by Judy Handley | Jul 10, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 191: Happy 90th Birthday to My Sister
Date: Monday, July 10, 2023
Weather: Cloudy; High 70, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Happy 90th Birthday to my sister, Patsy. We will celebrate her birthday the day after her granddaughter’s wedding in late August when the whole family will be together. But today, her sister-in-law, another Judy, came to visit with her daughter and grandson. They took her out to lunch and brought flowers and a Happy Birthday balloon.
Since I could not be with her, I was so pleased that some family could be with her to celebrate.
Camp Oma is with only Ollie this week. Sam was at work today and Jonah will not be home for two weeks. Ollie is in a pottery class at the Falmouth Arts Center from 9 to noon this week. The Center is an easy walk from here, so when the weather clears up, he will bike or walk to here at noon each day. Today was a rainy one, however, so I went to pick him up. He played on the tablet while I went to Walmart to get more plastic storage bins. While there, I decided to buy a Lego Technic car for him to assemble as I had to work on getting the final things stored away in order to get ready for the Encore Board meeting here on Wednesday. After lunch, Ollie worked on the Lego set for the remainder of the afternoon, taking breaks to help me get things set up for my meeting. During this time, we had a torrential rain. Once that passed, Ollie went outside to get some of my lawn chairs to put in the dining room for the meeting. There will be nearly twenty people here, so I needed to supplement my inside chairs. Setting up was so much easier with his help. Thank you, Ollie!
Tomorrow morning, I have a book club meeting. I will leave the meeting early to get home before Ollie gets here after pottery camp. I have a couple of meetings here tomorrow afternoon, so Ollie will continue to work on his Lego set. Then on Wednesday afternoon, after my Board meeting, Ollie and I will head downtown for the annual Falmouth Street Fair. There is never a lack of things to do in the town.
by Judy Handley | Jul 9, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 190: Another Weekend Workday with a Lunch Break
Date: Sunday, July 9, 2023
Weather: Cloudy; High 75, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was another weekend workday continuing to get things put away in the new house. But the highlight of the day was a long lunch break. Andrew and Lara Dearman brought their daughter Lily to Falmouth today to spend the next month doing an internship with Jed in his lab. The Dearman’s took us all out to lunch at Shipwrecked and then came to ‘meet’ my new house. I will miss being the Dearman’s neighbor when they stay here in their summer home , but I had to admit to them that I am really loving it here and not missing being in the cottage. Every day that I spend here, I love it even more. Lara agreed with me that this place has the same vibe as the cottage.
The Dearman’s left to spend some time with Lily. They were going to do a few things, have dinner, and then drop Lily at Heather and Jed’s around 7:30. They are spending the night in a hotel and will return to New York in the morning. Heather and Jed took Jonah to Mass Maritime for the ASLP (Advanced Studies and Leadership Program) two-week camp. I took Sam to a friend’s house for a birthday overnight after his day of work at Corner Cycle. And Ollie biked over to my house. We then picked up sushi and met Heather and Jed at their house for dinner.
I will spend tomorrow continuing to get things put away here and getting ready to host about twenty people here on Wednesday for the Encore Board meeting. After Wednesday, I will continue to move the items that still remain in the basement of the cottage. And I am hoping to get time to work in my garden and in the yard. I still have a few plants I want to bring here. So this move just continues on.
by Judy Handley | Jul 8, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 189: Weekend Work Day
Date: Saturday, July 8, 2023
Weather: Mostly Sunny; High 78, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day, but I had to put everything aside to get ready for my first Encore Board meeting as co-president. I worked for six hours with Christina Brodie, the other co-president, to put together Board books for each Board member. We meet here at my house on Wednesday. It will certainly not take six hours every month to prepare for the Board meeting, but this one, being the first, took more preparation.
After leaving Christina’s, I stopped by the cottage and packed up a few more things. I need more coffee cups for Wednesday’s meeting, so I actually unpacked a bin in the basement labeled as ‘Justin’s Mugs’. I thought they were all mugs he had collected on our travels when he was young. But actually most of the coffee cups were vintage public radio cups. So, I brought a few home with me.
Tomorrow, I plan to get the things I have transported from the cottage in the past couple of days put away and get the house ready to host 15-18 Board members on Wednesday. It is what I need to do regardless of hosting a meeting but that gives me the extra incentive to get the job done.
by Judy Handley | Jul 7, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 188: A Birthday Memory Celebration for Mark
Date: Friday, July 7, 2023
Weather: Another Beautiful Day; High 76, Low 67 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
Mark would have celebrated his 81st birthday today. Since he is no longer with us, Heather and family and I celebrated in his memory. They came to my new house and brought cheese cake and strawberries. We had a fire and ate and reveled in memories.
Jed is still testing positive, just barely, for Covid, so he came masked and sat a good distance from the rest of us. Mark’s sister and brother-in-law, Mary Ellen and Lee, also called this evening, and we reminisced as well. Mark and I had a wonderful like together and I miss him so very much. But I carry his spirit with me every moment. And sometimes I think he is watching from afar.
A book club friend, Sally Holbrook, volunteered to help me bill her vehicle and mine with stuff from the cottage basement and deliver it here today. Thank you, thank you, Sally. We accomplished so much. After I got all of that packed in the basement here, Jonah, Ollie, and I went to the beach. But that didn’t work out as we thought. It was a beautiful, sunny, hot day until I we drove down to Falmouth Heights Beach. When we got there, it was very foggy. We drove on to Menauhant Beach, but it was foggy all along the water. We got out on the beach and it actually felt cold. There was a strong wind blowing and no chance of sunshine coming through the fog. Jonah got in the water and played catch with Ollie, but they pretty quickly decided to head back home. But we did make the mandatory stop at Smitty’s for ice cream.
by Judy Handley | Jul 6, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs, Cape Cod, USA |
2023 Life Logs, Day 187: Completing Stage 1 of the Move … Almost
Date: Thursday, July 6, 2023
Weather: Beautiful Day; High 81, Low 66 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
I had the day off Camp Oma today. Ollie and Jonah decided to have a laid back day at home and exploring downtown Falmouth on their own. That gave me the time to go to the cottage and load everything from the cottage (minus the basement) into my car and to deliver it here. Not all is unpacked, but hopefully that will happen tomorrow. I also made two trips to the Swap Shop with items from the cottage and from Heather and Jed’s. It was hot today and I had to move slowly, but I got it done. There is a bulletin board, one framed picture, and a few clothes to be donated that are still in the cottage. But the main thing is that there are a number of pieces of small furniture that I need to give away. I’ll deal with that tomorrow, but I feel good about what I got done today.
Tonight, Bruce and Jane Woodin invited me over for dinner. What a wonderful treat. I have struggled with eating properly during the past three weeks while moving and their invitation tonight was just what the doctor ordered. They are dogsitting for their grand dog, Fern. She is a ginormous Bernese Mountain Dog. They invited me to bring Shadow to meet Fern, which did not go well at first. Fern is as gentle as she can be, but Shadow was afraid and did his crazy yelping. Finally, however, he settled down and the two dogs tolerated each other for the remainder of the evening. The meal was delicious, and I got to admire all of Jane’s beautiful flowers
and Bruce’s Earth Box gardens. Impressive. Thank you, thank you, to Bruce and Jane for a lovely evening.
by Judy Handley | Jul 5, 2023 | 2023 Life Logs |
2023 Life Logs, Day 186: Afternoon at the Beach
Date: Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Weather: Beautiful Day, Foggy Evening; High 79, Low 68 degrees F
Location: At Home on Lakeview Avenue, Falmouth, MA
It was a beautiful day, but I had to spend my morning on the phone with various health care providers for my sister. As her medical POA, I have to deal with all aspects of her health care and today was one of those days that I had to sit on hold waiting for people to talk to and then finding that they need more paperwork to talk to me. Frustrating. But it had to be done.
Sam doesn’t work on Wednesdays, so this afternoon, I took all three Goldpebbles to the beach. It was wonderful, but it was a wake-up call for me. I know Sam and Jonah are teenagers, but it didn’t dawn on me until today how that impacts Ollie. Sam and Jonah no longer dig in the sand and play,. They just like to get in the water and then lay in the sun. That is certainly not what Ollie wants to do, so I sat in the sand with Ollie and we built a sea wall. I think I will be doing a lot of this this summer. On the way home, we stopped for ice cream at Smitty’s which is another thing we will probably be doing a lot of this summer.
As Sam noted this afternoon, Cape Cod ice cream never disappoints, and Smitty’s is one of the best.
Tonight I met Heather and boys at the beach for the delayed 4th of July fireworks . . . that were once again delayed.
This time the delay was a late evening fog that rolled in. The fireworks should have begun at 9 pm, but at 9:10 all we could see were boats heading back into the harbor. Then we saw people beginning to leave. They had heard on the radio that the fireworks were delayed once again. But it was a great evening to be on the beach.
Since I could not be with her, I was so pleased that some family could be with her to celebrate.
