by Judy Handley | Nov 25, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 105: Thanksgiving Day Plus One
Date: Friday, November 25, 2016
Weather: Overcast, Rain Late; High Temp 50, Low 42 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today I did a tiny bit of Christmas shopping, wrote some emails, did some cooking, and went through a box of Christmas lights that all need to be thrown away. There was not one strand where all the lights worked, so I’ll be buying new lights this year. But I started my day by heading over to Heather and Jed’s to see Jed’s mom, Marti, and Jed’s brother, Toby. They drove up from Washington, DC, yesterday so they could head to Boston today for a day-after Thanksgiving feast with Jed’s Aunt Sue and Uncle John. In respect of family wishes, I have not previously written about the tragic death of Jed’s youngest brother, Ben, last Friday. And I do hope I am not offending by mentioning this now, but I feel the need to pay tribute to a young man that I will always remember with great fondness. Last Friday, upon getting the call from his mother, Jed flew immediately to DC to be with her. He returned on Tuesday, leaving his mother with his brother Toby who flew in from Portland, Oregon. They talked Marti into the road trip north for Thanksgiving, and Heather called just a bit ago to say they had a wonderful day with family. Toby and Marti will stay another day and return to Washington on Sunday. Jed flies to London tomorrow for a week of meetings, so he will not be with us for dinner tomorrow night. But the rest of us are planning a sushi feast.
This week the Goldstones have gone from one day of feasting to another. But they have also been riding the emotional tides of losing a brother, brother-in-law, and beloved uncle. Ben was a very talented musician who loved children. The Goldpebbles always looked forward to visits with Uncle Ben. On this day after Thanksgiving, I give thanks for all of my friends and family and pay tribute to Ben Goldstone—a kind soul who left us years before he should have. But we will always have the wonderful memories of a Ben who loved his family, made his little nephews giggle with his silliness, and brought joy to the world when he played Klezmer violin with absolute abandon. May he fill the heavens with his music.
by Judy Handley | Nov 24, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 104: Happy Turkey Day
Date: Thursday, November 24, 2016
Weather: Overcast with Some Rain; High Temp 46, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
Happy Turkey Day to all. I had a Skype call with Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco and a wonderful dinner with Heather, Jed, Goldpebbles, and friends.
The food was abundant and delicious. And it was so much fun to watch the children. Sam, Ethan, and Sebastian have been friends since preschool.
And now there is a whole new crop of little ones.
Thanks to Pax and Tim for hosting such a fabulous gathering. It was a great day, but I am zapped. So off to bed to regenerate.
by Judy Handley | Nov 23, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 103: Thanksgiving Feast Day, Number 1
Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Weather: Partly Sunny; High Temp 46, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
Just like the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims spent three days feasting for the First Thanksgiving, the Goldpebbles decided they should do the same. We are having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow with friends and on Friday the Goldpebbles are headed to Boston to have another Thanksgiving dinner with family. So in order to make this a three-day affair, we planned a day of feasting today. I was with the boys today while Heather and Jed went to work and we conjured up a feast day of seasonal ‘treats’. We started the morning with fresh fruit
and then things moved to the more decadent side of treats. We made thin gingerbread and pumpkin bread and used cookie cutters to produce edible fall leaves and pumpkins. We made acorns from mini-vanilla wafers and mini- and regular-sized Hershey’s Kisses.
And we made chocolate bark littered with sticks (broken pretzel pieces) and fall leaves (M&M’s). The boys really had a great time. Making the acorns was their favorite activity because when they made a mistake and got too much glue (melted chocolate) on the Kisses, I just told them to eat their mistakes. They loved that!
We did most of our feasting before lunch in hopes that all the chocolate would wear off by bedtime. I stayed for dinner and by the time I left they seemed to be settling into a family game night. Hopefully bedtime went smoothly. Tomorrow the boys will take their seasonal treats to Thanksgiving dinner with friends. There will be nine children there, so they can share their kid-friendly bounty.
Heather and I will spend tomorrow morning preparing side dishes for the Thanksgiving Day feast with friends and then we will all spend our afternoon visiting and feasting. Whatever you are doing for Thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful day.
by Judy Handley | Nov 22, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 102: Back to the Everyday
Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Weather: Sunny and Cool; High Temp 44, Low 31 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
Today it was back to the everyday routine after a wonderful four-day weekend with friends. But, of course, it is not really an everyday time of year. We are gearing up for Thanksgiving and then it will be on to Christmas. I slept in, spent some time catching up on things, and then went shopping for items for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow Sam, Jonah, and Ollie don’t have school, but Heather and Jed have to go to work, so the boys and I have planned a Thanksgiving feast of desserts for tomorrow. Stay tuned for a report on that.
by Judy Handley | Nov 21, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 101: To Boston with Kevin and Claire
Date: Monday, November 21, 2016
Weather: Mostly Cloudy and Still WINDY; High Temp 39, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
Early this morning I headed to Heather’s to get the Goldpebbles off to school while Heather left for Woods Hole to host her Monday morning show. I slipped out of the apartment leaving Kevin and Claire still in bed at 7:15 am and returned three hours later. Claire had a late breakfast ready for us and then we took time to have her trim my hair and show me how to embed videos in PowerPoint. Then we were off for Boston. Kevin and Claire’s flight home was not until after 8 pm tonight, so we had time to check out our old stomping grounds. We met when we lived at Shipyard Quarters, a marina in Charlestown, just across the bridge from Boston. Kevin and Claire have not been back to visit this area since they left in 2006, but we have all kept track of who we knew that are still there. The only ones left are John and Karen of Duchess, and now of the very successful Green Turtle Inn, a floating bed and breakfast. It was so much fun to return to Shipyard with Kevin and Claire and actually find John and Karen at home. John met us on the dock and took us down to show us the three boats that comprise the Green Turtle Inn—two trawlers and one houseboat. Karen met us aboard the house boat to show us the rooms and then we went over to Duchess to spend some time catching up on what has been happening in our lives the last eleven years. It was just so wonderful to see John and Karen again and to have some of our “old gang” together. I lingered longer than I should have as I needed to get back to Falmouth to babysit Ollie while Heather went to scouts with Jonah. I left Kevin and Claire at Shipyard with John and Karen and the plan was for them to go out for an early dinner and then for Kevin and Claire to take the water taxi across the Boston Harbor to the airport. I heard from Kevin once they arrived at the airport, so it looks like plans worked. It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful weekend with friends. And even though I had to fight rush hour traffic, I made it home in time. And Kevin and Claire just sent an email stating that they are home as well. Tomorrow is a day of rest before we start the three days of Thanksgiving feasts.
by Judy Handley | Nov 20, 2016 | Life After Windbird 2016 |
Life After Windbird, Day 100: A Pickle Jar, Salt, and Downtown Turkeys
Date: Sunday, November 20, 2016
Weather: Overcast and WINDY; 51, Low 34 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
What does a pickle jar and salt have in common with downtown turkeys? The answer—Kevin and Claire and Judy. Today I had lunch at The Pickle Jar with Kevin and Claire, after which we watched the Falmouth turkeys roam about downtown, and then we had dinner at the C Salt Wine Bar & Grille. K & C were definitely trying to spoil me and I enjoyed every minute. Thank you, Kevin and Claire, for a wonderful day full of food and fun.
Heather and Jon left right after breakfast and Kevin, Claire, and I spent the remainder of the morning doing laundry and working on my computer issues. Unfortunately, my laundry results were not as positive as one would hope. In my rush to get things done, I sprayed my very favorite cold weather shirt with Clorox Clean-up instead of Shout. I must have left the Clorox Clean-up on the washing on Thursday when I was doing house cleaning and didn’t look before spraying some grease stains on my shirt this morning. I have always had a love-hate relationship with Clorox but never have I intentionally sprayed a good piece of clothing. I now have a beautifully blotched purple thermal Columbia shirt. It was lunch time before we knew it and we decided to go out. Claire asked where we might find a good sandwich shop and I thought of a place on Main Street that I have heard people raving about. But I couldn’t remember the name. Claire and I did searches and found that the name of the place is the Pickle Jar Kitchen. So we drove downtown had lunch there. The food was good and it was a delightful little place to have lunch. After lunch we did a walk about Main Street, visiting the kitchen store, the children’s book store, the French bakery, and spending some time communing the Falmouth downtown wild turkeys. Yes, Falmouth has a small flock of wild turkeys that just roam about town and today they made it feel much like Thanksgiving!
When we returned home we watched the Patriots play the 49ers and after the game we went out to dinner. We let Claire choose the restaurant based on ratings she found on the internet and it was definitely a great choice. C Salt is tiny but very nice and the food was fabulous. We had tuna tartar for an appetizer and for main entrees we all chose something different. Claire chose the bouillabaisse, Kevin had steak frites, and I had grilled sushi grade tuna. All were delicious, but Claire kept feeling guilty because she was certain hers was the best by far.
We had flourless chocolate cake for dessert and then came home to watch more football. It was a ‘full’ day in more ways than one. I don’t think I’ll need to eat for the rest of the week.
