outside. The suggested arrival time is much earlier than it was yesterday. So we will be up and out of here in the morning and then spend about three hours waiting for the rally to begin. The high temperature tomorrow will be 50 degrees F and windy, but at least it is supposed to sunny. I guess we’ll just have to see if we can stand the wait. If it is miserable, we might just leave. But I have a feeling we’ll hang in there. My niece Lynn is driving up from Massachusetts, so it will be fun to see her there as well.
by Judy Handley | Oct 22, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 71: Great Day in NH
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Rain; High 50’s, Low 40’s F
Location: At Home with Detta and Tom Porat, Greenland, NH
I drove to Greenland, New Hampshire, this morning and had a great day with Detta and Tom Porat despite the rain. The closer I got to Greenland, the more beautiful the colors of the leaves.
First we drove to North Hampton to have lunch at a local brewery called the Throwback—good food and great company.
Then we drove to Exeter to Applecrest Farm Orchards to buy an apple pie for dessert and some apple cider donuts. This is a huge farm that grows all kinds of vegetables in addition to the apples. Their store is huge and there is also a restaurant.
We then returned home and had afternoon coffee with those apple cider donuts. I obviously went off my gluten-free diet today, but it was worth it. Detta fixed a great salmon dinner with asparagus and freshly picked corn from the farm. I was surprised that they still have corn and it was yummy. We spent the evening watching bits and pieces of videos on u-tube, mostly comedy. But Tom and Detta also introduced me to some new people in the music world. Well, not new, just new to me. I love being here enjoying the big window views of Great Bay and the warmth and friendship of two very special people.
by Judy Handley | Oct 21, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 70: Day of Frustrations
Date: Friday, October 21, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Rain Late; High 70, Low 60’s F
Location: At Home at The Studio, Falmouth, MA
Our world does not need any more negativity these days, but I have to be honest in saying that this was a day of frustrations. I’m working hard to rebound and put the best face on things, but I had more than one melt down today. And melt downs are not my normal way of dealing with issues. My first mild meltdown was when I went to the gym to an Indoor Cycling class. Oh, my. I haven’t been on a real bicycle for years, but I have been riding a bike at the gym the past two weeks and enjoying it. But the Indoor Cycling class was hard, very hard. I won’t go back to that class for a while. The bike was an upright like most bikes, but the one I have been exercising on is a recumbent with pedals in front, not directly under you. So not only was just pedaling harder, you were supposed to stand up on the pedals for a great deal of the time. It was just too hard on my knees, so I just sat and pedaled. I’ll continue biking on the recumbent and when I’m stronger and my knee is less inflamed, I’ll try the class again. But I have to admit that I left the gym a little frustrated—feeling older than I am.
I left the gym and took my computer to the repair shop. I spent a long time explaining the two things I wanted checked out. I asked if I should write this out, but the young man assured me he knew the two things I needed done. The major issue is my email. On my computer, I can only send and receive when I first boot the computer. I left the computer and came home to try and edit photos on Mark’s Asus computer. You’d think there wouldn’t be that much difference between two computers, but there is and I again found myself frustrated trying to learn new systems. But the killer of the day came when I was called to say that my computer was all fixed and I could come pick it up. When I got there, the young man that had worked on it was gone for the day and another young man handed me the computer and the bill. I started asking questions about what was done and he said that nothing was done except a scan. The scan showed that there were no problems and they were able to send and receive emails all afternoon. Really? And the second thing I wanted done had been ignored. I didn’t have time to stay as I needed to get to Heather and Jed’s to be with Jonah and Ollie. Jed and Sam had soccer practice and Heather had to leave at 5 pm for an evening work assignment. I paid the bill for nothing being done and left. That was frustrating, but when I got to Heather and Jed’s and turned on the computer, the frustration level went off the scales. I opened the email account and three thousand emails started coming in—at least that is what the send/receive window showed. The emails kept rolling in, but thankfully they were nowhere to be seen. OMG. Actually Jed had cancelled soccer practice due to the rain, so I didn’t need to stay with the boys. I brought the computer home to see what it would do here. Only hundreds of emails came in here and as soon as a couple of hundred clicked off, the send/receive trouble sign would appear. The computer shop thinks my problem might be my internet router, but I have no problem sending and receiving emails on Mark’s computer. I just have trouble using it! Long story short, I’ll drop my computer off at Heather and Jed’s tomorrow morning on my way out of town. Jed hopes to have time this weekend to check it out. But since it reacts different there than here, and completely differently at the computer shop, I’m not sure we’re going to figure this one out. I might just have to get used to using Mark’s computer and love it.
I’m going to put frustrations behind me and head to New Hampshire to have fun with friends. I was coming home on Sunday until today when I got an email invitation to attend a Hillary-Elizabeth Warren rally in New Hampshire at noon on Monday. I contacted Helaine Kanegsberg to see if she would like to go to the rally with me and she responded that she would. So on Sunday I will drive from coastal New Hampshire to inland Concord, spend the night with the Kanegsbergs, attend the rally on Monday, and THEN head back to the Cape. Should be a frustration-free three days.
